A conversation with Kelli Melissa Reinhardt of Make Mental Health Matter
Make Mental Health Matter is a nonprofit organization founded by Kelli Melissa Reinhardt following the loss of her sister to suicide in 2017. Through education, advocacy, and open conversation, Kelli works to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and encourage people to seek understanding, connection, and support. Her Make Mental Health Matter Show brings together personal stories and professional perspectives to explore emotional well-being and resilience.
When Our Triggers Point to Something Deeper
Why do certain experiences provoke reactions that seem so much bigger than the moment itself? And why do we sometimes find ourselves repeating emotional patterns even when we know they aren't serving us?
In this conversation with Kelli, I explore some of the central ideas behind Tracking Triggers, including how our present-day reactions can be shaped by experiences from much earlier in life.
I share a particularly personal part of my own story: losing my father when I was just three months old, and how my mother's grief influenced my early emotional development. Looking back, I can see how those experiences contributed to my capacity to understand others, while making it more difficult to recognize my own feelings and needs.
We also explore the experience that inspired Tracking Triggers: observing Indigenous trackers in southern Africa and discovering how their attention to subtle signs offered a metaphor for understanding our inner emotional lives.
Throughout our conversation, we consider the importance of recognizing and regulating our reactions, allowing ourselves to experience difficult feelings, and learning to act differently rather than simply repeating familiar patterns.
At the heart of this work is a distinction I return to throughout the book: our triggers aren't the enemy. They are clues.
When we learn to follow those clues with curiosity rather than judgment, we begin to understand what is happening within us and discover new possibilities for how we respond.