Pro Network

He was made to be a front man! He’s witty and always on top of the latest trends, and his voice was made to be broadcast across multiple mediums.... he’s truly a natural! When John was 45, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer which led to an immediate state of anxiety and depression. But John was determined he wasn’t going to let cancer beat him down. However, there was another major obstacle in his way he would have to face in order to make a full recovery; 30 years of alcohol abuse. Through the support of friends, John was able to find a program that fit his needs and enabled him to learn skills and strategies to get healthy and implement balance in his life. Today, John is in remission from cancer, depression and alcoholism. He still struggles with anxiety, but he is working on it. He is truly a gem!

Ever since she was a little girl, helping others was her passion.  Even when she had no toys of her own, she would participate in school contests to win toys for other children. Melinda grew up in a nontraditional family. Her family, once very wealthy, lost everything due to addiction. She has seen first-hand the devastation of what addiction can do to a family. She also was a teenage mother and dropped out of high school. Living in an environment with a bleak future, she decided she would have to move away if she ever wanted to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor.  She took night classes to finish high school and saved enough money to buy a one-way plane ticket from Los Angeles to Chicago for her and her one-year old daughter. After relocating, she started college and ended up working 3 jobs to pay the bills. She worked her way up to become successful in the media industry and when the timing was right, she finished her masters and doctorate degrees.Today, she is living her dream of being able to help others as a career and has her PhD in neuropsychology, specializing in addiction and mental health. She is truly blessed!

He has a melange of wisdom and knowledge he’s always willing to share. When he talks, you want to listen because you will always learn something new. He’s a natural communicator with an intuitive ability to help people understand and express their feelings and experiences. He has a fatherly presence that puts people at ease.  Chief Joe is retired from a 39-year career as a school psychologist and a 20-year career as a Training Chief on The Bloomington Fire Department. During his career, Chief Joe was exposed to many traumatic situations.  He has years of training and experience of problem solving and de-escalating highly volatile situations.  We appreciate him very much!

She has the best stories! She could have easily been a comedian. She also sings like an angel and looks like one too!  She has such a kind and loving nature. Even though she is a lady of many talents, she definitely chose the right profession to be in. Jeannie has been a nurse for over 25 years. She was an ER nurse for several years which exposed her to some of the most difficult situations she’d ever experienced. She had to learn how to put her emotions aside and focus on her patients. She had to learn how to make her patients believe there was hope even when there wasn’t any. She had to spend time with people during their last breaths and give them assurance that everything was going to be OK. At times, there was no time to even process her own thoughts and experiences because she had to move on to the next patient.  Jeannie has a mentally impaired son. She continues to raise him even though he is an adult. He still has the mental capacity of a child. Jeannie claims a lot of her strength and compassion comes from being a parent of mentally challenged child. 

She is an amazing lady with a heart of gold!

Everybody loves Dean!  He’s like a big teddy bear. He has great unfiltered stories. He loves to share his Cop Stories. Some of them could easily be made into a movie. Dean is retired from 25 years on the St Paul Police Force. During his career, Dean worked in many departments including narcotics, patrol and working with the homeless. He has been in many life-threatening situations. Dean used alcohol as an escape to avoid his stress and trauma symptoms so he could sleep at night. Over time this escalated to become a bad habit, which then turned into a problem where he isolated and became depressed.  Luckily, Dean went to treatment and learned how to manage his stress and anxiety.  Dean is one of our community’s heroes. He’s saved many people’s lives and made several positive contributions to our community. He recently finished his certification to become a Peer Support Specialist so he can continue his passion for helping others. We are extremely fortunate Dean wants to continue his work in the helping professions!

He may be a millennial, but he tends to be more old school in his thinking. He is wise beyond 

his years and more of an “old soul.” Matt is currently going to school at UMD for finance. He has one year left. He is currently doing a full-time internship and producing our show. He is a busy kid! The panel loves to get his perspective on topics because of his honest opinion.  Although Matt is young, he has a lot of life experience. He’s traveled to Japan including Okinawa. He’s been fortunate to also travel to several states. His family is very diverse, which has opened his eyes to some of the struggle’s other ethnicity experience. Matthew has always cheered for the underdog and stuck up for the kids who were being mis-treated in school. He has strong values and has aspirations to run a company someday, but we are hoping maybe he will run for something bigger! The sky is the limit!