Mental Health Resources That Actually Work | with Jenny Weaver

Even as much as celebrities and football players and more men are talking about mental health. And that is incredibly powerful, and I love that. But the stigma is still very real. And a lot of times these companies are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on programs to teach leadership or teach management how to find signs of somebody who's struggling. But then they're still not giving the resources to create that accessibility and that comfort and that confidentiality on the back end.

Shift your mindset.

Welcome back to the accelerate your insurance sales podcast. I am joined by Jenny Weaver with Ally Health. Jenny, welcome.

Thank you.

Awesome. Now we're going to have some. I want. The reason I wanted to have you on is, you know, we're recording this in June, first episode I've done, by the way, in somebody's backyard, which is nice.

We're.

We're in house today. We're in Arizona. But being that it is men's mental health month, I think it was great to have you on. So for the people who are tuning in that have no clue who Jenny Weaver is, introduce yourself.

Oh, my gosh. Who am I? Well, I guess when it comes to work, I'm the director of broke relations for Ally Health. We're a division of PEs benefits and we really just focus on virtual care, which in this case is access to mental health services, access to doctors and physicians, and just really helping people to get in front of those providers in a way that's easier than going through insurance or facing co pays or just accessibility in general.

Let's talk a little bit about. We're going to. We're going to get into Ally Health and then definitely want to get into just what makes you tick. Okay, so Ally Health for. Again, just like introducing yourself for the people who aren't familiar with Ally Health. Yeah. What is it? What are you guys doing?

We are like I mentioned, getting people access to, to health providers or mental health providers, all virtually. So with. With no co pays, with no limit on.

Family accessibility or dependence or not dependence. We just want people to get in front of providers on a more regular basis. So whether it be urgent care, primary care, dermatology, or just immediate mental health access, scheduled talk therapy, psychiatry, or even like practical daily support where you're talking about financial questions, legal questions, different other strains on life, we want people to have that at their fingertips, literally on an app or a web portal, or to call in and just have help on the other line. And we do provide in a zero copay.

Setup or membership to. To do exactly that. And the whole household can use the service, not just the employee who's on the health plan. It's. It's really unrelated, so it's really beautiful. It's really fun to be.

So I don't. If I'm a family member, I don't actually have to be on the health plan. That's great.

Nope. Yeah. So it could be spouses, significant others, kids of significant others even. I've talked to several groups who maybe have a younger demographic and the benefit can actually support their parents because they're still living at home. So parents, grandparents, et cetera. If they're on the. In the household, they can have access to ally health services.

That's awesome. You know, I'd love your opinion if you're willing to share. I mean, in a society, in a world we live in now where we feel like we're more connected than ever before because of social media and things like that, and we do so many things virtually these days, but we're always so connected. Everybody's on their phone 24 7. How can. Why do people feel so isolated? Why do you think our mental health issues are off the charts right now?

Dopamine, addiction to social media.

Okay. And like, I'm a big preacher of social media. I don't disagree with you.

Right. No. Right. I mean, we.

Need it for a lot of things. We use it for business. We use it to connect. And I'm going to use the word connect lightly as well because I feel like people portray what they'd like to on social media. It's, it's all.

It's the perfect one second.

Yeah, and, and there's a lot of, like, emotions and people are sharing, like, not so great things and not the shiny objects too, but it's still, still curated.

Yeah.

And we, we put ourselves in this place where we're comparing ourselves to others, good, bad or otherwise, and we're only really connecting with that, with, with people on a screen instead of each other.

And it's tough. And, and there is that dopamine. Dopamine addiction is that kick that we get of, of scrolling through TikTok or Instagram or. I do it. I'm on there all the time. And I love LinkedIn and I, I do love when people are supportive of what I'm posting. Like, it does make me feel good. And, and I think we're just all getting really used to that, which is crazy.

Well, you bring up a really good point. And I hope what I'm about to say doesn't hit somebody the wrong way, but you see it once in a while, even on LinkedIn, you know, I feel like I'm a pretty good observer of content and somebody's content and the journey they're going through emotionally because of the content. And then you can kind of tell like, is this person okay? You know, and then all of a sudden, a month later they, they throw the post out where they get really vulnerable and basically let the world know they're not in a good place. And you're right. I think for a lot of people, especially in our industry, they do get sucked into that dopamine. And I hate to say it, I've been there.

Yeah.

And there's this big. How do I say it? Big push of industry popularity and I think it really sucks people in and they can find themselves in a position where. Here. Yeah. It doesn't put them in a good place. You agree with that? I do. What about, what about men's mental health? You know, being that June is Men's Mental Health Month, I feel like again, I just love your thoughts. You know, ever since the pandemic, I feel like men especially have been dealing with mental health issues. Like, I don't know if when you look at the statistics of who's using Ally Health, you guys see a higher propensity of males over females, not over female.

But we, because of the anonymity of our services and the confidentiality of them, we do see that men are more willing to use our service. Um, which is good. I. It's definitely not hyper.

I think it's because men are often. You said the anonymity men are often afraid to stigma is so okay.

Even as much as, as celebrities and football players and every. More men are talking about mental health. And that is incredibly powerful. And I love that. And even the vulnerability that I'm seeing on LinkedIn or social media of, of men just being like, look, I'm having a tough time. If you're having a tough time. Like, I'm like, this is my phone number. And I love that and I respect that so much. But the stigma is still very real. I've had several situations talking to brokers or even directly to some clients that have shared where they maybe they're in a blue collar environment, so predominantly male.

Where there's definitely a stigma.

Definitely a stigma. Right. And, and the amount of suicide, drug, alcohol abuse, it's so prevalent. And a lot of times these companies are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on programs to teach leadership or teach management how to find signs of somebody who's struggling, but then they're still not giving the resources to create that accessibility and that comfort and that confidentiality on the back end. And employee assistance programs are incredibly important. That short term counseling, that in the moment care, it's great. But a lot of times that person who finally decides which according to, you know, mental health, Mental Health America or the national alliance of Mental Illness, they've talked about how sometimes people will delay 10 years before even seeking help for the first time. So they've been struggling for 10, 11 decades, entire decade.

Wow.

And then they're like, you know what? I'm ready.

But they don't want to go to HR to find out how to get access to the benefit that would help them. So they continue to struggle in silence or. Or they do and they get access to something that gives them three sessions. But that's maybe 40 years of trauma that they need to unbundle and they don't. They can't afford the co pay or the deductible that they face once those three sessions are up and they have to go into their insurance. It just. Healthcare in general is still clunky. We all know this. A lot of us are fighting for that. People in navip, we're all fighting for that.

And mental health is still a piece that really hasn't achieved parity where it's supposed to be. Even with healthcare, mental health is still not there.

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Yep.

So we have components of that. We also have components of the scheduled ongoing talk therapy that somebody would get if they went to a therapist through their insurance or going out of pocket and seeking a provider for an in person session. We have both of those pieces together under One, one vendor, one wheelhouse, one partner where an employee can, they can have their scheduled ongoing therapy or they can start with eap. Maybe they want to start with a coach.

And one of the ways I describe it is, is for that intimidation factor. Because therapy is scary.

Yeah.

And if someone doesn't really know what that means and all they know is the stigma associated with it, maybe starting with a life coach or nutrition coach or somebody like that.

Yeah.

Would be their step one. Cool. We have that. Maybe it is. I'm going to call in and talk to a short term counselor. I'm going to, going to correspond via messenger or email with a, with a coach and just start a dialogue. Cool. Maybe I am ready to start therapy. But it can, it can be this process of growth for the person to learn the process instead of oh, we just have this available or we just have this available. It's more holistic when it comes to mental health services.

Yeah. Do you find that because it's very much app trained driven, that you tend to get a higher level of engagement because people can engage, I hate to say it, in the comfort of their home, but that, that suffering in silence. But when I've got easy access to help, I don't have to go through the HR director to find out where are our EAP services because now I just threw up the red flag. Do you find that makes it easy for people to engage a lot more because of that?

It does. And, and Ally Health specifically and other services do this too. We really push employees to register on the app. So they might already be enrolled in our service, but to get them to activate their account. Just like if you go to the doctor, you have that intake form. Right. You have to do it every time. So it's the same thing to get into our, our web platform or our app. But once they're in there, there's a little bit more trust like, oh, I have access to these things and, and nobody else needs to know. And they can have their family members and things like that too. But getting them on there is really, it's our responsibility to cause that behavior, that action. And then from there it's leading a horse to water. But at least they have water.

Yeah. I, you know, it's interesting we're even having this conversation. Cause I think about it, we, we spend so much time.

Talking about how we as an industry offer this too, the workforce that we serve. But again, observing what goes on within our own industry. There's as much of a need for people. I mean I, in the last 12 months.

Three people drew acquaintances. So I didn't know the individual, but three industry professionals took their own life.

And again, it's that most people, you know, they deal with that shock because we would have never known.

Right.

And it's because that person was suffering in silence. Everything up here may look great. The cars, the houses, the money, the agency. You have no idea what's going on under, under the, under the service. What drives you to be part of that movement as somebody who offers a mental health solution? You know, what I love to learn is I don't think the people who are succeeding in our industry are not doing it just to make some money and sell a product. There's, there's, there's a little mission behind it, a little passion. What drives you especially to offer. Be aligned with a product that is based on mental health?

Yeah.

Personal experience through my family in my own life, and then, of course, stories from friends and family thereafter. I, I was lucky to be raised in a family who talked about mental health. Half of my family, basically, across the board, struggles with chronic depression. So I was, I was raised in, in a space that we talked about it. We talk about having the blues and, and, you know, down days and things like that. And I struggled with depression personally several times in my life where I actually went on the antidepressants and I even went to therapy when my parents were divorcing. I, I went to therapy when I was in fourth grade or. I don't even know. Yes, some, some adolescent year. So I was, I was even comfortable with it then. And then as, you know, getting into my late teens, you know, antidepressants, I had a traumatic event later in my life where I needed anxiety medication and antidepressants. And, and that's not just to say that that therapy is just for the medication part, but sometimes you need tools to achieve what you need to achieve. And at that point, like, I needed some tools, but one of the things that I experienced was, um. And actually I recently shared this on social media too, because May was mental health awareness month generally, and then June for, for men, but.

That I, I had access to an employee assistance program, and I called them because I was in crisis. I was having a really tough time. I was having a total meltdown and.

I needed help. So I reached out to the employee assistance program. They gave me a list of providers in my local vicinity within 10 miles or 15 miles. And there's probably 30 names on there, and I picked six or so and I called them crying, leaving, sobbing voicemails like I need help, like, please, like somebody call me. One of those six ever called me back. And her name was Leslie and Leslie was with me for almost two years. Wonderful woman therapist. She called me back, I think within the hour and was able to sort of calm me down in my anxiety that I was having. And then obviously I hired her at that point and in the beginning. So part one of the challenge is.

If you're in crisis and you can't get to a provider, that's when a lot of times people tip and they. There's self harm or, you know, drug and alcohol abuse and all sorts of things.

Not always, but commonly.

So that was sort of step one is getting access was really tough. I worked with Leslie for about a year and then I no longer had that insurance anymore and. Oh. And I moved out of state and she was only in California and probably shouldn't show the sun here. Anyways, we went out of pocket, which was expensive, but that was my option like that.

Well, and you knew you needed it.

Yeah.

So you know.

Yeah. So it's, it's tricky. There's just, there's so many barriers and that's coming from somebody. Point of all that say this is coming from somebody who grew up being comfortable talking about therapy and mental health, who understands insurance and health care, who still is struggling to get the access to, you know, providers and things that I might need across the board. So I feel like I'm an advocate for those people who don't have that same situation that I had growing up. Yeah. Have a lot of fear around this process, so that's fine.

Well, I think a lot of people grow up and possibly grow up in families that vulnerability is not allowed.

Yeah, absolutely.

You just buck it up and suck it up. And. And I think, I think we've all. I don't know, I feel like we've all gone through our own form of depression. At one point in life, I can even look back. I. I call my 2007-2010 my dark years, my lost years because I wasn't enjoying. I was in the industry, but I hated it.

Yeah.

I wasn't making good life choices around with the people who I was surrounding myself with. And people often talk about like I did three Ironmans at that time. I did the Ironmans because I needed to lean into something that made me feel good because everything else felt so bad.

Right.

Yeah.

And so even when I look back at those Ironman years, I don't look back at them with like pride because I, I realize I was doing them to hide from something else.

Right.

To escape. And that's parts of my life I did not like.

Yeah. And so people, so many people will just relate that like oh you're so healthy and you're so fit and you're achieving all these great things and you're like yeah, I was masking for.

Yeah.

Everything else that I like you send, you hate it or what.

I might be asking an unfair question, so feel free to say I don't want to answer but being somebody who represents, you know a, a program in the mental health space, if somebody's listening is there like certain, if you have a family member, friend signs that you should be aware of that.

I don't think something's right.

I don't know that I can speak to that.

Okay. Yeah, I didn't, I thought that might be an unfair question.

But there's a lot of resources where you can get some of that information. Like I mentioned the national alliance of Mental Illness, they have a great we website, NAMI great website. They have local chapters throughout different states to help provide that education and mental health America is another website and try to non profit that I follow and they provide a lot of education around things like that. Yeah.

I'll ask you a very, a very product specific thing if you don't mind because there's, there's probably people listening in what mo. I'd say a good chunk of our audience are benefit advisors with Ally Health. What does, how does that look like? If somebody is listening and they want to implement or bring that solution to a client. What does that look like? How does it work? Is it a pepm? What is, what is that?

Yep, it's a pepm. Typically employer paid. The robustness and the value of the service is really an employer paid strategy not only for the ROI of claims redirection with an urgent care program to really drive away and mitigate double digit rate increases and self funded programs and level funded and everything else that's out there. So that's a big key part of that. And then the mental health piece, people aren't going to voluntarily enroll in a mental health program because of stigma.

Hence employer paid.

Right.

So and there's a bit of million strategies around all of that. So it is a PM Great news because we are service run insurance. It's very turnkey, it's very quick to get started. That's actually how I found Ally Health when I was a broker I was like these guys are easy and they have great services and we so much more in our suite since I started four and a half years ago. But yeah, it's quick so we can implement usually within a couple weeks, if not sooner.

You know, I'm curious, sorry for all the left field questions, but I these, it's intriguing me. I'm like, you know, when I think about what you guys do, is there a correlation? I'd be curious to know if there's a correlation between mental health and, you know, struggling in silence and that leading to potential bigger medical and pharmacy claims down the downstream. You know what I'm saying? Let's talk about that. Because think about that.

Yes.

We always talk about the sentence on the benefit side. We gotta go find the next big claimant.

Yeah.

How much impact does one's current mental health.

Yeah.

Have on that potentiality of a big claimant?

Oh, yeah. And this is purely a. My opinion.

Part of this conversation. A lot of this is anyway. But.

Yes, absolutely. So and I, I just pulled the statistic because we did our, our mental health awareness webinar a couple weeks ago and I cannot remember what it said because, you know, vacation and everything else. But I want to say something like 2/3 of all emergency room visits, which are one of the most expensive claims on a regular basis, call it two thirds, call it whatever you want. A vast majority of emergency room claims are drug and alcohol related, which. And drug and alcohol typically means. Typically means that there's a mental health issue stemming that. Something else I like to talk about when we're building like a wellness program in a group is that's great that you want to give.

Points or something for steps or activity or movement or going to get a wellness, you know, blood test or whatever. Great. Love that you're doing that. However, what happens before someone puts on their shoes to go for the walk? What happens when the best thing they can do to get out of bed is to.

I don't know, even do that? Like that's the hardest part of their day is getting out of bed. How are you expecting them to do these other gains and incentives? That's not going to get them anywhere. That's not going to make them healthier. That's not going to make them.

That's why those programs talk to a nutritionist. Exactly. That's why those programs just aren't as effective as they should be. Because who participates? The people feeling good here and here. And you're not hitting the people you're actually needing to hit.

Right. So maybe if we started there, where they can start up here.

And then those coaches, those Counselors, those therapists can help give them the tools, whether they be behavioral tools or medical tools. Yep. To get them with one foot in front of the other.

Well, and I know this might sound obvious, but mindset's evident because if you're an employer who has a workforce that you are asking to be productive, if somebody is not good here between the ears, they're not going to perform well on the field. There's just no way.

And in addition, and I have another stat for this too, that parents with adolescent children who are absolutely struggling right now, they're also, maybe they're okay with their mental health. The parents are. But because they're so consumed with their child's mental health or their child is missing school or their child is suicidal, that's going to take away from their productivity and add to their absenteeism for work because they're consumed by their child's mental health. So getting adolescents access to care is equally critical. But we don't think about that when we're talking about employee benefits as much because we're talking about the employee and typically it's full time benefit eligible employees. But you have all these part timers, you have non benefit eligible, you have people who are waiving benefits and you have all of their families that.

Yeah.

Don't have that accessibility to something that could save their life.

Well, let's talk about what do you do to keep yourself good up here? Obviously you're big into fitness. What do you do on what when Jen, when Jenny's not working, what are you doing off the field? What are your from. From a. Hobbies. Habits, Hobby. Let's start with hobbies. What do you do to keep yourself happy and moving?

So let's start with, let's start with.

Hobbies, exercising, things like that. What do you do to keep yourself in a good place mentally?

Yep. So, well, being in the sun is important to me. So Arizona was a great move from California, but there's more sun here, even more than California. Yeah.

Really?

Yeah. Okay.

I didn't know that.

They get like fog and rains depending.

On where you are.

It's really nice here. So I am a CrossFitter. I've been, I've been doing CrossFit off and on.

You're a trainer?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, 12 or 15 years. I've been doing CrossFit in several capacities.

And then golf is a big thing for me now too. So that's, that's definitely, that's my hobby and my sport and those two activities are very counterintuitive. Because you're trying to build strength and CrossFit, and then you're trying to be more, like, flexible and stuff and mobile. When you go, it's just, hey, you're.

Hitting the golf ball fart.

I'm having a blast. Oh, yeah, that part. That's my favorite part. So those two things are really important. You met my dog, lady. She is. She was my first love, and she is definitely my happy place.

So you think a pet makes a huge difference from the mental health?

Oh, yeah. She's.

Like. The fact that she's nine makes me so sad. I'm like, stop getting older. I need you forever. But that doesn't happen. But she's amazing. So she definitely cuddling, petting her, anything with her really lightens my day.

You know, it's interesting you bring that up. A couple of thoughts there.

Yeah.

So we live in Wisconsin now, where we're from, but we were in Colorado for nine years, a lot of it because of the vitamin D. And when we moved back, we went. We just spent a month in Palm Springs this winter, and of the 30 days we were there, 27 or 28 of them were sun. When we came back, about a month in. Because in Wisconsin, March, April's gray. So is November, December. Amy, my fiance, said, like, next year we're gonna have to find a way to spend more time in the winter somewhere else where it's sunnier. Because you literally change when you're not in the sun.

Yeah.

And I think we underplay the benefits of being somewhere where it's sunny.

Yeah.

Would you, being somebody who's from California now lives in Arizona, I think you would agree with that.

Absolutely. And in this neighborhood specifically, you may or may not have noticed when you came in, nobody's here anymore. Everybody has snowbirded back to their.

Oh, okay. So I've not noticed that, probably.

And they park in their garages too, I guess. But probably 80% of our neighborhood are snowbirds. Not to tell you guys where I live, but everything's pretty vacant, right?

So CrossFit Golf.

Yeah.

Talk about the ladies group that you started with golf.

Yep. So going on about three years ago, I started a ladies. We called it the Club, but it was just a golf meetup where women in my network had mentioned, hey, you golf? I'd love to learn how to golf. And I was like, shoot, I'll teach you. I'm not, like, I'm not a coach. I'm not an expert, like, scratch golfer, But I know the basics. I know what the clubs are, how you hold them, what they're used for, and I can get you going. So that's sort of where it started. And then.

I.

I think I. It always takes three times for me to hear something, to be like, okay, I guess that's a sign. Maybe I should do something about it. So I had heard about legs, which is lady Executive Galt Society, from three different people, a couple of which were in reference to other women in our industry and in our mutual network, which was exciting. And I was like, yeah, let's reach out. So learn about legs. Their mission aligned with what I really was passionate about, which helped to empower women on and off the golf course. And it was part of a greater organization. We now have, I think, 18 or 19 chapters throughout the country, Scottsdale being one of all of them. And it's great. It's just. It's fun to be part of a growing organization and doing exactly that. Just empower women on and off the.

Course, which brings a whole different aspect of mental health, which is important. Community. Yeah.

Yep.

Gotta have that community.

And boy, we have it. These women are amazing. I love my women here in Arizona. Um, and I haven't met many of the others in other chapters yet. Obviously the founder, Jillian. Um, but we. So when we get together, you can either play nine holes or you can do a lesson wherever your skill set is at.

At.

Or you can toggle between the two. It's fine. Um, and then at the end, we get together for kind of networking, a little roundtable, and then we each share what I call a wonder woman. Wow. So toot your own horn. Like, this is a place for, like, let's celebrate you. Because as women, sometimes, like, we're afraid to do that. So it's a safe place for that. And also, what ask do you have? Do you have a personal ask, A professional ask, like, who do you need to meet? Like, what's going on with you? Like, how can we help? So we go around and we talk about that, and almost every time, we have laughter and we have tears, and it is just beautiful. There's just so much love in our group.

And if somebody's listening, I'm sure there's more chapters to be built. Yeah. If somebody who's a female's listening and says, hey, tell me more about this legs. Where are the chapters? Hey, what if I wanted to start my own? What would be the best way to get in touch to learn more about that?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they can message me. Happy to talk about it. At any point, Arizona can use Probably a dozen more chapters, so we're definitely growing for sure. But I would get them in touch with the founder and then they can have that conversation.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Let's talk a little bit about habits and rituals for you. Exercise, obviously, a big one. How many weekdays a week do you crossfit?

When I'm home, I usually go like four or five.

Four or five?

Yeah.

What are some of the other daily habits you incorporate into your life, too, that have helped guide your success?

It's funny you mentioned that in the message, in planning this, and I was like, oh, no, I don't know what to talk about for this one. That's definitely something that I'm working on. Getting back into is true. Habits I probably have more than I think that I do.

They're just. They're just ingrained.

Yeah, I know for sure. Cuddling my dogs multiple times a day, that is. That is a routine habit. Especially in the morning. Get out of bed, go to the ground, cuddle the dog. Start my day. That is critical.

Funny, I was just on a podcast, and the question they started it with, they ask everybody. What's the first thing you think of when you get up in the morning?

Yeah, yours.

Get down. Cuddle it up.

Cuddle it up 100% every morning. So that is. That's. That's probably the best one. Other habits and rituals.

You know, actually, I think hugs and like, like, personal physical touch is, like, incredibly important for my wellness. Totally. And. And I'm really lucky that my significant other and I, for the most part, work remote, so we get to hug throughout the day. Yeah. And that's a really great break, actually, for both of us. And it's something that we talk about when one of us is traveling. Yeah, that's. I think what we miss the most is just to randomly, like, between calls, even if there's a minute in between that we get that quick hug.

I like it. Anybody you follow, like, outside the industry, as far as mentor goes, or people on social media where you just. That's your thought leader. That helps guide some of your principles.

Yeah.

More so when I was in, like, a. More of a leadership role. But I love Simon Sinek. Love Simon Sinek.

And a lot of, like, relationship and interpersonal communication tools and thoughts with him too. So he's been a really great resource for me for many years. Oh, my gosh. David Goggins. Oh, not so much recently, but David Goggins was a lot of fuel for me for quite some time as well.

But at this point, I don't make a lot of time for all that. And it's definitely been too busy doing. Yeah, I'm. Yeah, I really. I'm just in. That's really the season I'm in right now where I'm just.

You bring up a really good point. I mean, when I asked you about what you do to put yourself in a good positive space mentally, I think it's the stuff we often overlook. But it's so important. Vitamin D. You got to get on. And I'm sorry anything being thrown out there these days, both the out of the sun is that the sun is what keeps us alive.

Right.

The community. I'll tell you, I struggle because I work. My fiancee and I are on the same team, same company and work out of the house. And it's easy to get. Become a hermit because I coach mostly people from other parts of the country. And so it's easy to become a hermit. Let sit in your house, not go out. We heard a phrase actually from a guy from Arizona we met a couple weeks ago, and I loved it because we're going to embrace it. He said, my life changed when we moved down to Arizona. I didn't know anybody. And he goes, I was being that guy that wasn't going out, meeting. He goes. And then I decided to live life from the front yard instead of the backyard, which is get to know your neighbors. Well, I'll meet people. And that for me was such a big. Because again, working out of my house, it's so easy to just get in your bubble of. This is what I do. I don't go out and meet people. So that community is. Tribe is important.

So. And this is part of that, like, subconscious. I guess it just happens. That is exactly what I did. And. And I think from there it's just been kind of organic growth and connection because I. When we moved to Arizona, I also didn't know anybody and kind of took a leap of faith. And it took me working remote. I actually got a job at a restaurant and bar here just so I could like, be around people.

And that was interesting, but great for what it was and what it needed to be. And then it took me to realize that that wasn't the community I wanted to be around and that I wanted to. To be part of something more aligned.

Yeah.

And that's when I sort of took that leap. I started going to NABIP events. I started. I joined a couple other associations just to kind of see where my people were.

Is that how you got to join legs?

Legs was farther down the road. But really, it all started snowballing when I realized that if I couldn't find something that fit, then I had to build it myself. And that's where legs started when it was the club, but then into legs, where I wasn't finding my exact group. So I built my group of people from different. I love my life, and. And so it just kind of can't.

Find your tribe, Create your tribe.

Yeah. And I have an amazing tribe out here.

That's awesome.

I love.

Like, do you think it's easier out here when you come from when you're in a place where a lot of people are not from here?

Yeah, it's those. It's so, so special. Yeah. Arizona definitely has that. I think we have that camaraderie of, hey, I moved here one time.

I had that story of coming here. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, there's one out of every 25 or something is from here, maybe less, but. And even there, there's just. Everyone is a familiar face. It feels like.

Well, and you bring up a good point. My fiance, who's now in our business, A.J. she goes by A.J. we have two. Amy's on the team. So she is A.J. in the chess. She's been a dental hygienist for 22 years. She still goes in practice. She does. She does that once or twice a month just so she can get out and talk to people.

Yeah.

Because as a dental hygienist, you're having eight, nine conversations a day with patients. Right. She goes, and she just. So she still does it once or twice a month just to keep that going. Because at home, again, we're not. We're working remote. You lose that touch point.

Yeah. Super important.

Last question. This has been a great conversation, bringing it back to our industry, because I. We talked about this earlier, and I. I am very opinionated about this. I know we have a lot of people, I think, who do get caught up in seeking the attention of the. In the industry, and I think it catches them eventually, mentally. I see them burn out eventually, and then all of a sudden, it's like, where did. Where did they go? What advice would you give somebody who is in our industry right now who might be getting caught up in that social.

Attention seeking? Comparing.

Yeah.

Because I think it really does mess with us mentally. Like, what would you be. Your advice to that person?

Take a break. Yeah. Detox. Go for a walk. Like, it's one of the things that I. I've learned in therapy is if you're, like, constantly feeling Some sort of way about something. Call it a trigger, call it anxiety, call it.

Addiction. Like, pick your word.

Figure out what is happening right before that. And maybe it's because you're. You're grabbing your phone, you're on social media, you're whatever. Whatever is happening right before that.

Occurs and do something different. So for me, when I was going through some things and I was working with Leslie.

My alternative behavior was to pet my dog. That was like. Like, if you want to do this or you're feeling like something coming on, do something that creates ultimate happiness for me.

So if you're feeling triggered. Pet dog.

Yeah, got it. Yeah. And I think that's. So that's a big part of just my whole world now.

Yeah.

I ended up feeling over well, but.

Hence the hugging her in the morning.

Or I hugged my dog. Yes. So it's. Now, it's just.

That's a really good point because I think we've all had those certain things that trigger us. Right. Even as much as I am known for LinkedIn and social media, I actually don't really like it. I'm there for business. I'm there to grow my business. So I too, can get caught in that scroll hole a little bit. And this one post from one person can trigger me. And it's like, you got to have that. What's that default. When you feel the trigger, put the phone down, go outside, pet the dog. Whatever you got to do, let it go.

Or. Or if you're somebody that follows the schedule as I do. Like, I follow my calendar. I don't know how I survive without it. And this is probably something I need to actually implement. So I'm glad I'm saying it out loud. Is schedule a time where you don't have your phone. Like, just schedule it. Like, this is the block of time where my phone stays somewhere. Like, what I should be doing when I leave to go to CrossFit. My phone should just stay here. I don't need that with me. Why does it come with me? I'm still checking email when I'm driving there. That's awful.

It's like a comfort blanket.

Starting today, no phone when I go to CrossFit.

Well, think about that, doing it. If you left. If you left for CrossFit right now. Here's what's so funny about that. And you got halfway there and you didn't have your wallet.

Yeah.

Your driver's license. You're like, yeah, I'm good. Don't have your phone, which helps my phone. Like, we have just. It's unbelievable. Yeah, unbelievable. Jen, it's been awesome. Thank you for doing this. And you know, I knew I was coming down here, wanted to have your energy on and oh, it worked out. It's Men's health month, which made this topic really important. So last question I know is probably the obvious answer, but if somebody is listening in and they wanted to reach out to you just to, you know, learn more or ally health, what's the easiest way to get in touch with you?

Yeah, you can just email me. Honestly, jennialihealth.net is great.

Awesome. Well, this is.

Yeah.

Thank you Jenny Weaver, everybody. Be good. That's all we got for this episode of the Accelerate your insurance sales podcast. One of the most valuable things you can do to help us and other new potential listeners find our show is for you to rate the show and leave a review. So as a special bonus for you, if you leave us a review, take a screenshot of your review and send it to me as a DM to my LinkedIn profile. I will send you a free copy copy of our LinkedIn Diamond Playbook, our proven four step strategy to grow your business on LinkedIn. So go right now, leave us a review, screenshot it and send me a DM on LinkedIn. Also, please share this podcast with anyone you think would enjoy it. That's it for now.