Inspiring Resilience: Dave Closson’s Journey from Combat to Prevention Work

Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome back to another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour. I’m your host Jake White and today I’m hanging out with I’m gonna call you one of my new friends Dave because we met in Florida, I felt like we we definitely hit it off. We have so many things in common. And I think we even just balanced some similarities of where we are in our journey like our professional journey and how we work with coalition’s so Dave Closson. Welcome to the show.

Great to be here. In all I’ll do a big old ditto to everything you just said. Similar spots and our journeys in life careers, the work we’re doing and yeah, definitely newfound friends.

Yeah cool, man. So for those of the people listening, they’re working with coalition’s, or maybe they’re school counselors and principals, but mainly, you know, working with you. They want to be great influences on us. Today, what I’m hoping you can help us with is you have this great ability to help students bring out their stories, build that confidence, find a platform and use their voice for positive change in their community. So before we dive into the content, and people can have these like great takeaways, something they can literally write down and use right now. Can you just tell us a little bit about you and how you got into this work? You know, what do we need to know about that?

Yes, so I’m gonna date myself insane. I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version of how I came to be working in prevention. For the next like SparkNotes cliff notes. And just like the highlights, basically is what I’m going to put together here. I was a junior in college, and also a member of the Illinois Army National Guard. I got deployed to Iraq right in the middle of my junior year. While deployed, I suffered a traumatic brain injury from being blown up, combat lead, like 180 combat patrols. Fast forward to coming back, I came back just in time to watch my cohort, my friends graduated from college. And I was struggling with post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and that traumatic brain injury, jumped right back into college and was alone, I didn’t have a friend group. And I was older, didn’t feel like I fit again, I was feeling a lot of stigma as well related to my mental health. And that led to drinking that led to addiction. And struggling with that, personally, all of those issues combined. For several years before I was able to to work my way to recovery, and really just love living that sober life. I felt those struggles. But then also working as a police officer, after I graduated, was working on my master’s degree, I got a job as a college cop or as also going to school saw the impact of alcohol and drugs from another perspective, as well, and the impact and the role that that played in people’s lives, both those who chose to consume and those who didn’t still were impacted by it. I was like, Okay, we gotta do something about this, my personal struggles, seeing the struggles of others. And I’ve just been team prevention ever since How can we get upstream to hopefully prevent others from having to go through the same stuff, we’ll just say stuff because I don’t know if we have a bleep button or not the same stuff I went through. So that’s the background on kind of who I am and why I work in prevention. I suppose to touch on I’ve got my own company DJC Solutions, where ultimately the cool catchy pitch is that I help organizations and individuals reach their next level of excellence. And I do that a multitude of different ways, but really revolves around meeting them where they are at identifying their strengths, and then finding ways to leverage them and bring them a plan a path to take them to that next level whether that be training, facilitation, podcasting, online training, speaking, you name it, but those are just some wins different tools or methods to help you all reach your next level.

Wow, you and I’m sure you get the most bizarre reactions to your story. Because you are you are a walking miracle. The fact that you’re here um, something you’re like I’ve been called some other things but yeah, I was like college cop I’ve been called a lot of things.

Empowering Voices: Approach to Student Engagement and Leadership Development

Right, where we, this is crazy because your your experience is so wild. It is is it experienced that a lot of us just to say, Hey, I can’t even imagine. Right that that’s the natural response. What I hear your story. So I mean, first dude, thank you. Thank you for your service to thank you for being a model of how you you’ve been through this process of addiction and an hour in recovery. And you are paying it forward in in massive ways, by working for for all these organizations because you and I both know this like we’re, quote, self employed. In reality, it means that we have so many bosses that like we work for you we work for the coalition’s the schools, the organizations, the students, and so like, yeah, one peer to another man. I’m a fan. I’m excited. And I do want to ask this just about about your story as well, before we dive into some content, but we’re going to talk about voice using your voice. When do you think you’ve developed your voice?

Oh still fully developing it? Yeah, so a very condensed version would be that, through my dark days, addiction took me so far away from my true identity, that I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t know what my voice was. And even when I was sick and tired of being drunk, battling addiction, I couldn’t change because I didn’t know who I needed to get back to being like, I need to get back to being just David. Like, who the heck is he? And so I had to go searching to try to figure out who was I at my core was the real Dave. And once I did that, then I was free to really then figure out okay, if that’s who I really am at my core, who do I want to be now? And started crafting that picture of what does David look like on a random Thursday? How am I going to show up? How am I going to treat people that you know those character elements, and that is when I really started to find my voice. But I’m always always learning, always growing. And always learning how to share my voice and what my voice means. Yeah, every time I tell my story, I learn something different about myself.

Yeah, and it’s someone told me this when when I got married, they said, Jake, the woman you’re marrying right now, Emily, she’s gonna be a different person in 5 – 10 years, you’re going to be the saint, you’re going to be a different person to like, this is, this just happens to us all. And it’s like you, you know, we’re automatically with ourselves 24/7. So we have to deal with that. But I think it’s so true with with discovering yourself, is as as soon as you say, “Oh, hey, this is who I am, I’m done. That’s kind of like saying, Hey, I’m done learning, I’m done growing.” That’s kind of that would kind of be a sad reality, if that was our, our state of mind. So I love your answer. And I also love your answer that you, you found a lot about who you are through one of the biggest challenges in your life. You and I both, you know, do speaking and training with student groups and stuff like that and be like just now being an Oregon talking with some students. And often what will happen is, you know, the coalition has money for a certain community, we want to help it go further. So you know, we’ll do some deals for other schools or say, Hey, I’m coming for this school, but I’ll do an afternoon with another school, maybe an alternatives, something like that, that they don’t normally get guests. And that was one of the things that the students, you know, brought up was that, that they don’t necessarily know who they they are, but that people are telling them who they are. And they don’t like that either. They don’t like the narrative that’s being shown to them. And so what I love about what you do, is you’re you’re bringing to life, the fact that you are not your, your worst mistake, you are not what happened to you, but that you’re choosing how you show up, like you said on Thursday, and that you can craft your narrative. So can you, you mentioned a few things just in passing already, but it piqued my curiosity, you mentioned podcasting, training, you know, facilitation, speaking, stuff like that. Where you just got to give me the gamut, maybe like two minutes or something like specifically for like, coalition’s schools? How specifically do you work with them? And then I’m going to pick your brains on kind of some of the stuff that you introduce them to and the content and stuff like that, but how do you actually work with them? And what do they mainly want to do with you?

Oh, yes, so a whole multitude of things. Just recently in St. Louis, working with some college students and really teaching them how to have better conversations with their peers, how to be better peer educators and support each other. And that really first started with some Very interactive activities that they did. So they could really experience the learning, rather than up lecturing, flip charts, sharpies post, it notes, all of that stuff. And they were having conversations within the first 15 minutes of the three hour session. But it really taught them a couple of different things in that sort of the first activity focused on empathy. And I framed it around whenever they felt like they were not heard, seen or respected. So they shared stories with each other. Through that they found that they had commonalities. In those experiences, they started to notice themes and trends, but also, it taught them how to listen differently. It taught them how to listen with empathy, as their peers were sharing their stories as well. There wasn’t sort of upfront, hey, this is what I’m going to teach you how to do. But they got to listen with empathy. And then we followed it up with a different activity that really focused on success factors. They shared stories about a time they worked on something that was challenging, and were successful. While they were sharing stories, the other person listened for those key success factors, those underlying pivotal moments, things that help them succeed. And then they had to retell that story. So there, that activity taught them how to listen differently. Listen, between the lines, what wasn’t being said, listen for the positive, as well. So they learned how to listen with empathy. Then they learn how to listen for the, what’s not being said, between the lines and listen for the positive. And then lastly, we really brought it together on then. Great now how can we have conversations with folks? What can we do with that? Here’s a process. Here’s a framework now to take your conversations better. So we really focused on that which was just I loved it came together great students loved it. That’s the most recent example. I saw done some work in Kentucky, with the youth leadership cohort, teaching them storytelling, and how to use podcasting as a means to share their stories, their voices, and the voices of their peers. Doing a similar workshop for Michigan coming up in a month, I think I have to look at the calendar, as well all for him to round finding your story. And then how to tell your story as well bring them a couple different storytelling frameworks so they can then go out and a share your voice. Yeah. Okay. That’s cool. That was more than two minutes.

Practical Strategies for Engaging Students in Prevention Work

Yeah hey, but it was specific. So I let it slide. I was like, it’s, you told them if you’re a story, which that’s way more fun. All right, then I got a lot of stories. I want to point out something you mentioned, though, because I think it’s a cool lesson for all of us, is when you mentioned how you were doing this peer leadership and listening experience with the students is, instead of telling them, you know, here’s the key to listening, which you might have done at some point. But at some point, you had them discover the key elements of listening, you gave them an opportunity to practice while they were with you. So it’s this like safe environment to learn, because they get to do it. And you get to highlight those moments in which you want it to reinforce those positive practices, which I think that’s the part that I think a lot of us struggle with is how do I make this interactive? How do I make this really impactful and engaging for the students? And a lot of times the answer lies in Well, how could you make this into an experience where they discover the outcome, instead of a lecture where they hear the outcome? Because if they discover it, it’s going to be a it could be a life altering experience?

Absolutely and a couple of thoughts come to mind in response to that. And when I go to craft, a training, a presentation, a workshop, anything for a client, or their organization, their coalition, I first start with my, my rational goal, what do I want them to be able to know or do or have as a result of this session. Then at the same time, though, I craft an experiential goal. What do I want them to feel during and or after having gone through this session and that experience? I feel like as trainers and speakers, we often forget about that. But when you look at like a learning theory, that the more folks have that experiential learning, they are able to connect to the content, they’re able to connect the content to their real life to their own personal experiences as well which will make that learning take a deeper root and really help spark or inspire or foster change?

Yes and honestly, I think that’s the difference between asking someone to come be a guest, lecturer, trainer, speaker, whatever it might be when it’s not their trade versus someone like yourself who is doing this day in and day out week in week out creating content in the field doing it is you get that you get that true true experience that leads to greater results. So I just I appreciate the craft, because I’m doing it too. And I’m like, this is difficult work. But it’s so worthwhile. And it takes a lot of experiencing like experimenting, to craft the experience. It could be, it could, it could take a decade to find like that, that boom, it hits the nail on the head. And then by that time, like some things can change that you always got to be tweaking it to the learning challenges are different things happening in culture. But it makes sense why you’re so good at what you do. Because you have spent time in this. You’ve been doing this since you’re a college student, and you’ve been framing this mission. And all these things have just come in the way of like, okay, well, here’s how I’m going to fulfill my mission to, you know, to the world that what I’m doing, which is just Yeah, it’s really inspiring for me to even hear as one of your peers because she was trying to do the same thing. Um

Oh, yeah, let me let me throw something too. So I just wrote a blog post, put it out last month on what I do is what I call facilitate training, in that I don’t just do training, which is focused solely on transfer of knowledge. I also bring in facilitation methods, participatory facilitation methods that experience peace, because there’s so much wisdom in the room. So I bring the process to pull out to elicit more folks to be able to share their wisdom to have that shared experience together, which is what makes my facilitate training different than just here. I’m I’m here to deliver this content, you need to know a, b, c and d. Done. Nope. It’s all about that experience. Facilitating training.

What okay, then works together. Part two  I need to come on and talk more about that. Because that sounds incredible. You got it. Because that’s the that’s what we want in in prevention, right? We you can’t be everywhere at all time, no matter how great of a leader you are in coalition leaders, principals, counselors, we know that we’re all overworked. So it is how can we transfer these experiences and facilitations to impact more students in the ways that work? So Oh, dang, that’s awesome. Okay, so I just had to throw that out there. Do it. Okay. I’m going to say this right now. If you’re listening right now, can people learn? I mean, Daveclosson.com, we’re going to talk about at the end. But if you’re listening right now, and you need to pause this and go to  Daveclosson.com. Go do that real quick, and then press continue when we’re back. So let’s chat a little bit about some practical things that adults, advisors who are working with youth. What can they steal from you right now? To help their students use their voice? What are some tips that you use metaphors, strategies, frameworks, what do you want to share with us right now that someone could literally steal and say, I’m gonna go try this? And then I’m going to tell you how it goes.

Oh, yes and, alright, so I’ve got we’re gonna talk thinking styles, and thinking styles as a means to guide your engagement guide your conversations. And, yes, drop a comment on this episode on social media, let us know when you actually take steps and try to incorporate or apply some of this. Alright, first off, we’re gonna start off with the two primary thinking styles. And I got to give credit to my friend Angie Acela, stood out of Iowa, who ran a local coalition, and then also ran a statewide coalition of coalition’s now works alongside me, awesome, awesome person. But the two thinking styles, you’ve got your crock pot thinkers, and your microwave thinkers, microwave thinkers, you know, you ask the youth the person a question Ding, ding, ding, they’ve got an answer. They’ve got a response. They’re fast thinkers, they’ve already know what to say. crockpot, you ask a question. I got to put it in there and let it cook for a little bit. They need to process, they need to think. And so when you’re having conversations with others, youth, adult, you name it. Make sure you’re creating space for those crockpot thinkers. If you don’t give silence, if you don’t give time, you’re going to be leaving them out of the conversation. It’s just going to be the microwave thinkers. And that’s not fair, that’s not inclusive. That’s not going to create a participatory safe environment. So that’s the first stop is the two types of thinkers microwave and CrockPot. 

Unlocking Student Potential: Understanding Thinking Styles for Effective Engagement 

And real quick is, is leaving them space literally saying, Hey, we’re gonna take a couple minutes like ask a question, give them a couple minutes, maybe play some light music so it doesn’t feel weird. Like, is that what it looks like to give someone space? Or is it homework? How do you use that?

Yeah, so it can look a little difference. And depending upon the setting the context, of course, but it could be, hey, you know, just take, take three minutes, grab out a piece of paper and just brainstorm just write down, you know, a couple ideas related to whatever question or the topic may be, then parents share. Awesome and report out. It can be as simple as that. Or when you ask a question, and nobody responds right away. That’s okay. Let that silence sit there. And when you’re up front speaking, as you know, is like, Oh, my God, somebody’s listening, but say something. They’re just thinking, yeah, hey, they’re just thinking, so. Let there be silence.

Okay, that’s great. Thank you.

Yep. All right. So as we continue on this journey to thinking styles, now we’re going to really connect it to personality theory. And if y’all are familiar with like Carl Young, and any of the main personality assessments Myers Briggs insights, True Colors, Lumina Spark, which is my favorite, I won’t ramble about that one, right now, they all use the same personality theory. And they’ve identified their eight aspects of personality. And when you start to look at those aspects, you know, introverted extroverted, big picture thinking, inspiration driven structure down to earth, people focus outcome, those eight aspects, you can actually start to identify that those align with five thinking styles as well. And so you start with sort of the structure the Down to Earth folks, they tend to be facts. First thinkers. Give me the details. Give me the numbers. What are those facts? What do I need to know? Then you can look to more the, the feelings first thinkers, the people focus they want to check in, Hey, how are you doing? Yeah, how are you feeling? They want to share their feelings, their emotions, then you come up with the ideas and strategy. They’re thinking big picture, innovative ideas, they love brainstorming. They’ve always got an idea. Always got an idea. Then when you continue sort of going through these eight aspects, you can also then cluster more of the the critical thinking, Yeah, but what about this? What about that? Oh, did you forget about this? I don’t know. And last, you’ve got your, your results oriented, little less talk, a lot more action. And so when you think about those different thinking styles, and how they map to our personalities, as well, for me, I’m a very people focused person. And I like the more emotional question, I want to know how you’re feeling. How are you doing? I want to make sure we’re all okay, we’re all comfortable. When you when you start to see how thinking patterns align with personality, you can then also make sure to create space for all the different thinking styles as well. So if you’re working with a group of students, and there’s some of this always got an idea, they might be a microwave thinker, they’re extroverted, they’re great at brainstorming out there, out there out there, that’s great. But what about those folks that need a little bit of time to talk to each other and the more one on one conversations, want to make sure you have space for them to to create that inclusive, participatory conversation environment, then those facts first, if you just talk through, hey, here’s the instructions here, I need you to go do XYZ 123456, don’t forget about seven, they’re gonna need to see it in the way they think they need the visual, they want to see the actual structure. They need that very detailed structure rather than just say I want you to go out and brainstorm some great ideas on how to solve this problem. Wait what, I need more structure. Other folks aren’t going to want to just be like Okay, tell me what to do. So when you start to see the different thinking styles, race you have to be when you start to see the different thinking styles as people when you’re having a conversation you can be more inclusive in engaging the different personalities with different types of thinkers as well and the kind of put a book in on this Lastly, you may be listeners may be thinking, and I use a little bit of all of them, depending upon the situation. Yeah, I can brainstorm Yeah, I like structure. I like you know, have a good roadmap in front of me, but also you sometimes I like to talk not always. I don’t always want to talk about my feelings, but sometimes. And the little secret is we use all those different thinking styles. Every single day. Whenever we make a decision. We just tend to be, we tend to favor certain ones that come more naturally to us. Where it’s like me very people focused that, that emotions comes natural. But when it comes to outcome focus more, hey, here’s what we need to do that critical type of thinking is harder for me.

Breaking the Silence: Overcoming Barriers to Student Voice

Yeah like, so is there, Is there something within like understanding that students have these different styles and adults too, right? Like, we all have this style, we have this favor, so you’re incorporating them? So is the challenge is that that we’re trying to first acknowledge that that’s the way it is. And then if you were to say this, Hey, just don’t forget, before you set up your meeting for the students or your activity, the challenge is, make sure you have your data, or like why it’s important, the numbers, make sure you give them the time, like, what is the what are the things that we need to do now that we understand that to make sure that like, the meeting goes, well, or the training goes?

Yep, yeah. So think about an agenda. The data, the structured folks want to have an agenda, know what to expect, know what we’re going to do, the more emotions folks are going to want to be able to talk to each other a little bit. Okay, they’re going to want to feel heard, they want to have a chance. So if I get left out, if somebody doesn’t pause and say, Hey, Dave, what do you think I’m going to feel left out, I’m going to take that personal, it’s going to cause stress, yeah, and missile, making sure you have different elements throughout your session, your conversation to incorporate space for these different types of thinkers, can make it more inclusive, more participatory. And the other sort of tidbit, where now you have this heightened awareness around the thinking styles and personality styles. When you’re having a conversation, whether it’s a group, or even one on one, use this as a process. We all use the same exact cognitive processing in that we take in data, we observe the facts, we have a gut emotional response to that data, no matter what we start to think about what are some of the different options, the ideas that we could do based upon the data and the gut feeling we have? We take those options, we filter them down with some critical thinking, and we decide what we’re going to do and we act. So folks listening, if you’re using alarm clock, when that alarm clock goes off in the morning, you’re hearing it, you’re taking in observable data, here’s a fact boom, our alarm clock is going off. You’re going to have a gut reaction that’s going to say something like, Oh, I’m gonna hit snooze. I don’t want to get up or Oh, heck, yeah, it’s great. Jake’s here, it’s gonna be an awesome day. Let’s do this. You got, you’ve got that gut reaction. You’re gonna brains like, I could hit snooze and just sleep for five more minutes. Oh, I could get up and go get my morning coffee and sit on the couch and look out the window and watch a sunrise. And with a couple of options, couple ideas. Then you’re gonna filter out, well, gosh, you know, timewise, I better get up and start getting dressed, I gotta shower, gotta do my hair, all that stuff. So then you decide, okay, I’m just going to get up, I’m not going to snooze. It’s a process, the way we process and make every single decision. And so now, when you’re having those conversations with youth, you might notice they may have skipped one of those steps. They might be having an emotional reaction to something. So then knowing like, Okay, well, I understand now, what are some of the facts? What do we got to work with? And when we they may be dead set on? Here’s what we need to do? I don’t know if it’s gonna work. Well. Let’s brainstorm some other ideas. What are some other options? What might be the implications of those options? So you can then figure out like, oh, they left out the data, the facts, they don’t have all the facts, or, you know, they’re kind of tunnel vision limited thinking as far as the options, maybe there’s that third, fourth or fifth options? Well, let’s talk about that. Or maybe it’s let’s talk about the implications of benefits the pros and cons of those ideas. Before we can then decide on what they want to do.

That’s cool. Okay, here’s what doesn’t hold it. I love that. Here’s some my brain. I’m the I’m the one who’s like, tell me what to do and do it. And so naturally, right now, I’m like creating this plan. I’m like, Okay, so the next time I’m doing a meeting number one, I’m allowing time in the agenda. First, I’m creating an agenda, right? So they have the plan. The second thing is I’m allowing time in the agenda number one for people to do something fun like an icebreaker where they can talk to each other and feel heard talk about their feelings, but then to on each agenda item. Now I’m thinking in the terms of okay, I need to allow time for us to explore data to talk about, you know, plans and stuff like that, but also, why that is important. And to incorporate the different styles of thinking within each, like, each agenda point. Because what I love about what you’re saying and realizing it right now, like I’m learning. Oh, that’s true and because that’s true, this little one line on our agenda doesn’t mean it’s going to take one minute. Yep, yep, it means we might need a couple minutes for silence, we might need a couple of minutes for that brainstorming, for data collection for a discussion to feel heard. If it’s a tough, touchy subject, like maybe there needs to actually be some discussion on it. And therefore, there’s this. There’s this puzzle of my agenda now. And now it’s kind of fun. Make an agenda. Yeah. Right.

Yeah, there’s, there’s layers. So the overall agenda can be structured as hey, you know, we’re here to meet here’s, we got three topics. And topic A awesome, great, what do we know about topic eight, the data, the facts, what do we know about it? All right. And you know, what, what is our reaction to it? What do we like? What do we dislike about this topic? What we know about this topic? Okay, well, based upon all that, you know, what are some things we could do? Okay. Let’s narrow that list down. What what maybe do we want to carry forward and act on? Yeah, that’s a great topic, too. Same thing. Well, do we what do we know about topic two? What are we like? Dislike? What are we still curious about? What do we want to know? Still? What don’t we know? Yep. Yeah, just the only blank layer.

Okay, that is here. That is awesome. Before I I said 30 minutes, man. So we’re getting close, but a lot of stories. If I can steal a couple more minutes, I want to ask you this. And don’t feel like you have to give us a masterclass unless you’re ready for it. But it can be a quick answer. So my question for you is because I know you’re good at helping students use their voice. In one word, or one sentence, what is the biggest challenge with students using their voice? Why do they not do it? Or why do they think it’s challenging?

I’m going to do a run on sentence in that the two things that I have seen one being not feeling like people are or will listen to their voices, and then also not feeling like they have something worth sharing.

Okay, so feeling like they, like people won’t listen. And on the other side, because, like the insecurity of I’m not worth it, like, I don’t have anything to give. 

I’m just Dave like, I’m just a student like I. What wisdom do I have? Like? Yeah, y’all youth out there listening? Like y’all know so much. Share your wisdom, share your perspectives and your experiences, just your experiences, what’s happened, what you think, what you’ve seen? That is wisdom? Those experiences are wisdom, and they are worth sharing with others.

Frameworks for Finding Confidence and Making an Impact

Is that how, so I’m going to share one thing, I think, and then I love this, because that was teeing us up for how can we overcome that. So in my mind, when I hear that, it’s the part of the the training or the experience where you really get to you show an example something that they relate to ensure the impact of someone else, because when people hear stories, they relate to those stories. That’s the power of you sharing yours, me sharing mine with every person of every diverse experience, realizing that you might not have a one in a million thing that happened to you. But the fact that you are one in a million means you’re uniquely qualified to reach certain people. It’s the reason why there can be 10 influencers talking about the same thing. And they all have 5 million followers. Because people, different people will relate to that different influencer. And so, in my mind, I’m thinking like, okay, how can I relate that to a student to realize that their voice does matter? And for them to realize, well, the things that you believe right now, they actually came from someone else too. Odds are they might not even been famous. They could just be a friend, a cousin, family member, someone you met randomly, that did something out of the ordinary for you to help them realize it, but in your experience, how, how do you help overcome that? That one challenge of like, Man, my voice doesn’t really matter. How can you help students get get through that?

Yeah actually, what I did there in St. Louis, bringing them a process and creating space and opportunity for them to share stories just with each other in a very safe, supportive, low stakes environment. After that re our session, he walked out of there with their heads held high, they were still talking about it three days later at this conference, because they had been heard, they had been seen. And they connected with each other around just their own personal experiences. They felt like they mattered. And so I didn’t have to tell them a story. They told each other stories, I brought the process and created the space for those conversations for them to share their voices, and have that experience.

Wow okay, I said I was done, but I’m not. Okay, ready. I’m ready style, save style. Is there a framework? You talked about? Helping students use their voices? And you mentioned framework in the beginning? And of course, that’s my brain. So I didn’t forget it. You like structure? It? Is there a framework where you teach students and they believe, hey, my voice matters. I’ve got something to share. There’s something I’m passionate about, is there a simple framework that you like to use that you teach students? And if so what’s like a general outline of that framework? Or like, can you tease tease it for us a little bit, so we can go look it out? Or maybe just think, oh, I want to talk to you so I can learn more about it on a call or something like that?

Yeah. So I would say, the the bare bones storytelling framework that I will usually start with, is actually I learned it when I went through a training, storytelling training with the moth for those familiar with that professional storytellers. And it starts out with life as it was. And then this happened. Then you raise the stakes, this happened, this happened, this happened. But then it’s that turning point. But then this happened. And life as it is now. The change life as it was, this happened, this happened, this happened. And hey, guess what now life as it is now. Be as simple as that.

That’s cool. I love that I love frameworks. Okay, that’s awesome. I’m going to check that out. There’s, I’m going to share this one that I like to teach too, because I love yours, because it’s simple. And I love simple. And it’s a storytelling as far as like one condensed story to think about. It’s called me we, you. And I learned it from a youth training session with Josh Shipp, and his, the I don’t know if that’s where it originated, but it was basically me, it’s the personal story. And then we, which is how that relates to the world around us. How is this true for everyone. And oftentimes, you’ll find that in Data Statistics, other stories, books, examples, metaphors, and then you have the you, which is the call to action. So why why I love that one is because why I love it is good, it’s simple. But the holes in it is now I have to teach you how to do the me storytelling, which is kind of like the framework, you said, that is the storytelling framework that the moth uses, then you have to figure out the we, then you have to figure out how to do a great call to action and inspire people to take action. And that’s the journey we’re all on is to become better communicators, better storytellers, and advocates to use our voice and make a change in the world so.

Remember that framework I shared before about the thinking styles and how we go through that process? Yeah, so the first two the facts and the feelings, the emotions, those are about the me the I, it’s the facts that I’ve observed the things I know, it’s my gut reaction, my feelings, then when you move into the ideas, and then more that critical thinking space, it’s about the We. Okay, what are some of the ideas we can come up with? How about the how might those ideas impact us as a collective? And then when you move more toward the action? What will I do? I will do this while is with Me? Me? You? Rework you’re saying. 

Dave’s Insightful Resources and Collaborative Spirit

Isn’t cool, like frameworks within frameworks? Yeah, I don’t feel like I nerd out on a lot of stuff. But this is one of them. I definitely, definitely do. I love that. Dave, thank you for being so generous. With not only letting me keep you longer than I said I would but also just like sharing your knowledge, sharing your stories, and just all the stuff you do in general, how you live your life, and how you’re investing in prevention. Because I see with all these events, you’re doing great stuff and you’re also have the mind of how can I pay it forward and make sure that other people feel more equipped. So want to leave the audience with this. Is there anything we should check out that your work You know, that would be beneficial for coalition’s people working in prevention in schools that if they’re like, Hey, Dave is pretty awesome. I want to check it out and I want to see what he’s doing. Where can they go? And what should they check out?

Yeah, so first I’m gonna say, stop by the website, you got a monthly newsletter where I write a blog post, really focused on teaching value, not not going to be spammy sign up for this. And that’s sharing wisdom, just like I did on this episode. Follow me on socials. I’m always hanging out on Instagram a lot. But I’m on most of the socials as well. But then lastly, on our website, I’ve got some free workbooks that you can download personal action planning, you can also create your own Luma splash. So when I talked about the eight aspects of personality theory, and how those map to different thinking styles, it will walk you through how to create your own and really see what you measure as well. So go check those out. They’re free fellow link workbooks that really bring you a process to help move you forward towards reaching your next level. And y’all don’t be strangers together really is better. And I’m always happy to connect and help.

This is fantastic. For those of you listening. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the drug prevention Power Hour. We are, I do my best to keep this going week after week, but we need some guests in order to do that. I don’t want to just be the guy who talks. I do that enough on the road. So help me out send me some great people to meet, tell me who you want to be introduced to what you want to know from that. And then I will make it my personal mission to get you that information so we can all learn together. So one last favor, leave us a review or rating. Get in touch with Dave and check out any ways that we can partner together to go further. We’ll see you next Monday for another episode.