The Keri Croft Show
The Keri Croft Show
How Zach Thompson Turned Anxiety Into a Mental Health Movement | The Scatter Joy Project
What if the sh*t you’ve been through is actually leading you to your purpose?
On this episode, I sit down with Zach Thompson, founder of The Scatter Joy Project — a creative, nontraditional mental health nonprofit that’s helping people find affordable therapy, break through stigma, and connect to something deeper.
Zach opens up about:
✨Losing his uncle in middle school and hiding years of anxiety behind perfectionism.
✨Discovering he had the same rare heart condition — and how a defibrillator saved his life more than once.
✨Why facing mortality gave him a “permission slip to recreate” his entire life.
✨ How Scatter Joy Project went from a personal mantra to a full-blown movement helping people find real support (and real joy).
And yeah, we talk about what it actually looks like to turn your pain into power — and your story into something that helps others.
If you’ve ever wondered whether your rock bottom could lead to something bigger, this episode is for you.
Need support? Text SCATTER to 741-741 to connect with a free, 24/7 crisis counselor. Or head to scatterjoyproject.org to find affordable therapy and mental health tools that actually help.
Check out their NEW space — Scatter Joy Studio opening on May 17th in the Short North.
👇 Drop a comment if this hit home — and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share with someone who needs this.
#TheKeriCroftShow #ScatterJoyProject #ZachThompson #MentalHealthAwareness #TotalBadass #GriefToGrowth #AnxietySupport #MissionDrivenLife #PodcastInterview #MentalHealthPodcast
Hey there you beautiful badass. Welcome to the Keri Croft Show. I'm your host, keri Croft, delivering you stories that get you pumped up and feeling like the unstoppable savage that you are. So grab your coffee, put on your game face and let's do this thing. Baby Ready to elevate your self-care game, bosco Beauty Bar is a modern med spa offering everything from cosmetic injectables, lasers and microneedling to medical grade facials and skincare. Conveniently located in Clintonville, grandview, powell and Easton. Making self-care a priority has never been easier. Use code KROFT for $25 off your first visit. Let's get real here. Aging isn't always cute. Wrinkles, things sagging where they didn't before. Do I hate my partner, or is this perimenopause? I've been there and that's why I'm all about Donaldson, from plastic surgery to aesthetics, to functional medicine. They help you love your body and get to know it better. Want to feel like yourself again? Head to DonaldsonHealthcom and, if you're a first-time client, mention the Keri Croft Show for $100 off your first treatment. You're welcome. Zach Thompson is in the building. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm good.
Speaker 1:You know I have a feeling we're having a really good chat, you and I, as I was describing you to my previous guy, joe Apgar. I was like you know I only have been on one FaceTime with him, but I will tell you I feel like he's very pensive, kind of not. He's deep, very kind.
Speaker 1:There's a lot going on there like in a really good way and then I was telling him about and I was getting my. I was like I was trying to say Ralph Waldo Emerson and I was getting. I was like Ralph Waldo.
Speaker 2:Emerson.
Speaker 1:It's like a who did I say first, there's another poet that I was saying, but it's Ralph Waldo Emerson. Right, that you were reading the poem, and it said scatter joy. I'm like, how perfect, yeah, how so. When you first read that, how long did it take you to like have that aha moment that that needed to be the name for the project.
Speaker 2:Uh, honestly, we we read that quote and there was just something about it. Scatter joy just stood out, you know, and the quote says there's no beautifier of a form, complexion or behavior like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. I read that in 2020. We had just had our first kid, my daughter, cooper Joe, and obviously the pandemic was happening, shutdown was going on and something about scatter joy and just that quote in general, like what a gift to scatter joy and not pain and gosh, it felt like the world needed that at that time and it feels like it needs it now more than ever too. And so something about Scattered Joy just stood out to me and I thought it was just going to be like a personal, like mission statement, like all right, this is me, like this is what I'm going to live by, and yeah, so just turned into something bigger. We sat on it for like a year. It wasn't even supposed to be an organization.
Speaker 1:Do you normally, do you read poetry aloud?
Speaker 2:Uh, maybe sometimes.
Speaker 1:Have you read it? Like when you were wooing your wife, did you read her?
Speaker 2:poetry at all. No, I didn't, I didn't. I actually like left artistic endeavors uh behind in like early high school years.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You know, because I grew up in a town that was like you're either a creative or you're like an academic or you're an athlete, and I was just like, well, like I guess I'm just an athlete then, and so I stopped taking like all these art classes and, honestly, like people I used to read, like Whitman, who was probably the other poet that you were talking about, walt Whitman.
Speaker 2:Walter, yeah, and Emerson self-reliance and some other artists and stuff, and no one like probably none of my friends knew that I was like into that growing up. No, it was Edgar Allan Poe, edgar Allan Poe, and then that's what got my words all mixed up?
Speaker 1:because I was like I was like I think it was Edgar Allan Poe, and then mixed up because I was like I was like I think it was Edgar Allan Poe and then I was like, no, it was Wealth, wealth, waldo Emerson. But the reason why I ask you if you wooed your wife because you have a very I mean, you're like you're like drawing me in with your voice and so that I have a sick twisted like you don't know me well yet, but like as we get to know each other.
Speaker 1:There's something wrong, there's a screw loose in a good way. So I just have these random weird thoughts and I immediately I thought this on on uh facetime, because I think you said that same thing on like you were so do you remember the movie, the notebook?
Speaker 2:oh yeah, with ryan, okay, so it's one of my favorites.
Speaker 1:So when he sits on the porch and he and his father and they're reading poetry, and the way his voice yeah, like he has this like and you sound like him and I'm thinking, holy shit, now when you Now, when you were dating, when you were in your dating life you know how guys will get the guitar out, and they'll be like you know you had the like the poetry I should have.
Speaker 2:You know, if I could go back, maybe I would have convinced her to marry me sooner, you know.
Speaker 1:But now hey if you guys ever hit a lull, you got this in your back pocket. It'd be like you know, what? Maybe I should start like reading poetry someday. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Speaker 2:I mean I got it.
Speaker 1:I mean a little you know that's so great. So tell me, tell us for someone out there who's like okay, this guy's cool, Like what, what's his story? So why mental health and the creative aspect, Like what is it from your world and your life that this resonates and hits so hard with?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder when I was in seventh grade. You know, I mean diving deep pretty quick into this just because it is mental health, like you can't really skate surface level with mental health. That's the thing. And my uncle passed away in seventh grade really unexpectedly. That of just cardiac arrest.
Speaker 2:I was playing tennis on a lunch break and collapsed, um, and that rocked my world like he was a huge like mentor and I mean I grew up and everyone in my family was like, oh, you're just like Uncle Joe, you're gonna be just like Uncle Joe, you're gonna be just like him. Like every mannerism, things you say, the way you show up in rooms, like it's eerie and uh, when that happened it was just like flipped everyone's world upside down. Like him. Him in our family, he was kind of like the, he felt kind of like the glue person. Um, you know, when someone walks into a room and you're just like, oh, yeah, joe's here, like it just felt like that, and so I think everyone in my family was going through obviously an incredibly challenging time.
Speaker 2:Everyone's room and you're just like, oh yeah, joe's here, like it just felt like that. And so I think everyone in my family was going through, obviously, an incredibly challenging time. Everyone's grieving this loss in their lives and through him, and so am I. As a seventh grade kid and you know I don't I didn't have language for what I was feeling, I didn't have practices and skills for how to navigate those things, and in that time I don't think a lot of people did either, like a lot of people that were trying to care for me and support me and love me through that. They did so Like my mom and my grandparents and my sister and my dad, like they were there for me, but it still didn't make it like any easier to navigate that grief in my life.
Speaker 2:And so from that point on, like I battled with anxiety and depression and throughout high school and college and and not a lot of people knew that like I was I was battling in silence, and I think that resonates with a lot of people, even now where it's like I'm struggling with this thing, and even though the statistics are like one in five American adults struggle with a diagnosed mental illness, that doesn't include generalized anxiety and depression. That's a huge number and it still feels lonely, like even though there's so many people going through it, it still feels lonely because it's your story. But there's incredible power in this idea of like me too, like I struggle with that too, like I've been through that Maybe not the same uh circumstance, but the same feeling, the same emotion, like we can bond over that and so, through that, like it's just been a part of my life and and a part of my narrative and kind of comes in in waves, right like there's things that happen in your life that that just like bring back uh, big emotions, big feelings. I've always been a big feeler. I think creatives around the country and world are Like we're just people that feel big things and try to make sense of them, with different arts and different language and different conversations and creations and stuff, and so I think it's always been something that has always been something missing from the big feelings that I've had.
Speaker 2:I've always tried to overcome the feeling or the negative emotion, growing up with performance rather than just like exploration or experimentation within my life, and what I mean by that is like can I create something to see what happens within myself and what happens within the community. From a performance standpoint, I just always held myself to an extremely high expectation and standard and inevitably fell short in every aspect. And so it was like this constant cyclical battle with my own mental health and my own self-judgment and self-doubt and fear and loathing and all those things judgment and self-doubt and fear and loathing and and all those things and it didn't didn't honestly like become manageable until I realized that you know, like a part of my cure within my own mental health journey was the creative arts and exploring other people's creations and other people's poetry and and all these different things, and then trying to create something for myself.
Speaker 1:And and that we're not perfect. There is no like. I think perfectionism is like it's such a dream killer. But you talk to so many people and it's like they're the strive for perfect or to be perfect is is.
Speaker 2:I think it's like culture to culture to uh. Family dynamic and communities are like what you're really influenced by. I grew up in in the athletic world, and so it was like you win or lost, and so I took that very literally and applied that to the rest of my life too.
Speaker 2:You know it's like did I win today or did I lose today? No, it's like life's not black and white like that, like there's a lot of nuance and stuff that exists within that, and so I think, you know, for me it's like the dance with perfection was, yeah, slowly, just like not even killing dreams, but just like slowly killing me you know, and like my sense of self.
Speaker 1:And so then the aha moment, when you're like, wait a minute, you know like I'm going to start this thing. I'm going to shine a light on all this, like talk a little about how that happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I don't even know if that was the the aha moment that that feels, yeah, that feels like so fateful down the road. I you know if. If I rewind a little bit, if you can hang with me for a sec, I played baseball in college and I graduated and then I found out that I had the same heart condition that killed my uncle, and we didn't know it at the time, that it was like a hereditary disease and condition and that was like the aha moment for me, it was this moment of like what is life going to be like now?
Speaker 2:Like I get to recreate myself all over again. I had a I found out about that and then I had a defibrillator implanted when I was 23. And then, within the first three months, it went off three times and saved me from going into cardiac arrest, potential cardiac arrest, and like those, those were the aha moments. Rest, potential cardiac arrest, and like those, those were the aha moments. You know that it was. It was this, uh, it was this permission that I felt, like from like God or the universe, to say like you get to recreate yourself, like this is a permission, slip to figure life out again and you don't have to like be who you were, like hold yourself to those constraints, like mentally and emotionally, like you can grow, uh, in this sense, Do you think so?
Speaker 1:having anxiety at such a young age but then being faced with such a life altering diagnosis, it kind of freed you in a weird way, where you're like because you'd think maybe you'd be even more anxious, cause you're like what's going to happen. You're like, well, because you're like what's going to happen, but you're like well, you know what. What's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think like it was a mixed bag, honestly, because, like you have a moment like that happen to you and then you instantly get into a little bit of like self-loathing, I think, and you know you're having those arguments with God of like why me, what the hell is this? But then I think, when you like there's this big shift that happens within like mental and emotional health, when you just like befriend every emotion, or when you befriend every moment, like there's no such thing as bad emotions. Mark Brackett talks about this. He's massive within like emotional intelligence, um one of like the the biggest leaders and authors and writers and researchers within that field, and he talks about how, like for for a long time, like we've associated certain emotions as negative and they're really not. Like if we befriend them and like sit with them and inquire like about them, then they're teachers, like their wisdom. And so for me it was like and it wasn't perfect, you know, obviously, but like in those moments I think I went through years of bouncing back and forth between why me and why not me. You know, like, what is the gift within this? Um, what can I create within this?
Speaker 2:I think, I think that that moment of me like facing not to like over-dramatize this, but like facing death or like facing something like that I think that moment just made me a more compassionate person, like made me more empathetic, made me more caring, more loving, made me a better listener to people, um, and it made me want to like figure out purpose more in life.
Speaker 2:You know, like to me, I was always just kind of like going through the motions from accomplishment to accomplishment and thought that that was purpose, when really, like, I think purpose is more closely tied to compassion than anything else. It's like what are you willing to like? Sit with people in, uh, sit within their suffering with, be sympathetic, be moved by that kind of spirit, rather than this achievement driven, passionate kind of spirit? I think it's. It's it needs to be more about compassion than passion, and so, yeah, it's just, uh, those were like freeing moments for me where it was like I get to recreate myself and figure this whole thing out again in my mind it's like there's this door and it's knocking and you know something's there and you don't want to fucking open it and it's not going away.
Speaker 1:That's kind of how it's unfolded for me, and it's like there's something on the other side of the door, man, and this is your journey and your fate, and it is for my life and my situation has turned out to be beyond the greatest teacher. And it is for my life and my situation has turned out to be the beyond the greatest teacher. And what you just said, the parallels of having empathy, compassion, not judging a situation and not even you know, you don't need to have an opinion on every situation like just being there with people and sitting in it.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it takes really dark, crazy moments in your life to be able to get there.
Speaker 2:Yeah and it sucks. It's like the worst in the time. But I think, like life only makes sense looking backward and uh, you just got to make it through, you know. Like you just got to try to see the blessing in the, in the curse there, you know.
Speaker 1:I have a technical question for you about your defibrillator.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's, let's, let's switch gears. So how do you, is it like um? Do you have to get it replaced every so many?
Speaker 2:years, I'm about due.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we'll, uh, we'll get you can't let that.
Speaker 1:You can't like go overtime on that puppy.
Speaker 2:No, it lets you know. So, actually, my, my mom has one as well. So, my, we found out about it with me because my mom was having issues my senior year, uh, of college and then she went through a bunch of testing. They found out that it was this heart disease or heart condition called arvc. Then that spurred on, like hey, that's hereditary, like everyone else needs to get genetically tested for this thing, and, um, yeah, I was like the lucky winner and so, uh, yeah, so she, she has one as well, and she was like visiting years ago and, uh, it started to like it like vibrates when it's like low on battery it's crazy.
Speaker 2:It's like a phone, no shit so, yeah, that's when you know like it's about time and they do I mean I, I go back in and and do like testing and they like share the battery life and there's a plan in place. But yeah, they go in replace it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like do you feel like iron man? I guess, yeah, you are. Did you feel like there are things you have to avoid, like what are the restrictions if? If any, can you go do sprints as fast as you want? Or are you thinking to yourself I'm not going to push the envelope here like, what are the not for me, I mean.
Speaker 2:I was so when I was in school I was studying exercise science, uh, applied exercise science and kinesiology, and so, like my life was like sports performance and training and and uh and all that. And so you know, I was very much so like always like in the weight room training and doing different things. And when I got the defibrillator, you know, you have about like a six to eight week period where you're just like sitting on your butt doing nothing. You really you're not even supposed to like raise your arm because it could uh break the lead that connects to your heart or it could like detach or alter some like positioning there, and so like, yeah, you're just sitting for like six, eight weeks. And then, really for me it was like, all right, I'm going to get in and see like what I can still get away with and accomplish.
Speaker 2:Some of my doctors were like, hey, like take it easy, just like maybe walk, yoga, do these things, like you can work out a little bit here and there, but nothing too crazy. But I was like a division one baseball player, like in school to become like a sports performance coach and and all these things. And so I was like well, that's not my life, like I'm gonna see what I can get away with and honestly it was kind of dumb, like it was kind of stupid. But I think through that it was just like a learning curve of like what I can and cannot get away with. Some of those moments were or when, like it went off and saved me you shit your pants when that thing went off.
Speaker 1:It's scary. Well, yeah, because you're thinking if I didn't have like lightning strikes?
Speaker 2:yeah, so yeah, but I mean, yeah, it knocks you out. I mean it is like the way I describe it is. I have in my body what other people see in the movies where you have the pads.
Speaker 2:They're rubbing them together, clear boom, and so that's happening like inside my body. It went off, uh, yeah, three times in uh 20, 2013. I had surgery December 2012,. Went off three times right away first three months in 2013. And then it didn't happen again, uh, until 2021, 2022, went off a couple of times there. So, yeah, we've been pretty good with it so far, yeah.
Speaker 1:You're like let's not, we don't need to fuck around with that thing. So you're a creative guy. You're super reflective. What gives like? What sparks your creativity the most? Like aside from, I know that the Scatterjoy Project is obviously your baby, but like, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:Gosh. I think, like, creativity only can happen when you ask, like, really good questions, and so, like, creativity for me is like, either it's an extension of the question that you're already asking yourself or it's an answer to the question, and so, like writing poems or like writing short essays or, uh, designing apparel or different things like that. It's it's either about like extension of questions or or answers. Like for us, like with with scatter joy, the apparel became a tool for, uh, advocacy. Um, we launched like scatter joy in 2021. Um, we didn't have a community of like, just a bunch of rich people being like, hey, it's a good idea, like, we'll donate to that, here's a kickstarter thing. And so we were just like you know what we launch? Apparel, like we feel like that could be something really fun to create advocates for the organization, grow awareness, but then also we can use all that profit to pour back into the organization and see if we can launch these resources that we have now. And we started with a tagline, a simple tagline. That was their strength in your story, and so it was an answer for a lot of people that were asking their question Am I, am I enough, am I worth? It has have things in my life uh been too big of a burden for me to even believe in myself, and so for us, it was like no, like we're going to answer that question for you because we've had to answer that question for ourselves.
Speaker 2:I think you create what you wish you had. You know, as an entrepreneur, as a creative like you, you create what you wish you had, or you create, uh, you try to create the belief or the knowledge or the wherewithal for which you uh came across in your life, um, when you needed it the most. And so that's to me, like that's where creativity comes from's. Like what did I wish I had? What did I wish someone told me? What did someone tell me? How did someone show up in my life in a really meaningful way? And then how do I go do that for other people? Through an essay, or through a t-shirt, or through a podcast conversation or through you know something like that. And so that's where it comes from for me. Might be a lot of different things for a lot of people, but for me it's always rooted in that idea of like, what are you most compassionate about? And so that's always fueled my creativity.
Speaker 1:Listen, nobody loves laundry day but, thanks to the fluff, laundry is officially off your to-do list. Just schedule your pickup on the fluff app. Toss your dirty clothes in any bag you've got and leave it on your front porch. The fluff handles the rest. Returning your laundry fresh folded and in our reusable vinyl bag in just 24 to 48 hours. Flat rate pricing means you stuff the bag full and, yes, pickup and delivery are totally free in Central Ohio. Use promo code Carrie for 20% off your first order.
Speaker 1:Ps, Ask about our monthly subscription to keep life simple and your laundry done. Who says you need a special occasion to feel like a celeb? I mean, stress is real, Life is busy and your scalp, yeah, it deserves some love too. That's where Headspace by Mia Santiago comes in. Treat yourself or someone who deserves it to a luxurious scalp treatment and a killer blowout or cut. Because nothing says main character, energy, honey, like a fresh style from celebrity stylist Mia and her team. And because we love a good deal, mention the Keri Croft Show and get 20% off your service or any gift card for somebody in your life that you love. Headspace by Mia Santiago because great hair days shouldn't be rare. Can you think of a specific person or story that's impacted you the most through this. I know there's probably plenty, but are there any that stand out where you're like, holy shit?
Speaker 2:A lady reached out to us a couple of years ago and shared the story of, like you know, she, mom of three, walks into a coffee shop, sees someone wearing a scatter joy t-shirt and it's just like intrigued. It's the same moment for me reading the poem as for her, like scatter joy is just jumping off the t-shirt at her and so she gets her coffee, like gets her kids together. She goes over to the lady wearing it in the coffee shop and says like oh, what is scatter joy? Like, what is that? And so the the woman wearing it gets to tell the story about, like her mental health gets to tell the story about. Scatterjoy isn't attached to the organization at all, it's just like someone that just like it resonated with. She bought the T-shirt, she's rocking it in the community and supporting in that way. But what she didn't know was the woman asking about it with the three girls and who had inquired about the t-shirt, had just lost her husband to suicide five or six months prior and was like trying to scratch and claw out of this like really dark place herself and trying to support her kids and trying to support like the rest of their family with that and looking for resources and doing those things.
Speaker 2:I think that was a moment where we were just like, yeah, that's, this is important, like this is worth it, this is reaching people. Yeah, I mean fast forward, like two years later. Like she's um, she's fundraising for Scatterjoy. She's like raising awareness, raising money, coming to events and has connected her family with resources and stuff. Like she is like what we wished the organization would become, you know, and and it just like speaks to the importance of like what seems so silly, as like a t-shirt, you know, it's like a piece of apparel, like how how much life can that give to a conversation or to a person? And it's like that's the story, you know. It's like that's why we were like man, maybe apparel. Like maybe we could do apparel first and see what what it turns into. It's like that created a whole different life trajectory for for people in that family. So, yeah, that was like. That was a moment where we were like we can be proud of the work we're doing for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a testament to your messaging too, cause, like you know, 20 people can go do apparel and it. You know it's not going to have that the same impact. I mean it's it's your message and the heart and soul of what you've got, and you just have these soldiers walking around carrying it. You know it's just a huge testament to the power of what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate that. You got to make it cool too.
Speaker 1:Well, that's I mean like.
Speaker 2:I feel like that's what, that's what's interesting. It's like we always go to um, we always go to different markets. Or last year we set up at South by Southwest in Austin and set up like a little experience, and people would come through and be like what is this? Like, tell me all about it. And yeah, we would always start by saying, yeah, we're actually a mental health nonprofit. We don't look like one. That's intentional. Let me tell you why.
Speaker 2:And so like, really, the way we created Scatterjoy was we don't want it to feel or look or function or sound like a medical organization by any means. I think that actually increases the stigma. You know, people don't like doctor's office, and so that's going to keep people at an arm's length, especially within the mental and emotional health lane. And so what we want to do is create, like a way, more approachable and relatable avenue to the conversations, but then also to the resources. And so it's like man scatter joy, black and white artists will save us or strengthen your story. Like it doesn't look like uh, it doesn't look like a traditional non-profit t-shirt either. You know, like we wanted to create something that like met people where they were, they could identify with it, they'd be proud of like rocking that and their whole wardrobe being scattered joy, because like it looks good, it feels good, like it communicates a really good message too.
Speaker 1:So well, it's brilliant because you're making it cool to talk about mental health yeah, trying to like or tough as the the young kids? We don't say cool anymore, apparently, we say tough oh really this is what I learned. Really, this is from like, hot off the press, from the fresh okay, we're talking like we're talking like seniors in high school in chicago downtown, so like they know what's up. So cool is no longer cool, it's tough okay, and I'm pretty sure it's maybe like a t-u-f-f thing but I haven't researched and vetted that out.
Speaker 2:Yet with chat gpt so you're like. You guys are making it tough to talk about mental health. You know what I'm saying which?
Speaker 1:is so it's brilliant. Think about that, like what you have, like you're making it accessible and, oh my God, like I actually want to wait. I want to talk about this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so important. We've even threw around the idea. We did it with one sweatshirt where we just like printed the resources on the sleeve, like we had the crisis text line number on the sleeve. We had the website where you go to like search for free and reduced cost care. We had the therapy fund on there.
Speaker 1:Why didn't you do?
Speaker 2:it. We've thrown around that idea. It gets a little busy.
Speaker 1:We like very minimalistic stuff. But you know, like the little scatter joy up here, if you do it small, think that's true, that's true we've also thought about just doing it on like a tag.
Speaker 2:Inside it almost becomes like a business card in a way you know, if, like, for instance, like that conversation, like that story that I shared, it's like, well, how cool would it have been if she just like flipped the bottom of her shirt like inside out, and there was a tag with all the resources or a qr code. So we're getting there maybe we'll do that, we'll see.
Speaker 1:So talk about the, the hotline and what you guys are doing. I mean there's a lot of great things you're doing yeah, so the?
Speaker 2:the whole goal is, like our mission statement is to make mental health care more accessible and affordable for all. Before we talk about the, the like those last two words are the most important words for all. Like we deeply, deeply believe that. Like we don't want any labels or anything on this. Like we're not for a certain demographic and for one you know. It's like we truly, truly mean that. Like we're trying to create an ultra-inclusive environment and community, because it's like our job is to to help people. Our job isn't to tell them to live a certain way or do a certain thing. Like our job is just to like care for people, to wrap our arms around them and just say, like how can we help? How we can help is through mental health resources and getting them connected to to, uh, professionals at a hopefully a reduced cost rate.
Speaker 2:I think one thing, for instance, is like it's one thing to create apparel and make it tough make it cool, um, what that does is it creates awareness, but if awareness was the cure for the mental health crisis, we wouldn't have a crisis. Right now. Awareness is at an all time high source statistics, and so we need an organization, or we need a group of people, groups of organizations acting together to pull people from awareness to action. It's actually the. It's funny, it's the. I think that that is the theme for the Mental Health America conference this year, which is really cool because everyone is aware of that now.
Speaker 2:It's like we have to pull people to action. How do we do that? Because there's still a lot of barriers there, but we have a crisis text line that people can text scattered to 741-741, connected with a crisis counselor, for free. That can also be used as a warm line too, like you could just be having a crappy day and text that number and process what you're feeling with the person on the other side of that text line, and so it's a really cool resource. It makes it really approachable because, like, there's not a lot of people picking up the phone and calling people these days. I fall victim to that sometimes, like I would much rather text in certain times of the day, and so that text line just makes it really accessible. And it's free and it's 24 7.
Speaker 2:We also have what we call our find help network, which is a nationwide search engine that connects people to free and reduced cost care. So you can search a keyword like anxiety, depression, addiction, addiction, services, therapy, counseling and a zip code, and it populates all these free and reduced cost programs, providers, facilities in that area. The caveat is that they're offering free and reduced cost programming, and which is really cool, I think thing. Uh, we were just talking about this, like columbus, for instance, if you would define columbus's heart, I think it would be like social impact, like it's just filled with a bunch of really amazing people trying to do good in the world and and I think that's rare I think that sets us apart from from cities. I think we should honestly, as a city, double down on that and communicate that to the world, because it really is happening.
Speaker 1:I think we're doing that right now, you and I.
Speaker 2:Yeah, trying to, but yeah, so if you search Columbus or mental health in a Columbus zip code, there's hundreds of free and reduced cost programs. What happens, though, is that a lot of nonprofit organizations or a lot of like health programming organizations. They're not great at marketing, and so a lot of people don't really know about them, and so what we want to do is we kind of like view ourselves as like almost a marketing agency for all these other experts in the world that are doing amazing work, and so, yeah, you can find that. And then we also have a therapy fund where people can apply for financial assistance. I mean, this all is predicated on like funding and fundraising, and so we try to launch the therapy fund twice a year, and then it becomes really like a first come, first serve kind of thing, where we try to support people for like three to six therapy sessions. Support people for like three to six therapy sessions, so we pay the pay the provider and work with the providers and different things there. So if people are are applying for that, again, it's solely predicated on like do we have funding for this at this time? Have people donated enough, have have has a business come on board and really wanted to support and sponsor the organization in this way. But then it also helps if you've used the other search engines or you've used psychology today, or you've used someone in your community to find a provider first, cause that's going to speed up that process too.
Speaker 2:So all three of those things for us like those are solutions to make mental health care more accessible and affordable. Like it becomes really overwhelming At least it did for me when I was going through all my mental health stuff to finally get the courage to say like I think I do need help and then say where the hell do I go? Like, where do I look for this? What expertise do they need to have for my, in particular, struggle? And so like really those tools, those resources that we have help with that to get people connected.
Speaker 2:But then also like the next hurdle is the affordability aspect of mental health care. It's so expensive. Uh, insurances don't. Uh, a lot of providers don't take insurance and uh, it's really not on them. Uh, insurance makes it really hard for providers sometimes, and so we want to eliminate that barrier as much as we can too. And so like working with providers and trying to cover the costs with the therapy fund and there's a lot of other organizations doing really, really the same work. Like we don't feel like we're solving all the issues by ourselves, like we can't, and so I think what's cool about the mental health nonprofit space is it's a lot of people seeing the same issues, doing similar things. To meet people that relate to their branding and messaging, and community and organization to say like we'll help you overcome those, and so we're just like proud to be a part of that.
Speaker 1:So tell me about Short North.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we, uh, we're doing something kind of fun. We, we got our, we got our own space, um, and we just posted something recently that said we're a mental health nonprofit, uh, opening a physical, our own space. And we just posted something recently that said we're a mental health nonprofit opening a physical location and it's not for therapy. We'll explain, and so it's really going to be a third space and if people aren't familiar with that, a third space is a physical location that exists outside of home and work. So, if you think about it, it's like a gym is a third space, libraries a third space, coffee shops, cafes or third spaces.
Speaker 2:I think really a library is is the one third space that doesn't pressure you into buying something while you're there.
Speaker 2:It doesn't doesn't mean, you know it's like you walk into a coffee shop and I love coffee shops, we'll have a cafe aspect within our third space as well on Saturdays Um, but you almost, like, have to pay rent to be there. You know it's like you grab a coffee and you know I don't mind doing that, but you know you go to a gym, you pay for a membership to be there, uh, you go to the library, you can just be there you can just exist and read and grow and learn and connect, and so we hope that this space is that Like it's a space where people feel like they can come in and just be and exist and connect, to organize, to create change in the world, to be inspired to create change. You know, if you look at the mental health crisis, a lot of it stems from a loneliness epidemic. Right now, one in three American adults feel lonely, like they would classify as lonely, which is crazy because, like, we're supposed to be technologically more connected than ever before, but that is creating barriers to this.
Speaker 2:Like this is rare, where, like, we're just sitting chopping it up for an hour and talking about life and and how to solve problems in the world and having fun, and, uh, and a lot of people don't have those spaces to do that anymore or don't feel comfortable or maybe you don't feel the initiative to plan that on themselves or for themselves, and so we want to create a space that is that you can just come, exist and be, but we also will sell like our apparel out of that space. It'll be part retail, part lounge, part library, part creative studio. We'll have a cafe pop up like events on Saturdays and stuff in the back that's like tip only, which is really cool. So, yeah, we're really excited about that. It's a I think it's. I think you would. You would normally see like concept stores like this from like a Buck Mason or from you know bigger brands bandit running does, does stuff like this.
Speaker 2:Uh, I think what's really cool is it's it's a nonprofit. It's a mental health specific nonprofit that's trying to get people connected and see what that does for the community. Get people connected and see what that does for the community, and I think it's. I mean, we are rooted in in advocacy and activism too, and so what we want to do is we want to use the space to provide opportunities for people to like create movements for themselves. You know it's like hey, uh, you have an idea for a nonprofit or an organization like come meet, like. We want this space to be like the incubator for great ideas that are going to make the world a better place. We want it to be an incubator for empathy, for compassion, for heart-led leadership and so, yeah, we're really excited about that.
Speaker 1:Where is it? We'll see how it goes. Where is it?
Speaker 2:It is High Street 2nd, so just like a block north North Star Cafe right on High Street, and so it used to be an art gallery. It used to be the Lindsay Gallery, oh yeah, you guys are in some prime.
Speaker 1:That's a prime look.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're trying to be?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're trying to be.
Speaker 2:So it was cool because it's just a blank space and we get to move in and create how we want it to be. And so we've hosted some like soft launch events and different things like that just to welcome people into the space. Got the biggest compliment. Like it's not fully built out yet. We're launching May 17th as the first full operational day. We're going to host an event May 16th, a Studio Stories event. That we've been the last year, um, but we get to host it at our space now, which is cool. But, uh, we've been doing some soft launches. Someone told us last week when they were visiting the studio space we're like man, I just want to like live here. I was like that is like the biggest comp. That's what we want people to feel like. We want people to feel like I want this to be my home because we we want it to be like an extension of your home.
Speaker 2:You know, like we want it to be an extension of your home so you can find people and connect and create with people that uh want to do good things in the world. So, yeah, we're, we're, uh, we're trying to trying to create it where it feels like everything Scatterjoy is, you know, like impact-driven, creative, socially connected, provides opportunity for people. So it could be too much, could be just the right amount. We'll see.
Speaker 1:Never too much. You're doing it, dude. Good for you. We're trying, we're trying. Can we talk about you a little more? I'm going to go back to the poetry. Yeah, yeah, so we are we done with the scatterjoy project stuff I'm gonna dial right back into my notebook yeah, yeah zach situation.
Speaker 2:So you write poetry too uh, not a ton, not a lot, but I I try to yeah so is your favorite poet then, ralph, or do you have an actual favorite poet?
Speaker 2:Gosh. I mean like I'm friends with some of my favorite poets, honestly, Like Donovan Beck, donovan Alexander Beck. He's actually on the board of Scatterjoy. He works at MIT in Boston. He's a genius, but he's a spoken word artist and a poet. He's actually going to be at the event on May 16th. He's going to share some of his work and then we're going to sit down and have a podcast side to side, knee to knee, fireside chat combo. But he's incredible and his work is rooted in hope and mental health and overcoming certain things in his life and trying to give language to people that are kind of like grasping for it to describe their own thoughts and ideas and emotions. For us he's a creative director at new york times t brand studios out in in nyc and he's come and done some events with us, but he's incredible.
Speaker 1:What about?
Speaker 2:poets who have passed away.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, emerson for sure then, are you doing any written word at this event? Um, maybe see, this is the only feedback I'll give you. The only gap I'm seeing is that'm seeing is that we're not showcasing some of your.
Speaker 2:I'm not the practicing creative. I like to deflect honestly to be honest.
Speaker 1:Okay, so do you have a favorite poem that you know by heart?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an Emerson piece, it's part of a greater work in a book, self-reliance, and it actually inspires a lot of the work we do in Suicide Prevention Month, which is September. It says these roses outside of my window. They make no reference to former ones or to better ones. They are for what they are. They exist with God today. There is no time to them. They're simply the rose. They are perfect in every moment of their existence, and so it inspires a lot of what we do.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's goosebumps material man, it's so good We'll talk about the rose that you that inspired.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just like go all out in September with roses. Suicide prevention month's a tricky one because it's such a heavy topic, you know, to people. It feels untouchable to a lot of people and which is why there's like a huge stigma around it, and so we try to make it again more approachable, more accessible, to navigate that conversation or get involved in some sort of movement within suicide prevention month. Um, and so we just like take our cues from that, from that piece, and what's interesting is like obviously it talks about the roses. You know, reading between the lines, like you know Emerson's equating the rose to ourselves. It's like it's perfect in every moment of its existence. And so we kind of like add onto that we say thorns and all. And so we always do like a new T-shirt design that talks about roses or has like a rose theme. Sometimes it has like a little piece of that poem designed within it.
Speaker 2:Community to pass out roses nationwide Last year was really cool because I mean we had moments where, like the Ole Miss volleyball team was passing out roses to the LSU team before a match. Like it was really cool to see people get involved in it. And we just got lucky because a couple posts went viral on social media where we were talking about it or marketing it and getting people involved in it, and so it feels more accessible to just go to the grocery store, buy a dozen roses and pass them out to strangers on the street or friends or family members or coworkers, and not really have to, like say anything when you give it to them. Like you just hand them the rose and say, yeah, thorns, and all are like, hey, we're just scattering joy today. Like do you want a rose? And you don't have to say anything about suicide prevention month.
Speaker 2:But that act is suicide prevention. You know, it's like you can. You can offer a rose to the biggest, baddest dude ever and I guarantee he's gonna crack a smile. It doesn't matter who he is. Um, it's gonna make someone's day, it's gonna make your day. Like there's something powerful about just like the generosity and the simplicity of it and the beauty within it. So, yeah, that that poem, yeah, that's the one that I'm like. I know that by heart well, I'm gonna go home.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna go home and pack my bag. I'm my sleeping bag and my toothbrush and stuff. Do you think it'd be awkward if I, like, moved into your space?
Speaker 2:it's your like. Stage five, it's your home.
Speaker 1:I might, I'm serious, I love, I love you, I love everything. Everything you're doing is so good. I mean, it's just, it's so meaningful and there's so many layers to it and I just I haven't found something that I've resonated with on so many levels like this in a really long time. So I really I look forward to continuing to sort of figure out how we can improve the atmosphere together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, come hang out. Yeah, no, I'm going to hang out. All right, I'm going to hang out.
Speaker 1:Okay, You'll be like.
Speaker 2:Carrie's here again.
Speaker 1:Guys, listen. We told her it was her third space. You went and did it again, zach.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:You've been awesome. Thanks for having me and if you're still out there following your girl. Follow me on YouTube, Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. And until next time, keep moving, baby, and Ryan Gosling ain't got nothing on you, Nothing.
