Healing Our Politics with Skippy Mesirow - Episode 74

In the first episode of 2025, host Eldra Jackson III welcomes Skippy Mesirow, certified master coach and founder of the Elected Leaders Collective (ELC), for a deeply personal and insightful conversation about healing our politics, addressing addiction, and confronting the unspoken realities of mental health and suicide. Skippy shares his journey from battling severe addiction to founding ELC, which leads the nation in mental health and well-being training for public servants. Through his own experiences, he emphasizes that healing politics begins with the human in the mirror, reminding us of the critical role self-awareness plays in creating systemic change. As we enter a new year, this conversation is a call to action for creating spaces of healing, both personally and collectively. Tune in to hear about Skippy’s work with ELC, his mental health advocacy, and how we can all play a role in healing the systems that shape our lives. For more information, visit healingourpolitics.com. Find skippy on intagram at @skippymesirow.

Om Podcasten

Welcome to the Inside Circle podcast with your host Eldra Jackson III. Eldra spent over a decade unlearning dangerous lessons about masculinity and finding freedom while serving 24 years in prison. In conversation with leaders from all walks of life who have overcome some of lifes’ greatest challenges, The Inside Circle podcast aims to broaden our concept of personal transformation, ‘men’s work’, and what it means to ‘lead change from within’. Beyond the manufactured constructs of race, class, gender, and even criminal history, this deep dive exposes the heart of our shared humanity, revealing prison as an intensely personal state of mind that can be transcended at any time. Eldra is the Co-Executive Director of Inside Circle, a non-profit organization that supports justice involved people in transforming their lives. Featured in the documentary The Work while he was still incarcerated at New Folsom prison, Eldra’s TEDTalk about his personal journey received over 1.2 million views. The Inside Circle Podcast - where your truth will set you free. Learn more at www.insidecircle.org.