Leading Greats #24

Hello Friends,

Thank you for reading my newsletter “Leading Greats”!

This is where I bring inspiration from my breadth of knowledge and experience in healthcare and leadership, incorporating well-being, plus new innovations.

I hope that you benefit from this information if even in some small way.

I appreciate your support!! Thank YOU for being GREAT!

It has been another week of interesting conversations and discoveries.

This issues is born out of need - to address our culture - of climate and therapeutic change possibilities.

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Wildfire Smoke & Health Concerns

Wildfires have continued to rage in Northern California

This past week alone in the San Francisco Bay Area I had to stay mostly indoors a few days without choice as the air was too tainted with wildfire smoke.

Interestingly there were no large fires burning near me for hundreds of miles away.

Several different wildfires merged into larger fires up north near the Oregon border.

REMINDER: 

• Public air has no real border.

• Public air is surely not private, nor easily controlled.

I tried to get out for some exercise midweek, and it was tough to breathe.

Once from where I was in the Santa Cruz Mountain foothills and what is normally a priceless view across the San Francisco Bay - there was no view of even the water of the bay - never mind the hill views across it the bay for a few days.

We get “spare the air alerts” where wood burning is not allowed in the Bay Area, and it serves as a health alert for sensitive groups that are prone to respiratory distress.

This alert has to do with the amount of unhealthy particulate matter in the air we breathe.

• It is important to be aware of and to take heed of local health warnings.

• A spare the air day is a health warning.

• https://www.sparetheair.org/

Maui is reeling from the recent deadly fires and destruction there.

Tourism which they depend on has dropped off tremendously.

Maui is asking for tourists to return so they may maintain their livelihood and rebuild from the tremendous Lahaina loss of property, livelihoods, and lives.

The World Needs More Great Leaders!

We have had our share of public emergencies in recent years.

Huge wildfires made history taking entire towns out.

The frontline workers surely get their share of stress working these.

Mental health concerns are very prevalent for front line emergency workers who are frequently exposed to the immediate emergencies of wildfire and the aftermath.

Considering a run of widely devastating fires and loss of lives many frontline responders and healthcare workers suffer outsized mental stress.

• It was widely publicized the number of healthcare workers who ended their lives during the recent pandemic peak as they were not able to cope with the stress.

• Firefighters are surely no exception of those who suffer great mental challenges from the gruesome work they are exposed to.

• So many firefighters struggle with substance use disorders to try and cope with their stress. This is not effective.

I came across an interesting article of how a former local firefighter tried psychedelics as a last effort to manage their own mental health issues that they struggled with for decades.

It worked.

Now they are a champion for getting this similar solution to other first responders.

• This remains controversial as many states still classify psychedelics as Schedule 1 drugs, which the federal government has determined have no current accepted medical use and high potential for abuse.

• Angela Graham is the fearless leader who created the S.I.R.E.N. Project.

• This group sends first responders to Mexico, where the laws are not as strict - and a church in Texas that is legally allowed to hand out the medicine through an exemption in the laws.

There is still great caution around the use of mushrooms/psychedelics.

Too many people have tried psychedelics with horrific outcomes.

There needs to be clear guardrails around the use of psychedelics for the protection of more vulnerable groups.

A group formed for this very reason, the California Coalition for Psychedelic Safety and Education.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/08/27/she-secretly-sends-bay-area-firefighters-on-psychedelic-trips-is-it-the-future-of-mental-health-treatment/

Many high-profile universities are working diligently to research and establish the efficacy and safety of psychedelics in the right cases.

Tim Ferris, author, podcaster, investor, plus many other accomplishments - has set out to carve a path of discovery, safety, and acceptance around the use of psychedelics in certain circumstances:

https://tim.blog/2021/03/31/psychedelics-101/

• I have no opinion of what is right or not with this alternate treatment.

• I remain open to sustainable solutions that fill a void where there are none currently.

I fully respect these brave concerned citizens leading the way for positive possible change for alternate treatment for mental health concerns.

The World Needs More Great Leaders!

<Image above is a wall mural in the Stanford University area. It has always struck me as potentially a psychedelic mirage somehow. Though some areas of California are unbelievably beautiful this way!>

As a Strategic Leadership Catalyst and Executive Coach I help highly motivated professionals transform culture through human centered empathy.

I help leaders master performance and well-being.

If this sounds like you, your organization, or someone you know, I can help.

That is all - for this issue - of Leading Greats!

I hope that you got something of benefit here - Thank You for your support!

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Til next time - Keep it Great,

-Ronnie

• Leadership Catalyst & Transformational Coach

• Healthcare Leader | Advisor | Speaker

• Schedule a strategy call for working together @ ronniekinsey.net

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronniekinseymba/