Welcome to invest in yourself, the digital entrepreneur podcast. Join the podcast mogul Phil Better as he interviews successful entrepreneurs that make their living in the digital world. Now let's join your host, Phil Better, as a special guest today on invest in yourself, the digital entrepreneur podcast.

Welcome back to another amazing episode of invest in yourself, the digital entrepreneur podcast. I am, of course, Phil with other podcast mobile. And today, we're privileged to host a truly inspiring individual whose life story exemplifies the powers of resilience, creativity, and transformation. Born into the challenges of mental health struggles and neurodiversity in Manchester, New Hampshire, our guests faced bullying and misunderstanding from a young age. Yet it was with the world of stories through poetry, novels, and music that he found solace and a sense of belonging, shielding him from a world quick to judge and slow to support. To find the voices that once laid him labeled him a monster and a mistake, he turned his deep passion for stories into a beacon of hope and a tool for advocacy. As he grew he not only shared his stories but also his strength becoming an advocate, a teacher and a mentor. His journey led him to roles where his passion was not only valued but essential helping young people discover the joy of reading and guiding others towards independence.

As a peer specialist, he's uplift uplifted countless lives encouraging others to find and use their voices. Now stepping into the fantastical realm of Dungeons and Dragons, he uses his narrative prowess to mentor and connect communities in innovative ways. He builds bridges for those navigating their paths, fostering a world that embraces all and intentional and compassionate in every step. Please join me welcoming a storyteller, a bridge builder, a beacon of hope, the light of Gondor itself who has turned his triumphs into his trials into triumphs, Thomas Wilson. Thomas, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me on. That is what a heck of an intro. That smiles all

the way around. Thank you. You're very welcome. I I I may not be a storyteller prowess, but I do believe I know how to use the words properly. And I love, hyping up our guests. And you're one of the guests that when I got your, your your request to be on the podcast, I knew exactly. I needed you on ASAP, because I love what you're doing. I'm a very big advocate for mental health, for neurodivergency, because without you guys, well, not you guys per se, but without people who are neurodivergent, we wouldn't be seeing the changes we see in the world today.

So that's why I want to keep advocating for you, for people who are fighting a better fight than I can. And plus it touches close to home my brother, lives with paranoid schizophrenia, and I see what storytelling has helped him and keep him happy. So why not share the love? But Thomas, welcome to the show.

Thank you again for having me, Ilan.

Let's dive into it. I talked to, talked to you earlier in your life. You were bullying, you were bullied. Sorry. You weren't bullying people. You were bullied. Sorry. And now you're the owner operator of Sensory Friendly Storytelling.

Like, how did how did that happen? Like, why what prompted you to

jump into this journey? Definitely. So, that might be an error on my part on the tag. I actually run R&H Creative Advocacy and Storytelling LLC. Oh, I apologize. Oh, no worries. But I so to dive into why I'm doing this work, to dive into all of this, really the inspiration comes from being a being a youth in a system that just did not work. I grew up in the school system in the early nineties and 2000. I always herald that as a terrible time for mental health.

Yes. There was a lot of good things going on, but the media, the world around us, the mentality just around therapy was very archaic. It was I know, like, in TV shows, a lot of the focus was if you went to therapy, you were crazy, which it's changed astronomically since then, and I'm so glad to see that. But that was also what I grew up around. I grew up around a lot of people who were dealing with mental health. I grew up in an education system that deemed me more of a problem than anything else. And it's actually really interesting because my early years in school, I was considered a prodigy, and then I was diagnosed with mental health, and that changed dramatically. Yes.