Derryll Wristpus is a passionate human being who has always seemed to find himself encouraging, giving advice, or simply listening to others. When he was asked, “Why do you always let people ‘dump’ on you?” He later realized and came to always answer, “I guess it’s because I don’t feel like they’re ‘dumping’ on me.”
Coming from a heavily involved church-going family, he was the youngest of three children. With an absentee alcoholic father, Derryll was raised in a very strict single parent home in northeast Indiana, where there wasn’t much value put on the life of a young black male. This message became abundantly clear, when at the age of eleven, he was present when his 22-year-old brother lost his life in the alley behind their house, at the hands of the police. In spite of it all, he always felt in his spirit that there was something different in store for him.
Just after turning seventeen and suddenly finding himself homeless, he began experimenting with alcohol and drug use, in order to numb the pain. Derryll ultimately made a key decision about his life when he witnessed the birth of his son. He got off the streets, promising himself that he would not allow his son to have the same history of seeing his life go down the same road of his own father, or end like his brothers. He began embracing a variety of teachings such as Les Brown, Stephen R. Covey, Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, and others with the intentions of understanding who he is as an individual, and finding his spiritual path on his terms, and in God’s grace.
Derryll spent ten years working in the school system with kids that were having learning difficulties, and nine years as a director for the YMCA developing and running two Before/After School Programs. He also worked as a youth counselor at his church. This gave him a tremendous amount of experience working with children, adolescents and teens.
After a fall out at the church and a failed marriage, he found himself at a crossroads in his life. However, no matter what happened, there was always a part of him that refused to believe that his life would be all about disappointments, failures and tragedy. He quit his job, gave everything away, and with his last check of seven hundred dollars in his pocket, moved to Baltimore, where he didn’t know anyone. Shortly thereafter, he began working for Johns Hopkins Hospital.
After spending three years in Baltimore, he moved to Atlanta where he released his first book, When Souls Speak “I Live,” a book of poetry and short stories. Derryll then began an extensive training program by Anthony Robbins and Chloe Madanes, two leaders in human needs psychology, and founders of Strategic Intervention. This was an opportunity to finally put the gift of making others feel comfortable enough to open up and share things that they would otherwise keep within, with the principles of SI, Marriage Preparation and Education training. Finally he’s doing what he truly believes he was put here to do; help and serve others. Today, Derryll still lives in Atlanta and is now a Life and Relationship Breakthrough Strategist, Speaker and Consultant. “Life is truly a journey, and the things we experience are simply life’s lessons and blessings… if we decide to give them empowering meanings that serves us.”
