Hello everyone, my name is Garett Shaum I was born and raised in a small farming community in southeastern Idaho. While growing up, I noticed at times struggling to identify feelings I was experiencing and thoughts I had about harming myself. This pain and suffering later led me to turn to drugs and substances to numb the pain that I felt. Eventually, I came at a crossroads where I needed to make a decision to understand myself and what was going on internally. I made the decision to check myself into addiction recovery program. During my time there, I had a very transformative experience and completely changed my life. Here we are 4 years later, I wouldn’t have dreamed my life would be this good. I recently signed up for an ultramarathon and decided I wanted to dedicate the race to a cause greater than myself. Close to the date of the race I’ll have 48 months clean from alcohol, I’m taking the opportunity now to raise money and draw awareness towards addiction recovery, and suicide prevention. These funds will be donated directly to the Just Stay podcast and their non profit to help start a mental health curriculum to be taught in schools and NACoA (National Association for Children of Addiction).

If you can donate, I would greatly appreciate it, if you can’t, that’s all right as well. Let’s work together on breaking down the stigma of mental health and addiction. Start by talking about it.

-Garett