Welcome to the True Hope Cast podcast,

where we take a deep dive into mental health,

to many physiological and psychological aspects in

a beautiful but wild world.

This is the show for you if you're looking for motivation,

inspiration, knowledge, and solutions.

And that's what we are all about here at True Hope Canada.

And True Hope Canada is a mind

and body based supplement company, dedicated first

and foremost to promoting brain

and body health through non-invasive nutritional means.

For more information about us,

please visit true hope canada.com.

Today I welcome Mackey Trotta to the podcast.

Now, Mackey is the resilient

and compassionate founder of the hashtag Try Again project,

A groundbreaking mental health advocacy

campaign and race team.

From a young age, Mackey faced challenges

as she battled clinical depression being diagnosed in her

third year of university with a DHD and social anxiety.

Despite her accomplishments,

Mackey's life took an unexpected turn when an undiagnosed

traumatic brain injury exacerbated her anxiety

to a crippling degree.

For over three years, she struggled to find the strength

to get out of bed every day.

However, in the darkest moments of her journey,

the hashtag Try Again project was born out

of mackey's profound desire to reconnect with her community

and help others facing similar mental health battles.

Her courage and resilience are an inspiration to others,

motivating them to try again in the face of adversity.

Today we're gonna discuss Mackey's True Hope Recovery.

Enjoy the show. Okay. Mackey. Hi.

Welcome to True Hope class.

Hello, how are you? What's going on?

I'm nervous. Okay.

But yeah, I got race week coming up, uh, next Saturday.

So I went and did my package pickup this morning,

and it's really neat.

Ran into, um, somebody I know,

and it's, it's a neat community.

Nice. Well, we're certainly,

we're certainly gonna talk about that,

but like, just for as an introduction,

why don't you let us know who you are

and what is that you do please?

Uh, my name is Mackey Trotter, nurse Saw Trotter,

and when you ask me that question, I was like,

how do I explain who I am?

But, um, my day job is an, I'm an education assistant

and I help kids with, uh, who are having difficulties,

um, in the public school.

I work at a primary school, so kids with, um,

emotional behavioral learning, social challenges.

And, um, that's my main job right now.

I'm also a youth triathlon coach

for Canada's largest multi-sport club.

We have over 300 athletes, like acceleration, multi-sport.

And then, uh, I'm also a mental health advocate,

so I'm a founder of the Try Again project.

It's a mental health advocacy campaign and race team.

And what sets us apart is

that we're a race team in the sense that we enter races.

We're not necessarily podium chasers per se,

and we really, we really focus on

celebrating just being out there and participating

and connecting with your community.

And, you know, my, it was born out of, uh,

my own situation. So,

Yeah. Well, sports and

athletics is such a great way exactly

for people to get together, to commune,

to participate in things together,

and obviously get the, the many benefits of exercise

that come with mental health.

So that's an amazing thing to be a part of.

How, how long has that been going for?

I should know this. I think this is my sixth year.

Um, and it's grown

and I kinda, I felt like I just sort of slapped it together.

I have, I made this collage that is one

of my favorite collages, and it was, um, it's just started

with the logo of my husband helped like figure out how

to get the words in, and I, you know, designed it

and it's like, there's like about

six different iterations of it.

And then one of my friends who's a graphic designer,

graphic designer, he made it into digital format

and then it kind of rolled out from there.

So, um, it's been a long journey, uh, especially

because I struggle with, um, social anxiety.

I have a DHD learning disability, um,

so I'm excited to be here.

Mm-Hmm. And just to, to share the experience,

How has, how has, um, the try again project, have you,

how have you seen that like really support people's mental

health as they come into the group?

It's very humbling

because the reason why I started it was, um, I had a trauma,

uh, undiagnosed traumatic brain injury, uh,

preexisting social anxiety

and clinical depression, you know, even when I was in,

I think my preteens, um, and I wasn't working

and I wasn't even able to get outta bed most days

for, for over three years.

And I don't remember much of that.

Um, and then I was watching a video

on TV or a show on TV about the origin of Ironman triathlon,

and I thought that would be like the best way, you know,

make a statement to finish that.

And I just thought, well, I'm not working right now.

I don't have very much to lose.

I've always wanted to be part of I a race team

or, you know, just to build a community Mm-Hmm.

Um, try to think up of a name.

And I chose project

because I feel like I am like an ongoing

project and we all are.

And, um, so it, it,

it grew from there

and I was just, my goal's always been to be real

and I feel social media.

Um, when I was stuck in bed most of the days, that's

where I turned to and that's

how I connected with my community.

And I found that there was this gap of when I wanted to

reconnect with my community, like my, my actual, you know,

going out to community centers

or even my neighborhood, um, that was really hard to do.

And I wanted to create a space for people, um,

to help bridge that gap in there

and start a dialogue on social media where everything's,

you know, you have to be epic, you have to be fast, you have

to be the best, the strongest and all that.

And I just wanted to break down.

Um, I just wanted to break it down and be simple

and be, you know, let's get out there

and celebrate being active, celebrate connecting in

whatever way you want and triathlons.

Um, it's always been a passion of mine.

Um, it, it's really good for the A DHD

'cause there's so many moving parts

and I get to be really strategic

and I can hyperfocus and all of that.

And, um, a lot of people find it intimidating

and I wanted to demystify that as well.

Um, and I'm a swim instructor.

I did that for eight years

and then I ended up specializing in helping people who have,

um, who are really nervous about, about swimming.

And that's how it kind of led me into being, you know,

an education assistant, helping kids who have difficulty.

So that was kind of my message

and I started just saying, okay,

I wanna get more people into this community where, you know,

even the origin of triathlon is, um, the males

and females, we race the same distances.

We race on the same course at the same time.

Um, so I wanted to start,

I guess, encouraging people to do something that, that,

you know, is gonna be challenging for them in a safe way.

And that was through, uh, the UBC triathlon duathlon.

That was kind of my first year.

And I found one other athlete who did, um, it with me.

And then from there I was like,

well, I wanna add more people.

Like, you know, the more people out there, um,

people are gonna notice us.

I, my, the logo that I was wearing,

I was wearing my flashy va mm-Hmm.

Jacket before it's really eye catching.

Um, and so I just built, started, uh,

recruiting people for, um, a relay

relay teams, because that's the s bar.

I could find somebody who I knew who was comfortable

with swimming, you know, someone who's really into biking

or not even, or just wants a bike and run.

And Right. My message has always been,

we're not podium chasers.

Right? I don't care if you're like, oh, I haven't trained.

I'm like, I don't care. Just do it. Come in, do your best.

Um, I go, I just want people out there

to see us that we're out there

and that, you know, we're standing up, we're being active

and just let's just celebrate that. Yeah.

That's a huge, sorry, that's just a huge,

hugely important point because I think

so many people avoid going to gyms,

avoid joining sports teams

because there is obviously a massive competitive element.

Yeah. We've been trained

and told that it's all about winning

and being first and being the best.

And that intimidates so many people from even just like

getting a simple gym membership and going there Yeah.

And like putting themselves out into this like, room

with all these other individuals.

And it just like, yeah,

it breeds anxiety for so many people.

And then yeah.

If you wanted to like, take that step up

and join a club to a very specific sport, again, like most,

um, associations

or institutions are going to be like, they're looking

for the best people, looking for the fastest mm-Hmm.

The strongest, et cetera.

And it, and it excludes the majority of people.

And we know how profound not just exercises

for physiological and psychological health,

but being able to be part of a team, part of a group.

Mm-Hmm. Go somewhere where you are like, you know,

with your tribe and you are there working out together.

It's not about trying to beat your buddy Mm-Hmm. For time.

It's about going out there

and doing, doing your best on your terms

with your project. Mm-Hmm.

And that's what's, that's where

the triathlon really speaks to me.

Um, it's because, you know, there's three sports, right?

It's a great equalizer.

You know, um, unfortunately my comfort zones of swim,

and you usually don't run,

you usually don't win it on the swim.

But for me, that's an advantage

because when I get into the pool, you can throw me in a lake

and I can swim for, you know, like four kilometers

and that's fine.

But then I, you know, I recognize the fact that I'm not

as strong as, you know, biking or running.

And then there's other people who are super fast at that.

Mm-Hmm. And it's, it's really neat to come together

and we all strategizing

and giving each other advice and things like that.

And, um, the Multisport Club that I ended up, um, coaching

for, for the last five years, um,

it's Canada's largest multisport club

and we have over 300 athletes.

Um, mostly the kids programs,

but we have like a development team.

Um, a bunch of our athletes actually made it

to the world championships.

Um, we also have like an adult group as well.

And that's really neat to go in there.

And I'm in there swimming and I'm,

I'm comfortable in the water.

I might not be the fittest, but you know, we're all there

and it, it's just neat to be chatting with them

and there's just like a, like a mutual

respect in that sense.

Um, amazing in that. So

Let's, uh, let's talk about True Hope.

Tell me a little bit about your history of True Hope Canada,

the products and how, how they came to be in your life.

Um, I have to say a disclaimer

because I know like, you're not supposed to do it.

Just the way the story rolled out

and the reason why I, I truly, um, know, pun intended, um,

believe in the product.

So what happened was, was that I preexisting, um,

social anxiety and I was really into mountain biking.

And I'm not very good.

Sports have never come really easily for me.

Like I have to practice things

and I don't pick up, um,

the skills very easily except for swimming.

'cause I've been doing that all my life.

But, um, so I was crashing a lot

and it was downhill mountain biking,

so you're going high speed slamming into it.

Uh, this was about, uh, 13 years ago when

what we know about, um, brain injuries was, was, you know,

we didn't really know as much, so I'd crash

and then my doctor would be asking

me, oh, did you hit your head?

I was like, no, she's, oh, we're fine.

You don't have to worry about a concussion.

Now we know better. Right?

It's any impact, sudden impact that's gonna cause your body

to come to complete stop and cause swelling in the brain.

'cause your brain's bouncing off your skull.

So I was, I had a bunch of hard crashes

and then, um, that went undiagnosed

and we were just treating it as the social anxiety.

And, um, this is all from me, like after the fact,

after I've, um, you know, come along on my journey Mm-Hmm.

Like, I look back on social media, on Facebook.

'cause that's where I was posting going, okay, where,

let's find a pattern here.

And that's when I noticed like it got worse.

Like after that period where I was doing, um,

the mountain biking, crashing a lot

and snowboarding and things.

And, um, we were treating it not

as a brain injury 'cause we didn't know I had it,

but just as, you know, like social anxiety

and it kept getting worse.

Um, my dose, I was on Effexor, it kept going up every,

every few months, so it wasn't really working.

And then I was getting the side effects where, uh,

I had OCD like symptoms, um, where I got obsessed

with bug infestation

and I would actually like,

pick apart my skin thinking I had bugs in my skin.

Like, it, it was, it was really like, I look back

and I'm like, oh my goodness.

Mm-Hmm. I went to my, so

You also, so your, your symptoms weren't going away

and the response was to just give you higher doses? Yeah.

Okay. So until I, my, my doctor was, he was saying, um,

he was saying, you know, I'm worried

because you are, you are such a small person, you know,

I'm like, I'm not even five feet tall.

And he said, you're on the highest dose

that I have ever seen anybody on and it's not working.

And because of the, the side effects I was having, um,

it was like, just mood instability.

I was like, really quick to anger, um,

just like super rigid.

He, um, was prescribed Lamotrigine,

which is a mood stabilizer and that,

and so it, it, you see that pattern a lot, right?

If one medication's not working, let's take another one

to deal with the Yeah.

With the side effects. Um, and that did help.

But then it was just going up and up and up

and I was in a place where, you know, I just felt,

this is not the answer.

Like, I could feel it. There comes to a point

where you're just like, this is not the way to go. How

Long was that journey until you realized that?

Um, from starting on the meds,

I was on Effexor for quite a few years

before that, like probably like two or three years.

And then I really need to sit down and like map this out.

Um, I, it's probably about like two

or three years in there too.

I know from when I stopped working until now,

it's been about 10 years.

Like, to come to be able to, you know, get a,

get like a day job and everything.

Um, so there was that concern.

I started doing research and it was into like the nutrition

and everything.

Um, there's a challenge of when you do have anxiety

or depression or mental illness, it's so hard.

You know, it, you know, it's so hard to, to plan your meals

and make sure you're eating properly and, and all of that.

But I was like, this is, the meds

aren't the answer, obviously.

Um, and so I went in

and I started doing research about

like, nutrition and everything.

And I found a book about this mom, you know,

who had a couple kids who had NeuroD diversities,

neuro neurodivergent.

And then she started looking into it herself.

And what she said, interestingly enough, was

that the amino acids were the things

that helped her the most.

So I went into my local, um, health food store at the mall

and I was talking, I was, you know, looking at them.

And, um, the EMP and the free aminos were at the counter.

Okay. And then the owner was like, these are great products.

And she told me a bit about the history

and how, um, you know, it's, they've been,

the MP's been studying.

I was like, well, I'm just really

interested in the free aminos.

So I started taking those

and I noticed that I did feel a bit better and I went back

and then she was, you know, it's, it's, it's, you know,

the common practice where you get fed information,

but you really need exposure to the message.

Of course, you know, what is it like five

or seven times until people are actually kind of going,

okay, my brain is ready to listen to this.

Mm-Hmm. So, um, I pop in there

and tell her my story and all that.

And, um, she recommend, she's like, I really think you need

to try the EMP.

Um, and so I tried it

and, uh, this point in time, um,

I was on, so I, I was taking it for about like three weeks

or so, and my anxiety, my social anxiety, like,

it was just really horrible.

And the thing with Effexor is that you're supposed

to taper off, um, over like the period of months.

Mm-Hmm. Like that's,

you get these things called like brain shivers

or brain zaps, where you literally feel like your

brain's being electrocuted.

And for me, and this is why I know EMPW is just this

amazing product, um, was

because in the past, if I'd forgotten

to refill my medication, 36 hours was right about

where I'd start getting the withdrawal effects.

Um, and I was so just

not in, in a great,

and I was in a horrible place, let's be honest,

where I wasn't comfortable going on public transit.

'cause I didn't wanna get the brains out was on there.

I wasn't comfortable asking for somebody, Hey,

can you drive me so I can refill my meds?

Like, I, I just wasn't able to put those pieces together.

Sure. Um, and so I was just like, well, whatever.

Right. I'm not working, I'll just ride out, um, ride out,

um, the side effects, even though they're horrible.

But I was just so, like, whatever.

Um, so I've been taking the ENP for about three weeks

As well as the Effexor Effexor?

Uh, no, 'cause I ran out. Oh, okay.

So I just, I was, I got ran out

and I'm like, okay, whatever.

Right. Okay. Um, I'm not working.

I don't really have anything to lose.

And then two, a couple weeks go by

and then I'm like, I didn't, like,

I just realized I never had the side effects.

And I know that they use EMP to help people taper off

of their medications.

And I, I was sitting there going, what the heck?

I I was, I was absolutely stunned.

And I like, that's where I got that hope

because I'm like, okay, this stuff works

because it's supposed to take, like,

I heard like six months, you're supposed to taper it down.

And for me, like I'm particularly, um, sensitive

to any changes in medication.

So anytime my doctor would recommend, you know,

tapering down, I had to do it at like half of that.

Like take twice as long to do that. Right.

Um, and so I was like, what the heck?

And I went back and I'm like,

what did I change about my routine?

Right. Like, what, what else, what else could it have been?

And there was nothing really like,

'cause I wasn't doing really much in my life.

Um, and then I was just like, that's, that's amazing.

And I went back and I talked to the person

and they're like, oh yeah, you know, they're gonna be,

and um, it was like the wellness convention in Vancouver

Okay. To someone at a health food

store. And they,

Okay, cool. So

I was talking to her, I'm going, yeah.

Like, I, I didn't do that.

I went to the pharmacist and I,

and I was like, have you heard of this product?

Because she's like, I haven't seen you.

Well, I'm like, I know.

She's like, I was getting worried about you.

I'm like, I know I've been coming in like I month.

And all of a sudden I just stopped coming.

I'm like, yeah, I'm not taking them anymore.

She's like, babe, you know.

Um, and so she'd never heard of the product.

So I, I, I showed her, you know, told her about it.

And then I went in to see my doctor.

My doctor was like, what's going on?

And I was like, do you know about this product?

And she's like, so you just stopped taking it? Like, yeah.

And like, you didn't have any side effects. I'm like, no.

And she's like, what is this product?

So I showed her that as well. Um, what

Did, so what did the pharmacist say when you asked if,

if she'd heard of it and she took a look at

it or they took a look

At it, they're like, oh, okay.

You know, this is interesting.

Um, but there's always, I find that there's still like

that skepticism.

Yeah. And it, it's really interesting 'cause you're like,

You should be more interested in

This. Like, look at my medical record.

Yeah.

You know, you'll see where all

of a sudden I'm taking no meds.

And they were, they were just shocked.

Like, my doctor was like, you were on such a high dose.

I'm like, I know. And I go, here I am.

Like I am proof that Mm-Hmm.

I'm no longer needing that medication.

So I haven't taken it since then.

And that it's been, I don't know, like,

I don't even know, like at least five years.

Amazing. So, um, you're not supposed to do,

that's like a disclaimer, like,

do not stop your meds and do that.

You have consultants for that.

And I, I have to absolutely emphasize that. Yeah.

That's very important. Obviously like these

pharmaceuticals that you're talking about,

they're very, very strong medications.

Yeah. And we have a, we have a micronutrient support team

that can support you with that process Absolutely.

Of tapering down and figuring out your dosages

for Empower Plus and there are other products to, um,

kind of accommodate that process.

So Yeah. That's very important that you, that you

Yeah. Mention that. I have to because I'm

just like, I don't want

anybody to stop taking their meds.

I do. And a lot of people, you know, they might think

that I'm going to be, um, anti-medication and all that,

but I always bring it back to like, the quality of life.

You know? And I, and I believe that, you know, like

the true hope, you know, if

that's gonna improve your quality of life

to have at the same time,

then Absolutely. Like, it's, yeah.

You can't be anti-medication

'cause you tried it, you did it and it didn't work for you.

Yeah. And it's just so unfortunate that the process is that

this medication isn't taking away your, your symptomology.

Yeah. That's just like, give you more of it.

Like that doesn't really make sense.

I think if you think about it. And then, you know,

you try this other product and it's like, I,

I would expect the doctor

and the pharmacist to be just like, oh my gosh.

Like, you've got a, I would think their like curiosity

as a doctor would just be like an overload.

Like tell me like, your experience, what's going on,

and I wanna learn more about it.

But I think there's just something in the,

in the psyche when you study medicine,

you start study pharmacology

and that's like the, the kind of the one way pathway.

And you've literally been told that like,

things like this can't work for this.

Like serious psychological disorders and super disheartening

because it would be amazing if you had the experience

where you took this to your pharmacist and doctor,

and then they, like, it

Was covered. That

Would be great. It was covered. That would be cool.

But they, like,

they went on a little bit of a journey and a path to Yeah.

To check this product out a little bit deeper.

Look at the 36 medical journals

that we have to this, to this product.

Look at the history a little bit more.

Literally wouldn't take long period of time

to look into that Mm-Hmm.

And then, you know, maybe speak to a rep

of True Hope and, and work with them.

Like that would just, could change the

course of somebody's life. So Yeah.

Like just say integrative, I think like naturopathic, uh,

doctors, they're more open to that for sure,

because definitely I see a naturopath

and he was like, oh yeah, we've heard of this.

And I was like, let me tell you my story.

And he was like, that's so funny.

It's like the naturopath, the natural doctor is like, heard

of the product and the pharmacist and your MD hadn't done.

And yeah. It's just so interesting that the, the,

the two different approaches are so,

so wildly out there. Mm-Hmm.

So like, it works into, um,

when I was putting together the try again project,

and I, you know, I was trying to come up

with just like words that represent them

and that was, um, their assert advocate, educate,

and connect and educate is really about that.

There's like hashtags that I use

and one of them is Feed the brain.

And that is kind of twofold.

So one of them is you wanna feed your brain like the

healthy messages Mm-Hmm.

Positive Health talk or self-talk.

And the other aspect is you need

to literally feed your brain, you know, with the nutrients.

Um, and, you know,

get like a really high quality supplement and everything.

And, um, that's where, again, where the gap was.

So when all this happened, I found out that

True Hope was, uh, had a booth at the, uh,

it's like the big health show,

Vancouver Health Expo or something,

I think health shows or Yeah,

Something wellness show. Wellness Wellness

Show. Okay. So I was like,

okay, like I gotta go tell my story

and maybe, you know, they'll want you, you know,

I could be sponsored

or, you know, like an ambassador for there.

Sure. And I went in

and I just told them my story and they're like, okay.

And I met Lore there and, um, and they, yeah.

They were like, absolutely.

And you know, they, they were like helping out

with like the dosages from me Mm-Hmm.

Me and everything like that. And, um, yeah.

That's, that's my journey.

And I, I think I've been taking them

for at least seven years now.

That's really cool that you reached out

and you found that they had an expo

and you went to meet the people. I wonder. Oh yeah. I

Was like, I have to like, I like I have to do this.

Like this is amazing. And there's no other explanation

for how that, and it had to be something so profound

because the very nature of how you're supposed to like,

taper off of the medication was, you know,

six months and Yeah.

Like, if you just suddenly stop, of course that's gonna

wreak havoc on your brain.

And I'm like, yeah, I haven't,

and people, people still have a hard time believing that.

And I'm like, I need

to get my medical records and just show them.

Like, that's the last day I took it. Yeah.

It's, it's interesting. People

find it so hard to believe that.

Yeah. I'm just gonna put a pause here.

I'm just gonna hit record again on there.

This is going wonderful.

You guys all right back there? Yeah.

I you're, you're, you're natural. Yeah. You

Crushing it. I like my

notes, so Yeah.

But you're just, you speak so easily. It just flows. It's

Good. I've been doing

a lot more lives and videos

and stuff, so that was one of my goals. Yeah.

So you're doing great,

great story, my dog. Oh,

It's great. I know, it's amazing.

A lot of

People.

Okay. So tell us a little bit about which products you

like use at the moment.

Are you experiencing all of them

or do you just use a few of them? Um,

I talked to Lore who, you know, recommended, um,

some of the products.

So we decided that the E em p is the main one.

'cause you know, obviously that makes the most difference.

Uh, and then I'm taking the free aminos, uh, which is,

I find really helpful for just like the recovery

and also like bit the anxiety and things like that.

And then, um, I just,

because I have, um, I'm seeing my naturo path

and I'm taking like some other things.

Um, I hadn't really looked into the nose atol, I,

and then I, again, it's a thing where you need several,

you know, exposures to the message

before you know it, it sticks.

And particularly even more so for me.

'cause, you know, my learning disability, A DHD

and everything's kind of in a, in a mess, um,

in my brain all the time.

But, you know, I did go on and I looked at Anatol

and, um, it mentioned that it helps with like dopamine,

you know, and with a DHD, that's one of the main things.

It's the dopamine regulation. Mm-Hmm. Utilization.

So, um, I just started using this,

the anatol here, and I just added into, I made, um,

cold brew tea, added some agave syrup,

and then I was like, oh, I'll just, you know,

add some of the no atol in there.

It's a good way to just get it in easily. Yeah.

And that's, that's always been for me, like,

what can you do in your life to make it, um, just as,

as easy as possible to stick to the routine.

And that's, that's why I think, um, it's hard for people

to believe in the nutrients

because it's not, you don't just take it

and you feel great the next day.

Mm-Hmm. Where some medications, you know,

you notice the side effects.

Right. And, um, with the supplements,

I notice the difference mostly, like after,

after about like a week

or two, if I'm not taking it for, for whatever, like,

you know, if, um, they're like short on supply

and I can't access it, like I notice that I just start

to feel more anxious and more unsettled.

Um, I wake up and you're, you're just more moody.

Um, and then about like two weeks,

then it starts to kick in.

So, you know, it is, it is part of the one,

like one of the things that I'm able

to be like, consistent about.

Yeah. So I have, like, my pill sorter is by my bedside,

so I take my morning and evening doses.

I always have, um,

like a hydration drink right beside my bed.

I have multiple alarms, I take it at work.

It, it's just something that I'm like, no,

like this just my experience.

Mm-Hmm. You know, it proved to me

how important it is in my life to be able to, you know,

to just go about and just re rejoin, like life Capital L.

So, well you've, you've got this experience with, with

Effexor and his other drugs

that like didn't serve you very well,

and they had very negative side effects.

So it makes sense that you've got the motivation to have

that very strict regimen

because, you know, like what happens when you like, forget

to take your products, for example, like Empower Plus,

do you, do you notice anything

if you miss it for a few days?

Um, it's more about like the one, the one week mark,

that's when I start to feel like you just, I just feel off,

like I'm not able to just

go about like my, my regular day.

And then I'm like, oh yeah. Like I'm noticing that Mm-Hmm.

You know? Um, and I think again, that's why it's so hard

for people because it's not like instantaneous,

but we all know, like, you know, for, for vitamins

and things, it's gonna take, you know, you know, you have

to be taking it consistently

and then it, that's how, that's how the body works.

And so that's, that's been a really good, um,

lesson in my life

and I need to transfer that over to my training.

So it's consistency and all that.

But have you recommended these products

to anybody that you know?

Absolutely. And have you seen, what

have, what results have you seen?

Um, right now I haven't, they haven't really gotten back

to me, but like, I post about it on my social media, um,

on Instagram and Facebook.

Um, anybody who mentions that they've had a concussion

or they're anxious, like, I will post about that

and I'll post a link where, uh, from the website

where it lists, you know, I'm like,

this is not just another product.

Um, I've actually, in some of my groups, um,

some of my posts actually got flagged

because they think I'm selling it.

And they're like, is this direct?

I'm like, no, it's not direct marketing.

I go, I don't, I don't benefit from this.

Like, I'm not, they don't pay me.

I go, this is, this is my story and this is how it worked.

And I'm, I do this because I believe in the product.

Um, but it, it still, I find Yeah.

For some reason, like, that is why like, it, it's, it's hard

for people to comprehend this.

And I'm just like, I'm, I want to be the person who's like,

you know, what do you, what do

you have to say about my story?

Because there's no other, it's, it's so out there almost.

And I would never have really believed it if

it hadn't happened to myself.

Right. Yeah. So that's why, that's why I wanted

to partner up and be, you know, be like, this,

this stuff is legit.

It's, it's the real deal.

Yeah. So many people have a difficulty in connecting the

dots when it comes to them, their mental health Mm-Hmm.

Their psychological health and, and, and nutrients

and the stress that's in the world and all these things.

Like, it's, um, it's difficult for people to think

that something like a natural micronutrient formula could

relieve somebody's anxiety and literally cure it.

Yeah. And deal with people's depression,

help people's brains heal after TBIs Yeah.

Et cetera. You know, like, it's very hard for,

'cause we we're just not really built.

Not, we've not really been trained to the idea

that it's a quick fix.

Yeah. Something natural could do that.

And actually the, actually the idea of healing Mm-Hmm.

Is actually even possible.

Like, we know that like pharmaceuticals, obviously they,

you know, they, they're bandaids.

They, they just try to take away symptoms and usually Yeah.

Yeah. Usually the, uh, side effects of trying to take those

symptoms away, create more symptoms,

and then you just get in into this like, rollercoaster of,

of biological kind of a disaster, I suppose.

Mm-Hmm. So it's very, very tricky for a lot of people to,

to wrap their heads around, oh,

I could just take this like natural multivitamin

and it's gonna like, really support me and help me.

And I think trying to, trying to educate people,

I know we're trying to do that true hope

and how, how nutrient deficiencies like,

and even specific nutrients, oh,

if you're deficient in something like that, it can,

it can absolutely show up.

Like, like anxiety. It can absolutely show up.

Like, um, fatigue

and, um, migraines, insomnia, all these like pathologies

can very much a lot of the time be put down to a lack

of specific nutrients Mm-Hmm.

And specific combinations, primarily minerals.

And when you're able to take a product like Mpower plus it's

been like chelated so, so well, it doesn't matter

how poor your digestion is, you are gonna

uptake these nutrients.

They are gonna get into your brain,

they're gonna get into your cells all around your body,

and you are gonna start functioning again

because you're providing your body the

resources it needs to heal you.

Mm-Hmm. Rather than us thinking that we need to like,

do something to like heal us when we just need to,

we just need to like get the terrain right for our body

to do quite amazing things.

And I, the thing I like about the Empower Plus is

that it's broad spectrum.

Mm. Because I think what the trap that a lot

of people fall into is that they're like, oh,

I have this one issue.

I'm gonna go and oh, you know, this mineral

or this supplement, the specific one

or two things is gonna, is going to help me.

Yeah. Whereas it's just a bigger picture.

And, um, you know, empower Plus is, it's the broad spectrum.

It's in the right, it's in the right, like the formulations

and the specific amounts that each one of,

and so that's what I really like about this.

And um, you know, like I just take this and,

and then I know like I don't have

to take like a zillion other multivitamins.

Like this is, that's the one that I take that

and the free aminos,

those are my two main things that I take.

So Yeah. It's so important to take a foundational Yeah.

Multivitamin. Like M power plus

because yeah, as you say, like some B vitamins, if you were

to take them on their own, like they,

they compete minerals compete in some areas in the body.

So it's not, it's not really a responsible thing

to just like, kind of just take that one thing Mm-Hmm.

That you might have Googled for your symptoms.

WebMD, There you go. And it's, um, yeah.

You can end up causing like, more trouble than it's worth.

And there are some amazing practitioners out there.

There's some amazing, um, podcasts like this one

where you can learn more about like, what these,

these products can do for you.

Um, what do you think like,

'cause we, we, we think that Empower Plus

and are other products, they are this foundational

nutritional piece whether you are looking

to like optimize your health

or you do suffer from something like anxiety or depression

or maybe something even more significant like

schizophrenia or bipolar.

We, we don't think that this product's just gonna like,

cure people right off the bat,

but like, we're looking to like help people

put themselves in a position

where they can start thinking about doing the other things

that are gonna support, support their health.

Right. Like you talked about your story where

you were like isolated at home, not doing a whole lot.

And we obviously know like what I mean,

the last few years have taught us about

how isolation is just like the, one

of the worst possible things for your mental health.

Separating yourself from society, friends,

family is just absolutely devastating for your Mm-Hmm.

For your psych psychological health.

So it's very interesting that I've interviewed

so many people about what this product does for them.

And especially people who have had depression

where it feels like they've just like lifted this veil.

Yeah, absolutely. And they're able

to literally step outside Mm-Hmm.

And start doing the things that they used

to do that made them feel awesome.

Mm-Hmm. So that's, that was why I wanted

to bring like the two together.

And it means so much to be, like, to have true hope,

like supporting me is

because, um, the tri like, my, my whole thing

with the tri, again project is not it.

Okay. It is like a lot about triathlon.

Um, but one of my other messages is

that like the connect piece, right?

You need that connection with your community.

Um, you need to have something that you're passionate about,

um, and that's gonna help you reconnect.

'cause again, like I'm gonna go back to talking about, um,

you mentioned where it's so hard, like, um, starting,

you know, like a fitness class or whatever.

Absolutely. I'm in the same boat. Like, I wanna do this

you yo stretch thing.

'cause I know stretching's good for me and I'm stiff,

but then there's all the what ifs.

Oh. I don't know. People, I don't know how it is.

Like, you know, all of this stuff. Right.

Um, and so you, you know, once you find

what you're passionate about, whether it's gonna be,

you know, taking a painting class

or whether, you know, you, you wanna be taking, um, courses,

continuing education,

or if you wanna join a sport,

if you wanna join like a knitting

club or a book club Mm-Hmm.

Right. Like, you need to have that, um,

that, that connection.

But like how do you, how do you even get there if you're,

you know, if you have mental illness

and you can't even, you can't even, you know,

put those pieces together like where I was.

Um, I'm thankful that, you know, I,

I did have the triathlon going for that was the one thing.

But, um, yeah, without this I don't, I honestly credit

I didn't get emotional.

That's okay. Um,

I do believe that this was the reason why I was able

to get back into doing, um, you know, my day job

and just getting out more.

Um, and even just going on social media

and talking about it, you know,

I have like severe social anxiety and,

and the thing that people say is like, are you,

it's really, you never know.

And I'm like, well, it's because once you find

what you're passionate about, like

that just kind of falls away.

But, um, like I said, I've been taking it for seven years

and I, and I'm just back, like, I'm back into getting,

you know, like the day job

and that, that was when I finally got that it was delayed

by Covid, you know?

But then once I finally got the job

and I was just sitting there going, holy, you know, poop,

like I'm back.

Like that's where I felt it was. And I, yeah.

It's a loss of words. Right.

Congratulations though. It's like, yeah, we've,

the product is there and it's available,

but like, you obviously have to, you know, I think

that circumstances things line up and Mm-Hmm.

You're able to, was there a specific thing that you,

'cause you obviously you, you, you said that you

had tried these medications, they weren't working for you,

you were looking for another like, answer.

And did you just like, happen

to just go to the supplement store?

Is that, was that just like, did

that just ran, was that a random thought for you?

Because most, a lot of people never come outta that pattern.

Like 3, 4, 5 years of taking like those types

of psychotropic medications.

Mm-Hmm. That's a short period of time

for like most people who stay on.

I was on it for years. Yeah.

I was on, like, I had, uh, I have a history of, uh,

clinical depression, suicidal ideation,

self-harm since I was like teenage years.

Okay. Um, and so I, I've,

I've been on like, I can give you like a whole list Mm-Hmm.

Of medications, of stuff for depression

and anxiety and A DHD.

Um, I wasn't diagnosed, um, with a DHD learning disability,

gifted social anxiety until third year university.

And I totally burnt out. Mm-Hmm.

So, but even

before then, there was a depression, so I'm no stranger

to like the medications.

And it's just interesting how over the span of a lifetime,

um, you know, the depression kind

of morphed into the anxiety.

And then, you know, learning about myself

and figuring things out, like, um,

that just added the stress as well.

And, you know, it, it's just, um,

it wasn't, it wasn't working.

I think that was a piece.

And I often call the period, you know,

where you call it rock bottom

and I call like, that's my implosion Mm-Hmm.

I just, the social anxiety, I just shut myself off.

I curled up inside me.

I didn't, my parents, they would be emailing me

and calling me and I, I couldn't even email them

or phone them like my own family.

And they're like, what's going on? Are you okay?

And, you know, I'd say I, I'm just like really stressed out

and anxious and like, well,

what are you anxious or stressed out?

I'm like, I don't know. Mm-Hmm.

It, it's just is I often call, um,

I often call us social

or anxiety in general is a silent bully.

It's, it's just there. It's,

it's this thing whispering like all the what ifs, you know?

Okay. But have you thought about this?

Like, what if it goes wrong? And that's why it's so hard.

And I had to do a lot

of research into it, like, what's gonna help?

I looked at, you know, all these other, um,

cognitive behavioral therapies

and that, that helped a lot, um,

recognizing my thought patterns and all of that.

But how do you, how do you make

that transition from doing that?

And, you know, it was,

I could talk a lot about con like

my background's in psychology.

I have a degree in, um, psychology.

And, um, this was the thing like this

that was like the absolute pivot point for me to help, like,

come out of, out of it.

And, um, yeah. I don't know.

What else, what would you to say about that? What

Would you, what would you say to somebody who's on the

fence about, um, trying something, whether they're,

whether they've, they may not have stepped into the realm

of psych, of, of pharmaceuticals yet, yet,

but they might look at natural options as well.

What would you say to somebody

who's on the fence about that choice?

Absolutely try them. Um,

because I firmly believe that,

you know, just what they've done for me and it makes sense.

Like, it just makes sense.

Like, you have to feed your brain, you have

to feed your body of what it needs.

And, um,

everybody hears all like the information about processed

foods and how everything is, you know, like the, um,

it's not good for your body and,

and we need to eat, you know, people are going like,

I'm plant-based as well.

Like, I went in and looked at, um, my food sensitivities

and that's helped as well.

But I mean, you still need like that, that boost for sure.

'cause it's hard to eat all of that.

And food prices are going up. Right. Yeah.

Like how are you, how are you going to, to, it's,

it's expensive right?

Oftentimes to eat healthy and everything.

And so this, you know, it's again, like you mentioned,

it's gonna lay down the foundation.

I would absolutely recommend, I recommend this

to like almost everybody.

'cause a lot of people who I talk to, they mention, oh, I'm

so stressed out, or this or that.

And, you know, I, I'll always say, I'm not anti-medication.

Mm-Hmm. This is my experience with it.

If you have any questions, let me know. Here's the website.

Um, it's peer, peer reviewed by very reputable universities.

It's not some random thing, you know, they're double blind.

Yeah. Um, I read psych psychology journals for fun.

Like, and people find that way.

And I'm like, yeah, that's kind of my jam.

So like, I'm reading these journals, this is so cool.

Um, and I like the fact that those that is there, Mm-Hmm.

And from, you know what I've heard, it is one of the most,

uh, studied micronutrients out there

Significantly by a nu by a large number. Yeah.

And it's not just like the A DH adhd,

but it's in a, a variety of different contexts.

Yeah. Depression, anxiety. Yeah. Stress trauma, TBIs.

Yeah. Like the amount of studies we have

for this product, it's quite phenomenal.

And again, if that was again, more available to people

and people knew that there was significant research

behind some supplements, then they might also think

Differently. And they, and they

understand why it's important

to have the double blind study Yeah.

Where you are either getting a placebo

or the actual medication

and of course finding out whether's

statistically significant or not.

And it's interesting for me

'cause um, when I work, I work as an education assistant

and I work with kids who are stressed out

or they have, you know, um,

developmental conditions and all that.

But I am not allowed to, I'm not sure that,

of course, that's not my role.

Like, that's not the school's role to,

to recommend products.

So I'm sitting there going, oh,

I can only tell you about this.

You know, have you tried like, just, you know, so it's,

it's interesting in that way.

And it just shows again, like how much, um,

the world just needs shows like this

to teach people about like the importance

of like high quality,

properly balanced, you know, supplement

Nutrients. Yeah. And if you're

in Canada, like we have hundreds

of retail stores across the country

with very well trained staff.

Mm-Hmm. And we have our own like True Hope University where,

um, these, these employees, they go online in their own time

and they take, take a very in depth

educational experience with our products.

And they learn more. And they, we do live Zoom sessions

with them, so they're able to ask

all the questions that are coming in. So like,

Can I get in on that?

I would love to. Maybe we could talk

About that. I would love to. Like,

I would absolutely love to.

'cause sometimes I, I don't, I kind of tap out, you know,

with the knowledge and like the nerding out Mm-Hmm.

And so I'm like, well, here's the links.

But then there's always a part where you're like, oh,

I don't know if those people

are actually gonna take the links.

So. Right. You know, if I I I'll take any of

that information, then I can. And yeah.

So yeah, there's some, some very educated,

amazing people out there that know a lot about our products

and, um, you know, they work in these health food stores

and they experience people coming in, trying them

and having incredible experiences and coming back and again

and again and again and Yeah.

Like they don't see their pharmacists so much.

They they's they're time.

Literally, literally, I went in

and it, it just goes to show like, you do have,

whether you realize or not, you do have like a,

a relationship with your pharmacist.

'cause you know, I'd be going in so often,

like every month or so.

Right. And, and then I kind of walk in

and I'm like, oh, I haven't said, I haven't said hi

to the pharmacist in like a few years and I haven't.

And it's the same pharmacist that's there. Right.

And the ones that, um, in university,

even the pharmacy's still there.

And I dropped in like 10 years later and they remember me

'cause I was going in there so often.

Mm-Hmm. And that's, that's just like another indicator

of like, wow, what a change.

You know, they know me by name, they know

what medications I'm on.

Like they know a lot of that thing.

And I drop by like, I, like 10 years later

after I graduated from university, I went back

and I'm like, Hey, I just wanna drop in and say hi

and just let you know, like I'm off the medication.

I, and then I started talking about like, the true hope.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's, I think that's a good indicator if you start talk,

if you start, um, referring to your pharmacist

by their first name, then maybe, um, yeah, maybe you need

to step into maybe a different arena.

But, um, Mackey, this has been awesome.

Can you just tell us a little bit more how,

where can we find out more about, uh, try again project?

Uh, I'm on Instagram, so try again.

Project TR iCore again, underscore project.

And I'm also on Facebook.

I'm working on the website and everything like that.

Um, and so if you, if you search, try again.

Project hashtag TRI, again, project all jammed together,

it'll pop up and you can follow me there.

Uh, I'm at UBC triathlon. I do that every year.

Um, and then I do, you know, a bunch of other things online

and um, sorry, like races around bc Um,

I do, you know, open water swims amazing.

Yeah. Got a half marathon in there. Hopefully training.

Um, so yeah, if anybody wants to reach out and

Wonderful. Yeah. Well,

we'll make sure that those,

those links are available in our show notes of the,

of the, of the episode.

And if people do have any more questions

or they wanna check you out, they can do that.

Yeah. Awesome. But

Macie, thank you so much for

coming on the show. I appreciate it.

Yeah, thank you so much. Of

Course. Well that is, uh, that's

it

for this quite special on the road remote episode of um,

true Hope Cast, the official podcast of True Hope Canada.

We'll be back with you next week.