Living Undeterred: How Plant-Based Medicine and Purpose Helped One Man Survive Devastating Loss
The Teaching Journeys Podcast by Dave Roberts
Episode notes
Host Dave Roberts interviews Jeff Johnston, founder and CEO of Brighton, a mental wellness app combining health, wealth, and purpose with evidence-based AI support. Johnston recounts losing his 23-year-old son Seth to fentanyl poisoning on Oct. 4, 2016, and later his wife Prudence to alcoholism in 2021, describing ensuing alcoholism, grief, suicidal ideation, and a shift from status- and money-driven living toward seeking peace, joy, empathy, and resilience. He discusses reframing pain and suffering, stigma around men crying, and how guided plant-based medicine experiences (psilocybin and ketamine) helped him. Johnston outlines his advocacy work (Living Undeterred project, podcast, 2022 nationwide tour) and explains Brighton’s AI-driven journaling, pattern recognition, and personalized prompts, plus his book This One’s For You written partly for ...