Author: hopefulmindsets

Star of the unfiltered and satirical comedy TV show Reno 911!, Lt. Dangle is the highest ranking officer at the Sheriff’s department. Serving for over 10 years, Lt. Dangle fights crime alongside his team in his classic short-shorts and with an often-stolen police bike. Played by Tom Lennon, Lt. Dangle is comedy gold with slapstick humor and crass realism. 

One of the most important skills for hope is happiness, and one of the best ways to inspire happiness is through humor and laughter. Lt. Dangle enthusiastically reminds us to embrace Happiness Habits and find the joy, and by extension, the hope, in each and every day.

Tom Lennon is helping us bring humor to hope. With nearly 30 years as an actor, screenwriter, and author, Tom has surely touched all of our lives with hope through his extraordinary talent for comedy. Tom’s talents are impressive; he is a stand-up comedian, Lieutenant Dangle in Reno 911!, voice actor for such shows as Kim Possible and Bob’s Burgers, guest star in many beloved TV shows such as How I Met Your Mother, The League, and Friends as Joey Tribbiani’s “identical hand twin.”

A successful screenwriter, Tom has co-written with writing partner Robert Ben Garant, the Night at the Museum films, the 2005 Disney comedy The Pacifier, and Hell Baby which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.Tom has an extensive acting career in film, having appeared in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Transformers: Age of Extinction, 17 Again, I Love You, Man, The Dark Knight Rises and many more. 

A graduate of New York University and a New York Times Best-selling author for his young adult series Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles, Tom’s capacity for imparting happiness and laughter makes him an immense source of hope to us all.

Abigail Johnson holds a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a Master’s of Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh. With more than ten years of experience working as a public health practitioner for federal and local governments, non-profits, and academia, Abigail is a passionate mental health advocate and hope expert. Her company, Live Without Apologies, where she serves as Chief Unapologetic Coach, inspires everyone to live life unapologetically on their own terms. A champion of mental health justice, education, and community support; in 2018 Abigail received the HHS Secretary’s Award for Meritorious Service for her contribution to the Empowered Communities for a Healthier Nation Initiative team. She is heading the impending launch of the Unapologetically Naija Fund to seed Nigerian Mental Health Organizations doing incredible work in Nigeria. After battling depression and anxiety, Abigail resigned at her job to work on Live Without Apologies to promote a shift in mindsets on mental health and personal identity. As an Unapologetic Coach, Abigail is committed to supporting healthy living starting with being unapologetically yourself.

Dr. David Feldman is an author, speaker, and Professor of Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University. Holding a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kansas, in addition to a completed fellowship with the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, a medical center associated with Stanford University, David has been instrumental in developing Hope Therapy and delivering it to the public. He has authored numerous academic articles and book chapters, as well as presented nationally and internationally on these topics. In addition, Dr. Feldman writes regularly for Psychology Today and the Huffington Post; has appeared in such magazines as SELF, U.S. News & World Report, ‘O’:The Oprah Magazine, and Harvard Business Review; and has been interviewed for national television and radio. 

David runs the podcast Psychology in 10 Minutes and is the co-author of Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link Between Suffering and Success, where he delivers powerful stories of posttraumatic survival and growth. He has presented nationally and internationally to audiences in healthcare, technology, and education, and is considered among the top experts on hope in the field of psychology.

Ritu Riyat is a public health professional and founder of The Stress Detox specializing in helping individuals and organizations reduce stress and burnout through her highly effective 3D framework. Her speaking engagements and professional work has been with some of the world’s leading biotech, fintech, and start-up companies and cutting-edge Silicon Valley industry leaders.

Ritu has been featured in the New York Times and is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and has been named a Health Hero by USC Department of Preventive Medicine. Her top-rated course The Stress Detox: Reduce Stress and Burnout in the Workplace  on Udemy for Business has reached over 13,000 students worldwide. Ritu integrates her evolution in the science and spirituality of stress with over two decades of training as a certified yoga teacher and vipassana practitioner.

Ritu holds a Bachelor of Science in Genetics from UC Davis, a Master of Public Health Epidemiology from USC, and is a Board-Certified Health Education Specialist. 

“When you change the way you look at things. What you look at changes.” 

For more information visit: www.thestressdetox.com

Lian Zeitz is a global mental health and wellbeing expert working to make sure all people are supported with love and dignity.  Lian has worked with therapeutic programs for struggling youth in 15 states in the US to identify pathways for young people to play a greater role in their own care and the development of mental health programs. He has also worked internationally on areas such as suicide prevention, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse in Bhutan, Indonesia, and Zambia. He is passionate about young people’s experiences in therapeutic programs, trauma-focused community development, and pathways to successful transitions in life. He was previously the Global Director of Love and Compassion for citiesRISE, a global platform committed to transforming the state of mental health policy and practice in cities and beyond to meet the mental health needs of populations across the world. In this role Lian supported the design and scale-up of mental health programs across 5 international cities and built a network of youth leaders passionate about mental health across the world. Lian currently serves on a number of international boards and advisory groups while completing a Master of Divinity at Naropa University, studying contemplative wisdom, bioethics, youth mental health, and community healing. Lian earned a B.A. from Quest University Canada, where he focused on public mental health and literature, and a certificate for Leadership in Mental Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Dreher has a Master’s degree in Counseling, and credentials in spiritual counseling and holistic health in addition to her UCLA Ph.D. in English. She is a HeartMath clinical practitioner and a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. Her books include the bestselling Tao of Inner Peace, Tao of Personal Leadership, Tao of Womanhood, Inner Gardening, and Your Personal Renaissance as well as scholarly books and articles. Dr. Dreher’s current research includes work on hope, Eastern philosophy, leadership, mindfulness, and positive psychology. Her work has been featured in national newspapers and magazines along with web sites on leadership and personal growth, and she writes a regular blog for Psychology Today. She has served as Chair of the English Department at Santa Clara University, as well as Faculty Senate President, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and President of the Santa Clara chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). She is Associate Director of the Institute for Applied Spirituality at Santa Clara University, has an international coaching practice, and offers classes and webinars on leadership, balance, and personal growth.

Under Martin’s innovative leadership, Youth Era has established services across the nation. He believes that one of Youth Era’s greatest strengths is the ability to give youth opportunities necessary for a successful transition into adulthood. He maintains that the most effective way to support the young adult population is for young adults to reach out to and support each other.

Martin currently sits on the national board of the Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth (CAFETY) and Reachout.com’s youth board. In 2010, Martin won the Mental Health Award of Excellence from AMH and the Oregon Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (OCHH) Ma Curtis Award. Now, he continues to work towards improving services and systems that support positive youth development.

Kelly’s lived experience with mental health diagnoses and trauma are at the center of her passion for transforming how we support individuals and change systems and services. She currently works in Peer Advocacy, Supports, and Services, where she is involved in promoting peer support, peer certification, youth and young adult leadership, and college mental health.

She is passionate about trauma-informed care, peer support, consumer-led transformation, positive psychology, and civil rights. She serves in an advisory role to the Well Being Trust, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and the Center for Law and Social Policy. She has spoken at many events, including The White House Making Health Care Better Series on Mental Health, and has been featured in media outlets including NBC Nightly News, The Mighty, Thrive Global, Yes! Magazine, and Mashable.

In 2019, Kelly was awarded the Disruptive Innovator Award by the International Association of Peer Supporters, an award given to a young person making positive change in mental health through positive disruption.

She is a certified yoga teacher and holds a certificate in Applied Positive Psychology from The Flourishing Center. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

Vikram Patel is The Pershing Square Professor of Global Health in the Blavatnik Institute’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He co-leads the Department’s Mental Health for All lab and co-leads the GlobalMentalHealth@Harvard initiative. His work has focused on the burden of mental health problems across the life course, their association with social disadvantage, and the use of community resources for their prevention and treatment. 

He is a co-founder of the Movement for Global Mental Health, the Centre for Global Mental Health (at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), the Mental Health Innovations Network, and Sangath, an Indian NGO which won the WHO Public Health Champion of India prize. He is a Fellow of the UK’s Academy of Medical Sciences and has served on the Committee which drafted India’s first National Mental Health Policy and the WHO High Level Independent Commission for NCDs. He has been awarded the Chalmers Medal (the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, UK), the Sarnat Prize (the National Academy of Medicine, USA), the Pardes Humanitarian Prize (the Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation, USA), an Honorary OBE (the UK Government), the Posey Leadership Award (Austin College, USA) and the John Dirk Canada Gairdner Award in Global Health (the Canada Gairdner Foundation). He was listed in TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential persons of the year in 2015.