Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming back to the Tron podcast. This is your host, Rashad Woods. As a special guest Today, I have Mr. Thomas R. Wilson. Today, he's a motivational speaker, professional writer, and more importantly, he loves to help people. Thank you very much for being on the show.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Thank you for having me on.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: It's awesome. So, you know, I think that let's just, you know, I don't want to talk more about you then obviously this. I want to make sure I'm asking you the proper questions. But I just have to say the work that you do with communities in need, you know, you speak at conventions and you help people. Can you give a little insight into the work you do?
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Absolutely. So I am a storyteller, writer, advocate, business owner, family consultant, many, many different roles. Everything I do is meant to serve the neurodiverse, mental health, and numerous other underserved communities. But at the same time, it's really designed around a mentality and a focus of empathy based care. And while I work with underserved communities, my mentality and everything I provide is, it's not just for them, it's for people, whether or not they have a diagnosis, whether or not they have, you know, a programmable need in a system. And so everything I do is also built off of the idea of sensory friendly care and making sure that people are not overstimulated, not overwhelmed while they're seeking either an event or public speaking experience.
And part of that is understanding triggers, part of that is understanding how information needs to be provided. But an even larger part of that is really emphasizing that while there's no clear framework that's going to work for every person in the same capacity, there are ways that we can help people no matter their needs. And the key part of that is communicating with them, asking what they need, understanding that whether or not we have good intentions as providers, the root of care, the root of support is in that person and providing them what they need, how they need it, and understanding that if someone asks for something, that is the most important aspect.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: Correct. And you came from a place of personal experience. Obviously, I don't want to. I only want you to share what you're willing to reveal. But I did go to your website and saw that, you know, your background kind of formulated how you are and what you decided to get your field into. Are you willing to share that part of yourself?
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Yes, thank you for asking. I am. So I am a big believer in sharing my story. I am a big believer in not sharing Other people's part of that is for me to make sure that I honor my personal experiences. So as a kid, when I was early in school, you know, I had, as many people do nowadays, a rough time in like pre K kindergarten. I didn't really pass those. I had to do that twice. And then in my first grade, second grade years, I was viewed as a prodigy. There were a lot of people who claimed that I had like the IQ of a 40 year old. When I was in first and second grade, I had a massive vocabulary. And then as, as I entered into third grade, I had a very significant loss in my life. And that really triggered my own introduction into my mental health needs. I had struggled for a while before then, definitely having social anxiety, definitely having a wide variety of other needs. So we weren't entirely sure what they were. We thought that I had adhd, which I'm all but certain I do. We thought that I had ocd, which I'm all but certain I do. But in my diagnosis has changed, as it does for many people throughout my entire life. Some doctors saying yes to something, some say not. Many believing I have autism, while many believing I don't. It's a very rough experience in the United States to be diagnosed in that journey. But after I had that loss, my life took an irrevocable change. And I went from being that student that was said to be a prodigy to being an absolute nightmare, as my teachers put it. I wasn't supposed, I wasn't supported in the way that I needed to be. I also my perception around my peers changed as I went from being a friend who often bullied and I do want to state like I was no saint, like there were a lot of things that I was working on, a lot of things I was going through. But my primary complaint was I wasn't taught how to communicate the way that I needed to. I also learned at a really young age that there's some very big flaws in the system. And so this proceeded for a long time. I was viewed as problematic. I was viewed as too hard to work with. Some of my educators even swore that I'd end up in prison.
And it wasn't until I was in high school and I ended up in a program that actually started to support me in the ways that I needed to, that that started to change. Since then I graduated from college, something many people swore I never would. I've been in healthcare for over 12 years now. I've helped with a wide variety of events. I have my own business. I still Work at my day job. Um, I have accumulated, you know, some level of international gain. Um, I have been part of awards, I've been a state level advocate at this point, many, many different things. Too much to go.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: I saw that. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you've been, you've been a speaker and you work within a 70 mile radius as well too, when it comes to. Yeah, well, to travel to in your area, which is awesome, the things you've accomplished and had to overcome. And I'll just say that I think, and this is just my opinion, this is no professional expertise. I think that there's a lot more sensitivity to the situations that you went through that have come up, particularly the last five years mental health and wellness. Then you know what, what the perceptions were back then where it was basically, for all intents and purposes, pick yourself up and stop crying. Right.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
The early thousands, I always say, were a very weird point when it came to empathy and our understanding of mental health care. I remember as a kid the running joke in a lot of shows was if you went to therapy, you were crazy. Like just crazy. And a lot of people don't notice that as much now, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done in advocacy and in representation.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Well, I have to ask you, like, how did the name R, H Creative advocacy and storytelling come. What does R and H stand for? Anything I didn't see, you know, where did that name come from?
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Thank you for asking that. I'm not always asked that. But the R and H, so that comes from Roadhawk. So when I was younger or my early 20s, I actually got a job with a prestigious, like online fan website to create and write articles for them. And so they me to create a username so that I could have some level of confidentiality.
So I decided I've always loved Hawks and I love.
I think we got disconnected. I think we got disconnected there for a second.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: Beautiful Internet, ladies and gentlemen.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
Anyway, so I, I was asked to create that username. Love Hawks. But I also really love the character Rhodey from the MCU and Marvel Comics.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Iron Man's best friend. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna. The two. My first article I wrote actually got like 40,000 views in a 24 hour period. It was wild.
And it continued to grow. And so Roadhawk has joined me at multiple different online presences, multiple different business ventures. It's something that means a great deal to me. And when I was creating my business, I'm like, okay, I want something that's going to tie me to all these various successes that I've had in my life. And so I have the R and H there and then the creative advocacy and storytelling. I didn't realize when I came up with it how important that was to me. I wanted to make sure I had something that really matched what I wanted to do. But it's actually kind of funny in that that name helped to shape what I do more necessarily than what I was planning on doing. And so it's a great lover of pride to have that business name.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: That's fantastic because I was just like, I was like, I was trying to figure out, just in my head, I'm like, rnh and like, I don't see anything that leads to his initials and his name. And I was like. And just, yeah, I'm glad. You know, I just, I just piqued my interest. So I saw that you do like Dungeons and Dragons items. I can, I can profess that I remember it as a kid, as a board game or a card game. I'm, I'm totally unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons, but how does that, but I know the name and what you know, ultimately what it does. How does that, how does that work into the work that you're doing?
[00:09:03] Speaker B: So I, I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons for a number of years now. What D and D are Dungeons and Dragons so great at doing? And a lot of people don't realize it is create real life skills like math, problem solving, creative thought processing. And it takes the right person really to emphasize and create those skills. But I had started playing with friends, noticing it was a great way to also build peer relationships. And so when I started doing the work once again, honestly, I wasn't expecting to have that be such a big part of what I do. But in my day job, I had been a game master. I decided, okay, my business needs some money.
So I reached out to some stores, started developing a program where these games could really emphasize, take all those years of experience in healthcare and so in that, in these practice of skills, and I'm going to give a little guidance on how I do it as well, is it also creates a safety net. People can make decisions without realizing life repercussions. So through the rolling of dice, through honoring a character, through embodying someone who's more powerful, these games really provide an opportunity to explore the power we want to have in a way that can also teach empathy through NPC reactions, through mindfulness, while also giving the opportunity for people to escape their limitations, escape their fears and challenge some real world conceptions. And so not everyone's going to do it this way, but some people just want to game and have fun. But the people who come to me for these, that's a big part of it.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Well, you know, what's always funny is I'm a huge comic book movie fan comics, you know, but I always find it, they use the portion of a hero or fictional character to mirror real life. It's essentially what somebody wanted to be. And there's no if you actually, you can take the character at face value and say, okay, suit, fly, XYZ, etc, etc. Right. But if you actually take an example of a number of characters, right, like, you know, the famous ones being Batman, and you actually look at some of the psychological things that it touches on, it really mirrors what people are going through. And maybe that's in. In the sense of your Dungeons and Dragons. It may help people break down barriers because that's not really them that they're professing. So that through.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Right. I mean, I, I know comic books get a lot of critique, but the great thing about fantasy and sci fi as a genre is they really can be used, like you said, to reflect human condition, to help people find their voice and to really explore what they can be outside of what they may think they're capable of. Right. And I love Batman. Like there's definitely a lot of opinions. I have a Batman, there's. There's some flawed storytelling in his stories, but his heart, he is someone who experienced trauma, who had loss, and really just wants to help people as much as can. Right.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: And, you know, and so, and I think that's great work that you do now. Can you talk a little bit? Kind of like the work you do with charities and public speaking events that you, you know, had an opportunity to do quite a bit of.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Yeah. So I, I got started in my work speaking at conventions and things, doing the work, but in particular with the charities. There's been a couple that I've done recently. One was last year. It was called Finding Meaning After Loss. It was an organization was looking to put in on an event to help people who were, you know, had lost someone important in their life. And so my role partly was a consultant and a speaker. I helped them shape the, the format of the event. Originally it had started off as me just being a storyteller. Then they needed help with, you know, the sensory setting and ways to set up and space things and eventually became a very in depth aspect. But what I did was get to tell stories around helping people identify various aspects of recovery and loss. I've also spoken at an event a couple years ago where I got to tell my story and the importance of overcoming stigma on neurodiversity. But on top of that, I've also spoken at numerous different events and various charities and spaces on the importance of utilizing creativity as a means to empower people. And this has been with charities, this has been on podcasts, this has been even at spaces held for people at locations. And so locations, I should say, like schools and libraries and things. And so this is really the central focus is we don't have to hold ourselves back. We don't have to believe in a negativity based mindset, especially when we help people or educate people. And we as people can do a lot more than a lot of people may want us to believe, especially as those of us who live with neurodiversity and mental health. There's so many imbalances out there that want to hold us back, that want us to stop asking questions, to stop advocating. And I don't think it's always an intentional act. I think it's just a societal aspect in a lot of ways. But the reality is when we build up systems, when we have these conversations in the work that I do, what I try to emphasize really is when we give people power and teach them how to use their own personal power, well, then they can utilize it to really help and change the world.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: So when you're dealing with people who are, who are dealing with personal loss, typically people fall into various vices. Some people cope better than others. You know, some people fall into food, some people fall in the alcohol and drugs. Do you work with like your state Medicaid or any departments that may assist with people who need to help, you know, health and human services or different departments that really need maybe, you know, a lot more services that may be available to them or do you coordinate somehow with them?
[00:15:13] Speaker B: So I haven't directly worked with Medicaid. I've worked with a variety of different systems. It's a goal for me to get into Medicaid at some point. I'm not going to lie. It's an incredibly daunting and intimidating task.
I have, I have talked to several providers just recently, people who have their own organizations and they've told me they're on the like second or third attempts because it's, it's so long and it's so hard to get. That being said, I have worked with a wide variety of programs to help those people who need help. But also the foundation of my work, especially when it's out of pocket, is to make sure it is cost effective. A big part of my mission is to make sure that people can afford and thrive. I've been in services where I've had to choose between food and rent or food and medications. That is not a place where anybody should. Yeah, exactly. No one should ever have to be there. So I have sliding scales, I have payment plans, I have emergency preparedness, financial aspects. Right. And that's a big part of it.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Yeah. So I was just curious, you know, because I know a lot of companies and individuals are partnered with state and local government agencies. But again, to your point, I mean, the barrier entry is high because unfortunately, you know, the paperwork, the auditing and the things that they have to protect themselves from is, I can only imagine the utterest task that that's involved with that. So is your primary audience adults, children, teenagers, things of that nature?
[00:16:54] Speaker B: So I try to work with all ages. I've done events for people who are three to four. I've done work with people who are past 80. I've been blessed with the skill set to work with a wide variety of ages as well as the comfortability in that. And I want to honor that. I also don't ever want to shove someone out of my care and out of my programs based on their age.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: So I do my best to work with someone that doesn't always mean it's going to be a success and everyone's going to stick around all the time. But I found the great deal of the people who do receive care do have these events, these dnd public speaking, they're largely return people.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Right. So when you have these peer to peer engagement activities with people, obviously, you know, are people reluctant to. To. How do you group people off? How do you get them to. To be engaging? Because we all have our tight inner circles or none at all. So people have a tendency to be very tribal or very hard to get to open up and sit and do group things. You know, somebody could say, hey, I'm an adult. Why do I need to, you know, sit next to this other adult and pour my heart out? So how do you get people to do that?
[00:18:09] Speaker B: So a big part of it, I do try to match people by age within a reasonable time frame. I also try to like, especially if it's DnD Dungeon Dragons or like a storytelling event, I try to make sure that there's a similar skill level or like a similar interest.
Just because it's so awkward if someone who is 18 is in an event with someone who's 5 and trying to match that interest. Understood. Oh, go ahead.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: No, I just said. No, I understood. I understand.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: That being said, when I do work with people who are in that similar age range, a big part of it is personalized attention and actually paying attention to how people process the information. Because even if you have people within a year of each other, it doesn't mean that they're going to be able to process the information the same way.
They're going to have the same level of energy, the same focus. So so much of it is, like I said, paying attention to someone, like genuinely not faking it, showing kindness, getting that conversation going, trying to make people comfortable with me first and then providing opportunities. And on top of that, it's also so much of what I do is also so social based that when I create opportunities for laughter or joy or silliness, those are these great abilities, these great skills and moments that can break down barriers.
And there's never going to be a moment where an event is going to have a 100% success rate. Correct. And there's never going to be a moment where I work with, you know, I've introduced over a thousand people at this point to this, my style of work, but there's always going to be the people who leave, no matter how much fun they have.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: And so the last thing I'm going to say is I always try to have a backup plan. If there's a backup group or a backup opportunity, maybe the space is a little smaller, group size is a little smaller, or even taking in those feedback from people and creating that for them. I have an intense workload, but it's because I love what I do. And so I try really hard to formulate and stylize things as well.
Right.
[00:20:41] Speaker A: Do you know, you say the locations that you have people at are at libraries and schools. What other locations do you have people at is there when you do the, like when a convention.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Welcome back.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: Oh, man. I'll tell you, man, you know, and I have WI fi all over this house. And that really was not what it was anticipated to take place when I was interviewing you. So I apologize for that.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: I spend so much of my time online, you know, it's not a big deal to me. This stuff happens.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the unfortunate. Right. So, like, you know, I mean, we've seen, we've all seen the, you know, kind of the videos where the conference call goes torpedoes downhill because of the connection. And I'm just a living, breathing example of that. So I really. Just to pick up where we're left off at real quick. I was at the question I was asking was how does. Where do your conventions and things, Schools, libraries. Well, when you have those bigger events, where do those take place?
[00:22:12] Speaker B: So I have some bigger events. So I've done some talks. I'm gonna be honest. I try not to do too big a spaces. Partly as someone who specializes in sensory friendly care as well as like a realm of accessibility. I try really hard to always make sure I have like at least a space where I know how I can support people within it. I have done some events with like several hundred people and lots of different eyes. And so when I do those, those are typically like.
So I've done one at a space at a theater in Denver in my area. There were a good chunk of people there. Thank you.
I'm currently working on a few others.
I typically don't provide those. I will do those with in collaborations with others. Um, thank you. But it's all focused really on that idea of keeping true to my mission. I've, you know, I've applied to things like TED Talk and other things. My only worry with doing. Well, not my only, but one of my main worries with doing that is if someone shows up to hear a sensory friendly specialist and then they're completely overwhelmed the whole time just because of the amount of people and all those.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Right. It becomes less personal.
Yeah. How can people find you in your services? You know, I want to make sure that obviously you have the opportunity. You certainly don't need me because you've been successful. But for people that are listening to the show, how can they find Thomas Wilson and RNH creative advocacy and storytelling.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: So I'm on LinkedIn. I need to be a little bit better about posting on there. I've been on a, you know, a step away from social media. I'm also on that can be a good thing. Say again?
[00:24:00] Speaker A: That can be a good thing.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: Oh yeah, it was great. That step away was wonderful.
But I'm also on my website rnhcreativeadvocacyandstorytelling.net it didn't realize how long that is for URL until I created it was stuck with it.
You can also reach me at ndtrpg and I'm going to go through that a little slower. NDT dtrpgmail.com I love questions. I will also make sure that my link tree and my email on everything is provided to make that easier for everyone. But yeah, that is. Those are the easiest ways.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: Well, the work you do is very commendable. Being able to talk to communities and help people with some very trying times and experiences and trauma. I think that the one thing that is unavoidable and if you live at any point in life and see enough, you will encounter things that ultimately will test your will. You know, anybody who it's not it's okay to ask for help and services. It's, you know, and I think that's very important that people know that. And the Internet has kind of, I think, democratized the process because then people can talk to people who they haven't. But there's also a lot of bad actors out there to take advantage of people. And you're clearly not. That's not what you do. So I commend you for being able to help people you know and share your personal story as well, too, on the Tron podcast there.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Thank you very much.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: So with that being said, ladies and gentlemen, this is Mr. Thomas R. Wilson. We thank you for your time and we can't wait to talk to you again, by the way, with Better Internet.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: Thank you very much. I'm excited.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: Talk to you soon, sir.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Talk to you soon.
