By Keaton Leikam, President, You Don't Fight Alone - KaptivateMe Life & Business Coaching Cornerstone Client

I've been looking at my values hanging on the wall for almost a year now, realizing how invaluable they’ve been -- not just to the organization that I run, but to me personally. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't interrogate what I'm doing to make sure it is in line with those values. More and more, that answer has become yes. Nine months of doing this, and I'm in tune with what I care about. I'm in tune with where I want to go. 

That started with these definitions from the first coaching exercise. Kaptivate would have been worth it if we stopped there, but I still had months ahead.

The five-year plan that I put together hangs on my office wall. I look at it every week and ask myself these questions: 

• How am I working to achieve that next item? 

• How am I continuing to make that item matter? 

• What am I working on right now? 

• What do I need to continue working on? 

• What actions am I taking? 

• What preparation am I working through? 

• What am I contemplating? 

• Where am I going? 

I used “I” statements there because it's work-life balance --  right? -- but realistically, my work here is my passion. So it's making sure that I'm taking care of myself and taking care of my passion.

One of the largest goals that I had for the past eight years was delivering You Don't Fight Alone kits. They were something I‘d been trying to put together since at least 2011. I never got there, never delivered, never made it happen. And I was wondering if I ever would. In 2018 I founded the organization called You Don't Fight Alone. One of our first goals was to put together kits. I didn’t know how, and kept going nowhere. 

It was still my passion, still my goal, and now the goal of the 501(c)3 that I founded. They still weren't happening. I'd hit the limits of my experience, and my knowledge had dried up. I no longer knew how to progress the plan; I no longer knew how to grow the organization towards this goal. 

Why am I sharing this story? Nine months after my first session with Kate, You Don’t Fight Alone started mailing and delivering kits across the nation. They've become a reality. I know where to go! And we know where to go as an organization. I thought my personal runway had ended, but because of Kate and her work, I've got that runway, the whole airport of infrastructure so I can continue to take off, so we can continue to grow the program. To stretch the metaphor, we can keep growing, taking the Cessna of You Don't Fight Alone kits today and turning it into a C-130 of tomorrow.

Now when I look at the 5-year plan, I've got steps. I've got 16 concrete actions to take around You Don’t Fight Alone Kits, and 30 concrete steps on how to grow the organization. We’re a small group, but there are people coming around, surrounding  us and volunteering their time, in large part because I can give them a concrete plan for what we are going to do next.

I realize some of the best invested money I've spent in my adult life was coaching from Kaptivate. It has helped me put a process in place on how to learn the unknown, and mapped a process to replicate learning the unknown.

I’ve talked about You Don't Fight Alone kits and talked about the growth of the organization, but the lifestyle coaching was just as, if not more, valuable than the business side of things. It helped me to find what I want and what matters to me personally -- not just You Don't Fight Alone. And being able to know what I want has been a struggle, so I'm thankful for the lifestyle coaching as well.

Thank you, Kate, for your program, for your teaching, and for your friendship.

Keaton Leikam, President, You Don't Fight Alone

Keaton@ydfa.org

About You Don’t Fight Alone

Mission:

You Don’t Fight Alone strives to break down the stigma and change the conversation around mental illness from one of defeat to one of a fulfilled life. We strive to provide connection and strong support.

Vision:

The vision of You Don’t Fight Alone is to share the stories of those who are successfully living with mental illness diagnoses. Doing this will help break down the stigma surrounding diagnosis, allowing a shift in the broader public conversation from Mental Illness to a conversation about Mental Wellness.

Values:

We value fulfilled human existence

We value the power of shared experience

We value you

What We Do

Podcast:

The YDFA podcast has a simple goal: to break down the illusion of being alone in struggling with mental health. The YDFA podcast shares first-person accounts from those who have suffered from mental illness and are working everyday to turn mental illness into mental wellness. 

Check out the stories, listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. 

You Don’t Fight Alone Kits:

You Don’t Fight Alone Kits are a practical way to deal with the stresses brought on by living with a mental illness, to be a tangible reminder that one is not alone, and a reminder of the possibility of a successful future. These kits will be sent to inpatient mental health facilities in the Denver area and will contain small items intended to be comforting and grounding.

Learn more about how to create your own kit, request a YDFA kit or download the YDFA coloring book.