Three months into the coronavirus pandemic, the idea of staying at home kinda lost its charm... With daily doses of death, isolation and fear generating widespread psychological trauma. It's weird to look back at how we were all doing... even now it's strange. 

Mental health is a tricky topic. The stigma still hanging around words like "depression" and "anxiety" It's still sometimes thought of as something you can just turn on and off. 

But this year changed things a little. With the world all in the same spot... we started talking about it. (It was either that or Tiger King.) 

Over the past few months, there’s been quite a growth spurt in understanding the importance of language in the role of talking about mental health issues. Taking this right to the forefront of people's minds is Dr. Jared McCollum. 

Dr. Jared M. McCollum has a love for people and helping them discover the amazing healing ability they all hold within themselves. He is a graduate of the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

One of the lessons he teaches is how to help yourself and helping his patients and friends personally deal with their mental health issues. 

So... He started a podcast! Titled The Five Elements of Letting Go.

Now, this isn't his first rodeo! "I've been planning for some time, getting back into podcasting. I don't know if some you know we had a podcast over 10 years ago, 10 or 12 years ago" McCollum explains "that was on iTunes; did OK."  

Taking a focus on how people deal and work with their own mental health, it's wonderful to see things like this get popular. He is now, at the time of writing this, up to 15 episodes. Locals from all walks are invited to talk about their experiences. Local musician Tanya Ryan to a local pastor Tim Korthuis. Photographer Tom Barker to Jayme Hall from the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce. 

The idea partly came from the Chamber of Commerce. He mentioned in his episode with Jayme Hall after seeing the Chamber post about Mental health on Facebook "It's one of those things that spurred this... Yeah, that's what we need, we need more of that." 

If you would like to listen to the podcast click HERE

I'm looking forward to learning about the amazing folk we have in this little slice of the foothills. 

~Logan

 

p.s
His son also started one up called "Really Dad" 
It's an awesome look into the life of a teen and the challenges of communication.
CLICK HERE for that one!