[00:00:00] Mick Hunt: It’s okay to, to show that you love and to show that you care, you don’t have to be tough. 

[00:00:08] Martha Thomas: It’s okay to call nine eight eight on behalf of someone else. And he credited us with saving the student’s life. You know, to keep talking, keep talking, don’t stop talking. Let someone know how you’re really, really feeling.

[00:00:24] Podcast Intro: She didn’t want to die. She wanted to end the pain. Welcome to McComb plug where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves. and game changing conversations. Buckle up. Here’s Mick. 

[00:00:37] Mick Hunt: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Mick Unplugged. And today is a true bucket list for me.

[00:00:43] And I mean that from my soul. 

[00:00:45] Today’s 

[00:00:46] Mick Hunt: guests are the co founders of a powerful and purpose driven nonprofit dedicated to saving lives by transforming the way we communicate about mental health. One of my true passions in life after experiencing personal tragedy, they turned their unimaginable grief into action by founding the defensive line, the movement aimed at preventing youth suicide, especially among young people of color.

[00:01:10] Their commitment to sharing their story and educating others has created a ripple effect, helping to reduce stigma and foster open, honest conversations about mental health, something that’s truly needed in 2024 and beyond. Thanks. Please join me in welcoming the compassionate, the resilient, the powerful, the transforming Mr and Mrs Martha and Chris Thomas.

[00:01:35] Thank you so much, Martha and Chris and Chris. You know, I have to go ladies first, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Martha and Chris. I huge fan of who you are personally, but more importantly, and I mean, this from my soul and this isn’t scripted or anything like that. I’m a big proponent of mental health at a young age.

[00:01:57] I experienced or saw my mom go through emotional, financial, physical abuse and. A lot of people don’t realize that mental health. Is more than the actual person that’s experiencing it. It’s also for the people that care and are surmounted. They go through those struggles as well, too. And so following you both for for a while.

[00:02:23] I just wanted to thank you for, for really making this a thing and having this conversation. I get a little emotional because I go back to that. 10 year old me, but I just want to thank you both for, for opening the doors to, to having these conversations, especially for the people that look like me, where it’s kind of taboo to talk about, or it’s a perceived weakness to talk about struggle.

[00:02:48] So I just wanted to. To say, 

[00:02:51] Thank you. 

[00:02:52] Chris Thomas: That’s fantastic. Wow. That’s and it’s so true. It impacts so many people and we, we often before we lost Ella, we didn’t realize how significant it was across the whole community, but in particular, the community of color and why it’s important to talk about it because you can’t fix something if you don’t talk about it, you put your head in the sand and.

[00:03:17] so much. So it’s important that we talk about, you know, physical health, mental health, emotional health, spiritual health is what we call whole health. It’s really important. Uh, cause then we can talk about, you know, how do you improve it? How do you make sure you’re, you’re more resilient? How do you make sure you check on your friend or your brother or your sister or your mother or your father?

[00:03:37] So making these normal conversations is what we’re all about because we don’t want anybody to join the. Um, unfortunate club that we’re a part of, you know, suicide loss. 

[00:03:51] Mick Hunt: Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I lost my high school best friend. I lost to suicide years after high school and one of the biggest regrets that I have to this day is.

[00:04:09] Did I reach out enough? Could I have been a phone call, a text message, a in person conversation that could have sparked some type of change? And I think about that a lot. And so, you know, one of the questions I want to ask you, because it was something that I struggled with initially, were what were the initial steps that you took to turn tragedy into impactful work?

[00:04:37] Martha Thomas: You know, uh, it took a while. Right. So we had, honestly, um, one of Ella’s boyfriends, uh, really pushed me to do the overnight walk with the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. It was in Dallas, and he said, I told him I wasn’t ready. It was about, 6 months after Ella died said, I’m not ready. Landis, you know, I’m just not there yet.

[00:05:07] And he said, I’m going to keep asking you until it happens in the week before. I said, okay, Landis, I’ll do it with you. I’ll do it with you and. Then Solomon said, he’d do it. And then, you know, Chris came with us and we walked 18 miles in the heat of Dallas. It was actually in Dallas that year. So, but that was this kind of pivotal point where if we’re living, if we’re living, we have to really live and do something because we can take.

[00:05:48] Steps, literal steps that could change what someone else was doing. And along the way on this walk, um, people would come up to us and talk about their loss and how they had, um, we’re doing and their concerns over how we were doing and as a son, as a mother, as a father, and it was. Life changing, you know, it was, it was powerful.

[00:06:18] And there were other people who were talking about it, who weren’t ashamed. And there was so much shame with it at first that we didn’t, you know, we, you’d see, you know, if we said Ella’s name, people would come put their head down, this is our daughter. We’re never going to stop talking about her. So it really was empowering.

[00:06:40] Mick Hunt: That’s 

[00:06:41] Martha Thomas: awesome. That’s awesome. 

[00:06:43] Mick Hunt: You know, you, you talk about. You know, taking those 1st steps and just communicating and talking, right? And I know we talked offline about just the power of connecting and connection. Like, how was that helped? Not only the healing process, but also just the awareness in general.

[00:07:04] Martha Thomas: You know, one having people reach out, but reaching out to others. And then listening to them, not reaching out with the intent of having something to say, but reaching out with the intent of listening to who they are, to what they’re going through to how they’re feeling, you know, acknowledge those feelings as their feelings.

[00:07:27] Not as who they are, you know, like, I am not a sad woman. I have feelings of sadness. Um, you know, and just recognizing that in other people, but really that intention of reaching out to listen. To not expect to hear something, but to hear someone else has to say, yeah, 

[00:07:51] Chris Thomas: the other power of connectivity is in particular amongst youth is the more we encourage people to check in on each other.

[00:07:59] You can help with this situation because, like, right now. One out of four high school students have seriously thought about taking their life and their LGBTQ at one out of four have attempted. So the more we talk to each other, the more we can check and see, how are you doing? How are you really doing today?

[00:08:16] And then they can listen compassionately, as Martha mentioned, and they just make sure we’re talking to them, staying in contact with them. And also, as we talk more about this, we educate people on the fact that. If you see somebody in trouble and you ask them, are you thinking about suicide? That is a very positive and powerful mood.

[00:08:36] It’s not going to cause them to want to die by suicide. It’s going to actually, every study says that it does the opposite. It helps that person who may be, you know, was at risk or may be suicidal to say, Hey, this person is seriously. Concerned about me, let me open up and talk to them about it. So that’s the other piece and power of connectivity is that it drives these powerful transformative conversations about how people are doing and where they’re 

[00:09:01] at 

[00:09:01] Chris Thomas: at that moment.

[00:09:02] And then, as a, as a, as a listener, you can just listen and not try to solve the problem. Just talk to the person and just be where they are and keep them safe for that moment. Yeah, 

[00:09:14] Mick Hunt: and I know that that you both have partnered with a lot of organizations and schools and communities and the NFL. What impact are you seeing with these collaborations now?

[00:09:26] Martha Thomas: Oh, we spoke at a university, um, and the next week got a email from their director of counseling who said we had a student who was suicidal because he heard you and because his coach heard you. Everyone knew what to do, um, and everyone knew to take it seriously and he credited us with saving the students life.

[00:09:55] Um, that to me was everything I on days where I feel like I don’t want to do this. I think about that and I’m. Moving on 

[00:10:08] Chris Thomas: to your appointment, we’ve had some great collaborative partners with us. A. F. S. P. you know, that press calls faith by finish in like that. And his group have helped us do these D lines or students have prevention workshops here in Dallas.

[00:10:20] We do them in Clark County. We’ve done that at universities like Stanford University, University of Virginia. And when we do these workshops. We’re seeing coaches and teachers and leaders of young people being able to recognize the science. We’ve seen like a 40 percent increase in teachers and coaches be able to recognize the signs.

[00:10:37] People are 94 percent more confident to be able to have those open conversations and, and at the beginning of each workshop, we give people a blank action plan, and we asked them to fill in. D for don’t ignore your gut, L for listen for the sign, I for interact, for the person who’s a concern, N name the concern, E evidence the concern, S create a safe supportive environment.

[00:11:00] And at the end of that workshop, 98 percent of the people walk away with an action plan. And this is something that Martha developed was a brilliant move because as a teacher, she noticed there was a need for us to not just talk about how to save people, but we got all these drills. Tornado drill, shooter drill, everything else, but we don’t have a mental health action drill, a action plan.

[00:11:23] So with her leadership, we put this action plan together. And now people out of these workshops walk away with a tangible tool. They can use day one, day 1000, day 10, 000, because it has lifelong approach. 

[00:11:38] Mick Hunt: And I love that because it’s something that I’m a big proponent of as well, which is the action, right?

[00:11:43] Like you can talk, talk, talk, but after a while ears start to deafen on talk, right? Like it’s who we are as people, right? Like I’m sure, Chris, you can look me in the eye. You don’t have to just blink three times. Sometimes Martha’s talking and you’re nodding your head.

[00:12:01] My wife’s over there too. So I get it. But what is the action that matters? And it’s, it’s not even the action, because I know again, following you all, what I do, you actually give roadmaps as well, too. So it’s like, it’s not unrealistic things that people can do. It’s like, Hey, do this, here’s a place you can reach out to.

[00:12:22] And then this is your next step. And that’s what I love. And I’d love to give the listeners and viewers. Just some insight into that, because I think that’s the most powerful thing. 

[00:12:31] Yes. 

[00:12:31] Martha Thomas: So 1 thing we do, like, when we go to schools is, um, we find out, well, wherever we go, we find out what local resources are.

[00:12:41] We have spoken and done our workshop at universities where, you know, the, the people at the university did not know what the crisis that they actually had their own crisis, 24 hours. You know, line that was available to the students and the staff at the university. Um, so connecting people with the resources they have.

[00:13:05] We were just at a high school in Dallas and, um, we always have. All the Dallas high schools have a licensed therapist on staff for not only the students, but the staff. So we always involve them in the workshop and there’s so many people who say, I didn’t know who that person was. I didn’t even know, you know, they were here or that I could reach out to them.

[00:13:33] So, really putting people in touch with the local resources. Um, you know, sometimes the school will send resources. I’ll check them, you know, like, are they still, Oh, no, that number’s not even active anymore. And they’re putting it out as a, as a resource. So it’s, it’s being intentional about what’s out there.

[00:13:53] Um, also, you know, really making sure people know it’s okay to call nine, eight, eight on behalf of someone else. You don’t have to be in the crisis or, you know, if you’re a parent and a, Child and you know, your child is struggling Sit down with them and call 988 or text 988 or 741 741 with them and so that they know that this is a resource that is viable.

[00:14:26] That’s easy. That’s there for them when they’re having a bad day. They don’t have to be on the verge of suicide to use those numbers. And everyone needs to know that. 

[00:14:37] Chris Thomas: And the other great thing Martha does is. She does like interactive role play during the eye, which is interact. She talks to them, talks to the participants about that.

[00:14:47] We’re going to practice saying, are you thinking about the suicide and really practicing it with the people that we don’t ask people to give an answer back? But it’s very uncomfortable making that asking that question. But. That role play helps people understand it sort of helps them get the guard down and helps them understand that it’s okay to ask that question.

[00:15:06] And not only okay, it’s imperative that they ask that question. So that’s an excellent piece that she put into our workshop because we want people to actually do the work. So that’s why we do role plays and, and talk to the, to the leaders at that time. 

[00:15:19] Mick Hunt: And I think that’s powerful because that’s honestly, and until I got to follow you both, That’s something I would have felt like, Oh, you shouldn’t ask that question, right?

[00:15:29] Like you need to tiptoe around and figure out angles, but you’re right. 

[00:15:34] Yeah, be 

[00:15:35] Mick Hunt: direct because again, that’s who we are as humans, right? Like we need that. I believe iron sharpens iron, but I also believe friction can fight friction and you need, 

[00:15:45] you don’t 

[00:15:45] Mick Hunt: need happiness all the time or, or I shouldn’t say happiness.

[00:15:48] You don’t need ease and polish. You need that rub to, to, to break through. And so I love that. I love that. Yeah, 

[00:15:57] Chris Thomas: you’re absolutely right. And, um, well, 

[00:15:59] Martha Thomas: especially with young people, when their emotions. Are kind of can be all over the place. I taught middle school for years. I mean, 

[00:16:10] Chris Thomas: she’s going to have 

[00:16:11] Martha Thomas: the range of emotions I saw.

[00:16:16] Yeah, my students every day was 12 year olds going through puberty are are, you know, special, special gift. But, you know, making sure that we are asking, you know, like, I noticed that you’re. You’re falling asleep in class and you weren’t doing that before, is there something going on? You know, and, and it may be, you know, I asked one student one time and he looked at me and he goes, yeah, my parents bought me a computer for Christmas and they put it right by my bed.

[00:16:49] So I’m up gaming all night long, . And it was, you know, I was able to understand that be, you know, but to ask those questions when you see a change in behavior. Yes. In anyone, but especially teens, um, young people, it’s really important to ask. That’s 

[00:17:09] Chris Thomas: one of the other things that we incorporated, uh, with our partner AFSP, we, we help people understand that there’s, there’s never one, only one reason why someone dies by suicide, and we share with them the talk, mood, behavior, Uh, change of behaviors that exist when somebody who may be in crisis and they’re like 8 to 10 different characteristics.

[00:17:31] Each of those talk mood behaviors. We walked through that and another thing we walked through is Martha shares the importance of being intentional about language. We try to help educate people. You don’t say commit suicide. You say someone dies by suicide. And the reason why that’s important is people don’t commit cancer.

[00:17:49] They don’t commit kidney disease. They die by kidney disease and mental people. 80 to 90 percent of people die by suicide, have a mental health condition. So then they’re dying by mental health condition. They’re not committing a crime. It’s not taboo. It’s they’re dying by suicide. And then we also go through some other myths.

[00:18:08] Like, it only takes an expert to help somebody who may be died by suicide. Anybody can help someone who died by suicide or that once someone has made a plan to die by suicide. You can’t talk them out of it. That’s that’s not true at all. So we go through some of the myths that exist on that as well. So that’s to your point.

[00:18:26] I saw you. You look surprised when you made a comment about thought about the piece about commit versus die by suicide. That’s 99 percent of people. They don’t realize that’s. An important piece of important change. 

[00:18:40] Martha Thomas: It adds stigma to talking, you know, that you’re committing this, right? So, absolutely.

[00:18:47] Mick Hunt: Absolutely. You know, I want to, I want to give some tips and, and, and insight to, to three different people and, and, and you are the, the resource for this. So for, for the person who cares about someone or, or people, But you don’t know the signs that someone’s struggling with mental health. What are some of the signs that people can look for when they just think someone’s appearing to be normal or happy or in a good space?

[00:19:19] What are some signs? That people can look for that aren’t always just know 

[00:19:25] Martha Thomas: so 1 like I already mentioned to me is the change of behavior. Um, and it might be a positive change. Like, so just because someone is, isn’t exhibiting what we might think is. Kind of stereotypical mental health condition, um, for instance, you know, uh, if it’s a young person, instead of being quiet, they may be louder, you know, like any change in behavior, it might mean someone’s not sleeping, or, um, they’ve gone from being.

[00:20:05] Kind of sad to extremely happy, you know, just that kind of change that that that to me is the biggest thing to look for. 

[00:20:16] Chris Thomas: Absolutely. And a lot of times people sometimes the change of behavior, sometimes they become withdrawn. They become more more isolated. And when people are isolated in the worst, they feel like they’re a burden to people.

[00:20:30] That’s when that sort of Trigger triggers even more unfortunate issues on suicide ideation. So to Martha’s point, those talk new behavior, people sometimes unfortunately give away price possessions, or they sleep more, they sleep less or eat more less. So those, those are the key ones. But the giving away price possessions is typically a huge, huge sign.

[00:20:51] And then the other thing I’d be remiss if I didn’t say. A F S P has some great videos on their website about how to recognize signs, talk, you know, how to deal with people who may be having burdensome issues and things like that. And that’s where we get a lot of our resources as well. 

[00:21:07] Mick Hunt: Okay, that’s good.

[00:21:09] And I’ll make sure that I give links to FSP in the. And the show notes and everything that I post out socially as well too. And so now the second person that I want to give tips and insights to are the, the family members that are seeing these signs. How do you approach that person? Because you’ve already given me some really good nuggets here, right?

[00:21:33] Like one, that’s the question. I think obviously that’s the first tip, but how do you give people the courage to actually do that? Because for some people, again, It might not be a natural thing and they need that motivation to do that. So how do we help that person that’s recognizing these signs have those conversations or provide help?

[00:21:54] Martha Thomas: I think one thing that’s really important is to make mental health conversations in our families. Just like, you know, like I always say to parents, if your child came home and it sprained their ankle, you would ask them about it at school. You know, you would ask them about it. If there was a broken arm, you would ask them.

[00:22:16] How’s it feeling? Every day? You take him to the doctor. We need to be able to do the same with our, you know, mental health. So, you know, 1 good question. To ask is how did that make you feel? Um, not just a, how you’re doing today is fine. But once they get to that, continuing that conversation, asking deeper questions and not quite letting it off the hook.

[00:22:47] I don’t, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the feelings wheel, but you know, it’s, you’ve got the core feelings and then even, Oh, okay, you’re sad. Which one of these emotions under sadness? Were you really feeling you were? Oh, you were frustrated. You know, like, it just how did how did you become frustrated?

[00:23:09] Or what about that made you become frustrated? So our mental health conversations are something that we’re having every day, not just. When we’re in crisis. Yes. That’s amazing. 

[00:23:23] Chris Thomas: Absolutely. Martha, when we did this at UNLV in Vegas, uh, the Dean of School of Public Health really picked that up and he tells us about how every day he has these regular mental health, not even mental health conversations, they’re just called normal conversations now because he’s always asking his kids about, about it and it becomes a normal routine.

[00:23:44] It’s not the exception. It just becomes just like breathing air. It’s, it’s a part of their, of their day. Their family life now, and that’s what we got to get to, like I said, 

[00:23:53] Mick Hunt: that’s awesome. That’s awesome. And so now the 3rd person that I want to give tips to, and I’m just going to say it, the listener of viewer right now, that’s going through this and they are.

[00:24:08] Listening and it’s like, I, I, I don’t want to continue it’s time to give up. Let’s talk to that person. 

[00:24:19] Martha Thomas: I would say, um, first of all, uh, know who your people are. Um, have a few people that are your safe people. Um, and call 988. Text 988, um, for resources, um, and, you know, to keep talking, keep talking, don’t stop talking.

[00:24:44] Let someone know how you’re really, really 

[00:24:46] Chris Thomas: feeling. Yeah, and I would also say that help them understand they’re not alone. This is not abnormal for people to feel. Um, hopeless or alone or irritated. You know, the key piece is staying here and working through it with your loved ones, people that you care about, whether it’s a friend member, a family member, and realizing that there is help out there to get you through this.

[00:25:09] You don’t need to take a permanent, you know, action to a temporary problem. And we can work together on it. And I always say that if Ella knew the pain that we went through, she would never, I mean, she was in so much pain that she, She didn’t want to die. She wanted to end the pain, but she, if she knew the sorrow and the hurt that we’ve gone through, I don’t believe she, I don’t think she would have done it.

[00:25:32] So understand that people love you. We need you here. 

[00:25:37] Mick Hunt: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And that’s so powerful too, because you’re right. I mean, even the highest of highs. Don’t stay there, right? Like, we all go through the ebbs and flows, and you hit on exactly what I talk to people about, Chris, is just love.

[00:25:57] You are loved even when you don’t realize it. And sometimes, you know, I’ll be honest and this was some things that, you know, we had to do in our family, right? Like you’ve got to realize that everyone in your circle isn’t there from a loving space. And sometimes your circle has to change because you can’t see the love that you have because you have a big roadblock in front of you or a big cloud surrounding you.

[00:26:22] But. Somewhere outside of that cloud, somewhere on the other end of that roadblock, there is love. And so you, you’ve got to be able to remove those obstacles. And a lot of times there, there are people. Or things that you think are the driver of happiness and success. And that’s really not it. 

[00:26:39] Chris Thomas: And Nick, I would add, there’s probably a fourth category of people listening to your show right now.

[00:26:44] And I’ll be very specific. There are people of color like you and I, that don’t think that black people die by suicide. And they need to realize that unfortunately this is happening to our population. And unfortunately, black people are dying at a higher rate of suicide than any other ethnic group across the country.

[00:27:02] And that’s one reason why we want to go out there. Talk to people, let them know that this impacts everybody, but right now, in particular, no students of color, and we got to not keep our head in the sand. We got to talk about it. Got to realize that we are impacted by this as well. And we got to understand there are resources out there.

[00:27:19] That’s one reason why Martha and I talked to boys and girls clubs. We go, we want to go to the, like the Jack and Joseph YMCA of the world. The reason why we want to even get to church is because clergy can also talk about the importance of whole health. So it’s not just, uh, this impacts everybody. And I want folks to understand there’s help out there with between the defensive line, between other great organizations to help recognize the science and give them the resources that you need.

[00:27:46] Mick Hunt: No, you’re exactly right. I mean, in our community, Chris, this big stigma, right? Like, especially for men, you gotta be tough. The buck has to stop with you and you know, you can’t be vulnerable. And that’s the furthest thing from the truth because. And it’s not a weakness to, to talk and rally. I mean, you know, I’m a spiritual religious person.

[00:28:08] My mom was a minister now, right? Go to church on Sunday. Everybody’s crying. If you’re not crying, you didn’t have the right service. It’s okay to be emotional. It’s okay. It’s okay to, to show that you love and to show that you care. You don’t have to be tough. All the time, it’s not a, it’s not a good thing to be tough.

[00:28:29] Like that’s, that’s not a thing. What’s good is to be a good human being. What’s good is to, to, to build community, to inspire and motivate and move others. And to me, that’s what being good is about. 

[00:28:43] Chris Thomas: Absolutely. Amen. Amen. 

[00:28:46] Mick Hunt: And so I also want to talk about how people can get involved. Right? So you’ve got your nonprofit, your community.

[00:28:54] How can how can we support your, your community? 

[00:29:00] Martha Thomas: So, you know, 1 thing is. Following us on our social media platforms, the defensive line. Um, and one, because we’ll, we’ll put out things now and again for people to support. I know, you know, 1 thing we have coming up, um, we do party for a purpose in around the, uh, Super Bowl.

[00:29:27] Um, you know, so giving people. Options on ways to support, um, in January, it’s, uh, Ella’s call home and we, um, the 3 of us have just gone out and, uh, supplied, uh, snack packs to homeless people. Um, but this year, we’re asking people to go out and do that because mental illness among homeless is so huge and to provide a little.

[00:29:58] Bit of extra love just a little bit, you know, and not just hand someone something and turn and walk away, but look them in the eye and let them know that you care because it’s so easy to just keep. Walking with your head down, um, you know, so there are ways throughout, um, but also really connecting the biggest thing we can do for our organization for all of our people is connect.

[00:30:28] With those around us. 

[00:30:31] Chris Thomas: And another thing I’ll share is, uh, right now we’ve got a silent auction going on. If you go to our socials, you’ll see it. And the reason why we’re raising that money is because when we do these workshops in high schools, we, we wanna provide you the high schools for free, but we need funding to do that so that we can give to the schools for free.

[00:30:45] So as, as your listeners want us to come into their school district. Please reach out because that’s where we can make a difference talking to teachers and coaches and counselors. The other thing is we do this. A court. We do our presentations in our D lines workshop at corporations. We do it at university.

[00:31:02] So if you want us to do it there, we can make things happen. We do panels at corporations, universities and schools and Martha has developed an excellent. Parent university so that we can have conversations with parents that could be done lifetime and or virtual and that helps educate parents, a particular parents who may not understand a lot about mental health and suicide prevention.

[00:31:25] So, our goal is to grow and expand by doing those things in school. Universities, schools and corporations, uh, and if they reach out to us through, uh, through, through Chris at the defensive line dot over Martha, the defensive line dot org, we can then connect to the right organizations and set it up so that we can start to continue to educate people and save lives.

[00:31:48] I’m going to do my 

[00:31:48] Mick Hunt: part and I keep getting emotional every time I talk to you guys, but you’re moving me. I want to set up some type of link that the listeners and viewers of make unplugged. Make a plug is going to match any donation or, or through the end of this year, through the end of this year, because I’m a huge mental health advocate.

[00:32:16] I do a lot of speaking across the country. And, and one of my keynotes is on mental health, and, and I’m a, I’m a huge advocate, so Make unplugged. We’ll, we’ll match donations through whatever length. We’ll, we’ll set that up. We’ll make sure that it’s here and live. That’s powerful, brother. Thank you so much for, for the listeners, challenge me.

[00:32:37] Challenge me. I’m matching. Challenge me. Challenge me. That’s powerful. Thank you. I’m ultra competitive, , so the listeners and viewers challenge me because I’m matching it and I, I said it and, and we’ll have everyth. That’s awesome. That is awesome. I wanna support you both because it’s needed. 

[00:32:54] Chris Thomas: Thank you. It’s needed.

[00:32:56] Thank you 

[00:32:56] Mick Hunt: very much. Anything else that we can do anything that we can follow? Like what’s what’s coming up for you both personally? Any I know, you know, I’m a huge fan of what Rose is doing. It plays for good. And anytime I can support her, I’m going to anytime I can support the organization I’m going to.

[00:33:16] So what’s coming up for you both? Um, on a personal level or business level. 

[00:33:22] Martha Thomas: Well, we have football season, Monday night football about to start. Um, so always cheering our son on with the jets. Um, and you know, that is something that is, has brought us so much joy, um, to be able to watch him play, uh, and do what he loves to do.

[00:33:45] Um, so that’s that’s really cool. We have a busy September suicide prevention month. We have a few keynotes going to a few universities during the week and going to the games on the weekend. So, yeah, that’s great. 

[00:34:01] Chris Thomas: Yeah, I would just say one of the things that we’re looking forward to doing is we’ve been selected by the Clinton Global Initiative to be a commitment action partner, and why that’s important to us, it allows us to increase scale with our training to help it.

[00:34:17] To spread it so we can also add more lived experience storytellers, as well as find a way to put it in English into Spanish and hire 2000 trainers that we can get this training across the country. I mentioned the results that we’re seeing when we do the suicide prevention training, but right now, it’s Martha and I doing it by ourselves.

[00:34:34] So, with their support, we’re going to be able to scale this and get it across North America. And so there are details of that, how they can help us. how people can help out on that on our website. But that’s a huge piece for us right now, because we really want to get this into as many schools, universities as possible.

[00:34:53] Uh, but it also obviously takes money and funding to do that. And the Clinton global initiative has given us this platform to do it. So we really appreciate it. We’ll send you the link on that when we, if you want to put in the show notes as well, but that’s a big part for us right now. 

[00:35:06] Mick Hunt: Wholeheartedly.

[00:35:07] We’ll have the show notes full of all ways to help, because like I said, this This space is underserved. 

[00:35:15] Chris Thomas: Yes. 

[00:35:16] Mick Hunt: And I’m going to do my part. My listeners and viewers will do their part to make sure that we do our part in making awareness around this for sure. That’s awesome. Thank you. You both are awesome.

[00:35:31] Anytime and I mean, this from my soul, and this is being recorded. I’m not even editing this out. Anytime that you need me, don’t ask. You just tell me. Anytime you want to be back on the show. Don’t ask. You just tell me 

[00:35:48] Chris Thomas: one thing. I want to, I want to, I want to come to one of your keynotes brother. That’s what, so you got to let us know when you’re speaking so we can come listen to you.

[00:35:53] I, I’m sure it’s powerful. We love, we love, we love attending conferences, um, and learning. So please let us know when you’re speaking, please. 

[00:36:02] Mick Hunt: I’ve got one better for you. I’m going to call you. I’ve got something that I need from you. So I’ve got, I’ve got you. Don’t, don’t worry about that. Thank 

[00:36:10] Chris Thomas: you very much.

[00:36:11] Mick Hunt: I’ve got you covered. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been honored and blessed with Martha and Chris Thomas. Um, I, you know, I love you both genuinely. I love you dearly. And I’m gonna do my part to stand beside you in this, in this awareness. Thank you very much. God bless you brother. Thank you. You got it.

[00:36:32] And for all the viewers and listeners, remember, you’re because, use your superpower, go unleashing. 

[00:36:37] Podcast Outro: Thank you for tuning in to Make Unplugged. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.