Up To It Parenting
Welcome to "Up To It Parenting," where we help youth, adults, and organizations connect deeply, communicate effectively, and thrive together. This father and son podcast tackles the tough topics that some parents shy away from. Join hosts Jamal and Zion as they explore everything under the sun, from young men's mental health to engaging in healthy relationships and embracing your true authentic self. As a father and son team, Jamal and Zion bring a unique perspective to the podcast, offering insights from both a parental and adolescent point of view. Through their candid and open conversations, they aim to provide a safe and informative space for listeners to learn and grow together. Whether you're a parent looking to connect with your son, a single mother or caregiver in need of support, or a young man trying to find your place in the world, "Up To It Parenting" has something for everyone. Tune in each week as Jamal and Zion take on the taboo topics and help listeners become more informed, productive, and confident members of society.
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Up To It Parenting
Who's Actually Listening to Your Teen?
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Imagine a space between parenting and professional therapy—a "thriving zone" where young people can speak freely, build confidence, and learn to navigate life's complexities with guidance from someone who's been there. That's precisely what Chris Coulter has created with MentorWell, and his journey to founding this innovative mentorship program is as powerful as the impact it's having on youth worldwide.
Chris joins us from Toronto to share how personal tragedy became the catalyst for his mission. After losing his 14-year-old daughter to suicide in 2015 and weathering both business failure and divorce, Chris turned his grief into purpose. "For the first five years, I could barely do anything," he reveals, describing the fog of grief that eventually lifted and allowed him to recognize a critical gap in youth support services.
What makes MentorWell unique is its approach to emotional intelligence and resilience. Chris introduces us to the concept of "measuring backwards"—teaching youth to acknowledge how far they've come rather than focusing solely on distant goals. By capturing daily wins, no matter how small, young people develop confidence and momentum. "It's just about moving forward a little bit and building momentum, but capturing it and celebrating it," Chris explains.
The program creates a confidential space where youth can speak openly without fear of judgment or immediate problem-solving—something many parents struggle to provide despite their best intentions. "So many parents go, 'Oh, I'm a mentor for my kid,' and I go, 'No, you're not. Your kid tells you what you want to hear,'" Chris notes with characteristic candor.
Whether you're a parent concerned about your child's emotional wellbeing, an educator looking for additional resources, or someone passionate about youth development, this conversation offers fresh perspectives on mentorship's power to transform lives. Visit TheMentorWell.com to learn more about this growing global initiative that's building bridges between generations and giving youth the guidance they need to thrive.
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Summer Friday Introduction
Speaker 2yo what's up , what's up , what's up up . It's summertime , summer summertime .
Speaker 1And it's Friday , man . It don't get any better than this , right .
Speaker 2Oh right , exactly exactly . Especially , especially when you know we have some great , a great guest . But , that makes it fun for Friday . You know what I mean Instead of me just talking to you all the time .
Speaker 1What are you trying to say ? You're trying to say you're tired of talking to me . We have something else to talk about . Come on , man .
Speaker 2Right , right . I'm really excited about today , man , but how are you doing ?
Speaker 1Man , I am doing extremely well . We just got back from a speaking tour you saw that , you knew about that With our friends at 518 . We were in the state of arkansas , the southwest side , so we hit up , uh , the queen , arkansas , camden , arkansas , hope , arkansas . Then we even hit a texture canna real quick and , um , we had a blast . It was a monday through saturday . Oh , I didn't even say that . So we hit arkansas , uh , monday through friday . Friday caught a plane from Dallas to Florida and then presented to Florida Saturday came home Saturday night , man , I was road running .
Speaker 2Yes , sir , you're on the move , you're on the move . And then for myself , yeah , I was just doing some suicide intervention training , assist training last week , I think , last two days and then did some speaking at a conference regarding suicide prevention and awareness . So , yeah , man , so we've been doing it , we've been doing it , but anyway , man , we got somebody backstage that we got to bring in so we can help , you know , maybe share some information and bring awareness , you know , about mental health . Right , is that ? Is that what we're doing here ?
Speaker 1A hundred percent and the reason why we're bringing on this guest specifically . It was a LinkedIn connection that we've made and he commented on one of the articles that I that I wrote called just about mentorship . It was about mentorship and I'm excited for him to come through and talk to us a little bit more about mentorship and his journey with creating this organization , and he goes by the name of Chris , and Chris is our Canadian friends up north man , so everybody , thanks so much for Chris .
Speaker 3Hey , just because I am your Canadian friend , Canada , we call you Zed , not Z .
Speaker 1Zed oh , there we go , I like that , I like that actually All right Getting named from around the world .
Speaker 2Take it .
Speaker 1We'll take it .
Speaker 3And it depends on how the podcast goes today , because I could be calling you other things 100% .
Speaker 1We'll make sure we keep it friendly , then that's what that means Exactly , Exactly right . I love it , chris . Well , tell us a little bit more man about you and who you are .
Speaker 2Yes , what you got going on Chris .
Speaker 3Well , chris Coulter and I am in Toronto , canada , and my life has been a journey , especially the last 15 years , full of entrepreneurship , lots of heartbreak , but then also transforming pain into
Meet Chris Coulter from Toronto
Speaker 3purpose and ultimately being able to overcome , like some pretty traumatic grief , and be able to help , help people save lives .
Speaker 3And and that's that's what we're trying to do , we're trying to , we're trying to save people's lives , try to save families , make kids thrive , and we do it through mentorship and it's been . It's been about six months since I I started with my business partner . Uh , I shared with her same thing as , as us see , we had a linkedin conversation and she was a canadian living in switzerland , she loved whoa , she loved my idea and said I love this , even though I haven't been really formally touched by mental health challenges . She said she had two teenagers and she knows it's on her horizon and anyway , we just we hit it off . We have this shared vision and purpose . She's a lawyer by trade and executive coach and a mindfulness teacher , and I'm just this bald guy who just wants to change the world .
Speaker 1I love it . And then when we talk about bald , my dad , he always says it was by choice . Was yours by choice , Chris , too Hell yeah , I think that led to my .
Speaker 3I don't know if it's called choice or inevitability .
Speaker 2Well . I would definitely choose , and you know what .
Speaker 3I think that may have led to the started the demise of my marriage , because I could just see the expression on her face when I went from having this I'll call it a really bad comb over to just ditching it and saying , man , this is the new me , I think that grounds for an annulment .
Speaker 2It's so good , Definitely . So yeah , I was wondering . So tell us . So . How was it growing up in Toronto ? What's the weather like , what's the culture you share ?
Speaker 3a little bit about that and it was a very homogeneous environment , like I had very little exposure to anything until I went away to university and you grow up in a very sheltered way when you don't have exposure to that . And Toronto now is very different . It is , like this , very cosmopolitan , very diverse ethnically , but in Toronto we kind of embrace all cultures . We don't have like the melting pot in the US . We have what we call a cultural mosaic , which basically we celebrate from where people come from , because US and Canada are relatively young compared to the rest of the world and so if , yeah , we can go back like three , four generations , but it's not uncommon to see people who are first generation Canadians and they bring all these rituals which , honestly , is such a vibrant part of our community . And it's a beautiful thing and you learn so much by living in your own city , sometimes because of the diverse nature of all the people in it .
Speaker 1Man , that's so good .
Speaker 2I like that cultural mosaic . I like that a lot .
Speaker 3I'm going to have to borrow that Well , I wish I coined it . I think someone beat me to it a long time ago .
Speaker 1I love it . So , chris , when we talk about this podcast , this podcast is for youth and families that want to get more involved and want to have a stronger connection with their students , and so , with that being said , I wanted to ask you what was probably one of the toughest things about just parenting that maybe you didn't know or didn't know and now you know , and just give the audience a little bit in on that parenting model and style .
Speaker 3Well , I think in talking to parenting , you also have to talk to marriage too , right ? And you got to kind of have a shared song sheet that you're both singing from . It's not that we didn't , it's just it . It changes and , and , and , and and . I'll take my role and responsibility for , for my part , in the failure of my marriage . But and and guys aren't the best communicators , typically . I think , if I can , if I can say one area I've really changed over the last 15 years , it's been how much more I value communication and so parenting . So I have three kids , as I like to refer to it , two boys and an angel .
Speaker 3I lost my . I lost my 14 year old daughter , who was my eldest child , maddie , to suicide in 2015 . And man , it's , it was . I don't know how I got through the last 10 years . It was , it was brutal . I almost didn't make through it a couple of times and , uh , the thing that kept me going was my was parenting , and I was always very involved with my kids . I coached high , high level hockey for both my boys teams . My daughter was a swimmer and we encouraged them all to participate , because I firmly believe that athletics and exercise is such an important part of emotion , of maintaining our mental health . As they say , exercise is the best form of antidepressant , right ? So , uh , so it's . You're gonna have to divide my parenting from kind of before my loss and after my loss , because before my loss , I think I was a pretty .
Speaker 3I had I had a successful business for a number of years . We had 70 employees , but at the end of the day , we lost our shirt in the 2008 financial crisis and we ended up shutting down our business in 2010 , which is an unsettling part of what you have to expose your family to . It's the reality of
Parenting, Marriage and Loss
Speaker 3hard knocks and adversity , and I think the problem with today , with so many kids , is they're sheltered by so much stuff and the reality of our world . It can be cruel sometimes and if we don't share what the world's really like , we're leading them up , we're leading them down the pathway to not being successful or to have these elevated expectations with no ability to uh , deal with adversity in a , in a , in a responsible way . So it's that that is been , um , that's been a really eyeopening experience for me .
Speaker 3When I , when we lost Maddie for the first five years , I , I could barely do anything . I , I , I , I cause . I own my own business . I was . I needed to get out of bed . It wasn't a choice I didn't have . I have bills , don't go away , right ? Uh ? So I forced myself and somehow managed to to make it make it through , somehow managed to to make it make it through . But there's a lot of ups and downs , and and grief , as everyone says , grief is a very unpredictable and . Uh , there's , there's , there's not a definitive timeline with grief , especially a traumatic loss , and and and . The other thing I also learned about grief was the fact we just don't grieve the loss of something . We grieve the loss of things , whether it's making a sports team or whether it's , if you're a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey fan , used to 58 years of incompetence .
Speaker 1I know I was about to say , Chris , why are you letting these Florida guys win the Stanley Cup back-to-back Hold on ?
Speaker 3Let's not talk about that , okay . All I'll say is most of their team are Canadian there we go .
Speaker 1There's the secret .
Speaker 2The secret sauce right there you know what .
Speaker 3It's been a really crazy journey for the first five , six years , and then what happens and what I was able to do . I was able to write . I wanted to share what I was going through because the other thing is so many other people that haven't been through what I have been through . Grief is really misunderstood . People don't understand it . In some cases , people are really afraid of it , so they tend to cower away from you . Right , I had like really great friends who I love and I know love me , and yet they kind of went silent . They disappeared , because grief takes on this whole new world of misunderstanding , and so a lot of it was how do people who go through loss , how do they want to be treated ? And so it was like an education process for hey , supporting friends and family to have gone through traumatic loss . This is what you should do and , of course , sharing our story with about maddie and her trials and trip in her battle with depression and ultimately losing her , and it scares the hell out of a lot , of a lot of families .
Speaker 3And so I would get , I would post , post my very raw and real stories and anecdotes about where we had come from , and I would get these private messages from parents going man , thank you , you're talking about stuff and this is 15 years ago or 10 years ago and a lot of people weren't talking about that . There was still that kind of taboo discussion . But it created this sense of community and I went wow , there are so many other parents who are living through these challenges . And the other aspect about it is there's a huge amount of shame associated with it . Right , and it could be a shame on behalf of a kid or I don't know .
Speaker 3Mental health has always been one of those sticky subjects that people are either comfortable talking about or most of them are , and they don't and they don't understand it . So , um , I , I , I kind of shared my heart and I shared my story and it was kind of welcome and embraced . Um , because of the fact that it was , it was so , it was , there were so many people who were also going through obviously not the same challenges that we had experienced , but they were afraid that it was going down that path . Yeah , so , um , so , so that was the first five , six years , and then year six , something happens like the brain fog and everything else kind of starts to lift and you go from wow , I can actually start to think a little bit again , and you go through this process where you go . I've got a million things that are going to fix the system and I want to execute on all of them today .
Speaker 1Right right .
Speaker 3And the whole adage about you . Focus on everything , you accomplish nothing .
Speaker 1And so .
Speaker 3I had these . Oh hey , I'm doing this , I'm doing that and people are probably like , oh , this is really great . And then they go oh , here's another one of Chris's make-believe stories . He's going to try to deliver .
Speaker 2Right , right right .
Speaker 3And so that was probably for about two , three years and then , all of a sudden , I kind of took a step back and I said I've got some really good ideas , but what are the one or two things that are really really important and they're going to move the needle ? And that's where that's where I came up with the idea of MentorWell , and it's an online mentoring program for kids and young adults that primarily looks at building confidence in kids . It's about kind of teaching resilience . It's about helping them with direction . Resilience it's about helping them with direction and they really the important thing and I feel this is the real kind of difference maker for us is focusing on the elements emotional intelligence , as kids don't learn and don't have the basic understanding of what EQ is all about , and it is the it's a greater determiner of success than IQ is .
Speaker 3And not only that but it's all about . It's about flourishing . And if it , how you look at it is , if you look at it from a glass half full perspective versus a glass half empty your , your perspective , perspective , looking at it from the exact same vantage point but from a different view , is very different . And and that's how ? Um , you know what ? Teaching kids how to measure backwards . So everyone has these ideal states where they they want to , they want to achieve we've all got . But the problem is we have these goals that are so lofty and so , in some cases , so unattainable . It really is challenging , right , that if you don't feel like you're making progress towards it , so you look at that goal
Journey Through Grief and Purpose
Speaker 3every single day and it just seems to get be further and further away . It's deflating . So I read a book , a series of books by a guy named Dan Sullivan , called the the gap in the game .
Speaker 3And what it teaches you basically to do is you look at your current state and you measure backwards how far have kids , how far have these kids come from where they started and and and , if you look at that , and and not only that , but capturing it . So my mentors , or my mentees , when I go , I want you to capture one win that you had today , and it doesn't have to be this behemoth victory , right , it can be as significant or insignificant as possible . And my whole thing is it's just about moving forward a little bit and building momentum , but capturing it and celebrating it . And I'm sure there are a lot of kids when I first talk about it , they roll their eyes . But you know what happens after 30 days , and they've got this list that they've captured since we started this exercise , and they go back and they go , wow , that's awesome .
Speaker 3Imagine what happens when you look at that list over months or years . Do you think they're going to have a pretty optimistic outlook on stuff ? But not only that , but that sense of accomplishment and that's what most people they might be super high achievers . The problem is they're not measuring backwards , they don't see where they've come from , they're only trying to see where they're trying to get to . That's where it's really deflating . So these are kind of some of the principles that we want to talk about and share and get our kids to kind of think about , because you know what it's mindset .
Speaker 1It's mindset .
Speaker 3And it's just a little shift , right . But if you look at where you're trying to get to versus where you've come , people in an instant might go . Well , I want to see where I'm going . Well , guess what , it's not that great if you're not there .
Speaker 2So that's so good . Yeah , I mean , one of the things I want to say first , chris , is thank you for sharing and sorry for your loss and definitely everything that you're doing and hearing you , you're definitely honoring her and your family and hearing you , you're definitely honoring her and your family , thank you . So thanks for sharing that . I am curious you know you shared that 2010 is when you lost a business and you had to go back to your family and share like , hey , some things have happened . How did that , you know ? Know from a parenting standpoint , and did that rock the foundation of your family and maybe lead to some of , maybe , the depression you know , or or not ? I mean , I don't want to put words in your mouth yeah , um it , it definitely impacts .
Speaker 3Um , it impacts you as a family , because the kids , they became accustomed to doing a lot of different stuff and all of a sudden there's a shot off the bow and guess what ? Well , I'm no longer . What happened to dad's business ? Why is dad home all the time ?
Speaker 3he needs to not be here we're gonna cut off the netflix account for a while so you can get out and get us back into things um but , jamal , it's , there's a lot of shame associated with it as a , as a male right , and and you know what there's and and yeah , call it old fashioned or traditional , but there's . There's that male persona about being a provider and if you don't fulfill that , well , you know what that just kind of that that makes you really reflect and become disappointed in who you are as a provider , as a husband and as a father . And you got to do a lot of soul searching to recognize that . You know what , yeah , you were a great provider for a lot of years and and crap changes and you gotta , you gotta , you gotta roll with it and and so on the heels of that .
Speaker 3In respect to your question , jamal , I don't think that had as significant an impact as as the the divorce we went through and , I feel , our divorce it it got ugly and it didn't need to be ugly . Um , and man , when when you're , when you've already faced a bankruptcy of a business , there's not a lot of pennies in the jar , right , right , so , um , anyway , it was one of those things that and I'm trying to not only figure out how to navigate this divorce but try to get my career back on on side , and not only that , but figure out something that I really wanted to do something that I really wanted to do .
Speaker 2So , Chris , real quick .
Speaker 3So the timeline so business ends 2010 , and then divorce comes a couple of years after that .
Speaker 2January 2011 .
Speaker 3Okay , wow , one year later .
Speaker 2Okay . And then the family's still going through all of this . Your kids are seeing all this and having to deal . Okay , got you .
Speaker 3Yeah , and what I didn't share was the fact that no-transcript I was . I was way before remote working was a was a popular thing .
Speaker 2Right , so true .
Speaker 3So that that happened . So we were , only we were North of the city for less than a year before we got separated , so kind of door to door . And then when we separated , we said , are we going to stay where we are ? Are we going to move back to Toronto ? So we ended up moving back to Toronto and because at the time I thought that represented the most stable environment for the kids . But that's not always the case . Sometimes too much moving is unsettling and in the case of my daughter it proved to be pretty scary for her . Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1No , the one thing I like about mentor well and what you're doing , chris , is that , well , we have a whole up to it framework that we uh , we inform trusted adults about . So the last part of it is that we do it right . The we do it uh incorporates uh families , parents and guardians also having somebody else in that youth corner to talk to about things that maybe it's hard to talk about with mom and dad or hard to talk about with uncle , aunt and uncle , whoever that is for them . So what you're doing is providing that we call it maybe a third space for them to not have judgment , to just have somebody there to be a coach , a mentor . And what have you noticed through I mean , you just started right , like six months ago , but I know you have mentees what have you noticed and what has been the reaction from not only the youth but from the parents as well when they go through your program ?
Speaker 3Yeah , it's interesting . I've seen kids' confidence start to soar , them start to believe in themselves , where they would be asking me for kind of coaching strategies on how to deal with their parents on a situation when they get to a point where they actually feel confident to be able to tackle that with their parents on their own . I had one kid was dealing with his parents and had a really kind of contentious relationship with his mom and I said , well , what's in it ? You know ? You know , when you have those relationships that it's just like it's like putting gasoline on a fire . It was one of those types of things . It down and we and we started looking at like little .
Speaker 3Going back to what I was talking about , the measuring backwards is putting together like micro steps to be able to improve the relationship . Now , the one thing about mentor well , we have a , we have a contract with the kids . The parents pay , but we do not share . It's not about your parent enrolling you in this program because they want to hear all the dirt on you , right , you know what You're doing that because you want them to , you want them to open up and start trusting people , because the the parent thing and and I I love your diet .
Speaker 3You're too dynamic because you have a very unconventional father-son relationship right uh , just very honest , very just it's , it's , it's real and raw , and and , and the fact that you do it in a public forum is pretty crazy
The MentorWell Program Introduction
Speaker 3. So kudos to you guys we appreciate you guys you're leading an amazing example of what mentorship and what relationships are supposed to be all about . So celebrate you , guys .
Speaker 2No , thank you .
Speaker 3But the interesting thing is he started to get this confidence and then the relationship started to mend a little bit and the expectations started to start to get better and the communication started to get better . And the the communication started to get better and when he , he had this parent meeting he was supposed to have with his mom and dad I can't remember what it was about but , um , I was like , okay , text me if you need like a little bit of propping up or coaching or anything on that line . And it was supposed to happen like three o'clock and he didn't hear from him and I'm like , no , what's going on ? And then he , he didn't , he didn't call me back and went oh man , it blew up . He's going to come and ask if he could live with me .
Speaker 3But he texted me later . He said , chris , what you taught me , I used and it worked and , as a consequence , that relationship has . And the other thing is to setting expectations . Perfection is not something that you set out to accomplish . And I kind of say , listen , you know what Our kids are going to screw up , just as we screwed up you know what .
Speaker 3Don't fry their butts because of it , but give them credit for actually attempting it . And the nice part about it is that that relationship they the both the parents and the son said you know what our relationship is so much better than it was I . We don't even recognize the kid and the . And here's the other , here's the other thing . It's not just the kid , because man and I was guilty of this too , but you , you want to enforce and you want to encourage the communication . But the problem is once the , if the kid starts lowering their guard a little bit and they start to talk a bit , don't jump in and go . Oh , I got a solution for that here . I'm going to fix that problem for you . Right ?
Speaker 3that is like parenting 101 not to do yeah right your kid down in about three seconds so , and that's the whole reason behind the mentor , the mentor . Well , we want to give kids a safe space to be able to talk to , because you know what I've heard . So many parents go , oh , you know what I'm a mentor for . Many parents go , oh , you know what I'm a mentor for my kid and I go , no , you're not . Your kid tells you what you want to hear and the other aspect of things it's not . Sorry , guys , just lost my trend of thought there for a second .
Speaker 3This is a three hour podcast , right , you can edit this .
Speaker 2You're fine , you're fine . I'm wondering . So tell me a little bit more about mental wealth . So is it , is it youth mentoring youth , or adults mentoring youth ? Or I'm a little yeah , so so it's both .
Speaker 3It's I I think there are . There are peer , there's peer-to-peer which are I . I remember this in in in high school . I'd always look up to the guys who were two or three years older , right ? Or if you're graduating from from high school , it's the guys who are in university . You're graduating university , you look up to them and and that's we want to encourage that it's so that that is one piece of it .
Speaker 3The other thing is , too , if you've you've got kids who are confused , I don't know about you , but when I came out of school I was more confused than when I went in right , and I I just want kids to have a sense of direction and in being able to talk to someone . So let's say , I've got some mentors who have sold their businesses , so they've got an entrepreneurial side of things . And this kid says you know what I'm thinking , to start my own business , and I'm like don't do it . It's . It is one of those things where how awesome is it to be able to sit across from someone who's been there , done that , can share their lived experiences . And yeah , business is one thing , but it could be someone who's pursuing an athletic , like an athletic career , or someone who is looking at getting like a D1 scholarship and someone that's been there , versus some of the other different options , right ?
Speaker 3Or someone could be confused about their sexual orientation and if you've got someone who's been through that and can kind of guide , because that's something someone who's going through that challenge and confusion and not really sure of how they're supposed to , how they're supposed to navigate this journey , you can't talk . It's hard to talk to your parents about that .
Speaker 2Right , especially when they're going through with them or trying to deal with it themselves or whatever . Because one of the things I was just thinking about when you're talking about is and you mentioned it earlier just divorce , right . If there's somebody who's gone through a divorce a younger person or an older person and can share that with somebody , that that could be definitely helpful Right , especially if they're positive and it worked out well , that makes total sense . I like what you're sharing . I appreciate it , yeah .
Speaker 3So what we've got is we've got an intake form on on both parties , pat , so the mentee and the mentors , and we go . What kind of what challenges or life experiences have you had and this is more on the mentor side of things and what are you prepared to share with some , someone who wants to know ? And so it . It's really about it's kind of guiding them on their journey too , but it's a listen first , mentality and trying not to , not not to steer , but to guide , and and that's , and that's the really important premise behind
Building Confidence and Measuring Backwards
Speaker 3mentor . Well , because and the other thing too there are a lot of kids who , hey , being emotional is part of just living , right , right , and parents , parents , today they go . My god , my , my kid's been sad for two days . He must be depressed . I have to go and get him in front of a therapist , yes , and and then the kids like I'm fine , I'm having a couple of bad days right .
Speaker 3Yes , don't rewire my brain yet , right ? So there's a resistance to therapy . So , if there's a resistance to therapy , how about a non-therapy type of approach that just encourages ? You know what you can say , whatever you want . You don't have to say anything if you don't want .
Speaker 2You can say whatever you want . You don't have to say anything if you don't want . But eventually they do open up and that's kind of where that's kind of where we want to take this thing feels . As soon as somebody like you said I love your uh , your analogy of , uh , you know , just um , feeling down and sad , um , automatically they need a therapist . Or somebody shows emotion as far as anger , oh , we need to send them to a therapist .
Speaker 2And then the system gets over , overwhelmed and flooded when sometimes , a lot of times , what people , young people , just need is somebody to listen . And so , with the I said , you said , you know , with your mentorship mentor , well , the first important part is is guided by listening . And that's what young people they want to be heard , and they don't get those spaces and opportunities . So if we can set that up , we won't necessarily always have to flood the system , behavioral health system , with , you know , everybody needing therapy , not everybody , don't get me wrong . There's a place for it and it can be used and it's needed , but not for everything . So I love what you're sharing , because this is exactly , I think , that gap that people don't look into right , they jump from here to here without and you're filling that gap to say , hey , wait a minute , there's this other opportunity or space . Maybe try that , you know .
Speaker 3First point , jamal as far as , like we call that that bridge between parenting and therapy . A lot , of , a lot of parents are really afraid of that , because that's kind of when adolescence starts and there's pushback and autonomy being exercised and independence and independence . But we refer to it as the thriving zone because there's so much opportunity that you know what people look at it as problematic . We look at it as opportunity .
Speaker 3And I think it's just spinning it right and if you can get them when all this stuff is coming out of them , you have a chance to be able to not mold them but be able to kind of help them through that and come out the other side feeling much better about themselves .
Speaker 1Yes , man , I can already hear the parents in the background already talking in our comments and hitting up about where , where do I sign my kid , my kid I think my student wants this when do I get this signed up and stuff like that . Is there anything being done in in the U ? S right now ?
Speaker 2Is it virtual ? Is it ?
Speaker 3Yeah , it is virtual , but what we want to do . So we've got this mentor mentee algorithm , okay , which which basically is me in the back with a dartboard .
Speaker 1This might be a good match .
Speaker 3Let me do another shot .
Speaker 3That's two out of three , yeah , so right now , what we're doing is so we've got a , got a . We're doing it's more of a manual process . Right now . We've got the platform . We're just in the midst of kind of working through some of the the bugs and the glitches of it , and then the plan is to roll it out um , roll it across canada , want to start around toronto , roll it roll it throughout , uh , canada .
Speaker 3And then I've already got opportunities . I've got mentors and mentees that have reached out in the US . So it's not a question of if , it's a question of when . And the beauty of this is it is so scalable . I've also got people in the ? U , australia who are want to jump on board . It's just something that it just doesn't really exist . And there's a lot of confusion , right , with parents . They're like especially if their parent , if their kids , start exhibiting some strange behaviors , they're . They're like they're doing Google searches like crazy . Right , they're like okay , what's this mean ? What's this mean ? We just give them another option to be able to put their kid into a safe space .
Speaker 1I love it . That's so good . Chris man , this is awesome . I'm so glad we were able to get you on the podcast and to share more about MentorWell Like I said I already on the podcast and to share more about about mentor Well , I I I said I already hear the parents and adults just getting really giddy about this because there's something , like you said , it's a , it's a , it's a gap that hasn't been filled , but you're feeling it and this is something that that's needed internationally , not just nationally , not just internationally . So I'm so glad that you're able to get on the podcast with us . Is there , um , a website that people can go to , uh , to check out more of your stuff ?
Speaker 3Yeah , it's uh , uh the the mentor , wellcom the mental worldcom the mentor Well okay , and and , and this is the beauty of um , I , I , I , of , I take what kind of feedback and encouragement we get from people to heart . And the interesting thing is someone saw our website and it was like it was kind of me putting together one of those templated things and this you know what it's , it's , it's OK . But someone saw it and said , hey , chris , your website sucks . Would it would ? Would , would it be OK ? We really believe in what you're doing , we believe in the promise of this thing . Can we redesign it , rework it for you for free ? And I went hang on . He said I hope you didn't take offense to the fact that we're talking , telling your website . I said you said the magic words man free .
Speaker 3And then I also had another , an advertising agency , who said Chris , we believe in this so much , we want to do all your creative , all your marketing
Creating a Safe Space for Youth
Speaker 3and we want to do it pro bono . I'm like , once again , those magic words . That was pretty amazing to hear . So you know what I think ? The communities are starting to embrace us . They're starting to understand kind of the role and place in where mentorship can be . And you know what I grew up and , jamal , you too , mentoring was , was , was , was was . We were fortunate if we got it , but it was invaluable when we did Exactly and it wasn't as specific as what we're talking about now . Right , but and often it's often it was kind of career oriented , right , but there's a lot of other stuff kids are trying to navigate that they need help with .
Speaker 2Yes , yes , and that's what's awesome about what you're doing . I think it definitely filling a niche in the thriving zone is important and I think they need young people need other caring adults in their lives the research shows that , other than their parents to be able to flourish . So this is definitely awesome and it's something that we've been talking about in my organization , because I have a nonprofit that deals with leadership and things of that nature . So I'm definitely going to be calling you , so when you're ready to lean this way further south , I'm definitely going to be reaching out . Chris , this was so awesome to hear your story , to hear about TheMentalWellcom , looking forward to it growing and saying that , hey , we saw it at its infancy , and then when it goes large and he will be like we were there , to be yeah , when you guys called me up and say can you guys come back on the show .
Speaker 3Sorry , man , you're , I'm right , I'm too big for you guys now yeah , talk to my people awesome hey , you know to my people Awesome . Hey , you know what I really appreciated when I first started chatting with Zee and Jamal , I saw a couple of your and I was like , and it kind of dawned on me I was like Jamal is Zee's dad and they're talking about this stuff . Yeah , that's a special relationship .
Speaker 1So we appreciate you , man , and again , thank you so much for hopping on the pod and we hope that we'll be in touch soon , always .
Speaker 3Awesome , Anyway , guys . Thank you All right Later , Chris . Thanks , Chris .
Speaker 1Yeah , we just threw him backstage . Don't worry guys , he's still here , but we got to wrap up this podcast episode . Shout out Chris for coming in and sharing more about the Mentor Wheel . I hope you all enjoyed this episode as much as we did Pop .
Speaker 2That was great man , I love learning about new opportunities and things that we can share with our , with the people that ride with us . Man , that was cool , that was really cool , 100% .
Speaker 1And yo , before we get out of here , man don't forget , did you fix this , huh , yeah , yeah , yeah , we fixed it .
Speaker 2You got it , yeah , yeah yeah , here we go .
Speaker 1Okay , tell them , yeah , yeah , yeah , you get it in the way , all right , I'm just kidding , all right . So now y'all can text us at 904-867-4466 with any questions . Comments concerns six , six , with any questions . Comments concerns If you want to hear more from Chris , let us know . We would love to have Chris here every week you know what I'm saying To talk more about some insights , but we give Chris's corner whatever that is , mentor , well , corner . Let us know what y'all thought about this episode .
Speaker 1Again , that's nine , oh , four , eight , six , seven , four , four , six , six . And when you type that in to your messaging app , whatever app you use , whether it's text message or WhatsApp , there's going to be numbers that pop up in front of the text message . Leave those numbers there , do not remove them , or else you do not get your text messages . So there'll be random numbers that pop up in the text body . Leave it there , send us a message and we'll get it . With that being said , you can follow us on Instagram at upto up to it a Z ? Uh .
Speaker 1As y'all know , we are a national organization that travels far and wide to get this message out there , whether it's mental health , uh , family connectedness , uh , cyber uh , cyber bullying , all the things that have to do with youth wellness . We are there for that . So you can visit us at up to it a Z or visit our website at up to it . That's up to itclub . That's up to itclub . Pop anything else you want to share with them before we get up out of here nope , we're good , we're just gonna end the club in the club we're gonna end it right here , man .
Speaker 1We hope you all have a great rest of your day . We'll holla at y'all peace .
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