Episode 9 with Wayne Nieman and Dr. Jake Protivnak

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Welcome to The Voices for Voices Podcast Sponsored by Redwood Living! Thank you for joining us today. I am Justin Alan Hayes, Founder & Executive Director of Voices for Voices, Host and Humanitarian. You can learn more about Voices for Voices on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and our website VoicesforVoices.org. Voices for Voices is a 501c3 non profit charity organization that survives solely on donations, so if you are able to, please consider heading over to our website or Cash App: https://cash.app/$VoicesforVoices to help us continue our mission, and the goal and dream to help 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. Or you can also send a donation to the mailing address of Voices for Voices, 2388 Becket Circle, Stow, Ohio 44224.  Looking for a volunteer opportunity? Reach out to us today via email at president@voicesforvoices.org.
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In this episode, Justin Alan Hayes interviews Wayne Nieman and Dr. Jake Protivnak, Board members from State of Mind: Hudson, a mental health awareness organization. Wayne Nieman is the Senior Development Director for the Great Trail Council, Boy Scouts of America, headquartered in Stow, Ohio. He started his career in 2013, serving the Scouting program in Akron, and he now oversees development and fundraising in Greater Akron and the Mahoning Valley.

A native of Alliance, Ohio, and current resident of Akron’s North Hill neighborhood, Wayne graduated from the University of Akron in 2011 with degrees in Secondary Education and History. After a brief career in education, he made a change to the nonprofit sector. Wayne is a Rotarian (current member of the Boardman Rotary Club, former member of Hudson Clocktower Rotary), current Vice President and Treasurer for Northeast Ohio Roy Hobbs baseball, Leadership Hudson Class of 2019 graduate, and State of Mind Hudson Board member.

Dr. Jake Protivnak is a Professor and Counseling Program Director in the Department of Psychological Sciences and Counseling at Youngstown State University. He is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Licensed Professional School Counselor, and a Nationally Certified Counselor.  Jake has almost 20 years of experience as a counselor educator, counselor, and supervisor working in clinical mental health, school, and college settings focusing primarily on counseling children, adolescents, and college-aged adults. Within his local community, he is a board member of State of Mind: Hudson, an advocacy group of individuals from different professions working together to increase mental health awareness and reduce stigma of seeking treatment.   
 
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Transcript

The Voices for Voices Podcast Episode 9 with Guests Wayne Nieman and Dr. Jake Protivnak, State of Mind: Hudson

Justin Alan Hayes:

Welcome to the official The House of You podcast sponsored by Voices for Voices, where we discuss how mental health and our careers intertwine. I'm your host, Justin Alan Hayes, business professor, author, career coach, Founder and President of The House of You. Here at The House of You, we're passionate about helping others navigate their workforce preparation while also thriving on their mental health journey. So we're sitting down with career professionals and mental health advocates to take a deep dive into our professional lives, ambitions, swap stories on mental health in relation to career moves, and so much more.

From making the leap to transition careers, job losses, difficult interview experiences, feeling stuck or helpless in your current position, or whatever the case may be, we're so glad you found us. Join The House of You as we explore raw and real stories of mental health in the workplace. No matter where you are in your career, you are not alone. Today, I am grateful to be joined by Wayne Nieman and Jake Protivnak from State of Mind: Hudson. Wayne and Jake, thank you for joining The House of You podcast.

Jake Protivnak:

It's great to be here.

Wayne Nieman:

Good to be here. Thank you for having us.

Justin Alan Hayes:

You bet. So for our listeners who may not be familiar with State of Mind: Hudson, would you be able to start out by describing to our listeners the history, mission, vision of State of Mind: Hudson, and then how both of you became involved as board members?

Jake Protivnak:

State of Mind: Hudson has existed for the past three years. It grew out of Leadership Hudson. And so in the city of Hudson, there's a Leadership Hudson class each year, and Wayne and myself and a number of other individuals applied and were selected to be in the class of 2019 Leadership Hudson.

And so with leadership Hudson, there's an expectation. One, that you learn about your community and connect with professionals in the community, and then engage in a project, a class project, that would benefit the community. And so through the course of the year, we had opportunities to speak with students in the community, professionals, and begin to get an idea of, what are the needs in our town? And then as a class of, I think there were maybe-

Wayne Nieman:

14 of us, 15 of us, yeah.

Jake Protivnak:

To come together and then determine, what do we want to do as a group? And that was a really interesting process because, for Leadership Hudson, that class, we didn't know each other. I didn't know Wayne three years ago.

Wayne Nieman:

No, [inaudible 00:03:16] the first day of our orientation of Leadership Hudson.

Jake Protivnak:

Yeah, and so I don't know that any of us knew each other, and so we're all put together in this group. We're also from very different backgrounds, different professions. I'm the only mental health professional in the group, but there's other individuals on our board that are from education, marketing, like a ...

Wayne Nieman:

A lawyer-

Jake Protivnak:

Lawyer.

Wayne Nieman:

Two lawyers, yeah. An accountant, I believe?

Jake Protivnak:

Yeah.

Wayne Nieman:

Yeah, so many different professions, and it's nice that you have that in your board and in your group. As we developed, we all had different skillsets to form our group and decide what our roles within are going to be, but as we went through the Leadership Hudson class, deciding what our class project would be, and I'm sure we'll talk about this the whole day, how it developed into that.

We really decided to focus on mental health. Things slowly morphed into State of Mind: Hudson, but the first thing that, once we decided on a mental health focus was our mission, we wanted to have a mission and a mission statement, and our mission was to raise the awareness and reduce the stigma of mental health issues within our community, and then that's really important to us and everything that we do.

And forming from our Leadership Hudson group, everything that we do in the community is based around that mission statement, and really, just becoming board members was, the board is the class, so that was really nice. We formed into a nonprofit organization kind of, and really just ... we haven't brought in any outside board members yet. It's something we've discussed in the future, but becoming board members was just part of our Leadership Hudson experience and the group that we formed.

Jake Protivnak:

When we were working together as a class, we could have gone in a number of different directions. So each individual, each class member, brought their idea for a project, and so there were many non-mental-health-related projects that were put forward, but there were also many mental health social projects that folks had.

And then as a group, we met, discussed, began to narrow down, the project that we would like to complete, and then as a group, we unanimously agreed that focusing on mental health issues, and forming State of Mind: Hudson is something that we all wanted to do together. And it was really exciting to be a part of a group of individuals that I didn't know several months before that, to then decide that we all share this vision and we're going to start a nonprofit organization together.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Just want to let you know about our upcoming Voices for Voices, A Brand New Day event, which is our annual gala event. It's on October 12th at 7:30. For those that are in the Northeast Ohio area, it's going to be held at the Canton Cultural Center and tickets are $20 and all the proceeds go towards the Voices for Voices organization, which is also a 501(c)(3). Dr. Jessica Hoefler is going to be one of the ... I call it the blockbuster speakers, but one of the three individuals that's really going to talk a lot about what she's talked about here with us today and really just that thought of A Brand New Day, kind of like with Piper's Key, of unlocking and setting her free, that's with Voices for Voices and with the brand new day event specifically.

You'll want to share experiences of real everyday people, not celebrities, just people that are going through and have gone through some traumatic things, whether that is mental health related, whether that is anything really traumatic. So it doesn't have to be mental health related. That's how I started the organization, but obviously as I'm learning and want to have a broader reach, that individuals with mental health challenges aren't the only individuals that have gone through traumatic experiences. So again, Dr. Jessica Hoefler will be one of the blockbuster speakers. We're also going to have Brian Laughlin, who is a lieutenant at the Twinsburg Fire Department. Then one of my actual former students, James Warnken, he is an online specialist with expertise and search engine optimization and data analytics and he's actually legally color blind. So he goes through certain software packages to be able to do the work for his businesses now. Even when he was my student at Walsh University, there were some I guess, accommodations, accessibility, things that he was able to do.

 So really not only from a spectrum of age range, but from first responder to somebody in education, traumatic, male, female, that we are all going through and have gone through things and I really want with A Brand New Day is to talk about not just some of the tough times, but how the message of a particular mission and vision is living on and how it's touching and reaching and helping more people. So again, you can find out more about A Brand New Day at voicesforvoices.org, or you can go to Eventbrite, which is the official event platform to put events together, and you can search A Brand New Day and then you'll find the event tickets there. Then you can join us in person. We'd really love to have you and bring a friend, a family member, somebody that would like to be uplifted.

So it’s not just the speakers, we're also going to have a special needs band, RockAbility, going to be playing. So some real rock music. So some of these individuals are going to be playing real live instruments with some mentor musicians and everything from the music. It's all going to be played live, in person. We're not going to use auto tune like some of the music today, and even the singers, the vocals, are going to be done. So it's going to be a lot of fun. We hope you'll make plans to join us and you'll see more on this coming up on our social media pages, the Voices for Voices on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, wherever you consume content, as well as future podcasts.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And to be here a couple years later, where I'm sure other class members and their projects haven't continued, the fact that yours continued means that you kept that interest in that topic and do want to, not just complete the class project, but also continue to make a difference in the community.

Wayne Nieman:

Yeah, there are many elements of it that keeps us involved more than just the mental health aspect of it. It's just we have a great group of people that we enjoy working together with. The last year has been a little tough. At our last meeting, we discussed that we want to start meeting in person again just for that fellowship aspect of it, but then the service of your community and everything. Some of us live or work in the Hudson community. That's how you are a part of Leadership Hudson, so the ability to give back to our community is also really important to all of us.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Great. Maybe related to mental health, maybe not, when did you realize that you both wanted to use your voices to help others, whether it is in mental health or maybe other aspects, maybe in your personal lives, that that's something that you've always liked to do, that you've always gravitated to that? Just curious on both your inputs.

Wayne Nieman:

Yeah. Well, what really started for me and, really, for our group, I'll touch upon the group first, and then we can talk about personally, I think, part of the Leadership Hudson experience is a monthly class where every different month is themed based on something in the city. And the education day, where we visited the schools and met with the students of all of the different schools in Hudson, specifically Western Reserve and Hudson High School.

And seeing their struggles with stress and anxiety, and all of the pressure that was put on them to perform at a high level, was really impactful, I think, to a lot of us. And when we would have our reflection time and our discussions afterwards, and as we just started to, "Hey, what's our class project going to be?" we really kept referring back to how impactful that day was.

In Hudson, it's an upper-middle-class to upper-class neighborhood. Many think that these children have a pass, and that is not true at all. Seeing the struggles that they get to perform at a high level, whether it's their academics, their athletics, just all the pressures that they have from society was really, really impactful for us, and we saw a real need to address a stigma surrounded from mental health.

That's what really started for me. I have a background in teaching in the inner city, so it was a whole different world for me to see that, and then working with the Boy Scouts, what I do now, really opened up my eyes to seeing the struggles that our youth go through at times from mental health's impact, something that maybe I had blinders to or just wasn't aware of what was going on.

So that one specific day, there have been many things in life, but we all really drew back to that one specific day and how impactful it was as a group, so I can speak upon that. I don't know, Jake, if you have things, especially personally, and you do this for a living, so I know it's really important to you, right?

Jake Protivnak:

Yeah, I'll just add, mental health issues don't discriminate based on ZIP code or socioeconomic status. It doesn't matter where you live or what community you're in, there's depression, there's anxiety, there's addiction issues. And so in some communities, maybe things are more open. Maybe in other communities, things may be a little bit more hidden, but mental health issues exist, and people need support for them.

Justin Alan Hayes:

You bet.

Jake Protivnak:

I'll just add when you ... I really liked your question about, "When did you realize you wanted to use your voice?" So growing up, I had a father that struggled with mental health issues, and experiencing that as a kid, it piqued my interest because I wanted to understand what was happening in my family, and also how that impacted me, what's going on for myself as well.

So I remember heading off to college, and I thought I wanted to be a business major. I thought, "That seems like a responsible career, and I think I could make money at that." And I go to college, and I took a freshman psychology course, and for me, I was hooked. Taking that course with that particular professor felt like a door was opened to help me understand what I had seen growing up, and also for some of the issues that I was continuing to struggle with.

And so part of it was, I liked those psychology courses because I felt like I was better understanding myself, in some ways trying to maybe even fix myself. And then moving through that, there was a natural progression where I wanted to then take what I found to be beneficial for myself, and then being able to ... I wanted to share that with others.

And so then I went from there, to getting my master's in counseling, and then doctorate. And then I've worked for Youngstown State university as the director of the counseling program for the past 16 years. And so in that role, I'm able to train future clinical mental health counselors, addiction counselors, school counselors, student affairs professionals, some of them who work in career services, with that mental health counseling foundation that's just applied through different settings.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, I guess to add onto your experience, with COVID, have you seen, with your students, a big shift in interest in mental health, an interest in the program? I'm just curious from a grassroots level of, we hear a lot of overall macro information, but to hear, okay, boots on the ground, what have you seen?

Jake Protivnak:

So there is a significant increase in mental health issues since COVID, but those mental health issues have been increasing before COVID. So there was an increase in rates of anxiety and depression prior to COVID, and then with folks being forced to maybe quarantine, stay home, there's also a lot of fear with what's happening with COVID, but also with what's happening politically and socially and culturally. There can be increased conflict within the family based on a number of different hot-button issues. There's also fears regarding jobs and work and career.

So there's a lot of that going on, and so certainly, the issues are increasing. I'm seeing it also with students, students not just at the college level, but also students at a elementary level, or middle school or high school level, struggling over the past year and a half. And so there's certainly a need for more individuals who have interest in helping people with mental health issues.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And the part I like about mental health is, no matter what anybody says, we all have mental health, we just might have various degrees, as myself, having major depression and generalized anxiety disorder, there are days where things go well, and there's other days where I feel like a panic attack is coming on, and that's even with four years of counseling and a five-day inpatient stay, medication.

And again, I think for our listeners out there that may be curious and say, "What's all this talk about mental health? I don't have mental health. It doesn't affect me," I think what you said was beautiful, saying that it affects everybody at various levels. But not only does it affect the individual, but affects their family, and I think the experience that you gave with your family, I think, shows that great, because I think so often, individuals think, "Oh, it's just that individual," but like military, if somebody has shipped off for a period of time on a deployment, the family still has to function as a family and continue on.

And so while the family member is being deployed, the family still has to keep things together, and so it's affecting them one way or another. And same thing with mental health, that some days, we may be stressed. Some days, maybe less. Maybe certain environments. I know when I was going through ... actually, right prior to my five-day inpatient day, driving was tough. I remember meeting my now-wife for dinner and having to pull over because I was getting dizzy and my heart was racing. I remember going into grocery stores and having to literally just walk out, the sensations of the lights and I'm not sure what else, that scare [inaudible 00:16:43] about going to the grocery store.

It's just something we do, and seeing just firsthand how the little things that a lot of us, we just take for granted, how when they started to affect me, I think that was a point when I started to think that, okay, again, to your point, it doesn't matter where you live, doesn't matter what you do, your ethnicity, socioeconomic status, the fact that we're human beings, it, it being mental health, does affect us.

Wayne Nieman:

Yeah, one thing we really discuss in reducing the stigma is, if you're sick, you go to the doctor. You get a physical every year, you go to the gym three times a week to make sure that your physical health is in shape, and really getting people ... If one person could look at mental health the same as [inaudible 00:17:35] of our group, that would be a success to us.

Jake Protivnak:

I agree. One thing that stood out to me when you were sharing that experience that you had is the importance for us to have compassion for others and people that we don't know. I was in a grocery store the other day, and it was crowded, and there was a woman who I could tell was just-

Wayne Nieman:

Distraught.

Jake Protivnak:

Was upset and was becoming more and more frustrated because people weren't moving their carts along fast enough. And my first thought was, "That person should calm down," but then my second thought was, "I'm just going to move out of the way. I don't know what's going on in that person's life, and who knows what's going on? And that person has someplace where they need to be," and-

Justin Alan Hayes:

You bet.

Jake Protivnak:

And I just think having compassion is important.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah. Great. What was the most challenging or toughest part of your State of Mind: Hudson's journey today, and how do you think maybe some of our listeners may be able to relate in their own lives?

Wayne Nieman:

I think Jake and I can really touch on this from different aspects. One thing that we do as a group, we're all really busy people, we all function in our own bubbles to an extent over the last year, and we all have different strengths. So I do a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff for the group, the not-fun stuff, file our insurance and taxes, and help with some fundraising aspects; a lot of administrative work.

This is a boring answer, but a lot of the struggle initially was just getting us on the books as a nonprofit organization, figuring out what our structure's going to be, making sure that we were insured for all of our events. It seemed to be that forming what we wanted to do, once we got an idea, we had so many ideas. Maybe it was difficult, but that was also fun. I don't find that as much difficult.

So from my aspect, just a lot of the red tape that we had to do, because we want to make sure that we're official and we are kosher with the IRS, because we fundraise, because the more money we raise for our organization, the more we can reinvest into the mental health, into our mission, and that's something that was a struggle for us. It seemed like every month, something that we didn't realize we had to do would come up and I was filing paperwork. So that was something that stood out for me. I know that's a boring answer, but that's my answer.

Justin Alan Hayes:

No, not at all. Not at all.

Jake Protivnak:

I've worked with a number of different people in different groups, and I found working with Wayne and the other board members of State of Mind: Hudson to be wonderful, and to not really be challenging. And I know that there were, and there are, small things along the way, things that, as a board, we have to sort out, and discuss, and figure out for our organization.

              But the most important thing, the thing that could have derailed us three years ago, coming up with the vision, where we wanted to go, and then all of us working together on it, that came together well through that process. And so for that, it was wonderful. So I think maybe for some other groups, that might be challenging, but for us, it wasn't. It seemed like it just fit together so well.

Wayne Nieman:

What were some of the other ideas that we had? We had a fishbowl approach, like everyone come with 10 ideas. My idea was to pick a cause, whether that's mental health, or helping kids, and do a golf outing and just go make the money. That was my idea because that's what I do for a living. That's where I can help. I raise money for a living. There was some pretty fun ideas, I think, to try and help the community.

Jake Protivnak:

One of the other ideas was about a trolley that could go through Hudson to pick people up and take them to different places. So we could have gone in a number of different directions. I still like the trolley idea.

Wayne Nieman:

The trolley was a great idea.

Justin Alan Hayes:

That's neat.

Jake Protivnak:

I'll just add one more thing to that. So with this, one thing that I think was helpful, and maybe a quality that our group had, or has, is the initiative to move forward and not necessarily be perfect.

Wayne Nieman:

Yeah, we don't get caught up in minutia, right?

Jake Protivnak:

Right.

Wayne Nieman:

It seems to ... yeah.

Jake Protivnak:

Yeah, and so as a professor, I also tell my students that you need to move forward, you need to try things that you need to be doing to develop these skills, and if you're so concerned about making a mistake and being perfect, you're going to be paralyzed. You're not going to accomplish anything or do anything.

And so I think people can fear failure, but on the flip side, I think people can also fear success and what happens if we are successful. And then now there's more pressure on me, and I've got to keep going forward, and so it's like you can get stuck. But I think for our group, we're not afraid to fail, and I don't think we're afraid of succeeding. We're just wanting to move forward and do good in our community.

Wayne Nieman:

Exactly.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Good. So what I've found personally is overcoming adversity, just in general, is very, very difficult. And again, you can take those two approaches of moving forward and what happens if there's success, "What do I do next?" and the added pressure. And then the flip side of, "I don't want to move forward, because what if it's not perfect, and what if I find out down the road that I could have did this one thing and I didn't do it?"

              And I've been guilty of it myself, and I can totally relate of just that fear of failure, that fear of rejection, even being in class and having a student really ask a question and question me. I'm like, "I'm the instructor. I should know all the answers. They're looking to me." And so even that was something at the outset eight years ago, that I had to just get over myself and just accept that if I didn't have the answer, that I would look into it, get them the best answer that I could, and move forward.

And I think that that's great for our listeners to really hear that, that no matter what they're doing in their lives, that, at some point, you just need to move forward. Maybe something isn't working, so you maybe turn a different route and see how that goes. And so personally, that's what I've seen. So with that, how is your organization, State of Mind: Hudson, helping others overcome adversity and prepare for the future, and the things you've done in the past and some things that you may be thinking for the future?

Jake Protivnak:

So change is challenging, and we're moving into a season when people may be coming up with resolutions, things that they want to have different in their life, goals that they want to have, and so it's difficult to make a large change in your life, it can be challenging to make a small change in your life.

And so when I think about helping people make change, for me, it's beneficial to think of where a person is at in that change process. And there's a model, it's called the Transtheoretical Stages of Change model, and basically, what it is, it's just a way of conceptualizing where you're at in the change process.

And so it's a pretty simple model. You could say that you are either in the pre-contemplation stage, meaning that you're not even aware that you need to make a change in your life; you are in the contemplation stage, which means it's starting to think about it, "Maybe I need to do something differently"; you're in the preparation stage, so now I'm starting to prepare; or you're in the action stage, doing it, trying to get that motivation to move forward; or you are in the maintenance stage.

And so if you think about exercise, because that's a typical new year's resolution for a lot of people, "I don't need to exercise," pre-contemplation, "I'm perfect how I am." Contemplation, "I'm getting older. Maybe I need to start walking or doing something." Preparation, "I'm going to ... maybe I'll get myself some new shoes, but I'm not ready to walk yet." So I got my shoes. Action, "I got to get that motivation, get myself off the couch, take the dog out, go for a walk." And then maintenance is, "How do I keep this up in June," or probably more accurately, end of January, beginning of February.

Wayne Nieman:

February.

Jake Protivnak:

So when we think about how can an organization, how can a person, help other folks through that change process, you got to think about, okay, where are other individuals? And so with State of Mind: Hudson, a number of our activities or interventions in the community may have addressed some of those different places where people are at. So for example, we started in 2019, we did a number of workshops in the community at local businesses.

Wayne Nieman:

A lot. It was three a day for five days, right?

Jake Protivnak:

It was.

Wayne Nieman:

Or just about? Yeah, it was a long week.

Jake Protivnak:

Yeah, workshops on relationship issues, parenting, anxiety, depression.

Wayne Nieman:

There was an addiction one, I believe.

Jake Protivnak:

Addiction.

Wayne Nieman:

Yes.

Jake Protivnak:

Domestic violence, suicide prevention, grief, so just a number of different ... managing stress, supporting children with special needs, compassion fatigue, which is healthcare providers who are then becoming worn out from taking care of other people. So when you think of those types of topics, a number of those were focused on conscious-raising activities, or raising-awareness activities, for some individuals who may not be aware that there's a particular issue, and now I'm learning about it, or it's an issue in my life, or in my family's life.

And so with State of Mind: Hudson, some of our activities were focused on raising awareness, but there's other activities that are meeting people who are already aware, and they're thinking about, "I need to make a change." And so for example, this past year, we put together a resource page, and actually, the first year, we also put together a resource card, a wallet card, with the most important phone numbers. Something you keep in your wallet, you give it to someone else, and if you're in this area, here's important phone numbers.

But the resource page that we put together this year listed all of the mental health providers in Hudson, and there really wasn't anything like that in Hudson or in ... I haven't seen it in other communities. So if you're already contemplating, "I need to make a change," and you're starting to prepare, or you're just ready to take action, but you're unsure of where to go to get that help, we wanted to provide something along that way, along that path.

Wayne Nieman:

Yeah, I really think my favorite thing that we did, especially the first year, was really get our voice out into the community, providing these seminars at places of business, at different organizations, and within already-built-in audiences, so that was pretty cool. We learned some lessons as far as, maybe some people would be hesitant to attend certain seminars based off of the names of them.

So we wanted to make sure that we named them a little bit better, let them know that, okay, this is a safe place where we can go to get information. But that was my favorite part, just getting out into the community instead of having it in maybe a church basement or something like that. We had it at Callahan's Carpet on the floor there at the bike shop in town. It was a really unique setting. So it was a lot of fun to come do those things and really get out into the community.

Jake Protivnak:

So yeah, and I think the intention for our group, and I think it's a good perspective for other groups or other individuals, is to try to meet people where they're at. And so as Wayne mentioned, we wanted to schedule, and we scheduled, our activities at local businesses and local organizations within Hudson.

And so the Learned Owl Bookshop, Ohio Organics, The Brain Center, Estrela Consulting, a number of churches in the community, Hudson United Methodist, Christchurch Episcopal, Hope Community, Saint Mary's, First Congregational, the Montessori School, the Hudson High School. So just a number of places where individuals already feel comfortable, and they're not going to some other organization or some business where they don't know where to park, they don't know where to get in-

Wayne Nieman:

You know where the front door is, you can walk right in.

Jake Protivnak:

Right. Yeah, so you're already comfortable going to Callahan's Carpet and Tile, so why don't you go there and hear a speaker who talks about, who will speak on, addiction issues? And so the hope was to provide a comfortable setting where folks could have those conversations. The second piece of that is leaning into some of the social influence, meaning mental health issues can be something that folks don't talk about.

Maybe we're not sure that that's something that some people want to think about, but these businesses in town are opening their doors, and they're showing that this is something we're willing to talk about and host. And so it's almost a little bit of that community peer pressure, where you are saying that we're accepting it as a community, so you might be able to accept it and talk about these issues and seek help, if you could.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And I think that was going to be my next question, was how receptive the businesses, because I think that's important too. An organization like yours can want to do specific things and have specific goals to make, but having businesses accept that, which is just hard to do as an individual, I know it took me over 30 years for just myself to accept that I needed help, so for organizations to open their doors with open arms is great to hear.

And I love for more communities and more businesses to do that, because I love how you go to where the individuals are already comfortable going, where they know where to park or they know where the front door is. Little things like that, that some of us [inaudible 00:34:16] like, "Oh, okay. Well, who cares about that?"

Well, it kind of makes a difference when you're going somewhere where you might not be sure like, "Okay, should I continue going or not?" and so you want to have those roadblocks, whatever the level they may be, as low or as removed as possible. And I'd love if you had five a day for three days, or three for five, that's awesome that you had that type of acceptance in the community. Did that blow you away, or is that just expected, or-

Wayne Nieman:

I can't say it blew me away, to be honest with you, because the city of Hudson's a very giving community. I can say that I don't specifically work in Hudson, I oversee a territory, and the opportunity to get involved in Leadership Hudson, I chose that because of how giving and how supportive Hudson has always been to my efforts and what I do professionally.

So knowing that these people supported an effort of Leadership Hudson was not a huge surprise, at least for me, having worked with them in fundraising efforts before and other efforts before, but seeing it was still heartwarming, and how welcome they were to let us, during business hours, have these seminars, and to put their names specifically on something, as we advertise it in the community.

Dealing With Anxiety, hosted by Callahan's Carpet. We keep bringing them up because it's the one that ... I oversaw and was the monitor of that session that night, so that's the one I always remember. But having their name specifically tied also brought some legitimacy of what we were trying to do, I think.

Jake Protivnak:

So the first year, in 2019, we put on these workshops, and co-sponsored by businesses. It was a unique idea. Even approaching the business, if you asked if they were receptive, and basically, we said, "Well, we'd like to have a workshop in the middle of your store," and, "Do you have tables? Chairs? Could we bring some? And we're going to have a speaker, we can promote it. That might drive some folks to your business, but basically, you are going to be supporting this event."

I don't think anyone had asked them to do something like that before, and I had not seen that done, but it made sense, and so the folks were, for the majority of the businesses that we approached, they were supportive. And I guess going back to maybe what we talked about earlier, about not worrying about being perfect, I guess I figured if they weren't interested, we would go to the next business.

Wayne Nieman:

The next [inaudible 00:37:02].

Jake Protivnak:

Then the next one, and it's okay if folks aren't-

Wayne Nieman:

And then as I was going to say, not being perfect too, I don't think anyone cared about, "We need 40 people at these." It was, "If we have someone attend, and you reach one person," and we had good attendance, which was a nice other side of that, but every one that I attended was engaging.

Whether there was 4 people or 30 people, there was engaging, impactful, and important, even for myself, so that's what was really beneficial about it. And then we give back to the community by putting people on the showroom of these businesses, tying them to something good. And there was no cash exchanged in any way. It was all pro bono on their part, so that was a lot of fun for us.

Jake Protivnak:

So first year, in-person trainings, that was in 2019. 2020, during COVID, we shifted online primarily to webinars, to having speakers come in and do webinars, and so we had some on the impact of mental health for individuals who were involved in sports, parenting skills, done by a local school counselor and a retired school counselor. We were able to get the Ohio director of mental health and addiction services to do a webinar on resources, mental health resources, for individuals in Ohio. And for the webinars, we put them through our Facebook page-

Justin Alan Hayes:

Okay, [inaudible 00:38:41].

Jake Protivnak:

Our State of Mind: Hudson Facebook page, which was great, but what was also, in addition, exciting, we were able to partner with Hudson Community Television, and so those webinars were then broadcast on the local television station. And so if you didn't watch online live, or if you didn't watch it later on Facebook, if you were flipping through your local cable channels, you might pick up one of these speakers doing a webinar on one of these topics. So we didn't want to, I guess, be paralyzed in 2020 and not do anything, but we had to pivot. But we did have an in-person event in 2020, and that was a yoga event that was done at ... I think that was done Hudson Montessori School.

Wayne Nieman:

I should know this, but I don't remember right now. [inaudible 00:39:37].

Jake Protivnak:

Yeah, so the idea-

Wayne Nieman:

I thought it was at Case-Barlow.

Jake Protivnak:

I think it was originally supposed to be at Case-Barlow, and then it shifted to Hudson Montessori, if I recall. So 2020, primarily online, and then in 2021, still even not sure, can we do something in person, or does it have to be on online? And we had those discussions, and we decided to do something, do some activities, in person.

We went back to some of the businesses that were helpful our first year. And instead of doing a workshop, like a 60-minute workshop, we wanted to have a meet and meet-and-greet of a local mental health professional. So you're not going for a workshop. You're showing up, and there's a person at a table, and they have resources, but they're from your community. They probably work a mile down the road, And you are walking by them, you can ask them any question, and now you know someone-

Justin Alan Hayes:

That's right.

Jake Protivnak:

That, if you need to get support, they're five minutes away, either for you, for a family member, for a friend. And so it was trying to make those connections, natural connections, with folks here in Hudson.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Fantastic. I feel like we could talk all day. It's so fascinating to have both of you here today. How can those in our listening audience find out more and stay up to date with State of Mind: Hudson?

Wayne Nieman:

Well, the first thing you can do is follow us on Facebook. Facebook State of Mind: Hudson. State of Mind, colon, Hudson. Pretty easy to find. Our logo's on there with the clock tower and the green ribbon. That's really where we push out all of our material. Right now, our contact information is on there. We post on there pretty much weekly, and every year, we do our week of programming, I believe it's the first week in October. So keep an eye out for that. But yes, like us on Facebook, State of Mind: Hudson, and keep up with everything we put on there. That's our main method of communication at the moment. Jake, am I forget anything?

Jake Protivnak:

That's it.

Justin Alan Hayes:

All right. Is there anything that we didn't cover today, that you want to make sure that we fit in here?

Jake Protivnak:

Sure. So I think for your listeners, when you think about, "How can I help others?" and one of the best things that you can do is look for those opportunities to build relationships with others. It's a theme of, I think, a lot of what State of Mind: Hudson tries to do. Build those relationships and then, when and where appropriate, offer that support.

So when you think about those relationships, it's what can you do within your immediate family, your extended family, your neighborhood, your coworkers, with your coworkers, and then within your community? And so try to be aware of when you're having an interaction during the day with someone who you might be able to provide that support to. So the support, but then also knowing the resources.

And so for example, in Hudson, we have a number of specific resources that we were able to provide and continue to provide. For example, a community resource coordinator that addresses food and housing insecurity, and that's supported through the Hudson Ministerial Association. Hudson EMS and Police can be a resource if and when someone's identified in a crisis situation. Hudson School District also has a safe help line for non-crisis needs.

So knowing, in your community, whichever community you're in, what are those unique resources within your community, then in your broader area? For example, here in Summit County, the Summit County Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board website is an excellent resource, and their website is www, admboard.org. There's a variety of resources for children, adults, mental health and addiction issues.

If you go to that one website, you're going to click on that, and then you're going to click on the resource tab, you're going to see all of the different resources. The one phone number that's good to have in your phone is the crisis line, the Summit County crisis line, and that's 330-434-9144, the Summit County crisis line.

And then then looking outside of your community, and another really important number that you should always know, and that's the suicide prevention hotline, and that number is 1-800-273-8255. And so having your local crisis line number, having your national suicide prevention number, and then knowing your local resources, are ways to be prepared when an opportunity presents itself.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Wow. Thank you so much for being here, Wayne and Jake. I know our listeners are going to find this podcast episode very helpful, and I ask them to please check out State of Mind: Hudson on their Facebook page to like their Facebook page, and keep up to date with events and everything that is going to be moving as the organization continues to move forward and grow.

Jake Protivnak:

Thank you for having us. It was a pleasure.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Thanks. You bet.

Wayne Nieman:

Thank you, Justin.

Justin Alan Hayes:

This has been The House of You official podcast sponsored by Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us as we explore mental health and the workplace. Our team at The House of You is dedicated to supporting folks as they prepare for a fulfilling career, while thriving on their mental health and wellness journey. For more information, please visit our website at thehouseofyou.com, and check out our book series, available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible, or anywhere you consume content. Until next time, I am Justin Alan Hayes, and we're so excited you're here.

Please donate to Voices for Voices, a 501c3 nonprofit charity today at: https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop/p/donate

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