The Mayo Lab’s Family Story

Aug 29

The first full episode of Season 2 of The Mayo Lab podcast began with Caroline and Cal Mayo joining co-hosts Meagen Rosenthal, Ph.D, and Alexis Lee to talk about how the Thomas Hayes Mayo Lab was established, the memory of their son Thomas and the stigma surrounding mental health and substance use issues.

Cal and Caroline shared the story of Thomas, who struggled with drug use while attending the University of Mississippi and passed away from an accidental overdose caused by Fentanyl in 2022. Through a heartfelt and honest conversation, the Mayos open up about their personal journeys as parents and what advice they give to families dealing with similar challenges.

“As a parent, you have to keep your tentacles out there as best you can, keep the antenna up to see things and hear things, but getting the information, be willing to make mistakes with your children. Don’t give up, and don’t feel like you have to have all the answers as parents, because we don’t.”

— Cal Mayo

In a discussion that dissected stigma, Cal said, “I tell this to groups I talk to. None of us are wired perfectly. We all have our anxieties, depressions, emotional distress moments that will come up in our lives. It is hard for us to admit that, because we want people to think that we not necessarily are perfect, but that we don’t have problems. And we do.”

For parents whose child is struggling with mental health or substance misuse right now, Caroline believes in framing conversations as an opportunity for parents to listen and support. “Let them know that you’re not going to judge,” she said. “We told Thomas often, ‘We’re on Team Thomas. We’re on your team.’ Just let your family members know that.”

Cal and Caroline offered takeaways for changing conversations, underscoring the importance of taking action now. Engaging in vital discussions this year is particularly important, according to Cal.

“It’s an election year in Mississippi, right? What better time to be having conversations about mental health with our state leaders?” asked Cal. “Let’s make sure that the people we elect are committed to really addressing the issue and putting whatever resources we can…We can eventually get there, but this is a perfect time to have those conversations going into the fall before the elections in November.”

Cal and Caroline Mayo are important reminders that compassionate dialogue, honesty and support can help fight the stigma that surrounds metal health and substance misuse. To hear more from Episode 1 of Season 2, scroll down to listen to the first episode or read the transcript.

Watch the podcast on YouTube:

Alexis Lee:
I am Alexis Lee.
Meagen Rosenthal:
I'm Meagen Rosenthal, and this is The Mayo Lab Podcast.
Alexis Lee:
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The Mayo Lab Podcast season two, and we are kicking off this season. This is our very first episode, full length episode of season two, and we are joined with Cal and Caroline Mayo. I am just so thrilled beyond words to have you guys in the studio with us, and I know Meagen feels the same way. For our listeners who have no idea who this is, well, the Mayo Lab, you are going to find out very soon. Cal and Caroline, thank you for joining us and welcome to The Mayo Lab Podcast.
Caroline Mayo:
Thank you.
Cal Mayo:
Thank you.
Alexis Lee:
Just to start us off, how did we get here, the Mayo Lab and the story, if you guys would share the story for those as long, as much as you would like, just for our listeners to get a little insight.
Cal Mayo:
Sure. I'll try to give you the shorter version instead of taking up all the time we have this afternoon. Caroline and I have been here in Oxford, I guess since the mid '90s. We moved here with three children and had our fourth child here in Oxford in the early 2000s. He was our son Thomas. He was eight years younger than our oldest child and six years younger than our twins. In some ways an only child and in some ways just the youngest of the bunch. But Thomas graduated from high school here in Oxford, had a very I'd say fairly typical high school experience.
He was a good student. He played sports and enrolled here at the University of Mississippi, as his three older siblings had. The difference for Thomas probably was some of who Thomas was, and we can talk about some of that later. His freshman year was when COVID hit. He was halfway through his first year, I guess, into the spring of his second semester when he had to move home and live with his parents, which was certainly not something his parents wanted to have happen.
I can assure you, Thomas wanted it much less than his parents did. But he went back his sophomore year, things were not going as they should have. Ultimately, he got a DUI and came to us and told us he had a Xanax problem. This was in late April of '21.
Caroline Mayo:
'21.
Cal Mayo:
After several conversations with David Magee and with David's good direction and assistance, Thomas went off for a 30-day program. He came back. For at least as much as we know, the Xanax problem was gone. Hindsight, being remarkably clear, there's probably a number of things we should have done differently at that point, but we let Thomas come back. He went back into school. He moved in with some friends, who were good at supportive friends of Thomas', but he was back in the same environment he had been in before.
We tried as best we could to keep a handle on what was going on. We did not think he was back in recreational drug use. Most of his friends, the ones we spoke with, all of his friends reinforced that. But Thomas was back into recreational drug use we ultimately found out, but that didn't come to light until unfortunately too late. In the spring, April of 2022, after we had been at a lovely family wedding in Florida with our son and new daughter-in-law, and shortly after the birth of our grandson, Thomas went out with two fraternity brothers and they bought what they thought were Percocet.
They ingested them. They went to a fraternity party. They bought some more. They ingested those. Thomas went back to his off-campus residency, stayed up with friends, partying for a while. He went to sleep and then he never woke up. That was the morning of the 14th of April. How we got from there to where we are now is that among the memorials we listed in Thomas' obituary was the Magee Center. We were just...
Caroline Mayo:
We were overwhelmed, the amount of contributions that came in and humbled, overwhelmed. The Magee Center and David Magee and the foundation guided us to set up the Thomas Hayes Mayo Lab.
Cal Mayo:
Thanks to the two of y'all as well for your great involvement in that, but that is how we got to the lab. It was a way to use the funds that came in Thomas' memory into the foundation, in the Thomas Mayo Fund that was eventually used to fund the lab. We are thrilled that something good can be done in his memory. There's still good days and bad days that we go through, but it's a wonderful, wonderful way to keep alive is a memory.
Meagen Rosenthal:
I think what we love about The Mayo Lab Podcast specifically is we get to share stories like this and let people know, A, you're not alone. So many people listening I know will have someone in their life or family member that will have gone through this or will. Hopefully we never wish that upon people, but to equip them in ways that is just so powerful that you can't do through school books, while that's great, but having personal stories.
If you don't mind, I'm going to circle back real quick of when Thomas came to y'all, what was that like for each of you and then you guys together as parents, the conversations had? If you wouldn't mind sharing with listeners of if you would've done things differently or what are you proud of in that moment? Kind of recapping that.
Cal Mayo:
Sure, go ahead.
Caroline Mayo:
Yeah, I don't think we were surprised when Thomas came to us and said he had a problem. I think parents have gut instincts when something is not right. I felt that. I know Cal felt that. When he came to us, we were just proud that he shared, opened up, admitted to what was going on with the Xanax problem and asked to go to treatment.
I mean, we hopped on it. He picked Cumberland Heights and went for 30 days. We felt like it helped at the time. Also, we didn't keep this a secret. Even though this was Thomas' story to share, we were open with our friends and family members about treatment.
Cal Mayo:
We didn't want Thomas to think that it was embarrassing to us. We didn't want to put it on the billboard that he was a treatment, but we tried to find a place in between that, that was Thomas made the right choice. He came forward. He was strong enough to have this discussion with us. If he was willing to do it, then we were hoping that he could be a guide for others because we knew he was not alone. We knew there were others that were doing the same thing. Thomas was comfortable with that.
He was not embarrassed about going to treatment other than he felt like... And this was another just part of Thomas' psyche. As the fourth child, he always felt like he didn't live up to the standard of his siblings. That's more of the mental health side of things than his specific substance abuse problems. We were proud he had come forward and we praised him for that. I think when he came out of treatment, it's probably the healthiest he had been in several years since his senior year of high school. He appeared to be in a really good place then, and we were extremely hopeful at that point.
Caroline Mayo:
I do think if we had to do it all over again, one of the things we would've done differently is maybe encouraged him not to go back into the college environment. Of course, he wanted to, and there's when the stigma comes in. We wanted him to have the normal college experience, a well-rounded experience like our older three children had. We let him talk us into going back into that environment. If I could do it over again, I think I would do something different. Take a break. Go out West. Go be in nature.
Cal Mayo:
We used it as the excuse that COVID was still going on in the summer of '21 and there were limited options available to him, but that was really more of an excuse than a reason to not dig deeper and insist that he go away. But we didn't, and that was the decision we made. We could have at least insisted he live home with us. We didn't do that. All those things we look back at now and shoulda, woulda, coulda. But we are where we are and we've learned a lot.
Meagen Rosenthal:
Well, we're incredibly thankful and grateful that you've allowed us to use Thomas' name in the founding of the Thomas Hays Mayo Lab and The Mayo Lab podcast. It's through the conversations that we have had and getting to know both of you, it's just a tremendous privilege to be in this space and be sharing these conversations with you. I'd like to just transition us a little bit and thinking more forward.
I know both of you have been involved in lots of different efforts around the state and have continued these conversations and continued sharing your own story and Thomas' story. I'd like to dive into that a little bit more if you all would be willing. What have you been up to? Besides founding this amazing lab and the podcast and all of those kinds of things, what else have you been doing in this space?
Cal Mayo:
I'll let Caroline talk a little bit about our vision for the lab and our excitement and the wonderful work y'all have done, by the way. Thank you. We should have opened with that.
Alexis Lee:
You owe us no thank yous.
Cal Mayo:
Fantastic job and we're excited about the second season of the podcast. The first season was so well done, and we have enjoyed listening to all the episodes. My journey and what I've done in this space, I guess to use the vernacular, started the day of Thomas' funeral service when I expected to go to his fraternity house and speak to a small group of his friends and ended up there in front of the whole fraternity and parents and girlfriends and a big crowd. It immediately forced me into talking about him.
Once I did it, I realized a couple of things. Number one, everybody listened. It was a very important topic for them. I knew there were people that wanted information about what had happened to Thomas and how can I make sure that doesn't happen to me. I knew I needed a lot more information myself. I weaned through a little bit of information I had at that point. I'm a lot better educated now.
I have gone on a number of occasions and talked to fraternity groups and other groups of people, mostly young people, about the dangers of fentanyl, what's going on on college campuses today, that fentanyl really is a game changer. It's different than anything. Our older children did not have to deal with this. That's six years between them graduating in 2013 I guess from high school and Thomas finished in '19, his next older siblings. That span of time just changed recreational drug use on college campuses.
I mean, weed's more potent than it was. Y'all have talked about that. But fentanyl is that hidden danger that can be in any pill, any substance. It can be anywhere. That is information a lot of people are not completely aware of. If they think they know about it, they really don't, if they think they appreciate how powerful and how deadly fentanyl can be and how little fentanyl it takes. I use Thomas' story because he's with two other young men and thank goodness they lived and Thomas didn't.
He played the game of Russian roulette and he lost. The other two survived. That's how random it can be. I have spent a lot of time talking with groups, trying to educate them, and also thanks again to information that I've gleaned from y'all. I've expanded to talking also just about mental health generally and weave in that topic. Because as y'all know, it's all interrelated. It's not two separate topics. It's all the same discussion, and it's one we didn't fully realize with Thomas until now.
We do realize that there were mental health problems that he had and issues he was dealing with, whether he had addiction tendencies or whether he just was an abuser or where he fell in the spectrum of drug use. There was something driving him to do that and we never tapped into it like I wish we had. That is part of the topic that I cover when I talk. I've written a couple of articles as well that have been published, or one has been published, one will be published on the same topic.
Really mine is just trying to push information out and let as many parents and young people know about what happened to us. Again, it's through the storytelling.
Caroline Mayo:
I lead the public speaking up to Cal, so I'm more in the background, but just sharing Thomas' story with friends, parents of his friends. I was involved in the Thomas H. Mayo 5K this past spring that his fraternity put on.
Alexis Lee:
It was a wild success.
Caroline Mayo:
It was a great success. Over 800 people participated. I think $67,000 were raised. One of his mom's best friends in the fraternity came to me with this idea, and she assembled a dream team and they ran with it. It was an amazing event, and we hope that can happen every year as their annual charity. But mainly just being open and honest when people ask me about Thomas and sharing that it can happen to anybody. Thomas wasn't some bum on the street. He was just your typical college kid.
Alexis Lee:
I think we're making progress of the... When we tap stigma, it used to be them and they over there. It's not necessarily become the we, but it has become like people they know and their understanding it's maybe a little closer to home. People like you guys are just doing a great job of breaking down that barrier of like, it happens to everyone. It is sad and we're going to use it for the best power we can for good.
It's just been so inspiring to be a part of that and just continue to have the we mindset of this is all of us. Since you guys have established this lab, what did you establish this lab with the goal of doing? And then now that we're in a year almost plus of it, what are you hopeful for the future for it to come?
Caroline Mayo:
Well, obviously to educate parents and students, and y'all are doing an amazing job with that. We hope to get some kind of curriculum in schools, starting in middle school. The earlier we can talk to our children about the dangers and any kind of mental health issue, the better.
Cal Mayo:
Yeah, I think that there's so many things that can be done through the lab, but our view has been, as Caroline was saying, that... This is consistent. We were talking before on our podcast about John Broderick and what he's doing. He started at the high schools and he's gone down, as you read in his book. He's talked to middle schools and he gets the same reaction. Children of all ages and probably more so than parents right now are hungry for attention, dealing with mental health issues, drug abuse issues, eating disorders.
All of that rolls into the same big pot of messiness. We want to tap into that. We don't know how to do it. We can set up a vehicle, we can help raise the money, but we need experts like y'all to work with others to help make that a reality. But that would be our dream is that there is some program that is rolled out into high schools and all the way down, as low as it's acceptable from educational standpoint to talk about things that we for too long have been afraid to talk about.
We think that it's a sign of weakness or something and it's really not. It's just a sign of a health problem like any other health problem.
Meagen Rosenthal:
Right. Right. Well, and I think that one of the things that makes me think about is, and I've seen quotations to this effect around more recently, is our kids, our children are capable and able to deal with a lot more than we often give them credit for in terms of these kinds of conversations. We often think, oh, they're too young to think about drugs and alcohol and complicated relationships with friends. But my most complicated relationships came in middle school of all places and we don't really have those conversations.
I think that as parents, I think we want to keep our kids safe and prevent those things from happening. But one of the things I want to applaud both of you for in this space is that you've been so incredibly brave and honest in your experience and sharing that with other people because I think that's where other parents struggle. They never want to have to do this, but they also don't know where to start. You guys have been incredible examples of just doing the hard thing.
I want to applaud both of you for that because that is not something, excuse me, that a lot of people have been able to do. I think that you're part of this educational mission. You may not have the fancy letters after your name, but you're absolutely part of this. I want to thank you both for that because this is an amazing first step in that direction to help us get this whole mission flowing and going. It's not just for the kids, it's for all of us. How do we level all of us up so that we do better next time?
Caroline Mayo:
It was never a question whether to be honest about Thomas' story. I mean, I think from the day he died, we looked at each other and we're like, we're not going to hide anything. If we can save one life or if one life can be saved from Thomas' tragedy, then it's worth it, to be honest. I thought a lot before coming into this podcast today, if I was listening as a parent, what would I want to hear? What would I have done differently?
I think about this a lot, and this is very hard to get a 18, 19, 20, particularly a male to open up, but I would've been more persistent in getting Thomas to share his feelings. We had those talks, tell us what's going on, how are you feeling? Fine, mom. I'm fine, dad. But I would've kept on it more. I think I tried to pump self-confidence into Thomas instead of getting him to talk and just be there to listen.
I'd say things like, "Thomas, you're so smart. You're so handsome. You're so funny. You're so kind. Everybody loves you. Why don't you have self-confidence?" Instead of really trying to get him to open up to share those things that were bothering him. That's hard to do.
Meagen Rosenthal:
Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Cal Mayo:
And to be very clear, one thing I tell people every time I talk, and I should say here, Caroline and I don't have all the answers. We're just trying to make everyone else understand the questions need to be asked. That's how we get to the answers is we have to ask the questions. A lot of it's probably trial and error. As parents, we do things wrong sometimes, but the effort at communicating with our children and understanding what's going on as best we can with them and letting them being able to listen.
Caroline Mayo:
Not judge, not give them the solutions, but truly just to listen.
Cal Mayo:
Just listen and let them talk. It is hard. I tell people that our two daughters, they went away when they were about 11 or 12 and came back with about 18 or 19, and my boys went away when they're about 15 or 16. William came back when he was about 22 or 23. We were just seeing a little bit of that with Thomas, but there's a part they have to go away. I think that's part of maturing.
And as a parent, you have to keep your tentacles out there as best you can, keep the antenna up to see things and hear things, but getting the information, being willing to make mistakes with your children, but don't give up and don't feel like you have to have all the answers as parents because we don't. We have no clue. A whole episode on social media and I didn't have to deal with that. That's all after our time. There is a lot of pressure that comes from social media, the expectations of perfection and everybody else's world is a perfect world.
If you have any anxieties about what's going on in your life, it's just multiplied by seeing perfection in everybody else. That's a reality that young people have to deal with. A lot of it I don't understand, but you can't find out the answers if you don't ask the questions. And that's really what we see The Mayo Lab doing is gathering the information, trying to improve the situation for our young people. When things don't work, try something else.
Alexis Lee:
Right. Right. I love that perspective and that approach to this kind of work because this is a sticky, complicated, messy, wicked problem that's been around for a long time. And until, like you say, we start asking those questions with an open heart and an open mind, figuring out those solutions and being brave enough to try and fail and try again, we're not going to get any closer to those solutions and that ultimate objective of saving just one life, like you said, Caroline.
That to me is so exactly what we do here at The Mayo Lab and with this podcast repackaging that information and getting it out to a huge audience, hopefully in a way that everybody understands and will deconstruct some of that scientific gobbledygook in the meantime so everybody gets it right. I just think that you summarized it just so beautifully. Thank you. Thank you.
Voiceover:
You are listening to The Mayo Lab Podcast. For more information and resources, visit themayolab.com. Now, back to the episode.
Alexis Lee:
Diving a little bit into the stigma topic that the season's going to be on, we know stigma is just huge. We've all faced it. We've all felt it, I think, at this table. But I want to dive into a little bit specifically stigma for you guys and just ask you what stigma looked like or was to you guys before Thomas' passing and what it is now to you around this idea of substance use, and if your family has faced it, how you've walked through that with your family and your other three kids, and just stigma as it lives currently for you guys.
Cal Mayo:
Sure. I think any discussion about stigma has to start with a look in the mirror, right? And being honest with ourselves about our own lives. I tell this to groups I talk to, none of us are wired perfectly. We all have our anxieties, depressions, emotional distress moments that will come up in our lives. It is hard for us to admit that, because we want people to think that we not necessarily are perfect, but that we don't have problems. And we do.
Just as a brief aside, I've thought maybe we should set aside a certain amount of money that everybody gets in a bank account that we can use for counseling throughout our lives. We can draw down on it. And if I don't use all mine, I can give some to somebody else or somebody can give me theirs. It's hard for us to do that, but it has to start with a self-examination, I think. This is purely unscientific answer to your question, but this is where I am right now. I think we then have to pass that along to our children that parents aren't perfect.
We don't expect you to be perfect. As Caroline said earlier, we did not hide the fact that Thomas had gone off to rehab. We didn't publicize it, but we were honest with our friends. We were honest with our children. We were honest with his friends. They wanted to write him. They wanted to know where he was. We didn't want Thomas to think we were embarrassed. We've had it with our other children. They were certainly not perfect. Despite Thomas' view of them as being perfect, they weren't.
All of us, we've all made mistakes in our lives. But I think that that approach has to carry forward into our society. We talked about this a few minutes ago, that we have done such a poor job in our country around mental health. There's nothing wrong with admitting that you have anxieties. There's nothing wrong with admitting that you're going through depression. I don't think any of us will go through our lives without some period of depression. It may be a mild depression.
It may be a mild time of anxieties. It may not have to be medicated, but it certainly benefits from some kind of counseling. Caroline and I have both been to and had some counseling since Thomas' death, both professional and really more just talking to friends and opening up with people that we trusted about things, talking to people who've been through the same thing that we've gone through, support group type discussions.
I think that the fear of the way others react to our problems is probably one of the biggest hindrances to addressing the mental health issues that we have, because people don't want to admit the problem and they don't want people to perceive their children as having a problem.
Caroline Mayo:
Yeah, I agree. I think as parents, you want your children to be perceived in the best light possible. When something runs amuck, it's hard as parents to admit that and be honest about it, because you want people to think your children are good, and they are good. Everybody has stumbling blocks and anxieties. I think that's a real thing about stigma is just realizing your children aren't perfect, and that's okay.
Alexis Lee:
Have you seen your family become closer because of this?
Caroline Mayo:
Yes, absolutely. No question. I feel like we were close before, but obviously a tragedy, I guess, it can either pull you apart or bring you closer. Fortunately, I feel like it's pulled Cal and I closer and us closer to our children and them to each other also.
Alexis Lee:
I would imagine, I can speak for myself on this of I'm in recovery and I'm sober, and I know conversations in my house have changed since that. I can only imagine what the conversations have been, how they've changed in your guys' house and obviously around in your communities. It just takes one person, like you said, to speak up and have a question, and it will impact your children. Your grandkids will be impacted because of this. And how powerful. You're changing the next generation and you don't even know it.
Caroline Mayo:
Right. We can't go back and redo our children's childhood, but we can give our children suggestions about things they can do better than we did when it comes to our grandchildren.
Cal Mayo:
There was plenty of... Well, not from Caroline's side, but from my side, plenty of parental malpractice committed in our household. But anytime you see a family that looks like they've got everything going for them and it's perfect, I think we're now old enough, wise enough, and we've been through enough, probably even before Thomas, but certainly after Thomas, that's not true for any family.
I've said this in front of groups, every family has a little crazy in it. Our family certainly does and most families do. I use crazy in kind of a broad sense to talk about the issues that we all have to deal with. The more I think we're open about that, the healthier we can become as a family, as a community, as a country.
Alexis Lee:
Is there anything you guys would like to share that we haven't asked you that you would like to tell parents that you would? Anything?
Caroline Mayo:
I think I'd really just like to say thank you to people, the kindness that people have shown us. I mean, family, friends, strangers. It's just been very humbling. I think it speaks well of Thomas, but I think it just speaks well of mankind, particularly his friends. His young friends have been so intentional in their support and love. I have the privilege of knowing two of them, Gray and Avery. Anytime I see them, "How are things? Can I help? How can I be involved?" It makes me so happy. I feel like I know a piece of Thomas through y'all, but specifically through his friends too.
Cal Mayo:
If I could emotionally get through it, I could tell you several stories about Thomas and the people he touched, but one thing that Caroline and I have just never ceased to surprise us is some random place in Oxford, somebody will walk up and say, "Oh, are you Thomas' mother? Are you Thomas' father?" It oftentimes is not somebody that fits the college student mold or appearance. It's somebody from a completely different walk of life. This has happened over and over again.
People you're like, "How in the world did you know Thomas?" "I went to school with him in high school. He was always so nice to me. Other people wouldn't speak to me and he always did." I think that hearing those stories is a driving energy behind us wanting to spend time with the lab, because the lab is not designed for any particular type of person or anybody from a certain walk of life. It's designed to provide information and offer hope for a person regardless of their background or their economic situation.
And that's the beauty of the podcast, is that it gets it out there for anybody who can access it, and we all can access it. Thank you for helping us fulfill that dream in memory of Thomas, because he didn't see color, he didn't see race, he didn't see economic status. It's important for us for this message to mimic his life and his approach to people. Thank you.
Alexis Lee:
Thank you for raising such a great sweet boy. The goal of The Mayo Lab Podcast is to start a different conversation. I feel like we've given lots of different ways parents can do that and their families. But if y'all wouldn't mind leaving us with three specific takeaways for people of how they can have a different conversation with themselves this week, how they can have a different conversation with their family, family units, and then how they can have a different conversation in their community.
Cal Mayo:
You want to go first?
Caroline Mayo:
You go first.
Cal Mayo:
A different conversation with themselves. I think this week I would ask a question, what's one thing I can change, however small, in what I'm doing? Maybe it's a bad habit or it's a way of thinking that I know is not healthy, or it's a relationship that I know needs mending that's keeping me awake at night or getting me out of bed early in the morning, and address it.
Don't wait. Address it now. Develop a plan of how you're going to go about addressing just that single one problem that's gnawing at you, because it's those types of problems when they're all blended in together that keep us from the joy that we all want.
Caroline Mayo:
I think I touched on this earlier, but as far as families, just to keep the conversation open. And as difficult as that can be for college kids, just keep at it. Let them know that you're not going to judge, you're not going to try and find a solution. You're there to listen and to support. We told Thomas often, we're on Team Thomas. We're on your team. Just to let your family members know that.
Cal Mayo:
I think from a community standpoint, we're in an election year in Mississippi, right? What better time to be having conversations about mental health with our state leaders. I don't think there's any person running for public office that will tell you, "I don't want to do anything to help the mental health problem." We all know the mental health problem exists.
It's expensive to fix, but let's make sure that people we elect are committed to really addressing the issue and putting whatever resources we can, maybe just to hit one single mental health topic. But let's win on that one topic one at a time. We can eventually get there, but this is a perfect time to have those conversations going into the fall before the elections in November.
Alexis Lee:
I love that takeaway.
Meagen Rosenthal:
That's awesome.
Alexis Lee:
We've had such great nuggets of takeaways. I'm so excited. Well, for listeners, any resource we talked about, the articles Cal's written, it's wonderful, we've read it, will be in the links in the show notes. It'll be available on their website along with a host of other resources for families and individuals. Check those out. We will see you guys next week. Thank you, Cal and Caroline, again, for joining.
Caroline Mayo:
Thank you so much.
Cal Mayo:
Thank y'all.
Caroline Mayo:
Thank you very much.
Voiceover:
Thank you for joining us on this episode of The Mayo Lab Podcast. The Mayo Lab Podcast is produced by Dr. Natasha Jeter, Dr. Meagen Rosenthal, Alexis Lee, Slade Lewis, and Hannah Finch. The podcast is recorded at Broadcast Studio in Oxford, Mississippi. The show is mastered by Clay Jones and our original music was composed by Slade Lewis. The Mayo Lab Podcast is brought to you by the William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing. For more information on The Mayo Lab Podcast, head over to themayolab.com and follow us on social media @themayolab.
If you enjoyed listening to The Mayo Lab Podcast, we'd love for you to subscribe, rate, and give a review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you are listening to this podcast. This podcast represents the opinions of Dr. Meagen Rosenthal, Alexis Lee, and their guests on the show. This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for the medical advice of a licensed counselor or physician. The listener should consult with a mental health professional in any matters related to his or the health of a child.