Curtis Miller of Connect Ed: Suicide Prevention and Mental Health through Belonging
If you’ve heard any of our other shows, you know how often belonging comes up as a critical piece of mental health across all topics we have covered. So, today we get into belonging in detail with Curtis Miller of Connect Ed. Lest you think it’s all woo-woo and esoteric, let’s cut through that right now and get practical as we do. He talks about how he got started in Battle Ground, why blaming teachers and parents is a false dichotomy, utilizing non-violent communication, the systemic connections that we all need, enneagram types, and why suicide’s metaphor is really the canary in the coalmine. It’s not the canary that has the issue, it’s the coalmine and how to begin to adapt systems to better serve us all.
Welcome Curtis!
“What Maslow Missed” Forbes March 29, 2012
Enneagram Institute - The Nine Enneagram Types
The Reformer
The Helper
The Achiever
The Individualist
The Investigator
The Loyalist
The Enthusiast
The Challenger
The Peacemaker
About Curtis Miller:
Curtis is a long-time community and organizational development practitioner in the Pacific Northwest. His graduate degree is in Community Psychology. His focus is co-creating belonging structures for the sake of healthy individuals and communities and his methodology is story sharing in small groups. Curtis lives in West Vancouver with his wife of 34 years and spends his free time doing carpentry projects, reading, writing, and riding both a Harley and a gravel bike. In addition to speaking and workshops, Curtis works in two primary prevention areas: anti-trafficking and suicide prevention—considering both to be extreme versions of dysfunction in human systems. His friends and colleagues often tease him about his serious forays into topics like bird murmurations and the similarities between mycelium, neural pathways, and social system maps. You can follow his thought-provoking investigations into how things work on Instagram @curtis_mrmr8, on YouTube @connected6782, or his blog Connect-Able at https://www.connected.buzz/blog.
Related Internal Chatter Episodes
Digging Deep with Mike Nieto of Catworks Construction - mentioned in the episode
Lowell MacGregor on Addiction and Recovery and the Taylor Made Retreat
Richard Ott on Inpatient Psychiatric Care, Law Enforcement, and the Unhoused Juggernaut