Episode 11: Boost Your Potential with Brooke Lam of Keeping Families Well

Weirdschooling: Season One, Episode 11

Keeping Families Well with Brooke Lam

Originally Released November 8, 2023

Intro: <Original bright piano sea shanty music rising in the background with school bell sound.> 

Sarah: Welcome to Weirdschooling. I’m Sarah. 

Jennie: And I’m Jennie. We’re parents, friends, lifelong learners and self-proclaimed weirdos. 

Sarah: We’ve found that some of the best educational methods have emerged when we let go of conformity and explore the unconventional and unique 

Jennie: Because no one’s brain operates the same way and that’s exciting. And what works today may not work tomorrow, and we can adapt. 

Sarah: We’re all in this weird and wonderful world together.

Jennie: So let’s learn outside the box! 

<Original cheerful, organ and piano sea shanty music fading out in the background.> 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Welcome to Weird Schooling. Our guest today is Brooke Lamb of Keeping Families Well, a family focused functional medicine and wellness company. Prior to Keeping Families Well, Brooke was an attorney in Florida before becoming a mother and shifting her focus to create a private math tutoring company, Florida Math Tutor. She has studied at a range of health and functional medicine institutions, including the prestigious School of Applied Functional Medicine and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. Brooke integrates her passion for functional health education. Welcome to the program, Brooke.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Before we get too far into the conversation, we at Weird Schooling like to focus on what is special, unique, bespoke, weird about a particular educator or experience or person or business owner. And so how would you identify as being weird?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Um, in so many ways. I've always had a sense of going against the green but especially in, just not really ever. wanting to be like one of the many. So I think in that sense, I became comfortable with being not one of many. And I really think that's helped me. be able to live the way that I do because there's so much in this functional health and wellness space where it's been coined “a healthy deviant.” It's so out of the norm of what most people know and do. And so you're really constantly being looked at as. It's weird. And it's funny because, I know the why behind it and I know the education behind it. I don't think it's weird, but I've become pretty comfortable at doing the different.

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I love that. I typed down the phrase “healthy deviant.” I definitely wrote that down. I love it.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Yes. There is actually a book out there called that and so I'm not claiming it as mine. But I heard that that's really exactly, I think what people on this, frontier of trying to bring this education and health model really have to be.

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: So I think we try really hard to actually define things, on the podcast, which seems kind of basic, I think. We talk a lot about like primary sourcing things. We don't want our listeners to assume one definition of wellness and functional health than what we're actually talking about today. I'm wondering if you could talk about how do you specifically define wellness and functional health? 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Sure. I did bring a definition for me that I think really sums up that I really like using. It's by Dr. Mark Hyman. And the definition is, “Functional medicine is a science-based personalized healthcare approach that assesses and treats underlying causes of illness through individually tailored therapies to restore health and improve function.” I really like that definition. But in just kind of my own terms, I feel like really what we're doing is looking at the whole body, the mind and the interconnectedness between the systems of the body and how they relate to each other. and the individual aspects of each person and what comes into it to work on holistic type personalized approaches to really what the body's whole goal is to be in homeostasis or balance so that you can basically live your best life.

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: So it sounds like you're really approaching this from a very scientific place, very research based. I love that you'd come prepared with this definition that you've also kind of incorporated into your own understanding of it. And I'm wondering if your training as an attorney and that kind of experience in working with attorneys has related to or relates to your journey in functional health.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: I definitely think that it does, which I know to somebody initially probably seems so strange. I did not practice as an attorney for a long time at all. I was in litigation. I very quickly saw that it just wasn't going to be a model for me in terms of how I wanted my family life, my children to be. 

However, I felt like the law school experience itself has been so beneficial to everything that I've done, even as an educator, a teacher, because there's so much logic based, it really trains you to think like that. And also the research aspect of it, which has been such a huge tool for me and getting to this place. When you're in law school, you're taught about laws, but you're taught fact patterns and how to apply each individual fact pattern to this framework. When I work with somebody one on one, or even if we're doing groups with some individual stories within it, it's applying somebody's personal individual fact patterns, so to speak, to this framework that we study. 

And I have friends who are trained MDs, doctors who have a very hard time kind of coming over to understanding this other side, because they were so trained in traditional medicine. And in some ways, I feel like I was better exposed to being able to hear these alternative types of ways, because It's a very different model. It really is something that should be in conjunction with traditional medicine, but it's kind of its own, you know, model. And so I actually find the law school to be hugely helpful. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: So do you feel like it helps you see those interconnectedness is between the systems in the body? Because that was one difference that jumped out at me when you described it that way, because you go to an eye doctor or a gastroenterologist or a cardiologist, whereas it sounds like you're approaching it from a, like you said, holistic way. And is that kind of what you mean with the fact patterns and the research allowing you to look at the whole system?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: When we're talking about acute care, emergency care, if you need a diagnosis, if you need treatment, something prescribed. You're in a traditional type of a sense, but if you're working with any kind of chronic type of health issue or overall health, there's so much science now behind and so much evidence behind how this whole-body approach is really where you want to be because everything is so interconnected and focusing on one area of the body.

It's kind of like a garden hose with, you know, a bunch of different holes. You plug up one hole. but then it just spurts out somewhere else. And that's really what happens in the body when you're just looking individually. And you really have to be a health detective in a way to really step back, look at all the puzzle pieces and try to figure out what's going on and where's the best place to start.

There's a lot of root cause talk, which I a hundred percent agree with, but sometimes the root causes are circular and it's just this metabolic chaos, which is a term that's. It's trademarked from one of the companies that you had mentioned, the schools that certify that I've been in that just is the body's metabolic chaos of just dealing with so much dysfunction over time. And that's kind of where you want to try to restore functions that the body can take over and heal itself. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I'm wondering if you would be comfortable to share, how the process of being a parent and, a parent of your specific kiddos have influenced and maybe initiated this journey into functional wellness and health.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Yes, for sure. There's nothing that can really light a fire under you to do something than when it's something for your kids. I've learned so much about my own health issues through the years and that I now can see and have, you know, work to do for myself that that was never going to be the, the driving force that pushed me to, to figure it out. It was definitely always about my kids. 

And really from the very beginning, there were so many things that were issues for my daughter, but really stem initially it seemed from gastro type things, you know, the reflux, the blood in the stool, the constipation. And then for me, if you're breastfeeding, it's okay. Let me take out all these allergens. Is there allergies? eczema, that whole dynamic, which is so common now for so many babies. And I really started the very traditional type of route for her of going to the gastroenterologist and what do we do and being on prescription medications and PPIs, which then led to constipation. And then it's, laxatives, that whole traditional thing. And everything that I was doing, she just seemed worse and worse and worse. And I felt so unheard. There was so much time waiting. You'd see somebody for a few minutes or, and some of our doctors they did, they would they'd spend more time and that's why you'd wait four hours to see them.

But even then, it was still ultimately, you know, lots of testing and then lots of medication and that, that's really where it went. And then the medication for her caused just different types of side effects. It was just the nights of not sleeping and being up that I started researching and researching and I'm thankful for being in a time where we had access to that I'm being able to hear from a community of parents who were going through it that actually were watching what was happening and not just a snapshot in an office for five minutes and what was working for other people and what wasn't.

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: You're right, though. We were, talking with another mom and another business owner, who, is an allergy mom. That's how she sort of, described herself. And any time your kid goes through something very difficult, just like you said, you become the change maker in your family. You become the researcher. You are the one that is absolutely the fire that you need to figure out that. Issue. And it is difficult. Because we're all led to, expect that the traditional approaches are what are going to give us the answers. And, it sounds like in your case and in lots of cases of folks that we've talked to just personally and professionally, that's just not the case all the time. 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: And sometimes it's even the case temporarily that it can help provide some relief, but it's not necessarily something that you want to be doing super long term.

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I'm wondering if you could share why it was important to you to not just figure out the solution in your own family. But to decide that you wanted to support other people through education and really, I think, I think the key word is also support. So why did you want to do that?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: It took a couple of years for me to decide that this was something that I wanted to do more full time. Really only in the past two years, really. So it was a couple of things, taking on so much time and so much research and so much of what I've learned it became also a passion of mine just to, you know, figure it out, right. I, by nature am somebody who feels like they need to fix things, which is something I've had to learn to let go of a little bit, but that was a big thing. Like I'm going to figure this out, and the experience of just so much, even within your own personal family, even people who mean well, spouses, parents, you know, it's, it was so much convincing and never mind when you would go to a doctor or go to another friend, it's a very lonely road and an immense amount of time and an immense amount of expense.

And so it was, figuring all that out. And then people would start asking me questions and talking to me about it. And I was like, you know what? I talk about this a lot anyway. And it's also one of the things that you just start to see everywhere because it's. It's so prevalent in our lives, especially in so many of the kids that I see. And I think the extra push was really during the pandemic and seeing what was going on there and feeling that they needed to be a more of a focus on overall health and this more looking at the whole-body approach. things that were going on there. And I think the final push for me really was that I saw what was coming out of that was just so much.

It was so difficult for moms, especially of young kids during that time. So isolating, so stressful. And then the kind of the downstream of that really hitting people, I feel like around the past year and just the exhaustion of that whole time and what it's done to health of not just with kids, but also especially with moms in particular. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: It’s just amazing to me how many conversations we've had with people who are doing these weird things or unique things who branched out during the pandemic. I, I just think that it was a terrible experience for a lot of reasons, but there's been so much innovation that has been born from it that you seem to have kind of really looked at your own holistic journey of learning all of the things that you did in law school and then the things that you learned as a teacher. And so I was wondering. How has your experience both as an educator and as a parent informed the way that you operate Keeping Families Well?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Completely I think because first of all, I'm a health coach. So I again, you know, I'm very clear. I'm not a doctor. I'm not licensed to prescribe. I'm not licensed to diagnose I am basically there to educate and empower whoever I'm talking to, which in my practice to traditionally moms that are either for themselves or their children, how to empower them to take this into their own hands, how to be a support system for them to help guide them so that they're ultimately the one making the choices to change their lifestyle basically in a way that will best help themselves and their children, empower them in conversations with their doctors before making any types of changes or how to find somebody that they want to go to, who is more open to hearing them. 

I also then come from a place of somebody who's been there, which like a lot of things really helps because I see things different. I feel that I can be more empathetic and compassionate to what somebody is going through because I feel it so deeply and I understand I'm not just seeing somebody for five minutes in an office and that's my glimpse of it. I have lived it 24 hours a day for 12 years, the nights, the desperation, all of it. And so I think that I can relate more to what they are going through and even the how hard it is to start taking steps to change it. I really feel like it's both like the education aspect and then also the experience. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: So have you seen any examples, either in your own family or through people that you've worked with, of how results of functional health treatments have resulted in better academic outcomes or education outcomes?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Yes, yes. Because this is such a whole-body type of an approach, you see the trickle down effects in so many different ways when you make changes and there's so many things that seem almost basic that are really like jumping off beginning points, like sleep, for example, you know, things like that, that, that you don't realize are such a struggle and the difference that they make. But the problem is that for a lot of people, when you have this dysfunction, like you don't sleep well, you can't sleep. You either have troubles falling asleep. You have trouble staying asleep. You're not having good quality sleep. 

Or somebody suffering from eczema and they're constantly itching and in pain and how distracting that is from what they're constantly trying to do versus once you relieve that and there's so much now about gut health and the interconnectedness with gut health and our brain and our neurotransmitters. And not even necessarily if you have gut symptoms, like this still can very much be there and how you're absorbing nutrients and how working on that can totally change your functioning and your focus and your behavior. But I like to also focus a lot on the specifics of ADHD type dynamics, which are huge in terms of education and schooling. And a lot of times it's the symptoms, those particular groups of symptoms that we talk about there that are very much affected by the types of things we work on with lifestyle.

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: We definitely have a lot of parents, in our Weirdschooling community, who have kids that are neurodiverse and who have ADHD. My own kiddo does, I do. So I am both personally, very excited to learn a little bit more specifically about that and also, I just know that our community would love to hear more about that area if you could.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: First of all, I wanted to start by saying I have a child diagnosed with ADHD and I myself am self-diagnosed just the more that I've learned about it, I'm like, Oh, it makes so much sense now, but I will just mention this, that one of the things that held me back from that type of realization was the “H” piece of the hyperactivity and thinking like, Oh, I, you know, I, I wasn't bouncing off the walls and I wasn't very energetic, but learning that there's really so many different types of how that presents and that even just like the types of Intrusive thoughts that kind of can sometimes be seen as anxiety, but aside from that, there's so many wonderful, amazing things that come out of people who consider themselves neurodiverse, and I feel like it's a gift in a way to be able to have some of the amazing things that come along with it. 

So if we can help reduce the negative type symptoms that we associate with it, problems focusing to problem, with these types of thoughts, different executive functioning, but can still keep some of the wonderful things, then, it's kind of a lot, a lot, a lot of evidence and research coming out about how our lifestyles are affecting these types of increase in symptoms that we're seeing. So working on things with diet there's so many different aspects, things about certain types of chemicals that are in food, but especially artificial food dyes. 

One of my big tidbits is just to take a look at some of the other countries. and the regulations that they have on their foods, that some of the same restaurants in America are making different food in other countries because they are required to, you know, and ask yourself, why, why is that? And why are we settling for that here? And when you really start to learn about the chemicals and different types of things like that you can understand how we're exposed to neurotoxins that can cause too much excitement in the brain. 

So how can we heal the gut to help us be able to absorb nutrients? That's a big thing. Sometimes we were not absorbing nutrients. You're eating the best food ever. Doesn't matter if you're not absorbing it. It's very individual in how we look at it. And we actually do a lot of testing, but it's a different type of testing than you normally would find more of a functional base type test, just to try to correlate symptoms and really find the healing opportunities to focus on, to start working on. 

And just a little bit more about the interconnectedness. Sometimes it's a detox issue, which a lot of kids that have been diagnosed with ADHD have different type of genetic mutations that make it hard to detox. So it's how do we help support that system? How are we not putting extra toxins into our body if our kids are already having trouble detoxing? So you hit it from a lot of different areas and there's a lot of improvement and what people can see. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: In a lot of, groups related to ADHD and other neurodiversities that I'm in, I see a lot of folks talking about these things and reporting that they've just had incredible, basically life changing results from being more intentional about all the things that you're talking about. But I always see on the threads people saying, “This seems so complicated. Like how do I even start?” So, if you had somebody coming to you with that question, what would you say? 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: I can totally relate to it feeling complicated. That's part of why I do what I do, that working with a health coach or working with somebody that's in this space is something that's helpful because you actually have somebody guiding you and supporting you throughout. A lot of people sometimes look at when they're coming to functional medicine, they want an MD. They want somebody that has that medical background. And I feel like don't truly understand the difference between the two. Not that the functional MD isn't amazing because they are, but that it's just not necessarily the same thing. 

So what I do is kind of bridge that gap. You're still, when you're going for any type of a session, right?

You're having a treatment plan here and it's handy to you and we'll see you in six months. So working with a different, with a coach, for example, helps bridge that gap and gives you the time between for support for exactly what you're saying, you know, okay, I have the plan. Now, what do I do with it on day three and Oh wait, this didn't work the way I thought it was. And now I'm having this problem. Like, you know, I need some support. 

So being in groups, working with coaching, I think is great. But one of the most basic things I think that anybody can do is realize that kind of everything that starts to lead to dysfunction, our body starts with stress, of some sort. And we hear a lot about mindfulness, which I think is huge. Simple as breath work, right? That's really the most simple thing you could do is breathe, right? Box breathing, things like that. One of my favorite tools is tapping. Not only does it combine stuff with breathing and it integrates your mind, but it's really goes back to the nervous system, which in my opinion, one of the biggest things at play in all of these things, getting our bodies out of that fight and flight mode into the rest and digest mode. 

And letting your body know that it's safe, especially in the world that we live in, where everything's so busy and we're rushing into this and that, so I think that breath, tapping, yoga is the simplest way to start. And then getting somebody that knows where you've been, that can help guide you and support you really makes a difference.

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: That seems so doable. That's like two steps. No, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm not even, I'm not being sarcastic. It actually really does seem, you know, when you just think like, I have to improve my health or I need to help my kid, with their ADHD symptoms, that's so big and so scary. But it's really easy to just say, okay, day one, I'm going to find a mindfulness app. And I will try something for five minutes. Day two, I'm going to research wellness coaches in my area. You know, it's so much easier and actually less stressful just to start, you know, little baby steps almost. 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: I would throw that into what I'm saying is so important of one of the hardest things that I've had to learn of not thinking about the whole big picture, what can I do today? And focusing on the steps of just getting that, one step done. And truthfully, one of the other really wonderful things about pandemic is so much is online now and really almost everybody I see, we do virtual appointments. So we work with everybody in the U S and some of them abroad. So, you know, you have a wide range at your disposal. And yeah, it's just like, just take the first step.

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I think that that also kind of subverts my initial tendency. Whenever I am like, oh, I have a problem. I'm going to research everything. I'm going to stay up late into the night. I'm going to doom scroll. I'm going to learn, learn, learn, learn, learn every dye that my kid has ever ingested. I'm going to fret about it. We're going to go, you know, eliminate everything from our diet. It's anxiety inducing. It is stressful. It undermines sleep. But it sounds like reducing stress and increasing sleep can allow you to actually be mindful about what you're doing for your family. And so I just love that piece of advice so much. And I think that I can't be told that enough times. And I suspect our listeners could probably also not be told that enough times. I'm also excited that you have online resources because, we are so connected now, even though we're far apart. So I'm just saying thank you for reminding us to sleep and relax.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Thank you. This is your daily reminder. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I think you actually did a really great job of a snapshot of what life looked like before you found functional health. But now can you paint us a picture of what things feel like and look like for your family and for you now. 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: I would love to say that everything looks like rainbows and butterflies. I would. But at the end of the day, a lot of people who do have these types of chronic health conditions, things are harder sometimes and you go through highs and lows and flares and things like that. I can confidently report that I feel that when we do have those things for the most part, and we are following everything else that you know, we talk about and that I know.

Everything is much more subdued and we get through things faster. More importantly, like I feel prepared and empowered to get through them than what they were before. As kids get older, , I'm encountering this now as I have some, he's about to be a teenager. We can't control everything that they do.

Newsflash. Oh yeah. Um, and really, and so they have to go out in life and they're living amongst other people and for kids that maybe have allergies or sensitivities or celiac. It's really important for them not to be eating certain things and it becomes very difficult because life is, that's just not the way that our culture is and that's a really big challenge for kids and I recognize that and it's something that we have to work with and so that we'd see setbacks because of that.

But I hope that the dialogue that I've used with my kids over the years will help put them in a place as they're older, to be able to take better control of things, to have more knowledge about things. And that's really all we can do. And for my own health, I also suffer from the. Do what I say, not what I do type of mentality, life gets busy and everything, but there are some of my own health conditions, I have endometriosis. That's one of my big pain points. 

I have been able to really manage that greatly by a change in my lifestyle, change in my diet and how I live and especially like the stress and the anxiety, how I manage everything. I come from it from a very different place now than I used to. My husband had cancer when he was young. My father passed away from cancer a few years ago. So that's been something that's always been a source of concern for me as well. So it's just different types of ways that I feel like I'm doing what I can to help us live, the best that we can.

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: So to that point, what are you hoping that keeping families well can accomplish for people that you work with? Like how would you define success for someone working with you?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Usually I'll ask somebody what their top three biggest pain points are, and sometimes that changes over time as we're working together. But being able to relieve some of those pain points for themselves or their kids, it's definitely success. Any little thing that you can do that's relieving stress, that's impacting you to not be able to live your best life. I read something a couple of years ago that really hit home with me about how there were so many people in this world that had such great potential to do so many wonderful things that weren't able to do it because they were suffering from some type of chronic symptoms, disease, and what would the world look like had all those people been able to, be their full potential. And that really hit home with me because for every single person that we're helping, especially the kids. Each generation, I feel like it's hit a little bit harder in the environments and what we're being exposed to. And it's an uphill climb. So what can we do to, help just relieve that is really what, for me is success and supporting other moms really, because I just know that that's. Something that we need more of. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Yeah. Oh, so true. So true. I just love everything you just said, because when I think about, functional wellness and just health and mostly just when I think about my own kids, honestly, I just think about the word potential. I think we hear that word all the time when you talk about academic metrics or whatever. But that's not really what I think is important. And that doesn't really sound like what you're focusing on. I mean, sure. Focusing on your overall health will, of course, impact your ability to be at work or at school.

But it is kind of incredible to imagine what the world would be like if people could get help for the things that so many people suffer from and so many people probably don't even feel comfortable with sharing with a lot of other people. And it sounds like there's more aspects of community building and what you're doing than just individual health improvements. I mean, creating a world, creating communities among moms, among people who are compassionate about people's physical experiences, their psychological experience, experiences, and, how we can all take charge a little bit better, it sounds like.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Yes. A hundred percent. it's really just that same thing that you always hear of when something happens during the day of just knowing that there's probably so much more under the surface, there's a famous iceberg picture that we look at a lot and functional medicine that just talks about the body, what you see at the tip and what's happening underneath, but it happens in how we present ourselves as well so it's a little more compassion based. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: How do you vet your resources to make sure that they're like science based?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: It's a good question. There's a lot of research online, right? And I do think that there's some pioneers in the functional space that are out there putting out a ton of information that I like to go to first to see, like what they're saying, get their opinions. But I think like everything in life, you kind of have to go with your gut. 

But I also know that there's something, and I talked about this recently online because this is such a new frontier. There's a lot of things that just aren't very concretely, scientifically proven that sometimes we come in contact with, and a lot of times that's because there's not like big pharmaceutical companies that are able to fund doing some of these things.

And that there's a lot of other minutiae in there that's coming to play, of why there's not more about this. And so I've really learned that there's a lot of value in anecdotal evidence of a collective group of parents or doctors that are in this space or coaches and what they've actually seen. And, finding somebody who feels that they align with your, values with how you feel. The trust aspect is very big. And you should be doing this with your doctors too. Your own sense of how comfortable you feel. And I truly believe that even if you're working with somebody, you should still research a little bit.

You should still look into it. You want to make educated decisions when you're dealing with things. There's many more studies now out about some stuff that you can find. And a lot of times you can even ask whoever you're working with, or have there been any studies on this? Where do you get your information from? Ask the person that you're working with. Can you send me some more information to look at? I do that a lot with everybody that I work with. I send them links. I said, here's some information that you can look at. And, then you're learning too, and then you can pass it on. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I appreciate that a lot, actually, because I think that there's a, a tendency that even I have to just be like, well, where's the study, but the reality is not all the studies are getting funding that they necessarily could. And so I think that question that I'll take this as advice, and our listeners, I hope would too, of asking people, where do you get your information to wherever, whoever you're talking to is such a powerful question. Because if they're not getting it from anywhere at all, then that's like, okay, I'll factor that into how I'm evaluating this resource. And again, going with your gut. I think that's a big one when you pair the science, the resources, and then your own instincts about, is this checking out?

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Well, if we were on the show, Smash Boom Best, and arguing different sides and pitting traditional medicine and functional medicine against each other. First of all, I would listen to that episode. That would be really interesting. But I would actually say that, from my own experience of being married to a physician, who works in oncology, medicine and science is changing all of the time. And so therefore, so is functional health and wellness and medicine as well.

So there are always new things where, oncologists even are saying like, huh, this particular medication or therapy or whatever it is seems to be working really well for this one particular subset of my patient population. There isn't research on it. I know that is, it isn't harmful to them. So let's look into this. I think that's something that I also, remind myself of is just because something is a newer way of looking at things, a newer perspective, a newer whatever it is. It doesn't mean that it isn't really, really valid and a really, helpful way to sort of shape your, your purview about things.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: That's such an important part because I think that gets lost in a lot of this when there is this pitting of the two, which, I don't believe there should be, which I'll, I'll explain in a second, but that that is what science is, right? Looking at the new, the constantly changing new thing, not sticking with wait, but no, I was told this 30 years ago and that's the way it has to be, right? That is what you're supposed to be doing. So it's really important and I really do believe that there is. that there is a space for both practices here. And that frustrates me that oftentimes there is like this pitting against and really, they need to work in conjunction. So you know, I hope that for the future that that is something that hopefully will come to play more. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I noticed that on your website that you have kind of a description of everything that you offer and then you also describe how you would work in in collaboration with a medical doctor as well. And for me, because I like to make an analogy out of literally everything. For me, it's the difference between having a physical therapist and having a personal trainer. Like, you, you need both for different reasons. And it doesn't mean that either is less valuable. And it's like you described earlier, having access to a coach, like you gives you more of a sustained encouragement, accountability, access. Whereas when you need that targeted, specific intervention, then yeah you need them both. 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: A hundred percent. And even I see that a lot with, you know, just because we had mentioned ADHD, there's a lot of pitting against with traditional like beyond medication versus more holistic don't. And I think there's a place for both for sure.

And I've seen with a lot of people how it's even made it that your doses can be lower. And then that reduces side effects that you have and that helps and maybe support other types of systems that you might be having side effects from. So there's really a play for both.

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Well, so I feel like you have had so many great suggestions for listeners. I'm wondering, how can listeners learn more about Keeping Families Well?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: So right now my Instagram page is where I've been trying to put more information that's really where I've been trying now to try to, have more of a community. My goal and what I've been working on is creating more programs for moms that they will be able to join to get education on their own time, and then also create a community that kind of combines with some one-on-one support. And so that is something that's going to be launching hopefully in the new year. And so for now, it's really just getting information online. I'm always open to talking to people. They can go to my website, send messages and there's a few different types of things that I offer in the meantime, but that's kind of the big thing that's going to be coming soon to help support more people. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Oh, that's exciting. Okay, great. Great. And then we'll link to everything, of course, in our show notes as always, and your website so that everyone can find you.I love a good Instagram account, so I appreciate that.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Yes. Thank you. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Before we can let you go, though, we have to do the weird thing. So we're going to do our weird of the week, which is when we each will just share one weird thing that happened, whether it's an experience or something that we learned or something that we did, ate, saw, heard, anything like that. So who would like to go first with their Weird of the Week?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Okay, so both of my kids, I mentioned that they were sensitive, right? When they got their earrings, one of their ears got infected and we had to take out the earrings, both of them so my little one, she got her ear re-pierced last year and did fine.But my poor older daughter, she has had that ear pierce. At least four or five times that it has not worked. So we had been doing the same thing going to the same place and we decided to try something new. 

And earlier this week, we were supposed to have an appointment for her to get a retainer and it was not ready. And we had sat there and it was kind of like, Oh, like we wasted this morning. And we were like, you know what? Let's go get your ear pierced. And it was very spontaneous. And we had heard about this, this place called Rowan, which I see is across the country. It was amazing. It's like they specialize in ear piercing. They have all registered nurses that do it. It was such a cute place. They all over their website is about how they try to make the kids feel comfortable. They have a special way of piercing that's supposed to heal better. So we went and she definitely has, this is my anxiety child, but she overcame and we breathed and we did, and now she has her ear pierced. So that was my experience for the week of number five of getting her through the ear piercing. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Oh my gosh. So does it seemed like it's healing really well too?

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: So far it is okay, she has gotten to the point where it's like time to change and we change it and then there's a problem. So I'm not saying anything yet, but I just have faith in this different experience, this different place that is going, this is going to be the time, so. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Oh, that's great. That's great, well we won't talk about it anymore, we won't jinx it. (laughs)

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: (laughs) I'll let you know in a few months.

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Okay, Jennie, what's yours?

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: (sigh)

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: That deep sigh tells me this is going to be something good. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Well, I was debating between two. So the Weird of the Week I'm actually going to do is a little bit of a weird and weird. And that it was one of those moments where my child just shocked and delighted me with their kind of outside of the box thinking. We do homeschooling, and so one of the things we signed up for this semester was a public speaking class. And all the kids get to pick what their topic is going to be, and over the course of the past few months, they have been, refining their speeches. And so he did his first full speech in front of the large group for a big practice yesterday. (laughs) He did such a great job, which was not weird or surprising. He loves speaking. But what was weird was the topic he had chosen out of just, it felt like thin air. He had the choice of literally anything from like video games to favorite food. And he said, you know, Mom, I'd really like to talk about the impact of school voucher programs on Texas families. 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Wow. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: (laughs) It's like, well, 11 year old Senator, that sounds great. And so my experience yesterday sitting on the sideline as all the parents are kind of watching the kids was me just kind of telling all the adults like, yeah, he picked that himself. Like, I'm not, like, you didn't write it for him. Right. And he gave this super thoughtful pro and con. He didn't push an agenda. And the yay is that I get to take him to an education symposium on Friday in Austin, Texas. And so I asked the organizers if he can come along as my little number two. And so I'm excited for all the weird yays that are going to happen when he gets to go be in this kind of professional setting learning about education this weekend. 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: That's so nice.

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Oh, I love that so much. Do you think the other parents believed you that you didn't write that thing? 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: No. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I wouldn't have believed you. Like, sure. Absolutely not. (laughs)

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I mean, this is like the biggest, I mean, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm like bragging about this kid because he blows my mind. Now, it's hard though, because he's got an opinion for every grandparent. And so this is not something he puts to bed but this is my weird, Sarah.

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I'm excited to hear yours.

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: I don't know if I would call it a yay, I think both of you have such cool, weird yays this week. This is just a, wow, Sarah, you're really weird kind of one. On, Mondays, my homeschooled kiddo does, a co-op and lately I've just been getting a lot of real weird sources of, for this podcast from that experience. And, there were kids milling around and I don't know what it is, but a lot of them usually come up and tell me random facts. I don't know why the other moms get to stand on the sideline with their coffees and just get ready to pick up their kids, but for some reason, and I love it they all try to tell me things. 

So this time this little girl came up and she said, well, I don't have a fact for you today, and I'm really sad. And I was like, oh, that's okay. and she just sort of stood there, and I stood there, (everyone laughs) and we just stared at each other, and I was like, um. And she said, well, can you give me a fact? And I was like, and then, when somebody asks you a question like that, your brain just goes blank. And I just know no facts. But the one stupid fact that I could remember in this moment when I just wanted this little girl to feel like comfortable and feel like, not as awkward as I was feeling. Um, so I was like, well, adorable little girl, did you know that human beings cannot walk in a straight line if they're blindfolded?

And she was like that's not true and then I was thinking well, is that true? I think I learned that in college. Maybe that's not true. So then we were all in the lobby of this church where we do the the co-op blindfolding ourselves in sweatshirts, and I'm the only adult doing this. And all of these kids, and we're trying to walk in a straight line. And actually, it is true. You cannot walk in a straight line if you can't see. Everybody walks in circles. Like, big circles, but weirdly circles. 

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Wow. 

Sarah, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: That's interesting. So now I'm like officially the weird mom. 

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: This is another example of us being the weird. Like you were the Weird of the Week. I was so the weird. But just in the most wonderful way. That girl has to feel so seen and connected that she felt like you would talk to her. I love that.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: It makes perfect sense that they all come up to you to tell you something while everybody else stands on that. Right? They feel your, your openness and your connectedness. That's a good thing.

Jennie, Co-Host of Weirdschooling: Oh, it's been such a delight to meet you, Brooke. Learning about your incredibly thoughtful approach to health and wellness and educating people and creating community around wellness is really inspiring. And I know I've, I'm going to leave this, conversation with more tips and a reminder for sleep and less stress, which is always helpful. And thank you so much for coming today.

Brooke, Founder of Keeping Families Well: Oh, well, thank you so much. I was happy to be here. 

Sarah: Weirdschooling is a My Kind of Weird Productions podcast and is co-created by hosts Sarah Woolverton-Mohler and Jennie Ziverk Carr with music by Brooks Milgate. 

Jennie: You, your ideas and feedback MATTER, so like, subscribe and leave a review! Share your weirdschooling experiences or challenges on our social media channels at instagram, facebook, or our website at www.weirdschooling.com. 

Sarah: We’re here for you– so feel free to join our engaging Weirdschooling Community Facebook group for inclusive, open-hearted idea sharing and camaraderie. 

Jennie: You’re dismissed to go be the weirdest brick in the wall of this wonderful world!

<Original bright, organ and piano sea shanty music fading in the background with school bell sound.>