Getting to Know Brittany Richmond

Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour. Today I’m hanging out with actually one of my new awesome friends, Brittany Richmond. What’s up, Brittany? What’s up y ‘all? Brittany Richmond is the hot mess express. I love that. I love that, Brittany. I’m going to read your bio to give some context about that because I can’t stop saying it now. It’s so good.

So check this out everyone. Brittany Richmond is a dynamic and charismatic mental health expert with over a decade of experience. Diagnosed with multiple anxiety disorders, including an impulse control disorder, right after high school, she was inspired to enter the fields of counseling and psychology. Since she’s dedicated herself to ending the stigma surrounding mental health and reaching out to as many struggling young people as possible with her story and voice.

What’s really cool is she actually was honored with the 2024 voice for positive change award from the Illinois association of behavioral health and operations snowball. And she just launched this incredible book called lies. My anxiety has told me. one thing I love about you, Brittany is you have incredible and like literally transformational keynote presentations and you do some awesome workshops, which just like us are super fun, super interactive. So I love your style and I’m gonna read this last part of your bio too, cause you’re just like a fun person. So I love the way you read it. Brittany cherishes her time with her husband, Zach and her kitten, Finn. She enjoys rocking out to 80s hair bands, working out on her Peloton, attending St. Louis Cardinal games and binge watching Christmas movies. That’s amazing.

Yeah, all year long, all year long, not just during Christmas, friends, like all year long we watch Christmas movies.

Oh my gosh. And that’s why you and Emily would get along famously.

I love it, we can have a party, a hallmark party, she’ll know what that means.

Yeah. She, I think, petitioned me last year to get the Hallmark channel. It was like, or maybe there was some kind of, I want to say glitch because we didn’t subscribe to it. But one time, like we had the Hallmark channel and literally it just stayed on. It was, she was in heaven. It’s amazing. It’s amazing. Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, Brittany, tell us a little bit more, fill in the gaps, like of what did I miss on your bio or what do you want to share just for us to get to know you a little bit more?

Gosh, well the first thing you need to know is I’m so awkward with you know talking about myself, so that’s fun So whenever I’m you know even right now the bio reading like before you go on stage You know or in front of an audience they say they introduce you and stuff and say a little bit about you like it is so Cringe for me. I’m just like just say nothing like that’s what I tell people like it’s fine if you don’t want to say anything like Don’t do it like it just makes me feel so awkward, but I don’t know why. It’s just always been that way. Probably because I’m a huge introvert, that’s something that is notable, is I’m very introverted. But I tend to, which is weird, because a lot of people are like, but you’re on stage, you know? But I think the difference is, is I fill my cup by service, right? Like serving other people. But like the one -on -one conversations, if people are like directively asking things about me, like in person one-on-one, I’m like, no, tell me about you. You already know everything about me. Like, let me something about you, I’m so awkward, but that’s probably something to note about me if I can be very awkward and I own that. I think a lot of times, and the Hot Mess Express, I have some friends that really get on me about that. They’re like, stop using negative affirmations. Like it’s a negative affirmation. I’m like, first of all, it’s not a negative affirmation, okay? Like I’m very much that person and I mean it in a good way. Like I’m not here ragging on myself. Like what’s going on? So it’s not a negative affirmation. So I just rambled.

Yeah, no, that’s cool. And there is a balance, right? There’s an imbalance because when you speak too, is you do want to, because someone just read this awesome bio about you and you want them talking you up instead of you just bragging about all the great things that happened. And then, I mean, I don’t know if you do this, but when I get on stage, I want to humiliate myself a little bit to show, hey, I’m not this like statue of a person. I’m literally just like you.

Correct. Right. my gosh. That’s why, I mean, you’re somewhat familiar that I do a lot of like singing and like crowd work. Like I definitely come on stage and I’m a little outwardly awkward. Like, hey, match me. Like, let’s go. Like, let’s get some energy going. But I do that because, you know, we, as speakers, we want them to buy into what we have to say. We want them to trust us immediately. And I want to break down those barriers right away, especially with working with young people. I mean, even though we look young, right? Like we look young, we’re not teenagers, right? So we’re automatically viewed as like these like authority figures, these adults on this pedestal. And it’s like, no, no, no, no, I’m trying to get on your level, right? So that’s really important to me.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s thank you for sharing that. I would love to talk more about teen anxiety because the people listening to this podcast are working with youth. Sometimes they’re leading a youth group for the first time or they’re just starting to. And it’s at the beginning when you start getting to know young people, we’re blown away by the amount of mental health challenges and all the expectations that are put on them from all angles and almost 24 hours a day. So can you kind of share with me a little bit about like what are teens facing today and from your perspective of teen anxiety, like what do we need to know that students are dealing with?

Understanding the Factors Contributing to Teen Anxiety

Gosh, it’s such a layered question because I think as like adults, again, I use that term loosely because I don’t even know what that is. I don’t consider myself one. So, but if you’re an adult listening, good for you. Tell me what’s going on. How do I be an adult? But I, where was I going with this? But I think that as adults, we often want to feel very like pointed, like we want to find the solution to the problem. But the reality is there’s a lot of different variables that cause mental health struggles with young people today. I mean, social media is just one component. I think we like to make it the component, but it’s just one component, right? It’s just one of the pieces. But something I often hear, because when I do the breakout sessions, I like to make them very much like sharing, like opening up and creating space and holding space for each other. So they’re very interactive. And I like these young people to share like what I use this metaphor of carrying around a book bag, right? Like just because we carry it well doesn’t mean it’s not heavy. So we actually unpack our metaphorical book bags together. Like what are you carrying that is heavy, but like you carry it so well. Like, do you carry it well? And like, so a lot of it is expectations. Like I think there’s such, and that’s a layered thing too. It’s a very general term. They feel societal expectations, peer expectations, parental expectations. 

If they’re involved in the church, expectations there, expectations for their career, I mean, their behavior, there’s so many school grades. I mean, I remember I had a conversation with one senior in high school and she were talking about your dream college. And she was like, if I don’t get in, like my life is literally over. And I was like, well, what would happen if you didn’t? And she’s like, I don’t know. And I’m like, I’ll tell you what will happen. You’re gonna get into another college, right? Like a different and you’re gonna thrive there. I think we, these young people are latching so hard on not failing that they almost can’t see the fact that failure is feedback. It’s absolutely important for us to quote unquote fail in life, to learn and grow and build resilience. And we see them avoiding failure on all fronts, you know, by trying to fit in and have these moments of perfection with their peers or society that it leads to these almost identity crisis as we see like anxiety and depression really start to, I mean, that was my story. It’s a big part of my story is I was working so hard to fit in that, you know, I was doing things that were inappropriate, engaging in risky behaviors, substance use, especially in college, like really heavy into like drinking to cope. Like it just, it all comes together, right? And so challenging them to really kind of dissect what they carry around and why? And why is it heavy for them? Because everybody’s carrying something, you know.

Embracing Failure as a Learning Opportunity

Yeah, and that’s one of my recent epiphanies too about expectations and peer pressure even, because in our field, they talk about peer pressure. We don’t talk enough about expectations and anxiety because that’s one of the root causes of why students are saying, yes, that’s why I vape. That’s why I started using cannabis products or things like that is they think it’s a solution to their mental health problem or their challenge when in reality, it’s more like a band aid.

And it makes them feel bad for a moment, but the problems come right back. But what is so healthy about what you’re teaching and your interaction with students is it does help you realize that number one, failure is okay and it’s part of your journey. But two, there’s things you cannot control in life and there’s things you can. The outside pressure is something we let in too easily. We like being resilient to that is probably a skill that we can learn to say, all right, this is their expectations of me, not mine. Here’s my expectation of me. And here’s what I do to fulfill that expectation because I have a high standard and my goals, but the rest of it is all on them. Which I think it’s a very healthy way to look at things. But when you’re surrounded by your peers eight hours a day and then you are looking for their feedback, and that dopamine hit online from people liking and stuff like that. It’s tough to be reminded of that sometimes.

Yeah, my gosh, I agree with everything you said. And just to like, even the peer pressure piece, right? Like just constantly trying to, you know, uphold this image or be friends with certain people or do what they do because, you know, I think a lot of it has to do like the peer pressure, we let it really get to us because we don’t have ownership over who we are. Like we don’t know who we are, we’re not, or maybe, you know, cause when you’re young, you’re kind of figuring it all out, right? But we see a lot of young people compromising already internalized morals and values because they want to fit in. So the fact that we hear this generation all the time, and I think every generation kind of did it, but this generation is very much like, accept me for who I am on all fronts, right? But so I see this generation right now that’s very much like open-minded, open-hearted and all these things.

At the same time, I’m like, I actually see you all trying to be like everybody else. You know, everyone’s trying to fit in and conform to these groups, but I’m like, is that really who you are or are you doing it because they’re doing it or because you know what I mean? So I think we’ve seen that in every generation. It’s just interesting because they’re very much so loud about it right now on a lot of different fronts. And I think that when you struggle with that, it leads to things like mental and emotional health struggles. And like you were saying, that’s why a lot of kids vape. That’s why they engage in substance use or risky behaviors in general is they’re treating the symptom, not the cause, right? So that’s something I like to challenge adults with too, like especially, you know, teachers, you know, people in authoritative positions over teenagers or young adults and kids is like, we’re treating symptoms, not the cause. So while yes, that feels good in the moment and it really helped in the moment. Like what’s triggering the anxiety or the depression? Let’s do that. Let’s focus on that behavior, ergo all these others in theory shouldn’t occur, right? So.

Yeah. absolutely. And I think what’s cool about the one-on-one conversations we get to have with students after the presentations is sometimes the epiphany, sometimes it happens in the moment. A lot of times it happens after because they have lessons or activities or they test what you said. I had this student afterwards really challenge me on what I shared about cannabis products. And he’s, you know, Jake, no, I use cannabis products. It really helps me. Here’s my symptoms. Here’s what happens when I use. And we had, we probably sat there talking for 15 minutes, you know, and me just listening and then having a conversation. Like you said, well, what led to this feeling that you had? And then you use this to cope. What happens in between each time you use, you know, are your symptoms getting better or worse?

And so you’re just asked questions for them to get this epiphany of, wait, it’s not actually serving me. It’s bringing me farther down the problem actually. That’s the tough thing about, for anyone listening, whether you know this or not, this is a good stat to remember, is that young people who begin using marijuana regularly, you’re three and a half times more likely to attempt suicide within your lifetime because you’re five times more likely to develop psychosis.

And psychosis is such a big deal, you know, bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, like it’s such an umbrella. It’s a scary thing. but so to tackle the root cause issue is so, so important. so Brittany, how do you do that? I know. I don’t know if you want to tell us about your book or a little about your speech or some tips, but like, how can we help people with anxiety?

The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Well, like we said, so that’s the, we gotta get to the root cause, but to kind of like, kind of go off of what they’re doing now, and not every young person does this, but it is easily accessible for them to acquire these things that, you know, are more risky in terms of like the coping, if you go there, it’s their coping mechanism, right? And I, you know, the coping skills are gonna look different from person to person. And I think that that’s really important for teenagers to know is there’s not one solution. We see, they see a friend who’s struggling.

Coping this way ergo, that must be a good way for me to cope with it. But, you know, I challenge them like how you feel, you know, emotional or mental health struggles is different than how I feel it. So how we cope with it’s going to be very different. And I always challenge them. I’m like, if you’re coping, it should be healthy and serve you as in like, you know, does this move you forward physically, emotionally, you know, in your education, financially, spiritually? If it doesn’t, it’s just a no. There’s no gray area in terms of healthy coping skills, in my opinion.

Like, is it healthy and does it serve you? If it’s a no, it’s not a good thing, right? It’s just not. But so the real question is like, how do we get to the root? And so the main thing that I, you know, talk to teenagers about is a big thing I read about in the book. It was my own, you know, epiphany, if you will. And it’s just, sometimes I tell myself, I’m like, this is so ridiculous because it’s so simple. It’s not easy, though, right? I think that’s the big thing is it’s so simple. It’s just not easy because I hear young people right now, you know, they’ve very much created this space for mental health. Like this generation has created this conversation around mental health to end the stigma. And I admire them for it because because of them, I have a platform and because, you know, I’m comfortable to share my story. So and the simple solution is just how to talk about our mental health struggles. We often hear people say, do this, cope this way or do this or do that. And it’s like, but we can’t get there. Unless we start talking about it. Like we always want to jump to step four, five or six, but we really need to do step one first, which is opening our mouths, right? And being comfortable opening our mouths about it. 

So with that, I really focus on not only how to have those conversations, but how to create space for other people and hold space for them. Because having a conversation, the flip side of that is active listening. So we really need to create this space where people feel comfortable not only sharing, but also holding space for other people when they want to share because the stigma is still alive and well. If the goal is to end it, then we have to start talking about it. So that’s always the key component. So in my keynotes, they’re very interactive because of this. The main point is to have conversations around, give them simple, easy ways to do that. These non-intrusive conversations, right? These that don’t close doors. 

So, asking people all the time, like if someone says, Jake, how you doing today? You’re probably like, I’m fine, how are you? Door closed. That’s it, I’m fine. How many times have we said to somebody, I’m fine, but that was not true, right? Like it was not true. So we don’t accept I’m fine. Like we just don’t do that. So there’s other ways to create open doors where people feel comfortable sharing. Again, non -intrusive conversations is the way I wanna help them do that.

Interesting. You’re right. It’s simple. It’s not easy because the easy default interaction when we see someone is like, boom, small talk. How are you doing? Great. I acknowledge you. See you. And it’s polite. It’s what we’ve learned to do in our culture, but not necessarily a meaningful conversation that would lead to any sort of change in their life. So how do you push past if someone’s like, I’m fine?

Do you push them and say like, are you fine? Or like what’s happening? I can’t even, this sounds like I should know, but I don’t.

The Power of ‘Tell Me More’

Three words, just three words. Tell me more. That’s it. That’s, that’s, it opens the door and it’s non-intrusive because directive questioning can be intrusive. Like, are you really fine? That’s kind of like intrusive questioning. Cause then people are instantly, yeah, people are instantly like, what? Yes, I’m fine. You know, but if you’re like, tell me more, people are like, wait, people will figure out like ways. And we just keep repeating it, Jake. So it’s not just like, tell me more. And then, Someone’s like, yeah, school is just really hard today. Tell me more. Well, the teacher was on me because da, da, da, da, da, da. I have had adults, like I’ve spoken at events, I’ve had emails from the adults in the audience that have emailed me weeks after and they’re like, been doing this in my marriage, changed the way we communicate. Like it’s just this process that I take them through in person. Like they’re actually interacting and having these conversations. And I’ve had people superintendents of schools be like, I never thought I’d see kids interact this way. I get emails all the time when people are like, my kid just said, tell me more. Like it was just like, it’s so simple, but it’s just not easy because why isn’t it easy? Right? Cause if it was easy, everybody would do it. But it’s because mental and emotional health struggles seek to isolate us. Like they very much do. They want to keep us in isolation because in here they thrive, right? You can get locked in here and you know, it’s just, it’s all lies that it tries to tell you like, nobody’s gonna understand how you feel. So like, why would you talk about how you feel? Or, you know, you don’t wanna burden people with your problems or they’re gonna think you’re weak if you start talking about this. It’s just seeking to isolate you. It’s all a lie. That’s all it does. So if we can just acknowledge the fact that its whole goal is to keep you in here, then we can better feel comfortable, you know, opening up, so.

That’s so cool. And for everyone listening, I love that she just gave us three words we can start using today to have more meaningful conversation. It’s so simple. It’s so easy. Maybe it’s not easy sometimes, but it’s so simple. There was an interview I did with Dr. Reagan North on motivational interviewing. And just like you just shared with us, it was like, language is powerful. Like our recognizing our defaults and then how to get someone to share in a meaningful way. It’s like a game changer because there’s all these things that we do to think that we’re helping someone or to try to fix things, whether or versus helping them discover how to help themselves. And I feel like that tactic you just shared is such a part of even motivational interviewing strategies.

And if anyone’s listening, that’s episode 57 with Dr. Reagan North. It’s just something that’s so much more powerful. It’s like a train, a fast train getting you right to your destination. No traffic lights, nothing, just right to the point. So that’s really, really cool. So.

Yeah, and I think it’s really important to note that like, I think a lot of people feel like they don’t create space for people with stuff like this or ask them how they’re doing because they don’t have a solution. Nobody’s asking you to have the solution, right? I think that’s really important. And I challenge young people too, because one of the lies and why we don’t talk is because, you know, they’re not gonna understand me. So what’s the point? Well, we don’t need people to understand how we feel in order to help us. I think.

And I always say, if you go to the doctor, because you have a broken arm, is the doctor going to say, hey, hold on, I got to go break my arm first so I know how you feel so I can better treat you? No, they don’t. They don’t need to understand that you’re in pain and how to fix it. They just know how to do that. And so I challenge young people with that, too. Like people don’t have to. And plus, we don’t want to put that on other people. You know, this whole relationship between talking and active listening, that’s exactly it’s a two way road. I think oftentimes when we’re struggling, and I know this from my own personal experience, so I feel like I can say this, is you want so badly for everybody around you to change how they’re behaving in order to make you feel better, or I need you to understand how I feel, or why don’t you get it, those sorts of conversations, but that is so unfair of us to put on other people. 

So this is that ownership piece over your mental and emotional health I really talk to students about is you have to own this. This is you. You’re actually in more control than you realize, because we have choices over how we respond to certain things. So you can choose, you know, we talk about choosing your heart and all these things and it’s just, but the more we talk about how we feel, the less power it has over us. So even if we just create space for someone to just unburden themselves, that can make all the difference in their day, in their week, in their life. I mean, it just, it just, it’s a game changer. So.

Right. Just feeling heard is powerful. Yeah, that’s good. So that was the first was to talk about it and you gave us some strategies. Are there some more?

Yeah, so that’s like the main thing I like to lean into. They all tie together, like controlling the controllable. So recognizing the areas that you’re actually in more control than you realize, right? So there’s that piece. But to the other piece of coping, which is identifying and prioritizing and executing on the things that are healthy and that serve us and how to do that. And, you know, in the book, we walk through an exercise of actually identifying the things that bring us joy that are healthy and serve you, right? Because there are plenty of things out there that could bring you joy that are not good, right? So we wanna make sure that we’re executing on things, but not only just like executing and then being like, because like what if it’s fitness and someone’s like, well, I wanna try working out and see if that helps me feel better. And they end up hating it. We don’t want them to stick with it. That can actually be worse, right? So how to actually see, so testing things, like is this healthy? Does this serve me? And then maybe adjusting if we need to. So it’s a process.

I think that’s important for young people to know is we want this instant change, right? We want this instant gratification and we want it to happen now, right? But it’s just, that’s not how it works, right? And it’s all about consistency. So the last piece is always consistency. So.

Okay, that’s cool. I love it. And it’s so in line. We give different presentations. Our topics are adjacent, but the foundations of what we need as humans has always been the same. We want acceptance, belonging, significance. We want to matter and be heard and seen and to help. And we always say this like, we’re in a fast culture. And we are. We get stuff quickly on Amazon. We microwave stuff to eat.

We’re used to getting it fast and we always want to go faster. So even though like every generation talks trash about the one behind them and everything is we’re like, we’re constantly changing and we have to learn how to do this. And it’s, it’s always a test against our values of saying, well, what’s important to me? How am I going to get the things that I want in the time that I want it, which we always want to go faster, but does it align with my values and where I want to go? And you’re helping people discover that, which is really, really cool by giving them these activities and these conversations and sharing your own story. So before I ask for your, you know, I want people to get some contact info. I definitely want to tell them about how you work with conferences as well. But before I do that, if, do you have any just practical advice or if I said, hey, you’re speaking now to, let’s say, 100 people that they run these drug prevention coalitions and they have a youth group of students that care about, you know, saving lives from addiction. And they’re speaking and leading this team. How can they incorporate something that you do and kind of steal it? Whether it’s a tip on how to form a group or to open conversations, what’s something they could use from you?

Identifying Healthy Coping Mechanisms

Gosh, just, I mean, honestly, tell me more is so powerful, but much like substance use in general, like we, again, anything, any sort of behavior that is not quote unquote, someone’s normal behavior, right? If they’re exuding some sort of behavior where people are like, this is not usual, this is not their normal, they’ve changed or their personality is different or they’re doing these things now, it’s like, just be conscious of the fact that this is an outcome, right? This is an outcome of something else.

So that’s why I think tell me more and conversations are so powerful because we want to get to the root and address that before we, and by default, these behaviors should dismiss or dissipate. Like it’s, it’s, it’s a common, for those of you listening, like I have a counseling degree in counseling, what we did in behavior modification, we call it the target behavior, right? The target behavior. If we change this behavior, the idea is that these other ones would just go away, right? So like, this is something that would just dissipate because you actually got to the root of the problem. So identifying the target behavior is definitely something that I would lean into. And I commend all the drug coalitions out there. I’ve worked with many of them over the last few years. They’ve brought me in to speak at a bunch of different schools and all the things. Because they recognize how important mental health is with all of this, with substance abuse, with risky behavior in general, because it all just co mingles.

Yeah, exactly. And can you tell us a little bit about your ideal partner that you work with, how you work with them? And I’m going to ask, I’m going to get you uncomfortable. Like, I want you to brag a little bit about like, all right, don’t, you tell me and then I’ll brag on you because I’ve seen all this stuff. And if you need evidence, we’ll leave you with Brittany’s social media then so you can stalk her and stuff because I like that stuff too. You post a lot of great content and helpful stuff. So, but ideal partner that you have, how are you coming in? Who are you working with? What happens when they work with you with presentations and workshops or whatever that is? Tell us about that.

I work a lot in the CTE circuit. I work a lot with drug coalitions, individual schools, teen institutes, grant funded organizations, a lot of county wide teen conferences. I do high school and I do some middle school just a little bit, you know, mostly the older middle school kids like seventh and eighth grade. And then I do, I do some college as well because that whole period of my life, like eighth grade to about sophomore year of college was just a hot mess expressed in a bad way. Right? Okay. Like.

Not the good way that it is now, but high school is definitely my sweet spot because I just know that person so well because that’s who I was when I needed my message. And I think that that’s when we are the most impressionable in terms of our peer relationships, who we’re growing into, what we want to accomplish, our goals, our expectations, all the things. So yeah, no, I love working with all the groups because at the end of the day, like, this is the audience I’m meant to serve and they’re in a lot of different places. So it’s just about connecting with those decision makers and event organizers and planners and seeing if it’s a good message for their students because that’s really important as it has to be. And I will say this, a lot of students advocate for me. I think the students advocate for it because they, I’m telling you, this generation wants to talk about mental health and I don’t think that it’s something that, they need one time. So when they hear a speaker, whether it’s me or somebody else, they’re like, again, we want more because not because there’s so many things that they’re struggling with and mental health is such a huge umbrella. So I specialize in overcoming and managing anxiety. That’s my specific niche. That’s what I do. That’s my lane. And I know other speakers that do other things with mental health. So I’m also very good at connecting organizers with other people if that’s what they need to. So.

That’s awesome. And for anybody who wants to get in touch with you, how can they follow you and get in touch with you?

Well, my website is super on point, britneyrichmond.com, so that’s really on the nose, but my Instagram is the Brittany Richmond. I have a LinkedIn. I know people are like, that’s professional, it’s boring. Okay, LinkedIn is boring, I don’t like it. So if you really wanna connect with me on social, I’m on Instagram, friends, so.

Okay, that’s your primary one, Instagram. That’s primary. That’s so good. Well, thank you, Brittany. This was such a fun discussion and thank you for all that you’re doing. I think I’ll say the same thing to you and for the people listening is you have a unique ability to say something that maybe someone else has said before, but they needed you to say it in order for them to change their life. And if you’re working in a prevention coalition, if you’re sharing your message, if you’re sharing your story, that you, yeah, be unapologetic about it. Keep doing it, keep sharing. Because sometimes, Brittany, like I’ve seen your stories of like the students will tell you and that’s great. But there’s more often they don’t tell you and you don’t know what happens past that. But life change happens because we’re connected through our stories. And they want someone like you or they need someone like you to share it. Cause maybe they didn’t connect with that last person or there wasn’t the right question asked. So keep up the great work, Brittany. I appreciate you being on the show today.

Thank you for having me. And just to play out that, I will tell you like that, and you know, like you probably get students that come up to you all the time, compliments, like stories, everything that you’re hearing, like what you have to say resonates with so many people. Like when we first met, I was like, my gosh, like I love this topic. Like everything is so needed here. And I’m sure you can think of like certain students or young people that what they said just like really connected with you. And I will tell you, and they’re up on my website and this is not a brag or anything, but these are.

A few of the favorite things that I’ve ever been told have been told to me multiple times at different events by different students, which is, you know, I’ve heard a lot about mental health, but she worded it in a way that really connected with me. So like what you said, so I really do know the responsibility and I’m sure you do of what we have to offer. What we’ve been through is not in vain. Like we are here to serve and we always lead with them first. So I’m so grateful to have been on the podcast with you and know you and be on this journey with you. So thank you.

Yes, and I’m sure we’ll see each other soon on the circuit of teen institutes and all that stuff. So it’ll be great to meet in person one day. So it’s really awesome. All right, for everyone listening, this has been another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour, and we’ll see you next Monday for another episode.