Life Unscripted - Stories of Mental Health and Addiction
Shame and fear often stop people who really need support for their mental illness and/or addiction (substance use) from reaching out.
In more than 200 interviews, Life Unscripted host Janice Arnoldi has honest and engaging conversations with people who share their stories of lived experience. The interviews are literally "unscripted" and flow naturally. Janice often finds common experiences and shares her personal journey with guests.
Experts also come on the podcast to talk about solutions.
Janice's goal has been to life the mystery and to reduce stigma by increasing public awareness.
Episodes
166 episodes
Flood Trauma Is Real And Your Body Remembers It
Three catastrophic rain storms and massive flooding in Niagara this summer left residents stunned, scared and reeling with the pressure of cleaning up.In the days the after the flood, even a little rain sent triggered fear. Trauma ...
Willow Arts Is So Much More Than Art Therapy
The Willow Arts Community may seem like "art therapy" but rather than a clinical approach with a therapist it provides a free, peer-led creative experience and connection for people across Niagara living with mental illnesss, subsatance use and...
Why Teens and Young Adults Struggle to Build Self-Worth
For many teens and young adults thoughts Are Not Facts. Getting out of bed can be the hardest part of the day, and for a lot of teens, that struggle stays hidden behind jokes, grades, or silence. Youth mental health speaker, Lawrence C. Harris,...
Get a Prescription to Nature for Better Mental Health
It’s not a joke when a doctor or other health care professionals gives you a prescription to nature to improve your mental and physical health. Dr. Melissa Lem, a Vancouver family physician and co-founder of PARX (Park Prescriptions Canada),&nb...
More Calls, More Fear, And Not Enough Safe Beds
Intimiate partner violenced and femicide are rising in dramatice numbers across the country. There has been a 57.8% jump in intimate partner violence investigations in Niagara in two years. This number is mirrored across the country. ...
Mental Health Author Talks About When Pain Rewrote His Life
Darcy Patrick started 2022 on a high. He was releasing his 5th book and had started his dream job as a peer support worker, using his years of experience with depression and mental health recovery. Then he was hit by a severe infection that was...
Canadian Mental Health Association Niagara Short Term and Crisis Support
Mental health crises rarely start as an “emergency” and that’s exactly why people need clear options before things hit the breaking point. Kristen Dyell, Clinical Director of Operations at Canadian Mental Health Association Niagara, talks about...
Businesses Work Pro Bono to Help Kids Get Mental Health Treatment Faster
A two-and-a-half-year wait for youth mental health care can turn a manageable struggle into a crisis. Angela Simo Brown, President & CEO, of Capitalize for Kids, talks about a different way to tackle the problem: not just raising mone...
A Trans Woman Talks about Transitioning At 50.
Cassidy McKinnon shares what it looks like to transition from male to female in your 50s. Cassidy talks about how she slowly made the transition to ensure her wife, and especially her little girl, were OK. How the depression she'd been living s...
Wanderings of a Bipolar Woman
Former Ontario member of parliament Lisa McLeod has always talked openly about her depression and living with bipolar 1 disorder. She now shares regularly on Substack in Diary of a Bipolar Wanderin...
William Person Went From Bobsled Glory To Traumatic Brain Injury.
What if the most dangerous sports hits aren’t the ones you see on highlight reels? U.S. bobsled Olympian William Person was on the team for 9 years and he experienced G-forces, track vibration, and micro-concussions that left him with dem...
Saving Lives With Harm Reduction
The Consumption and Treatment Services location in Niagara may have to close because a school is opening close to the site. Evidence shows that consumption sites save lives, including 1,500 in Niagara since it opening in 2018. Recent provincial...
Recovery Works Better When We Walk Together
Recovery feels different when someone who has walked the same road shows you where the ground is solid. We sit down with peer supporter Chantel Bellingham to unpack how lived experience can cut through shame and build trust fast.Chantel ...
Helping Families Whose Loved One Is Struggling With Addiction
Parents and children can be confused, hurt and hopeless when a loved one seems to put their subtance use and addiction ahead of their loved ones. Amber Hollingsworth is a therapist w...
The Working Mind - Encouraging Open Conversations About Mental Health
The Working Mind is an evidence-based program developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada teaching employees and managers about mental health, reducing stigma, and building workplace resilie...
Veterans, First Responders and Post Traumatic Stess Disorder
Sean Bennett served for more than 25 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and 35 years as a firefighter. For him, the worst of his post traumatic stress disdorder are horrible nightmares - often reliving some of the worst of his calls as a firefi...
The Grief of Losing Both Parents in a Month
Imagine both parents dying within a month of each other. The grief is overwhelming. That's what happened to mental health advocate Jennifer McCready in 2024. Jennifer has lived with depression most of her life. This was the biggest challenge sh...
Tips to Avoid Drinking During the December Party Season
There can be immense pressure to drink during the December Holiday Season. Work, friends and family are having parties and alcohol is synonymous with celebrating. It can be particulary difficult for people who are in early recovery.Janic...
She Was Born Addicted to Methadone - Is Now A Substance Use Peer Supporter
Chantel Bellingham was born 3 months early, weighed just over 3 pounds and addicted to methadone and possibly other opiates. She was adopted by a wonderful family but it’s not a surprise that addiction reared it’s ugly head when she was in coll...
The Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline
More than 5,000 people have called the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline in 2025. The hotline is run by the Canad...
Yep, Sh!t Happens
For more than two decades Ted Mouradian, president of the 2% factor, has helped hundreds of businesses create long-term, sustainable behavioral change using his infallible Law of Cooperative Action.Ted has written five books and his late...
Wild Ride to Sobriety
Ian Fee had his first sip of beer when he was still in a stroller. His parents liked to party and as he got older so did he. Ian's memoir Wild Ride to Sobriety: Transformation from Drunken Oblivion to Profound Clarity takes us on the road...
Wind Phones - A Unique Way to Deal With Grief
The first "wind phone" was an unconnected telephone booth installed in the back yard by Japan artist Itaru Sasaki in 2010 to help him process the grief of losing his cousin who he had spoken to every day. After the devastating 2011 tsunami, hun...
Rapid Transformational Therapy® - a Combination of Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy
Rapid Transformational Therapy® (RTT®) is a form of therapy that combines hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, and neuroscience principles. RTT® was developed and launched by hypnotherapist/psychotherapist Marisa Peer in 1985. It is based on a detailed...