In this deeply moving episode of Walk With Me Conversations, we sit down with Alicia Johnson-Niles, founder of Unlikely Courage and author of the forthcoming book Angel in Arlington.

Alicia's story begins with a devastating loss—her father was murdered when she was just two years old. Though she grew up surrounded by love and stability, the trauma of that loss quietly shaped her inner world for decades, manifesting as anxiety, fear, people-pleasing, disordered eating, and a constant sense of bracing for the worst.

In this conversation, Alicia courageously explores what it means to grieve someone you don't consciously remember—and how unresolved childhood trauma can live in the body and nervous system long into adulthood. She shares how facing the truth about her father's death in her 30s became a turning point, opening the door to healing, spiritual connection, and ultimately, freedom.

This episode is a powerful reflection on:

• Childhood grief and complex PTSD
• How trauma shapes our sense of safety and self-worth
• The role of spirituality and meaning-making in healing
• Giving ourselves permission to feel, grieve, and remember
• Finding courage in the places we once avoided

At its heart, this is a story about reclaiming your voice, honoring love that never disappears, and discovering the strength you didn't know you had.

🌿 About the Guest

Alicia Johnson-Niles is the founder of Unlikely Courage, a platform dedicated to helping people overcome trauma by accessing the courage already within them. She is also the author of Angel in Arlington, a true story weaving together grief, spirituality, true crime, and personal transformation.

🔗 Connect with Alicia

• Unlikely Courage: https://unlikelycourage.com
• Angel in Arlington: https://angelinarlington.com

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You don't have to walk alone. 💛

In this episode of Walk With Me, Stephanie sits down with David Auger—environmental engineer, author, husband, father, and deep thinker—to explore sustainability as more than a scientific metric. David invites us to consider sustainability as a normative, values-based question: What do we want to hold onto, protect, and pass forward?

David shares his personal journey growing up in Denver, attending West Point, serving in the military, and transitioning into a long career in environmental engineering focused on water, air quality, wildlife habitat, and industrial responsibility. Alongside his professional experience, David opens up about one of the most defining chapters of his life—walking with his family through his young son's four-year battle with childhood leukemia, an experience that reshaped his understanding of resilience, family, and purpose.

The conversation weaves together science, philosophy, history, and deeply human stories. David discusses the ideas behind his book Man's Search for Sustainability, inspired by Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, and shares unexpected lessons from nature—comparing honeybees and desert locusts to illustrate how stress, community, and adaptation shape survival. He also reflects on Colorado mining towns, baseball as a form of community resilience, and why sustainability is never a fixed destination, but an evolving journey shaped by expectations and participation.

This episode is an invitation to pause and ask a powerful question: Why do we want to sustain anything at all?

Topics Covered

• Sustainability as a values-based, human question
• Growing up in Denver and family legacy
• Military service and a career in environmental engineering
• Water, air quality, and wildlife habitat stewardship
• Parenting through childhood leukemia and family resilience
• Lessons from honeybees and desert locusts
• Viktor Frankl, meaning, and the power of "why"
• Community, culture, and sustainability through history

About the Guest

David Auger is an environmental engineer with decades of experience in water and air modeling, industrial compliance, and wildlife habitat management. He is the author of Man's Search for Sustainability, a philosophical exploration of sustainability inspired by Viktor Frankl's work on meaning, and is currently working on a second book rooted in Colorado history, community, and resilience.

📘 Book: Man's Search for Sustainability

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In this deeply honest and unconventional conversation, we sit down with Dale Walsh—poet, mentor, and mental health advocate—who shares his lived experience with schizophrenia spanning nearly five decades.

Dale's journey began in the summer of 1975, when a psychotic break during his freshman year at Dartmouth College led to involuntary hospitalization and a diagnosis that would shape much of his adult life. What followed were years inside psychiatric institutions, long-term stigma, and a mental health system that, at the time, offered little hope for recovery.

In this episode, Dale speaks candidly about:

• The culture of psychiatry in the 1970s and how it framed schizophrenia as incurable

• The lasting impact of being told he had "broken his brain"

• Anosognosia—why many people with mental illness don't believe they're ill

• The language gap between those with mental illness and those without

• Cannabis, personal agency, and controversial paths to self-regulation

• Creativity, poetry, and meaning-making as survival tools

• What it means to finally release a lifelong delusion and reclaim identity

Today, Dale is living independently, writing poetry, and mentoring family caregivers of people with schizophrenia, helping them move out of burnout and codependency and into resilience, self-worth, and compassionate understanding.

This episode challenges conventional narratives around mental illness and recovery—and offers a powerful reminder that healing is not linear, fast, or one-size-fits-all.

Dale Walsh is a poet, mental health advocate, and mentor for family caregivers of individuals living with schizophrenia. Drawing from decades of lived experience, Dale focuses on educating caregivers while helping them rebuild self-esteem, emotional resilience, and healthy boundaries.

• Website: https://www.dewlivelove.net

• Schedule a Session (Calendly): https://www.calendly.com/dalecoach55

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You'll find podcast episodes, reflections, and resources centered on healing, resilience, and the shared human experience.

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