To start our episode today, I actually want to make a public service announcement. As I watch the

Paris Olympics and obsess as always over gymnastics, I cheer on Simone Biles Owens. I cheer her on not only because

she's the greatest of all time, but also because she has helped us have honest and open conversations

about mental health. It seems sad to me

that there are people out there to whom I have to justify my support of Simone for that exact reason.

Obviously, I feel that it's because for so many years, mental health was an issue that those people over

there suffer from, and it doesn't come anywhere near the big

M.E. We're still not to the point where everyone feels comfortable talking about struggles with

mental health, whether that's depression, social anxiety, or one of a slew of other struggles

that we may face on a daily basis. but we're at least one step closer.

What I think is important to know about mental health, and it's the reason why Maggie and I

really emphasize support of the families at the center of the cases we cover, is that our

struggles, sure, they come from traumatic events that have happened in our lives, the loss of a

child or a sibling or a best friend or things

that we're not really equipped to understand how to deal with, whether it's in the moment or even

years after. But what I think is important about mental health as well is that it's not just the

big events that can cause trauma or can cause us to struggle. Just as a small personal example, I've lost two grandparents

to whom I was extremely close, and of course that was very hard. However, I was able to understand

my emotions to continue to live life in a quote unquote normal way afterward, perhaps because they

were older. I knew that likely they would pass before I did.

But a few months ago, I lost a friend and coworker. We weren't best friends. We didn't even hang out

other than talking every day at work. But her quick decline in her battle with cancer and her

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