Journey into Prevention Work
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Drug Prevention Power Hour. Now, it says this podcast is hosted by Jake White, but in case you missed it, I’m not Jake, I’m Raegann McDonald. Think of me as Jake’s younger, cooler, funnier replacement for this episode. Now that we have that squared away, I’d like to introduce you to someone who’s been in the youth prevention field for some time now, former member of the Kansas Youth Prevention Action Council and member of the Kansas Governor’s Behavioral and Mental Health Planning Council and very good friend of mine, Brady Clark, how are you? I’m good. You guys, how are you? So you graduated high school, to college, now how’s that been for you? It’s been definitely a change, an experience too. And we’re headed into final season. How are you feeling about that?
Not the best. Yeah, I feel that. So go ahead, tell me, tell everyone else a little bit about you, a little bit about how you got into prevention, just some little background knowledge. Yeah, so I started prevention work when I was a freshman and it started with joining my school’s white link and going to events like that and meeting people, specifically meeting people at the governor’s office when we would go in and watch here like sign legislation or proclamations that benefit in Mentorla.
And I think understanding how much it’s so valuable for everyone and crucial. So I think that pushed me even more to find more paths such as CHIPAC and the Governor’s behavioral credential. And then I advocate still at the state level and I plan to still advocate at the national level when I can. So, well, so glad to hear it. What are you majoring in again? Biomedical engineering.
Okay, sweet, sweet. So you said that you first got involved your freshman year. What did that look like for you? Like, did you just hear about Y-Link or Y-Link is youth leaders in Kansas for anyone who’s not aware of that. like, was there someone who kind of reached out to you? How did you first get your foot in the door?
Yeah, so the coordinator hosted an info session every month and so I went to one of them because my friends were on it. at first I was like, why is it you have leaders in Kansas? What all do they do? And it was mainly focused around mental health, but they also do different things for different communities and different activities or organizations like they did a big brothers big sisters so seeing that that familiar that’s familiar so I’m also like give it a chance and I did and I ended up really like loving it.
So, you said you first got involved like your freshman year. What were like the sorts of things that you did within that club, like getting started?
Advocacy and Legislative Engagement
Just being present and showing them to different events or different things we held. I would say it just started with me showing up and me putting in the work and showing that I can be a voice for those who don’t have a voice.
So, okay. So you’re talking about like showing up and just putting in that work. Once you had done that, how did you see yourself like advancing within Y-Link? Like how did that, how did your role kind of shift as you had been in the group for I say just my passion and just truly seeing that like, mental health, substance abuse is not something that like a lot of people are educated about. And so I think that pushed me even more to like, we need to educate people about this because it’s a, either lacking at home or B, not being sufficiently taught in the school.
Mm-hmm. Okay. Is there like, Do you have something that kind of drives you to like work on this? You don’t have to share if you don’t want to, but if there’s a story behind that, we’d love to hear it.
Yeah, so my best friend, her brother died of suicide and I watched her struggle through it when we were growing up. And I have struggled with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. And I think what even drove me further to continue to pursue it was seeing that I struggle and I didn’t want to give up because it would affect my friend in a more severe way and seeing her go through it again would not make me happy. And so I think just seeing it firsthand, I think that also alters your mindset on it too.
Yeah. I think it’s different when like you actually experience it and it becomes a lot more real than just like hearing about it on the news. I think that’s a hundred percent true. So I think it’s really great how you’ve used like those experiences and your own experiences to make a difference in other people’s lives and really change something. That’s really amazing. So kind of switching topics here. With Y-Link, a lot of the things that like I was also in Wiling and a lot of the things that we did at my high school were probably different than what you did. So what were the types of like activities or events that your group hosts?
So we did a blood drive and it was just kind of like a jumpstart to get people knowing about who we are and that we exist. And then once from there we kind of picked it up, we went to the capital and advocated for special education funding or more mental health resource funding. And then we reached out to a retirement home in Topeka and we did like a senior, like a seniors and seniors kind of like a writing letter type thing. So like high school seniors would like write letters to senior citizens and support them. Cause like a lot of, we didn’t even know that we were missing a whol demographic and special education funding. And a lot of the times it’s like they don’t have family that come and visit them. So it gets lonely and they start having depression or anxiety. And so showing them that like we have people who are more than willing to connect with you was one of my favorite events. And then I think we did a Boys and Girls Club, like supporting kids when they’re going through like mental health challenges. Those were some of the bigger events we did.
Okay, okay. I wanna dive a little deeper into a couple of these, because they just kind of piqued my interest. I’ve never heard of this with YLink before. So you talked about advocating at the Capitol for special education funding, is that right? Okay, how do you go about that? Because I feel like a lot of the times, it’s like, I wanna make a difference. Let me go talk at the state level, but no one really knows how to do that. That’s a lot of work and a lot of organization. So how do you actually go about getting your foot in that door?
Yeah, so I was really lucky because I was our student body president. So I had like a foot in the door with Stuka and that’s who we also co-partnered with. And then I know a contact at the Capitol he was well he is a House of Representatives and so I simply just talked to my StuGo sponsor, like, hey, they’re lacking funding, what it should be. And so I reached out to him and I was like, kind of set up an appointment to visit. And then we kind of tackled everybody else from there. Like we would drop by everyone’s office and be like, we moment of your time. We want to talk to you about something truly valuable and important to us.
And I think, I think the key about like whenever you go and do like legislative work is to show how compassionate you are about what you’re talking about. Cause they don’t just want you to hand them a letter and be like, okay, you can read that and we’re going to dip. They want you to like, they want to see that you actually care about what you came to the, came here to talk about. So I think also having that kind of mindset helped us the long run.
Yeah, absolutely. So, okay, okay. You talk about like, you set up an appointment to visit and then you kind of drop by offices after that. So are you saying that like, you have this contact who’s a member of the house, correct? Okay. And then after that, you just kind of like talk to the rest of them when you can and try to get them to hear your message? Is that how you go about that.
Yeah, so the one, the reason why I reached out to this representative was because they’re in our, he covers our district. And so I was like, well, he were his constituents. So like he would want to hear from us. then just dropping by, because they had a floor session right after that. And so we really couldn’t speak to any other legislators, but we were able to speak to their legislative staff, like their secretaries, and just saying, hey, please let them know. And then like we also included like a contact on the flyers, like if they wanted to follow up our questions, they would just email that.
Personal Impact and Growth
Okay. So do you personally think that like talking to these legislatures or talking to their staff is more influential than like writing a letter or sending an email? Do you think it should be in person? How does that make an impact?
Yes, a hundred percent it should be in person because it’s harder to tell someone no or Turn them away in person than it is in an email or a letter so and I think that goes back to like Caring like if you’re willing to show up in person and tell me that I’m wrong because I’m not supporting something that I should be Then I like I mean if I was in this you I’d be like you showed up and you told me I was wrong and you didn’t just like email us in the letter.
Okay, okay. So when you show up to talk to especially the representative that you were like scheduled and you had a meeting, what sorts of things do you say in that meeting? Like how do you get your point across? How do you balance like having that passion while also being really like serious and in the moment?
Yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard to show compassion without, without like crossing a line of like, because like, they are a person and, and I think knowing that they just want to listen to you, otherwise, like they wouldn’t have taken this meeting is like more than enough to stay and fight for the cause you’re wanting. But yeah, it’s something really challenging that I haven’t really figured out how to deal with in those types of situations.
I mean, it’s worked out for you pretty well. Just when you go in, do you have set in stone exactly what you’re gonna say? Or do you kind of rehearse it, or is it just off the wall?
Yeah, have like bullet points that I would cover over, because I don’t want to just work for something and then give it to them. And then like they’re asking questions and I have no idea what to say. So I always just do bullet points so that I could like, I know what I’m going to cover and it leaves them room to ask questions. So yeah, I don’t.
Yeah, you want it to be organic. Yeah. Okay, just let it flow. so are you like going into these meetings by yourself? Do you have a group with you?
There’s a group of us. So like I assigned a group to the house side and they would tackle the house and then I assigned a group to the Senate side. And so they would go to each of those meetings. So there was a group of us. It wasn’t like just me solely alone. Excuse me. But like only a few of us were talking just casually you’re talking about like, I assigned them to the Senate. I assigned them to the house. Like you’re not like, it’s so nonchalant. You’re not even like recognizing the fact that you’re just like delegating. you go talk to the state senator. You go talk to this representative. Like it’s nothing. It is like, it’s really cool. okay. Okay. I have so many questions. okay. Okay. How do you like, how do you decide on these people? Like, you talk about you’re going from stuco. Like that’s kind of how you got your foot in the door. Are these all people from stuco or how does it tie into Y-link? Like talk to me about that.
So like I look, as I said, the specific event, we did a Y-Link and Stugo partnership. like, at one of our Stugo meetings, we had Y-Link join us. and we planned there and I was like, okay, here’s the list of like, who’s all going to the Senate side and tackling those offices and house side. and so yeah, it was both, Stigowen WhiteLink.
Okay. And is everyone just like, yeah, like we’re gonna do this, like it’s so normal or does it take a little convincing? Like, cause I know like you’re used to it, like you advocate on the state level, but there’s gotta be people who are like, you want me to talk to a representative? Like Yeah, it was a struggle, for sure. But I told them that you don’t need to speak. We just need bodies in the room to show that more people stand with your side than just you. Because if you show it alone, then it’s like, one person thinks this, but we’re showing up in a big group. we all, anyways. So I, we had.
Someone in Stugo who was very passionate about like legislative work as I. And so I said, well, you go onto the Senate side and I will cover the House side. And then we had two other people who were like, yeah, I’m fine with speaking. And so like we just split them up. But it was a struggle at first. It’s like, me? They’re like, me, me, like you and me? Are we having the same problem? No.
Okay, just like, A, fact that you’re talking to representatives, whatever, that’s very impressive. That’s amazing, like very cool. But how do you, you talk about like knowing that they want to take the meeting if they didn’t want to hear what you have to say. How do you kind of like keep yourself calm and like, do you, yeah, how do you stay calm in that situation? Like prepare yourself for this meeting and have that confidence going into it.
8, 10 just passion and just truly knowing, the cause you’re finding for it. Like I truly like have educated myself on mental health and substance abuse. I have even like went through all that. sorry, I even went through all of that on my own. And so I, I think just truly making sure you know.
Challenges in Advocacy
Chop to bottom, side to side about the cause you’re fighting for. And if they didn’t really care about what I had to say or they weren’t gonna change their mind at the meeting, well, get them at the next one. They don’t need everyone to pass something, so yeah. Okay, I love that. So when you go into this meeting, like, was it well received? How did like this advocacy actually like turn out for you?
It was really well received. My friend and I, we took a side quest to one of the other offices because we saw her floor speech. And so we were like, let’s go talk to her because she’s like extremely mad about the finding situation too. And so we gave her assistant her contact info. And shortly after, she had another speech for the session and she asked to call into question for the funding. so, later then she reached out afterwards and just to say, well, I’m so glad, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, so we ended up passing, I think it was 200 put 200 million, think that it was, I think it was 200 million into the special education funding, but don’t quote me on that. And so I think we, I think we’ve success our mission.
Yeah, and you helped make that happen. You’re still just being so calm about it. Okay, I’m not gonna quote you on the 200 million, but either way, that’s a lot of money that you helped get past in those lives that you helped impact. That’s amazing, Brady. Okay, okay. I just can’t believe I didn’t know about any of this. Okay, wow. So I don’t even know where to take this from here. I’m just like, it’s just like bouncing off the walls. I could talk about this forever. Okay.
So kind of still talking about like this project, kind of going into like overall, what sort of barriers have you run into with advocacy and prevention work in general? And like, how have you been overcoming them or are you still working on overcoming it from you. legislative standpoint, being turned away is not fun. Especially like, again, if you’ve like poured your heart out and dedication towards something and then like gets ripped away from you, of course you’re gonna be mad. You don’t take a toy from a baby. And on the other side of it, not the legislative just truly like finding what aspect of mental health or substance abuse to focus on because there’s so many and it just, feels like if you don’t focus on one then you’re kind of like neglecting it and that’s a frustration like I feel like you can’t satisfy the whole population and demographic and so that makes me mad too.
But a barrier I would say is like right not getting the voices heard. like, you can hear me talking about how mental health and substance abuse are crucially important in education, but I’m only gonna do so much because I’m not at the forefront of like, the problem. So like, making sure that those who are struggling have a voice and things like that. Or, like people of an education hierarchy, like if they’re a teacher or like a principal, seeing, having them have a sort of stance on it, but it’s hard to get those people to want to speak. And so that’s a barrier because it’s like, well, it’s basically writing an essay in third person. It literally only does so much.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I totally understand that. Like being turned away after like you’ve really poured yourself into something is, it’s just devastating. But I think that the fact that like you guys have continued to continue pushing for it because of that passion that you have is really what like, it’s what makes the difference. And you can’t fix everything for everyone, but you can make a difference in one person’s life.
You know, that bill that got passed for special education funding, that made a difference in a lot of lives. And so, I mean, you’re definitely doing something. Definitely doing something. Okay, just a couple more, because we are running out of time, but I do want to know how has being involved in Y-Link and substance prevention, all of the advocacy work that you’ve done, how has that been good for you personally? Like, what do you think you’ve gained from it? ⁓ If you could tell someone who’s like, wondering if they should get involved, wondering if they should go down this path, anything, what would that be to kind of inspire them to go?
I truly, if you asked me when I was in eighth grader or at the beginning of my freshman year, if I would be sitting here with Reagan McDonald on a podcast talking about substance abuse and mental health, I would have laughed you out of that room. And so I think, being involved in Wiling ChiPAC, the Governor’s Council, I think it truly is. It’s sort of like my home because nothing more than I love is, well, nothing more than I love is helping people and showing compassion towards people who don’t.
I more than I who don’t have that, like, mental health, a lot of people who are struggling can’t just like go out and advocate for themselves. So I think it’s truly helped me see that in another light the stigma around it.
Seeing it slowly dissolve has made me want to still do this. I truly love helping people and making tomorrow more impactful and better for the next person.
don’t even know where to go from that. Like here you say that like, Chi-Pack and Miling and all of that has just kind of become your home. Like that’s one of the things that like I feel the most. Like I can completely understand that. Like, especially from like the making a difference, but also just like the people. Like I’ll be honest, if you would have told me in January that I’d be doing a podcast with Brady Clark, I probably wouldn’t have guessed that one either. But I’m so glad. wow. Okay. Yeah.
Okay, to close this out, it’s time for today’s bright spot, that one person who’s made a real impact and kept us moving forward. And I think it’s a perfect way to end because we all have that one person who’s really made an impact on you, whether in the prevention field or in your life in general. And I just think that it’s important to thank those people and give them a little shout out. So Brady, if you could pick one person who’s made that impact or kind of influenced you in a positive light, who would it be and why did you choose them?
Yeah, go for it, go for it well, first one,Eric Cortez, he was my high school’s, Y-Link coordinator. and he’s one that helped get me onto the governor’s, council. And so like without him, I truly do not see myself sitting here, at K-State on a podcast very thankful thankful for him.
And then my second one is Angela Crawford. She was my Stugo sponsor and my US History teacher. She made it so easy. And I truly, I would have never let alone gone and tried to be student body president and done it.
and pursued legislative work. I pursued legislative internships around mental health and all of that without her. And so I truly also can’t see myself sitting here because it’s changed me personally and how I communicate. And so I think those two are like the rock of my leadership.
That’s amazing. I’m grateful for that. I mean, I’m glad that you’re here. Okay, one last thing actually, I guess I was kidding. If you could give one piece of advice or like one kind of quote or anything like that that kind of guides your life or the work that you do in general, whatever it may be, what would that?
One word, one quote, one little mantra, whatever you want to speak. What guides Brady’s life? I don’t remember who said it, I can surely look it up, but… It’s like, there is no tomorrow… It’s basically like, there’s no tomorrow if you just sit there and yesterday pass you by.
Okay. Okay. I really liked that. I really liked that actually. I love that. Okay. Okay. Well, Brady, thank you so much for spending your time with us this morning on the podcast. And thank you for all the phenomenal work and advocacy you are doing in your community and in your state, even on the national level. I know I haven’t been around for all of it, but it has been great to see even over the past year, like everything that you’ve been able to do. And it’s just been amazing.
It’s something like that. I can look. And I told you before, but you really are just such an inspiration to me and all these other youth. And I’m just so proud of everything that you do. So as we wrap up, would you like to share a social media handle for either you or your club that our listeners can check out if they’d like to stay connected? Join the Kansas ChiPack Instagram. Follow it.
I will put that in the description. You should definitely follow that one. But yes. Finally, to our audience members, thank you so much for giving Jake’s replacement a chance and for the life-saving work you’re doing in your own communities. It does not go unnoticed. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or someone who you think would benefit. This has been the Drug Prevention Power Hour with your host, Regan McDonald, doing Jake’s job only better. We’ll see you next time.
