Thier Story Matters with Sara Troy and her guest David Snape. On air from February 14th
My name is David Snape, 26 years old and I have autism. I want to help other people through via my radio show or helping others getting their content on my blog to gain more followers and support. Not only that but to inspire others by saying that you can inspire to do great things in your life, autism maybe is a part of you but if you get over that important hurdle, the possibilities are endless. I’m currently in the process of writing my own autism story, using my own experiences.
How would I sum myself up as simply as I can? I am just an ordinary 26-year-old man, who loves his gaming, sport, work, friends and family, who wants to try his best every day and doesn’t want to let people down.
I have autism but I feel like everyone else in this world, I don’t talk much bout my condition although it is something that will stay with my throughout my lives.
There are areas which I was more successful at like maths, IT and I do remember stuff but in terms of English or other subjects do tend to struggle, henceforth why I got a learning difficulty.
Throughout my early life as a kid, I struggled to find out who I was, I tend to be aggressive without knowing I actually do that and only eat bread and marmite, even at Christmas.
Education started off a struggle but education was always going to be a slow progress, speech on some areas like ch, for example, wasn’t very good at all.
Finding friends was hard and nobody seems to want to go near me. I felt all along, especially if I was invited to a kids party.
It was only till I went to a special school called the Priory school that I felt very comfortable and was starting to see who I really was. I will always thank the school for what they did to me.
College was an opportunity to find my own path and become more independent and achieve a grade in A Level Maths was a fantastic achievement as well as a C in GCSE English.
I have worked in a factory, a production operative, in food, in online sales and now as a post worker, a job with a long future in prospect.
Over the time, I feel more confident in my social life, through the help of work, family, and Facebook. Even doing interviews for my radio show is a lot of fun and that has helped me throughout.
I will give up hope, though. Most questions when I was younger asked to me was, are you gay? Are you a virgin? Well now I can say with a big smile on my face, I am not gay or a virgin, so there.
One of the reasons for doing these blogs is because there are certain things that are better said writing down and it makes you feel better to get them off your chest. Now it’s a showcase where people show off their writing talents to the world.
Overs are just for fun and to try and inspire other people. I will keep posting blogs about different things and hopefully make some people notice.
For my music selection, I have put together for Self Discovery Wisdom take a listen here.
Positive Vibrations Roundtable with Sara Troy and her guests Sir Ken Miller & BoBby Henline, on air from January 31st.
Two totally different people with different lives, but both of them know that laughter has saved their lives. We speak to how humor can not only heal but makes it easy for others to understand the challenging journey your on in life.
With Ken battling cancer again striving to find humor in it and Booby facing more operations for his burns, humor is the only way they get through it.
Sir Ken Miller was born very young in Brooklyn, New York on a September Labor Day at 7:11a.m. His mother was there, and his father was working in Buffalo as an entertainer. He learned at an early age to be somewhat independent. He entered the world crying after the doctor slapped his tush. His mother told him a joke. He stopped crying and started laughing.
Working with the United Nations he founded the National Committee for Habitat to help families worldwide obtain affordable and sustainable housing. In July 2001 His Majesty, Sheikh Anwar Mahmoud Mekkeen, King of Nubia and its Provinces knighted Miller for his humanitarian work. Hello Sir Ken. Miller lectures worldwide on the subject of marketing at universities, trade conferences, and for corporations. He has been interviewed on radio and television, authored several articles on marketing and co-authored Social Media Superstars.
As a 4-tour Iraqi War Veteran, Wounded Warrior, Comedian, and Motivational presenter, Bobby Henline’s story and lived experiences have been featured in numerous media, including the documentaries “Comedy Warriors: Healing Through Humor”, “Healing Bobby”, and “Weight of Honor”; on CNN, PBS KET, NPR, Today.com, and Time.com; Time Magazine, People Magazine, The Huffington Post, Guideposts, and The Nipawin Journal; as well as television, radio, and podcasts around the world. Henline is a retired Army Staff Sergeant, last serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. He spent 13 years in the Army, completing four tours in Iraq. While on his fourth tour in Iraq, three weeks after his arrival, an IED blast blew up his Humvee – April 7, 2007 is a day he will never forget. The four soldiers with him were killed, as he stumbled out of the wreck, a human torch. Extinguished by the soldier he had replaced in the Humvee, burns covered almost 40% of his body, bones in his face were fractured, and his head was burned to the skull. Put into a medically induced coma for two weeks, Henline was flown back to the states.
For Bobby’s other show with me and more info GO HERE
Their Story Matters with Sara Troy and her guest Bobby Henline airs from January 3rd/17
As a 4-tour Iraqi War Veteran, Wounded Warrior, Comedian, and Motivational presenter, Bobby Henline’s story and lived experiences have been featured in numerous media, including the documentaries “Comedy Warriors: Healing Through Humor”, “Healing Bobby”, and “Weight of Honor”; on CNN, PBS KET, NPR, Today.com, and Time.com; Time Magazine, People Magazine, The Huffington Post, Guideposts, and The Nipawin Journal; as well as television, radio, and podcasts around the world. Henline is a retired Army Staff Sergeant, last serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. He spent 13 years in the Army, completing four tours in Iraq. While on his fourth tour in Iraq, three weeks after his arrival, an IED blast blew up his Humvee – April 7, 2007 is a day he will never forget. The four soldiers with him were killed, as he stumbled out of the wreck, a human torch. Extinguished by the soldier he had replaced in the Humvee, burns covered almost 40% of his body, bones in his face were fractured, and his head was burned to the skull. Put into a medically induced coma for two weeks, Henline was flown back to the states.
During his initial six-month hospital stay, Bobby remained upbeat, positive, and relied on humor to get him through each day. Putting nurses in headlocks, trying to keep other wounded soldiers’ spirits up by telling them jokes, and singing a ditty over and over garnered the attention of his occupational therapist. She challenged him to go to an open mic night and try his hand at comedy. Comedy helps Bobby keep his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Anxiety at bay, and allows him to share his story and healing with others in a positive way. Today, Henline continues his quest to make people laugh in a variety of venues. The open mic night provided him an opportunity to perform professionally as the “Well Done Comedian” at Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club (Las Vegas, NV), Laugh Factory (Chicago, IL), and Hollywood Improv (Los Angeles, CA) to name a few. As a Motivational Speaker/Comedian/Emcee, he collaborates with and performs for various military and military-related organizations to inspire soldiers, veterans, and their families, spreading his message of life, love, and joy; he visits middle and high schools across the country to inspire young people; and speaks at mental health and other healthcare organizations, sharing his story of resiliency, hope, and healing.
Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Kevin Briggs, on air from December 20th
Tis the Season to be Jolly, but also the Season that so many people make attempts to take their own lives. Kevin Briggs, a retired California Highway Patrol Sergeant, has prevented many a soul from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge where he was a patrol cop for 23 years.
We all have mountains to climb, we all have moments when we feel despair, we all need to be heard to know that someone cares, Kevin shares how we can recognize that someone in trouble and what we can do to help them through it.
Briggs is a retired California Highway Patrol officer who spent many years patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. While on patrol, he encountered numerous individuals clinging to life by a thread – individuals who had lost hope and could see no way out of their current situation – ready to jump off the bridge to what they assumed was a sudden death and ending of their pain and hopelessness.
Briggs, through his compassion, gentle voice, eye contact, and his innate ability of “listening to understand” encouraged more than 200 individuals over his career to either not go over the bridge’s rail or come back to solid ground from where they had been standing precariously out on the chord of the bridge and start a new chapter in their life. These challenging, but rewarding efforts earned him the nickname “Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge.” After a 23-year career with the California Highway Patrol, Briggs retired to dedicate his life to promoting mental health awareness across the globe through Pivotal Points, an organization he founded to help Crisis Management, Suicide Prevention, and Leadership Skills.
TUNE IN HERE FOR ON-DEMAND LISTENING AND HELP PREVENT A LOSS OF LIFE
Briggs speaks publicly about not having the right kind of professional training to effectively assist persons in crisis when he first began work as a patrol officer. Throughout his career, he reached out to senior officers who had been in the trenches, asking for their guidance – how to approach an individual in crisis, what to say, what not to say, the tone of voice, among many other things. He sought various professional training avenues including hostage negotiator training to continue to improve his skills and abilities. Over time and using all the things he learned, Briggs found a positive way to approach people in crisis, using listening skills he practised to find the “thread” that would encourage individuals to find hope for tomorrow and allow them to make the decision to live for another day. He is a mental health consumer himself – Briggs suffers from depression related to his highway patrol officer and work leader experiences (including a motorcycle accident in which he was severely injured), as well as losing his grandfather to suicide, and other personal and family experiences.
Today, Briggs is mapping a movement as he speaks publicly about his suicide prevention and crisis encounters with people on the bridge. He shares his “Listening to Understand” skills followed up with key active listening points for anyone to use; his personal triad for healthy living; his RELEASE model to assist anyone in crisis; his crisis plan, and his own mental health struggles while serving in the Army, as a police officer, as a cancer survivor, as a family member and father, and as a leader and co-worker. Briggs spends the majority of his time speaking at training events, conferences, advocacy events and walks for mental / physical / behavioral health, college and university, first responder, law enforcement (including FBI), military, AFSP, NAMI, corporations, and other venues.
In 2015, Briggs had the privilege of working across Australia with law enforcement, mental health organizations, and Mates in Construction, which works to reduce suicide in the Australian construction industry. During his time there, he conducted 22 presentations focused on suicide prevention and crisis management.
In 2016, Briggs had the privilege of Keynote and Workshop Presenter in Aachen, Germany at the International Federation of Telephone Emergency Services (IFOTES) Conference. IFOTES offers emotional support, immediately accessible to any person suffering from loneliness, in a state of psychological crisis, or contemplating suicide by telephone, mail or chat services. At the time, there were 31 Federations from 23 countries as a member of IFOTES, working with about 22,000 voluntary workers and 1,000 professionals in the member countries.
As an international Crisis Management, Suicide Prevention, and Leadership Skills presenter, Sergeant Kevin Briggs’ story and lived experiences have been featured at the Technology, Entertainment, and Design 2014 Conference as a TEDTalk, Ciudad de Las Ideas (Mexico), Yahoo News, The New Yorker Magazine, Men’s Health Magazine, NPR’s Bob Edwards Radio Show, People Magazine, USA Today, as well as other magazines, newspapers, radio, and podcasts across the world. His first book, Guardian of the Golden Gate: Protecting the Line Between Hope and Despair, was released in July 2015.
In honor of his work, Briggs has received several awards:
2016 recipient of the National Council for Behavioral Health Visionary Leadership Award
2015 recipient of the joint American Psychiatric Association and California Psychiatric Association Warren Williams Award
2015 recipient of the Matthew Silverman Memorial Foundation Matt’s Hero Award
2013 recipient of the ASIS International Outstanding Officer Award
2013 Harvey’s Heroes Award (Steve Harvey Show)
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Public Service Award
California State Senate Resolution for Public Service
Bay Area Jefferson Award for Public Service
Heroes Award, given by the Northern California Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International
2004 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Outstanding Service Award
Kevin is also a member of Bravo748 helping veterans find their way back into a productive meaningful life.
Their Story Matters with Sara Troy and her guest Jeffrey Fidel MD, on air from November 8th
The diagnosis of Bipolar 1 Disorder– by medical decree and societal perception— is a lifelong sentence: unless you take and stay on prescription medicine you cannot function as a “normal, sane member of society.”
But Jeffrey R Fidel, an MD himself, is proof that is not true.
And he got there by turning off the voices in his head and listening to the one voice that counts—the one in his heart.
Jeffrey R. Fidel, MD refuses to live his life medicated for Bipolar I disorder. In near complete solitude, he endured nearly a full year of intense mental anguish. Utilizing mainly the ancient teachings of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, he learned how to connect to a voice originating from his heart. The “voice within” teaches him that our true identity is “beyond thought” and that we and the universe are I(One)… Dr. Fidel is now sharing these ancient teachings to help others discover their answer inside. He says, “By quieting the constant chattering of our minds, we begin to hear the inner voice that originates from our hearts. By surrendering the ‘thought of who we are,’ we can begin to accept this inner voice as our teacher. This inner voice teaches us that we are one.” Jeffrey R. Fidel graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. He earned his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Fidel is a board certified-MRI fellowship trained diagnostic radiologist who completed both his residency and fellowship training at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida. His hobbies include classical piano, snow skiing, math, and science. He currently resides in Florida with his son Andrew.
He has authored I: One M.D.’s Inward Journey to Liberate Himself from Mental Suffering—And The Help It Offers for Those Diagnosed Bipolar, Mentally Ill or Depressed to share his story and show people a new way to lead a fulfilling, peaceful and productive life. He is also a speaker and workshop leader.
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