In this informal Saturday‑night livestream, host Brooke Cheney (joined by co‑host DJ, her son Maxwell, and her husband) discusses mental health using the changing‑of‑the‑seasons metaphor. She links the natural cycle of spring, summer, fall, and winter to life stages (birth, growth, decline, renewal) and daily rhythms (morning, afternoon, evening, night), emphasizing that mental health ebbs and flows predictably. Brooke highlights the urgency of suicide prevention, noting that two‑thirds of gun deaths are suicides, and frames the conversation as a way to raise awareness and encourage proactive coping. The stream interweaves personal anecdotes—preparing Maxwell for college, attending a funeral, hunting traditions—and audience participation, with viewers sharing their favorite seasons and related memories. Technical glitches (audio/video from a car, link issues) are openly addressed, underscoring the show’s authentic, community‑focused vibe. The episode concludes with a roll call of participants and a reminder of the show’s commitment to mental‑health dialogue despite logistical hurdles.
Chapters
All right everybody, happy Saturday! Thank you for being flexible and checking us out a little later than normal. Uh, there's no video yet because even if I had video on, all you would see was blackness because I'm in the car. I'm not driving though, just so we're clear. DJ is here with us, at least as far as I hope he is. I don't know, DJ, are you here? Can you say something? It said add you to the thing, so hopefully you are here. Oh, there he is! Oh yeah, because we are driving through the hills of Litchfield County and I may drop at any time. Hi DJ!
Aha! Hey, how's the drive?
I hope you all can hear DJ, um, because audio is sometimes weird on the phone. So welcome to Mental Health Matters. Every Saturday night, usually at 9 PM Eastern, we will hop on and talk about mental health because we all know 2 out of every 3 gun deaths are a suicide. And if we're going to talk about it, that's how we can actually help do something about it. So tonight's Mental Health Matters topic is changing of seasons. So I don't know if you all know, but it's been summer for a couple months now and we're headed into fall. And one of the things that I did yesterday was go to a funeral. And changing of seasons is just that— we are born, we grow, we die, sort of like how the seasons all run: spring, summer, fall, winter. So when it comes to our mental health, we need to prepare and understand that all of these things happen on a regular basis, and none of it's a surprise. And we have all of these seasons all of the time. So, you know, macrocosm, microcosm, all that sort of thing. So you have your entire life, which you could look at like spring, summer, fall, winter, and then you have a day, which is spring, summer, fall, right? So in the morning you wake up, you just get started, then throughout the day you get, get things done and accomplished. That's summer, where all the stuff is growing going. And then, you know, dinner time hits. That's kind of like fall, you start slowing down. And then bedtime hits and you're sleeping and you get to rejuvenate and start all over again the next day. So, oh, we've got a Foss in the building. Sorry, I'm, I'm not driving, but I can read some of the, the comments. Unfortunately, on my phone are itty-bitty tiny, so, um, I will absolutely let DJ do the whole, whole thing. Uh-oh, and Hillbilly, I see you're out there. I just want you to know, when I said Hillbilly time, it's just because, you know, you don't start exactly on the hour, so I figured I could steal a couple minutes from your show. Um, we will be done before 10 o'clock though, I promise. So anywho, um, it's a little bit weird doing this with my son and my husband as my co-hosts here in the car, but, um, so, oh yeah, changing of seasons, more of that. So tomorrow my son, Mr. Maxwell, who's in the back Say hi, Max. Hi. Yeah, um, he actually takes off and goes to college tomorrow. He is a freshman. And so we spent all of the day cleaning his room and getting his stuff all together and getting ready to go, making sure he's got his stuff that's on the list that they said, oh, you should bring all this stuff. On the plus side, the kid is not going like to Timbuktu or anything, so if you ever got something on the list, well, that's gonna be okay. So, uh, question for all of you out there in the chat: what season is your favorite? Do you like first thing in the morning when you're getting up and just getting started? Do you like the afternoon when you're up and going and actually getting stuff done? Do you like the fall where, you know, dinner, you know, your belly's nice and full, it's ready to kind of calm down slow? Or is it bedtime when you get to snuggle into bed and finally rest your head? And rejuvenate to start all over the next day. Um, I think it's fun sometimes to think about all of the seasons that we have, because whether it's a day, a year, a lifetime, I think that we forget sometimes that there's an end to everything, there's a beginning to everything, and life will always be ebbing and flowing. So, um, we've got 10 people according to StreamYard. I I know Foss and, uh, Hillbilly are two of the folks that are out there, and of course DJ, because poor DJ, he's like, where's the link? And I'm like, I thought I sent it to him, but I sent him the wrong link. So, um, as you all know, I have my challenges with this whole, uh, technology stuff from time to time. All right, I'm gonna look. Deer or turkey season is barbecue, uh, Holidays were always my favorite seasons. So deer and turkey, are they the same time though? That is the question. Um, I only used to go duck hunting with my dad, and I always knew that was around Thanksgiving. I don't know, honey, when is deer season? Same time? Yeah, my husband's giving me the nod because he's not going to talk, but that's okay. Husbands are to be seen, not heard, so it works out well. And drive for me. Um, All right, so deer turkey season, everything is really little. Hello Jamie, did you say OJ season? No, spring and mornings. Oh, spring mornings and fall evenings. All right, from our hillbilly. So yeah, I love fall. I think fall might be my favorite season. Cool and crisp and apple pie here in New England is definitely, um, one of my favorites. It's like it's warm enough and sunny enough still to be outside outside, but you know, you put a nice sweatshirt on so you're nice and cozy. So, all right, so Surya Fan, winter and bedtime at December lately. Oh, December babies, sorry. Again, sorry, I don't have my glasses on, it's really small on the phone. So winter is also lovely, uh, up here. I definitely like getting our snow and having that quiet time. It's like there's nothing better than a nice big snowstorm, everything's all white and sparkly, and it's quiet. It's ever so quiet. So, um, all sorts of cool things. I mean, and there's fun stuff with every season, right? There's stuff that's not so awesome because if you do not have a snuggly sweater and good shoes in the wintertime, it could be not so awesome. And around here, at least in New England, we have totally been having, uh, mud season versus snow season when it comes to winter. So will you turn on the lights for me? Thank you. All right, so we've gotten home, DJ.
Um, Don't tell me we started to lose you just as you got home. Are you there?
Oh, Mr. DJ, would you like to take over now for a few moments while I do this transition thing? I shall mute myself.
You just came back.
Hopefully be able to hear you.
Right on, no worries. So tonight we've got, uh, DM Foss is in the house, so is Hillbilly Up. We got Abigail Sorcha Finnegan out there, Jamie JH586, Sorryfan93, so is Guns and Barbecue, The Crabby Turtle, Mike Ballinger, and Chasing Ghosts were in the room early. Checking to see if anybody else has come in recently. I don't see any new additions, but hey, thanks everybody for coming out on another Saturday night. And thank you for being patient while the show was executed from the road. That's like an extra step above and beyond what Brooke usually does.
I'm still working on getting onto my computer. And unfortunately, I can't hear Hillbilly, or Hillbilly, I can't hear DJ. I hope y'all can hear DJ. I see that he's talking though, so hopefully it's just me.
I'm just glad you joined us even though, well, now that you can't hear me, I could say all kinds of things, but I'll continue with what I was saying before. And that is, that's above and beyond doing a show from the road and letting us know that there was going to be a delay. There are a few people who didn't know, but we were on Hillbilly time tonight. So taking a bit of a delay at the discretion of the host. Well, because she could, right? And was still bringing us a show as it was. My favorite season of the year— you're going to be able to add yourself from the back there.
