Eye on the Triangle

Brian Jurado 0:01
The views and opinions expressed on Eye on the Triangle do not represent WKNC or NC State student media. You are currently tuned into Eye on the Triangle here on WKNC 88.1 f m h D one, Raleigh. Thank you for listening.

Hello everyone. This is Brian who rather the Public Affairs Director here at WKNC. For today's episode of Eye on the Triangle, I'm joined by technician news editors, Abigail, Emily and Heidi. They'll be sharing some local triangle news. Following this weekly news, we have an interview of peg Morrison at Nami of Wake County. And lastly, we've got an interview with Lou at Oak City Cycling so stay tuned

Abigail Ali 0:53
Hello, guys, this is Eye on the Triangle. I am Abigail Ali, the news editor for technician and today I am here with Hey guys, I'm Heidi. I'm the assistant news editor for technician. And I'm Emily. I'm the other assistant news editor for technician.

We have brought you some news tidbits from around the triangle area and we will one by one share them with you. Let's get started.

Okay, so for the first tidbit, I am shouting out Raleigh nc.gov. For this one, they put a list of some core museum aka city of Raleigh museums programs. And the first one on the list is board game nights, players can sip on a beverage well while playing history theme games. The game night is from five to 11 and is $8 for non members and free for members of the core Museum. Drinks are also included with your tickets to the game night. And yeah, check out Raleigh nc.gov To register for the next one, which I think is in October.

Next on the list is Latin beats. This program in a cloud is in collaboration with artists Studio project, participants at Latin beats can expect an evening of arts and crafts and music presented by de la and beats duo.

This event will be held on Sunday September 18 From one to 4pm and is free and open to the public. Finally, core is looking for baseball related historical items to be donated or loaned to the museum.

The list of examples of these historical objects include papers, photos, uniforms, equipment, tickets and programs, baseball cards and videos from back when selected items could be used and the upcoming exhibit that they're planning on having an items may be reviewed on Saturday, October 8 or 11th 10am to 4pm. Again, shout out to Raleigh nc.gov. For this list of programs, I think it's really fun to share programs from the local museums because not to be the one but museums and rallies are in Raleigh are really really cool and impressive and literally always have fun events and stuff going on. So check it out.

Brian Jurado 3:22
Up next MaHA has an interview of peg Morrison at Nami of Wake County. Viewer discretion is advised for this next interview as it does discuss mental health, suicide, suicidal ideation, self harm and thoughts of self harm.

Maha Syed 3:40
Warning Viewer discretion is advised the content of this podcast mentions mental illness, suicide, suicidal ideation, self harm, and thoughts of self harm. Hey, everybody, this is Ada point one WKNC. This is Moscow the drip and I am here with peg Morrison at the NAMI Center. Hi, Peg. How are you? Hey, I'm good. How are you? Good. Good. Can you introduce yourself and please tell the audience a little bit about who you are and where you come from? Sure. I'm Peg Morrison. I'm the Assistant Executive Director of Nami, North Carolina. And that stands for the National Alliance on Mental Illness North Carolina. I work with grants and I just help run the team that is Nami. We do free classes and support groups and presentations all across the state. We're all about mental health. We're the street smarts of mental health, you need your doctor, you need your medication, you need your therapy, whatever it is that works for you, but then there's the rest of your life and Nami is here to help with that. That's awesome. So can you tell us a little bit more about Nami and the services that Nami provides? Sure everything we do is run by people who have been there. So we have classes and support groups for folks with serious mental illness mental illness.

Peg Morrison 5:00
mild depression any kind of mental health challenge, you're welcome to join us and everyone in the room has been there, everyone in the room has has walked that road. We also have the same thing a counterpart, class and support group for the family members because it does affect everybody in your life, your friends, your loved one, your partner, everyone is feeling it that everyone's life is going sideways when that one person they love starts to struggle, whether it's they can't sleep, they're anxious, they're panicking. They're hearing voices, we all need to know how to deal with it. So Nami tries to bring people together and create safe spaces to talk and learn about that. Can you cover specific programs, resources, times and dates, preferably free or low cost. One of the things I love about Nami is that we do offer free services. So you will never be asked to pay to join us at a Nami class or support group. So for this episode, with our focus on suicide attempts, we have a targeted support group, that's for people who are survivors of suicide attempts. And we we meet weekly, that's a Monday group, they meet seven to 8:30pm. And we can put out a link that will show this and many other support groups. So our typical group is for anyone, as I mentioned, with a mental health condition, anyone who's struggling, then we have targeted groups for the suicide attempt survivors, the LGBTQ community, for we have a depression and anxiety group that's run out of Nami, Durham. And these are all available on our website, which is Nami, nc.org. That is so useful that are so helpful. Thank you so much. So your outreach is not exclusive to a specific demographic, you have lots of different programs for different demographics. Would you mind covering those? Yeah, I would be happy to we have, as I mentioned, we have a support group for the LGBTQ plus mental health community meeting twice a month, these are all virtual, we have a support group for Spanish speakers. And they meet twice a month stress and anxiety group for African Americans again, twice a month, and a recovery writers support group we meet monthly on Mondays from six to eight. And then as I mentioned, we have a ton of other groups that are very general. So I'm not sure I don't fit into a specific category, but I'm just feeling really down, I can't sleep I don't want to eat, I just need to talk to someone, come and be part of the conversation with people who really do understand and won't judge you. Awesome. So from what I can gather, you have Nami as a support based nonprofit system, where everybody who is part of any group or identifies with any group can come in for free classes, support and presentations, are there any other outreach programs or resources that are low cost or free that you provide?

We will, I'll talk a little bit about our classes. First, we have a class called peer to peer. And then again, the family counterpart is family to family and those follow curriculum where we talk about all the different types of mental illness from anxiety to depression, schizophrenia, bipolar, what are those look like and feel like? What are the signs and symptoms, then we go over how it affects the whole family, how to communicate in a way that can de escalate and reduce the chance of a crisis and self care. Can you tell us a little bit more about outreach programs that Nami offers and any other resources that people can use for free or low cost mental health services? Absolutely. Again, all of our free classes and support groups are on our website. You can also reach out to us to find out what else is available in my community that's free or low cost, and we will steer you in the right direction. Whether you're coming to us or not just reach out to us on our helpline. It's open Monday through Friday 8:30am to 5pm. We've got a phone number toll free 1-800-451-9682 Again, it's 800-451-9682. You can text us at 919-999-6527 or shoot us an email at Helpline at Nami nc.org. And it's all one word helpline h elp li N E at Nami nc.org and our helpline manager, Virginia is amazing. She has this Bible sized book that spells out every resource in every county. And so she can tell you regarding your situation, here's what's available near you and she'll find something

that fits your need and your budget. It's also really important to know about what the state is offering in terms of health care whether you're on Medicaid or you're you don't have insurance at all, and you're not sure who can help you. That's when you want to reach out to your local management entity. So it's a big mouthful, but it's basically for uninsured or underinsured folks, you can call your local management entity slash managed care organization, LME MCO. And they will tell you what's available in your area. There's a beautiful map on the State's website, NC D hhs.gov, forward slash providers forward slash LME MCO directory, or you can google LME MCO map North Carolina that's probably easier. And you can see on this map, I'm in Wake County, that means Alliance health can call me I click the link and then Alliance, information will pop up, or I can scroll down and see the Alliance information.

Maybe I'm in Davie county, or I'm worried about a friend or a family member over in Carteret County, I can click the link, scroll down and find out what number to call what website to check out to see how to get low cost or free services in that area. Fantastic. So you're mentioning a municipal state funded resource that helps anyone in any area in North Carolina easily just click on a map and find a resource near them. That's great. So now we've covered resources over the phone, we've covered resources accessible through the internet. And for someone who is struggling with mental health who does not have access to cellular service or Internet, what resources would you recommend and that is a tough one, find someone that you can trust, okay, and ask them to help you get connected. Okay, maybe there's someone in your class,

you know, I always want to say talk to your parents or talk to trusted adults, that may or may not be the best choice, find someone you trust, who's who's treated you well, and with respect, who you might test the waters by saying, gee, you know, I've been kind of struggling with depression. Try and get a sense for how they how they feel about talking about mental health challenges, because for some people, it's just not their bag, and you don't want to go there with them. So you want to make sure you get the right person and just try and talk through things, tell them you're looking for resources. And it's scary, I give you a lot of credit for reaching out when you're uncomfortable. We put a lot of stigma and blame on people. But the fact is, if you need help, it's not your fault. You just need help and find a friend who will be there with you to make that phone call or go to that appointment, call our helpline and talk through it with them. They're wonderful to talk to and they'll help you figure out what to do next. Thank you for sharing those resources and general advice you would give to someone struggling for access. I think that's very helpful. So we have covered resources for all demographics, all spectrums, and all levels of accessibility. So hopefully you or someone you know who is struggling with suicidal ideation, they have resources and they have the means for free resources that they can reach out to. So thank you, peg. Now, another question I had for you is about your personal story. Have you personally struggled with mental illness? And would you feel comfortable sharing? Sure I have. I've lived with depression and anxiety my whole life. My mother struggled as well. God bless her soul. And I do understand for those of you who are out there, you're feeling alone, like nobody understands you. Nobody speaks your language or accepts you. I've definitely been there. I had a very dark year last year mental health is is episodic. It comes and goes. Sometimes we feel like we're on top of the world. I got this and sometimes it comes back and hits me in the face. So yeah, as recently as a year ago, I called the suicide hotline. It was basically helpful. I felt like I got a male volunteer on her first day, to be honest, but she did try to help me. It was good to know that someone was there.

Just find someone to talk to Nami. Support groups are an excellent research resource, because we get it we've been there. We're not going to judge you. We're not going to look at you like oh my gosh, why would you say that to me? Because we get it. So yeah, in my worst days, this was decades ago. I'm 54. Now I couldn't sleep. I went three days without sleep. I had so much anxiety. I couldn't keep

Friends and make friends, I was worried I would never work again. So it does get better. It takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of trial and error.

For me, it took quite a while to find a therapist that I could really connect with where I felt really heard and respected.

But I promise if you come to Nami, and if it's not Nami, maybe it's another group, there are other really solid nonprofits. The bipolar depression Support Alliance is one that I've heard good things about. There are a lot of church groups that are very receptive and helpful.

Or atheist groups, I have a friend who does a lot of charitable work with an atheist Association, whatever works for you find that find your people. And we'd love to help you on that journey at Nami.

Maha Syed 15:52
Thank you. And do you have a story that you would be willing to share that is related to your perspective of a friend who struggled with mental illness and what you did and lessons you took away from that, and anything you can say that would steer someone in the right direction, who may be struggling in on the other side of mental health? Well, I was close with a person years ago who used self injury as a way of sort of feeling in control of their pain. And I learned a lot from this friend about how that functions, if I'm feeling and I'm going to give a content warning here, I'm going to be kind of specific.

Peg Morrison 16:42
So if I'm feeling out of control, maybe I have a lot of trauma in my past, I was sexually abused. And it left me with ongoing feelings of not being in control ongoing feelings of sort of panic or hating my body, overwhelming sensations, this person found that that cutting himself would give him a feeling of release and control. And on a biochemical level, it does cause endomorphic that causes the body's natural opiates to surge, and you do literally feel better. However, there are other things that you can do, you can learn to feel better in a way that doesn't put yourself at risk. That won't make you feel so scared when you see the results of it. And you can learn over time to honor your body and honor your recovery in a different way, I would highly recommend Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. And really any kind of therapy will be helpful. But Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is specifically targeted to folks who have been drawn to self harm or suicidal ideation. It is a commitment, it's a big time commitment with one appointment and one group meeting a week. I would also recommend my perspective on this based on my relationship with his friend was that it has an addictive quality. So you might find support in a 12 step group, there are general 12 Step groups. And personally I struggled with alcohol at one time. So I learned a lot about giving over control, letting go letting God are for me, that's a higher power and learning different ways of managing emotions. When the world feels out of control, or my I used to feel like my my brain was a haunted house. When when you just feel like you can't get comfortable in your own skin. There are groups that will help you learn learn techniques like calling a friend, journaling, exercising yoga, it could be anything depending on the person.

It's a process. It is difficult, it takes work. Honestly, I spent many days where I just felt like when will this ever start to feel okay and easy again? It does it just you have to figure out a way to give yourself that space. Forgive yourself. Give yourself space to feel uncomfortable and keep going. And eventually, the brighter days will come. Thank you pack. I wanted to end the show on a positive and bright note. So would you mind sharing in light of your ongoing battles with mental health ways that you express self care and self love for yourself? Oh, that's a lovely question. I think for me, I tried to surround myself with brightness. So if you look around, there are bright paintings in this room. A big thing is finding social support in a way that's a good fit for you. So for me, I've spent a lot of time

Feeling like kind of a loner I had, I'd sort of rested on my career for my social connection. And it's been pretty recently that I've developed a social support network that feels very reliable and comfortable for me. So, and that's one of the reasons I love, Nami, my first draw to Nami was not as a professional it was as someone who needed a space where I could be comfortable in my skin. Nami was one of them, there were some peer centers and friends who also gave me that opportunity in that gift.

So it's a process for me, of figuring out what kind of relationships I need to have with different people in my life. The people who surrounded me in my younger years, were great, and they did their best and, and worked for me at that time. But as I've gotten,

as my mental health needs increased, I couldn't have the same relationships with the same people, I needed people who were more knowledgeable who had had some mental health experience, who speak a language of recovery and hope. And that's, that's not everybody. It's a narrow swath of people. And I'm grateful to have found my, my little tribe.

Maha Syed 21:21
Awesome. I love that. So your self care really stems from the people around you and your environment. It really does. We don't have adequate services for folks. There are way too many people who they make too much money to get Medicaid, but not enough to have insurance that works for them. If we had Medicaid expansion, people would at least have the opportunity to go get care before they're at that crisis points. But if I'm struggling with my mental health, and I have to choose between paying the rent, buying groceries and seeing a shrink, I'm not going to choose the shrink for for a lot of different reasons. I mean, one is going to be stigma. But the other is just I need to eat, and I need to lay my head down somewhere. So if we could create more spaces where people can go for care and not pay an arm and a leg, that would be one way to reduce the drain on our system, reduce the number of people in crisis, so that those who are in crisis can get those very limited resources and get the best possible response. Right. That's great. And also with Medicaid expansion. How does that work?

Peg Morrison 22:40
That is something that they're looking at in the State Senate and the State House of Representatives. Okay. They are very close to passing it. Okay. So if you Google Medicaid expansion, North Carolina, what can I do? You'll find some ideas about how to reach out to your representative and your senator. Okay, and let them know, Hey, this is important. So by writing a letter to the senator or local lawmaking officials, we can pass Medicaid expansion which would help enable more cost effective mental health services. Yes, among other health related services. Exactly. Awesome. Okay. Well, that sounds great. And thank you so much for having me. And thank you so much for speaking with me. Tune in next week, six to 7pm for Eye on the Triangle. Bye. Bye. It's been my pleasure.

Brian Jurado 23:47
Everyone, this is Brian who rather with Eye on the Triangle. Today, I'm joined with Lou from Oak City Cycling loop, you just want to introduce yourself. Hey there, how's it going? My name is Lou and I'm a bike mechanic over at Oak City Cycling. So if you just want to give us a little bit of like a background on Oak City Cycling and like how long you've been there, it's been a pretty like, staple spot for cycling in Raleigh, so it'd be cool to learn a lot more about it.

Lou Oak City Cycling 24:12
City Cycling, it has some humble beginnings. Been around for a little bit over 10 years. Um,

can Metzker started it. I'm kind of just like, added some very small kind of communal spaces and slowly, slowly

he he's kind of built it up and we're now over on 707 North person street. A nice fun big two story building which is awesome. Super nice to have a lot of space there.

But yeah, we're I mean, we're just like a local local bike shop with a focus on like community engagement.

We just try and we do like monthly maintenance classes for people to learn how to like change tubes.

I'm in chain maintenance and we do rides for people of like all calibers. Every cruise right? Every Third Thursday. It's like real world show, like, docking 10 miles, we are cruising. And it's fun ride to group and then we have like gravel rides, and we're trying to bring back some road rides and alleycats kind of kind of jazz. It's fun.

Well, I personally just recently got a bike. Well, I got it out of the shut of my like backyard. Yep. Once or twice. Yeah, it's absolutely trashed. I fully just gave up. I was like, I'm just gonna take it down to Oak city and like, let y'all just handle it for me. Yep. But like purse? Or what would you recommend for someone that's like, either got a new bike or an old bike? Like, is there any, like, a process that they should take before taking it out on the road?

Um, I mean, if you go bike from a bike shop, hopefully they've already done all the safety checks. But obviously, there's a lot of avenues of getting a bike, you know, whether it's used or

straight to consumer, like on the internet, so like, it's not built up by a professional, go have it checked out by a professional. There's like a myriad of things that you can't actually see on a bike that could go wrong could cause some safety issues. So yeah, that's it. So like, before taking a ride in terms of like, you just got a bike. Is there anything like you want to make sure in terms of like fitting because I know I took it to Oak city. And they gave me like, they told me that my handlebars are too high. And I was like, oh, man, I didn't even know that Gotcha. Like, I wouldn't even say so much fit so much. Just like, make sure you have enough tire pressure and the number of times I've gotten through miles out and min length, yeah, airs going down, then you have to do a roadside flat change can be kind of annoying. And kind of just like inspect everything, like I like to always like pull on my brakes before like, take off, make sure it's everything's safe. And you can obviously, just like, start off slow, make, make sure nothing got knocked over. bikes get knocked over, they tend to shift kind of weird that can shift in your wheel and cause all sorts of problems. But fit wise, I mean, hopefully your bikes

for you. But if you're pulling it out of the shed, I mean, like make sure the fork is on straight, I would say. And then yeah, make sure your handlebars are rotated correctly, but and your seat post is maybe tight enough, there's nothing more jarring than going to sit down on a bike. And then it just slipped to the bottom. I guess I just wanted to mostly talk about like urban cycling, I feel like I personally am very new to it. Because I'm from Melbourne, which is like a small town in which it's a lot of country roads. And it's like a lot of the time the roads are either empty or there's like one car so I can just basically cycle as long as I want without having too much concern about another vehicle being along like the same road. But then you come to Raleigh, and there's just cars everywhere. And there's like a lot of rules that you need to follow. Just basically what are your tips for like cycling in this area? Yeah, um, well, first of all, follow all traffic laws. So stop at stop signs, doesn't always feel like you need to, but cars are expecting you to do it. And just just follow all the rules that you wouldn't like you would in a car, try and use the bike lane if you can, but still be cognizant of other cars because sometimes they aren't always aware of you. If you're like turning left or right, do your best to signal like a hand signal to alert cars that you'll be turning. Um, and yeah, just be aware of other cars like car doors opening maybe like that's always an option and just be aware of cars turning in front of you. If you're riding in a group, try and make it so that you all fit in the bike lane. It's kind of unsafe when you have two or three people straggling into the road. And then also like use the Greenway system. Raleigh has a really amazing Greenway system. You can find their map online.

There's a greenway system that pretty much goes all the way around the Beltline. And then there's stuff that kind of takes you through NC State and some other routes and I use that all the time to avoid

gotcha and what exactly is like the Greenway system um, personnel very familiar with it. Yeah, it's just like a paved path. And it's really well maintained. They have a lot of great people like clearing debris mud and junk off but um I mean, you can take the Greenway system all the way to Derome you can ride all the way to clay in you can do

like I said, there's like a fun little like beltline loop you can do and even on Oak city cycling's like webpage we do have a routes page. And we do have some, some routes that you can literally just kind of like plug in your phone through some free apps and make him kind of direct you and help you

figure it out. If you have any questions always stop by our shop too. We love telling people our favorite routes best way to go.

Brian Jurado 30:09
Yeah, it's super fun to talk about and share with because it's an excellent resource. Do you have any routes that you want to share on air, like any personal favorites in the area, I mean, personal favorite would just be the ride to Durham. It's so fun. You get to ride through Hampstead you get to ride around Crabtree Lake get a ride through carry. And then it's kind of fun to end up in Durham. And you can take the train back, it's free, you can take your bike on the train for free, it's only $7. One way.

Lou Oak City Cycling 30:39
I know the trains from Durham back to Raleigh are as late as 930. So that's really fun. The bike ride down to Clayton is awesome. And a personal favorite is just the homestead loop you can eat takes you through NC State, through the art museum. And then you kind of get to like get off road and be around some trees. And it's like, in between road biking, and mountain biking. It's kind of fun. It's really nice. It's really pretty out and upstate. NC State offers like a bike registration. I'm not too sure if you're like familiar with it, but it's like they literally you can go down to the NC State like campus police and they will carve like your license plate, I believe onto the bike that way, like it's kind of like an anti theft. So if your bike gets stolen, there's like a way to like report it or track it down. Just beyond that, and like, what would you recommend for like anti theft in the area?

Yeah, I mean, if you don't have resources for somebody to engrave something into your bike, most bikes have a serial number engraved in them already, not all of them, but most of them and it's on the bottom of your bottom bracket shell, usually, um, but also in bikes get stolen, it's just a really big bummer. But to prevent it, I mean, get a lock, don't get a coil lock, get like a U lock or something that someone actually has to put some effort in to get off.

Obviously, if you can, like not leave your bike outside overnight, I'd say that's a big one, too. I'm locking it up. I feel like during the day times, usually okay, but kind of once it goes overnight, I've heard of a lot more bikes getting stolen. Obviously, if you can bring your bike inside, that's, that's the best. But not everyone can do that, which I understand in terms of like bike repair and maintenance, such as if you got like a flat tire or you're like tire pressures low. What do you recommend in terms of just like maintaining your bike once you already have one? Yeah, I mean, keeping a flat kit is awesome. Keeping an extra tube, tire levers, and a hand pump is really going to save you especially if you go on a longer ride and you're like 1520 miles away from home, and you don't have cell service. But having tools is great, because even if you don't know how to change a flat, there's always the possibility somebody on a bike will ride by you. And they know how to do it. So that's very useful to have. But also just practicing, like I said, we have a monthly maintenance class, it's free.

Brian Jurado 33:14
It's for beginners, we go over changing into we also talk about chain maintenance, which is important.

Lou Oak City Cycling 33:22
It's kind of like a oil change. If you don't change your chain out, it will break down other parts on the bike and it gets very expensive to fix it all. So a quick chain change change will save you hundreds of dollars in the future.

Brian Jurado 33:38
All right, well, thank you so much. I feel like I've personally learned a lot through this interview. Is there anything else that you'd like to add? Maybe not really just get on a bike and get out there. It's awesome. There's more

Lou Oak City Cycling 33:51
bike lanes every day, which is awesome. Figure out that Greenway system and

enjoy enjoy a nice activity around Raleigh.

Brian Jurado 34:02
Was there any like events going on in Oak city that you maybe recommend like students to go maybe attend? I mean, our third Thursday cruiser ride is really great for beginners really great if you're like, trying to learn how to ride in a group.

Lou Oak City Cycling 34:20
It's really chill. Like I was saying we all kind of hang out before hanging out after. It's a great way to meet people. We do take the Greenway system sometimes. So it's good way to kind of dip your toe into that. And then yeah, all of our events are also posted on our website. So if you're interested in doing something a little higher caliber just keep an eye out for gravel rides and Ruth writes very well. Once again, thank you. I recommend everybody to go check out oak City Cycling and it's in such a cool area of Raleigh because there's like Yellow Dog Bakery right beside y'all. As well as so so books so like I really recommend that area and maybe next time you're there you can like stop by and maybe bring back bring by your own bike. Oh,

We also have a bar so you can stop by and have a beer if you're of age of course.

Brian Jurado 35:15
Well, that is all for today's episode of Eye on the Triangle. I want to thank technician news editors, Abigail, Heidi and Emily. The recommendations never failed to teach me something new about the triangle. I also want to thank peg from Nami and Liu at Oak City Cycling for interviewing with us this week. I wish everyone a great rest of their week. Bye.

Music for today's episode has been smoke jacket Blues by track tribe licensed under the YouTube Audio Library. This has been Brian who gather from WKNC you can listen to more Eye on the Triangle episodes on wknc.org/podcast. Thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai