Thank you for this message. When I was a Little boy maybe 5 to 13 years old. I was witness to my sister's being molested by our own grandfather, who now is deceased.. my sister's wouldn't let me tell my parents because they didn't want to cause problems or hurt my father.. I am an alcoholic/addict. You have motivated me in more ways then one. I love the replace the addiction with a passion!! And also you have giving me courage to seek professional help and talk about the horror myself and siblings experienced .. Thank you and God bless! Stay strong stay positive stay beautiful

It’s hard but I know I can do it, I’ve stopped one of my addictions but I still have more to go through.

I strongly agree... every single addiction is rooted in trauma... a big one or a series of small ones that just add up :(

Thank you for sharing this Margo. I still remember the great conversations on our bus ride from the Huntsville OB camp down to Toronto. As always I am in awe of your compassion which I saw displayed so eloquently in the way you handled the kids on your trips at OBC.

Thank you so much. This is a honest talk. She doesn't "sell recipes", instead, she tell us the hard reality and how to face it, one step at a time. Thank you Margot

Margo is such an inspiration to me. I’m lucky enough to know her personally through family. Her book is amazing

I can totally relate to Margo, climbing saved me and i felt reborn after my first summit. Hearing her has inspired me again as I head out for my next expedition :)

i have been bouldering my way out of depression/addiction. still on the recovering process. still having ups n downs. physical health getting very good. mental health still needs a lot of work to do.

You had me at the first sentence! I had extreme emotional neglect and molestation!

Wonderful talk... Made me cry

As an Ice Climber, and someone who has a similar past this was really enjoyable for me. It helped me to see the corelation to the peace I find, but have never really thought about. Margo Talbot you have a place to stay in The Whites if you ever need it. Thank you very much for sharing.

thank you.

YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION. Thank you!

just extraordinaire

Simply amazing. What a beautiful soul and such an eloquent speaker. I would love to have her as a friend.

Ice climbing gave her MINDFULNESS.

Absolutely right Margot. Child protection systems need to take this on board to provide early intervention services for traumatized children in care, particularly children with serious conditions such as reactive attachment disorder.

Amazing insight. I'm working through a lot of personal pain right now and the way Margo describes the process is absolutely in line with my experience. Thank you

Wow you told my life story except thankfully I wasn't suicidal. Thanks you are inspirational!

Lots of wisdom and good advice in this talk. Ice climbing looks amazing too. Thanks Margot.

Its not to late to turn your life around its not we conquer the mountain but we conquer are self's very inspiring Person god bless you Margo live a good life and keep helping other people

Thank you so so much. Thank you for so many things - firstly (not your first but mine as recognize there is a huge process before this point) for coming out and saying what you did, so true, and such a needed message over and over by everyone to say, to increase necessary awareness. Second, for having the bravery to stand up on TED, and put this out to the world. Third to be in the position of teacher in a system that thinks it already has it all worked out and has a way to make every consumer of health services the student. For being trauma informed. And fourth, thank you most of all, for the example you example, that show how it is about people finding their way through, and finding their own solutions to joy, transcendence, meeting the underlying need in more workable ways, a bigger reality, despite the system not offering these types of experiences (and, as an optimist and visionary I feel probably too invested in that being ultimately being possible for people as a potential, despite the current funding limits) by understanding the root cause, and moving with the urge to understand then satisfy it in a different way, that is more recovery focussed, than in perpetuating pain focussed ways that you were operating out of, that shows others, that despite the system (that works for some, and as with any system doesn't work for everyone) can find your own solution, and not get stuck in the waiting place, where nothing happens. That there are other solutions and the recovery drive finds them, they are not 100% found through the Dr's or medical or MH system. They may offer many solutions that do work for a lot of people, however, when they don't, it's important to have the capacity to think our side the square and have an equally viable plan B or C etc., and actually, that is what it is to be 'recovery focussed'. aka "come hell and high water, i will recover, regardless of whether the system offers the interventions that offer the way forward, or it comes elsewhere. I think regardless of the realities, by keeping with an ethic of informing the system, we don't let the system off the hook (despite the negative views that develop out of people's frustration with it because it has current limitations, actually does need to be recognised that is does want to help people, and does want to find solutions at a quality level, and can listen to how solutions have been found and can learn from these). Your you tube offered that solution focussed approach to learn from without buying into system bashing. Yes, really, as an end point, regardless of our midpoint reality, people should never be advertising how they survived despite the system, as if it is the only way to recover, the system needs to be open to feedback and from that learn what it needs to do, to meet the needs of people who will be, and do, access services, to find a way to offer them the services that enable them to survive, recover, and thrive into the future. You've helped tremendously in your talk; it shines the light on the way forward, offering solutions not complaints, and showing just how individualistic it can be, therefore how open we need to be, to create individual options, which apparently is our objective, so theoretically shouldn't be a problem....right? Again thank you, thank you, thank you, as we say in these parts, as well as congratulations big time, on all levels.

excellent talk, you have been so fortunate you found this and you took and ran with it. thank you

Geez, what a power packed amazing presentation. Helped me a lot thanks!

so emotional and yet rational. Thanks for sharing!

I feel I connect deeply to your message, Margo Talbot. Your strength and courage has made a difference for me today. Thank You.

Thank you for your insight and courage. You are amazing

Thank you so much for your valuable speech.

very important and powerful message.

Some powerful truth said here. Thank-you!

Well said, Margo. You continue to be an inspiration to many through sharing your painful and profound story of healing. I have always found it an interesting irony that you traded in one frozen world for another -- proof of the duality in all things. Congratulations on your marvelous talk. -- Janice Holly Booth

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏

thank you for sharing

YES!! I wish more people understood that the western way of treating addiction is just dealing with a symptom...not the true trauma. Your metaphors make me want to be strong enough to ice climb. Please keep telling this story, maybe someday there will be a rehab center that focuses on passion rather than addicts. 💗

Best video I've heard on TEDtalks yet, on any subject. This IS my subject though! Which makes it very special to me. This is an honest and concise tale. This is both a helpful lecture about trauma, mental health, addiction and recovery. lts a plain talking story, about one person's struggle to survive, from a broken start in life and it has a great ending! I can be a harsh judge, yet cannot find one thing wrong about all that has been said here. I enjoyed the reality of the ideas mentioned, for if we're able to better ourselves by finding a way out of such a complex hole, into a more serene existence, for ourselves, it would then be the time to start work on supporting others to do the same. Striving to change a broken system starts with honesty and hope, which ends in REGENERATION! I'm feeling hopeful, many thanks for sharing M, this has been inspiring for me today.

Thank you.

Brilliant video, big ups for 'climbing the ice'!

So proud of you, love and hugs to you :)

Total awesome truth teller....thank you so much.

Beautiful seminar.

thank you! spoken beautifully

Margo that is a fascinating, loving, beneficial and life changing message. Thank you so much!

something good is taking place in my life behind the scenes , And I'm tired of falling!

Thank you Margot. I wish that i was able to talk to you about my depression.

This is very beautiful

What a beautiful talk resonated so much thanks for sharing xx

Thank You

My personal experience is the exact opposite. I was ADDICTED to ice / rock / mountain climbing literally craving every single day weather went bad until I hit rock bottom (60ft free fall) breaking my spine. Barely able to walk since then, guess what : I got into drugs. YES both are addictive, YES they induce craving, and YES you can heal. Climbing the north ridge of Mt Everest if far easier than getting out of street drugs. For having succeeded in both, I just want to to share with you that both are basically the same kind of brain illness, compulsively seeking for the "substance". Social impact is the same and both can kill you. Be aware of it, never take it easy, temptation is always waiting behind the corner. What is my new addiction right now ? Talking about it, sharing my experience. The only advice I can give you is to believe in yourselves, your values and have faith, no matter of how difficult the path could look like at any moment. Face it and keep going one step at the time.

Excellent speech and insight! xo

Thanks

love this.

Been thru so much trauma it's an emotional overload explosion inside me of deep hurts

Last few weeks have been awful . Back in the depression pitt . Thank you for hope x

I did the same through Truth, Reason, Love and becoming an atheist, religion made it all worse, because it doesn't goes beyond common sense, their arrogance and pretentiousness is amazingly and disproportionately big, as she said trust what's teal, what works, what's good for you and build the parts of your life your parents neglected to help you build.

2:32 this hit me like a rock 100 % approved by myself haha

Amazing

I am 63 and still have to keep myself from rocking in front of friends and public

Well done....

Beautiful ❤️

I find myself here, 37 years old and bouncing back an forth, alone and seeking to further waste my life hiding behind a needle. My only security. Desperately fighting myself constantly for stable ground, in which I can fix my head. Alone The fake mask I’ve created for myself to deal with (the normal reality) is fading very very quickly, along with hope of a life worth living. I surrender I can’t do this

Awsome this made my day xD

My problem in the beginning was trying to find a "real" therapist who wanted me to recover instead of over-medicating me and keep me "needing them so they could keep on getting paid.BTW Ive always said that I am climbing out of a hole daily

I'm fighting this all on my own 😭😢 i cant do it anymore

It is interesting that we all want to be happy and joyful, but the arts always have the miserable and complicated characters as the center of the stories and those are the ones into which we are mostly drawn.

BeYOUtiful!

damn.

The difference between "ordinary" sadness and depression? You can handle having a cloud on your head. It's much tougher balancing a boulder on it.

how old is she?

That was hard to listen to.. Need to find the answer or route out of this..

She's badass

What if you get addicted to climbing? I tried bdsm and it got me out of my depression but I regret it as I can't get a high out of anything else now , I feel worse than ever

You don't "give up addictions" rather the addiction gives up you. You are at the mercy of your addiction. You never escape from your addiction, it must release you from its miserable hold.

What's the point? It's just substituting one addiction for another that is slightly less unhealthy

Yea all of us have the money to quit our jobs and go ice climbing. If we could do that we probably wouldn't be depressed in the first place. This is bullshit.

Don't do drugs, do me instead 😗😗😗😆

No biological component at all eh? It's just a symptom of abuse and distress. Sounds like trading one not socially acceptable addiction for a more socially acceptable addiction.

Thank you.