Latest / Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson / From Brokenness to Boundaries: Stephanie Almond on Faith-Fueled Mental Health and Community Change

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From Brokenness to Boundaries: Stephanie Almond on Faith-Fueled Mental Health and Community Change · Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is where ideas spark, connections grow, and collaborations fuse success.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Tune in for inspiring stories, expert insights, and game-changing conversations.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's build, connect, and thrive together.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, welcome to the ReadySet Collaborate Podcast with Wanda Pearson, where collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Wanda Pearson, and today I'm excited to introduce a remarkable guest who is making an incredible impact in both coaching and community.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: Our guest, Stephanie Almond, founder of Refined Lives LLC, where she provides counseling and coaching that blends practical tools with faith-based encouragement.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: Stephanie is passionate about helping people build resilience, establish healthy boundaries, and discover their true worth.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: She also serves as a co-founder of Never Alone Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to bridging the gap between mental health and the community.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: Her mission is rooted in crafting safe spaces for healing, growth, and empowerment.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: So get ready to be inspired as we dive into her journey, her purpose, and her powerful work helping others refine their lives.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Stephanie.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Say hello to the audience.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, everyone.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad to be here.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for inviting me.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad that we met.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: We met at a branding, getting our photos taken.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: I know, looking all fancy.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, glamorous.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: And we just click because what we do, we just love helping people in the communities.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: But I want to I appreciate you coming onto my podcast, spreading your word, spreading the news, see how you can actually help people as well.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: But thank you for coming.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: So let me read your bio that you sent me here.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Let's see.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Stephanie Amman is a compassionate leader, counselor, and mental health advocate, and dedicated to empowering individuals and communities towards emotional healing and lasting wellness.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: She is the founder of Refined Lives LLC, where she provides counseling and coaching that blends practical tools with faith-based encouragement, helping clients build resilience, establish healthy boundaries, and discover their true worth.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: She also serves as the co-founder of the Never Alone Foundation, a nonprofit committed to bridging the gap between mental health and the community.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: Through the foundation, Stephanie works to make counseling accessible by offering financial assistance, training compassionate, training passionate individuals as certified mental health coaches and hosting workshops and events that promote mental health wellness for all.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: With the gift of creating safe, encouraging spaces, Stephanie combines her professional expertise with her personal compassion for seeing lives transform.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Her heart is to remind people that they are never alone in their journey, that healing, growth, and restorations are always possible.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so inspired by this, Stephanie, and I'm so happy that this is what you're doing because we need more people like you, because it really does.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I do.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: I actually I'm an unnatural on social worker anyway.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I did corporate, but also what you're doing.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: I really love what you're doing here.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I actually help I meant to as well.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for coming on the show.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: You're welcome.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, like what you're just saying, is definitely much needed in today's society, uh, especially with the recent events that have happened on in the community and in the world.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of shooting's been going on, but and that carries a lot of weight, and not to mention just our daily lives.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: We got families, work, kids with social media and technology.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: There's just a lot of heaviness.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if people can just have good mental health tools in their toolbox to help them navigate through stuff, it really goes a long way.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: And listen to that as well.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: You can have it, but you want to listen to it.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that that compassion that we carry, we just want, I don't know.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: I just said we just all can't we just all get along, right?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it almost seems too easy and simple.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what we gotta ask God, Lord, help us.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: We need help, we need your help to bring some peace and serenity.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Serenity.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's when that's where serenity into this world here.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a couple questions about your journey.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Stephanie, can you share a little about your personal journey and what inspired you to create Refined Lives LLC?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just a little bit of my background is I didn't have both parents growing up.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: My dad, he was in prison all the way up until I was 18.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: That was 17 years.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: My mom was in and out of our lives.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: She did drugs, chased men.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: When she was coming back into our lives, she still did drugs and which led to physical abuse, some sexual abuse.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we lived with my grandparents, but they weren't the cookie-cutter grandparents of come sit in my lap.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: There is a lot of just things there that I don't really want to share too much on the podcast, but it's definitely in my book because it's a little too personal.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: But there's just some things there, a lot of like things behind closed doors.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I was always spoken into that.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: I would never mount up to anything.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna end up like my parents, especially my mom, chasing men, doing drugs, wind up 16 and pregnant, and just a lot of negativity spoken over me as a child.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's instead of you looking into my life and seeing the situation that I got dealt in that I was raised in, why wouldn't you be the light in that person's life?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of saying that they're never amounted to anything and they're gonna end up like their parents, why don't you be a mentor, be a coach?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you speak into that person's life to help them not end up that way?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's like the trajectory of where I am now because I want to be that light in people's lives, especially the youth.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: I specialize in youth and young adults to pour into them and let them know it doesn't matter your home life, it doesn't matter the situation that you're getting brought up in.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: You are who God says you are, and you can become something and somebody because we are all chosen in God's eyes.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I just really want to be that light in someone's life.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that God can use brokenness and make something beautiful out of it.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if we allow them to, I was able to use my past and how I was raised to become who I am today.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people can't say they love who they are today, but I'm thankful.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love who I am today.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: I love who God keeps developing me into because we can always grow, we'll never mount up, never max out, you know, who we will be.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I love who God is creating me to be.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: I am proud of you because you're telling my story in some ways.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: I had a stepfather, the same thing.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna be anything, you're never gonna be anything.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: I had you're gonna go to college, you're gonna get pregnant.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: Because they told that to us, we said, no, we're gonna do better than what they said we're gonna be.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: I am proud of you, who've you've become and how you're helping.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that was funny because I was actually 10 years old, and the social worker came to our house, and I said, I'm gonna be a social worker.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know what this, I just know the lady was nice and she was helping us here, and that's what God had me become a social worker, helping other people, and then to be able to, and that's what we build up our confidence, right?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: And our self-esteem.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that was the biggest thing.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Me, my confidence, and I'm sure probably you, how you built it up and what you're doing with the girls is great.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: And like I was telling you, I'm a mentor, I meant to a middle school girl.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: That is that's a blessing because God already knew what his plans were for us.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: What role did faith and resilience play in shaping your path as a counselor and coach?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think a lot of people don't know, especially in today's society, about resilience.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible is very clear that we are gonna go through trials, we're gonna go through situations and hardship, but it's building that grit, the perseverance of learning to navigate through that.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: That is what builds our character.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason why I named my LLC Refined Lives is because, like a diamond, it has to be under pressure before it turns into a diamond.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to go through hard things in order for us to know truly who we are.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: And allowing God to keep refining us, to peel back these layers of our flesh and of our fleshly desires and our old bad habits and everything that we've just accumulated, sometimes our fault, sometimes not our fault.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and just allowing God to work in us, that's really what paves the way of being able to have resilience and just discovering new selves about yourself.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Becoming self-aware is very important.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't know that until you try new things or go through hard things, and you're like, I can do this.
• 8:37
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• 8:45
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• 9:00
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• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Unforgiveness is a huge one, and really just again, self-awareness is another huge one because I think once people can discover who they are, it can help them create healthy boundaries because boundaries isn't a bad thing, it's just helping us protect our emotional health.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: I would say what I oftentimes see really for my youth clients, it would be self-awareness and self-discovery.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: But in some of my older women, it is unforgiveness and boundaries.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: That is true, because that's actually my next book about forgiveness, walking in walking in freedom through God's grace.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's gonna be so good.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it is it's something that it's funny how we said we forgave somebody, but then when something comes up, it comes back, it's like you're relieving it all over again.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: Forgiving yourself is the first step.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and it took me a long time to realize that why do I have to forgive myself?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: But it made sense because we beat ourselves up about what somebody else says about it, but really they're gone about their business, they don't care what they've done.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Forgiving yourself so God can give you grace and give you peace and your blessings is what I did.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: But no, I love that.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: Can you share a story without names, of course, where you saw someone transform through the work you do?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, there's been uh quite a few people, thankfully.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this one lady in particular, she's a little bit older than me.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: She was married for 20 years.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: She like just caught on really quickly.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: She really allowed the tools that I was giving her and really allowed she really allowed God to work in her heart of not because oftentimes when people go to whether counseling, mentoring, coaching, just to get advice, everyone wants to change the other person.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: But we can't look at it that way.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the other person may need to change a little bit, but also we do have a part to play in that and looking inwardly.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And she did a lot of self-discovery, a lot of looking inward of how she could be her full healthy self in order to help the situation to the best of her ability.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: And she was having marriage problems, her emotional roller coaster was always going up and down.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: And normally, people about a year and a half in, you can finally start seeing like progress and everything.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: But she, like eight months in, she really just clicked.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then we were able just to take it down to every other week to once a month, then just to have like mental health check-ins, which is very important that a lot of people need to do.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Just like how you have checkups at your doctor's, having mental health checkups is very important because I don't care who you are, we'll always go through seasons where we just need to have a mental health day.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: We need to have mental health check-in just to do some self-evaluation.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: How am I truly doing?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's really just important as physical health.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I would say that one lady, she just just within eight months, she and it was all because she did her work within herself and not try to fix the situation.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's great when you can see the transformation, right?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: Or somebody says, Yeah, okay, it's working.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: I remember when I was actually doing social work in the job core, and I said, if I can just get through two of these girls, and it was the two toughest girls that I got through to, that just makes your heart swell.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: They just say, Wow, I did something here.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_02: That is awesome.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us about the Never Alone Foundation.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: What inspired you to co-found it and what's the mission?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so my husband and I, we both founded it.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: That makes me the co-founder.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: But our mission is to bridge the gap between mental wellness, mental health in the community.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: We have multiple programs.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: We help provide scholarships for people that can't afford counseling services.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: We host workshops within the community, mostly oftentimes they're free workshops about emotional resilience, anger management, stress management.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: You name the topic, we'll cover it.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: But really, it's all because we want to help break down the barriers for people that really need mental health.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes counselors are expensive.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes, especially parents, they put their PTO time towards their kids and they don't have time to take off for themselves.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: And we really try to help break down the barriers for people to be able to have access to mental health services.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: We partner with churches.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: We put mint if the church wants a mental wellness ministry, we have a whole program for that where we train people to become certified mental health coaches.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a peer-to-peer strength-based support system.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: It just really helps instead of someone going to their girlfriend that's been married like five times and trying to give relationship advice.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, girl, you just need to leave him.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: We're not giving good sound advice.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like these people are like certified and trained, and they're like the first aid responders to really help bridge the gap between people that can't afford counseling services or like their pastor, maybe their workloads really maxed out.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's a peer-to-peer strength-based support system.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then also we had the scholarships to help people be able to provide funding for people that can't afford counseling services, along with some of our other programs and everything.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's awesome.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: I I really love what you all are doing.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I definitely would love to, I would love to come and let's collaborate.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because I would love to come speak about that too.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: That would be great.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: How do people move from surviving to thriving, especially those who feel stuck or hopeless?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think putting in the work, because what the situation you've gone through, it's real and it, I'm sure it I know it is very hurtful, but we can't stay in that hurt.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to, we've got to know that God has a greater purpose and that there is a good support team out there that will help you navigate through that.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: I could have easily allowed the things that I went through to keep me down, but I want to thrive.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: I want to use what I've gone through to help other people.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want to share my story and help other people.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: And not everyone is called to help other like people like me and you, but everyone does have to put in the work to heal themselves as well.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: And to be successful, to start thriving, is really just to kind of start putting in the work and allowing healing to happen because it is possible.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you said that.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: So why do you believe boundaries as uh are such an essential part of mental health and what are some first steps people can take to create them?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think knowing what stresses you out and why you're putting the boundaries up in the first place, you don't want to give someone so much access to your mental health if they're only if you give them level 10 access to yourself and they only show up at level one, and then there's a whole bunch of this gray area.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: You really need to assess like, is this person worth my mental health?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm bending over backwards, if I'm doing this, if I'm doing that, and then they're just gonna, you know, whether whatever the case may be and the context may be, but if they're not gonna show up almost in the same level, then you really do need to adjust your boundaries of, okay, I'm gonna help this person, but I'm not going to do it five days out of the week.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Or I want this person to come over for dinner, but it's not gonna be every single night, whatever the context may be.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: But you just really need to assess the situation and just see if they're worth your level 10 where they have full access to you, full access to your mental health, or whatever you adjust the level where it needs to be at.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: That yeah, that that makes sense.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: That makes sense as far as that.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, what advice would you give to someone who wants help but feels they can't afford counseling or don't know where to start?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you mentioned about the programs that you all have with that.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think just reaching out, whether to our nonprofit, some churches do have pastoral counseling for free.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: I know there's some other organizations.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: My thing is just reach out for help and then just keep reaching out for help.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes counselors, it's almost like doctors.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: You may find a counselor right offhand that you mesh with and will really help you.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it may take it's not a one size fits all.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Don't give up.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Just like with a primary care doctor or whatever the case may be, you just gotta find someone that one will keep you accountable, two will give you the tools that really help you grow and get through your pro get through the problems and situations, but just don't give up and make sure you just ask for help.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: So, what role does faith play in your own personal wellness journey and how does it shape the way you serve others?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you mentioned a lot about that as far as that.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Everything I do is I'm a biblical counselor.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: Everything I do is solely based off of God's word because he's the only one that can provide true healing.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And not that someone can't get help with that without being believing in Jesus, but but really to have the full healing and not having still that missing peace, because oftentimes still unbelievers still have that missing peace.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus brings the full healing.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I know, like God from tragedy to beauty, and that's actually my next book that I'm writing is gracefully broken from ashes to beauty, and it's gonna be a collective story of people's like testimonies of just how God has helped them overcome the trials in their lives and who they've become.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: But really, God is just is everything, and that's all I have to say about that.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it is true, but some people may not believe that it's true, yeah.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where your faith comes into play because a lot of fear, a lot of people are fearful of what's ahead instead of having that face.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: I I love what you're saying as far as that.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: What are some of the key programs or niches that you're most excited about right now?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, really.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I love our mentor mental health initiative, is where people become certified mental health coaches, really just help people in the community instead of them having to go four, eight, twelve years to become like a counselor or something.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is like their boots on the ground.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is like their first aid responders because oftentimes people turn to the church for a lot of things, natural disaster, food banks, recovery.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Mental health should be one of those.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the church can have a bad name of are you sure you're not praying more?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe in God enough?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not the case.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: We are we live in this fallen, broken world.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: We have some chemical imbalances and everything.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes people just go through a hard season.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I love referencing back to Moses when the Israelites was facing the Amekites, I think.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: But his hands were lifted up and he had to have his two friends to help leave keep his hands lifted up.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that just is a beautiful picture of we can't do this life alone and we can't do things by ourselves.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: When Moses' arms were going down, they started it the Israelites started losing.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: But when his friends were there to keep lifting up his hands, they were winning.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's just a beautiful picture of the community and what we are capable of is when we can lock arms together, we can really start seeing a change, not only within ourselves, but within the community.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I love that.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: I love it, and that is true.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: But it's if you want to it's it's a tough world today, especially with everything that's happening here.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: But if you just continue to have faith and believe in God as far as everything that's happening, and things happen for a reason.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: We don't understand why.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: But that's not up for us to say why.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's not for our us to lean on our own understanding, but to lean on the God here.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: What does it mean for you to help people discover their true worth?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: And then we're gonna talk about your book a little bit.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think really, because I knew what it was like not knowing who I was, and my passion is just to help people know who they are, and most importantly, who they are in Christ, giving them the tools they need, helping them really do some self-digging because that's where we find the gold within ourselves is just very important and very rewarding once it really clicks with people.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: Now let's talk a little bit about your book.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us about your book a little bit.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: I written my book, it's called Divine Worth: Transforming Our Mind and Walking Tall in Christ.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit of like my testimony.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: There is some practical exercises in there, not to believe like every thought that we think, because they're not facts, which leads to our emotions, which lead to actions.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's some counseling tips in there as well.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really just where we can meditate on God's word too, but it just really helps us.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's some questions in there to help us know like who we are, like who am I truly?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Again, it's that pause of doing that self-discovery that oftentimes a lot of people don't take because we just we live in this fast-paced world.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're so busy.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then we become wives, husbands, children, whatever the case may be.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: We don't take time to know who we are.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where a lot of stress factors come in and a lot of unrealistic expectations come in.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: This book really helps narrow down and get people to pause and do some self-discovery of just who they are.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of self-worth, it's called divine worth because again, it's biblical and just we are divine in Christ.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes self-worth, I don't want to get too clinical with it, but it could be more of me, like pride thing.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: But then when it's divine worth, it's reflecting back to God, it's reflecting back to I am God's ambassador.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be my full healthy self to serve this world in a good way instead of it just being more like selfishly and like fleshly, if that makes sense.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it makes sense.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, that's and getting down to the last question here.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: For listeners who are struggling with resilience or self-worth, like you were just talking about, what's one piece of encouragement you want them to hold on to today?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Can you repeat that question?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: For listeners who are struggling with the resilience of self-worth or self-worth, what's one piece of encouragement you want them to hold on to today?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that it it's worth it.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's worth taking the time, it's worth unplugging and to pour into yourself to be your full healthy self.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think, especially in Christianity, is a lot of times people walk around broken and not to their full because we'll never be perfect, of course, only Jesus Christ was perfect.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: But when we can put in the work and just know who we are in Christ and try to be the best version of ourselves mentally healthy, we can become spiritually healthy, which then hopefully people wouldn't be walking around like oh, a whole bunch of hypocrites type of thing.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: We can go back and apologize, like, hey, I didn't make mean to make that mistake.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was just having a bad day and just learning to communicate and be transparent, but all in healthy ways.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I would just say putting in the work, taking time to do some self-discovery, it's very important.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_02: If you can leave listeners with one truth about mental health and hope, what would that be?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would definitely say mental health is real.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's important.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Don't think the season, if it's a hard season, that you're crazy or you're alone because you're not alone.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: There is a community out there.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can always reach out to me, which will give some details.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I know me and my team were very passionate about helping people and that there is hope.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: There is light.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: God is light, even though this world may seem dark, but there is light.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's people out there that want to help you just live in that.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Live in God's truth and live in that there is a community out there that wants to help you.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: And what's the name of your book again?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: Divine Worth.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: Divine Worth.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and how can people get in touch with you?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they could buy the book on Amazon, but if they want to get a hold of me, they can either um go on my website, www.refined liveslc.com, or through the Never Alone Foundation, which is our nonprofit.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's NeverAlone Foundation Corp, C-O-R-P dot com.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's another good way to get a hold of me.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that's going to be in the show notes as well.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: I see you sent that to me.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for sending that to me.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: I am I'm proud of you.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm proud of you because who you became and what God actually had you become.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: And to be able to help people out of our brokenness, we want to help people to bring more value to their lives.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: But thank you so much for uh for coming on to the Bob Podcast.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: This was so much fun.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love hearing your story.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're doing tremendous work in the community, and I love that it was an advanced appointment that we're both there getting our brand new done and just being able to meet.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: But you are doing awesome things in the community, and I can't wait to keep talking with you and working alongside with you.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna collaborate together because we got a lot in common here.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, that was a wow and inspiring and powerful conversation with Stephanie Alman.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: I love how she's helping individuals refine their lives through both faith and practical tools while also bridging the mental health gap in our communities through the Never Alone Foundation.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Stephanie, thank you for sharing your wisdom, your heart, and your story with us today to our listeners.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you're encouraged by this conversation, be sure to connect with Stephanie and learn more about Refined Lives LLC.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna have it in the show notes as well.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: And the Never Alone Foundation.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: I have all the links in the show notes as I was saying there.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: And remember, collaboration is a key to success.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's what we're gonna do, Stephanie.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna collaborate, right?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time, your host, Wanda Pearson on the ReadyTech Collaborative Podcast.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: Please stay inspired, stay connected, and keep walking in your true worth.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks again, Stephanie.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, everyone.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening.
• 27:20
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• 27:28
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• 27:36
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• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's B E E Thing Social Media.com.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: Or check out our show notes.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: That wraps up another episode of Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you found inspiration and valuable insights to help you build meaningful connections and successful collaborations.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe, share, and stay tuned for more great discussions.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep collaborating and making an impact.