A Better Pill To Swallow
Just a spoonful of humor helps the medicine go down. Inspired by his brother’s suicide David unleashes his outlandish banter and passion for mental health with his good friends and experts alike. He challenges the over-medicated status quo, asking questions and exploring new holistic alternatives with his guests from a wide array of experience and discipline.
A Better Pill To Swallow
Supporting a Mentally Ill Child, Grieving a Son, and Leaning on Community
Today’s episode cuts to the origin tale of how this very podcast was created. I’m interviewing my mother, Laine Neiman, about parenting a child with mental illness, handling the grief of losing him, and opening up to the community for support. Lainie (a.k.a. Mom Neiman) is an executive and leadership coach, as a family business consultant. More importantly, she spent the last 30 years in the trenches of loving someone with bipolar disorder. We tragically lost my brother, her son, Andy Neiman, 4 years ago last June. My mother saw him through his initial diagnosis and treatment, the chaotic first ten years of medication adjustments and hospital stays, his last ten years of marriage, fatherhood, and relative stability, up until his final descent during COVID.
We talk about the role of the pandemic in Andy’s demise, her bravery in choosing to speak out about his illness from the beginning, how she spiritually coped with the uncertainty of his life path, and how she’s handling the monumental grief since his untimely departure. If you’ve ever cared for someone struggling with mental health issues or know someone who has, you’re going to want to check this episode out. My momela is a warrior and an inspiration.
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