An Unconventional Life

As a child, you were probably asked multiple times about your dreams. And, as a child your answer was probably something fantastical: firefighter, ballerina, football player, and, maybe, doctor.

Dr. Derichard McCoy is a Charlotte, NC native. He attended Livingstone College in Salisbury NC where he received a BS in Sport Management. He then went on to receive his MS in Education specializing in Sports Management from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale FL.

Dr. McCoy earned his Doctorate of Education in Sports Management with an emphasis in Sport Leadership from the United States Sports Academy in Daphne, AL. He is currently the Athletic Director and Health/Physical Education Teacher at Mountain Island Lake Academy and the Varsity Defensive Line Coach at Providence Day School.

Dr. McCoy consults with the Group of 5 college football coaches, helping them to better compete with the Power 5 programs within the Football Bowl Subdivision.

In this episode of An Unconventional Life, Dr. Derichard McCoy shares with Dr. Russell Strickland how his childhood dreams were always about football and how these dreams motivated him to ultimately earn his doctorate in sports management. A first-generation college student, Derichard took football as far as he could on the field before he made an unlikely transition... effectively getting his doctorate in football. Dr. McCoy talks about how he found Dissertation Done and got the help he needed to push through to graduation. Now that he’s finally done, he gives his heartfelt advice to students on finishing what they started.

Many life circumstances compel us to take a different route. Dr. McCoy may not have ended up as the football player he had dreamed to be, but he certainly created his own destiny and took his football dreams to the next level. Are you ready to create yours? Helmets on as Dr. McCoy shares how to run your own route to success!

Have you been in a situation where just getting this one thing done seems impossible? It could be getting through step one of your workout routine, reading the first ten pages of a book, or writing one sentence for your diissertation. But dreams and goals don’t work unless you do, so what are you delaying?

Dr. Greg Cason is best known as “Dr. Greg” from the Bravo series LA Shrinks, the controversial docu-series that showed what happens in the therapist’s office and in his real life. He appears regularly as a psychological expert on The Nancy Grace Show and has also appeared a large variety of TV programs including The Jeff Probst Show, The Tyra Banks Show, Extra, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, and several news features.

Dr. Cason's expertise was also featured in documentaries specifically about the gay community such as The Butch Factor, The Adonis Factor, and The Gift. Most recently, he provided expert psychological analysis in The Secret Tapes of the O.J. Case: The Untold Story. His writing includes an often irreverent psychology column for the gay community called “Off The Couch” in print and on-line versions of Frontiers magazine and his sometimes controversial views have been featured about in The Huffington Post, The Advocate, People, and several other publications.

Dr. Cason currently teaches in the psychiatric residency at UCLA and is a licensed psychologist and Diplomate in the Academy of Cognitive therapy with a private practice in Los Angeles specializing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy & the LGBT community.

In this episode of An Unconventional Life, Dr. Gregory Cason shares with Dr. Russell Strickland his dream of becoming a psychologist. Starting as a Theatre Arts major and making his way to Psychology despite the obstacles along his way, Dr. Cason says that plans never worked out the way he wanted, but all that matters is you push through it. Dr. Cason is deeply involved with the LGBT community and advocating for mental health. Although his dissertation process wasn’t as easy as he thought it’d be, setting his mind to his goal of graduating eventually did the trick. And his advice on pushing through your dissertation? Build success even for as little as fifteen minutes each day.

When you set your mind to your end goal, completing the required tasks is no longer a burden. When you know your why, even the most arduous task is a joy, because it brings you closer to your goal. Be inspired by Dr. Cason and embark on your journey to success!

Adi Jaffe, Ph.D. is a #1 best-selling author (The Abstinence Myth) and a nationally recognized expert on mental health, addiction, relationships and shame. He lectured in the UCLA Psychology department for the better part of a decade and was the Executive-Director and Co-Founder of one of the most progressive mental health treatment facilities in the country - until he started IGNTD.

Through IGNTD, Dr. Jaffe is changing the way people think about, and deal with mental health issues. He is passionate about exposes the role of shame in destroying lives. The driving philosophy behind IGNTD Recovery is to greatly reduce the stigma of addiction and mental health.

Dr. Jaffe’s views on addiction and his research on the topic have been published widely in both academic journals and popular magazines and websites. He has been featured in CNN, The Huffington Post, Bustle, Los Angeles Times, KTLA. Dr. Jaffe has also appeared on several television shows including Good Morning America, The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors and Larry King Now and in numerous documentaries discussing current topics in addiction. He has also been the guest on notable podcasts including Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, Almost Thirty, Dr. Drew, Cleaning Up the Mental Mess with Dr. Caroline Leaf and many more.

What's keep ing you from reaching your goals? Why are you letting that stand in your way?

In this episode of An Unconventional Life, Dr. Adi Jaffe and Dr. Russell Strickland blow the doors of your excuses. Dr. Jaffe was an addict, drug dealer, and convicted felon when his doctoral journey began. He went from graduating with his bachelors degree on a technicality, to convincing his master-level professors to go to bat for him when he applied for doctoral studies. Clearly, Dr. Jaffe had all of the excuses one could ever need to not earn his doctor degree and make a positive impact on the world. But, he completely wasted all of these excuses, instead becoming a doctor, an author, interviewing with Larry King, and building an amazing community to support addiction recovery.

So, don't worry that you aren't completely comfortable with what you're doing. In fact, Dr. Jaffe said, "I actually urge you to put yourself in more places where you have imposter syndrome." That's how you make a dent in the world!

Mark Metry is a 24-year-old entrepreneur, author, creator, mental health advocate, coach, teacher, keynote speaker, podcast host, and loving human being.

Mark has interviewed over 300+ top leaders around the world from billionaire philanthropists, to neuroscientists, professional athletes, New York Times bestselling authors, philosophers, and innovative disrupters on his Top 100 Humans 2.0 podcast, which NASDAQ, and Yahoo Finance placed in the "Top 21 Growing Podcasts you must listen to..”

Now, Mark hosts the Social Anxiety Society podcast and is the bestselling author of Screw Being Shy: Learn How to Manage Social Anxiety and Be Yourself in Front of Anyone!

Mark has been featured in Forbes, TEDx, HuffPost, Mindvalley, Inc and many more. Mark‘s been mentioned alongside Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and can be found speaking at Universities like Rutgers to Nonprofits like Coptic Orphans, to conferences and high schools across the nation.

In this episode of An Unconventional Life, Mark Metry shares with Dr. Russell Strickland his story of growing up as an introvert who went through social anxiety, and eventually, social isolation. His struggles pulled a trigger that made him realize he didn’t want to be merely a statistic and felt he needed to speak up for the sake of his younger self, thus came the book, “Screw Being Shy.” The best-selling author talks about the many opportunities that built off each other when he put his authentic self out there for the world to meet. He also discusses the three biggest things he learned to overcome anxiety. And if you haven’t heard yet, your gut microbiome is a lot more connected with anxiety than you are aware. Interesting, isn’t it? Metry explains this unique perspective and some more helpful insight on overcoming anxiety.

Mark Metry once couldn’t speak to people without the gut-wrenching aftermath of a panic attack, but now he has spoken with and for people who need his words the most. There’s nothing wrong with you for having anxiety, and Mark can empower you with this episode.

Do you consider yourself to be a lifelong learner? How do you leverage that learning to benefit yourself, your family, and your community?

Dr. Michael Levittan is an accomplished and recognized expert on domestic violence, anger management, child abuse, trauma, PTSD, and suicide. He is a licensed psychotherapist, director of T.E.A.M. - a state-certified batterers’ treatment program, serves as an Expert Witness in court, teaches seminars and courses at UCLA Extension, National Alliance on Mental Illness, International Conference on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, L.A. Superior Court, Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, U.S. Marines, Women’s Shelters, etc.

Dr. Levittan's media work as an expert includes the Tyra Banks Show, ABC-TV News, Starting Over, Bad Girls Club, Montel Williams, Robert Irvine Show, Politico.com, Hollywood 411, and radio, on-line, and print publications. He has contributed a chapter to the International Handbook on Interpersonal Violence, "The History of Infanticide;" a chapter in Violence in Our Society; and a chapter on Domestic Violence in “Her Story, His Story.”

Dr. Levittan appears in the newly-released documentary on parenting, "The Golden Opportunity of Child Development." He also recently completed the soon-to-be-published “Essentials of Anger Management.” Dr. Levittan is currently appearing as a Relationship Expert on the “Frangela” TV show. As an Executive Board member of the NPEIV Think Tank (National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence), he launched the GLOBAL PEACE COMMITTEE in order to promote peaceful, humane solutions to societal problems. Recently, he has completed podcasts on “Fathers Raising Daughters,” the “Me Too” movement, and “Gender Expectations in the 21st Century.” Dr. Levittan appears in the soon-to-be released documentary “Chains.” His passion comes across in his writings, presentations, and media appearances.

In this episode of An Unconventional Life, Dr. Michael Levittan talks to Dr. Russell Strickland about his journey as a student, transitioning to being a renown expert. Everybody has different goals in their dissertation process, but Dr. Levittan says that it was passion that carried him through. He also discussed the profound experience of becoming peers with your mentors, highlighting the transition from student to expert that every doctoral student undertakes during the dissertation process. Dr. Levittan also shares his favorite career story, which you simply must hear for yourself!

Sometimes it's tempting to abandon your goals rather than pursue them. Taking the responsibility to create something may scare you quite a bit, but that is exactly what growth means and what being a real expert entails. Dr. Michael Levittan can help you become the expert you are meant to be.