April 10, 2025 • 30 mins
Stress. It is something all of us deal with in one way or another for this reason or that. But, the statistics on the number of Americans who are stressed out and getting burned out at a younger age.
Manny Munoz discussed it with Dr. Leigh Richardson is a High-Performance Brain Specialist, Coach and Consultant…
AND, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. What does that mean? What is its goal? What should you know?
I got some answers from Clara Reynolds, President and CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.
Manny Munoz discussed it with Dr. Leigh Richardson is a High-Performance Brain Specialist, Coach and Consultant…
AND, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. What does that mean? What is its goal? What should you know?
I got some answers from Clara Reynolds, President and CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on
the biggest issues in facting you.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This week, here's Many Munio's and welcome to another edition
of Iheartradios Communities. As you heard, I am Manny Muno's. Stress.
It's something all of us deal with in one way
or another for this reason or that. But the statistics
on the number of Americans who are stressed out and
(00:28):
getting burned out are concerning, especially because it seems to
be worse among the youngest among us. To bring in
an expert to discuss it, Doctor Lee Richardson is a
high performance brain specialist, coach, and consultant. Doctor Richardson, I appreciate.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
The time, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So let me start off with this. All of us
know stress when we're feeling it, right, But what is stress?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, you know, we do all know it, but we
feel it differently. And so for me, if you ask me,
how do I identify? It's when somebody's you can see
it in their body. It's when their autonomic nervous system
gets out of balance. And maybe it's that they're you know,
their shoulders are really tight, or maybe it's they're they're
(01:13):
kind of holding their stomach they feel it in their stomach,
or you can tell their breathing pattern is they're breathing short,
choppy breath because the body keeps score of everything that's
going on in the brain. And so stress can look
really really different for different people. When you get into
that that autonomic nervous system gets sewn out of balance,
(01:35):
you just start riding the roller coaster, and the roller
coaster is fight light or freeze, And when you're in
that freeze state, you'll get that deer in the headlight look.
And when you're in that fight stage, you've got some
totally different energy coming at you. So stress can come
at you in very different ways.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
One of the most common signs or symptoms of not
only just for us, because I think obviously all of
us deal with stress on a daily basis, and as
you mentioned, we deal with it differently, whether it's because
of work or you know, family situations, financial issues. But
are there outward signs that we can see if we're
stressed out?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Absolutely, I can tell you know, I can honestly tell
when somebody comes in my clinic the way that they're
their body language, whether they're stressed out or not. Maybe
they're not making the same amount of eye contact with
me that they usually do. Maybe they're they're moving really short,
chopping you know, their step, their gates ofuce. It affects
(02:37):
the brain and the body. It's one unit. And just
you know, when you talk with somebody, do they usually
talk with their hands? Do they usually you know, open
up when they're speaking with you. And if they're and
if they're standing back and they've got to arms crossed,
that's a different behavior that's coming from somewhere.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Is there a difference between stress, being stressed, and being
burned out?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, I think being burned out is when you've gone
beyond stress, right, it's you know, you've gone beyond that
and you just you just ride the roller coaster, fight
like freeze, up and down, up and down, up and down,
and it's exhausting. It's absolutely exhausting. And when what I
see in life Center at the Brain Performance Center, when
(03:25):
people are burnt out, they they're not communicating with their
family or their friends, they're not showing up at work,
and they know that they they're not showing up for themselves.
And that's what's really difficult.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Right, How does how does stress affect our mental health
because it's not only obviously physical reactions that we guess
to being stressed.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
No, it absolutely brain. The body or one unit the
body keeps score of what's going on in the brain.
And when we get stressed out. There's four things that
puts a brain into a dysregulated stake. Genetics is one,
physical head trauma, emotional trauma, and stress. So depending on
what's in your DNA, the four things we've talked about
(04:12):
when you get stressed out, you may react differently. If
you've had severe head trauma, it will what I have
seen in my clinic, and you get stressed out, you
know you'll feel it. You will physically feel it in
your head. And if you're more of a you're stressed
out and everything's in pretty balance, maybe you get nauseous.
(04:36):
I've had people come in and you know, I'll say
it's to down. They're like, oh, thank you. So you'll
feel it. And sometimes when people get really stressed out,
they isolate, they just want to be by themselves and
it may affect somebody else or they will make coming
at you talking ninety miles an hour, and you know,
(04:58):
want to be in front of you want to have
your attention, want to communicate. So I always suggests people
do is look for shifts in a behavior. If that
person is behaving a little bit different than they normally do,
it could be nothing more than stress. And I shouldn't
say nothing more than stress, because stress will call you.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, yeah, no question about it. We're speaking with doctor
Lee Richardson, high performance brain specialist, coach and consultant. Her
website is the Brain Performance Center dot com. The latest
numbers I've looked at found the twenty five percent of
Americans experience not stress burnout before the age of thirty,
with Generation Z and Millennials reporting a peak stress at
(05:41):
the age of twenty five on average. That seems really
really young to be so stressed out.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Absolutely. I mean that's an age where the brain is
just finally fully developed, right, And I have my own
philosophy around that. If you look at that, you know,
the people that are around twenty five, think about where
they were when we were in the middle of the
cod pandemic. Maybe maybe they were graduating from high school.
(06:10):
Maybe they were supposed to be going away to college
and that didn't happen, so that that emotional trauma that
I mentioned earlier that lives in the subconscious and when
you know, if your whole life so far, you get
up to go to school, that's where you see all
your friends. That's where you get your identity because you're
(06:30):
playing the band, right, you know, I mean all of
that was stripped away, so they don't they're more vulnerable
just because of the you know what they they from
a life experience they didn't have, and those life experiences
they're building box.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
All right. I'm a fifty five year old guy. I
feel stressed every day. We get used to living with it.
Sometimes when I feel stressed out, I like to get
home I have a nice glass of bourbon or a
good a good bottle of red wine. I don't imagine
those are the best ways to deal with stress. What
are some good ways to deal with stress?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Well?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I think that, you know, one of the best ways
to deal with stress is be aware of it and
you are just like I know, I'm stressed out. I'm
going to have my boatman, I'm going to have my
red wine.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Well, when you know you're stressed out, ask yourself, Okay,
you're stressed, what do you need? Do you need some
alone time? Do you need to just go outside a
lot of times I just need to go outside.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Just to walk outdoors.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Right, yeah, yeah, I fill the sun on my shoulders
and I can feel the tension just released from my body.
Or do you need to connect with somebody right? You know,
are you feeling stressed out and you're feeling lonely? Pick
up your phone and call somebody, don't text them.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
How important is sleep in either helping us de stress
or in making our stress works worse?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Oh? Sleep is your foundation for your brain. Your brain
has two pillars that it stands on sleep and nutrition.
And all day long, you have to understand those neurons
and dendrins. They're wiring and firing and they're creating all
this toxic waste. And the only time that those little
glial cells come out and clean that mess up is
(08:21):
when you're asleep. So if you're not getting enough sleep,
you're not giving the body, the brain, the opportunity to
reback and rejuvenate. And you're also not giving the body
because I know, I just came home from these rents
and I woke up this morning and I was kind
of stumbling around, not my own gosh, I'm so clumsy
(08:43):
I'm just tired.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
My body.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, it's just tired, so it sleeps. It is a
foundation and people say, oh I can get violin four
or five hours of sleep, you get buy a lot
better around seven or eight.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
What about diet? Are there certain foods that we should
or should stay away from if we're strust?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Absolutely, and you know, there's it's amazing this new diet
has come out. It's no protective diet and it's a
lot of research and I'm really proud to say I'm
on the scientific Advisory Board for that. They've done so
much research. But my basic and I'm proud to say
my basic advice on diet hasn't changed, and that is
(09:27):
if it comes in a bag, a box, or a
can and it's good for a couple of years. It's
not just for the brain, right, stay away from processed food.
I mean we've learned so much, you know, blueberry, salmon, avocados,
and now thank goodness for the Internet, Google brain healthy foods.
(09:48):
It's not hard or look at the vibrant diet. I mean,
Google brings so much information to us.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
The last thing for you, we've heard so much over
the last few years about mindfulness, right, and meditation things
like that. I don't want to get too much into
the weeds on it, but how important is just and
you mentioned this a couple of times, just being aware
that we're stressed and doing the small things to kind of,
you know, distress a little bit, being mindful of the
(10:19):
fact that sometimes we just need a break. How important
is that?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
It is so important? And sometimes if you just hit
the pause button and just say, I'm going to sit down,
I'm going to take five long, slow, deep breath and
you have to focus on that to do that, to
push that the air all the way down to your
tummy in that diaphragm. You got to focus on it.
But you'll notice it changes your heart rate. And when
(10:44):
your heart rate changes, it comes the whole body down.
And if you can do nothing but take a few
minutes focus on your breathing, get your breath rate to
dance with your heart rate, then you've created heart rate variability.
And that's a sign of will being. And a lot
of people they'll close their eyes, they'll turn to prayer,
they'll put some music on, you know, and they'll just
(11:08):
kind of lose themselves in the moment, and that that's
almost for me. That is almost like waking up and
feeling so great. You know it's five minutes, maybe it's ten.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, don't discount the music and a glass of bourbon
always does the trick for me. Doctor Lee Richardson a
high performance brain specialist coaching consultant. Her website is the
Brain Performance Center dot com. Truly appreciate it for your time,
Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Thank you bye.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month? What does that mean?
What is its goal? What should you know? Let's get
some answers as we're joined by Clara Reynolds. She's President
CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. Clara, I
appreciate the time. Thanks for joining us, Manny.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
It's such an honor to be with you and speaking
to your amazing audience today. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, well, let's start with that. What is Sexual Assault
Awareness Month and why is it important for communities nationwide?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Sexual Assault Awareness Month is the opportunity for the community
really to be educated in what does sexual assault mean
and if somebody has been assaulted, where can they go
to get help and support? So it's an entire month
dedicated to understanding what sexual assault survivors experience and what
(12:31):
they really need in order to be able to get
to their place of healing.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Let's talk about some of the I guess common myths
or misconceptions about sexual assault. What are the biggest ones
that you encounter that people don't understand well.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
In America, every sixty eight second, another American is sexually assaulted,
and one out of six of every American woman has
been a victim of an attempted or completed rape in
her lifetime. But I think that the other myths, it's
about three percent of American men, or one in thirty
three have experienced an attempt or completed rape in their lifetime.
(13:08):
So those are some of the myths out there. I
think that there's also myths out there that that rapes
happen with between strangers, that it's somebody that the individual
doesn't know. And what the research tells us is that
more often than not, a sexual assault occurs with somebody,
occurs with somebody that they know, whether it was a date,
(13:31):
it could even be a spouse, maybe a family member,
it could be and we certainly see this it's a power.
You know, that's another myth. And let me say that
first of all that that rape is about sex. It
is absolutely not about sex. It's about power and control.
And so we oftentimes see these sexual assaults happen in
(13:52):
situations where somebody is trying to take control and power
over another one. And so when we talk about sexual
assault and why people either report or don't report, there
is usually because of its power and control. There can
be a sense of shame. There can be blame blamed
upon the victim that for some reason that they asked
(14:12):
for it or they quote unquote wanted it, when that
is absolutely not the case. If there is not clear
consent for sexual experience to occur, then that is a
sexual assault.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
You mentioned shame there, and I imagine similarly to other
things in our culture. Maybe we've come a long way
in addressing those things, but I imagine a lot of women,
a lot of men, as you mentioned, might not come
forward and report a sexual assault because of shame. Is
that part of the educational process of sexual assault awareness months?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yes, man, Thank you for setting me up with that
beautiful part. Absolutely, you know, and I think that's really
important that when we bring awareness to something, we tend
to see more people start to talk about it. So
when somebody discloses that they have been sexually adulted, the
most important thing that any of us can do is
just to believe them in that moment. It is not
(15:09):
our job to determine whether or not a sexual assault
happened in the mind of the person that's coming forward
and saying this experience happened to me. The most important
thing we can do is believe them, because once somebody
believes them and what their story is, it really helps
to reduce that shame and all the feelings that associate
with shame. So first of all, we believe them. Second,
(15:32):
tell them this is not their fault, because that oftentimes
is a reason why somebody didn't come forward. Maybe they believed,
you know, something erroneous, that it was because of what
they were wearing, it was what they said, it was
what they did. It's like any other crime. You don't
ask to be a victim of any crime, and sexual
assault is the same way. And finally, what's so important
(15:53):
and the other nice thing about Sexual Assault Awareness Month
is that you can connect those those folks to resources,
and there are in every community across our country. There
are resources that people can turn to in that time.
The biggest, the easiest one is by calling two one one,
But we also have a national sexual Assault hotline and
(16:14):
that number is eight hundred and sixty five to six HOPE,
and that's available in every state. In the state of Florida,
the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay answers that line, but
in every state and across our country, that line is
available to connect family members, friends, people who have loved
ones that have experienced sexual assaults to get them connected
(16:34):
to resources.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
We're speaking with Clara Reynolds, President and CEO of the
Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, about the fact that this month,
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, since you brought it
up on the website, by the way, is crisiscenter dot com.
What do you do at the Crisis Center of Tampa
Bay and these other crisis centers across the country.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Oh, every crisis center is a little bit different, but
I will tell you what we do. In Hillsborough County,
which is in Tampa, Florida. We are the certified rape
crisis center. So somebody is sexually assaulted in our community,
rather than going to a hospital, maybe to get a
rape exam or some other location, individuals come to us.
(17:15):
Survivors of sexual assault come to us, sometimes with law enforcement,
sometimes without law enforcement, because somebody doesn't have to report
that they've been sexually assaulted in order to get a
sexual assault of examination. We do that examination and we
can provide not just the rape kit, but we can
also provide for their medical needs at that time. We
(17:37):
also have advocacy and support services that can follow that
individual from the moment that has happened until there's a
court case or any kind of dispositions of the legal case,
or somebody just needs support but they don't want to report.
Our advocates can help out and provide that support. And
those types of services are available everywhere in the country,
(18:02):
but it may look different depending upon where you live.
So that's why it's so important to make sure that
if you have been a you are a survivor of
sexual assault, please know that you can call that National
Sexual Assault Hotline. They're going to be able to provide
you not just with how to get a rape exam,
but also all of those follow up services. Because mainly,
(18:23):
I think one of the things that's so very important
is to recognize that the sexual assault is a trauma,
and trauma has long and short, short term and long
term impact. It can impact job performance and relationships and
academic performance. It can impact physical and mental health, and
(18:43):
individuals can oftentimes not realize that they are experiencing a trauma.
They may recognize that suddenly they may be anxious to
go into a bar, they may be anxious to walk
by themselves. And individuals could turn to substances or other
ways to numb pain or to manage anxiety. That's the
(19:03):
other reason why Sexual Assault Awareness Month is so important,
because it's recognizing that after you have been assaulted, what
you experience will not go away overnight, and that by
reaching out and asking for help, you can receive that
help and support to get you beyond that trauma so
that you can then function and be able to be
(19:25):
yourself again even after something like this has happened. What
is the.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Age range of the women that you come that come
to you seeking help. I imagined probably as young as
as school aged and wait in the elderly.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Women know absolutely and remember as women, and many always
want to write that out. So for us at the
crisis center, we work with anybody age thirteen and over.
What our experience has been, at least in our community,
is that if somebody is under the age of thirteen
and they have been sexually assaulted. There is oftentimes a
(20:03):
child abuse component to it because it is oftentimes somebody
very close to a child that has resulted or has
perpetrated that assault. So we have a whole separate system
that is involved in our child welfare system, But in
every community, we all of us see unfortunately individuals as
(20:26):
young as infancy and as old as you know, ninety
nine and one hundred. We actually had a woman that
came to us who was sexually assaulted in her seventies.
She was on a miss trip. So I think that's
you know, that kind of got begs itself to some
of the other myths that is just a college a
college age individual. No, absolutely not. Sexual assault happens all
(20:51):
along the age continuum, and every person that has been
assaulted needs to support that's individualized to their experience.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
What just happened there where I referred to women coming
to you, and you straighten me out mentioned that that
men as well. How prominent is it that that a
man is sexually assaulted? And are the numbers likely much
much higher than we know because men, I imagine are
probably less prone to even come forward and admit something
(21:21):
has happened to them.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yes, and you're absolutely right, Manny. You know I mentioned before,
you know, one in every six American woman has been
a victim of an attempted or completed rape, but one
in thirty three men have experienced an attempted or completed rape,
and we know that that's underrepresented. You know, we talk
about the shame for a woman, it really does double
(21:44):
for a man for a variety of cultural reasons. And
so this is you know, I really appreciate this opportunity
to talk about this many because sexual assault for men
is is just as impactful as it is for women.
And then fortunately we don't talk about it in the
same way for men as we do for women.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
What are the warning signs that somebody may have been
be experiencing sexual violence, or someone has experienced sexual assault
but maybe they haven't come forward to discuss it yet.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
That's a beautiful question, and so it could look very different.
But certainly, if somebody says that they've been sexually assaulted believing,
that's number one, and that's one of the most important messages.
If somebody has, they're starting to exhibit maybe changes in
their sleeping behavior, maybe changes in eating, changes in their
(22:41):
use of substances, whether they're alcohol or other substances, change
in just change in maybe work or their school work.
All of those are signs that something has happened. And
one of the most important things that we can do
is just ask the question, how are you what's going
on in your life? Have you recently experienced something that
(23:04):
has that has impacted you and with somebody, and you
know what, Manny. First of all, most of the folks
will usually say, oh, no, no, no, I'm fine. And
this is when it's so important for us, as there
as a person that cares about them to push back
a little bit and say, you know what, this is
what I'm seeing. I'm seeing that you're drinking more. I'm
seeing that you're you're not engaging in things that you've
(23:26):
used to. I'm worried about you. I care about you.
Talk to me about what's going on and give them
the space to tell you. We see the individuals who
are contemplating suicide, that have experienced a trauma such as
sexual assault, and so it's really important to observe and
then ask the question that is what is so key?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
It just kind of struck me the important. Another reason
sexual Assault Awareness Months is important and important to have
this conversation. We had a reckoning in this country a
few years ago, right the meats movement. It feels like
that is something so far in our history right now,
with everything that's happened, that it's kind of on the
back burner. We don't pay attention to these things as
(24:10):
much as we did for a period of time a
few years ago.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
You're absolutely right, Mannion, And what we really saw is
when that Me Too movement hit, people really did come
forward and start talking about your experiences. And then we
had this pesky little thing called a pandemic, and so
you know, I think that you know, we lost sight
of that because of everything else that was going on.
And again that is why having Sexual Assault Awareness Month
(24:36):
be identified in the month of April. It does give
organizations like the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay the opportunity
to remind the community that sexual assault is real. Sexual
assault is important to talk about and we should not
continue to sweep it under the rug or blame the
(24:57):
individual who who was assaulted as if it was their
fault that a crime was committed against them.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I think so many of us have seen, you know,
TV shows Law and Order and things like that as
best for you, And we've heard about rape kits and
all of that. How exactly does the process work, What
exactly do you do in collecting the evidence for a
rape kit?
Speaker 1 (25:21):
So, Manny, what we start with, first of all, is
an interview with a forensic nurse. They are known as
sexual assault nurse examiners. They have been certified by their
state to be able to do this process. They are
registered nurses, nurse practitioners, but they have the specialized medical
training along with the forensic training to be able to
(25:46):
gather that evidence. They are also the ones that are
certified to be able to testify in court. So it
starts with an interview with that sexual assault nurse examiner.
They're going to ask the survivor what happened, tell me
your own words what happened. And in that interview process,
they're going to ask questions about where did the perpetrator
(26:08):
maybe hit you, lick you, bite you, penetrate you. That
is all information to know where we can gather DNA evidence.
Maybe somebody got licked on the cheek or they got
bitten on the arm. We know that those are areas
that are ripe with DNA. So we're going to basically
(26:28):
then take swab samples of every place in an individual
body where they have been touched, bitten, or penetrated. We
can do a rape exam up to one hundred and
twenty hours post as salt. That's essentially five days, so
even if somebody has showered maybe or has changed their clothes,
(26:50):
that DNA will continue to live on the human body
up to one hundred and twenty hours post assault. Obviously,
the earlier we're able to get somebody in to gather
that evidence, obviously that is preferable, but we do have
up to five days, and so that nurse will then
perform the exam. They're going to look for any kind
(27:11):
of medical bruising, abrasions, any kind of medical things they're
going to treat for the medical and then they're also
going to swab versus externally as well as internally, vaginally, anally,
anywhere that we can potentially get DNA evidence. That evidence
(27:35):
is swabbed. Those swabs are then placed in individual containers
that are labeled where that swab came from on the body.
And then now all of that information is placed into
an actual envelope, which is known as the kit. We
will also sometimes collect blood and urine samples if there
is a potential that somebody was drugged. We also will take,
(27:57):
if possible, the individual's clothing that they were assaulted in,
if they were assaulted in a bed and somebody had
access to the linen or towels, we will take all
of that as well anything that we possibly can to
get DNA evidence, and if the case then moves the
forward in the legal process, that DNA evidence is entered
(28:18):
into a DNA database that can be utilized for matching
purposes as well. Additionally, we also take photographic evidence. We
have very sophisticated cameras that can take internal pictures to
be able to pick up any tears or abrasions internally
as well as externally. So all of that is put
(28:40):
together as part of the rate kit.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Strikes me then probably another reason why sometimes people victims
don't come forward because they kind of have to relive
the trauma all over again, don't they.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
They absolutely do, and all of us as sexual assault
as sexual assault centers or rape crisis centers, we are
specially trained to be able to reduce the retraumatization of
somebody who has experienced oftentimes the worst thing that ever
happened in their life.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
The crisis hotline number, the national number again one.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Eight hundred six five six hope and that is again
eight hundred six five six four six seven to three.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Clara Reynolds, president's CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay,
talking to us about April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month,
truly appreciate it for the time, what you do and
for sharing the information with us.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Thanks so much, Thank you so much many and for
anybody out there, please know you don't have to face
this alone. Please call us. Help is available.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
And that'll do it. For another edition of Iheartradios Communities.
I'm Manny Muno's until next time.
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on
the biggest issues in facting you.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This week, here's Many Munio's and welcome to another edition
of Iheartradios Communities. As you heard, I am Manny Muno's. Stress.
It's something all of us deal with in one way
or another for this reason or that. But the statistics
on the number of Americans who are stressed out and
(00:28):
getting burned out are concerning, especially because it seems to
be worse among the youngest among us. To bring in
an expert to discuss it, Doctor Lee Richardson is a
high performance brain specialist, coach, and consultant. Doctor Richardson, I appreciate.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
The time, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So let me start off with this. All of us
know stress when we're feeling it, right, But what is stress?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, you know, we do all know it, but we
feel it differently. And so for me, if you ask me,
how do I identify? It's when somebody's you can see
it in their body. It's when their autonomic nervous system
gets out of balance. And maybe it's that they're you know,
their shoulders are really tight, or maybe it's they're they're
(01:13):
kind of holding their stomach they feel it in their stomach,
or you can tell their breathing pattern is they're breathing short,
choppy breath because the body keeps score of everything that's
going on in the brain. And so stress can look
really really different for different people. When you get into
that that autonomic nervous system gets sewn out of balance,
(01:35):
you just start riding the roller coaster, and the roller
coaster is fight light or freeze, And when you're in
that freeze state, you'll get that deer in the headlight look.
And when you're in that fight stage, you've got some
totally different energy coming at you. So stress can come
at you in very different ways.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
One of the most common signs or symptoms of not
only just for us, because I think obviously all of
us deal with stress on a daily basis, and as
you mentioned, we deal with it differently, whether it's because
of work or you know, family situations, financial issues. But
are there outward signs that we can see if we're
stressed out?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Absolutely, I can tell you know, I can honestly tell
when somebody comes in my clinic the way that they're
their body language, whether they're stressed out or not. Maybe
they're not making the same amount of eye contact with
me that they usually do. Maybe they're they're moving really short,
chopping you know, their step, their gates ofuce. It affects
(02:37):
the brain and the body. It's one unit. And just
you know, when you talk with somebody, do they usually
talk with their hands? Do they usually you know, open
up when they're speaking with you. And if they're and
if they're standing back and they've got to arms crossed,
that's a different behavior that's coming from somewhere.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Is there a difference between stress, being stressed, and being
burned out?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, I think being burned out is when you've gone
beyond stress, right, it's you know, you've gone beyond that
and you just you just ride the roller coaster, fight
like freeze, up and down, up and down, up and down,
and it's exhausting. It's absolutely exhausting. And when what I
see in life Center at the Brain Performance Center, when
(03:25):
people are burnt out, they they're not communicating with their
family or their friends, they're not showing up at work,
and they know that they they're not showing up for themselves.
And that's what's really difficult.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Right, How does how does stress affect our mental health
because it's not only obviously physical reactions that we guess
to being stressed.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
No, it absolutely brain. The body or one unit the
body keeps score of what's going on in the brain.
And when we get stressed out. There's four things that
puts a brain into a dysregulated stake. Genetics is one,
physical head trauma, emotional trauma, and stress. So depending on
what's in your DNA, the four things we've talked about
(04:12):
when you get stressed out, you may react differently. If
you've had severe head trauma, it will what I have
seen in my clinic, and you get stressed out, you
know you'll feel it. You will physically feel it in
your head. And if you're more of a you're stressed
out and everything's in pretty balance, maybe you get nauseous.
(04:36):
I've had people come in and you know, I'll say
it's to down. They're like, oh, thank you. So you'll
feel it. And sometimes when people get really stressed out,
they isolate, they just want to be by themselves and
it may affect somebody else or they will make coming
at you talking ninety miles an hour, and you know,
(04:58):
want to be in front of you want to have
your attention, want to communicate. So I always suggests people
do is look for shifts in a behavior. If that
person is behaving a little bit different than they normally do,
it could be nothing more than stress. And I shouldn't
say nothing more than stress, because stress will call you.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, yeah, no question about it. We're speaking with doctor
Lee Richardson, high performance brain specialist, coach and consultant. Her
website is the Brain Performance Center dot com. The latest
numbers I've looked at found the twenty five percent of
Americans experience not stress burnout before the age of thirty,
with Generation Z and Millennials reporting a peak stress at
(05:41):
the age of twenty five on average. That seems really
really young to be so stressed out.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Absolutely. I mean that's an age where the brain is
just finally fully developed, right, And I have my own
philosophy around that. If you look at that, you know,
the people that are around twenty five, think about where
they were when we were in the middle of the
cod pandemic. Maybe maybe they were graduating from high school.
(06:10):
Maybe they were supposed to be going away to college
and that didn't happen, so that that emotional trauma that
I mentioned earlier that lives in the subconscious and when
you know, if your whole life so far, you get
up to go to school, that's where you see all
your friends. That's where you get your identity because you're
(06:30):
playing the band, right, you know, I mean all of
that was stripped away, so they don't they're more vulnerable
just because of the you know what they they from
a life experience they didn't have, and those life experiences
they're building box.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
All right. I'm a fifty five year old guy. I
feel stressed every day. We get used to living with it.
Sometimes when I feel stressed out, I like to get
home I have a nice glass of bourbon or a
good a good bottle of red wine. I don't imagine
those are the best ways to deal with stress. What
are some good ways to deal with stress?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Well?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I think that, you know, one of the best ways
to deal with stress is be aware of it and
you are just like I know, I'm stressed out. I'm
going to have my boatman, I'm going to have my
red wine.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Well, when you know you're stressed out, ask yourself, Okay,
you're stressed, what do you need? Do you need some
alone time? Do you need to just go outside a
lot of times I just need to go outside.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Just to walk outdoors.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Right, yeah, yeah, I fill the sun on my shoulders
and I can feel the tension just released from my body.
Or do you need to connect with somebody right? You know,
are you feeling stressed out and you're feeling lonely? Pick
up your phone and call somebody, don't text them.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
How important is sleep in either helping us de stress
or in making our stress works worse?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Oh? Sleep is your foundation for your brain. Your brain
has two pillars that it stands on sleep and nutrition.
And all day long, you have to understand those neurons
and dendrins. They're wiring and firing and they're creating all
this toxic waste. And the only time that those little
glial cells come out and clean that mess up is
(08:21):
when you're asleep. So if you're not getting enough sleep,
you're not giving the body, the brain, the opportunity to
reback and rejuvenate. And you're also not giving the body
because I know, I just came home from these rents
and I woke up this morning and I was kind
of stumbling around, not my own gosh, I'm so clumsy
(08:43):
I'm just tired.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
My body.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, it's just tired, so it sleeps. It is a
foundation and people say, oh I can get violin four
or five hours of sleep, you get buy a lot
better around seven or eight.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
What about diet? Are there certain foods that we should
or should stay away from if we're strust?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Absolutely, and you know, there's it's amazing this new diet
has come out. It's no protective diet and it's a
lot of research and I'm really proud to say I'm
on the scientific Advisory Board for that. They've done so
much research. But my basic and I'm proud to say
my basic advice on diet hasn't changed, and that is
(09:27):
if it comes in a bag, a box, or a
can and it's good for a couple of years. It's
not just for the brain, right, stay away from processed food.
I mean we've learned so much, you know, blueberry, salmon, avocados,
and now thank goodness for the Internet, Google brain healthy foods.
(09:48):
It's not hard or look at the vibrant diet. I mean,
Google brings so much information to us.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
The last thing for you, we've heard so much over
the last few years about mindfulness, right, and meditation things
like that. I don't want to get too much into
the weeds on it, but how important is just and
you mentioned this a couple of times, just being aware
that we're stressed and doing the small things to kind of,
you know, distress a little bit, being mindful of the
(10:19):
fact that sometimes we just need a break. How important
is that?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
It is so important? And sometimes if you just hit
the pause button and just say, I'm going to sit down,
I'm going to take five long, slow, deep breath and
you have to focus on that to do that, to
push that the air all the way down to your
tummy in that diaphragm. You got to focus on it.
But you'll notice it changes your heart rate. And when
(10:44):
your heart rate changes, it comes the whole body down.
And if you can do nothing but take a few
minutes focus on your breathing, get your breath rate to
dance with your heart rate, then you've created heart rate variability.
And that's a sign of will being. And a lot
of people they'll close their eyes, they'll turn to prayer,
they'll put some music on, you know, and they'll just
(11:08):
kind of lose themselves in the moment, and that that's
almost for me. That is almost like waking up and
feeling so great. You know it's five minutes, maybe it's ten.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, don't discount the music and a glass of bourbon
always does the trick for me. Doctor Lee Richardson a
high performance brain specialist coaching consultant. Her website is the
Brain Performance Center dot com. Truly appreciate it for your time,
Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Thank you bye.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month? What does that mean?
What is its goal? What should you know? Let's get
some answers as we're joined by Clara Reynolds. She's President
CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. Clara, I
appreciate the time. Thanks for joining us, Manny.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
It's such an honor to be with you and speaking
to your amazing audience today. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, well, let's start with that. What is Sexual Assault
Awareness Month and why is it important for communities nationwide?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Sexual Assault Awareness Month is the opportunity for the community
really to be educated in what does sexual assault mean
and if somebody has been assaulted, where can they go
to get help and support? So it's an entire month
dedicated to understanding what sexual assault survivors experience and what
(12:31):
they really need in order to be able to get
to their place of healing.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Let's talk about some of the I guess common myths
or misconceptions about sexual assault. What are the biggest ones
that you encounter that people don't understand well.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
In America, every sixty eight second, another American is sexually assaulted,
and one out of six of every American woman has
been a victim of an attempted or completed rape in
her lifetime. But I think that the other myths, it's
about three percent of American men, or one in thirty
three have experienced an attempt or completed rape in their lifetime.
(13:08):
So those are some of the myths out there. I
think that there's also myths out there that that rapes
happen with between strangers, that it's somebody that the individual
doesn't know. And what the research tells us is that
more often than not, a sexual assault occurs with somebody,
occurs with somebody that they know, whether it was a date,
(13:31):
it could even be a spouse, maybe a family member,
it could be and we certainly see this it's a power.
You know, that's another myth. And let me say that
first of all that that rape is about sex. It
is absolutely not about sex. It's about power and control.
And so we oftentimes see these sexual assaults happen in
(13:52):
situations where somebody is trying to take control and power
over another one. And so when we talk about sexual
assault and why people either report or don't report, there
is usually because of its power and control. There can
be a sense of shame. There can be blame blamed
upon the victim that for some reason that they asked
(14:12):
for it or they quote unquote wanted it, when that
is absolutely not the case. If there is not clear
consent for sexual experience to occur, then that is a
sexual assault.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
You mentioned shame there, and I imagine similarly to other
things in our culture. Maybe we've come a long way
in addressing those things, but I imagine a lot of women,
a lot of men, as you mentioned, might not come
forward and report a sexual assault because of shame. Is
that part of the educational process of sexual assault awareness months?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yes, man, Thank you for setting me up with that
beautiful part. Absolutely, you know, and I think that's really
important that when we bring awareness to something, we tend
to see more people start to talk about it. So
when somebody discloses that they have been sexually adulted, the
most important thing that any of us can do is
just to believe them in that moment. It is not
(15:09):
our job to determine whether or not a sexual assault
happened in the mind of the person that's coming forward
and saying this experience happened to me. The most important
thing we can do is believe them, because once somebody
believes them and what their story is, it really helps
to reduce that shame and all the feelings that associate
with shame. So first of all, we believe them. Second,
(15:32):
tell them this is not their fault, because that oftentimes
is a reason why somebody didn't come forward. Maybe they believed,
you know, something erroneous, that it was because of what
they were wearing, it was what they said, it was
what they did. It's like any other crime. You don't
ask to be a victim of any crime, and sexual
assault is the same way. And finally, what's so important
(15:53):
and the other nice thing about Sexual Assault Awareness Month
is that you can connect those those folks to resources,
and there are in every community across our country. There
are resources that people can turn to in that time.
The biggest, the easiest one is by calling two one one,
But we also have a national sexual Assault hotline and
(16:14):
that number is eight hundred and sixty five to six HOPE,
and that's available in every state. In the state of Florida,
the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay answers that line, but
in every state and across our country, that line is
available to connect family members, friends, people who have loved
ones that have experienced sexual assaults to get them connected
(16:34):
to resources.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
We're speaking with Clara Reynolds, President and CEO of the
Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, about the fact that this month,
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, since you brought it
up on the website, by the way, is crisiscenter dot com.
What do you do at the Crisis Center of Tampa
Bay and these other crisis centers across the country.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Oh, every crisis center is a little bit different, but
I will tell you what we do. In Hillsborough County,
which is in Tampa, Florida. We are the certified rape
crisis center. So somebody is sexually assaulted in our community,
rather than going to a hospital, maybe to get a
rape exam or some other location, individuals come to us.
(17:15):
Survivors of sexual assault come to us, sometimes with law enforcement,
sometimes without law enforcement, because somebody doesn't have to report
that they've been sexually assaulted in order to get a
sexual assault of examination. We do that examination and we
can provide not just the rape kit, but we can
also provide for their medical needs at that time. We
(17:37):
also have advocacy and support services that can follow that
individual from the moment that has happened until there's a
court case or any kind of dispositions of the legal case,
or somebody just needs support but they don't want to report.
Our advocates can help out and provide that support. And
those types of services are available everywhere in the country,
(18:02):
but it may look different depending upon where you live.
So that's why it's so important to make sure that
if you have been a you are a survivor of
sexual assault, please know that you can call that National
Sexual Assault Hotline. They're going to be able to provide
you not just with how to get a rape exam,
but also all of those follow up services. Because mainly,
(18:23):
I think one of the things that's so very important
is to recognize that the sexual assault is a trauma,
and trauma has long and short, short term and long
term impact. It can impact job performance and relationships and
academic performance. It can impact physical and mental health, and
(18:43):
individuals can oftentimes not realize that they are experiencing a trauma.
They may recognize that suddenly they may be anxious to
go into a bar, they may be anxious to walk
by themselves. And individuals could turn to substances or other
ways to numb pain or to manage anxiety. That's the
(19:03):
other reason why Sexual Assault Awareness Month is so important,
because it's recognizing that after you have been assaulted, what
you experience will not go away overnight, and that by
reaching out and asking for help, you can receive that
help and support to get you beyond that trauma so
that you can then function and be able to be
(19:25):
yourself again even after something like this has happened. What
is the.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Age range of the women that you come that come
to you seeking help. I imagined probably as young as
as school aged and wait in the elderly.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Women know absolutely and remember as women, and many always
want to write that out. So for us at the
crisis center, we work with anybody age thirteen and over.
What our experience has been, at least in our community,
is that if somebody is under the age of thirteen
and they have been sexually assaulted. There is oftentimes a
(20:03):
child abuse component to it because it is oftentimes somebody
very close to a child that has resulted or has
perpetrated that assault. So we have a whole separate system
that is involved in our child welfare system, But in
every community, we all of us see unfortunately individuals as
(20:26):
young as infancy and as old as you know, ninety
nine and one hundred. We actually had a woman that
came to us who was sexually assaulted in her seventies.
She was on a miss trip. So I think that's
you know, that kind of got begs itself to some
of the other myths that is just a college a
college age individual. No, absolutely not. Sexual assault happens all
(20:51):
along the age continuum, and every person that has been
assaulted needs to support that's individualized to their experience.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
What just happened there where I referred to women coming
to you, and you straighten me out mentioned that that
men as well. How prominent is it that that a
man is sexually assaulted? And are the numbers likely much
much higher than we know because men, I imagine are
probably less prone to even come forward and admit something
(21:21):
has happened to them.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yes, and you're absolutely right, Manny. You know I mentioned before,
you know, one in every six American woman has been
a victim of an attempted or completed rape, but one
in thirty three men have experienced an attempted or completed rape,
and we know that that's underrepresented. You know, we talk
about the shame for a woman, it really does double
(21:44):
for a man for a variety of cultural reasons. And
so this is you know, I really appreciate this opportunity
to talk about this many because sexual assault for men
is is just as impactful as it is for women.
And then fortunately we don't talk about it in the
same way for men as we do for women.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
What are the warning signs that somebody may have been
be experiencing sexual violence, or someone has experienced sexual assault
but maybe they haven't come forward to discuss it yet.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
That's a beautiful question, and so it could look very different.
But certainly, if somebody says that they've been sexually assaulted believing,
that's number one, and that's one of the most important messages.
If somebody has, they're starting to exhibit maybe changes in
their sleeping behavior, maybe changes in eating, changes in their
(22:41):
use of substances, whether they're alcohol or other substances, change
in just change in maybe work or their school work.
All of those are signs that something has happened. And
one of the most important things that we can do
is just ask the question, how are you what's going
on in your life? Have you recently experienced something that
(23:04):
has that has impacted you and with somebody, and you
know what, Manny. First of all, most of the folks
will usually say, oh, no, no, no, I'm fine. And
this is when it's so important for us, as there
as a person that cares about them to push back
a little bit and say, you know what, this is
what I'm seeing. I'm seeing that you're drinking more. I'm
seeing that you're you're not engaging in things that you've
(23:26):
used to. I'm worried about you. I care about you.
Talk to me about what's going on and give them
the space to tell you. We see the individuals who
are contemplating suicide, that have experienced a trauma such as
sexual assault, and so it's really important to observe and
then ask the question that is what is so key?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
It just kind of struck me the important. Another reason
sexual Assault Awareness Months is important and important to have
this conversation. We had a reckoning in this country a
few years ago, right the meats movement. It feels like
that is something so far in our history right now,
with everything that's happened, that it's kind of on the
back burner. We don't pay attention to these things as
(24:10):
much as we did for a period of time a
few years ago.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
You're absolutely right, Mannion, And what we really saw is
when that Me Too movement hit, people really did come
forward and start talking about your experiences. And then we
had this pesky little thing called a pandemic, and so
you know, I think that you know, we lost sight
of that because of everything else that was going on.
And again that is why having Sexual Assault Awareness Month
(24:36):
be identified in the month of April. It does give
organizations like the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay the opportunity
to remind the community that sexual assault is real. Sexual
assault is important to talk about and we should not
continue to sweep it under the rug or blame the
(24:57):
individual who who was assaulted as if it was their
fault that a crime was committed against them.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I think so many of us have seen, you know,
TV shows Law and Order and things like that as
best for you, And we've heard about rape kits and
all of that. How exactly does the process work, What
exactly do you do in collecting the evidence for a
rape kit?
Speaker 1 (25:21):
So, Manny, what we start with, first of all, is
an interview with a forensic nurse. They are known as
sexual assault nurse examiners. They have been certified by their
state to be able to do this process. They are
registered nurses, nurse practitioners, but they have the specialized medical
training along with the forensic training to be able to
(25:46):
gather that evidence. They are also the ones that are
certified to be able to testify in court. So it
starts with an interview with that sexual assault nurse examiner.
They're going to ask the survivor what happened, tell me
your own words what happened. And in that interview process,
they're going to ask questions about where did the perpetrator
(26:08):
maybe hit you, lick you, bite you, penetrate you. That
is all information to know where we can gather DNA evidence.
Maybe somebody got licked on the cheek or they got
bitten on the arm. We know that those are areas
that are ripe with DNA. So we're going to basically
(26:28):
then take swab samples of every place in an individual
body where they have been touched, bitten, or penetrated. We
can do a rape exam up to one hundred and
twenty hours post as salt. That's essentially five days, so
even if somebody has showered maybe or has changed their clothes,
(26:50):
that DNA will continue to live on the human body
up to one hundred and twenty hours post assault. Obviously,
the earlier we're able to get somebody in to gather
that evidence, obviously that is preferable, but we do have
up to five days, and so that nurse will then
perform the exam. They're going to look for any kind
(27:11):
of medical bruising, abrasions, any kind of medical things they're
going to treat for the medical and then they're also
going to swab versus externally as well as internally, vaginally, anally,
anywhere that we can potentially get DNA evidence. That evidence
(27:35):
is swabbed. Those swabs are then placed in individual containers
that are labeled where that swab came from on the body.
And then now all of that information is placed into
an actual envelope, which is known as the kit. We
will also sometimes collect blood and urine samples if there
is a potential that somebody was drugged. We also will take,
(27:57):
if possible, the individual's clothing that they were assaulted in,
if they were assaulted in a bed and somebody had
access to the linen or towels, we will take all
of that as well anything that we possibly can to
get DNA evidence, and if the case then moves the
forward in the legal process, that DNA evidence is entered
(28:18):
into a DNA database that can be utilized for matching
purposes as well. Additionally, we also take photographic evidence. We
have very sophisticated cameras that can take internal pictures to
be able to pick up any tears or abrasions internally
as well as externally. So all of that is put
(28:40):
together as part of the rate kit.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Strikes me then probably another reason why sometimes people victims
don't come forward because they kind of have to relive
the trauma all over again, don't they.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
They absolutely do, and all of us as sexual assault
as sexual assault centers or rape crisis centers, we are
specially trained to be able to reduce the retraumatization of
somebody who has experienced oftentimes the worst thing that ever
happened in their life.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
The crisis hotline number, the national number again one.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Eight hundred six five six hope and that is again
eight hundred six five six four six seven to three.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Clara Reynolds, president's CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay,
talking to us about April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month,
truly appreciate it for the time, what you do and
for sharing the information with us.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Thanks so much, Thank you so much many and for
anybody out there, please know you don't have to face
this alone. Please call us. Help is available.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
And that'll do it. For another edition of Iheartradios Communities.
I'm Manny Muno's until next time.
Host
Manny Munoz
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Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!