Mental Health Mondays with Marla and Dave

Our guest today is an alt-pop singer-songwriter, mental health advocate, public speaker, and founder of the non-profit WisdoMania Foundation. Hailing from Toronto and currently living in LA, X.ari has a story to share. After wishing there were more people living with a mental health diagnosis, that were willing to be transparent and share their stories, so that other’s would possibly have a roadmap, she decided that she would be that person. With 2 new collaborations released for Pride month – Cheerios ft. DEVMO & Punching Bag ft. Savage Nightingale. Her 7th EP “Songs for Dancers” was just released last week.See you this Monday at 6pm PT on our Youtube Channel: youtube.com/mentalhealthmondays

Our guest today is Taylor Coffman. Taylor is an actor, and the author of Substack Rare Disease Girl. She grew up outside of Pittsburgh , in the Allegheny Mountains, as well as the Washingon DC area. She’s had an re-occurring role on HBO’s “Silicon Valley”, and appeared in CBS’s “Life InPieces, Rachel Dratch's “Late Night Snack’, and Ryan Murphy's “FEUD”. Taylor also worked on Jimmy Kimmel Live for many years. Today, she’ll be talking with us about dealing with mental health issues while being blindsided by a rare and potentially deadly disease.See you this Monday at 6pm PT on our Youtube Channel: youtube.com/mentalhealthmondays

Our guest today is a mental health advocate. As a 1st generation immigrant, he began his advocacy at the early age of 13, and by the time he was 21, he drafted an historic LGBTQ+ proclamation for his hometown of Woodland California. After graduating from San Francisco State University, Juan’s work is focused on underserved communities, specifically on the LGBTQ+, Immigrant, and Latinx communities. Having served on various national committee’s, he regularly speaks at national conferences and festivals, including the United Nations Side Events and the White House’ first-ever Youth Mental Health Action Forum where he spoke alongside FLOTUS Dr. Jill Biden, Selena Gomez, and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. While we could keep listing his accomplishments, as they are many, today we’re going to focus the conversation on the language or semantic of mental health, and the need for a safe space in which to do so.

Victor Wooten, now a five-time Grammy winner, hit the worldwide scenein 1990 as a founding member of the super-group Bela Fleck and theFlecktones. Victor has been heralded as "the Michael Jordan of the bass"and "one of the most fearless musicians on the planet." Continuing toblaze a musical trail with the band, Wooten has also become widelyknown for his own Grammy nominated solo recordings and tours. Amongother things, he comes from a musical family, and continues to tour withhis brothers and their band, the “Wooten Brothers”. Victor is a lovinghusband and father of four, a skilled naturalist and teacher, a publishedauthor, a magician and acrobat, and has won every major award given to abass guitarist including being voted Bassist of the Year in Bass PlayerMagazine's readers poll three times (the only person to win it more thanonce.) In 2011, Rolling Stone Magazine voted Victor one of the Top TenBassist of ALL TIME.

Victor Wooten, now a five-time Grammy winner, hit the worldwide scenein 1990 as a founding member of the super-group Bela Fleck and theFlecktones. Victor has been heralded as "the Michael Jordan of the bass"and "one of the most fearless musicians on the planet." Continuing toblaze a musical trail with the band, Wooten has also become widelyknown for his own Grammy nominated solo recordings and tours. Amongother things, he comes from a musical family, and continues to tour withhis brothers and their band, the “Wooten Brothers”. Victor is a lovinghusband and father of four, a skilled naturalist and teacher, a publishedauthor, a magician and acrobat, and has won every major award given to abass guitarist including being voted Bassist of the Year in Bass PlayerMagazine's readers poll three times (the only person to win it more thanonce.) In 2011, Rolling Stone Magazine voted Victor one of the Top TenBassist of ALL TIME.

The theme for today is Transforming Pain Into Beauty. Our guest is EmilyWu Truong. She’s an artist, and an active NAMI member. Emily is alsoscheduled be a keynote speaker at NAMI National’s Upcoming 2ndAnnual Pathways to Hope Conference: August 26-27. When we comeback See you this Monday at 6pm PT on our Youtube Channel: youtube.com/mentalhealthmondays

If you are a weekly viewer of Mental Health Monday’s w Marla and Dave, then today’s guest is no stranger, as she is no stranger to MHM. Sarah Myers is a writer for Psychology Today as well as a columnist for Free Inquiry. We were instantly intrigued by her story, as she has the same diagnosis as our son. She’ll discuss the pros and cons of having a public face for schizoaffective disorder, and how this can be both ahindrance but also a benefit for integrating with society. We’ll also talk about a recent term, “Sanism” and how that affects the brain different community.See you this Monday at 6pm PT on our Youtube Channel: youtube.com/mentalhealthmondays $1 today keeps the stigma away📱Support our show by texting "GIVE" to 818-698-1021 And catch our new episode every Monday, LIVE at 6pm PT on our channel.

This week, we’re excited to have the opportunity to speak with our friend Byron Chambers – professionally known as Mr. Talkbox. is an American Christian hip hop and Christian R&B musician who plays urban contemporary gospel, contemporary R&B, and funk. In addition to his own projects – My Testimony, The Remix Animated, My Time, and Playlist, Mr. Talkbox has been featured on recordings by Toby Mac, Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar, T-Pain, Bootsy Collins and many more.

Today AND next week, we’re excited to have the opportunity to speak with our friend Byron Chambers – professionally known as Mr. Talkbox. is an American Christian hip hop and Christian R&B musician who plays urban contemporary gospel, contemporary R&B, and funk. In addition to his own projects – My Testimony, The Remix Animated, My Time, and Playlist, Mr. Talkbox has been featured on recordings by Toby Mac, Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar, T-Pain, Bootsy Collins and many more.

Today we welcome back LaTina Jackson. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to see LaTina’s 1st episode, she is the Deputy Director of County Wide Engagement of Los Angeles County for the Department of Mental Health. Our previous discussion was an introduction of sorts but today, we are going to try and get to the heart of the matter – Why is everyone talking about mental health, but not only is change slow, but sometimes it feels like it’s getting worse. We are so greatful the Latina is here to help us navigate these issues.See you this Monday at 6pm PT on our Youtube Channel: youtube.com/mentalhealthmondays $1 today keeps the stigma away📱Support our show by texting "GIVE" to 818-698-1021 And catch our new episode every Monday, LIVE at 6pm PT on our channel. #mentalhealthawareness #namisfv #namisanfernando #namicommunicate Please help with the https://www.namisfv.org/mental_health_mondays_donation_page Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mhmwithmarlaanddave/ Our co-host Marla on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marlatalks/ Our co-host Dave on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davetake6/ _______________ $1 If this episode resonated with you, please donate at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/MHMwithMarlaandDave Your donations help us continue to share stories that break down the mental illness stigma.