97: Mental Health Talks, A Special EdUp EdTech LIVE with NBA's Kenny Thomas & Neolth's CEO Katherine Grill

0:01 OK, we are live. Welcome everybody to add up Ed tech talks. My name is Holly Owens. And my name is Nadia Johnson. And we're your hosts and we are super punk tonight here out on the East Coast, but our guests are out on the West Coast. We have Catherine Grill, who is a CEO of Neos and we have Kenny Thomas, who does tons of different things besides being a former NBA player. They are here tonight to talk to us about in this afternoon about mental health. This is a very important topic. Welcome on into the show, Catherine and Kenny. Thank you for being here. Ladies first.

0:44 Oh. Thanks. Come on, Captain you. Know this already? Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be back for the third time on your podcast. Yeah, we're like old friends though. That's awesome. Thank you ladies for having me. I'm looking forward to chopping it up with you today. Yes, 100%. So we definitely want to know. I could sit here and give great introductions about both of you. Both have tremendous BIOS. But I want you to tell the audience about you. So tell us about yourself, your journey into where you are now. Give us all the details. I know Kenny's going to say ladies first, so I'll go. I'll just speak with.

1:28 I'll be quick as I've already been on here and I'm so excited for Kenny to share his story. But you're. Going to help me be able to think of some stuff bad. Gosh, you know, Long story short, I was somebody who always grew up. I grew up a little bit outside of Manhattan in New York in a low income family. There was really serious mental illness and the inability to access proper healthcare. So that was something that got me interested in mental health and trying to figure out how could we make the system better. So I went to school. I became a therapist. I worked in patient care for a little bit, but pretty quickly found that the good care was given to the people who could afford it. And that just didn't sit right with me. So I wanted to figure out, you know, how do we get over some of these huge care inequities that we have in the mental health system? I went back to school.

2:15 I did my doctor in neuroscience and I wanted to learn how to build and validate. New evidence based, you know, health interventions that just made things more accessible for people. So Long story short, I got into adolescent health, I was doing NIH research these big clinical trials and my kids kept asking for digital because that's where they were. And about six years ago I moved out to California. That's where I am now. I'm in LA and wanted to see what we could do with technology to make healthcare more accessible and we ended up building new great story. And you're so right about that access to mental health and resources and sometimes it feels like we don't have the access that we need to help us and support us in some of these life is very much trials and tribulations to get through, especially the youth of, you know, the world. Absolutely.

3:07 And kind of also helping to get rid of that stigma because there's there's so much and I think that's super important. OK, Kenny. Breaking a cycle is huge, especially coming from a minority perspective. I'm from Douglasville, GA. I was, I was raised military. I was able to go to a couple different places. I was able to go abroad from like 5:00 to 11:00. I lived in Germany, but then my dad came back to the States and. We we ended up in El Paso, TX and there's a lot of different challenges and a lot of different things growing up, from my perspective, being an only child and being in a situation to where I have to travel and leave my friends and different things like that behind and then start all over that, that was a huge it had a huge effect on me, especially when it comes to a mental health component and then being able to. Go to college and play basketball. People think it's easy, but it's really not. And then being blessed to be able to go to the NBA and and stay in the NBA for 11 years.

4:20 It it was a hard grind and there's a lot of mental aspects that I wish I would have had Catherine's app to be able to cope with different things and hearing her talk about all the different ways that her that her app. Neil has affected so many different people, not with just kids. I felt like this is a great opportunity for me to be able to partner up with her, try and create opportunities for more kids, especially in markets where I have a significant visibility like New Mexico because I played college ball there and then Sacramento. Now I work for NBC Sports California and I'll do TV and Houston trying to go there. And then at the same time probably creeping to Philadelphia, another place that I played but. Being able to be a part of this and and and and continue to express the knowledge and it's OK to talk about mental health because there's not a lot of people that are comfortable with that.

5:18 I know I wasn't and I and I'm still adjusting myself to this day. Yeah I think we all are and definitely in in it take it took a toll on country. When we talk about COVID and the mental health, I think it's, you know, release some of that stigma because of what happened to us with the pandemic. But also too it's it is very difficult to be comfortable in yourself and you know, talk about different things that have happened in your life. But I think that's where the human connection lies. And what Neo does is really, you know, brings out the best in people, but it also gives you that support and you you don't feel like you're alone. You know you have. That support, Yeah, absolutely. So you kind of talked a little bit about your journey? But can you give the audience a little bit of an overview of Neil and kind of like what the app does for for users? She could go on forever with this everything. So yeah, be careful what you ask. I put a link in the chat too, so people can go out to the website and check it out.

6:20 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean, so Nadia, like I said, I was working in, I was at Children's Nationals Pediatric Hospital in DC and I was working with lots of teens and they kept asking for digital. So I was really interested in getting their perspective instead of just being kind of the doctor and coming in and saying, you know this is what you need. It's like kind of asking the kids what would work well for you. And that's really how Neil was built. We've had about 500 young people now work with us and Co development and making content for the app and all these different things and what we decided to build together was a self-guided mobile app. And it does a couple of things, but there's a lot of educational content about mental health because we know they're going on their phones, they're searching social media and like YouTube and other stuff.

7:02 So we want now to be a place where they can search and get their questions answered. There's a lot of stigma reduction. So there's people like Kenny, there's so many young people, they're sharing their experiences with mental health, and we just know how important that is. And that makes you feel less alone. And then there's a lot of different life skills, things built by therapists so they can build up, you know, emotional awareness, better communication skills, healthy relationships, all of that. So it's really a selfguided journey. We personalize the content for them. And then we also have an A I system that can do crisis monitoring, which is really awesome, and flag kids who are struggling and connect them right away to a crisis counselor. I love that crisis piece of it in the incorporating the A I in that situation because of if things are happening and or somebody's typing something or there's something out on social media because we, you know, I'm not saying we're old but we didn't really have to deal with social media. I didn't have to deal with social media back in our day. Back in, you know, we had the phones with the the put the minutes on the phones, No texting, that kind of stuff. Remember the dial?

8:06 Remember the Oh yeah spin turning on the phones. Catherine's like what? You don't know that with my grandparents and my grandma had that phone, so I know exactly what you're talking. About. Oh, my bad. Now I should have said you, so it's really great. You're meeting the the learners, the students, the, you know, anybody where they're at in life. And I just love that about the app as well. And then incorporating the AI. I'm not being afraid of that to, you know, identify those crisis type situations. Yeah, I'm a personalized learning person. So anything that exactly to the user and is like personalized, I'm all for because everybody's needs are totally different and I think when we can tap into every, every user, every person, at least some in some capacity, that's awesome. 100% you see this?

9:00 Go ahead, Kenny. No, I was just going to say, I like the fact that you're able to do it within your own privacy to where there's not anybody around to where you can feel comfortable expressing and doing whatever you need to do. Yeah, that's all. I was going to now take it over from an educated perspective, Catherine. No, I mean, you all should be salespeople. I mean, you just said it all, but I think you hit on a couple big things. Definitely being able to do it in the privacy of your home, because we know. That there's so much that happens before, you know, a young person would walk into my office as a therapist and a lot of that is digital and that, you know, they're not comfortable, just, oh, I'm struggling. I'm going to talk to an adult. I'm going to walk into the therapist's office. So being able to have that kind of stepping stone to clinical care is so important. And that's really what this can be. And not having it disjointed.

9:48 I think there's so many different things in the behavioral health system that are just fragmented. Especially when you think about things like SEL and these self-guided, you know mental health curriculum is not connected to clinical services, but that's the perfect way to identify kids who are struggling before the point of a crisis and then connect with them so something bad doesn't happen. So having that kind of integrated systems and connecting though, we call the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 support, so like prevention, clinical and crisis services, I think that that's really a key component to what we do, absolutely. And whatever she just said, yeah, plus one. So Kenny, you talked when we were in the, we were in the waiting room.

10:32 You talked a little bit about your ties to, you know, Mexico. Can you tell us a little bit more about the various like organizations and things that you work with around New Mexico? And Sacramento, I know, I know it's a podcast. We we can have a conversation. You can you can be lengthy. It's. All good. You want to hear about it? That's why you're here. It's it's OK Where do I start? Well when it when it comes to New Mexico, this is my foundation. This is kind of like where everything kind of started, especially from the age of like 12 and on to where taking basketball to the whole next to the whole next level was being put in place because I was a part of an A, a U team that we were on a national level and. And and being able to come out of my shell at such a young age playing on a a significant high level and again some like amazing guys that are like in that I ended up playing against an NBA has been unreal.

11:34 And right now in New Mexico, it's always been like one of those things that's been a passion for me is giving back the way I was raised. You. You have to give the one you have to give back because you're supposed to. And then two, in order to receive anymore blessings, you have to give back. That's those are a couple models that I try and follow and I just do it just to give most of the time anyway to where I'm not necessarily receiving something right now. I'm on the board for ALS New Mexico. I mean, I'm not up on the board, excuse me, let me rephrase that. I'm actually an ambassador for make a Wish New Mexico. So I do some things with them when it comes to raising money.

12:16 I'm on the board for the University of New Mexico Black Alumni chapter, which is us helping the black alumni's. And you don't have to be black, of course. Obviously if you're an alumni you can be associated with the university chapter. That's been two years. I was on the board for ALS for two years. I'm not on the board for ALS anymore. There's a lot of different things that. Were being done in New Mexico as far as like that whole disease and the muscles and all that, and I was happy to be a part of that. Just had a golf tournament for the Boys and Girls Club up north, where it's an underserved community and it's not as big as Albuquerque.

13:02 So I went up there. It was through a senator of mine, Senator Leoha Mijo, who's a good friend of mine and he's from Espanola and he was actually a cheerleader at the time when I was playing at U&M. So we got to reconnect and and and and kind of we're just building this relationship and like connecting me with different community, the community people, programs that we think is. That fits with my brand in promoting different things. And I'm also on the African American chamber here for the state of New Mexico. I'm on that board.

13:44 But there's there's this variety of different things that I have going on and there's always multiple people trying to come at me and wanting me to do stuff in the community. And then majority of the time I just do it, especially if it fits in my schedule. And yeah, those are some of the things I do here. But let me add this City Year Sacramento, I'm on that board. So I do some stuff in Sacramento as well. When it comes to the kids and Catherine, we were doing some stuff with Neil and City Year right now. And City Year is a organization that does stuff with kids as far as housing and some other stuff as well. Well you're you're one of the humans is the the reason I started this podcast is the way that you're giving back and wanting to tell people's stories. Because I don't think enough people's stories are told and how they got to where they're at and how. You know especially when we're talking about mental health and how we connect as humans through the trauma that we've been through and what that looks like. So thank you for giving back and doing that within your communities that you're involved in. We love, we love what you're doing, and I've read a lot about you since we first heard.

14:59 You were coming on the show, so thank you for that and sharing. That thank you. Yeah. I I, I try to, I try to attack the places where I played because I have a brand there and then absolutely here in New Mexico. The nice thing about it is we got Colorado, we still got Texas right there and we have like Arizona. So if I'm able to branch off and do things and and and just kind of stay in the forefront of the areas that have done so much for me and then just trying to build those up, yeah. But the sports part of me is trying not to ask you sports questions because. It's asking me, go ahead. I know. No, I'm not. Not yet. I'm going to wait a little bit longer.

15:40 I was in the, I was in the queue this morning. I'm a huge Orioles fan, and I was in the queue this morning for about an hour trying to get playoff tickets, and I managed to secure two to the ALDS and the ALCS. So I am pumped. I am so pumped. But I'll ask you. I'll wait to ask you questions. And we really, we really. This isn't about me. This is about, you know? This is This is your podcast talking about mental. Health both of you guys. Nadia and Holly's podcast. Even though it's not named that no, no we we're just we're we're just we're not in the title we're not in the title but it really like as a as a former athlete and seeing what you all are doing and what you're bringing together it's really uplifting.

16:25 So thank you. Yeah, and and since you since Holly kind of preface bringing together, I'm kind of interested to know how did this amazing collaboration happen. Like, how did you guys meet up? How did you guys collaborate on this? Can you give us a little bit of the story behind that? My head stubbed. Not me, I I'm. Smart. I allow the women to talk. I'm smart. You gotta figure it out, Kenny. You gotta picture on me. Yeah. I mean, it was just, I think, kind of like. Right time.

17:08 And we're both, I think looking at like Kenny speaks, what he was looking to do as far as mental health stuff. But we had a mutual consultant who was kind of working for both of us. And one of the big things, you know, again, being a clinician, kind of coming from health care, there were so many people who were falling through the cracks, and it's usually the most vulnerable people who aren't getting access to health care through health systems. So I feel like for so long we kind of thought as mental health is like this black box, like it's it's within the system and you can't do it in the community, you can't do it in other ways. So that's something I've always been really interested in, in my career is like how can we make this more accessible? How can we reach people in new and innovative places where they feel more comfortable talking about mental health. So the schools has always been one. We've done a lot of work with Neil from the schools to reach the kids again before the point of crisis. And sports, I think, is huge because you're reaching a lot of people, especially young men, in ways that you might not otherwise reach them.

18:04 So this, you know, consultant when you're working with us, like, hey, I know this guy, He's interested in some mental health. I think you should just talk, just talk. And then, yeah, I don't know, Kenny, you can take it from there. Yeah, it was. It's me still trying to follow my path, which comes down to giving back, right? And I have. A platform to do that and being able to come into a situation where Catherine has laid out all the foundation. Here I am just trying to come in and use my brand to help support her and then just continue the mission. And the mission is always trying to get people involved and feel comfortable with expressing yourself, especially when it comes to mental health.

18:49 Because if you don't, you never know where you're going to end up and being able to be comfortable within yourself. And expressing those, I think that's key. And then if I'm able to touch somebody, even if their parent tells a little kid, hey, that this guy played basketball, if I'm able to touch somebody and I'm, I'm, I'm good with that as well. That's awesome. You say it so casually. You were in the NBA for 11 years. I mean, I I I have basketball, Kenny. I play some basketball when I go outside and try to play with the, you know, the younger kids on the street and they school me. People please do not listen to her. I am the most humble person ever in in thank you and I I still have dreams and. Especially with me doing NBA games now, this is going to be my third year doing TV.

19:41 It doesn't, it doesn't seem real that I did that when I'm actually watching it, But all the hard work and everything paid off and I was able to provide for my family and I'm still able to now. And it's been it's been good to me, but now it's a different story. It's a different chapter in Kenny's life to where I need to help others. I used to entertain, but now it's different. So if I can open up some doors and get this mental health app going, I'm gonna do it. Absolutely. And I'm. I think that's so amazing. I'm just so, I'm so, like enamored with you and Catherine. I talked to her. I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous. She's like, Kenny is, Oh my goodness, nervous.

20:23 About work. Chill. I I mean, I just, I've never interviewed like a person. Of your stature? Seriously. Say, are you kidding me? We need change that. Yeah, we do. We absolutely we are now, but we need to change that. More you're the first, so we're happy to have you here. And one of the things I was the questions that was going through my head and thinking about this as a like a former athlete myself is and you being at the level of the NBA and the pressure and the practices and the. Playoffs and the championships and the the money and the sponsorship. And all the different things that you have to deal with when you're coming. You start out in these these rec leagues and then you go all the way up to the NBA.

21:07 How does that impact your mental health and how do you manage that? It was hard. It was hard because I didn't think I was good enough to go to college. And then next thing you know, I have a great summer before my senior year and all these colleges come out, North Carolina, UConn, all the big schools. And here I am in little New Mexico and I'm playing in a high school game and they've never televised a local high school game in the whole state. And I'm playing against one of my best friends, A J Bramlett, who ended up going to Arizona and I went to New Mexico. Then we ended up playing against each other in college, and then I decided to stay here in New Mexico and it was a state championship game, 18,000 people for a high school game.

21:56 I'm like, I need to stay right here. And then I ended up getting 18,000 people for every game. And then they've created dots around the arena for like, standing room only. It was unreal. And just from a mental perspective, like, I didn't think I was good enough for college. I'll go back to that. And then once you get there, it's like, hey, I can do this. So it's a matter. I think it's a matter of tricking your brain to where don't, don't tell yourself you can't. I can't do this. And as being a professional athlete, I got to the point when somebody told me I couldn't do something, I even wanted it more. So it's the same thing now in business it's it's it's impacting me so much because I'm so competitive.

22:44 If somebody tells me one no and one door, I'll go open up two or three more doors. So I think that's been hard. I mean, that's been a growing process for me because I think it was a mental component to where I just wasn't confident enough. And I think I think this app will allow you to be more confident to where, you know, you can do certain things. Because I'm like what, like 2%, three percent of of this nation to a certain extent to where you get a chance to go to the NBA. Yeah, so. Yeah, absolutely. I was, I was. It's it's just so it's just so amazing that somebody who's done what you've done and it's giving back the way that you're giving back. But how comfortable it is to to be in this space and talk in this space about mental health.

23:37 I I think we don't talk about it enough to be honest with you. I think it's something and that's one of the things that we wanted to discuss here is the stigmatism around it and especially I could think. At a level of you know, any sort of professional league, the stigma when players, you know, I've known it's been in the news a few like NFL players or people taking breaks because of mental health issues. And I hear people feel like, what are they doing? Or I'm watching Get up in the morning or, you know, First Take And Stephen A, I was in Philly when Stephen A started. Yeah. He's, he's amazing. I'm not. I'm not. Honest, even. I love him.

24:17 He's very entertaining. But just, you know, thinking about like these players, they're humans as well. See, people don't understand that, like they expect a professional athlete not to mess up, like the pressure and the little bit anxiety you have to perform. And if you don't perform, you're not going to get that contract. You're not going to play because if you're not playing, it's it's well, what do you do now? Like your whole life you wanted to get on a stage like the NBA and then it comes down to numbers in production. It it just does. And then you get paid off of your upside and what they think that can be. And you even have to be in the right situation with the right coach, like on the right team.

25:05 And I was just blessed to be able to do that. And I didn't play my last three years. I'll I'll add this like I was making a significant amount of money my last three years. And I was a guy that played in college, that's played all the way through college, gets to the NBA, then you have to wait your turn. And then my last three years, I don't play and I'm trying to get another contract that messed up, that that messed me up mentally because I'm like, what am I going to do next, right? I I wasn't a guy that took advantage of developing those relationships with partners while I was playing.

25:45 That's one of the key components that Magic Johnson said. Who's my mentor that he wish he would have developed those relationships and he's doing it now, obviously, but but it would have been a lot. Easier He's the commanders. He has the Dodgers, He has the sparks. He think he has a I think he has a soccer team it's just a variety of different things that he's created for himself and it's all because of his brand. So it it it wasn't easy because those three years I'm like what am I going to do next and I wanted another contract and people don't know this.

26:25 I I I made a significant amount of money. But when I signed my deal I left like 15,000,000 on the table because I thought I was going to get another deal and I wanted to stay in Philly opposed to going somewhere else. So. Yeah. Well, thank you for being vulnerable and sharing all of that I can do. Yeah, giving us the insider perspective and I obviously have tons more questions, but we don't have time for that right now. Yeah, I played against Michael Jordan. Yeah. I mean, obviously, but you know, not, I'm not going to, I'm not going to finger out. I really want to focus more on this topic and I always do think about that, especially when I see and Nadia.

27:09 This is your time when you tell me to be quiet. When I see things happen, like what happened to Aaron Rodgers and what he's going through now, I can only imagine what that's doing to him mentally and he he was so prepared and ready to go and get The Jets on the map and then four plays in, he's done for the season. Probably it. I can't imagine what that does to to an athlete at any level. You know he's he's Aaron Rodgers. Like a guy like him. He'll get another chance. If he wants some guys when they get hurt, it's over. It's a wrap. And I know that he didn't want something like that to happen. Who does?

27:54 Because obviously he wanted to prove himself. Like I don't. I don't need to be in Green Bay to still be good and I still got it at at 39, right? But I feel like this is a guy that he's going to come back. I don't. I don't think the story's over and he has that right. And he's seen the same surgeon that that worked on Kobe Bryant from what I was told. So he's in good hands and see what happens. Yeah, and I'm just thinking out the different levels too. Even when that happens, when you're like a high school or college and you just, you know, you're dealing with classes and grades and parents and relationships, these kids are making 200 + 1000 to go to college.

28:40 Nowadays, don't go there. Don't, don't, don't go there. High school too. These kids are making money. If I was in college and we had nil, Oh my goodness, I would have wanted more years in college, man. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm interested to know a little bit more about the details of the projects that you're collaborating on with the Department of Health in New Mexico or any additional, you know, projects that you'd like to to share. But I'm interested to kind of dig into that if you're, you're willing to share a little bit with the audience, oh. Yeah, absolutely.

29:24 I'm ready. Yeah. I mean, part of the work that we're doing across the country, but in New Mexico and with the Department of Health is really what we're doing today. And like, I just want to again thank Kenny for being here because you don't, you know, 10-15 years ago, right, like when we were in school, you didn't see people talking about this and being open and vulnerable about their mental health. And now imagine, I mean, for any of us as adults, but especially the kids who are watching this. All the things that Kenny was feeling is talk about not having confidence, not feeling good enough, trying to reinvent yourself or decide what to do after school or after a career change. Like those are things that even people at his level deal with. And I think that kids don't always realize that just to have somebody just come out and be open and vulnerable about that is is huge. So I want to thank Kenny for that and that's a big part of the work that we're doing.

30:15 So one thing we're doing with the Department of Health, we're real excited about this. We're going to be in Albuquerque mid November. We're keynoting the DoH conference, so we're going to be able to chat with all of the people in New Mexico in mental health school based services and really just get that conversation going and talking about, you know, mental health in general reducing stigma and really starting about to talk about Ed tech, which is, I know what this podcast is about. But some people might be surprised to know a lot of schools. Yes, they're using technology, but they're not using mental health technology. And the idea that we have mental health within the schools is still very new. COVID kind of accelerated this, but it's not like all the schools are are doing this and it's so easy and comfortable and they've been doing it forever. So Kenny and I are going to be able to go there and just talk to a whole lot of people about some of the work we've been doing at NEOS and really just talking about best practices with mental health technology to get the schools a little bit more comfortable with Ed Tech.

31:11 So we're pretty excited about that. That's awesome. I got a question for you guys. What are these numbers on this screen? Which numbers I got like 95% on mine? And what are these numbers that are coming in and out? I've never seen this before. Oh, that might be like your audio quality or your video quality. That's coming in. Oh, OK, cool. Yeah, It's telling you how wonderful you are. You're doing fantastic. It's giving you positive reinforcement. No, you just did a good job. You can say it again. I'm just kidding. Well, Catherine, I want to talk a little bit about what when you're going into schools and I know that it's K through 12 higher Ed, like what are some of the things that you do and what you know, bringing Kenny in now, what's that going to do for the platform? You know, how is that going to make a positive social impact? And you know, in the larger community because it's not just going to be in New Mexico.

32:09 And you know, our podcast is international. Saying it's going to be around, so people are going to start contacting you from other countries. So be prepared. So how, how are you going to, you know, scale that? But beyond that, what's the impact that you think it's going to have or that you are already seeing that it's having when you bring it into the schools, into these children? Oh yeah. I guess a couple different things. One of them is kind of going off of what I said before is that mental health in the schools and mental health technology in the schools is still really new. And Kenny knows this from being on. I don't know how many conversations with me now and and different potential partners where it's not like, oh, we've done this before.

32:50 OK, great, let's do it again. It's really starting from Day 0 of what is this technology, how do we use it, what's the rollout plan. So there's so much to do there. And one of the exciting things that we're starting to do is kind of even take a step back from implementing the technology and just having conversations like this or keynote conversations or Kenny has graciously kind of. Opened himself up to speaking engagements and going into, you know, schools and different opportunities. He does so much, he's really humble. He does a lot about, you know, basketball tournaments and reaching thousands of kids in New Mexico. So having these opportunities to just kind of get your foot in the door and start to discuss mental health, that's like a stepping stone to implementing the actual program, which as we've seen to be implemented as a self-guided service kind of opt in for students or in some schools it's even integrated into the curriculum. That's awesome.

33:40 I love that you're kind of creating that buy in kind of getting them just warmed up, excited and to talk about these kind of topics and getting making them feel comfortable around. It absolutely. I feel like it. Like I said before, it's just not something that's talked about enough and you can feel like kind of isolated when you're having those kinds of issues. You know, in school and you can go to the counselor, but maybe that's not the support that you necessarily need. So it bringing this to the table was really going to help a lot of people. And they're in their breath then, too. Counselors like, yeah, I mean, yeah, because I almost went down that road. I started my degree in counseling, school counseling, and the pandemic hit and that kind of, you know, messed the whole, not really messed it up because I I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be.

34:29 But. You know, it kind of put a little halt on the plan. So I think school counselors as well are spread, spread thin. So it's kind of nice to have that additional support for for students. Yeah, absolutely. And Colton's making an appearance with my dog Colton. He's saying aye. Yeah, I just, I I have so many questions floating through my head and and things that I want to talk about with both of you. And again, Kenny, thank you so much for being here and Catherine, thank you for doing what you're doing and really looking forward to hearing how things go with New Mexico and the keynote. Congratulations on that.

35:09 That's. That's. We hope sometime you'll come out to the East Coast to do something so we could all meet up in person and say hi. But one of the things that I I do want to mention is that, like I was saying before, these athletes, these people, they're humans. They do have real problems. You know, Neo really puts it out there for people to take this journey and personalize learning, and everybody needs to go to definitely check it out. You know, but in wrapping things up a little bit, are there any other sorts of projects or things that you have coming down the line that people should know about besides the keynote that you want to share and want to get out there? We're going to share everything because this is going to become an episode as well in the show notes and out there for, you know, LinkedIn world, YouTube world. Everybody's going to be able to find out what you're both are doing in this wonderful collaboration. I mean we have a, we have a variety of different things that we're working on.

36:09 We just kind of, we just kind of brought up the keynote speaking thing because we know that that's happening. Yeah, you know, we can't talk about things. I can't talk about the things that we have going on because they haven't actually happened yet. So I don't know if you want to add to that capital. Yeah. Was that being too big? Don't. Violate into any NDA agreement ever. That's that's always my thing. And when I ask this question, no NDA violations. Don't want to get in trouble this whenever you can share. This is what I'll say about some of the work Kenny and I are doing. It's really about being creative and how do you meet young people where they are. And some of the things that I think about is. And I think we talked about this, Holly, but remember those like, kind of like kitschy, like public health video series that they used to have, like after the school specials?

36:55 Yeah, but like in their own way, as goofy as they were, they were innovative because they were on TV and they were trying to meet young people where they were. Remembered it. They did. So, yeah, so it's kind of the same thing now. And we're thinking about media and technologies and some different partnerships and maybe some video series that we're looking forward to announcing soon. But how can we bring together, you know, people like Kenny who are really role models with young people talking about mental health and just meet them in these kind of digital mediums where they are. I think that that's going to be really exciting. So kind of keep posted before we make those announcements, but I think there's going to be a lot more around that and even stuff like he had mentioned with, you know, basketball tournaments and sports and some other folks that he's working with.

37:37 It's like a really great way to meet young people outside of the doctor's office. Not that the doctor's office isn't important, but there are so many people who aren't ending up there for whatever reason. So like, I don't know if there's anything you want to share about the basketball tournaments and all the kids you're reaching. There's so much there as well, thank you. I actually just did a tournament from Memorial Day weekend. I partnered with the city of Berlin, which is on the outskirts of Albuquerque to where we had 18, like 18 or 19 gems in Valencia County and kind of like in that whole outskirts of Albuquerque because we use Belange Gems and things like that.

38:18 We had 252 boys and girls from like 7 different states. So kind of like what I'm doing is I'll have a tournament in like Albuquerque and then I'll go to like Roswell, NM, which is right there by Texas El Paso where I live. And then I'll go to like Hobbs, NM next year, which is right there by Texas also. And then up North Santa Fe area where I just had my golf tournament up there. And then there's just other opportunities of of other places like Houston. I'm looking at having a tournament there, Sacramento of course, and then if I'm able to go to Philadelphia, that's fine as well.

38:59 And in that big tournament that I had, we had teams from like Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, like Arkansas. Now they want us to go up to Arkansas and do a tournament. The nice thing about it is in these different areas, I'm creating partnerships with the cities to where if they let us use their facilities, they get the opportunity to be able to make money as well. If it's a percentage of the door or if it's concession or whatever it may be, and we're not charging a lot per team, we're charging like a few 100 bucks. It's not like it's like 6-7 hundred bucks for like 3 or four games and it's a couple 100 for like 3 to five games. And then they get trophies and then they get to meet me because I'm jumping around to all of these facilities and taking pictures and visibility there because with my name being attached, they obviously want to see me being there. So I'm not going to be able to make them all. But it's it's becoming a regular thing to where I'm having tournaments on a consistent basis, like my next one was coming up in December here in New Mexico. So it's going to be around the holidays to give the kids an out during that time because they're usually on breaker they to keep them active and have them doing something. Absolutely.

40:15 Oh, my goodness, you're doing a lot longer. I heard Philadelphia, so that's over this way. Yeah, we, we, we haven't started up there yet, but I'm hoping to get into that market with some other things that I have going on with some with some of my business partners out of LA. Yeah, yeah, we'll see what happened. I love everything that you're doing and I'm sure that we could probably talk for hours and. You're just so. Genuine and it is and you're just so you are very charming and. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on and putting you on this platform and expressing your runability. And also, Catherine, you know, I admire you and all the things that you've been doing and watching, you know, grow to this point is unbelievable and I can't wait to see where it goes next.

41:08 So we want to wrap up with some final thoughts. Anything else that you you want to share with us or share with the audience? Anything that we forgot to talk about? Because I'm just so into my sports brain right now. I blame Kenny. For being a professional athlete. So anything else that you want to share with the audience? Ladies first all. Right, well. Because I'm about my social media, yeah. So yes, and there's wine company. Kenny has so much going on. It's so cool to work with like a fellow entrepreneur and really get his perspective. But to kind of bring it back to the Ed tech before we jump into Kenny's stuff, because I know there's a lot of people listening and Ed tech is their thing.

41:51 I was just all day kind of looking through some data. We had an implementation, a big implementation with the university, not going to name them because they probably want to make the announcement about some of this data coming out. But we were looking through some of the data coming out. We did a large study last year with schools and something really cool that I noticed from this data coming out is that we had worked with schools. These are K12 schools, and they were kids with really more intense behavioral health needs. I think a lot of times when people think mental health, they think you know, anxiety and depression. But these were sites and as far as I know for the first time where we were looking at digital mental health with yes, those kind of traditional mental health conditions, but also comorbid with things like ADHD or autism.

42:35 So they had like a combination of kind of developmental and mental health issues and we were trying to support them all. And what we found is that when we use this classroom model, so teachers integrating it into the classroom, reducing stigma, talking about mental health. Over 50% of the kids in these schools were what we were calling super users on NEO. They were logging in 30 plus times throughout the school year. So it's not like they're signing up once and not interested. Like they're going back and they're going back and we're about to release some a case study about it with like all these nice quotes from the kids where they show this is how it helped me that we use the crisis AI. It was able to identify a bunch of kids. Within 10 minutes we could notify the schools. And let them know kids were struggling. So it's really cool to start to play around with this and implement it into the classroom and see how when teachers and other folks get involved in the school, how it can just bolster the effect of this program.

43:26 Yeah. What she just said. I can't talk that one from Kenny. I can't talk that Kenny Thomas, MBA social media handle. Follow me. That's all I got. Absolutely fault, Kenny. He's so genuine and he does a lot of great things out in the community. Um, I've been low key stalking you since Catherine said you were coming on this show. Oh Jesus. That's funny. No shame in your game, Holly? No, I. Don't hate you. Feel the same way. It's all good. Well, we. Yeah, go ahead.

44:07 No, I was just gonna say I would love to come back, Catherine. Whatever you need, obviously. You guys just let me know I had fun. Thank you. That's all. Yeah, we we do. Where are they now? Episodes And we will. We would absolutely put you at the top of the list. We want to see in 6 to 12 months what you are doing with this collaboration, how much it's spreading and all the great things that you're doing and share it with our audience because we're all about stories and we're all about helping people here at UP at Tech. So we can't. Thank you enough, Kenny, for your time. Catherine, for your time and being with us this afternoon, this evening and all the listeners out there. This is an amazing episode. Thanks for joining us. We really appreciate it. Yes, totally.

44:47 Thank you guys for having me the add up at tech podcast. I said that right? Yeah, that part. Out. Amazing. I got you. Thank you ladies.