Jake Melton

As a little boy, Jake's parents wondered why he was making such weird sounds and blinking so frequently. He had these impulses to grab things and touch them two or three times before he could walk away. He told his parents he couldn't control it. No one really understood what that meant.

As he entered high school, his parents noticed he was twitching very prominently. He couldn't concentrate well in school or anything that required deeper focus because of his excessive blinking, grunting, or head bobbing. It made school and learning quite difficult. It made focus nearly impossible. His parents recognized there was something terribly wrong and they took him to a Psychologist at USC, who after 30 seconds knew what it was and diagnosed Jake with Tourette's Syndrome (TS). Being a teenager and being diagnosed with a neurological disease was as embarrassing and shameful as it could get (at least he thought so). Jake hid it. He didn't like others knowing about his mental illness.​

Teasing went on because of his twitching. Jake was never really bullied, except when it came to his tics. He played it off and tried to make fun of himself, but it hurt. As he's grown older, built a business, started a family, he has begun to recognize this "weakness" or mental health illness as a strength and opportunity to help others suffering with similar trials. He has used his own mental health struggles to bring awareness to mental health and wellness in the workplace. Jake likes to help others suffering with mental health grasp the reality around them, embrace it, own it, and change the world around them. He firmly believes that we are imperfectly perfect and we all have something we can share in that.

Jake built his speaking and consulting business on the foundation of helping others find success and happiness and by helping organizations increase their mental health and wellness levels. As he has suffered with TS, he has also faced highlighted side-effects such as ADD, anxiety, depression, OCD, and was diagnosed with PTSD for some time in 2014 after losing his father. For years, medicine and therapy weren't helping him much. It wasn't making much of a difference. So, he decided to look more inwardly and become more mindful of what could be negatively influencing him in his life and enhancing his tics and anxiety.​

Jake found that he had a lot of relationships that were holding him back and adding to that overall anxiety. He was surrounding himself with things that were occupying too much physical space. He wasn't able to let go of past attitudes, mentalities, habits, or experiences that truly tore him down. He held on to relationships that battered his confidence and trust in others.

Then, Jake came across "minimalism" and he decided to pursue that and simpler living. Jake believed there had to be something deeper to minimalism than just clearing the physical clutter and living with hardly anything. Sure enough, it was deeper, it helped him clear mental and emotional clutter! It helped him alleviate much of that anxiety, depression, and stress because he was ridding of that which wasn't contributing to his overall happiness or success.

He was able to cut the crap that was going on all around him and inside his own mind. That worked more powerfully in controlling his tics, anxiety, and stress than medicine or therapy did. As a mental health and wellness advocate, he knew he had to share his experience with others. Too many out there are facing these mental health illnesses and he provides them with ways they can cut down on things going on in their lives to help them find added purpose, productivity, focus, and happiness.

Along with these already mentioned experiences, he also faced difficult challenges in the workforce (i.e. layoffs, terrible bosses, unethical leaders, etc). Jake left working for others to venture out and help strengthen the bond between employees and employers. He wants to help make the workplace a safer, more enjoyable and satisfying place to be. He wants employees to feel empowered by the employers and wants the employers to understand their role in helping employees feel and sense that gift of empowerment.

Jake Melton wrote "Minimalize to Maximize Your Happiness: Cut the Crap," so that he could share part of this message and story with those in need. He speaks on mental health and wellness, simplicity, mindfulness, the power of will, and personal development as it relates to change, communication, positive psychology, and human potential. Overall, he helps organizations improve to make the workforce a better place to be.

Be sure to contact or book him if you are in need of a speaker and consultant to actually help you make a difference in your life and/or business by improving mental health, personal development, and overall wellness.

Jake finds joy in his family, kids' successes, barbecue, theater, crime history and profiling, antiques, sports, the Los Angeles Lakers, and reading on the beach with a nice, cold glass of Diet Coke.

More About Jake:

• He has a BA in Strategic Communications from the University of Utah
• MA in Organizational Psychology from William James College (Previously known as the Massachusetts School of Psychology)
• He is a Certified Leadership Trainer​
• ​He is an Eagle Scout
• ​He is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success
• He is a member of the Association of Change Management Professionals
• He is supporter of the National Tourette's Association
• ​He is the author of "Minimalize to Maximize Your Happiness: Cut the Crap"
• ​He is an entrepreneur and business owner
• ​He is a father
• ​He is a husband