Self-Injury is a complex and often difficult to understand mental health crisis - both for those who suffer and for families and friends who care for those facing this battle.

In this episode, Stacee and guest and friend Brittany Tinsley share a conversation about their shared experience of struggling with self-injury and also of finding hope and healing in their recovery journeys.

Out of that experience, Stacee and Brittany are teaming together to offer a new resource called Held Even Here, a faith-based event for those navigating self-injury and for those who love and support them.

To learn more about Held Even Here and opportunities to host or attend an upcoming gathering, please visit heldevenhere.com.

Brittany Tinsley is a writer, speaker and the author of Stories our Scars Tell: Hope, Healing and Honesty about the Wounds We Carry. Brittany's work explores the intersection of faith and mental health, shaped by her personal experience with self-injury.

Stacee Goetzinger is a hope-giver for those struggling with self-harm and mental illness. She has experienced the depths of those struggles and also the hope that comes from Christ and pursuing recovery in community. Stacee is a podcaster, speaker and author of You Are Worth Saving, Letters of Hope from a Desperate Heart and The Boat that Wouldn't Sink, a Memoir of a life shaped by trauma but rescued by hope.

Speak Out Loud's mission is to share hope and encouragement for those struggling with mental health and for those who love and support them. To learn more about Speak Out Loud and resources available, please visit speakoutloud.me

In this episode, Stacee and frequent guest, LPC Phoebe Barron, share an honest, real, and vulnerable conversations about the struggles and hopes of living with chronic mental illness.

Wherever you are in your mental health journey, you'll find hard-earned wisdom and encouragement, both from Stacee's journey and Phoebe's depth of experience and compassion as a therapist.

Learn more about Stacee and the resources offered through Speak Out Loud at speakoutloud.me and follow Stacee on Instagram @speakoutloud.me.

To learn more about Phoebe and her practice, you can find her online at phoebebarron.com and on Instagram @phoebekate.

The mission of Speak Out Loud is to share hope and encouragement for those who struggle with mental health and for those who love and support them.

Let's experience hope together!

In this episode of the Speak Out Loud podcast. Stacee and Doug share a vulnerable and powerful conversation with Bret and Anne about their family's journey of navigating a schizophrenia diagnosis for their young adult child.

Bret and Anne share a wealth of experience, compassion and hope for families who may be on a similar mental illness journey with a loved one or friend.

Bret and Anne share honestly about the lengthy process of coming to a clear diagnosis for their son through several years of struggle, signs and symptoms to look for, the challenge of developing a community of compassionate awareness and support, and their journey to their son's improved mental health.

While there is currently no cure for schizophrenia, throughout this conversation you'll hear and be inspired by the hope Bret and Anne and their family have for both the present and the future!

For families walking through a similar journey of schizophrenia or a unique mental illness journey of their own, this episode will encourage you, provide helpful insights and wisdom, and most of all share the gift of hope. Whatever you are facing, better and brighter days can be ahead!

Born of our Stacee's lengthy mental illness struggle, Speak Out Loud's mission is to share hope and encouragement for those who struggle with mental health and for those who love and support them.

Learn more about Speak Out Loud and the resources offered by Stacee and her husband, Doug, at speakoutloud.me.

You can follow Speak Out Loud on Instagram @speakoutloud.me. You can also find free devotional resources offered by Speak Out Loud on the YouVersion Bible app by searching for the Speak Out Loud page.

Stacee's two books, The Boat That Wouldn't Sink and You Are Worth Saving, Letters of Hope from a Desperate Heart are both available on Amazon.

To learn more about inviting Stacee and/or Doug to speak to your group, please connect with us through Speaking tab on the Speak Out Loud website.

Thank you for joining us for this episode and for helping build a community of hope for those who struggle with mental health - let's experience hope together!

On September 3, 2024 Rick Thompson suffered a massive stroke while traveling in Costa Rica. At his wife's urging, a 6 hour cab ride to the nearest hospital saved his life.

Following his stroke, Rick woke up the next morning blind and unable to move the left side of his body. The weeks and months ahead began an incredible journey of ongoing rehabilitation, returning to his role as senior Pastor of Council Road Baptist Church in metro Oklahoma City, and writing about this journey through his new book, Count if Joy: Lessons in Suffering.

Stacee and Doug share this conversation with their long-time pastor of how finding joy even through crisis, tremendous life change, and suffering is possible.

You can find Count it Joy and other books and resources from Rick at pastorrickthompson.com. Count it Joy can also be found in kindle format on Amazon at https://a.co/d/3aLIn4o

and also as an audio book on Audible.

The mission of Speak Out Loud is to share hope and encouragement for those struggling with mental health and for those who love and support them.

Learn more about Stacee and Doug and their family's mental illness journey and also access the library of resources offered by Speak Out Loud at www.speakoutloud.me.

We are so pleased to share this episode as Stacee interviews friend of Speak Out Loud, Brittany Tinsley, to talk about her new book coming out this fall - Stories Our Scars Tell: Hope, Healing, and Honesty about the Wounds We Carry.Stacee and Brittany share an honest an vulnerable conversation about their shared experience of struggling with self-harm and how they have found hope and live day to day in recovery. As Brittany shares, "to be healed is simply to live a life fully felt - not perfect and not pain-free, but beautiful anyway." Stacee and Brittany know the pain and struggle of self-harm and their conversation is an honest, transparent and hopeful resource of hope for others who struggle and for those who care for those struggling with self-harm.Brittany is a writer and speaker who shares her story of self-injury to offer hope to others. In addition to her new book, Brittany recently co-authored a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury. Her work has also been featured by a variety of non-profits and publications, including Huffpost, To Write Love on Her Arms, and Fathom Magazine. You can pre-order Stories Our Scars Tell on Amazon at https://a.co/d/dzfeuwJLearn more about Brittany and subscribe to her Substack site, Braver on Paper, at https://www.brittanytinsley.com/ You can follow Brittany on Instagram at @brittanytinsleywrites.Learn more about Speak Out Loud and Stacee's mission to share hope for those who struggle with mental health at www.speakoutloud.me.You can follow Stacee and Speak Out Loud on social media @speakoutloud.me

It's no secret teenagers today are facing a mental health crisis. Anxiety, depression, self-harming behaviors and other difficult mental health challenges are now part of the minefield tweens and teens and their parents have to navigate almost daily in the teenage experience.We are so grateful for long-time friend Amanda Wright and her daughter, Kinzley, joining us today to talk about these mental health challenges for teen girls often brought on by experiencing adolescence in the world of social media, smart phones and constant connectedness. Amanda shares great insights and encouragement for parents of teens, and Kinzley brings her unique perspective as a middle schooler encountering these challenges. Amanda and Kinzley's depth, wisdom and most of all hope for tweens and teens and their parents will encourage you and your family. This episode is for parents, teens and anyone who cares about teenagers and helping them navigate these years that are filled with epidemic levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges for so many young women. Speak Out Loud is committed to sharing hope and encouragement for those who struggle with mental health and for those who love and support them. Through the Speak Out Loud platform, Stacee and her husband, Doug, share out of the middle of Stacee's lengthy mental illness recovery journey through numerous platforms - including our new Youtube platform - subscribe to the Speak Out Loud channel today @speakoutloudme .To hear more of Amanda's incredible story shared on the Messy Table podcast, click the link below or search for episode 129 on the Messy Table podcast on your favorite podcast platform.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-129-amanda-wright-unplanned-mercies/id1210604687?i=1000586273400Amanda also shared this beautiful reading of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 from the Message translation - we hope you are encouraged by this like we were:"So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, MSG)To learn more about the resources offered by Speak Out Loud, please visit speakoutloud.me.You can also follow Speak Out Loud on social media @speakoutloud.me.You can purchase Stacee's books at the following links below:The Boat that Wouldn't Sink: A Memoir https://a.co/d/9eY2WXgYou Are Worth Saving, Letters of Hope from a Desperate Heart https://a.co/d/b7KKNDICheck out Speak Out Loud's free devotional resource on the YouVersion Bible App titled "Hope for those Struggling with Mental Health." We invite you to follow Speak Out Loud - let's experience hope together!

In April of 2025, we launched the Speak Out Loud YouTube Channel, and as part of introducing ourself to a new audience on this platform, we've gone back to share our story and the story of Speak Out Loud.

We are not therapists of doctors, but we do feel like we are experts in authentically sharing our story and the hard-learned lessons of living many years in the ups and downs of our mental illness recovery journey.

This episode is part 2 of our story, picking up with the mental health crisis that changed the trajectory of our lives and has shaped much of our years since then.

In this episode, we share about our first experience with a mental hospital, the early seasons of outpatient treatment and seasons of what felt at best like "treading water." Stacee shares the transformational conversation and story which led to her 4 month inpatient treatment program for anorexia at the Laureate Eating Disorder program. This conversation also became the title of her first book, You Are Worth Saving.

We share lessons learned such as recovery is not linear, denial is the opposite of hope, and resilience is the master skill.

We also share about the founding of Speak Out Loud and how Speak Out Loud has continued to expand its platform to share hope with wider audiences around the world.

As you listen to our story, we think you may find pieces of your own, and our purpose is for you to know you are not alone in your or your loved one's mental illness struggle.

Psalm 118:17 says, "I will not die but live and will proclaim what the Lord has done." This is Stacee's life verse and the heart of Speak Out Loud. Let's experience hope together!

To find out more about Stacee and Doug and Speak Out Loud, please visit www.speakoutloud.me.

We invite you to visit and subscribe to our new YouTube Channel which can be found @speakoutloudme.

Follow Stacee and Speak Out Loud on both Instagram and Facebook @speakoutloud.me

Other resources offered by Speak Out Loud:

Find both of Stacee's books, You Are Worth Saving and The Boat that Wouldn't Sink on Amazon.

You can access our free 5-day devotional series in the YouVersion Bible app by searching in the app for the Bible Plan titled "Hope for those Struggling with Mental Health."

Thanks everyone for listening today!