Tony Mantor: Why Not Me ?

Show Notes

What happens when an autism expert becomes the grandmother of a child on the spectrum? In this heartfelt episode of Why Not Me? Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide, Tony Mantor sits down with Jennifer Kaufman—author of Grandparenting on the Spectrum: A Journey from Both Sides of the Desk—to explore autism through the unique lens of both a school principal and a grandmother.

Jennifer shares how her grandson's diagnosis transformed her understanding of autism, challenged long-held assumptions, and reshaped family relationships. The conversation explores the important role grandparents play in supporting both...

Show Notes

What does mental health look like when someone has lost everything?

In this inspiring episode of Why Not Me?, Tony Mantor sits down with Weanne Estrada, Mental Health Specialist with ADRA International (Adventist Development and Relief Agency), to explore the realities of humanitarian work in more than 120 countries around the world.

Together they discuss how mental health extends far beyond therapy, why culture matters in treatment, the resilience of refugees, and how communities recover after unimaginable loss. Wynne shares powerful stories from disaster zones, refugee camps, and conflict areas while offering...

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What if addiction isn't the real problem?

In this powerful episode of Why Not Me? Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide, Tony Mantor sits down with psychologist, TEDx speaker, and bestselling author Dr. Adi Jaffe to challenge everything we've been taught about addiction, recovery, trauma, and personal transformation.

Drawing from both his professional expertise and his own remarkable journey from addiction and prison to becoming a UCLA-trained psychologist, Dr. Jaffe explains why destructive behaviors often begin as attempts to survive emotional pain—not moral failures.

Together they discuss:

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What happens when the diagnosis changes, the struggle feels endless, and hope seems impossible to find?

In this episode of Why Not Me?, Tony Mantor sits down with writer and journalist Meg LeDuc to discuss her personal journey through depression, anxiety, psychosis, suicide attempts, self-harm, recovery, and ultimately healing.

Meg shares how years of misdiagnosis, hospitalization, and mental health challenges shaped her life—and how determination, faith, support, and the right treatment helped her rebuild it.

This honest conversation explores what it feels like to live with serious mental il...

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Show Notes

What happens when the systems designed to help people with serious mental illness become the very barriers preventing care?

In Part 2 of this important conversation, Tony Mantor welcomes Dr. Aaron Meyer and Anne Marie Council for a candid discussion about the failures and possibilities within America's mental health system. Together, they explore why so many individuals spend years cycling through emergency rooms, jails, homelessness, and crisis without ever receiving the long-term treatment they truly need.

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In this important episode of Why Not Me? Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide, Tony Mantor sits down with Dr. Alan Meyer, psychiatrist and Behavioral Health Officer for the City of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, and Ann Marie Council, retired Senior Deputy City Attorney and mental health policy advisor, for an in-depth discussion about the challenges facing today's mental health system. 

Together, they explore why so many individuals with serious mental illness fall through the cracks, the disconnect between policy and real-world implementation, and how c...

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We talk with John Rolls about the Gremlin Club’s Sunday open mic in Camarthen and how it grows from a rehearsal night into a welcoming community where people leave their troubles at the door. 

We dig into what real inclusion looks like for autism, mental health, and disability when the room treats everyone as equal and still makes space for what people need. 
• how the Gremlin Club open mic starts as a Welsh Factor practice night 
• why the night becomes about community building over competition 
• John stepping in to run it...

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We sit with author Jerri Clark as he explains how severe mental illness can create a “gone but not gone” grief that families carry in silence. 

We talk about ambiguous loss, why closure often never comes, and how to keep living with love and meaning even when the outcome is out of our control. 

• Jerri’s story of losing his son through psychosis, system failures, and suicide 
• What ambiguous loss means and why the ambiguity is unfixable 
• The guilt families feel when they grieve someone still living 
• Naming the l...

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We sit down with former U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy to get specific about what a real national mental health strategy looks like and why the current system wastes money while people end up isolated, hospitalized, incarcerated, or living on the streets. 

We dig into integrated care, schools-based prevention, telehealth, and the rising risks of AI so listeners walk away with practical policy ideas and a clear sense of what needs to change next. 

• the need for a national blueprint that links housing, healthcare, and community supports 
• aligning financi...

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We talk with former U.S. representative Patrick Kennedy about why mental health parity still fails in practice and what it takes to make insurers and employers cover care that actually works. 

We keep coming back to one idea: real change happens when we build power and design a system that rewards early help, long-term outcomes, and community support. 
• Barriers to full enforcement of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act 
• Why payers respond to penalties more than long-term value 
• How lobbying, regulation and legal appeals weaken consumer p...

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We sit down with Colorado State Senator Judy Amabile to connect one family’s painful path through serious mental illness to the laws that decide whether people get treatment or get pushed into homelessness and the courts. 

We talk honestly about psychosis, stigma, and the hard policy choices behind civil commitment, Medicaid rules, and building enough beds to stop the cycle.
• Her son’s schizoaffective disorder and the road to diagnosis
• Early signs like paranoia and thought broadcasting
• Family anger and confusion turning into empathy
• NAMI Family-to-Family as a bridge t...

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We sit down with Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds to talk about how personal loss turns into a long-term push for mental health reform that actually survives the news cycle. 

We focus on what legislation can change, what funding really buys, and why the mental health workforce crisis is the wall every good idea hits. 
• his path from rural public service to mental health advocacy after his son’s diagnosis and death 
• why he builds a legislator-led commission so reforms do not die on a shelf 
• taking lawmakers into hospita...

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We sit down with former Maine State Senator John Nutting to talk about why serious mental illness belongs in the medical system, not the jail system, and how court ordered treatment can keep people alive and communities safer. We walk through Maine’s Progressive Treatment Plan, the fight to fund and implement it, and what families can do to push for mental health legislation that actually works. 
• John Nutting’s background in public service and the case for treating brain disorders like any other medical condition 
• What Maine calls AOT and how the Pr...

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We talk with Iowa State Representative Ann Meyer about how mental health legislation gets built and why access to care still fails families in crisis. 

We dig into provider shortages, the fight for mandatory follow-up after commitment, and how constituents can move lawmakers with personal stories and local relationships. 
• her path from nursing to the Iowa House and why constituent stories changed her focus 
• why access to mental health care breaks down during a crisis and what “waiting” really means 
• the provider shortage problem and steps to grow psychiatry and...

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We sit down with Connecticut State Senator Christine Cohen and advocate Denise Paley to unpack how mental health legislation gets built, watered down, and sometimes rescued through strategy and coalition work. 

We focus on crisis intervention training, prison mental health care, and the hard questions around rights, re-entry, and what real accountability looks like. 
• Senator Cohen’s personal path into mental health advocacy 
• why mental health bills stall between chambers and committees 
• compromise as a necessity and a long-term risk 
• budget priorities and the fight to fund care 
• stig...

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We sit down with Massachusetts Senator Cindy Friedman to talk about how mental health laws change real access to care, and why families still hit walls even when “parity” exists. We dig into AOT, crisis diversion, insurance limits, and the practical fixes that keep people out of ERs and jails. 
• her personal path into serious mental illness advocacy and why systems matter 
• what changed after the Mental Health ABC Act 2.0 and why outpatient demand rises 
• why reimbursement rates still skew against behavioral health despite parity laws 
• how crisis-first funding leaves ongoing c...

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We talk with Washington State Senator Manka Dhingra about why mental health care so often lands in the justice system and what it takes to change that through smart legislation and real implementation. 

We dig into funding, workforce, 988 crisis response, diversion programs, and how communities can push practical mental health reform that actually reaches people. 

• her path from prosecutor work to mental health court and forensic mental health 
• why jails and prisons function as default mental health hospitals 
• the biggest legislative roadblocks: funding levels and views of individual...

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We sit down with former Congressman and psychologist Tim Murphy to show how mental health laws really get made and why “good ideas” often get changed or stripped before they ever help families. 

We dig into Medicaid rules, treatment access, psychosis risks, and the hard truth that silence is how broken systems stay in place. 
• the real path of a bill from idea to compromise to final vote 
• why mental health policy creates intense conflict between groups 
• assisted outpatient treatment as an alternative to repeated hospitalization 
• how “gravely disabled” s...

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We bring together seven voices to face the hardest question families live with: when severe mental illness and psychosis take over, what does “choice” really mean. We share what it looks like when schools, hospitals, and law enforcement treat brain illness like behavior, and we lay out concrete steps that can shorten the gap to real care.
• capacity and consent when someone refuses help during psychosis
• power of attorney and psychiatric advance directives plus where they fall short
• anosognosia explained through dementia comparisons and street homelessness
• the “10-year gap” to diagnosis and...

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We sit with seven voices to name what happens when psychosis and serious mental illness are misunderstood, under-treated, and pushed into jails, courts, and the streets. We challenge the quiet standard of neglect and outline what it takes to turn awareness into policy, funding, and care that actually saves lives. 

• failures in jail-based competency restoration and medication continuity 
• why anosognosia is under-taught and widely misunderstood 
• the life expectancy gap for schizophrenia and why it should alarm all of us 
• first-episode psychosis dismissed at intake unless suicide is stated 
• families...

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We bring together seven voices to talk honestly about serious mental illness and why families are pushed to wait for crisis before help is allowed. We challenge outdated laws, uneven state systems, and stigma while naming practical fixes that can make outpatient care real and measurable. 
• mental health codes built for inpatient care in an outpatient world 
• step-up assisted outpatient treatment and why earlier petitions matter 
• accountability gaps when AOT lacks judge involvement 
• voluntary programs colliding with anosognosia in schizophrenia 
• stigma and discrimination treating brain disease differently than other medical e...

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Dr. Rachel Moseley on Autistic Suicide Prevention, Masking, Misdiagnosis, and Autistic Menopause
Host Tony Mantor in Nashville welcomes returning guest Dr. Rachel Mosley to discuss her UK-based research on autistic suicidality, self-injury, masking/burnout, misdiagnosis, and menopause.
Mosley explains that changes in autistic suicide rates are hard to track due to delayed and incomplete reporting, and cites data indicating suicide as the leading cause of death in autistic children in the National Child Mortality Database, likely undercounted due to missed diagnoses.
Autistic participants in her research emphasize suicide prevention requires...

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Transforming Trauma into Purpose: John King's Journey on Why Not Me
In this episode of Why Not Me, embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide, host Tony Mantor interviews John King, a trauma recovery advocate, author, speaker, and survivor.
John shares his compelling journey from being trafficked and abused as a child to becoming a prominent advocate for trauma recovery, neurodiversity, and anti-human trafficking.
He discusses his recent autism diagnosis, the challenges of masking, and his methods for healing and resilience.
John emphasizes the significance of authenticity, self-discipline, and relentless...

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Steph West on Building Starfish Social Club: Social Skills, Neurodivergent Friendship, and Helpful Social Feedback
Host Tony Mantor in Nashville introduces “Why Not Me: Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide” and interviews Steph West, founder and director of Starfish Social Club in San Antonio, Texas, which runs small-group social skills programs for neurodivergent kids and teens (autism, ADHD, learning disabilities) in person and via Zoom.
West describes her path from special education teacher to autism/behavior specialist and “accidental entrepreneur,” the origin of the Starfish name, early challenges with marketing, pricing, and hiri...

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Embracing Autism and Mental Health: A Conversation with Anne Grady
In this episode of 'Why Not Me,' hosted by Tony Mantor in Nashville, Tennessee, guest Anne Grady shares her profound journey navigating autism and mental health.
Anne, an author, speaker, and advocate, discusses her experiences raising her son Evan, who has multiple diagnoses including autism, severe mental illness, ADHD, and oppositional defiant disorder.
The conversation delves into challenges around diagnosis, the importance of resilience, and strategies for coping with neurodiversity and mental health issues. Anne also talks about her...

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Danny Combs on Buildable, TACT, and Expanding Trade-Based Careers for Autistic and Neurodivergent People
Host Tony Mantor welcomes Danny Combs to discuss progress since their last conversation on creating meaningful employment pathways for autistic and neurodivergent individuals.
Combs shares receiving a Congressional Mentor of Honor Society Citizen Honor Award and being appointed by Colorado’s governor to the new Colorado Disability Opportunity Office, funded through reissued historic license plates that generate sustainable revenue for disability-focused grants statewide with disabled-led oversight.
He introduces Buildable, a new Tennessee-based initiative launching workshops in Na...

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Late Autism Diagnoses, Music, and Seeing Family Through a New Lens with Liam Edward Golder
Host Tony Mantor welcomes listeners to Why Not Me: Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide and interviews Liam Edward Golder, a London-born music PR professional and songwriter now living in New York.
Liam shares discovering his own autism later in life after his father was diagnosed around age 70, and describes how late clarity brought relief, acceptance, and a new understanding of his father’s withdrawal and difficulty reading emotions.
He discusses traits such as overwhelm wi...

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Embracing Neurodiversity: A Conversation with Autistic Educator and Author Rebecca Engle
 In this episode of 'Why Not Me,' hosted by Tony Mantor from Nashville, Tennessee, Rebecca Engle, an autistic educator and author, shares her journey and insights into neurodiversity in education.
 Rebecca discusses her experiences as a nonverbal child, the challenges she faced in academia, and the strategies she uses to support neurodivergent students.
 She highlights the importance of creating inclusive educational environments and challenges outdated behavioral systems.
 Rebecca also dives into her work as an author, particularly focu...

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Tyler Barnett on Late Autism Self-Diagnosis, Masking, and Creating “Gap Music” for Regulation
Host Tony Mantor welcomes Tyler Barnett, founder of Tyler Barnett PR and an artistic music creator focused on empowering the autism community through intentional sound design and storytelling.
Tyler shares that he is autistic and was diagnosed six months ago through self-diagnosis supported by years of personal data and extensive testing, after his 10-year-old daughter repeatedly told him he was autistic and he explored the topic through ChatGPT.
He describes lifelong differences including deep special interests, pattern reco...

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Making Air Travel More Accessible for Autistic Travelers: Cheryl Bischoff of Here I Go Travel
Host Tony Mantor introduces the podcast “Why Not Me: Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide” and interviews Cheryl Bischoff, owner of Here I Go Travel Company. Cheryl explains how she became a Certified Autism Travel Professional through training offered by Sandals/Beaches Resorts and how she applies that knowledge by organizing airport practice events that walk participants through the full airport process—terminal check-in, TSA screening, gate procedures, jet bridge, and boarding—so travelers can desensitize and build co...

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In this episode of 'Why Not Me, Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide,' host Tony Mantor from Nashville, Tennessee, interviews Dan Franklin, a passionate autism advocate with 31 years of lived experience.
Dan shares his insights on autistic wiring, trauma responses, masking, scripting, burnout, and sensory processing.
He discusses the challenges faced by autistic individuals navigating a world built for neurotypicals and emphasizes the need for mandatory autism education across society.
Dan also touches on the importance of approaching autistic individuals with understanding and compassion, and how proper autism training...

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Belqui Ortiz Millili on Parenting a Nonverbal Autistic Teen, Advocacy, and Building Support
Host Tony Mantor welcomes Belqui Ortiz Millili to Why Not Me: Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide.
She shares that she is the mother of a nearly 17-year-old nonverbal autistic son with high support needs, born extremely premature at six months gestation, and describes early concerns when milestones lagged compared to her older child.
She recounts pushing for answers despite being told delays were due to prematurity or gender, and discusses common public misunderstandings about autism, including...

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Faria Ash on Building the Autism Foundation, Training, Advocacy, and Safer Care in the UK
Host Tony Mantor welcomes back autism advocate Faria Ash, who returns to share her progress since discussing her book on toilet training for autistic and SEND children and adults, based on her nonverbal daughter Aia’s real-life story.
Faria explains that the book’s success led her to form the Autism Foundation in the UK (officially launched October 2023), expanding from workshops into autism training for communities, professionals, schools, and care homes, with a focus on communication, soci...

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Lois Brady on Autism Digest, Real Stories, and Raising Expectations in Autism Support
Host Tony Mantor welcomes Lois Brady, publisher of Autism Digest and a speech-language pathologist, to discuss how the magazine blends expert guidance with lived experience using multimedia features like QR-linked videos.
Brady shares how writing Apps for Autism and contributing to Autism, Asperger’s Digest led to her acquiring the publication nearly two years ago. As the mother of an autistic son, she describes early signs, being brushed off by providers, choosing not to label him in school, an...

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n this episode of Why Not Me, host Tony Mantor, broadcasting from Nashville, Tennessee, delves into the mental health challenges faced by first responders and veterans.
Featuring Dr. Jean Cillo, a clinical and forensic psychologist, and retired Lieutenant Tom Antonette from the NYPD, the discussion explores the PTP (Post Tour Processing) program, a pioneering mental health support initiative designed by law enforcement for law enforcement, now expanded to all first responders.
The episode emphasizes the importance of providing a safe space for first responders to process trauma, the critical role of...

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Embracing Autism and Mental Health: Psychiatrist David Hager's Journey
In this episode of 'Why Not Me, Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide,' host Tony Mantor speaks with psychiatrist David Hager about his unplanned journey into psychiatry, his work in correctional facilities, and his unique perspectives on mental health and serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
Hager shares his experiences from various jobs, discusses the challenges and strategies of treating incarcerated populations, and underscores the importance of viewing severe mental illnesses as neurological disorders.
The conversation also touches on the issue...

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Empowering Lives: Autism, Mental Health, and Healing with Dr. Cochrane
In this episode Dr. Cochrane, a renowned psychologist with over three decades of experience.
Together, they explore the challenges and strategies for addressing issues faced by neurodivergent individuals and those suffering from trauma.
Dr. Cochrane shares her compassionate approach to cognitive behavioral therapy, the importance of self-regulation, and the power of gratitude practice.
Through vivid examples, she illustrates the profound impact of vigilant parenting, therapy, and the critical distinction between feelings and facts.
This powerful conversation underscores the...

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Empowering Mental Health: Dr. Robert Laitman's Journey with Psychotic Illnesses and Clozapine Therapy
In this episode Dr. Robert Laitman, an internal medicine specialist with substantial experience in treating serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Dr. Laitman shares his deeply personal journey of treating his son, Daniel, who developed schizophrenia 20 years ago.
He discusses the challenges of finding effective treatment, the benefits and intricacies of Clozapine therapy, and the need for a comprehensive, empathetic approach in mental healthcare.
His advocacy for early and assertive management of psychotic...

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Embracing Neurodiversity: A Conversation with Sarah Hartley
In this episode of 'Why Not Me: Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide, Sarah Hartley, founder of SLH Creative Group and an advocate for the neurodivergent community.
Sarah shares her journey as the mother of two neurodivergent boys and details her work as an ADHD and neurodiversity certified coach.
She discusses her 'Purposefully Me' series, a collection of children's books addressing topics like anxiety, ADHD, dyslexia, and more.
These books are designed to foster understanding and offer practical strategies for children and...

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Navigating Burnout and Embracing Wellbeing with Garrett Wood
Join host Tony Mantor on this episode of Why Not Me as he engages with Garrett Wood, a national board certified health and wellness coach.
The show delves into Garrett's innovative and compassionate approach to battling burnout and enhancing wellbeing.
Listen as Garrett shares his expertise on managing the pressures of professional success and personal joy, particularly for individuals with autism and ADHD.
From his unique A3 framework to real-life success stories, Garrett's insights inspire and remind us that true success...