In January 2025, Chad Nelson and his fiancée Lori were facing eviction, deep in active drug use, and staring down a Wisconsin winter with nowhere to go. When a wrist infection from intravenous drug use landed Chad in the ER for the second time — on his dominant, writing hand — it became the wake-up call neither of them could ignore.

On this episode of the Look Up Mindset Podcast, host and author Heidi Siefkas sits down with Chad, now a student at Western Technical College in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to trace his path from a homeless shelter and Project Proven's recovery-focused campus program to student government, a board seat with WINN (What I Need Now Incorporated), and a growing platform for civic advocacy on behalf of La Crosse's unsheltered population.

Chad opens up about the scar he says is proof that “lightning struck twice,” the speech class that helped him find his voice, and the reverse town halls and park stewardship proposals he's now pushing to reshape how his community talks about homelessness. It's a conversation about the difference between surviving and changing — and what happens when you finally choose to look up.

• A second wrist infection from IV drug use was Chad's breaking point.

• He and his fiancée Lori chose a shelter over the streets and got sober cold turkey in January 2025.

• Project Proven at Western Technical College sparked his shift toward civic advocacy.

• Chad and Lori both won write-in seats in student government.

• A speech class helped him find his voice and his purpose.

About Chad Nelson:

Chad Nelson was born and raised in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he still calls home today alongside his wife with their two cats. At Western, Chad serves as Campus Events Coordinator for Student Government and as a Democracy Fellow, and he also sits on the board of W.I.N.N. (What I Need Now) Inc. as Communication Specialist. Outside of his campus and community roles, he's an avid Batman collector and finds creative outlets in writing, drawing, 3D printing, and time spent in nature.

Learn more about Project Proven by visiting Western Technical College's website: https://www.westerntc.edu/life-at-western/you-belong-here/justice-involved-students
Connect with Western Technical College on IG: https://www.instagram.com/westerntechnicalcollege/

Discover what WINN Incorporated is all about: https://www.whatineednow.org/

About Heidi Siefkas:

Heidi Siefkas is a Nashville-based author of 4 books, TEDx speaker, podcaster, and adventurer.

📖 To explore her latest book, Look Up—Global Stories of Resilience: https://bit.ly/49QOPCH.

🎤 Bring Heidi to your event: https://heidisiefkas.com/speaking/

🌐 To connect with Heidi and share your story for the Look Up Mindset Podcast, visit www.heidisiefkas.com.

In this solo Season 2 episode, host Heidi Siefkas steps away from her usual guest format to dedicate the show to her father, Dr. James Siefkas, a speech and theater professor at UW-La Crosse for 42 years and, as Heidi puts it, the reason she calls herself a storyteller.

The episode recaps the keynote she delivered as closing speaker for Viterbo University's servant leadership conference (an invitation that came through podcast contributor Tom Thibodeau), where she redefined resilience not as "bouncing back" to a former normal, but as "bouncing forward" into a bigger, bolder version of yourself.

Heidi traces her own bounce-forward story: the 2009 tree-limb accident that broke her C7 vertebra the same night she discovered her husband's infidelity, the "clean slate" that followed, meeting her late love of her life, Brian Treptow, their adventurous life together in Alaska and Hawaii, her father moving in after his 2014 stroke, the 5 a.m. call in December 2022 that told her Brian's medevac flight had gone down, and her decision to rebuild in Nashville.

From that story, she distills four practical tools for building resilience — cognitive reframing and a "Look Up reminder," embracing Plan B, leaning into community and third spaces, and heading for adventure — before closing with an update on her father, now 91 and in hospice, who told her two weeks earlier, "I'm not looking down and depressed because of where I am. I've lost a lot, but I'm still looking up for what I still have."

Takeaways

● Redefine resilience as "bouncing forward," not "bouncing back" — the goal isn't returning to your old normal, it's evolving into a bigger, bolder version of yourself.

● In any crisis, you can only control two things: staying present in the moment and looking for the upside or opportunity within it.

● Tool 1 — Look Up: be in the moment and find the upside the same; set a "Look Up reminder" on your phone

● Tool 2 — Embrace Plan B

● Tool 3 — Lean into community and "third spaces"

● Tool 4 — Head for adventure

● Resilience is a muscle and a lifelong practice, not a one-time fix — even after living through the tree accident and Brian's death, Heidi is still being tested, as her father's hospice journey shows.

● Her father's example at 91 — needing help with nearly all basic needs but still choosing to "look up for what I still have" — is the clearest proof that the Look Up Mindset is a choice available at any age or circumstance.

About Heidi Siefkas:

Heidi Siefkas is a Nashville-based author of 4 books, TEDx speaker, podcaster, and adventurer.

📖 To explore her latest book, Look Up—Global Stories of Resilience: https://bit.ly/49QOPCH.

🎤 Bring Heidi to your event: https://heidisiefkas.com/speaking/

🌐 To connect with Heidi and share your story for the Look Up Mindset Podcast, visit www.heidisiefkas.com.