Mrs. Garland County 2026 Lindsey Woods | TomCast with Tom Wilkins

In this episode of TomCast, Tom sits down with Lindsey Woods: speech-language pathologist, small business owner, and Mrs. Arkansas competitor, for a wide-open conversation about growing up in Redfield, AR, moving to Alaska at 22, surviving SA, hitting a mental breaking point in 2018, and rebuilding her life through therapy, community, and journaling. Lindsey's platform, "The Right to Write," makes the case that writing is one of the most underused tools in mental health recovery. Raw, real, and surprisingly funny. Topics covered: • Growing up in small-town Arkansas and choosing Alaska over Las Vegas • Teaching in Alaska and deciding to pivot to speech therapy • The Alaska Permanent Fund dividend (yes, the state pays you to live there) • Marriage, motherhood, and moving back home • Surviving SA and carrying trauma silently • The 2018 mental breakdown and ideation moment at the river • Five years of therapy and ego death (Richard Rohr's "two halves of life") • Loneliness as a physiological cue, not just an emotion (researcher John Cacioppo) • Brené Brown's work on vulnerability and authentic connection • "The Right to Write" Woods' platform on journaling as a mental health tool • Tom gets personal about his own years of loneliness and difficulties • Why the frontal lobe (and brain development to age 25) matters for parenting • Competing for Mrs. Arkansas and what the platform means Resources mentioned: • Richard Rohr / The Living School — Center for Action and Contemplation • Brené Brown — "The Gifts of Imperfection" / Atlas of the Heart • John Cacioppo — loneliness research • Jordan Peterson — Self Authoring Suite If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988). Like, share, comment and subscribe! It costs you nothing and supports us substantially!