More than 30 arrests. Fraud. A foreign prison. Federal prison. Gambling. Loss. And eventually, a decision to stop running.

David Watson joins Raw Minds to tell the true story behind his memoir FORWARD ONLY.

Raised by his grandparents in North Texas, David says his life changed after losing his grandfather at only 12 years old. What followed was decades of running from consequences, grief and himself.

From stealing money as a teenager and crossing state lines, to fraud, jail in the Bahamas, repeated arrests and eventually a federal prison sentence, David’s life kept escalating until there was nowhere left to run.

Then came one of the darkest moments of his life.

While incarcerated, David learned that his mother had died. Alone in solitary confinement and facing years more behind bars, he reached a point where he questioned whether he wanted to keep living.

What happened next changed the direction of his life.

David began taking responsibility for his decisions, rebuilding himself, repairing relationships with his family and eventually writing FORWARD ONLY, his memoir about consequences, accountability, redemption and second chances.

This is not a conversation about glorifying crime.

It is about what happens when a man finally stops blaming everyone else and decides his past will not control where he goes next.

If you are running from addiction, gambling, anger, shame, grief, bad decisions or your own past, this conversation is for you.

FORWARD ONLY by David Watson is available now wherever books are sold.

RAW MINDS

Real conversations about men's mental health, growth, accountability and the things people keep buried.

https://rawminds.ca

Contact:

rawmindspodcast@gmail.com

CHAPTERS

00:00 David Watson’s story

02:10 What FORWARD ONLY is really about

03:49 Growing up with his grandparents

05:13 Losing his grandfather

08:28 Running away as a teenager

09:23 Stealing from McDonald’s and disappearing

15:02 Arrested driving a stolen car

19:44 Stealing a truck and escalating crime

22:25 His first serious arrest

26:40 More than 30 arrests

27:39 Fraud and prison in the Bahamas

34:42 Running again after the Bahamas

36:09 “You are the package”

38:45 The road toward federal prison

39:16 Arrested by the Secret Service

40:35 Gambling, fraud and self destruction

41:04 Losing his mother while incarcerated

42:18 The moment everything changed

43:46 Planning a different life from prison

44:10 Writing FORWARD ONLY

46:15 Why prison became his stop sign

47:13 Why he refuses to go backward

48:15 The years he can never get back

51:24 Accountability and second chances

55:42 What David would tell a man still running

57:10 Change your environment

58:17 Where to find FORWARD ONLY

Subscribe to Raw Minds and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.

Why do smart people keep making choices they already know are going to hurt them?

Raw Minds Season 2 Episode 104 welcomes Matt White, author of The Snack Monkey: How to Stop Eating the Whole Packet.

Matt has lived with CRPS and chronic pain for more than 30 years. He spent roughly 25 years taking prescribed codeine, competed with the Great Britain para-climbing team, and has spent much of his life learning what happens when pain, habits, instant gratification and resilience collide.

But this conversation goes much deeper than chronic pain.

Matt breaks down the idea behind The Snack Monkey, the voice in your head that says:

"Just one won't hurt."

One more episode.

One more snack.

Skip one workout.

Start again Monday.

Take the easy option.

Matt explains the battle between what he calls The Captain, the part of you thinking about your long-term goals, and The Snack Monkey, the part that wants comfort and relief right now.

We get into:

The Snack Monkey

The Captain vs instant gratification

Why smart people make irrational decisions

Breaking bad habits

The "Fuck It Button"

Why one mistake can turn into giving up completely

Conscious choice and personal responsibility

Work, family and health balance

Living with CRPS and chronic pain

25 years of prescribed codeine

Walking away from painkillers

Resilience vs self-destruction

What happens after life knocks you down

The moment between getting hit and getting back up

Reframing failure

Why words and identity matter

"What if it works?"

Wim Hof and the foreword to The Snack Monkey

This isn't a polished resilience story.

It's a conversation about pain, behaviour, addiction, habits, awareness, choice and what it actually takes to keep moving when life hits you hard.

MATT WHITE

Book: The Snack Monkey: How to Stop Eating the Whole Packet

Website: therealsnackmonkey.com

LinkedIn: Search Matt White + The Snack Monkey

CHAPTERS

0:00 Living With Pain for 30+ Years

1:46 Meet Matt White

3:34 Would Matt Remove His CRPS?

7:36 Powered By Pain

10:49 The Reality of CRPS

15:22 How The Snack Monkey Started

19:23 Behaviour Change, Not Dieting

20:15 The Two Voices In Your Head

21:40 The Captain vs The Snack Monkey

23:26 The Snack Monkey's Greatest Trick

25:57 Work, Family and Health

28:33 When You Actually Decide To Change

32:35 The "Fuck It Button"

35:47 25 Years of Prescribed Codeine

40:31 The Danger of Automatic Choices

42:49 Changing Your Default

45:42 What Balance Actually Means

49:19 The Side of Resilience Nobody Talks About

50:38 Get Off The X

52:21 The Limbo Between Pain and Action

54:06 Failure vs Learning

55:38 Reframing Your Story

56:35 What If It Works?

59:35 Final Thoughts

60:16 The Snack Monkey and Wim Hof

RAW MINDS

Real conversations about mental health, trauma, addiction, grief, fatherhood, resilience and what it actually takes to keep moving forward.

https://rawminds.ca

If this episode hits home, subscribe, leave a comment and send it to somebody who needs to hear it.

For the ones we'll never meet.

Healing Out Loud.

#TheSnackMonkey #MattWhite #RawMindsPodcast

How close can a man get to losing his life while everyone around him thinks he is okay?

In Raw Minds Season 2 Episode 105, Erick sits down with Daron Seals for a raw conversation about depression, loneliness, childhood trauma, toxic relationships, suicide, therapy, identity, vulnerability, and what happens when a man finally stops pretending everything is fine.

In 2020, at 25 years old, Daron reached one of the darkest points of his life. He was struggling with a breakup, money, friendships, unemployment, isolation, and years of pain he had never properly dealt with.

He survived that moment.

What came next was not some overnight transformation. Daron had to learn how to talk. He had to ask for help. He had to find the right therapist. He had to learn how to trust people again and begin dealing with the parts of himself he had spent years hiding.

Today, Daron uses his experience to create the conversations he once needed through The King’s Effect Podcast and Men’s Talk Show.

This episode gets into why men hide their emotions, the pressure to “man up,” childhood trauma, toxic relationships, suicide prevention, mental health support groups, finding the right therapist, learning boundaries, Black men’s mental health, vulnerability, podcasting, and turning pain into something that can help somebody else.

Sometimes the man telling everybody he is fine is the one fighting the hardest battle.

Daron Seals

The King’s Effect Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/@KingsEffect2025/

Men’s Talk Show

https://youtube.com/@menstalkshow

RAW MINDS

Website

https://rawminds.ca

YouTube

https://youtube.com/@rawminds-cs3ci

Instagram

@rawmindspodcast

TikTok

@rawmindspodcast

Email

rawmindspodcast@gmail.com

CHAPTERS

00:00 The war nobody can see

02:29 Meet Daron Seals

04:42 Who Daron was before therapy

09:12 Why men are taught to hide emotion

10:19 Family pressure and toxic masculinity

11:08 What pushed Daron toward the edge

12:21 Daron’s darkest moment at 25

14:41 Turning pain into a testimony

15:46 The support groups that helped save him

16:33 Messages from men who want to give up

22:15 When friendships disappear

24:16 Why asking for help felt weak

26:35 Finally going to therapy

30:29 How childhood trauma follows you

32:48 Finding help after the suicide attempt

35:08 The right therapist can change everything

40:50 Learning how to trust in therapy

44:28 Why Daron started talking publicly

45:00 Black men and mental health

49:31 Lessons from building a mental health show

55:03 Advocates struggle too

57:15 Why boundaries matter

60:41 The King’s Effect and Men’s Talk Show

62:16 Why mental health creators need each other

#MensMentalHealth #MentalHealth #Depression #Therapy #RawMinds

men's mental health, depression, grief, athlete mental health, youth mental health, suicide loss, identity after sport, soccer, resilience, mental health awareness, Dehara Thompson

What happens when the thing that defined you for most of your life is suddenly gone?

Dehara Thompson was playing provincial soccer at 15. By 17, she had reached the South African Women's National Team. She earned a full university scholarship, pursued professional soccer in Europe and played with Newcastle United Women.

Then a serious car accident changed everything.

The sport that had given her structure, identity, discipline and purpose was suddenly no longer the same. Dehara opens up about the depression that followed, physical pain, rebuilding her identity and eventually finding another outlet through music.

But this conversation goes much deeper than soccer.

Dehara and Erick talk about men's mental health, why many men still do not feel safe opening up, youth mental health, competitive pressure, parenting, social media, screens, discipline, accountability and what young people may be losing when they never learn how to struggle, lose and recover.

Dehara also shares the devastating loss of a former partner to suicide and what the aftermath taught her about grief, warning signs, unanswered questions and the ripple effect suicide can leave behind.

Erick opens up about surviving his own suicide attempt in 2015 and why something as simple as an adult coloring book became part of rebuilding his life.

They also talk about art, music, community, coaching, motherhood, raising boys, supporting young athletes and why feeling safe enough to make mistakes can change the way a person grows.

Near the end, Erick asks Dehara about the mutual friend who ultimately connected their stories, Jules.

That conversation gets personal.

GUEST

Dehara Thompson

Executive Director, She Plays Sports Society
Former South African National Women's Team player
Former Newcastle United Women's player
Community leader and coach

Website:
https://deharathompsonforpoco.com

Instagram:
@dehara_thompson

TikTok:
@deharathompson

CHAPTERS

00:00 Dehara Thompson's Story
03:44 Where to Find Dehara
04:24 Who She Was Before Soccer
05:20 Where Her Competitive Drive Came From
06:58 Handling Pressure at 15
11:23 South African National Team at 17
13:35 Family Breakdown and Using Soccer as an Outlet
17:58 Success and Constantly Moving the Goalpost
18:45 Losing a Scholarship, Then Getting Another Chance
21:22 Chasing Professional Soccer in Europe
22:20 When Your Identity Is Built Around Sport
22:49 The Car Accident That Changed Everything
25:36 Rebuilding Her Identity Through Music
27:55 Erick's Own Soccer Story
33:27 Women in Coaching and Leadership
36:38 Building She Plays Sports Society
38:24 Coaching the Human Being, Not Just the Athlete
45:22 Raising a Son Changed Her Perspective
47:05 Boys, Men and the "Suck It Up" Mentality
48:01 Do Men Actually Feel Safe Opening Up?
50:31 Losing a Partner to Suicide
54:19 The Warning Signs We Sometimes Miss
58:06 Erick Opens Up About Surviving Suicide
60:31 How Coloring Helped Erick Rebuild
61:21 Art and Music as Tools for Healing
64:56 Parenting, Screens and Youth Mental Health
68:23 Competition, Confidence and Learning to Lose
71:26 Accountability and Fixing the Wound
74:27 Remembering Jules
77:16 Dehara's Final Message
79:13 Why Raw Minds Exists

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide or experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 in Canada or the United States.

RAW MINDS PODCAST

Real conversations about men's mental health, trauma, grief, addiction, fatherhood, relationships, resilience and rebuilding your life.

For the ones we'll never meet.
Healing Out Loud.

Website:
https://rawminds.ca

TikTok:
@rawmindspodcast

Instagram:
@rawmindspodcast

Facebook:
Raw Minds Podcast

Business / Guest Inquiries:
rawmindspodcast@gmail.com

Subscribe to Raw Minds and tell us in the comments:

Johnny Mitchell says parental alienation cost him years with his daughter, pushed his mental health to the edge, and left him fighting a family court system he felt powerless against.

In this episode of Raw Minds, Johnny opens up about divorce, custody battles, being blocked from contacting his daughter, alcohol addiction, two DUIs five days apart, a heart attack at 35, crushing legal debt, losing his parental rights, and the moment he was told his daughter would be adopted by her stepfather.

This conversation goes much deeper than family court.

Johnny talks about what happens to a father mentally when his identity as a parent is stripped away, why he turned to alcohol to numb the pain, what finally forced him to change, and how close he came to completely losing himself.

Erick also shares his own experiences with custody battles, separation from his daughter, mental health struggles, and the emotional reality many fathers never talk about.

Johnny and Erick make one thing clear. Parental alienation can happen to fathers or mothers. This conversation is about what happens when children become caught in adult conflict and the psychological damage that can follow.

Johnny also shares how reconnecting with his biological father helped him rebuild his life, why he has remained sober, and why he still believes his daughter may one day come back into his life.

GUEST

Johnny Mitchell

TikTok:
@therealJonathanMitchell

RAW MINDS PODCAST

Real conversations about men’s mental health, trauma, fatherhood, grief, addiction, recovery, relationships, and rebuilding your life.

Website:
https://rawminds.ca

YouTube:
@RawMinds

TikTok:
@rawmindspodcast

Instagram:
@rawmindspodcast

Facebook:
@rawmindspodcast

Email:
rawmindspodcast@gmail.com

FRIDGEFIX

Open your fridge. Find out what you can make with what you already have.

https://fridgefix.ca

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
02:19 Johnny Mitchell joins Raw Minds
04:00 Who Johnny was before everything changed
07:25 Marriage breakdown and the beginning of alienation
14:00 The first major warning sign
23:23 Alcohol, depression and spiraling
28:17 Erick opens up about his own suicide attempt
35:40 Losing a best friend and the wake-up call
37:39 Heart attack at 35
43:02 Reconnecting with his daughter, then being blocked
46:26 Legal bills and financial collapse
50:01 Representing himself in family court
55:18 The ruling that changed everything
57:00 The woman Johnny says helped save his life
01:03:05 Reconnecting with his biological father
01:09:46 Supporting other alienated parents
01:15:26 Living with zero contact
01:18:35 The journal idea for his daughter
01:25:21 Six years until she turns 18
01:27:16 Johnny’s message to struggling parents

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 in Canada or the United States.

If this conversation hit you, share it. A father, mother, or family going through this may need to hear it.

At 12 years old, Lawrence Harris was trying to survive childhood abuse, protect his siblings, navigate autism, and live with a nervous system that never felt safe.

By 15, he had another realization: what happened to him was not his fault, but he could not keep using his pain as an excuse to hurt the people who loved him.

In this episode of Raw Minds, Lawrence opens up about childhood abuse, autism, complex PTSD, hypervigilance, loneliness, low self-worth, therapy, accountability, forgiveness, relationships, codependency, and what it took to stop blaming his past and start changing his future.

Lawrence explains how trauma can rewire the way you see people, why abuse from a parent can destroy trust, what complex PTSD felt like in everyday life, and how cognitive behavioral therapy, journaling, exercise, hobbies, fishing, and self-awareness helped him learn how to feel safe again.

He also talks about becoming a content creator, author, speaker and coach for teens and young adults. At 18, he began publishing books, including Power to the People, and today he shares the lessons he learned through Lawrence C Empowers.

One of the strongest lessons in this conversation is simple: trauma may explain your behavior, but it does not give you permission to keep hurting people.

This is a conversation about breaking generational patterns, taking responsibility without blaming yourself for what happened, forgiving without forgetting, and becoming someone your younger self would be proud of.

LAWRENCE HARRIS

Website / Books / Coaching:

https://lawrencecharris.com

YouTube, TikTok & Instagram:

Lawrence C Empowers

Business / Speaking:

Lawrence@LawrenceCharris.com

CHAPTERS

00:00 Childhood Abuse, Autism & Survival

02:14 Welcome to Lawrence Harris

02:41 Where to Find Lawrence

04:33 Who Lawrence Was at 12

06:25 When a Parent Becomes the Source of Fear

08:20 What Survival Mode Looked Like

10:10 When He Realized It Was Abuse

13:18 The Turning Point

14:40 Taking Pain Out on People Who Loved Him

15:05 The Mirror Moment at 15

16:46 Trauma Explains It — It Doesn’t Excuse It

17:43 Men, Emotions & Generational Trauma

19:58 Changing the Ingredients Changes the Life

20:59 Be a Buffalo

21:39 Learning Gratitude for the Past

24:02 Finding the Lesson in Pain

24:36 What Complex PTSD Feels Like

26:32 Learning How to Feel Safe Again

28:14 Speaking to Youth About Mental Health

29:34 Vulnerability Without Trauma Dumping

30:12 From YouTube to Books and Coaching

31:54 Simple Tools That Actually Help

33:42 Why Coloring Helped Erick

33:56 Fishing, Presence & Mental Health

36:05 How Lawrence Started Coaching

38:26 Knowing When to Refer to a Professional

39:15 Predatory Coaching & Vulnerable People

43:06 What Lawrence Would Say to His Father

45:55 Forgiveness Without Forgetting

46:02 Understanding Why People Hurt People

49:00 Online Hate, Projection & Unresolved Pain

54:16 Who Lawrence Is When Nobody Is Watching

57:20 Love vs Codependency

59:19 Where to Find Lawrence

1:00:12 Final Message

RAW MINDS PODCAST

Real conversations about trauma, survival, mental health, grief, addiction, fatherhood, relationships, PTSD, accountability and rebuilding.

For the ones we’ll never meet.

Healing out loud.

Business / Guest Inquiries:

rawmindspodcast@gmail.com

PARENTPATH

https://parentpath.ca/

ParentPath helps self-represented parents organize family court evidence, timelines, documents and case information.

Stage 4 colon cancer had already spread to Tim McDonald’s liver when his life changed completely.What started as pain in his side around Thanksgiving 2020 led to the words nobody wants to hear: “You have cancer.”In this episode of Raw Minds, Tim shares his stage 4 colorectal cancer story, chemotherapy, colon cancer treatment, the search for a living liver donor, liver transplant surgery, survivor’s guilt, cancer advocacy, and the stranger who ultimately gave him part of her liver.Tim says only 13% of people with stage 4 colorectal cancer live five years after diagnosis. Instead of treating that number like the end of his story, he focused on one question: what do I need to do next?He explains how becoming one of the early colorectal cancer patients in North America to receive a liver transplant gave him more time, but surviving created a new mental battle. After watching people in the cancer community die, Tim had to figure out what to do with his second chance.That journey became a mission.Today Tim is a cancer survivor, patient advocate, speaker, community builder, and author of From Patient to Advocate: Turning Survivorship Into Impact.This conversation is about stage 4 cancer, colorectal cancer, chemotherapy, liver transplant, colon cancer screening, survivor’s guilt, grief, mental health, purpose, second chances, and turning survival into something that can help someone else.TIM McDONALDBook:From Patient to Advocate: Turning Survivorship Into ImpactAvailable on Amazon — search Tim McDonald From Patient to AdvocateWebsite / Podcast / Advocacy:https://advocacyatwork.comLinkedIn:Search Tim A. McDonaldCHAPTERS00:00 Stage 4 Cancer Changed Everything02:49 Welcome to Tim McDonald03:25 Tim’s Book and Advocacy Work04:14 Who Tim Was Before Cancer07:15 The Pain That Started Everything09:20 The CT Scan That Found Cancer09:34 Hearing “You Have Cancer”10:22 How Tim Reacted to the Diagnosis11:20 What Do I Need to Do Next?13:06 The Doctor Who Changed His Direction15:17 Learning How Serious Stage 4 Cancer Was17:11 The Emotional Roller Coaster18:36 Finding Purpose Inside Cancer21:39 Colon Cancer Screening and Colonoscopy22:48 The Reality of Chemotherapy24:16 Becoming a Colorectal Cancer Advocate25:19 What Research Advocacy Means27:17 Finding the Liver Transplant Option27:41 How a Living Donor Liver Transplant Works29:21 The 13% Five-Year Survival Reality29:52 Qualifying for a Liver Transplant30:50 Searching for a Living Donor32:43 Why Finding a Donor Was Harder Than Treatment34:39 A Stranger Becomes His Donor35:43 Meeting the Woman Who Saved His Life37:25 The Mental Battle After Transplant38:34 Survivor’s Guilt After Cancer40:29 Losing Friends in the Cancer Community40:54 Turning Their Memory Into Purpose43:20 The Fear Tim Didn’t Admit During Treatment44:15 Why Mindset Matters47:17 Tim’s Final Message47:28 Where to Find TimRAW MINDS PODCASTReal conversations about trauma, survival, mental health, grief, addiction, fatherhood, relationships, PTSD, and rebuilding.For the ones we’ll never meet.Healing out loud.Business / Guest Inquiries:rawmindspodcast@gmail.comPARENTPATHhttps://parentpath.ca/ParentPath helps self-represented parents organize family court evidence, timelines, documents, and case information.

What happens when a man becomes strong enough to survive almost anything, but still has a battle inside that nobody can see?JD Tremblay knows what that feels like.JD grew up in northern Quebec, dealt with bullying, watched his parents separate, and joined the Canadian Armed Forces at just 17 years old. He spent more than a decade in uniform before moving into firefighting, engineering, natural health, human performance, and extreme endurance.In 2022, JD completed the Epic Deca.10 full Ironman-distance triathlons.10 straight days.Six Hawaiian islands.Only three people finished.JD was one of them.But this episode of Raw Minds is not really about medals or proving how tough you are.It is about discipline, identity, fear, faith, addiction, purpose, mental resilience, and what happens when achievement still does not fix what is happening inside you.One of JD's biggest ideas in this conversation is that everybody is disciplined.The real question is what you are disciplined at.A smoker can be disciplined at smoking. Someone stuck in a destructive pattern can become extremely consistent at repeating it. JD argues that discipline is not just about waking up early or forcing yourself through pain. It is about standards, structure, values, habits, and the things you refuse to negotiate with yourself.JD also opens up about what happened after leaving the military. For years, the military gave him structure. When to eat. What to wear. How to move. What standards to meet. Then suddenly that structure was gone.He had to learn how to build his own standards, create direction, and understand who he was outside of the uniform.We also get into Hungry Warrior Academy, the organization JD built to help men work on discipline, health, recovery, faith, mental strength, and purpose.JD explains the EPIC pillars, the DECA method, the BRAIN system, and RISE. BRAIN focuses on blood chemistry, recovery, attention, inflammation, and the nervous system.We also talk about confidence versus cockiness, addiction patterns, emotional shutdown after divorce, male loneliness, first responders, PTSD, neuroplasticity, courage, biohacking, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.JD also explains why he rejected the idea of yelling at struggling men as a way to create change. His focus is on accountability, facts, logic, science, and practical tools.This conversation is about what happens when physical strength is not enough.CONNECT WITH JD TREMBLAYHungry Warrior Academyhttps://hungrywarrioracademy.comRAW MINDS PODCASTReal conversations about mental health, trauma, addiction, grief, fatherhood, relationships, survival, resilience, personal growth, and rebuilding your life.Websitehttps://rawminds.caYouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@RawMindsInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/rawmindspodcastTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@rawmindspodcastFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/rawmindspodcastIf this conversation hits home, share it with somebody who needs to hear it.Subscribe to Raw Minds for more real conversations about the things people carry when nobody else is watching.For the ones we'll never meet.Healing out loud.