Breaking the Cycle: How Young Leaders Are Redefining Mental Health Advocacy ft Shyanne Anthony

[0:00]  breaking Cycles doesn't happen by chance uh it happens when people refuse to look away so it happens when we choose compassion over silence action over complacency and uh Humanity over stigma so the fight for better mental health care it's not just about policy it's about people it's about ensuring that no child grows up thinking their pain is invisible that no struggling adult feels abandoned and that no one has ever told that they're too much or not enough so um the time is certainly now this is the moment to step up to push for change to refuse to let mental health be an afterthought uh because it is health and every single person deserves the the chance to heal to Hope and to be heard welcome back to another episode of

[1:00]  the hard and hustle podcast don't flip the screen it is a new host but Kean is still also tagging along I'm excited to work now in front of the camera from behind the camera and help Keenan just be able to interview more nonprofit leaders more of those leaders in the health care space and today we start off with no other than Miss Cheyenne how are you doing today Madam I'm good how are you I'm excited it's Monday morning for us at this moment um so I'm just excited to really we had a little I I would say call or the ability to get to know each other but now we really in the hot seat where we have to some good questions we get to figure out who you are we know that you're a CEO um but if I was to meet you at a let's say a networking event at a coffee shop and ask the question Cheyenne nice to meet you what

[1:48]  do you do what does that actually sound like yeah so I I always stumble a little bit when people ask me that and I go uh I don't really know because one of the weird things about being in a position like this is I've certainly never seen myself as being above people and I feel like that's what comes with a a a status title of a CEO and so I usually like to tell people I do a little bit of everything from research um leading initiative strategic change moming soccer games all all the things so I'm definitely the person that always has a book on me um you'll never see me without one uh and and that's pretty simple for me I love it and you're the CEO of perimeter Healthcare right yeah um what what what a title to have a CEO but be beyond that CEO

[2:38]  title who are you Cheyenne are you a mom are you because a lot of times people just know us for that title and am I believer that we're more than that title you know definitely that's what we hold and that's what we do for I would say for work but there's so much other things that could potentially actually let us know who Cheyenne is so what does that actually sound like yeah so I'm the CEO currently with perimeter behavioral of Missouri so we've got a few um facilities across the the United States um for myself though definitely outside of just being a a CEO I'm a mom of two boys I've got a five and an eight-year-old um been married for a while now um their dad definitely has held strong in my journey of of my dreams and my goals um but mental health has has always been something that's

[3:26]  been deeply personal for me so I really I grew up in a home where mental illness was a reality it's something that affected daily life in many ways and people don't always talk about that um and I think when we connected just a little bit early on we we both discussed a little bit of seeing firsthand kind of what happens when people don't have access to proper care and I think I've seen um that ripple effect um of what that untreated trauma can definitely do for for families if you can kind of share what was the defining moment that really made you passionate about the mental Healthcare you kind of talked about that me and you spoke about a little but for those that are actually watching what was that that moment for you that pivotal moment yeah so for a long time I really didn't realize how much that my experiences had kind of shaped me I just knew that I wanted to help people and that's why I think I'm

[4:13]  I'm really passionate about what we do and and the mission that we have in serving youth in the community and kind of inspiring that hope but you know as a child I was definitely fascinated by the brain I wanted to understand how it worked what made people think and feel the way they do and and how we could fix it uh especially if something went wrong and naturally I think for me that that led me towards the idea of of neurosurgery and I thought what better way to help people than by literally repairing the brain um and life had other plans for me so I I was in a pretty significant car accident as a kiddo around age 17 and I had uh multiple occupational therapy sessions cranial manipulation Physical Therapy um just waking up and staying awake throughout the day was was a struggle learning how to read learning how to

[5:01]  grip a pencil again those are all things I was facing as a 17-year-old and most 17y olds are thinking about where am I going to go to college right um and so for for several months I think I definitely struggled with feeling that that sense of lost helplessness deep frustration um and I think it's through some of those processes that I started to realize that my mind was my most powerful tool and that ability to adapt push through challenges find new ways to learn became probably more important to me than than any medical intervention I've ever had I'm definitely going to talk more on that because I want to know how you go from neurosurgery right what was that aspiration there to then psychology but I really want to talk about the nonprofit space if you focus on acute care for for teenagers why is

[5:50]  this group particularly important to you you could really be working in any types of different groups why this one sure so I've worked in nonprofit for-profit um the the sectors are same and different right um especially any any side work that I've done for additional nonprofit sectors or just for people in general who are in need I think that this work especially for me is because of the idea of the power of psychology the idea of resilience and mindset and and knowing that it is just as healing as traditional medicine and knowing that a lot of our I think Society we we think about healthc care and we don't think of mental health and that's been a big push for a long time right everybody's like we've got to put mental health in the same bucket as our physical health and

[6:39]  we certainly do and lots of conversations happen about that but we don't see a lot of change in initiatives and so perimeter likes to place itself just right alongside nonprofits across the state of Missouri because our mission is the same um and that's definitely something that I I push in any room I go into if I walk in and they're asking for help and guidance when thinking residentials in the state of Missouri or budget committees with the state of Missouri um my my first words are typically hey we're all from different organizations but our mission today is the same our fight is the same and so whoever you worked for I hope you left that at the door because our our discussions today are about the the youth in need and nothing more when we kind of spoke the first time you were telling me about breaking the psycho of trauma right and we're both Advocates of breaking that that cycle how has that

[7:27]  shaped the way you actually lead an advoc for mental health yeah yeah so I think um stepping into leadership has definitely been one of the most challenging and transformative experience of my life so it's one thing to dream about making an impact especially uh given my upbringing I think there were several times in my youth that I thought why are you doing this this way you know this doesn't feel good this doesn't feel fair to me as as a child and it's not until you kind of step into a different perspective that you can understand and one of the biggest things I I like to tell myself and tell others is a lot of people are doing the best they can with what they know and what they have and it allows us to provide a little bit of empathy towards those that have also caused some harm or hurt in our life it doesn't excuse them um by any means there's still accountability to be had uh but it it humanizes them a little bit right and

[8:17]  so it's one thing to dream about making an impact it's another to walk into a room full of people who have Decades of experience and kind of feel the weight of expectation on your shoulders um and I definitely think those experiences of of walking through a childhood where I I consistently questioned why is this the way it is this doesn't make any sense or seeing other kids that I grew up alongside um come to school with bruises and there wasn't really anything being done for me it was okay well if I can't make the change as a child I'm going to make the change as an adult I love it and that that whole thing I always like to mention is like someone may be writing your story now actually when I go to speak at you know to the kids someone may be writing a story now but it doesn't mean they'll be writing your your story forever right and and Cheyenne you've done it you've taken

[9:03]  your pencil back you've taken your book back and you started to create your own chapters your own stories and and I love it I really kind of want to go back to when you said you wanted to get into neurosurgery what what really kind of Drew you into that field before you even get into the space that you're in today yeah so the idea of neurosurgery was I wanted to literally figure out how a brain worked and I wanted to say can I repair this and so I think there's always been that deep underlying need for finding hope in fixing something um and when I went to undergrad and this was a fresh brain in my perspective right it's one who's gone through OT PT cranial manipulation the works and I'm sitting in a Kinesiology class and a psychology class one after the other and I'm I'm sitting here and I'm

[9:50]  saying am I am do I still want to do preed can I do Premed MH and that psychology course dug so much deeper into I think I felt on an emotional level that it made sense for me to if I can't literally take someone's brain and fix these Pathways or go in and do a brain surgery how can I impact it otherwise and so yeah fun fun for me now I get to metaphorically and sometimes literally Crea uh Pathways in the brain um with words and and therapies and modalities instead of physically opening somebody up um which is just as powerful yeah I love it I'm into that mindset thing I believe it is all of the mindset and if we can just change the mindset for so many others to um just know you know what you see back here to for them

[10:38]  to know their worth and for them to know that they they matter to let them know that someone cares for them a lot of times that's all really what it is you could really change the mindset which is so important cheyen which is why I love what we're doing here is we're sharing a story we're not just sharing the story from a leader to a leader but we're sharing a story of how the mindset is everything and if just to make those changes you too can be that difference right in the world of whatever it is that you're kind of going through so I love it and but you're such a strong person I want to go back when you said 17 you had to relearn how to read and write which is a a massive challenge right like 17 years old and and just understanding where you're at and your your life life has changed how did that experience change the way you actually see yourself um and your your

[11:27]  purpose so I I think during that moment um I I remember there being lots of crying conversations in the the occupational therapy rooms and just asking why why can't my brain do this and they were so empathetic right that I I I can't say that I've ever received more almost unconditional love which sounds odd in but in those moments because they just sat there with me and they would hold me and say it's okay you're going to get get through this and you're going to do all the things that you wanted to do and you have all those big goals and you have all these big dreams and there is nothing stopping you and we're going to do everything we can to to push you through and so for those experiences I think they they definitely push the idea that there is an ability

[12:18]  to adapt there's an ability to push through challenges there's an ability to find new ways to learn and something as significant as as a car accident should not Define what we decide to do and that's even Beyond a concussion right any sort of physical disability everybody should have an opportunity to pursue the dreams that they have um sometimes it just means that we have to take a few more steps than others so deep so deep right there sayy listen I I really want to talk about Cheyenne we talked a little bit about the history of who Cheyenne is how she got to where she's at and I really want to also talk about probably even some of the challenges that you've experienced as a a young CEO do you ever get someone to say that to you you're a young CEO and you're just like why can't I just be a

[13:04]  CEO right like I think back when we were young we wanted to be older and now that we're older we want to just kind of don't call us young don't call us old we just want to be you know CEOs right but you're you're in this space where experience and age often Define credibility what's the biggest misconception people have about young leadership yeah absolutely so there's no handbook for moments like that uh and I'm sure I'm sure you know there there's no step-by-step guide on how to prove yourself in a space where credibility is often measured by those years not those ideas and when I first took on this role I definitely felt that that need for the ability to validate my place at the table not just to others but to myself and there's this unspoken expectation that leaders should always have the answers right that confidence means

[13:51]  certainty I've learned very quickly that leadership isn't about knowing everything it's about knowing when to listen and the best leader aren't the ones who are speaking the loudest or claim to have all the solutions they're the ones that are recognizing the value and the people around them and the value and the people who are sitting at the the table the understanding that true leadership is a balance between confidence and humility and kind of knowing when to trust your instincts and especially if I go deeper into that idea of being a young leader in a very established industry it's not easy there's resistance to new ideas skepticism about change and that kind of unspoken this is how we always done it mindset that can really feel impossible to break through but where others see obstacle obstacles I like to see opportunity right so the mental health care needs Innovation it needs fresh

[14:39]  perspective bold decisions and people who are willing to really challenge those outdated systems and I'm here for that challenge I didn't step into leadership to to maintain the status quo I stepped into it to push those boundaries and to rethink the way we approach care and to truly um build something better because at the end of the day the the leadership isn't about power it's about impact and I certainly hope to make every moment count listen soan and you already are first of all right you're making it already count what's really even more interesting is when people think a young age someone like yourself that already experienced so much young you've lived life right those things that you have that trauma is what makes us who we are today right so I would I always when I hear this young mentality or you're too

[15:27]  young to take over a nonprofit or and I'm like do you understand what I had to go through life to be here I'm so beyond my years right cuz those moments where you had to kind of really fight to be where you're at today that that's what makes you that leader that that's what makes you uh credible right that's what kind of gives you the ability to walk into room and understand like yeah I I belong here because look where my life led me to the things that I had to overcome to get here I was just talking to a friend and he was just kind of mentioned life has been a roller coaster for him I said are you even living the life is not a roller coaster you know and the ups and downs is what makes us so I love that you're in this space and and you even mentioned a leader is not just knowing everything but it's truly just so also seeing the good in others and that's what you're doing you're doing you're doing it in all

[16:14]  perspectives not just you leading a team what you're doing with the uh the young minds I love that I definitely do how do you handle moments when you feel the pressure of being the expert in the room if there's any pressure at all I'm not really sure is there pressure oh I mean there's certainly pressure sometimes especially when everybody in the room kind of just turns and looks at you like what is she going to say um and I love to push it back on them because I'm a big big believer in I should be building other people that are going to be leaders in the room right um I'm not going to be here every day tomorrow is not promised and so I like to definitely push back in with the the question of what would you like to do what makes the most sense for you and I already have an idea in my brain but I want to see what you come up with um and then I'm going to challenge that a little to give you some feedback as well to grow you

[17:02]  because like like I said you know I want people to grow I want I want somebody to be gunning for my spot 100% yeah because listen that's a great team right if we both on the same page we're on a good team right here you kind of talked about balancing confidence with humility can you kind of share that time when you had to step back and and listen sure so one of my mentors um is her name is Dr Brandy feifer um and she definitely has been a mentor for me for a while um and there have been several times in in my growth Journey where I've come to the table with oh this is what research is suggesting this is what we've got to do and she'll okay but how are you going to make that happen and I'm confident well this is the plan this is how we can execute this and I just need X Y and Z and that little bit of humility of okay

[17:52]  but all those X Y and Z things that you just said how are you going to make those happen right so she kind of likes to stop me in my tracks and say great plan but now you need a plan for all those other things um and kind of reminding that we can have really great ideas and there's still so many barriers sometimes to push through um and it really I think drives more of that deeper thinking sometimes instead of just being gungho to run with something every time something new comes out love it and I got a question and you might know this right off as soon as I say it this might put you in a hot seat what's that one leadership lesson that you actually had to learn the hard way that just because they're your friends does not mean that they are a good idea for a coworker yes that is so true I was 19 years old when I was already managing my

[18:38]  first store and I hired all my friends the funny thing is I understood how to navigate the the two but then I I was living with these friends as well so I go home and act like nothing happened and they'll be like don't act like you and just write me up I'm like hey that's difference between work and friendship you can't get mad at me what happened at work you acting up you know it is very very hard and I tell people now leaders entrepreneurs CEOs stop hiring your friends because it would it would ruin friendships you know not everyone just because you know how to do it doesn't mean the other person knows how to do that's actually a really really good lesson that people should definitely um take more okay so I got another one what advice do you give young young other professionals stepping into that leadership BR sure I think the idea of knowing um that you're not always going

[19:26]  to have all of the correct answers and to be willing to go into rooms and listen and observe more than you talk um you know I think a lot of my growth has just been simply because I've been able to have seats in places or I've I've brought my own seat in I don't know how many times in various organizations I've just walked into things that I was never invited to but I wanted to listen and learn and you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable you're just saying all the right things being comfortable getting uncomfortable I love that so much cuz I use it so often listen many people assume that when it comes to younger kids they need more care than teenagers do you agree uh I would disagree you know I think that's a a super common misconception um teenagers and especially in our foster care system are among the most vulnerable right they

[20:14]  don't receive the same amount of support as our our younger ones and Society usually assumes that because they're older they're more resilient they don't need the same level of care guidance or emotional support but resilience isn't something that just appears it's it's really built through you know things like stability love and connection and those are a lot of things that our teenagers they've never received do you have a story of a teen that came through perimeter health care and just really seen a major transformation in their lives um I I would say we we've we've had a few it's really hard and this is kind of part of the the process too that I don't I don't think many of us enjoy especially anybody that Works residential is sometimes we don't always get to hear the success stories

[21:02]  sometimes we only get to hear the the negative right we get the re referrals we get and and those are typically due because of that massive shortage of of placements for them some of the success that I I would say we've been able to follow are ones that were in facilities for years High medication dosages and we've been able to decrease them off of things and place them in a home that they've been successful in and they've Gra graduated high school and they've gone on to college um I've got a young man in in my mind who the parents still reach out and say we can't can't thank you enough for the things we were able to see change in six months versus the last five years of in and out of all of these other facilities and I'm not saying that we're by any means the best at what we do but I I certainly think that everyone is positioned in certain

[21:50]  places for a reason and our clinicians um were definitely able to help some kids that other clinicians haven't been able to and I'm sure vice versa there are other facilities that have been able to do the same I love it and I think we spoke about when we first got on our first call that I was um I was fortunate because I was adopted by my mom at a very young age but I also had a brother that was in the system in and out of different you know as you mentioned um programs at one point in in Boston then in Orlando then and seeing it and you talk about the medication he's actually off medication now but to me it was actually one of the problems that he was having was the medication right and it was until he stopped started to wean himself off that he see those changes and it's huge you know I I grew up in a household where I have 16 17 siblings and we're all in the Foster system you

[22:39]  know as luckily again I was adopted by my aunt but I have brothers and sisters that didn't have that opportunity so it's it's very when I think about what you're doing it just makes me so happy that there's someone out there fighting for people like myself right we talk about being the voice for the voiceless a lot of these people young kind of going through it they don't talk about these things because why would you you go to school and someone's making fun of you I I don't know if I mentioned to you this um last time that we spoke but I had my brother uh mentioned to me as I was growing up we picked you up off the streets um you know for the money or you were adopted for the money you know hearing those things and why he may actually address this later on in life and he he thought it was a joke but for me it was everything you know which is why we don't share some of these things you know why we didn't share that we were I

[23:26]  was adopted because it wasn't a ation I wanted to have um people didn't get it so I I kind of love that you're in that space what does that process actually look like when preparing these Teenagers by the way for their next steps after the cute care yeah so I mean I think it it it differs and I I really probably need to set the scene and you know for me as an example it looks like being 15 right you're Shuff shuffled through those temporary placements you know that every move means another goodbye and you're watching these younger kids find homes while you're stuck in limbo and it's not because you don't deserve love but it's typically because people assume that you're too difficult too damag too old to be worth kind of that effort and so for our facility we do everything we can to help these kids we don't just stabilize them we prepare them especially through building life skills

[24:13]  right so we want to process the the trauma and we want to find a path forward but I think that's that's one of the things our clinicians really try to emphasize on or what can we give you that's going to prepare you for life because if no one's been there for you before we're going to try our hardest to to do that um um and I think no matter how hard we work the reality remains that the kids need homes they need mentors they need communities willing to see their worth and we have to have more people that are willing to step up um and have more awareness and and provide more of those Real World skills and mentorship because what happens is if they leave here and they don't have those supportive homes and they don't have placement then we're stuck in that cycle where they end up back in a facility of some kind and that's not fair to them because you know really the truth is that the teenss aren't disposable they're they are certainly survivors they're full of potential they

[25:02]  deserve the Same Love safety and future as any kid and I think the question you know certainly is who will fight for them yeah that is very true who would fight for them and like you said it's just a cycle that continues to happen because if that person never gets assistance and they do age out let's talk about that and they do age out and then what you know they've never understood what love looks like or how to be cared um a lot of times they can't do that to others whether it's relationships having their own kids whatever the life looks like it's a very tough place and I just love that you're that leader at that table you know whether someone's going to give you that seat at the head of the table or you took that seat at the head of the table um you should always be giving your flowers for the work that you you know you do especially for someone like myself that's kind of understood um what that actually looks like now if you

[25:49]  could actually change one thing about how Society views mental health and Foster youth what would that actually be for you um I think in general the idea of everybody is worth a fight um because I think the system gets so bogged down that they just they lose sight of that mission right we start thinking oh I just need to get this kid off my plate I need to put them in a placement and then they're fine and and we can wash our hands of it and and move on to the next case um and I I really wish that if we we're going to have conversations which we do have about fighting for these kids and we talk about early interventions and better funding and breaking the stigma and we talk about all these things but we don't ever do anything with it we're never actually pushing forward in the

[26:36]  momentum especially when it comes to you know policies and advocating we have all these meetings all the time everybody across the state across the United States but nobody ever says okay well now we're going to do something which kind of leads me into when it comes to economic and federal policies how do economic how does it impact mental Healthcare funding in success I mean it's it's a big fund and right now I think especially for the state of Missouri there's a big um chaotic Push by a lot of legislatives right now because from an executive level in our in our federal system they're talking about decreasing Medicaid dollars and there's certainly um ways that we could I'm sure improve our Medicaid system across the board um that's not wasting some sort of fund

[27:24]  somewhere but when we talk about those those three critical areas of early intervention better funding and breaking the St stigma underfunded programs already exist right and so really despite that growing recognition there's often lots of budget cuts and mental health services and programs are usually some of the first that face those budget cuts which truly is is unacceptable we have to have sustained federal and state investment in those Services um to to Really ensure that no one is Left Behind um I remember there was a a saying growing up No Child Left Behind Act with education I kept I kept thinking how come it's not this way for everything else you know like we're putting education as a priority but shouldn't we also be creating a priority for you know

[28:11]  mental health and what what's happening with parents in the home that's that's an early intervention right I don't necessarily want to pull kids from their homes and put them in the system but I'm also not providing any intervention and to make sure that that child's not left behind on another fundamental level that is that's 100% true uh what what do you think needs to change in how we advocate for mental health on think about a larger scale sure so I mean I think there's several things you know we're talking about um legislative pieces right so we have to be able to break the stigma surrounding mental health but in order to do that there have to be a lot of legislative pieces that that are enacted that are able to assist in that so we we've definitely seen that awareness has improved um but many people still hesitate to seek out help because we don't normalize those

[28:57]  conversations we not increased education we've not ensured mental health is treated with the same urgency as as physical health U and we have to do that to create that cultural shift and I really hope uh with the election of Vice President JD Vance that there's reason to be hopeful right so Vance has his own story um pretty impactful he's grew up at a home deeply affected by mental health challenges and I think he probably understands firsthand that ripple effect of that untreated mental illness on families and communities so he has a personal stake in this fight kind of similar to you and I uh we're we're we're a dog in the fight we've been through it and yeah my hope is that because he has Sten this that he's going to work to break past those um bureaucratic and financial barriers that have really held Mental Health Care back for far too long um because if there was

[29:44]  ever a time for bold leadership and real change it's certainly now 100% 100% and it starts with the young leaders like ourselves right doing the damn thing um how about AI in this whole thing uh I mean I actually just started to think about and I'm pretty sure you can remember the first time an iPod came out you're like oh my God that's so cool and now we're talking about AI right the iPods are like who uses those like that was so many years ago but in reality it's technolog is happening so fast innovation's happening so fast and now we have a space of AI what does it actually look like for for you and the organization is this something that you guys feel could be beneficial absolutely so you know kind of rolling this all into one with that idea of mental health we we' seen progress right and what we've seen is encouraging and we

[30:30]  certainly can't afford to slow down um mental health is Health it's really time that our policies funding and societal attitudes really reflect that and I think AI could be a GameChanger for us you know I don't want AI to replace therapy by any means that's certainly not the point and it would lose that humanized approach but what it does do is it allows clinicians to take very complex situations that maybe they've never seen before um and you could create some sort of treatment plan that you you've never seen by plugging in things and saying you know I'm I'm struggling as a clinician with a client that has these three diagnosis and I'm only used to working with the two concurrently so if I plug all of that in and say what would what does best practice say is is the better course of treatment for this it's going to go through sources and and find some things

[31:18]  and then you could pick that apart and decide what you want to use or not use um and so I think we should incorporate AI to be a helpful tool we shouldn't use it by any means to take away our books and and our our knowledge by any means but in real time availability it's a super helpful tool and I think is going to be a GameChanger in and how quickly we're able to turn out certain documents um and being it being able to be super customizable for an individual person I love it yeah and like you talking about just getting information out there to people is so much easier right things that you would have to do when it came to research but now AI allows us to get things out there so quickly that would actually scan the web and I love it if anybody needs you know from websites

[32:04]  that are now utilizing these AI things well we're going to start closing wrapping it up here but if there's one thing you would want people to take away from this conversation what would it be sure breaking Cycles doesn't happen by chance uh it happens when people refuse to look away so it happens when we choose compassion over silence action over complacency and uh human over stigma so the fight for better mental health care it's not just about policy it's about people it's about ensuring that no child grows up thinking their pain is invisible that no struggling adult feels abandoned and that no one has ever told that they're too much or not enough so um the time is certainly now this is the moment to step up to push for change to refuse to let mental

[32:51]  health be an afterthought uh because it is health and every single person deserves the the chance to heal to Hope to be heard you should be you should be a speaker are you doing any speaking shy in like this is some good stuff you Dro right here how can the audience what were you saying I I was going to say not really but you know I I like to think that maybe one day should hey you never know man you never know what happens what you know what blessings come so how can the audience support um perimeter Healthcare and the work that you're doing yeah I think this goes back to a very earlier comment I made that it has nothing to do about my organization we're all in the same fight um and so I think it needs to be more people in this system and outside of the system coming to the table and say what can we do that's going to change the lives of of

[33:38]  the youth um and can change the lives of their parents um and it's it's the ability to truly set aside anything and everything you know and saying this is the same fight we're all in I think there's somebody might be watching this and we talked about being that um that Beacon of light for people sometimes without even knowing let's say this someone out there that is struggling with their own mental health or they're just trying to be trying to support a loved one maybe that is going through mental health what would you say to them right now that the weight that you carry was never intended to be yours uh and that it is okay to set it down and to remind yourself that you are deserving of love and you are deserving of peace and that your heart um can certainly heal and your brain can heal and and it's it's okay to to go through the

[34:26]  things um but to not let it Define you love it are you guys active on social if they wanted to connect as well yeah we we do have a Facebook um and our our parent company through perimeter as a whole is also active on LinkedIn all right so we got LinkedIn we got a Facebook Instagram no Instagram okay cheyen gotta get on it cheyen and then the website we got the website for those that may need more information um I love it so we do this every episode I don't know if you've seen this or prepared for this one but there's called a blind question for the next guest and the last guest the last leader had this question for you what is one personal belief or philosophy that has completely transformed the way you approach your work and

[35:14]  life uh a question there yep and I actually I answered this early on um that everybody is doing the best they can with what they know and what they have um and when I can come at it with that in my mind I very very easily able to humanize with other people even when there's frustrations um things you've probably seen or other people have seen where people are just not doing what you expect them to do whether it's family friends co-workers maintaining the belief that we're all doing the best we can with what we have and what we know um and and giving some giving some empathy with that I love it well Cheyenne is most definitely been a pleasure to sit across the virtual table with a leader like yourself and I love love the space that you're in and I'm happy that when we think about those not

[36:02]  so much just in you know kids in in foster homes but I think just the mental space in general is such a tough space to be in because a lot of the times people don't realize it all starts with the mind um when you can change that mind you your world just moves in different ways and you've been an advocate for that you're sitting at ahead of the table as a young leader and I commend you for the work and I give you your flowers a lot of times we do the work and we're not asking for anything we just do it out of passion and I can tell that you're very passionate about what you do Cheyenne so I want to say thank you for for your time and um is there anything else you want to let people know on our way out um you know just just seek somebody to talk to even if the idea of going to therapy is daunting find a social group find something that's going to push you

[36:50]  to break out of the uncomfortability of of sitting in some thoughts I love that and you're still watching guys put your answers in the comments to that my name is z FR this is Cheyenne this has been the hard and hustle podcast we'll see you on the next one laters