Harry Psaros Joins Dr. Crystal Morrison on The Village Vision on WoMRadio

Dr. Crystal Morrison Welcome to the village vision podcast where community collaboration and care converge. I'm Dr. Crystal Morrison and I'm honored to be your host on this incredible journey as a firm believer in the power of a united village. I'm thrilled to bring you inspiring stories, research, and projects that break down barriers and care through heartfelt conversations with experts, advocates, and those with lived experiences will showcase, the transformative impact of collective support. So join me on the village vision podcast as we explore the remarkable collaborations that lead to better outcomes, foster a sense of community and inspire action, to improve care for not only ourselves, but everyone around us on today's episode. I'm here with my friend Harry Psaros. Harry is a highly accomplished and results driven senior sales manager in the healthcare industry, and also known as the Pit Guru, one of the top influencers for the University of Pittsburgh's athletics program. He's also a husband and father of 2 teenagers. Now recently he added author to his bio with the release of his new book from struggle to strength, a father's journey with autism and the power of hope and positivity. Welcome, Harry.

Harry Psaros Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

Dr. Crystal Awesome. So we met a a few years ago through the autism community here in Pittsburgh. And it's been a pleasure to get to know you and know your story more. So I'm excited for you to be able to share your story today, and also how that story is such a big piece of your book, and I wanna talk about your book. But there's so much of the why behind the work that you do, and why this is important to you, and why you wrote the book. So tell us a little bit more about why, and what inspired you to share your story.                              

Harry Sure. And it was it was really a build up. So I'm gonna go back to 2,014. my dear friend Kelly Kane, who's the founder of the autism caring Center? Had asked me to speak and moderate at the time she was helping with the autism notebook in Pittsburgh and I went to a fairly large conference up in in Green Tree and there was a huge room. And I I was allotted, I think, initially, like 15 min, and it turned into like more like a half hour or longer. Something happened with one of the speakers. So that's not a problem with me. I'll speak anywhere. So I got up to speak, and as I was talking midway through my speech, there was mother after mother, after mother lining up my first thought was Psaros. Did did you say something offensive.

Dr. Crystal Don't!

Harry You know, and and I thought No, I don't think I did. When they finished that speech the in fact, not only were they waiting for me. They were emotional, and I went down, and they said to me, Listen .we have a child that's struggling at home that's been diagnosed, and our husbands are not on board, they're belligerent. They refuse to accept. In fact, some, were it significantly fighting their spouse, and I could see the desperation, and they said, would you reach out to him? And I'm both I I if you know me, I'm type A, I'm not shy, and I I collected that day upward of 8 to 10 numbers, and some, I tell you. Some spoke with me, some hung up on me, a few had I? I took a few out to dinner, one coffee, one dinner and the one probably, that shined through to me. Then he was accepting of what was going on but it. I think he was so trapped in his emotion that he was Stoich and that the wife misunderstood the stoicism and he start getting very emotional on the, on, the, on the phone. And I said, Hey, you're human, you know. Men forget a a a true, male, comprehensive mail. You could both be macho and show emotion. You know we live in this odd society now you're not supposed to, and I said, Let it out! And he burst out crying on the phone. And I got an email like a week later and said, You're a miracle worker, you know. We've now come together. But it hit me. Then wait. There's an issue here, you know, and I thought about writing the book at that time. I'm glad I didn't. The reason I say that then, 2 years ago it was really percolating in my head. I need to write a book, and I don't see there. First of all, the admiration, respect, and love that I have for every autism warrior. Mom, out there you, my wife, so many that are out there I have, or just. I hold you the highest regard. But there's not many. I'm not saying there isn't. But there aren't many male voices, fathers, voices.

Dr. Crystal Right.

Harry And I'm a Googler. I'm great at research. And I've looked. And there might be like one with a podcast. One with a small book thatit's like dormant. So I thought the male voice, the father's voice needs to be heard, and then and I think you heard me speak. I went to the autism caring Centers Mother's Day Conference, and I think I was the first father to ever address that group, and there might have been upwards of 3 to 3 50 in terms of mothers there that day, as I was writing that speech it was 50% my son's story, and he's a brave young man and then 50% my points of pontification. I said, Oh, my lord that's my book.

Dr. Crystal Yeah.

Harry And from there I I met Corey Wamsley with Aurora Corey, Alice publishing, and she said, You have a book in you. And I said, I have the book, and it's it's been such an incredible cathartic unreal experience. And I can't tell you, and I know you've gone through yourself as an author. But but the emotions it brought out in myself, in my wife. Who's not yet read the book. I want this to be a surprise for her?

Dr. Crystal Yeah. It's a big thing.

Harry I wanted to be a surprise. But I will tell you. It! It dug into my soul at times kind of unearthing the story and the journey that we've been through. So it's been amazing. So I you know, I'm excited to be launching this week and and just knowing that the impact I think this book could have. I'm so excited and just the feedback I've already received from the people that have had an advanced copy. I I really feel like we're going to do some great things.

Dr. Crystal I couldn't agree more. And I definitely agree that there's such a need for more dads or dad figures to be involved in this conversation, because I do think that they have a lot to say and a lot of support to provide each other, and just delighted that there is. You know, you're starting to see more dads on social media sharing. And it's it's a very good thing, I think, so really, really honored that you're sharing your story. I also understand the emotion that you experience as your going back over a lot of tough things, but an a lot of realization to tell me a little bit about some of the things that were therapeutic for you, or maybe realizations that you had as you were working on writing it.

Harry I tell you It's funny. I already feel my my chest tightening up. The one thing that really stood out to me.I was going through the hours of therapy, the lack of sleep.

Dr. Crystal Yeah.

Harry The multitude of physician appointments, and what you need to understand I don't want to ruin the book for anyone.

Dr. Crystal Yeah. Yeah.

Harry My son has dealt with, not just autism. He lost hearing in his right ear, which delays the way you're processing. There's a right ear advantage, and he doesn't have that advantage. Then we discovered he has tread syndrome, so not only does he have something that impairs him socially, he now can't process on the right ear, and he has ticks. Then we find out he has primary Silli Dysonnesia, and he has to be on breathing treatments and it's pretty well documented in my book and in my background people that know me. I'm you know. I've been a martial artist. I'm I'm you know. I'm a third degree blackball tongue, pseudo. And I, you know there's you meet tough guys in that genre, you know, multi fighters. I know, guys that are blackballed in jujitsu. That's great. My son, youngest son, is a football player. I've covered football now for upwards of 30 years, especially for Pitt. He, my youngest son will be playing for Allegheny football next year. Allegheny College. There's a lot of tough guys there, but you can't define grid on fighting and physicality at times. There's an innate toughness in these kids, and I was going back through minute. Please listen to me minute by minute of my son's story, and I realized. That's the toughest kid I know. You know. I know young men. I could throw a rock from here at West Allegheny High School or University of Pittsburgh that are bench pressing over 400 pounds. But it's an innate different type of grid. And what makes my son amazing to me, the Epiphany, I'm going through all of it.

Dr. Crystal Yeah.

Harry Its his super power but positivity. And in my book is a lot you cannot write. You cannot write a prescriptive how to book on autism.

Dr. Crystal Agreed.

Harry And it, you know, they say you met one child on the spectrum. You met one child on the spectrum, and I try to explain to people, and I don't mean to sound odd, but like so my 20 year old son, right now, that's a Kent State University the same 20 year old. If they're on the severe side I hate to say this could be still in diapers. I mean, it's that wide again. That's why it's called a spectrum. So I wanted to touch upon the mindset. But the funny part was I feel, because I'm an infinitely over caffeinated, highly positive, optimistic individual. I don't do negative. I don't. I think it's a toxin to be quite frank. But what really, really writing this, I realized that my son taught me something when I, when I look at his resilience, his grip, the positivity through hours of distract, I mean, I think of the countless hours we dragged him the therapy, the I mean. I think of all the supplements he had to take. You know there were times where he had his friends outside playing or doing something. He was stuck in therapy. I look at that. And how do you not look your own child with pure admiration, you know, and so in terms of an epiphany, the guy that was writing the book that wanted to convey the message of hope, resilience, and positivity. And that's the theme of my book really was reflective in my own son's attitude, you know. So my son taught me more writing this book than I could have taught anyone else.

Dr. Crystal Agreed. And I think that's definitely something that I experienced when we were working on our book Superheroes on the Spectrum. And one of the things that you know just what you were saying about the spectrum. We all know those of us who are in the autism community understand the spectrum, and that there is a very broad range. And when you met one person you've met one person right, and I think the gravity of that really sank in with me even more as we were working on our book, because we have all of these different stories, and the one that I always talk about is the one that just brought me to my knees. The most is the story written by a non-speaking adult and he wrote his story with his assistive communication device. And I'm getting goosebumps right now and for so long the outside world, we we tend to assume that when someone is non speaking, that they're incompetent, and that can be further from the truth. Right? And so, even though there were things that I I know intrinsically writing the book, and in working through my own things, but also other people, these amazing people who are so strong and have such grit, like your son you know, just reminding me of these key messages of we can't. We have to assume competence, for example. But yeah, it just. There's so much that you learn on this journey of writing that you don't necessarily think about. It's it's that time it takes you to process it and put it to paper. And you sit back. And well, I I really did learn a thing or 2, didn't I?

Harry Really. And and you know one thing, I was cognizant in my book, and I mentioned this, so I I do a lot of speaking, and I've done some speaking at fundraisers, and I had this one parents voice in my head. She came up with her husband and said, Listen what you said about your son doesn't apply to ours. You know your son is more on the mild end, ours is more on the the severe model of the severe end, and I said, No, no, no, no, that's my optic thinking, I said, is I was talking about, and there's a big portion of my book that talks about, and I equated to the day in, day out, training with martial arts, about daily improvement with your child. And I said the difference being your child that's moderate to severe their good day or their 2. Improvement that day is simply gonna look different than my son's. But the quote along so morning of the Miami heat, you know a win is a win. It doesn't matter which a point, or whether it's 70 points. So I try to address that in the book, because I I I could hear that parents voice. And sometimes it's to your point. Experience does help. I've met so many parents within our community that I thought about that. So I addressed that multiple times in the book to say, I edit, I do but but the same mental application, the same mindset that I'm trying to touch upon on the book applies to all children, regardless of where they're at.

Dr. Crystal Agreed, agreed, and I know back to win as a win in my own family, and then talking to a lot of other families you know. I struggled for a long time, and I've gotten a lot better, but I really try to just embrace and celebrate the wins, whatever they are, whatever that win looks like we're gonna celebrate it let's talk a little bit about who this book is for my son is older. Now your boys are are older. A lot of people tend to think that books that we write from a perspective as a a parent with a child that's autistic that it's only for other parents. So you and I both know that's not truth. Who who can your book help.

Harry Sure. And I'm I'm gonna specify, like 3 different areas. The third crystal, I will tell you, has blown me away, and I'm most probably most excited about. Believe 1 one is fathers, but I try to touch upon the belligerent father in the very beginning. My book isn't war in peace. It it's about. It's a little over a year and a half, maybe more, to write. It's about 100 and 40 50 pages, but I I wanted something where, if a mother was struggling, I thought of the face of those mothers, the pain in their eyes. Because you and I know if both parents aren't accepting and that child's further going into the abyss. You're not helping that child. So I thought about that, father, and it addresses the belligerent father in the beginning. And and I wanted to make sure to address that. The other thing I will say parents, whether they're newly diagnosed if they're newly diagnosed. This is a mental roadmap. That's the way I want to design it. It's again. It's simply this is our journey in front of us. We need to be on the same page. And this is the mindset we need. And let me repeat positivity, resilience, hope. Those are my 3 themes.

Dr. Crystal Yeah.

Harry If your parents of battle tested children, you're battle tested already. You've had children on the spectrum. I think reading it, you'll be able to relate a lot to what I say, and it may even rejuvenate your soul a little bit and ignite your soul. Again. I don't shut off positive. I just don't I? If you come from my family, you don't. My brother, my God bless my brother, is a a national and international philanthropist. That is done more good. I could spend an hour talking about that we have been we. We've been taught to help others. If you're in my mantra is, if you're breathing air, you should be helping others. So that's the kind of the concept of of this book I I wanna help whether they're battle tested or new. Now the the last type and I don't know why I wasn't thinking of this for the last 30 years I've been known as the pit Guru. I founded the first 2 sites covering University of Pittsburgh sports and pit nation. I've had people reach out to me. They go. I know very little to nothing about autism, nor do I have anyone in my family. But I'm buying your book. You've supported our community, and I want to learn about autism. And I go whoa, you know, I'm like that's awesome like. I never thought about the awareness portion. I know that sounds odd, but it just didn't hit me as much. I had multiple people message me and go. I'm a sales manager, and I have a multitude of salesmen under me. I'm buying all of them a book, only like I just want them to understand, and the perspective of a father with the child on the spectrum. And I'm like to me that's so powerful because the more acceptance we have, the easier it is for any child out there that's that's dealing and it. And it's a it's a tough journey, you know. It's not easy for these kids. So I am so thrilled to hear that. In fact, I think more of my pre orders at the moment. Have been from people without any affiliation to autism, and that is incredible.

Dr. Crystal It really.

Harry Excited, you know. So I had. I'm dealing with one influencer that wanted to read it on Instagram, and he message me and said, you have opened up my eyes, he said. I've never dealt with anyone that wrote about a thing, whether it be autism down syndrome ever he goes. If it was funny. He says we're gonna work together in the future, too. And he goes. I want to get this message out and he goes. It's gonna open up a whole new avenue of reviewing books for me. And I said, This is this is awesome.

Dr. Crystal Yeah.

Harry This is why I did it. And I get goose bumps knowing that I'm just launching this week. And the reception has already been incredible, so it's been well worth it. And honestly, I have a few more books. In mind now that I have the bug.

Dr. Crystal Yeah, happened. Yeah. that's great. I can't agree more that there that we have to remember that there's a much broader audience that can really learn from the books that that we've written and it is so much about the awareness and acceptance. And one of the areas. And this is an opportunity for your book without down as well. But we've had a lot of interest in using the book for with human resources programs and neuro divergent training and the workplace and helping other people understand sort of from you know, someone who is neuro divergent from their perspective kind of how they see the world. And so, you know, we've had with our book a lot of interest on that side which again blows me away. Because it's not something I would have thought about. It makes a complete sense, right? But you know, really using the book as a tool, not only to educate people who don't know about autism, but also to educate people in their work environments about you know, interacting with with people who are nor divergent and that is also extremely powerful, the awareness and in the acceptance. And ultimately it makes it a bit easier for our children to hopefully navigate the world, and and people are more informed right.

Harry Exactly. You know. It's funny. You say that I mean and you know this is an author. You start connecting with other authors. I had a best selling author reach out to me. Who has done exceptionally well, he's a a business, Mogul, and we set up a call for later this month, and he said to me, you know this, this is a tool your book I wanna use to educate my workers, but he also wants to help from a philanthropic standpoint locally with some of the organizations. I'm involved that it you know. It's this book is opened up more channels, more connections than what I expected already, and I can't fathom what it's going to do.

Dr. Crystal Yeah, that's amazing. So your book is out this week. To wrap up today. How about you? Tell us, all the ways that our listeners can find your book and also connect with you if they're interested in learning more.

Harry Absolutely so again, the book will be available on Amazon and Kendall. I'm gonna be recording an audible version of that very, very soon. I've been so busy and chaotic with the launch. That audible hasn't come into play yet, but it will be we have launched a Harry passeris.com, so it's HARR YPSA ros.com and from there, like, I said, though you can purchase the book, purchase the kindle and the like, so the audible will be coming. The other thing I'll encourage you is. don't be shy if if you want to connect it. Just look me up, Harry Baserris, on Facebook. Look me up on Instagram. And I I will tell you we have a lot of things in the works. I do quite a bit of speaking. When you grow up in a Greek Orthodox Church you learn to speak very quickly, so you could put me or my brother in front of 2, 202,000, or 2 million, and we're off to the races.

Dr. Crystal Right.

Harry I got a lot of people inquire about speaking that's gonna be happening. And I'm contemplating to be quite frank, a, a, a podcast as well. Maybe with a little bit different twist cause I'm I'm very much into health and motivation as well. And I thought about intertwining that with with autism. I'm not trusting me. If you look for me, you're gonna find me. And and also, if you want to get a Gatling gun of University of Pittsburgh sports information. I'm at Pit Guru pit Ttu, are you on Twitter? But we're going to be developing across the board all the social media platforms and moving forward. So I I think there's a lot more people to reach. And I believe this won't be my first book. I could tell you that, so I'm really excited about it, but I would love to hear from each and every person reading the book and connect with them. I think it'd be great.

Dr. Crystal Wonderful. So we will have all of Harry's information in the show notes for the show, where you can find out where to get the book purchase on Amazon, and also how to connect with Harry. Harry. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Harry You're my first official podcast interview for my book amongst the lot after that. But I'm so yeah, you kicked me off. So I can't thank you enough. It was great talking with you.

Dr. Crystal You're great, great, absolutely.

Well, thank you for joining us on this episode of the village vision. Podcast. I hope you found inspiration and valuable insights from our conversation today. If you've enjoyed today's episode on word of mom radio, please subscribe rate, leader review and share. Thank you for being part of the village vision, podcast on word of mom, radio. Take care and let's keep shining a light on the power of community collaboration and care.