Back to School #52

Tom Shepard:

This philosophy about play at work really is about injecting that same sort of focus and enthusiasm for what it is that you do. And when you do it, all of a sudden something else happens. It becomes really enjoyable.

Elizabeth Fraser:

It takes kids 15 tastes to like something. We give it to them once and they won't eat it, but doesn't mean they won't eat it the fifth time or the sixth time. It's pretty remarkable to witness that shift.

Travis Wiggett:

Sometimes as parents, we kind of project on our kids things that we would like to do or schedules that work for us and they simply don't work for the child. And so it's really important that you understand your child and their personality, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, Even personalities extroverts vs introverts the Dr.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast Show Number 52, Back to School, airing for the first time on September 9, 2012 on WLOB and WPEI Radio Portland, Maine. Today's show features Tom Shepard of Shepherd Financial and also Currency Camp, Maggie Knowles and Elizabeth Fraser of Kids Gone Raw and Travis Wiggett, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. As our listeners may know, this is our 52nd show, which means we're almost at a year and we're pretty proud of it. We know that many of you are going back to school yourselves or perhaps are bringing your own children back to school. And we know that Here at the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour, education is an ongoing process. We're constantly looking for people who can enrich our lives with their insights and their experience. And this is what we think we're doing today with Tom Shepard, Maggie Knowles, Elizabeth Fraser and Travis Wiggett. So whether you get information from Tom Shepard about how to educate your children on financial issues, whether you decide, maybe I'll try some raw foods after listening to Maggie Knowles and Elizabeth Fraser, or whether you get insight from Travis Wiggett about some of the emotional issues surrounding going back to school. We know that you're enriching your own life and being a part of our community, so we thank you for that. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is pleased to be sponsored by the University of New England. As part of our collaboration, we offer a segment we call Wellness in the Innovations. The University of New England recently hosted a ceremony to celebrate the construction of its Patient Care Center. This will be the clinical home of the University of New England's College of Dental Medicine teaching Clinic and dental simulation facility and will provide space for the University of New England to explore new models of interprofessional healthcare education and practice. The Patient Care center will be the first facility of its kind in northern New England, combining comprehensive dental education with with high quality delivery of oral health care as well as clinical training space for patient centered primary care. For more information on the Patient Care center and the University of New England, visit une.edu.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast have long understood the connection between health and wealth and understanding one's money and understanding where one gets riches in the world that aren't just money. The nice thing is that from the very beginning we've had with us Tom Shepard of Shepherd Financial as a sponsor, and he's someone who really understands things the same way that we do. He understands the connection between health and wealth. We had a conversation with him last year, in fact, our Health wealth show. So if you want to hear more extensive conversation with Tom, you can go back and listen to that. But Tom's just been on a tear this year. He has restructured his own business, he's restructured his offerings to the community and he's all about education and health and wealth and bringing, well, the wealth of his knowledge to the community. So thanks for coming in, Tom.

Tom Shepard:

You're very welcome. It's good to be here again.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, Tom, you used to be an educator. This is our Back to school Dr. Lisa Radio Hour Show. So it's kind of fun that you're here today. We're airing this just as kids are going back to school. Why did you decide that it was important to Go. First of all, why did you decide that it was important to come from education into finance?

Tom Shepard:

So it's funny you say, I used to be an educator because I still think of myself as one. But the big decision to jump out of teaching math and economics at a private school, Gould Academy up in Bethel, Maine, came as a result of my students taking some of my personal finance classes and suggesting to me that I should talk to their parents. I thought, gee, that sounds like a really great career. And my wife and I, Bethel was a little too small for both of us to have professional careers. And so we decided to go down to Boston and I thought I would pursue this career. And, you know, 17, 18 years later, it's now the parents saying, talk to my kids.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you have children yourself?

Tom Shepard:

I do. I have 3, 13, 11 and 8. And, you know, they are oftentimes I say my biggest teachers with respect to what's important, what's of value, how do we spend our money? You know, we're constantly having to make decisions and make judgments about how best to raise them. And at the same time, the patterns of how we do that with our children seem to also spill over into and mirror what you need to do to be successful with your money as well. Raise successful kids, be successful raising your money.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is it true that people will often follow patterns that they learned in their own childhoods?

Tom Shepard:

Follow is one way to look at it, but oftentimes what we find is that people don't just follow patterns that they might have picked up when they were kids, they can also get stuck in those patterns.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it's kind of an entrenchment that takes place, and then people maybe can't move forward in their lives.

Tom Shepard:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it's true that I said you were a former educator. I guess I thought that was erroneous because this is very important to you. You're still an educator.

Tom Shepard:

Yeah, very much so.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I know that you educate your clients as they come in, and you have your own organization, Shepherd Financial, that's based in Yarmouth, but you're also putting together something really interesting for kids. That's something you've been wanting to work on, wanting to do for a while.

Tom Shepard:

Right. You know, when I was a teacher, I was trying to make math relevant to the kids, and there was not a fourth year requirement for math at Gould Academy. And I felt like a lot of the kids were going off to college, but some wouldn't. And so I wanted to not only make math relevant, but also give them some real practical, personal, financial stuff that Would maybe help avert some of the mistakes, mistakes that I made, you know, credit cards and managing debt and making decisions about how to spend your money and how to save your money and how to invest your money. And so we created a class for the kids and it was great. We started off with only four. The second time I offered it, there were 17. So it clearly hit a nerve. And when I moved back up to Maine from the Boston area and got involved with the school, I was the finance chair and we were talking about, hey, can we do a better job of teaching kids about money? It's a very popular topic right now. We need to do a better job of educating our kids about personal finance. I've made some attempts to go into different schools and have conversations and see if we can't get that niche topic woven into things like history and writing and English and have been somewhat frustrated by that process. And so we decided to go out and create our own organization. It's called Currency Camp. We are launching it. This is almost like the launch right here on this show. We've got a Facebook page that should go live very shortly. And what it is right now, in its first iteration, its birth is an eight week class that we'll be teaching this fall. And we'll take kids through sort of the seven different states of money and weave in some. Some good, solid math and make it interesting and fun. And hopefully it'll be a great learning experience for this first group of kids that go through it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Where is this being held?

Tom Shepard:

One of the things that we were really interested in doing was not putting it in a school building. And so we'll be hosting this first eight week class in a conference room upstairs at Doc's Cafe in Cumberland, Maine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And Doc's Cafe itself is relatively new, so you have a lot of good, fun energy that's starting up there.

Tom Shepard:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what types of kids are you looking for? Do they have and what ages?

Tom Shepard:

I want to try and keep this group fairly close in age to each other. So I like to say that this first offering is for high school students only. I know that there's a group beyond high school that could really benefit from going through this program. And I'm sure that if we tailored it specifically to younger kids, it could work too. But this group is sort of going back to my roots and saying, you know, guys, here I am again. But I know a lot more now than I did 17, 18 years ago when I was offering it basically as a math class. But it's going to be a lot more than that this time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And it's important that you offer it in Cumberland because this is where you live.

Tom Shepard:

Yep, it's where I live. My daughter's 13, she's in eighth grade, so I will not encourage her to come to this first class. But it would be really cool if we could get this kicked off and have it become sort of a permanent fixture wherever and she might be able to take it, say next year or the year after. We've got one other adult is very interested in it and she'll be auditing the class along with me and helping me to just sort of make sure it does what we want it to do. And then she might take over and do a second offering. So the two of us will be offering it twice, maybe in the winter session, another eight week program.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, speaking of adults, I know that you also have classes that you've put out there and seminars you've put out there for adults in the community. And you have one that's also coming up. Currency Camp starts in September.

Tom Shepard:

In September. So September 17th, it's Monday night. That'll run eight weeks. And then on a Tuesday night, I think it's the second week in October, we will be speaking at White Pine Community Church as part of their Community Connections program. And that also will be sort of a a workshop on your relationships with money.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As you know, the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast is focused on the mind, body and soul. Sometimes our bodies are giving us a little indication that maybe things aren't quite right. Here to talk to us about some particular things that we can listen to when our bodies are acting up is Dr. John Herzog of Orthopedic Specialists in Falmouth, Maine. Today's diagnosis is degenerative arthritis of the shoulder and rotator cuff.

[Unidentified voice]:

Dr. John that's a real common diagnosis I have in my office and we specialize in doing very non invasive treatment of these areas by utilizing first an ultrasound to look into the shoulder and if need be, we can put a small cortisone injection, recommend conservative therapy, physical therapy, or possibly do PRP that would be taking your own platelet cells and injecting them in there. The future for us holds a new stem cell treatment that will open up in October. If anyone's interested in more information, you can contact orthocareme.com or call 781-9077.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

For those individuals who are interested in these stages of money, there's an exciting project that you've been working on for the last year, I guess that's now up on Facebook.

Tom Shepard:

Yeah, on Facebook. We've been. We were going to write a book and finding the time to write a book and the money to write a book and all kinds of other things that go into doing that. It got to a point where we needed it to be a little bit more interactive and write it in smaller bits and pieces. So we're using Facebook right now to try and get some of what we have written out there. And so our first sort of set was a series that talks about the different states or relationships that people have with their money. The second one that we did was on allowance and how it changes as your kids grow and age. And then the one that we're doing right now is a series where we talk about sort of the parallel structures of time management versus money management. And it's all. I guess it's more than anything else. It's me entertaining myself, and I hope other people get some value out of it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You were profiled in Maine Magazine, I think, in June. Is that right?

Tom Shepard:

In June, yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And they talked a lot about sort of your view of the world and your view of your work as being impacted by the way that you've approached living. You were a lacrosse player, you're still a lacrosse player. You still play basketball. I mean, you're an adult man, but you're still sort of in the game. Do you feel like that's sort of the way that you're living your life is just trying to be in the game?

Tom Shepard:

Somewhere in writing about allowance, we ran across this concept of play in terms of a philosophy. And the idea is that, you know, kids seem. The way they play is much more. You know, they're really into it. Their feelings aren't taken away from the play because they've got 9,000 other things to do. And. And so this philosophy about play at work really is about injecting that same sort of focus and enthusiasm for what it is that you do. And when you do it, all of a sudden something else happens. It becomes really enjoyable. I know when I play lacrosse and I get into that place. Some people will refer to it as a zone. It's really, really cool to be playing at that level. And it's also something that happens at work. You know, there are days where I just get into that zone, and you just get so much done. And there are times when it happens as a family. You just get into that zone. And so the same thing is true. Oftentimes with managing one's money, you can try and set it up and make it happen and be disciplined. You can work at it, you can save, you can invest. But sometimes it's really just working at all those things and then forgetting about it that you realize that you're in the zone. And that's one of the things that we aspire for our clients, is that your money doesn't become the thing that you obsess about all day long, but instead that it serves you in this way that allows you to drop it, be in a zone with it, and accomplish all these other things and accomplish great things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How can people learn more about playing with their money, about going back to school with you? And currency camp? Where's the best place for them to go?

Tom Shepard:

I still think the best place for them to go because they can get other places, is to go to our website@shepherdfinancialmain.com from there, you can click on the Facebook link, and that'll take you over to Facebook. There's a very clean explanation of the different states or relationships that people have with your money, and you don't have to go sorting around through Facebook looking for it. It's right there. So I still think that's the best place for people to start if they want to learn more about us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And is that how they would get in touch with you if they were interested in becoming a client?

Tom Shepard:

Certainly our email address is there, our phone number is there, but in case you don't want to get on the computer, you don't have one. Our Phone number is 207-847-4032, and our email address is tomephepherdfinancialmaine.com thank you so

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

much for coming in today. This is Tom Shepard from Shepherd Financial, and he's helping us go back to school.

Tom Shepard:

Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour podcast, We are firm believers of the importance of education as it relates to health, and especially on the importance of education when it relates to food. So we have two very lovely guests here today. With us we have Maggie Knowles and Elizabeth Fraser from Kids Gone Raw. It's kind of an exciting title. Thanks for coming in.

Elizabeth Fraser:

Thank you for having us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So I think of raw in different ways, but you're talking about raw food.

Travis Wiggett:

Yes.

Maggie Knowles:

Not sushi.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

No. Not raw fish per se. You're talking about raw food and really raw vegetables. Primarily. Really. You're talking about the plant based diet.

Elizabeth Fraser:

You got it. We're talking about fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and sprouted grains and some dehydrated foods that aren't heated above 118.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What got you interested in raw foods?

Elizabeth Fraser:

Yeah, I think we both have our own journey. I mean, mine started I lost my mom to breast cancer when I was 18 and I became aware of a need to be healthy. I just didn't know what that looked like. So it's really been a lifelong journey for me. I became a pescatarian at that time and then four years ago went vegan. And then that year I was vegan. Raw food just kept coming up and I got really curious about it and decided to try it for a week and that week changed my life and I haven't looked back. Wow.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And a pescatarian for those people who are listening.

Elizabeth Fraser:

Yeah. So I was a fish eating vegetarian for like 17, 18 years.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Okay. And what about you, Maggie?

Maggie Knowles:

When I was pregnant, I lost my taste. I was never a big meat eater, but I stopped eating fish and things like that. And when I had my son thinking about family and what that meant, I just couldn't bring myself to go back to eating anything that had a family. And then I was introduced to raw food through one of Elizabeth's classes and fell in love with it. So I took a bunch of her classes and been friends for a few years. And then kidsugan Raw was born from there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And how old is your son now?

Maggie Knowles:

Four and a half.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Four and a half. Has he always been a raw vegan?

Maggie Knowles:

He's about 85% raw vegan, yeah. His pediatrician says he's the healthiest kid in his practice. He's never ever sick. So you can definitely attribute that to his diet.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that's an interesting question that I get a lot because I eat a primarily plant based diet, although I guess I'm more of a pescatarian myself. And occasionally I will have other protein sources. But I get a lot of questions from patients on the health aspects of eating vegan. Where do you get your protein source? Where do you get your iron? And when you're talking about children, that's of special concern because they kind of eat what we put in front of them, right?

Maggie Knowles:

Exactly. And that can work to your benefit. They will eat what you put in front of them. There's that whole concept of mindless eating. If you're in front of the tv, you're sitting, you're eating, eating, not really, you're not aware of what you're eating. It's the same with kids. So instead of putting chips, jelly beans, you could be putting carrots, grapes in front of them. And they'll sit there and eat it, not really realizing what they're eating, but they're getting the benefits from the real food.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And are there specific concerns that parents have that, I mean, if you're doing kids gone raw, are there. So, yes, your kids will eat whatever you put in front of them, but sometimes they don't necessarily want to eat fruits and vegetables. Or are there other concerns?

Maggie Knowles:

Well, I think kids are actually incredibly drawn to natural foods. The colors, the natural sweetnesses, you know, they fit in their hands. Kids are very natural beings. And I think if they're supposed to be eating that sort of food, what is unnatural is when we're forcing them to eat chemicals and processed foods, fats, greases and sugars. So I understand the concern where parents Are like, oh, my kids will never eat that. But if you sort of switch the viewing of that, it's like, why would you want them to eat something that's been sitting on a shelf for three months that you have to microwave versus something that the earth has grown for them to eat? So I think it's more of a shift of perspective that parents have to wrap around. And I know it's hard because, you know, we do what we do, we're used to what we're used to. But I don't know, when you step outside of it and you realize that Earth grows what we're supposed to eat, not a laboratory, then it's not scary.

Elizabeth Fraser:

Yeah. And I've made some interesting observations. So I'm not a mom, I'm an auntie to 10 kids and I spend a lot of time with two of them in particular and I see the other ones pretty regularly. And the really interesting thing for me is seeing kids that have a standard American diet come into my home or my space or come to a party where I've prepared some food and they just gobble it up. I mean, they are so drawn to, like Maggie said, the color. It's finger food. It's fun, it's creative. Oftentimes I have them help. I babysit my 2 year old nephew and my 5 year old niece every Wednesday. And if we don't make three things in the kitchen on a Wednesday, like their day is not complete, like they'll cry at the end, like we didn't make our smoothie yet or we didn't make our donut holes. So it's really, really cute. They naturally gravitate to it if you give them a chance. And it takes kids like 15 tastes to like something, so that's another thing we forget. We give it to them once and they won't eat it, but doesn't mean they won't eat it the fifth time or the sixth time. And my little nephew, who's like I said, two, he has gone from a macaroni and cheese crazed toddler, like that's all he would want to eating my salads, eating our kale chips. And of course he loves fruit, fruit and anything sweet. So it's pretty remarkable to witness that shift.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, and I'm asking these questions, I really am on your side. I'm asking more as the devil's advocate because I've dealt with a lot of this in my own life because I've also done a lot of work with macrobiotics and cooking vegetables. So I'VE had the skeptics asking me these questions, and that's what I'm wondering from your standpoint, what types of experience you've had. But I'm with you. I do think you're right. You put stuff in front of children, and they will gravitate towards this, things that are healthy for them.

Maggie Knowles:

And I think as parents, we have to be excited about that. They pick up on that. If you're like, eat this apple, of course they're gonna not want to. But if you're like, look at this. And you know, we have a big garden, and my son's out there every day picking the broccoli and the cucumbers. And if from a young age they're learning that awareness that food, where it comes from, and that they can help plant it, they can pick it. We've never met a kid that won't eat something that they haven't. That they've made. They're so excited about it. And that's part of what kids gone ra does. At the end of the day, kids are kids, and they want to eat pizza and macaroni and chicken tenders. We're not saying you have to eat sprouts to be part of this lifestyle. We take chicken nuggets, pizza, sushi, ice cream, kid favorite foods. We just make healthy versions of them. So that's why we love what we do, because we get. We're in the kitchen playing with ice cream sundaes and cake, and it's just raw, healthy versions of it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, we had Charlotte Clews on as a guest last year at some point, and I know she does a lot of work with raw foods and has sort of these detoxification things that she does with ayurvedic practices. So I think it's recognized in lots of other cultures as well, and it's been around a long time. It's also gotten some press recently. There are some stars that are out there in Hollywood doing raw foods. Do you think this is contributing to the popularity Definitely.

Elizabeth Fraser:

I think the more mainstream it becomes, the more accessible and easier it is for people to wrap their heads around it. So I think that's a good thing. We can all benefit from more raw food. Whether it's one snack a day or one meal a day or two a week of raw food, I think we all benefit from whatever we can take.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And talk to me a little bit about this back to school idea. So we're sending our children back to wherever they're going to school. And obviously they could have school lunches which maybe are not so healthy, or they could have what you send them with. How do you create. Give us some tips for creating things that kids will want to eat sort of contrasted with the things that are being offered to them that their friends are eating.

Maggie Knowles:

Well, the first thing we'll say is, you know, it's so cliche. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And that doesn't mean just eating in the morning. That means being very mindful of what you are eating. So, you know, chocolate milk, sticky buns, sugary cereal, bagels, bacon, eggs. That stuff goes in our body and our bodies want to fall asleep because they don't know what to do with it. So instead of energy in the mind, learning and focusing, it's in the stomach going, what do I do with bacon again? So starting your child off with a green smoothie or a fruit smoothie or

Elizabeth Fraser:

a fruit mueslik, chopped fruit with some nuts and raisins and shredded coconut, something

Maggie Knowles:

that's true energy that will help sustain them until lunchtime. And then again you flip floor it after lunch, after school lunch. And kids are falling asleep in math class because they probably missed recess because they were falling asleep. So again, giving them foods that will keep them sustained instead of a sports drink or a Red Bull doing. I know a lot of schools don't do nuts, but you can do a sunflower seed milk and even put raw cacao in there. So they're still looking like they're drinking chocolate milk. They look like what Bobby down the hall is drinking. Instead of traditional fruit roll ups doing, you know, we make fruit leather. My son was somewhere a week ago at a party or something and they were giving out those fruit cocktail cups of those sugary. So he's been obsessed with that. And I won't buy them for them, but you can even make, you can make anything. Chop up some pears, pineapples, cherries, and put a little pear juice in it. So it looks like, yeah, from the grocery store and anything in the Processed food world you can pretty much mimic.

Elizabeth Fraser:

Yeah. And they love finger foods, colorful foods, containers, compartments. The bento boxes are really popular and I can see why, because I love them too. I mean, I love putting my lunches in them and eating out of them. So. So, you know, it doesn't have to be complicated food. Kids will gravitate to pretty simple food. So some chopped fruit, some chopped veggies with their favorite dressing. You know, get cookie cutters out, shape the fruits, shape the. We make raw breads, but you could shape the sandwiches and breads. And there's so many fun, creative things you can do. And of course, you know, you can make a fruit pudding. You can make a chocolate pudding with avocado and some. Some raw chocolate powder. There's so many yummy, tasty things that kids will actually not want to share.

Maggie Knowles:

Yeah, I was going to say everyone's going to be wanting their food.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have a cookbook that you're working on right now that's going to have some of these recipes in it. And what's your projected timeline for that?

Elizabeth Fraser:

Oh, I mean, we'd love to see it come out in the spring of 2013. We're still working towards that. I think that's a good goal.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So our listeners who are going to put that on their calendars. In the interim, though, you also have an ebook, I believe that will be probably out when people are listening. Yeah. Okay, so tell me about that.

Maggie Knowles:

So it's called Smoothies Gone Raw. And we think smoothies are the best way if you're interested in raw food, trying it. Smoothies are an amazing way to. It's sort of like the gateway drink. And so we have, we have three sections to the book. We have all fruit smoothies. And then you can move on to your green smoothies where you're adding your kale, your spinach, your sprouts. And then we also have a dessert section.

Elizabeth Fraser:

So, yes, really fun, delicious smoothies. And we touched on it a little bit. But greens are a great source of protein. To sort of sneak them into a smoothie that still tastes delicious is a great way for adults and kids alike to reap the benefits of greens. It's cool.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And so this is an ebook that. How can people get this off our website?

Maggie Knowles:

We'll have a link to it off of kidsgonera.com kidsgone raw.com and we've also

Elizabeth Fraser:

got a bunch of recipes up there now, so they're searchable. I think we posted a pizza recipe recently, so there's a raw Vegan pizza posted and we've done some fun salads and desserts and smoothies. So there's a nice array right now.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And as we were coming in, I was mentioning to you that we're gonna have girls on the run. They're gonna be in, coming to talk to us in a very short period of time. And you said, oh, we're gonna run in that race, which I think is October.

Maggie Knowles:

We're not running. We're giving smoothies away.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Okay, okay. We're giving smoothies away.

Elizabeth Fraser:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But that just leads me to ask, do you feel like having a raw vegan lifestyle is compatible with having an active athletic lifestyle?

Elizabeth Fraser:

For sure, yeah. In fact, there's so many vegan athletes out there and even raw vegan world class athletes, which is really inspiring and it's fun to google them and see their stories because some of them have some really interesting journeys. And even the Williams sisters, the tennis stars, have recently gone raw vegan. I forget which one. I think it's Serena that has some sort of illness that she was treating with a raw food diet. So they're both doing that. There's just so many examples of people living a really active lifestyle and we both are very active in our day to day life. So, yeah, it's really possible, in fact, people flourish and even improve their athleticism, I think, by giving this a shot.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Absolutely, yeah. And I have to say that in talking to you and even looking at your Facebook page and you have a. It's just Kids Gone Raw. That's your Facebook page. People who want to like it. I mean, there is this sense of sort of joyfulness and happiness and it's not a sense of sort of punitive. You have to eat raw vegan food to be punished for the rest of your life. It's more of a sense of this life force and that you're sort of embodying what you're discussing. So I think that that's a really happy and healthy association for people to have.

Elizabeth Fraser:

Thank you.

Maggie Knowles:

It is so happy. And we never, like we said, I mean, if people want to try this one, two, three times a week, that's all they need. Once they start realizing how amazing they feel and how great their kids are, how happy and how great their kids are sleeping and how even tempered they are, they're gonna keep it going.

Elizabeth Fraser:

Yeah, it snowballs. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. Well, I appreciate your coming in and talking to us about Kids Gone Raw for our back to school show. So we've been talking with Elizabeth Fraser And Maggie Knowles. And I hope that everybody goes to your website, downloads some recipes and looks at the ebook and likes your Facebook page. Yeah.

Elizabeth Fraser:

And we wanted to offer your listeners a little special, too. We've recently launched a line of dehydrated snacks which are really great for lunchboxes. We've got five flavors of kale chips and five flavors of fruit leathers and some granola too that's, you know, it's all raw, vegan, gluten free, really healthy, yummy. So we've got an Etsy store. You can find it from our website. And we've got a Coupon code for Dr. Lisa. You just enter DRLISA and you'll get 10% off an order through the end of October.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Wow, that is really great. I'm so glad that you're going to do that. And we'll see how many people who are listening and take advantage. I encourage everybody who's listening to go in there and order something, put in that coupon code because we want to show Elizabeth and Maggie that we are all about the life force of fear and bringing happy healthiness to the planet. Thank you. Thanks so much for coming on today. Thank you.

Elizabeth Fraser:

Thanks for having us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it's September and it's school season. Many of you have children in school, they've already started back. Some of you perhaps have college students who have not yet started back. And maybe you just have experience with past back to school issues on your own. What we know is that people often will notice changes in their kids as they're heading back to school. So we thought we would invite in a licensed counselor out of Brunswick, Travis Wiggett, to talk to us about some some of the things that parents and children experience during this whole back to school season. So thanks for coming in and talking with us, Travis.

Travis Wiggett:

Thank you for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Travis, tell me a little bit about your background. Where did you get your education and what are your qualifications?

Travis Wiggett:

I have a master's degree in clinical psychology from St. Michael's College in Vermont. I've been working in the field for 15 years. Most of my experience is with families and children. However, my practice is really what I would call a full spectrum practice. I work with children from the age of six as well as adults into the elderly. So I really enjoy working with the full spectrum because you see a lot of similarities but also a lot of differences. So it makes my practice interesting and challenging at the same time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What caused you to decide to go into this type of work?

Travis Wiggett:

I always had a desire to help people. It was just something I enjoyed doing and mostly through my friends. I enjoy talking with people and really hearing their story. And sometimes in my practice, folks come to me, obviously with issues or problems that they have, trying to figure out where they're going, what path they'd like to take. And I just really enjoy hearing their stories and trying to help them make the best decision for them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Where did you grow up?

Travis Wiggett:

I grew up in Burlington, Vermont. I really enjoyed Burlington. It's a college town. It's really fun because you were right on the lake and also near the mountains for skiing. So I actually ended up in Maine for the same reasons. My wife and I moved to Brunswick about four years ago. We were just looking for kind of a similar outdoor experience experience and have been able to really enjoy Brunswick and everything it has to offer it. Also being a small college town, having access to the mountains and also the ocean, it's been wonderful.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Did any of your family experiences contribute to your wanting to be in the field?

Travis Wiggett:

I think so. I grew up as an only child and so, you know, from that standpoint I was always kind of included in family decisions, I think, and family situations, and I really enjoyed being a part of that and part of that process. So I think that family piece just kind of comes naturally to my background and my experience. And I've definitely found that in my practice. I really enjoy trying, obviously, as best I can, to be an objective observer and trying to provide helpful information for folks who are struggling with transitions.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Speaking of transitions, this is an interesting time of year for a lot of people because they've gone from summer into fall and they're kind of starting to buckle down and go back to school. And even adults are starting to go back into paying. Well, not that they weren't paying attention to their jobs, but maybe they took a little bit of a mental break. What types of things are you seeing in your practice?

Travis Wiggett:

Well, transitions cause typically a lot of anxiety in folks, kids as well as adults, and especially families during this period of time. Oftentimes parents will take time off over the Summer to be home with their kids. And so their transition is transitioning back to typical work schedule kids. The big transition obviously is going originally from school, which is really structured, to summertime, which is typically unstructured, back to a really highly structured program Again when they enter school. The difficulty becomes that the whole family dynamic shift usually over the summer around those issues. And some folks fill their summer with summer camps and other activities to try and fill that gap, which is really helpful. I always encourage families to look at what the community has to offer and to get as involved as they can in order to fill those gaps. That's, I think the largest challenge is really kind of looking at what the child's interests are. Some kids really like the break, they like some downtime, they like to be able to relax. Sometimes giving too much of that actually causes the exact opposite to happen. They find themselves really bored, really antsy. And so it's working with the child and the family to figure out what exactly would fit their personality, what they're interested in, and try and provide a little bit of that structure. I also find that when kids go back to school, one of the things that really helpful is to try and start the routine prior to school beginning. So simple things like bedtimes, obviously, wake up time, breakfast routines, routines in the afternoon when kids get home from school, it's really helpful to start that prior to school beginning so that the families have a period and the kids have a period of time to adjust. Oftentimes that doesn't happen. The kids start school and. And then your body is really used to kind of the structure you had during the summer and it just isn't the same. And so they run into a lot of difficulty making that transition when they come home of like what they're supposed to do, what is the next responsibility they have? Can they go out and play with their friends? Do they have practice for sports, music practice, those types of things. And so it's really getting a feel for that structure because without it, that transition again causes a lot of anxiety and other problems come up.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is there a relationship between anxiety and adhd?

Travis Wiggett:

There is actually. With adhd, typically there are two byproducts that folks actually diagnose as mental health issues that go along with adhd, depression and anxiety. Often ADHD specifically, one type of in particular, an attentive type, is really under diagnosed or misdiagnosed because these kids typically are the kids that are not behavioral problems in school. They don't have the hyperactive component. They are able to sit and follow Instructions and do the tasks that are asked of them in class. However, typically, their mind is a million miles away. They really only focus on the things that they're really interested in. As a result, the details, the small things, sometimes get missed or dropped, and they know immediately, well, why can't I do this? My friend Johnny or Jenny can do it and I can't, and I don't understand why. And so all of a sudden, they really feel different from their peers, and there isn't really an explanation for it. And so what ends up happening is they really feel unsuccessful. And. And so in my practice, I really work with folks around those issues to provide a structure, a safety net that allows the kids to be successful, that allows them to understand that. That allows them to realize that this really isn't actually a problem. It can really be a strength as well, and to really get to understand them and what they're capable of, to kind of hopefully reverse that philosophy or that thought process that's created by kind of feeling different. So anxiety can also be a part of that as well, because things, small details like turning in homework assignments or doing really well on exams, those types of things sometimes kids with ADHD really struggle with because it's not a strength of theirs. And so then all of a sudden, it's the same situation. They go to a test and they know. I mean, they actually know the material, but they may not really know how to reproduce it because they have a hard time focusing or concentrating, and they know that they're not going to do well. So their anxiety increases. And we all know when anxiety increases, their ability to function decreases, even doing simple things. And so it can be a really difficult thing to manage.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what types of tools do you offer the people who come to see you for this behavior change that's so necessary?

Travis Wiggett:

Often, well, it depends on what the problem is. For kids, often what I find is really talking a lot about stress, a lot about incentives, behavior, quote, behavior plans, things that are really visual, tactile, positive for the kids that they can earn by changing their behavior, by managing things differently. What I really find with kids is that what they desire is a relationship with their parents. And in today's society, that can be a challenge sometimes because parents are working, they have very little time, when in fact, research really indicates the number one behavior change for children, especially around making difficult decisions with drugs and alcohol, for example, is you want them to make the right decision because they know if they don't, they'll disappoint you as a parent. That you won't be happy with the choice that they made. And in today's society, that's really hard and challenging because some parents simply don't have that relationship with their child. And then they're frustrated because they don't know how to impact their behavior. And so a lot of it is really working on that relationship, developing that relationship between the child and parent.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's really interesting because I think that those of us who grew up in, well, pick any religious tradition, but let's just say Catholic or. I've also heard about Jewish guilt. I mean, this idea of guilt. So it's interesting that disappointment is actually a tool that is worthwhile.

Travis Wiggett:

Well, it's interesting. I view disappointment a little differently than guilt. Guilt sometimes is really viewed as negative because it's kind of almost a passive aggressive way of getting somebody to do something. The conflict really necessarily isn't necessarily out there with guilt. It's just based on your assumption that you're making somebody feel badly. What I encourage folks to do is have those conversations. Bringing that out, I think is what changes basically from guilt to disappointment. In order to be disappointed, you have to identify what the problem is. You have to be willing to have that conversation. Often guilt comes from not having the conversation and thinking that you've disappointed somebody or made somebody feel badly when in fact you haven't even really had the conversation and know if that's true. And sometimes, you know, the traditional mother, for example, who would use guilt often doesn't address what, how they're feeling. They kind of hold that and then will passive aggressively behave in a way to kind of get the child to change rather than talking about what the actual conflict is or what the issue is. And I think that's the relationship piece that needs to. That's been helpful in families, but needs to change is really being willing to have those tough conversations.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you really need to identify kind of a cause and effect and put it out there and actually use the sort of I feel when.

Travis Wiggett:

Because yeah, the I feel statements are really, really important because, you know, people aren't necessarily responsible for other people's feelings, but they're responsible for their behavior. And if you really care about somebody, you're really going to care about how they feel, what makes them happy, what makes them sad. And that's really important to understand in a relationship. And people honestly sometimes will behave in a way and not realize that they're impacting somebody. And the only way for that to really be clear is for that person that that behavior impacted is to Actually address it and say, you know what? That really made me feel bad when you treated me that way, or when you didn't call when I was expecting you to call. The only way the behavior is going to change is if we identify that it's a problem. And then you use the relationship really to change it. If you know, quite frankly, you interact with somebody and there's a problem, but there isn't any relationship, the other person really doesn't care about changing their behavior because they don't really have that relationship that matters. And so that's a lot of the work I do with families and children is not only identifying the problems, but really exploring the relationship and seeing how folks interact in the family, family and really what kind of behaviors they really want to change. That's the hard part. Sometimes folks come in and there's a lot of stuff going on, and we have to sit down and say, okay, what's really important? What is it that you want to change? What is it that you want to get out of coming to therapy? And that's usually where we kind of create our plan and figure out a direction to move in.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now, do you ever find that people are coming in wanting somebody outside of themselves that is their child to change when really the changes need to be happening inside them, the parent?

Travis Wiggett:

That often happens, especially with anxiety. It's much easier. When people have difficulty with anxiety. They often like to throw their anxiety onto other people. Sometimes it's called projection. We throw our feelings onto other people. And why that's effective is, especially with anxiety, is if you throw it onto somebody and they're willing to accept it, what you get is, is this visual behavioral response from the other person, and it actually causes the original person who had the anxiety to feel a sense of relief because they've made somebody feel like how they're feeling. And what ends up happening is that there generates now another conflict that's completely unrelated to what the original problem was. And often that is a real good defense mechanism because if they're successfully able to throw it and they get somebody to react, they don't actually end up having to talk about how they feel, which makes them vulnerable. And so oftentimes folks that I work, not everybody, but sometimes folks come in with an abuse history, and that's really what it's about. It hasn't been safe for them to make their feelings vulnerable, to be vulnerable. And as a result, they often will throw their anxiety in. Their relationship or relationships with other people often are significant, significantly conflicted as a result of that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So that's sort of a strange bouncing mirrors kind of thing that will go back and forth then.

Travis Wiggett:

Yeah. And the number one way to address it is just to be honest about what the problem is and resolve it, move on.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I feel like we could keep talking on and on because there's so many interesting things that you have shared with us today. And I've learned a lot myself just sitting here. How about some pointers just quickly for talking with your children about this back to school issue, about transitions, about maybe bigger issues. What are some of the top suggestions that you could offer to parents who are listening today?

Travis Wiggett:

Well, often at home, kids anxiety is based on really wanting someone to take control, wanting someone to kind of dictate how things go, what's expected. Interestingly enough, when I have a child come in that's having problem at home, one of the or problems at home, one of the first things I ask them is how do you manage at school? And I'll say, do you have that behavior in the classroom? Do you treat your teacher that way? And often the child's response is absolutely not. And I'll say, well, why don't you treat your teacher that way? What would happen if you talk to your teacher the way you talk to your mom? The immediate response, well, I'd end up in the principal's office. And I say, well, is that where you want to be? Well, no. So that's why I don't do it. So why do you do it at home? Because there's no consequence for that behavior. There's no structure, there's no limit, and then a consequence afterwards. And so a lot of it is really working with the families around those pieces is really setting up what reasonable expectations are at home, a reasonable structure. So it's pretty clear to the kids what's expected, when it's expected, and if they aren't successful at following through, what the result is going to be. And that's the hard part for the parent. They have to have the strength to follow through with that. And in our busy lives today, that's a really difficult thing to do.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Travis, this has been very helpful, I'm sure, for the parents out there, maybe even non parents who are listening, because I think it's all about human relationships, all of the stuff you're discussing. So how can people reach you if they would like to come see you as a patient or know more about your practice?

Travis Wiggett:

Yeah, my office is located in Fort Andros in Brunswick, which is right at the end of Maine Street. The actual address is 14 Main Street. Suite 2 10E and my telephone number is 4062697.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, great. Thanks so much for coming in today Travis to talk to us about going back to school.

Travis Wiggett:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 52, Back to School featuring Tom Shepard of Shepherd Financial discussing Currency Camp, Maggie Knowles and Elizabeth Fraser from Kids Gone Raw and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Travis Wiggett. For more information on our guests, please visit drlisabelisle.com we like to hear from our listeners so so please take a moment to let us know how we're doing. Send us a message on Facebook, be sure to like our Dr. Lisa page or send us an email. Find our email on the website drlisabelisle.com please. Also be sure to thank our sponsors as we certainly couldn't make this program possible without their financial support. We thank you for being a part of our world. THE this is Dr. Lisa Belisle. May you have a bountiful life.

Travis Wiggett:

Sa.