SEASON 3 EPISODE 8 | Former NFL Player Dominique Easley

In this episode, Super Bowl champion Dominique Easley discusses his mission to promote mental health awareness and the power of vulnerability. Easley shares how his own journey inspired his work with Same Here https://samehereglobal.org and the Easley Foundation. https://www.easleyfoundation.org He also talks about the parallels between veterans' and athletes' transitions while encouraging community and support. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:47

So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

I am having the pleasure of being joined by Dominic Easley, Super Bowl champion. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for making the time to chat with us. Nah, thank you for having me, man. Yeah, of course. So maybe to start, we'd love to know a little bit about what brings you to New Orleans this week. Uh really mental health.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

So with within my lifetime, I have always been put in a box, always been put into a category, and that has never helped me understand what I've actually been going through. Either I was depressed, either I was going through anxiety and all these things, and I never was able to actually work on what I was going through, then I understood what vulnerability meant to me. Once I understood that, I was able to communicate how I was feeling, what I was going through. And once I started doing that, the rest of the world actually started to relate. So and I started to see progress within the world and within even my own family, within my own marriage. So for me, today is all about making people understand that we don't have to be in the box. We don't have to be categorical, we don't have to be categorized, but we can all relate to what we're going through and help each other manage. Because people have this thing of fixing mental health. You can't fix mental health because it's an ongoing journey and it will never stop. So how do you manage it? How do you get through find solutions when you're going through certain things in life that's new to you, which brings fear? So that's what I'm here today is trying to make people understand that vulnerability is a beneficial factor in every which way possible.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

So it's such an important cause, and I think important to always be talking about in so many contexts, right? Because like a lot of people feel like they need to be in a box, right? Um and so I know you you have a campaign that she participated with called Same Here. Would love to learn a little bit more about that and how that ties to all this.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Yeah, so same here, me, me and same here are connected because of what I just said, not being put in the category, not being put in the category. So they have this thing of one and five. No, it's five and five of people who's here who's going through something, who have a mental health, I wouldn't say mental health problem, but that's going through something and that needs help to relate. You know what I mean? And same here, what they do is I'm not same here that I'm depressed, not same here that I have anxiety, but same here that I'm going through life, and I need to talk to you about it to figure out whether you went through the same thing so you can help me out, or if I went through the same thing, I can help you out. And that's what we're trying to make everybody realize is that yo, we're going through somewhat of the same thing.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Yeah. Well, I mean, as I hear about what you're talking about and kind of your cause and what you're you're you know, trying to get and promote and talk to people about, you know, obviously we are an organization that is comprised of veterans and military family members, and obviously mental health is a big challenge for veterans and and military family members for a number of reasons, both in terms of you know, obviously the the nature of service and all the challenges that that can bring, but also just daily life. Exactly, uh, and what what the challenges that can bring.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

So I can relate because my father I was telling you, my father, he was in the military, he's going through the same thing. He has PTSD, they tried to give him a bunch of drugs, and me going through my mental health journey, me understanding that vulnerability is a great beneficial factor, I've also introduced that to him. So he's now also working on himself, and now he's starting to feel the healthiest that he's been. That's great. Yeah, and I know you mentioned your brother served as well, is that right? Exactly. Yeah, my brother served. So my father served from 06 to 08 in Kuwait in Iraq, and my brother served in Kuwait, I think, around 2015-14.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Okay, well, thank you. Thank you for their service. I mean, it's uh it's always great to see all the different connections between um, you know, people who've served and people who play in the NFL and kind of athletes in general, because this we were just talking about this, the parallels in a lot of ways of experiences and mindset. Um, and I think that probably also connects in some ways to a lot of the challenges that that can come from post-service, post-career, and the transition phase.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Right, a transition phase. And one thing that's crazy, because I love I love the Navy SEALs, I love the Army. It's it's it's crazy that I started to understand, like, when they come back from home, they put this, they put them in a category of, okay, they have PTSD, right, because of what they went through and they can't function correctly in this world. No, it's not that. You that's like us. You you taking a gladiator and putting them out to the real world and expecting him to be able just to adapt, right? That's not gonna happen. Like that takes time, that takes a reinvention of who you are, and that takes people of the same culture in the same situation to come together to start talking about it and to be able to go through and find different paths together. Because comfort leads to success, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

No, absolutely. Well, I think there's an interesting parallel as we think about what we're trying to do with Military 250, which is you know, it's essentially it's a campaign. I mean, to the this year, a lot of people may not make the connection, but this year is actually the 250th birthday of the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps. Yeah, so it's it's a big year. Obviously, next year is the 250th birthday of the country, but this year is kind of the you know the precursor to all that. That's pretty cool. So we are using that birthday and and the celebration around that to essentially rally the cause of everybody re-engaging and serving again, right? Both veterans and military family members, you don't have to wear a uniform to serve. We had a campaign that we ran in the previous election and cycle before that called Bet the Vote, where we uh had people sign up to volunteer to be poll workers. We had 163,000 people sign up to do that. It's pretty cool. You know, and I think there's a there's something real about the concept of engaging in your community and making connections, like you're saying, right? Which benefits not just the community as a whole, but it benefits you individually, right? There's so many shared experiences that we might not be able to tap into unless we're actually out there and letting them know. Right. So yeah, so I mean I think there's there's a lot of good that can come from you know serving again and stepping up and and kind of just being out there in your community. So I agree with you. I definitely agree with you. Uh really appreciate you making the time to chat. Uh if there's any kind of information or handles, uh you know, way place ways people can learn more about what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah, no, no problem. So you can go to easlyfoundation.org. Uh if you have going through anything, you want to share your story, you want to talk about it, you want to have some type of understanding and get through life together, go to easyfoundation.org, uh, write us and let us know. Um my handle at Instagram is at easy91 as well as senih.com. So that's how I say awesome.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Clear shit, you're making the time, man. No problem.