Lacey Sturm is a Grammy-nominated queen of hard rock who secured a place in rock history as the first solo woman to top the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart with her debut album Life Screams. With a career spanning songs like “All Around Me,” “I’m So Sick,” “Again,” “Impossible,” “State of Me'' and most recently “Awaken Love,”

Lacey Sturm has proven herself as one of the most powerful and enduring voices in hard rock. She is also a sought-after speaker and author, penning the autobiographical books The Reason, The Mystery and The Return. Also a dedicated wife and mother, Lacey tours with her family, supported on stage by her guitarist husband Josh Sturm. You can connect with Lacey at www.laceysturm.com

In this episode, Lacey shares openly about walking through devastating experiences early in life and the role music played in helping her find healing. She shares about her life now and how changing seasons bring out unexpected encounters with beauty and hope.

*Also, just a heads up, our talk today includes sensitive subject matter, including mental health, abuse, and domestic violence.

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S13 E10: Comedy and Context with Andi Marie Tillman

Andi Marie Tillman is an Appalachian comedian and self-proclaimed “recovering Pentecostal.” Her roots in performance began at the early age of 8, when she sang in churches across the Southeast. It was here Andi gathered much of the inspiration for what would later become her well-known cast of original characters. Andi has acted in numerous shorts, feature films, commercials, and music videos including the recent video doc we covered here on the podcast, Come and Save Me by Danielson. But it was Andi’s series of TikTok sketches that elevated her platform and struck a chord with folks both native and new to Appalachian culture.

In this episode, Andi shares about the roots of her acting, her winding journey through Appalachian spirituality and the healing power of comedy.

S12 E15: Returning To Eden with Heather Hamilton

One of the core markers of a person’s identity are the beliefs they hold to be true. A person’s faith becomes a fixed point from which they view and understand the world. But what happens when those beliefs are shaken? Or what happens when a person is confronted with a difficult truth that collides with or even contradicts their view of the world?

Our guest today is storyteller and best-selling author of Returning to Eden: A Field Guide for the Spiritual Journey, Heather Hamilton. In this episode, Heather shares what it was like to undergo a nervous breakdown and a subsequent mystical experience that re-ordered her understanding of the universe.

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S11 E01: Strong Like Water with Aundi Kolber

Aundi Kolber is a licensed professional counselor and author of the critically acclaimed Try Softer. She has received additional training in her specialization of trauma- and body-centered therapies and is passionate about the integration of faith and psychology. As a survivor of trauma, Aundi brings hard-won knowledge about the work of change, the power of redemption, and the beauty of experiencing God with us in our pain.

In this episode Stephen Roach talks with Aundi about her latest book Strong Like Water and how we can move through pain into the expansiveness of our true selves. Aundi shares about the importance of feeling safe in our bodies that we might experience those deeper yearnings for transcendence, beauty, and wonder.

S10 E15: Restoring The Future (Season Finale)

When we think about restoration, we typically refer to restoring something that once was but no longer is. We mean bringing something back to its original condition that was either altered or strayed from the intended design. But restoration doesn’t necessarily mean going back to something that once was. We can ‘restore the future’ as well.

In this season finale episode, Makers and Mystics host, Stephen Roach discusses what it means to restore the future, what it means for artists to become wounded healers, bridge builders and those who re-story the narratives of our lives to reflect original design.

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S10 E07: Resiliency and The Arts with Michael Hayes

Michael Hayes is the founder and director of Umoja Health, Wellness, and Justice Collective. He is a visionary agent of change who has found powerful ways to infuse the art of storytelling and the science of resilience into opportunities for healing and recovery.

He is the author of the HOPE module (Healing Our Past/Personal Experiences,) a Certified Peer Support Specialist, a Wellness Recovery Action Plan facilitator and a Reconnect for Resilience Skills Educator.

Michael is also the founder of the Urban Arts Institute and continues to provide opportunities for healing and growth in the arts.

In this episode Michael and I discuss resiliency and the role of the arts in healing from past traumas as well as our collaborative work with the Institution of Regenerative Design and Innovation’s Seed Project.

Submissions to the Bright Wings Poetry Contest are now open until November 25th. Winner receives a cash prize plus publication in Ekstasis magazine and opportunity to read the winning poem on an episode of Makers and Mystics.

S10E01: What's Your Story? with Cathy Loerzel

Cathy Loerzel is the Co-Founder of The Allender Center at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and co-author of Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Your True Calling with Dan Allender. She has spent the last 15 years developing a popular new coaching and therapeutic approach called Story Work that moves people through their past stories of heartache to heal and discover healthier ways of being in the world.

In this season opening episode, Stephen talks with Cathy about what it means to listen to your story and how artists and creatives can move toward a much healthier mode of living and creating in the world.

S9 E16: Restoring The Heart of The Artist (Season Finale)

In this season finale episode, Stephen Roach shares on how the past two years have impacted artists personally, socially and creatively. Drawing from his own journey of faith and art, Stephen tells how spiritual practice, community and imagination have played a significant role in re-integrating fragmented parts of himself into a deeper, lasting wholeness.

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S9 E10: Roundtable 2: Part One with Scott Erickson and Heather Stringer

In this Round Table Discussion, I talk with visual artist and performance speaker, Scott Erickson along with trauma therapist, ritual-maker and NYC-based artist, Heather Stringer. In this round table, we talk candidly about disorientation and the process of re-orienting after two years of social and personal upheaval.

S9 E08: Reset and Rebirth with William Day

William Day is an American painter known for his large-scale compositions of colorful shapes and energetic marks. Day can often be found in his Boulder, Colorado studio working on multiple pieces at the same time. His process leads him to create paintings in series, each focusing on different nuances of the human experience. His works are comprised of textures and complex layers demonstrating his interaction with a canvas. These series of paintings all nod to certain periods of Day’s life that bring years of intensity, joy, spirituality, conflict, and resolution to the canvas.

In this episode, Stephen talks with Will about his latest series titled Breakout which explores themes of reset and rebirth. This discussion includes topics such as: The impact of isolation, How to handle negative critique and living beyond fear.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy additional interview segments with Will at patreon.com/makersandmystics

S9 E07: Habits of Perception with James K.A. Smith

James K.A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University and serves as editor in chief of Image, a quarterly journal devoted to “art, mystery, and faith.” Trained as a philosopher with a focus on contemporary French thought, Smith has expanded on that scholarly platform to become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic. As an award-winning author and widely-traveled speaker, he has emerged as a thought leader with a unique gift of translation, building bridges between the academy, society, and the church.

In this episode I talk with James about the role of imagination in “re-storying” the narratives we believe about ourselves and society. James shares openly about his own bouts with depression and how poetry played a key role in his recovery.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment on the attentiveness as a core tenet of creativity and the counter cultural practice of contemplation.

S9 E05: Round Table Part Three: Mental Health and The Artist

In this third and final segment of The Artist Round Table on Mental Health, Stephen, John Mark and Vesper talk about neo-monasticism, the worship of youth culture, art as a means of therapy, and making sense of the darker parts of our existence with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

Questions discussed in this episode include:

What is true success?

What is true connection?

Should we share every work of art we make?

What if the Poet who has been healed?

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S9 E04: Round Table Part Two: Mental Health and the Artist

In this segment of our 3 part conversation on mental health and the artist, my discussion with singer/songwriter John Mark McMillan and author/illustrator Vesper Stamper takes us to topics of art and identity, genius and madness and the dangers of isolation.

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S9 E03: Round Table Part One: Mental Health and The Artist

What does Kanye West, Thomas Edison and Psychologist Adam Grant have to do with Social Media, Depression, Suicide and the Pursuit of Calling?

These are all discussed in this round table discussion on Mental Health and the Artist with John Mark McMillan, Vesper Stamper and Stephen Roach.

This discussion begins with the question, "Can you separate the art from the artist.... and should you?"

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S9 E02: The Soul of The Helper with Holly Oxhandler

Dr. Holly Oxhandler is an author, social worker, researcher and a fellow podcaster. She hosts the show CXMH: A Podcast on Faith and Mental Health.

With a background in spiritually integrated mental health, Holly teaches a seven step process called the Namaste Theory which is aimed at helping us learn how to slow down and reconnect with the stillness within ourselves.

In this episode we discuss chronic burnout, compassion fatigue and Holly’s latest book, The Soul Of The Helper: Seven Stages To Seeing The Sacred Within Yourself So You Can See It In Others.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment on Research As Creative Process.