Amanda Blanco is the CEO of the Behavioral Hospital of Bellaire, who started her career with UHS as a Mental Health Technician over 10 years ago. In her tenure with UHS, she has successfully driven initiatives to convert a facility to seclusion free and started clinical trials on acute schizophrenic patients through MERCK, a research organization.

Today, she joins the show to talk about how a personal tragedy led her into the field of mental health, advice she would give to other mental health technicians, and the improvements she hopes to see in the mental health industry.

Apro Choudhury is a mind-body interventionist who focuses on integrative behavioral health consultancy and public health with six years of experience empowering traumatized clinical populations, communities, and healthcare institutions. He’s incredibly skilled at building relationship-driven partnerships that activate our capacity to heal trauma, understand ourselves, and face challenges with practical and accessible mind-body skills.

Today, he joins the show to talk about generational trauma, his passion for serving others and the incredible work he’s doing with families and pediatric populations at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Chef Eric James is a private chef, content creator with over 450,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, & Facebook. A self-proclaimed, Culinary Misfit, Chef Eric possesses exceptional skills to create personalized culinary journeys that surpass all your expectations. Today, he joins the show to talk about what drew him to the wellness and healthcare industry, how an awakening impacted his relationship with food, and the correlation between food and comfort.

Farideh Banafshei is a relational integrative therapist who integrates and tailors evidence-based psychological interventions, drawing knowledge from diverse schools of thought, to optimally create the most supportive approach to best suits her patients’ needs. She specializes in areas such as anxiety, depression, relationship issues, trauma, phobias, and personal development.

Today, she joins the show to discuss trends in Artificial Intelligence and telemedicine in the aftermath of the global pandemic, alternative medicine options, and therapeutic approaches that she employs with her patients.

Eve Ruff is a Senior Consultant with Clere Consulting, a firm specializing in working with families presenting with a constellation of complex behavioral health and addiction issues requiring experienced and creative solutions. Eve consults with family members, evaluates collective needs, presents customized family workshops, and creates individualized intervention and treatment strategies and provider recommendations.

Today, she joins the show to discuss the work she does as a ‘family systems’ consultant, her own personal struggles with addiction and substance abuse, and what brought her from New York City to Seattle.

Topics of Discussion: Claudia Schwarz is the Vice President of Clinical Outreach at J. Flowers Health Institute. She’s a clinician who had her own private practice for years before becoming a consultant and eventually pursuing business development.

Today, Claudia joins the show to discuss her own personal experience with J. Flowers Health Institute as a patient. Claudia chronicles the care she received there and how that has transformed and inspired her to promote and advocate J. Flowers Health Institute to everyone who will listen. Jason and Claudia touch on how J. Flowers is helping to provide care not only in medicine, but in mental health, psychiatric and addiction, among other human conditions.