We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erik DaRosa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Erik, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Without a doubt it was the creation of the From Survivor to Thriver podcast! The idea came to me in November 2020, so at the time we were about 8 months into the COVID-19 pandemic.

To give you a little background, my co-host Marc and I work in winter sports, specifically the ski industry, which had been disrupted when we abruptly shut down the March prior. November is the beginning of our winter season and it was time to start getting ready – this is usually a time of excitement for most of us in the ski and snowboard world. I had gone on a trip and returned home to Colorado in mid-November. I got off the plane and looked up at the mountains and it all hit me at once how different the coming winter would be – we were still somewhat in the early days of the pandemic, especially with no vaccine available yet.

For about a week after getting home, I wasn’t sleeping well and found myself up late at night writing notes furiously. I realized that I was struggling with the unknown and feeling very unsure about the winter season ahead. I had a long history with anxiety and had spent time with therapists treating it over the years, but I had some big, anxious feelings creeping in. I knew I was struggling and thought to myself, I’ve been fortunate in being able to get help with my mental health over the years and I’ve had access to lots of resources, so if I was struggling, others must be struggling as well. I wanted to help people and give them hope.

I went to Marc’s house and said, “I have an idea.” I spoke to him about how he and I could take the experiences from each of our mental health journeys and build on them to try and help other people. I thought sharing individuals’ stories could be both informative and inspirational to so many people. I also thought, if, after listening to the podcast, just one person could look in the mirror and say “I think I need help” or that person could find the courage to pick up the phone to speak to a friend or loved one or contact a therapist or support group, we would have made a difference.

In January 2021, we started a Facebook page and we started recording podcast episodes, with the first one being released later that month. We have now released more than 150 episodes and are about to celebrate our three-year anniversary. We hope that when our audience listens to our podcast they feel the relaxed, approachable tone we take with each conversation – even though these are serious mental health topics – and that they feel more at ease thinking about and interacting with their own mental health or the mental health of those around them. We continue building a community around the podcast and sharing helpful tools and information on our Facebook page, which now has more than 10,000 followers.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m the Founder and CEO of From Survivor to Thriver, a mental health speaker, author, advocate and co-host of the popular mental health podcast From Survivor to Thriver. But, in no way, am I a mental health professional. Rather, I consider myself to be a mental health enthusiast who lives with PTSD, Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

I was born and raised in Somerset, Massachusetts, a small town located about 45 minutes south of Boston. I try to get back there at least once a year to visit my niece and nephew who are growing up in the same town. I’ve also maintained some close relationships with several of my childhood friends who, while scattered around the country, share fond stories of an innocent, more carefree time in the world.

I moved to Snowmass Village, Colorado with my wife, Amy and two cats, Lincoln and Taylor, in October 2011. After almost two decades living in New York City, which included the tragic day of 9/11, we both recognized we needed a change of scenery for both our mental and physical wellbeing. So, I traded in my 18-year career as a finance executive and haven’t looked back since.

After our first ski trip to Snowmass in December 2005, we were immediately struck by the beauty and magic of the Rocky Mountains. In February 2006, Amy’s family bought a home there and it quickly became a place where many family memories were made and, most importantly, a place where I could finally begin the healing journey from my decades long battle with mental illness. I found inspiration in nature and started reawakening my creative side, which I had unknowingly suppressed during my finance career.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I have recently opened up and become vulnerable about my own mental health struggles, however I have long imagined a world where we can all speak candidly about our mental health journeys without fear of judgment or reprisal.

I spent the first 33 years of my life, without a voice, and afraid to remove the mask behind which I had been hiding since I was 7. Years of crippling anxiety had left me feeling unsafe, insecure, and out of control. I battled with Harm obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which led to intrusive thoughts as my constant co-pilot during my waking hours. The countless checking rituals I performed to keep me “safe” from the boogeymen left me overwhelmed and exhausted. For decades I kept telling myself I was different from everyone else; I told myself I was broken and the only one. If I had only known the truth.

I hid my daily battles really, really well. For a very long time! I wasn’t “ok”, I wasn’t “good”, I wasn’t “fine”. I was struggling. Sometimes a little and other times a whole lot, but I was always struggling. Struggling in silence. I NEVER let anyone know. If I’m being truly honest, I never thought I’d be willing to share my personal journey so openly with my own family, let alone in any public forum such as this. As I look back now, it didn’t have to be that way for me. And it certainly doesn’t have to be that way for anyone else!

In 2004, at the age of 33, I found my voice when I began seeing my treasured therapist Dr. K. I was finally diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and OCD and, along with weekly therapy sessions, I was prescribed Prozac, a drug I take to this day to help ease my racing mind.

Stigma says we shouldn’t talk openly about mental health. I say, we should! Stigma also says we shouldn’t stand high upon the mountain top, vulnerable and transparent, for the entire world to see. I say, we must! We need to have these conversations about difficult topics! We need to shatter these stigmas! Even just talking about hard things and bringing up uncomfortable topics can put us on the path to overcoming difficult things. We need to remind each other that we can do hard things!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I am truly humbled by how our show has been received, not only by friends and family, but also by the larger community. When we launched the show back in January 2021, I never thought that we would have more than 150 episodes in the public domain, let alone be recognized by Katie Couric Media, which said in May 2022, “there’s no better time to have essential conversations about our own well-being – and those conversations are happening regularly on the fascinating podcast From Survivor to Thriver.” We have also been featured in several articles in our local newspapers. And now, the topic of mental health comes up daily and more comfortably in the most common of places, a change that I’ve been so happy to witness and be a part of. For example, when I walk into the supermarket, friends come up to me to discuss mental health as we’re picking out onions and potatoes! And, as I sit on the chairlift to go up and ski another run, others on the same chair start up a conversation about the podcast and sometimes people we don’t even know start chatting with us to learn more. It has been an amazing evolution that has happened right before my eyes.

These days, for me it is all about shattering stigmas, empowering voices and building a community of thrivers. From Survivor to Thriver, the company, is aimed at changing both the message and the messenger around mental health conversations. So, what do I mean by that? Well, the message around mental health is usually doom and gloom – have you seen the TV ads for pharmaceuticals with the dark cloud following someone around? I think the message can be somber at times and the change we can make is to ensure the message is uplifting and hopeful at other times. And the messenger? I want to change things so the messenger is not just a doctor or a self-help guru, both of which are important, however, I think every one of us, everyday people, can be a messenger so the topic of mental health and related conversations are more accessible and approachable. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fromsurvivortothriver.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skisherpa/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brushcreekthrivers
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikdarosa/

Image Credits
Jeremy Swanson