Accepting & Conquering Mental Health Challenges with Joanne P. McCallie

Ep 057: What should we know about HOW mental health issues present themselves, how should we identify them in ourselves or others, how do we field a successful team around someone we love that needs help, and what does the future look like for those aging with a brain health issue?

Our next guest is an author and elite-level NCAA Basketball coach. She received a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA from Auburn University and has coached at Maine, Michigan State, and Duke, making National Coach of the Year 2005, and winning numerous championships at all three schools. She is the only coach in history to win Coach of the Year in four different conferences. An advocate for mental health and melanoma, she is also a wife, and mom of two, Maddie and Jack. She has extensive media experience, on radio shows and podcasts, and has provided color commentary for four years in the WNBA.

In her book, "Secret Warrior: A Coach and Fighter, On and Off the Court", she's written a compelling memoir following her own mental health journey through the realities and challenges within the sports world. Using the recurring theme of "faith over fear" to reduce the stigma associated with impaired mental health and encourage those suffering from mental health issues to reach out to coaches, student-athletes, and to all people across the world- she offers real direction, experiences, and personal stories to teach and reassure those adversely affected by the dynamics of the mind and body experience. Motivational and heartfelt, Secret Warrior drives home the need for more education, stories, action, and an overall change to the narrative about brain health. Please welcome Joanne P. McCallie - (Coach P as her players refer to her!) to The Retirement Success in Maine Podcast!

Chapters:

Welcome, Joanne P. McCallie (Coach P)! [3:02]

What does it mean to have a mood disorder? [16:07]

Would today’s day and age change how Coach P’s diagnosis was approached? [26:59]

Looking back at Coach P’s first Manic Episode (1995), how would that experience differ if it were to occur today? [36:35]

What has Coach P learned from her recent “Pivot” and what’s next? [41:43]

How can someone with a mental illness build a winning team around them? [46:22]

How will Coach P find her own Retirement Success? [54:48]

Ben and Curtis wrap up the conversation. [56:23]