Jeff, are you there, buddy?
I'm here.
Jeff Olson live from Ishpenning.
Yep.
OK, buddy.
Hey, Jeff Olson, I'm going to give a little background.
Jeff is a legendary.
uh, high school football and basketball coach three, three state championships.
I think three runners up, um, just unbelievable what he did with the ish brimming hematites and had a son who was just an amazing athlete.
In fact, my brother in law was his coach at St.
Norbert and Jeff, I'm just going to let you take it from there in, in, in regards to what got you here today, what you're doing right now and what you've pretty much devoted the rest of your, your life to.
So coach Jeff Olson from ish brimming, Michigan.
Jeff, go ahead and take it away in regards to do it for Daniel program, buddy.
Sure.
Um, you know, I was, I've been coaching for a while.
I'm retired now, but coach for 37 years, 27 at Ishper mean, um, had some good teams.
Um, my son grew up, my son Daniel grew up in our program, bringing them to practice as a kindergartner.
Um, you know, really a great athlete.
Um, I always say this pretty much an all American kid.
Um, tons of friends, girlfriends, um, good at pretty much everything he did.
He was an all state, you know, an all state quarterback at, he was only 5,865 pounds, but he, he still was an all state quarterback in basketball.
He was, um,
conference defensive player of the year.
Hey,
You're not kidding there.
You're not kidding there.
So yeah.
And, uh, you know, he led us to the state championship game in 2010.
I believe that was his senior year.
Um,
You know in his big dream was it was never about him you know he just wanted to win the he wanted me to win a state championship.
But he.
Struggled with anxiety depression and he actually wrote a paper when he was a senior in high school that he thought he started to feel different in sixth grade actually my wife and I notice some things were often in sixth grade but he did.
what so many people do.
He fought it on his own in silence for five years until the spring of his junior year in high school.
And that's the first time he came to us, asked for help.
He was suicidal at the time.
Come to find out later on that two years before that as a freshman, he was extremely close to taking his life, had it all planned out, had everything set up.
The only reason he didn't do it.
his grandma was in the other room.
But anyways, he came to us, asked for help as a junior in high school, fought it for three more years, had a couple suicide attempts in between there.
You know, we got him help, but he, you know, there's such a huge stigma involved with anxiety and depression that people are gonna think you're crazy.
or you're weak, you can't handle everyday life, or just suck it up, or maybe you're faking something, and it's farther from the truth.
So with all that stigma involved, and you're talking probably when he was getting help, 2008, 2009, 2010, the help didn't make sense to him.
It wasn't a quick fix.
So he didn't do everything he was supposed to do.
you know, as far as taking his medications, as far as therapy.
Therapy didn't make sense to him.
Like I said, it wasn't a quick fix.
So anyways, fast forward to his senior year, got us to the state championship game.
We lost that game.
He ended up going to St.
Norbert.
to play college football, thinking he might, you know, a change of venue, change of scenery might help him.
It didn't.
He was having multiple panic attacks a day.
He ended up having to drop out of school after middle of his, middle of his second year there and came home.
Ultimate, not a job, but ultimately the anxiety and depression was too much for him.
And he ended up taking his life at one month before his 20th birthday.
And obviously tough on us, tough on our family.
But I felt the need, and my wife and I felt the need to speak up and not hide this.
And we decided two days after he passed away at the funeral home, you're trying to write as a bituary that we were going to put this out in the open, talk about it.
And in hopes of educating people so they didn't have to go through it, my son Daniel went through.
So loved ones, parents, family members don't have to go through it.
Our family went through.
So what happened was when Daniel played in the state championship game,
There was it was down in Detroit Somebody on the video That was filming the game for for Fox Fox Sports Remembered that game was captivated by the story in 2012 because we went down in 2012 that actually Daniel took his life He was going to when he when he gave up st.
Norbert football.
He was going to be an assistant coach with us
He actually worked with the kids and then two weeks or a week and a half before the season started.
That's what he took his life.
So it was kind of a dedication.
The team dedicated the season to Daniel to us, our family.
We had a good team, not a great team, but we ended up kind of overachieving, went down, won the state championship that year.
Kind of like I said earlier, that was kind of Daniel's dream for me to win one.
One guy that was filming on the video camera was captivated by the story.
His daughter was suffering at the time, so him and his wife had never done it before, but they wanted to make a documentary about Daniel's life.
They came up, talked to us about it.
My wife wasn't on board at the time, but they came up, kind of convinced us, kind of convinced her.
So, you know, number one reason she didn't want her son
out there for people to judge.
And when we kind of put all our trust in them, they made a documentary, Daniel's Life.
And so when we had that documentary, he also made a Facebook page, do it for Daniel Facebook page.
People started calling schools, mainly communities, to see if I would go speak and talk about suicide prevention, mental health.
anxiety and depression.
So seven years ago I decided to do that and I've been doing that ever since, been to many schools around the Midwest and sharing Daniel's story but also speaking along with it to try to educate people about what this is, what it feels like to have it.
what the symptoms are because you know when i've been traveling and you talk to people who are struggling and even now you know it's hard for them to put in the words because it's you know it's mental you know it's mental pain and it's hard for them to put in the words so we want to give give people words to say to come forward confidence to come forward um to show that this is is a very common illness um it's treatable
And there's no shame in coming forward.
So that's where we are.
Well,
Irritable, couldn't handle things that were going wrong with him.
Just not being him.
One of the symptoms is you just not yourself and that's hard for people to understand.
So there was some things that he couldn't handle and he would just get really upset or really withdrawn.
Also, um, so those are types of things.
Well, what's going on?
He wouldn't talk, you know, he's not, he's not his normal outgoing self at times.
So, you know, we were wondering, um, you know, well, what's going on and, um, you know, then all of a sudden it seemed like he'd be back to himself and then it would just kind of be the ups and downs and, um, really came to a head is his freshman year in high school.
Um, and then he came forward in.
is junior year so that's the big thing you know when when you talk about mental illness or you know it's we I don't like the term because that's where the the stigmas really attached to it it's a medical illness of the brain and there's actual physical things that are happening in your brain
Connections are off.
Thoughts aren't getting in the part of your brain where they need to.
There's deficiencies in your brain.
So we really need to call it what it is.
It's a medical illness of the brain.
And, you know, that's the hard part about this.
And everybody's is different, you know, and the brain is so volatile.
There's so many things involved that
You know when I go around and speak, you know every once in a while you'll get somebody well, you know because the message is this is treatable and it is treatable and They're saying well you did everything How come it wasn't treatable for Daniel and you know, there's a couple things involved well Daniel didn't do everything he was supposed to because It didn't make sense to him the stigma was there.
So he didn't do therapy were very well He was supposed to do some homework and he didn't do it
Some of the medications, you know, sometimes the medications don't work because there's so many medications out there.
Everybody's is different.
So, you know, our message is, you know, if after two, if you get put on a medication after two or three weeks, you're not feeling better or the same, you got to go back and say, I don't think this is working.
This is the way I'm feeling.
because you would with any other illness.
And I always used the analogy of my knee.
I hurt my knee jogging.
I went and they manipulated, said, oh, you have a slightly torporous meniscus.
Give it two or three weeks.
I gave it a month, went back to the doctor, could describe the pain.
He gave me a cortisone shot a month later.
I went back because I still had pain.
He did minor surgery, cleaned it up.
was supposed to be taken care of.
I went back again.
I knew I wasn't going to get judged.
I could describe where the pain was, what I could do, what I couldn't do.
Went back, another court his own shot, month and a half later went back again, was able to describe it, knew I wasn't going to get judged.
They did a partial knee replacement and I'm pain free.
My point is I kept going back because I knew I could describe where the pain was.
I knew I could.
I knew I wasn't going to get judged.
I knew this was real.
Yeah.
When you have a medical illness of the brain, that's hard to do.
Right.
We're going back.
We're with Jeff Olson, unbelievably successful high school football coach who locked away from that to spread a message that is so important.
And it is mental health month that we've been talking about that a bunch.
But we really need to also concentrate on the young people.
You know, because our era, let's be honest, Jeff, the UP, our dads are remembering.
Get over it.
What the hell's
Hey, welcome back mine on the mayor here on a Thursday morning Green Bay Alpton and Oshkosh were with Jeff Olson legendary coach from Ishpeming, Michigan Who's devoting his life right now to talk to young people about mental health?
His son Daniel is an unbelievable athlete unbelievable student everything you would you would ask for and and the mental illness as you mentioned It's an illness.
It's not a condition.
It's an actual
Illness absolutely took his life Jeff is devoting his life to try to help others where this doesn't happen anxiety all the different things and again You know you talk about kids that are you know all this poor kid in school He didn't have many friends or he's bullied or he would get you this was the all-american boy
this was the all-american boy and if that can affect somebody like that so Jeff it's it's awesome what you do and people need to see the video do it for Daniel jim's got about 20 we only had like seven minutes left and jim's got 162 questions for you so just start with
first-hand
Well, I love the documentary and people have to understand this wasn't made.
This was Daniel's story.
It wasn't made as an educational tool.
So that's why I speak when I show it and kind of explain some things and try to get people to understand what this is, what it feels like to have it, what you can do.
Then you show the documentary and it gets people captivated.
But it's a long presentation.
So what we've done, too, is there's two ways I can do it.
I can speak, show the documentary, speak again after that, and that's an hour and 40 minutes long.
Or I've made 14 minutes of clips of the documentary so I could speak and show 14 minutes of clips.
And that's a 50-minute long documentary.
But the great thing about this documentary for us, for me, is
You know, we get to see Daniel's face.
We get to be, people are talking about him.
You know, and it's, it's, you know, he's not here, but at least we can see him.
People are, people are talking about him and that's healing.
And this is kind of, you know, me doing this is kind of therapeutic for me.
It doesn't have to, doesn't have anything to do with how strong you are.
This is kind of my therapy.
Being able to help people, get people to understand.
through Daniel because one of the things Daniel said in confidence to his girlfriend is, no matter what he did, no matter what he would say, nobody's ever going to be able to understand what he's going through.
So I feel like I'm Daniel's voice to get people to understand what he couldn't.
And that's that this is a very common medical illness that's very treatable.
I want to just talk about that for a second too.
You said the stigma of it, you know, and you think that's getting better, you getting out there and talking.
And I think this has talked about a little bit more, maybe not enough, but our kids getting more comfortable.
Going and talking to people because we talk about China I talk about this all the time Physical health you're in the doctor right away mental health.
You just stay at home.
It's like, well, we'll
So it's But so I want you to ask about I want you to comment on how you get a kid to go see somebody You know and then the other thing is that you said he didn't really do his homework.
Tell me how it can help people do their homework, I guess
Well, the key word for me is understanding.
People have to understand, not just the person struggling, but the people around them.
What this is, what it feels like to have it, so they can come forward and say, you know what, I don't feel like myself anymore.
Well, what does that mean?
Well, I can't laugh anymore.
You guys are cracking jokes.
I know it's supposed to be funny.
I can't feel that.
Or I'm sad all the time.
Well, how can you be sad all the time?
You know, you have this going on, that going on.
You know, you're a four point student, best athlete in the county.
You can build a engine with your bare hands.
How can you be sad?
I don't know.
I have these negative thoughts.
I can't get out of my head, or I have this constant doom and gloom attitude that bad things are going to happen to me and my family.
Common response.
Snap out of it.
Well, you can't snap out of a medical illness, and if the connections are off in your brain, you can't snap out of that.
So, you know, I'm worthless, you know, and you could be very successful, but you still feel worthless.
Those are all symptoms.
So we want to give people the words to say, but we also want to give them the confidence to come forward.
And know that they're not going to be judged.
Know that when they say that, people are going to take them serious and that it's real.
And in response to your initial question, it is getting better.
But I say this, it's moving at a snail's pace.
You know, and coming forward and go
we don't
do they go?
Get some information
Well, we have two, two, we have do it for Daniel.com page.
That tells us that set talks about our mission.
Um, shows a trailer of our documentary, but if you go to the do it for Daniel.com page.
read the testimonials and kind of see what other people are saying about the presentation.
It's all with how it's helped them.
We also have a do it for Daniel Facebook page and a lot of people.
That's how kind of how I get to go where I'm going to present because people message that page.
And then they get get the information to me.
I call them and go.
So there's a lot of information posted on the do it for Daniel Facebook page.
And then to see our mission is to do it for Daniel.com page.
Do you come to Green Bay Area at all or Appleton at all?
Yeah, I've been I've been there.
I've been into peers at the theater there.
I did a presentation, community presentation.
So, you know, I go all over.
really truly is.
Horrible tragedy.
I'm just gonna move on yada yada yada Instead you were devoted your life right now to try to prevent people from being in the situation that you and your family You don't find yourself in or found yourself in your saving lives by doing this and I'm not even I'm not trying to be melodramatic But you're saving lives Jeff.
There's not a question about that
Yeah, thank you.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, I get it too.
You're going
That'd be perfect.
Yeah, thanks for having me guys.
Thank you,
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Now back to Mino and the Mayor.
Here's John Mino and Jim Schmidt.
Wow, special thanks to Jeff Olson.
Do it for Daniel, folks.
If you're a school administrator or coach or teacher or any level of whatever.
man parent yeah look it up look up do it for Daniel because this is such an important thing with young people with mental health and and like he said I thought you know Jeff cut right to the chase you know you could have a physical problem like he had with his knee and and you realize well what they're doing isn't working we need something else
and mental you got to look at mental illness as an illness as an actual illness yeah not just get over a type thing you can't he said it's the same as like when he tore it thing in his knee saying get over it it'll heal by itself yeah you can't yeah and at this young age
And we're.
like you're fat, we're pretty open about that on our table.
And you know, people can see the counselors and, but I just, my daughter was very stressed out in New York.
She was, oh, I tell you what, oh my God, dad, this is a terrible week.
I just see my therapist twice.
I'm like, okay, I don't need to hear that.
But the fact that she has a
across the board no matter what age you are, but when you're young and you haven't experienced life and you haven't felt those up and downs, knowing that you can make it through.
you're not going with that knowledge base that you know you can get through this and you're seeing everybody in these perfect lives that they have and in reality.
They're usually
was gonna start a business and you can't have a really nice house and start a business It's just not that kind of money and he's taking me through that
Place on St.
Mary's, oh no, Jim, you deserve this.
I grabbed him by the shoulders.
I said, you show me something half this price.
And he did.
I bought a house half the price.
And I started a business, but he, oh, those are beautiful homeowner.
They're so well maintained.
Well, that's what they keep.
And then the Boulevard's well maintained.
I mean, the Allaway does a good job of keeping that neighborhood looking good.
And
when you look at Green Bay, it seems like there's a still a lot of building going on a lot There is and I just hope we don't overbuild but nobody feel that yeah, I feel the same way it
But every time you drive out, it appears building stuff.
Obviously, Green Bay has a couple projects going on.
And I'm just hopeful that that frees up.
these smaller starter homes for you guys, or for, I should say you guys for the first time buyers, because we lack that.
Well, I think what you're seeing so much of, which is good, is we've got a lot of kind of upper end rentals, apartments going up, which is nice.
And I think that we've got some low income housing that's kind of opened up as well.
And we've got condos that are coming.
And I think that with the generation that is retiring and the baby boomers,
trying to get to their winter place through the winter and then they still want to summer home here, those rentals and those condos are amazing for them.
And so I
and I
it's
Yeah.
When you first came on, I was talking about the cost of a home and you got the home, you got the interest, right?
But there's just those other factors that seem to be escalating, not escalating, but they're going up faster than.
normal inflation and that's this insurance this roof insurance and I just hope people are really aware because the last thing you want to do is get in there and
You know not people look for it.
Then you're right to your house.
You can't go do anything.
It's
That's right.
I did that one time.
Okay, back in the day, people don't even believe this, but there was a time when the NBA Finals weren't televised, they were taped and laid.
Oh my goodness.
Yes, and remember the classic game Lakers against the Philadelphia when Magic, Karim was out, Magic Johnson had to play center, and they won the championship.
I just want to say one more thing on the, on the listing of your home, just this decluttering.
And I just want to say I work, you know, at a homeless shelter and we get a lot of stuff.
And I think that's okay.
I think a lot of people do spring cleaning, but I just think it's critically important if you're showing your house because nothing turns me off more than.
Well, and from start to finish, I mean, not only does it look better in photos, but buyers, when they're walking through and they have that just clean, fresh feel and it feels like they can be in that space because it's not consuming them with your stuff.
They just, from start to finish, you know, getting some of that stuff cleaned up off of your floors is a big thing.
So if you've got a lot of stuff sitting on your floors, look at your floors.
If there's boxes, if there's things that don't need to be there,
Put him somewhere else.
Sure.
Yeah, I know.
We are kind of babysitters sometimes.
The other thing that we really watch too is people who come in with, you know, it's kind of the old store thing with big bags.
You know, if people live in that home, you've got to do your due diligence in making sure that everyone who comes through an open house is there because they actually want to see the house and not see what the stuff is.
So there are times that we stay very close to some of the people that
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