Nate Morell is a social worker and perpetual work in progress. He spends his time growing resilience, eating salads, and taking to people as Stockton University’s Assistant Director of Counseling Services and Active Minds advisor. Over the last 5 years Nate’s work has evolved from crisis intervention to prevention focused. Guided by a broken-open heart and a deep solidarity to others who suffer, nate aspires to use his life to serve, and to love others into wellness.

Click to tweet: Nate Morell shares his incredible journey on the i’MpossibleProject #podcast!

Time Stamped Notes

• 2.47 In high school Nate didn’t do well academically and also went to a lot of electronic music festivals in Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore
• 3.11 In high school Nate fell in love with black and white photography and went to college to study it and then got a job in the field of photography
• 3.47 Nate eventually got fired from his photography job because he messed up a job from a big client—and he was out of a job (and not in school) for the first time in his life, on unemployment, living with his parents, and depressed
• 4.17 A little after being fired Nate started volunteering for a local crisis/suicide hotline and fell in love with helping people through crisis, which then spurred him onto going back to school for social work at Stockton University in New Jersey
• 5.55 Nate looks back on the difficulties in his life with gratitude and love
• 8.16 Nate feels like his career in photography informs his work as a counselor (find out how!)
• 12.55 Nate deems himself a “work in progress” and that the transitions in his life in his past help him through current and future life transitions
• 15.25 By constantly working on himself, Nate can see his anxiety or depression coming on, which then helps him “see it but not be it”
• 16.42 Nate feels that all of his personal growth has been through pain (and hopes that he can find personal growth in other ways like love and acceptance)
• 22.19 Nate’s favorite word is “love,” and if someone made a movie of his life, a young Gene Wilder would play title role (find out more fun facts about Nate in the Quick Fire Round)
• 31.03 Nate is taking a different approach as a counselor at Stockton by not waiting in his office for people to come to him when broken down—he’s working on awareness projects to get people into his office before they’re in crisis

Key Points

• It is possible to look back at the difficulties in one’s life with gratitude and love
• We can find ways to use our transferrable skills in many ways between many fields of employment
• The more we work on ourselves, the more we can see patterns and prevent personal/emotional pain

Resources or Websites Mentioned

Nate’s outreach work at Stockton University: www.facebook.com/stocktonsaveslives