Sabrina Weaver is a nurse in Columbia and created the non-profit, Defense Against Diabetes, which works with people with diabetes, as well as people before they get diabetes – helping them establish new, healthier habits.She spoke about the differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, how both of these can impact children and families and about how preventing diabetes in the first place can help improve people’s long-term health.

Bridgett Robbins is an Assistant teaching professor at the Sinclair School of Nursing, but before that she worked as a nurse in Mid-Missouri for more than 30 years.She spoke about how travel nursing can impact hospitals and about why she believes some students want to sign traveling contracts.

Danielle Devers works in Student Health & Well-being at the University of Missouri, and one of her roles is to work with the Well-being peers – a diverse team of students that seek to support and educate other MU students on topics like alcohol responsibility, stress and mental health, sexual health, healthy relationships, and more.

Bridgett Robbins is an Assistant teaching professor at the Sinclair School of Nursing, but before that she worked as a nurse in Mid-Missouri for more than 30 years.She spoke about how the past several years of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted – and continues to impact – her and those she works alongside.As a note - This piece discusses the pandemic, grief and death, and may be distressing to some listeners.

Lauren Jones is a sophomore and hairstylist at Mizzou and spoke a little bit about her own relationship – and past – with her hair, as well as about how hair can impact the mental health and well-being of other people in the Black community.She also spoke about the role she gets to play, as a stylist, in helping people see the beauty in their hair.

Kiera Bradshaw is a senior and part-time hairstylist at the University of Missouri. She spoke about the mental health impacts of hair, texturism and hair depression in the Black community.Texturism is the discrimination against people with kinkier, coarse hair in the 4B and 4C range, as well as a preference for looser and smoother textures in the 3A to 3C range.

Students for Change is a student-led group in the Columbia Public Schools. Karli Jones and Taylor Lee both attend Hickman High School, and Virgil Worstell is a student at Rockbridge.They spoke about how their organization came to be and how the threat of gun violence impacts their day to day live.

Lonnie Lockhart Bey and Julian Jackman both spent many years in prison, and since their releases they have worked together to create the R.I.S.E Initiative in Columbia, which works with and empowers at-risk youth.They spoke about some of the reasons they created the R.I.S.E. Initiative and about what motivates them to do this work.

Teens Mylee Hawkins and Jessi Johnson are competitive figure skaters who met at the Jefferson City ice rink. The sport is very physically and mentally demanding, so they spoke about how they’ve found support in each other.

Debi Hake is a licensed professional counselor with the Marriage and Family Counseling Center in Columbia. One of her specialty areas is spiritual abuse and religious trauma.She spoke about how religious trauma impacts how people navigate mental health care.