Eps 25 – The Life and Times of Mary Carouba, Part 1

05/05/20 • 47 min

Claire Hennessy presents: The Bonkers Brit

I was thrilled to invite Mary Carouba back, this time to talk about her very interesting life. In fact, it was so interesting, I have had to split this into two episodes. In Part 1, we start off talking about rats and squirrels for some bizarre reason and then get back on track and talk about how receiving a life-saving liver transplant from a 14-year-old boy had the consequence of Mary performing 100 acts of kindness. Mary then talks about her traumatic childhood, where she received a lot of physical and emotional abuse. She shares the different roles that kids play in dysfunctional families and then goes on to explain how her unusual upbringing prepared her for her career in Child Protective Services. Rather than being a victim, Mary takes full responsibility for her life and explains how she has total forgiveness for all the people who have mistreated her in her life. We also had time to talk about why she wrote the critically acclaimed book “Women at Ground Zero – Stories of Courage and Compassion” about the incredibly brave women who were completely unacknowledged and unseen after 9/11.

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Eps 24 – Nancy Davis Kho: The Thank You Project

I was delighted to interview a friend of mine, Nancy Davis Kho. She is the author of a fabulous book called The Thank You Project, where she describes how, in her 50th year, she decided to write 50 thank you letters. It is a really interesting book and Nancy is a really interesting person to interview. She talks not only about how amazing it was to write the letters and how it changed her life in lots of ways, but also some of science behind why gratitude is such a powerful tool.

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Eps 26: Mary Carouba, Part 2 - Prison Life!

Because she was so great, I had to bring Mary Carouba back to talk about a subject I am inordinately interested in – prisons. Instead of dreaming of getting married or becoming a doctor or lawyer or famous artist, Mary spent her childhood scheming how to survive in prison! She was convinced she was headed there, and it was only the Delancey Street Foundation that saved her. Part of the philosophy at Delancey Street was to “Act as if” and Mary describes how she used this to completely change her outlook on life. This also helped when Mary took a Delancey Street initiative into prisons. She gives a fascinating glimpse into what daily life is like in prison, how gangs totally rule, how inmates are treated really badly, but also how successful the initiative has been in stopping violence and giving inmates some self-respect.