Tag: #MentalHealth

TSC Talks Revival!! JUSTIN LESLIE of Project Whistleblower ~ Truth Under Fire

This is a special edition, TSC Talks Revival episode with Justin Leslie! Justin is an ex-Pfizer scientist and whistleblower. Justin was also one of my first guests on my podcast “TSC Talks” in 2018, (https://bit.ly/3Iz0FUU) where he shared his story about his experience with diagnosis and living with TSC.

I met Justin back in 2016ish through my friendship with his mother, Dorina Leslie. I had qualified and was training for the Boston Marathon to raise money for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex research and was posting about it on social media. Dorina, who had a son diagnosed with TSC, read my story, “Mom of 3 with TSC Runs Boston” (or something like that) and reached out in a Facebook Group. She was so encouraging and supportive! We became friends.  As I started to build the podcast TSC Talks, she suggested I interview her son, Justin, who had a mild form of TSC. Justin had been diagnosed with this dis-ease, later in life than most, and yet had had some significant struggles he’d had to overcome. Struggles that might be helpful if shared and heard by others in similar circumstances.

So, we did the (first) interview. It was incredible to have this young man who had really struggled with his own mortality and sense of purpose after receiving a TSC diagnosis, come and share from the heart, with such conviction, his lived experience and vision for going to study pharmacology to eventually contribute to finding a cure for this hateful dis-ease, Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. His podcast was a hit in the small community centered around TSC and was an inspiration to many. Flash forward several years. I stayed in touch with Justin’s mom, and she’d tell me what he was up to from time to time. He had such a passion and intensity about him, I was confident he was going to make some important contributions. I knew he had been working at Pfizer, and hated it, & the next thing I knew, he was working with Project Veritas and Dorina couldn’t talk about it. I was like Wow. Then more recently he showed up in my feed in pictures from a retreat he attended with Alec Zeck. What a whirlwind! I wanted to talk to him again.

We connected in January 2024 in a phone convo and Justin filled me in on what had been going on with him of late. I was blown da feck away!!! Not only had Justin been working at Pfizer but had gone undercover as a double agent working for Project Veritas, then again at OMG Media with James O’Keefe. He shared that he was working on a documentary called “Project Whistleblower” and was chronicling in the most riveting way, his experiences and strong soul’s urging to share the whole truth of what he uncovered during these last few years.

I told him I’d love to interview him and catch up on his story since the time he was on TSC Talks. I felt it would be so relevant for both of us as we’d kind of come full circle in seeing the inversions of the systems we’d both been heavily invested in and gone through intense disillusionment, yet come away with a renewed passion for getting beyond all the disconnections, fragmentations, half truths of the systems and get at root causes …for TSC, for dis-ease…so I’m sharing the transcript here from our first interview and will be sharing the transcript from our upcoming interview as well! I think this is incredibly important to Justin’s “story” as it demonstrates the vast transformation in awareness and understanding of the systemic inversion and the trance like spell so many are under regarding the half truths and flat out deception propagated over many years, but specifically since 2020 and the injection of half truths related to just about everything we’ve collectively held sacred.  So here we go…here’s the first interview we did together, both in completely different mindsets and circumstances meeting to discuss the impact of the rare disease, TSC.

In “Project Whistleblower” Justin shares his personal journey, including living with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a condition that not only shaped his childhood but also inspired him to pursue a career in pharmacology, aiming to find a cure for his condition.

During his time as a vaccine scientist at Pfizer, Justin began to collaborate undercover with Project Veritas. This partnership led to the revealing of mind blowing revelations about the COVID-19 ‘scamdemic’ and other alleged misconduct within Pfizer. However, he soon started to observe concerning behaviors within Project Veritas, such as the suppression of timely truths and vaccine concerns. These observations led him to question the integrity of the organization and its founder, James O’Keefe.

In collaboration with Marty Leeds, Justin has produced the compelling documentary “Project Whistleblower.” This film delves into his experiences and his growing awareness of the covert tactics and manipulations at Pfizer, Project Veritas, and OMG Media Group. In an era rife with lies and deception, the documentary underscores the revolutionary act of truth-telling.” (credit to Amanda Vollmer: https://yummy.doctor/video-list/advocates-for-truth-amandha-vollmer-adv-with-justin-leslie/)
Contact info for Justin!
Justin Leslie: https://justintegrity.net/
Justin’s Linktree: https://linktr.ee/justinleslie
Contact: justinleslie3@protonmail.com
Donate to Justin’s work: https://www.givesendgo.com/ProjectWhistleblower

WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY HERE:  https://justintegrity.net/project-whistleblower/
Produced by: https://linktr.ee.com/jillwoodworthhttps://jillwoodworth.com

Short clip produced by @jillwoodworth
https://jillwoodworth.com

TSC Talks! Final podcast~Wrapping it Up & Thanks

Jill wraps up the podcast! I started in 2016 by interviewing my kids and how they were affected by Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. It was absolutely divine inspiration from the start and branched out shortly after to interviewing community members and other professionals who worked with those affected. From there, I explored many different topics, providing information and resources in interview form, all with relevance to the individuals and/or parents/caregivers affected by a chronic illness like TSC.

Pushing the boundaries of what was deemed “safe and effective” by our medical system, I continued to put the info out there based on my own lived experience as a parent/caregiver living and dealing with what I’d come to discover is CPTSD if you want to use a label. It was my vision and still is that all “remedies” for improving the quality of life of all involved in the wheels of chronic illness, particularly one such as TSC which affects all the vital body organs, will be an option for all.

Why should we hold back the river when there are so many speaking about how their lives have been impacted by sharing their truths, sharing what’s worked for them and what potentially might help another ease the very real and almost daily traumas of attempting to live with an open heart and navigate our inverted systems of care?

Many of these podcasts go against the grain of what people are comfortable hearing. There are always positive takeaways but there are some heavy heavy experiences that people are walking through and talking about and must be given voice. I think through honest conversation, and taking full responsibility for one’s reactions to other’s sharing from their most painful, heart-wrenching moments, we can begin to hear each other once again at least long enough to realize, we’re all having vastly different experiences yet we all long to be here now, safe, loved, whole, home.

Thanks for tuning in and being here there and everywhere. It’s been the pleasure of a lifetime to have the opportunity to create and share this work.

Love Jill

Giving Thanks for My Specials – Thanksgiving Day 1993 Nina Patry~Guest Blogger

The following blog was written in 1993 by my new and good friend, Nina Patry. Nina hails from Rutland Vermont. Her claim to fame is that she is a certified Paradox Process instructor. We met last year while I was getting called up on a Lorie Ladd live event and not able to get my equipment to work to … Continue reading “Giving Thanks for My Specials – Thanksgiving Day 1993 Nina Patry~Guest Blogger”

The following blog was written in 1993 by my new and good friend, Nina Patry. Nina hails from Rutland Vermont. Her claim to fame is that she is a certified Paradox Process instructor. We met last year while I was getting called up on a Lorie Ladd live event and not able to get my equipment to work to connect. Nina was cheering me on and we ended up chatting on FB and pretty soon we both realized we had connections to special needs individuals. Me, as a parent, and she as a sister and aunt. We’ve been friends ever since, in fact, to learn more about Nina, listen to the podcast I did with her. (link) During a recent conversation, we were discussing some of our experiences of the extraordinary abilities of our loved ones with special needs to be far more energetically tuned in than most ever imagine and what a gift, it was to have these “seers” in our lives. Then she read me the following bit of prose she’d written, which I immediately knew I had to share. I left the language as written. While harsh to read, it speaks somewhat to a bit of evolution of consciousness, that must continue in an accelerated manner related to all things we now define as “special needs”. Thanks, Nina for this precise and moving piece.

I went to Church this morning.  First time in a long time.  In Charlottesville, Virginia, where a large portion of our family has gathered for Thanksgiving.  And I found myself particularly thankful for the special people in my life.

I sat in the front row, surrounded by my brother and my nieces –  all “special needs” people. Christopher with Down Syndrome, thirty-two years young; Maggie and Emma are developmentally delayed, with no more specific label attached.  Maggie and Emma are identical twins, eight and a half years young.

Retarded.  Developmentally delayed.  Rather judgmental terms—or at least markings at the low end along a linear evaluation of human beings.  I prefer the Rudolf Steiner/Camp Hill movement view.  That perspective places these people, at least on the spiritual plane, as beings more closely aligned with the unseen spiritual aspects of reality.  They are seen as souls who have difficulty adapting to, accepting, relating to the advanced state of materialism much of our world reflects these days.

It is said in Camp Hill literature I have read, that these souls incarnate, but cannot enter fully into the mindsets, perceptions, and values currently dominant in “modern” or “postmodern” culture.  Instead, these folk arrive, one foot in and one foot out.  Here, but not here in the same way the rest of us are.  And in that difference, their presence is a strong conduit, one which the spiritual plane needs to help bring our world back into balance.

These folk live their lives in many senses free of the pressures, drives, greed, and fears that many of us “normals” experience.  They exist on more basic levels.  And freedom from the materialist drives seems to leave them more time and energy for the truly important aspects of life.  The unseen.  Love joy emotions happiness.  Freer to be themselves—they don’t understand so well our “civilized” codes—the dress code, the wariness and distance with “strangers” codes, codes on the “proper” ways to be in various situations.

I personally love to witness the ways in which this freedom reveals itself.  Both Chris and the twins are more overtly, actively friendly to strangers than many other people I know.  Saying hello, smiling, sometimes staring (definitely considered rude by some), but it is clearly an observation and awareness of others that many of us believe need to be kept secret for some reason.

My brother loves to attend performances of many kinds, especially musical performances.  He will encourage the performers from the audience.  Give them the thumbs-up sign or a wave.  He is often the first on his feet to give a standing ovation and likes to go up to the stage and shake hands with the performers.  (If any opportunity presents itself for him to get his hands on a microphone, so much the better!)

And last night, too, when Mom, Dad, Chris, and I arrived at the airport, Maggie and Emma’s greeting was contagious.  Flapping, smiling, almost flying around the airport in their unconfined excitement over our arrival.  For these and so many other reasons, I am eternally giving thanks for my specials.  

https://linktr.ee/jillwoodworth

Points of Light~ Leigh Anne Bianchi, Founder of Good Citizenship Project, Activating Good Citizens~Part Two

SEE SHOW NOTES FOR PART ONE FOR MORE DETAIL! https://tsctalks.com/leigh-anne-bianchi/
I had the pleasure of interviewing Leigh Anne Bianchi, Founder of Good Citizenship Project recently on TSC Talks. She was joined by her business manager Carla Bell. We had a free-ranging discussion covering many topics but all regarding the benefits of the sort of unconventional programming Leigh Anne has developed through GCP and how this meets many of the huge gaping unmet needs for those individuals diagnosed with autism and other special needs that our systems of care have become too siloed and disconnected to address. “Developing a sense of meaning and purpose, social-emotional skills, work ethic, and peer relationships by volunteering, distributing donations, and supporting local farms.”

For more information on Good Citizenship Project, FB page: https://www.facebook.com/GoodCitizenshipProject/ phone: (508) 868-0293 email: leighanne.bianchi143@gmail.com

Timestamps for part 2:
0-52 Intro
00:54- Antonio’s Waitress Olivia treats them like humans, the start of the discussion on sexuality and special needs
2:26 All the PC of working w/special needs has made sexuality issues really challenging. People taken advantage of, they are developmentally younger and no one talks about this
5:03 Karaoke, real-world situations help
5:28 Dashboard confessionals, you can say stuff without eye contact when conversations about penises and vaginas come out. Pediatricians recommend using scientific wording, Leigh Anne took all the training on autism/special needs and sexuality and can talk candidly.
9:27 Why questions, keep asking them. So many lives could be ruined if everything is flagged as inappropriate. This population never gets to ask questions
11:06 Leigh Anne had to spend 5 minutes spend w/individual who had sex offender charges in ISP and Leigh Anne knew charges were not true-example
13:16 Paying for Good Citizenship Project….if you have an autism diagnosis, sometimes easier to get funding, agencies often don’t want to pick up those with autism but things changing and agencies can help you get funding to cover through DESE/Wraparound Family Services, Public Partnerships through Participant directed programming conduit, Private pay, PCA funds, DDS Family Respite funds
20:11 Leigh Anne should be paid more for all she offers. Charges $30/hour but will work with families. Leigh Anne does not have a BCBA or other letters after the name that would allow her to be recognized as a service agent but has the lived experience and work experience to exceed those with mere education
23:26 Becoming a non-profit would mean more strings attached, Johnny her horse would have to be certified as a therapy horse, her dog a pit bull mix, too many hoops to jump through. Jack couldn’t have used a log splitter!
26:31 Investor/philanthropist would be ideal with no strings attached. Leigh Anne took a chance w/Camp Marshall, wanting to partner and have it be her home base. If associated with an agency the volunteers would need to get paid. All benefits from GCP are not recognized as beneficial for many who don’t understand the depth of what she does.
31:31 Work to ride is an option or unpaid internship/apprenticeship. So much happens in learning these farm skills that is energetic…deciding how to perform tasks and learning from any mistakes, having the freedom to learn from mistakes like using a pitchfork instead of a shovel for a particular job…
34:21 Farmers giving the flexibility to figure out the approach to completing a job is helpful. So then it’s not regimented, can focus on the end results, not the niggling details and farmwork facilitates executive functioning in this area. Learning at the moment, the Montessori approach is part of Leigh Anne’s process
37:31 Give individual rules, allow them to screw up and figure it out is more powerful than reading how to do something in a book or being told what to do. Forced problem solving, you remember you had to take a different approach. This is empowering!
40:46 GCP NEEDS MONEY TO EXPAND! Fundraisers coming soon. Discussion of fundraisers
43:36 Looking for a home base with specific parameters. She needs to bring her animals. This has been challenging, small private barns are nervous to have special needs population-liability. Leigh Anne looking for a life in a caretaker position
46:21 Jack came in (Jill’s son who participates in GCP). Leigh Anne is looking for a situation where most of the labor at the new setting is done by members of the GCP. She screens applicants for a good match, meets parents and individuals, gives a grace period. Wants it known GCP is a for-profit not an agency.
49:01 But Leigh Anne is more than a job coach. The people she supports are part of her family. “So you want me to pay for you to force my kid to do slave labor” is some people’s attitude. No, they are learning transformative, resume-worthy skills.
51:11 Leigh Anne went to Salter College, able to be successful b/c was focused on one thing. There is real value in jobs that don’t require a degree. People do not see the scope of autism…Ford Motor Co was seeking to hire those on the Autism spectrum b/c of attention to detail/focus.
55:11 One of the goals of GCP is to raise awareness of what an autistic person looks like which has spread by word of mouth, inspiring others to think outside of the box in creating programs for this population. B/c of relationships developed through GCP, Leigh Anne has options-a temporary place to live if needed “if you do good things, they come back”. In our society many expect something in return for every little thing
60:11 Carla Bell is Leigh Anne’s business manager, helping her with a business plan and fundraising has worked in special ed
Thanks so much for listening!!! https://tsctalks.com

Points of Light~Cannabis & Spirituality with Sherri Tutkus, RN, BSN

I recently heard some talk in spiritual communities about cannabis, how it possibly harshes our evolution. I’ll admit, I was a little bit triggered when I first heard this. I felt for a moment that what I’d come to understand as my truth, (using cannabis as medicine and as a portal to divine connection and expansion), was under the microscope. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding of cannabis, cannabis as medicine, cannabis as an entheogen. What I was hearing from some within the spiritual community, didn’t line up with what I had learned and experienced and it was confusing. Cannabis, in many ways, opened a portal so I could see how to save my own life.

So, I did what has become a foundational transformational process for me and I took it to the podcast to ask the burning question I had on my mind about cannabis and spirituality. I thought, “why not interview somebody that I know that has some lived experience in that area?” I reached out to my friend Sherri Tutkus, RN, BSN, Green Nurse, former podcast guest, to see if she’d have this discussion with me. And of course, she said yes. (I will continue interviewing individuals who are interested in sharing their “story” of how their lived experiences, of all shades, let them to stepping more fully into their soul’s purpose.)

From a very young age, Sherri was connected and had some experiences with the divine. What followed from my initial query is a beautiful discussion with her just blowing my mind with the things she’s experienced and where she’s gone and come back from to be a shining light and a heck of a guide for others. Through her combo of traditional medical education, deep lived experience as a patient, nurse, mother, medical cannabis patient, psychedelic explorer and guide, podcaster, businesswoman, and friend to many, her depth of insight is epic. I learned a lot and realized I had the answer within, which it always is, needing a little context and connection to spring loose. Let’s hope you can find some valuable insight as well. Let it rip!

Sherri Tutkus BSN- RN is a leading force in the burgeoning cannabis industry as a nurse, patient, advocate, and activist. All that she shares and teaches facilitates our own innate ability to step more fully into our authentic, divine selves. Sherri is the Founder of The Green Nurse and Chief Nursing Officer at Holistic Caring- a global community of health professionals who provide vetted products and services to support the utilization of plant medicine and other progressive therapies to nourish the endocannabinoid system (ECS). Sherri educates and implements holistic integrative healing modalities within her nursing practice at https://thegreennurse.com/team/sherri-tutkus/

“And through all of that my discovery was this. We have beliefs, and beliefs are fed to us from the outside. And so, we have a choice to either believe it or not believe it. Right. But does a belief make it true? That’s the question that people need to ask. So, truth…. what is truth? Truth is basically when someone has an experience, that can become their truth. All truth is truth. But all truth is not yours and mine at the same time.”

Timestamps with links:

0:00-4:00~Introduction of topic and Sherri
4-5:50~Where it all started…Church (Irish Catholic), early experiences, the angelic realm
5:50-6:49~Beliefs and truth, What is Truth? “All truth is truth but not all truth is yours and mine at the same time”
6:50-7:19~Perception, consciousness, processing
7:20-8:00~ PTSD, trauma response…what happens inside someone is how they view the outside world. Go inside to heal.
8:00-8:45~my teachers throughout the years, exploring modalities, college
8:46-9:34~Sick as a child-Rhys Syndrome, almost died, sick in 2012, almost died~found cannabis
9:35-10:24~Spiritual journey enriched by cannabis, the 2012-conventional medical system failed
10:25-11:19~Son Nicholas born dead. Had rare genetic disorder, communicated with her from birth, paranormal became normal in her home.
11:20-12:29~Spiritual experiences helped her evolve. Nicholas, saw angel, “Mike’s here, he’s a big angel and he wants to tell you that everything will be ok”~ was led into new healing modalities
12:30-12:55~All personal and professional experiences led her to where she is
12:56-13:24~Spirituality is everything! Everything we say or do affects everything else
13:25-15:14~from suffering to hope, decrease stigma, started her podcast, gained real-world experiences~H.I.G.H. reframe
15:15-15:59~Spiritual principles
16:00-18:31~Jill on spiritual community concerns with cannabis, what does consciousness really mean? Question that.
18:32-19:19~on cannabis, anatomy and physiology impacted, neuroprotectant, open neural pathways and eliminate “the box”
19:20-19:59~all here to walk each other home!
20:00-21:00~Cannabis is Ppleotropic-multisystem…all physiological systems at the same time from within. Endocannabinoid system
21:01-22:40~Mother anti-cannabis-Sherri interviewed a nun, Sister Suzanne who was on a ton of fentanyl and got off using cannabinoid medicine (22:25-what would Jesus say? Jesus would say God is in that plant)
22:41-24:37~Nursing, spirituality, cannabis nursing~caring for the entire human experience, connecting with patients, no judgment, hold sacred space
24:38-26:42~ Jean Watson’s theory on human caring is pretty much pairs up really nicely with how we take care of patients https://nurseslabs.com/jean-watsons-philosophy-theory-transpersonal-caring/ , Carey Clark,PhD https://www.amazon.com/Cannabis-Carey-Clark-PhD-AHN-BC/dp/1975144260 A nurse IS her office. Holding space and meeting the patient where they are at
26:43-27:43~ Sherri’s practices, other plant medicine, plant entheogens, psychedelic medicine, Psychedelic nurse with Keta, MD~https://ketamd.com/certified to do home therapy, Shamanic journeys support exploration
27:44~Danielle Simone Brand’s book “Weed Mom” https://www.daniellesimonebrand.com/
28:43~Healy, frequency healing https://healanalyzer.com/
28:51-29:59~Psychedelics, understanding complex PTSD…getting triggered (everything that hurt you comes back), break the unconscious cycle, deepest work with Shamans
30:00-30:35~Psychedelic journeys, how can I heal myself so I can show another?
30:36-31:29~Holistic Caring, Psychedelic Nursing https://holisticcaring.com/
31:30-32:34~Psilocybin and Vets, Psychedelic Nursing, grow your own mushrooms
32:35-33:18~Psychedelics, legality~Ketamine is legal
33:19-34:16-Processing emotion, feelings are meant to be felt
34:17-35:48~Green Nurse Retreats for Energized Living with Denise Costello Cannabis retreats, immersive weekends, also will include psychedelic retreats-microdosing and hero’s journey. in the near future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTu44Wq2NSo
35:49-38:00~Using Cannabis for “spirituality”…pay attention, gratitude, intention, what do you have to show me? Peace Begins with Me, pausing and listening. Nurse Carey Lee and Sherri…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZE7uyiaiBU
38:01-39:59~What happens if you get TOO high? Too much THC-CBD! Lemons, shower
40:00-41:24~Sherri shares a funny personal experience when making edibles
41:25-43:06~Holistic Caring and The Green Nurse information, programs for those in the industry, energy healing, nonprofit…sponsorship goes back into nonprofit, vetting products, dispensaries that want a nursing line
43:06-45:14~Community, the importance of… free supportive community off social media at https://holisticcaring.com
45:15-end Thriving vs. Surviving

Thanks, Sherri!!