0:00

what do you think micronutrients role is when it comes to brain function

0:05

emotional regulation within the the scope of the people that you're working with

0:11

i think it is of the utmost importance to make sure that we're looking at nutrition and that

0:18

the patient is optimized from a nutritional standpoint because nutrition literally is the building blocks of us

0:25

like our DNA is made out of it our cells our mitochondria our neurotransmitters our

0:32

muscles our bones our our brains everything is made out of food you know essentially so um if I feel like it's

0:39

kind of like the foundation of a home if that is not sound there's going to be issues down the road right um nutrition

0:47

affects the way that our cells communicate with each other i mean it's just so important and it can be such

0:54

lowhanging fruit to address um and even the most like you said the most like

1:00

well-intentioned people they could be doing their best to eat like a really balanced diet and focus on fruits and

1:06

vegetables and whatnot and the food the quality of the food is not always there

1:17

[Music] hello and welcome to True Hope Cast the

1:23

official podcast of True Hope Canada a show where we take a deep dive into the many physiological and psychological

1:29

aspects of mental health in a world that is both beautiful and wild this is your space for motivation inspiration

1:35

knowledge and real solutions at True Hope Canada we are dedicated to supporting brain and body wellness

1:40

through non-invasive nutritional means because we believe that healing happens when we treat the whole person to learn

1:46

more please visit truehopcanada.com today's guest on the show is Britt Richie she's a mental health professional who works with

1:52

ambitious women carrying a heavy emotional and mental load often silently whether they are navigating imposter

1:58

syndrome perfectionism or just trying to keep it all together beneath the surface Britt helps them move beyond survival

2:04

mode through personalized root cause focus care she helps clients reconnect with their calm clarity and true sense

2:10

of self so confidence isn't just a mask it's something they really truly feel in this episode we're reimagining mental

2:17

health beyond medication and diagnosis and diving into why micronutrients are vital for psychological well-being brit

2:23

brings a fresh compassionate perspective that blends science nutrition and deep emotional healing if you're ready to

2:29

explore new paradigms of mental health you're in the right place don't forget to follow the show and tap the notification bell so you never miss an

2:35

episode enjoy the show okay hi Britt welcome to True Hope Cast thank you so

2:41

much for being with us today how are you and what's going well i am doing great i'm so glad to be here

2:47

thank you for inviting me and everything is going well for me this beautiful spring season the sun is shining and I'm

2:55

I'm feeling great and I'm happy to be here beautiful thank you well we're going to be talking about reimagining

3:02

mental health beyond medication and diagnosis today but before we jump into that topic would you mind just

3:08

explaining a little bit about who you are and what it is that you do sure so

3:14

you know you've invited me here because I'm a psychiatric nurse practitioner and I have been in this industry for over

3:22

eight years i was a medical nurse for 10 years before that and I've worked in a variety of fields i've worked in

3:28

community mental health i've worked in a small group practice i've worked in a hospital setting doing consultation

3:35

liaison psychiatry i'm certified for TMS for treatment resistant depression and OCD which is a non-medation treatment um

3:44

called transmagnetic cranial therapy um and I was a professor at the

3:50

University of Colorado here in um Denver for three years as well

3:56

awesome quite the resume yeah and now in regards to your work life how

4:02

have you transitioned from you know all of those different settings to where you are now

4:08

yeah so obviously I've worked in a lot of different settings i have quite a few years of experience i've treated kind of

4:16

every type of psychiatric condition worked with every type of person and I

4:21

have found that I have kind of gotten tired of the traditional model of

4:30

care and feeling kind of boxed into what I'm able to provide my patients um so I have decided to start

4:38

my own practice which is called Mind Alchemy Mental Health and I provide I practice

4:44

integrative psychiatry and I specialize in treating ambitious women with

4:49

symptoms of depression anxiety ADHD and burnout often in the context of

4:56

perfectionism and imposttor syndrome through this root cause integrative care and it allows me the freedom to provide

5:03

interventions that I wouldn't be able to provide in like a traditional model of care setting

5:10

interesting i've got a couple of questions about that um tell me about this traditional model of care that you

5:18

got fed up with and why yeah so

5:23

typically how um clinics are structured is that there are prescribers

5:30

psychiatrists like NPs and other and therapists and the goal is to see as

5:37

many people as we can in a day because people need care right so we're trying to see the most people as possible so

5:43

they have us working kind of at the top of our scope of practice which for me would be medication management because

5:50

therapists can't provide that service so that's kind of what I would do all day

5:57

every day i would see 16 20 patients a day kind of just talking about

6:02

medication and um I am longing to do something more than that

6:10

well that's like the you just basically described the conventional model of medicine right like um short

6:18

consultations medication management um and I just wonder like as a

6:25

practitioner what is it what is it exactly you kind of got tired of was it that routine was it the fact that that

6:31

was kind of you were in this kind of like reductionist model where you only really had like a very small toolbox to

6:38

work from what was it exactly that wanted that you felt like you wanted to

6:43

leave and do something for yourself because obviously you saw parts of the practice that weren't to your liking or

6:50

weren't efficient or weren't serving people like how would you describe that experience

6:56

yeah so I think there's multiple facets of that um one would be wanting to

7:03

provide more of a holistic approach by myself um and not having the time to do

7:08

that um another would be constraints or limitations set by insurance companies

7:14

as to really what would be reimbursed for

7:20

um another is kind of just straight up politics of different types of

7:26

establishments that you work for and I think that time is a big one not having

7:35

not having enough time to really cover everything that needs to be covered in my opinion to provide a good service

7:41

yeah and having to do tons of paperwork which appears to be the priority now

7:47

other than helping patients feel better yeah I think it certainly comes down to

7:53

time and how that best serves the individual let's say patient you said I think you said you had like 16 people a

7:59

day kind of crammed into probably like a eight hour window where you've um got

8:04

paperwork to do you've got to obviously have like your own breaks and all this other admin and things like that and I

8:11

wonder like I understand the idea like you want to see the the the system wants to see as many people being served as

8:18

possible but even if you were to like cut that number from 16 people to eight people and then double the time you're

8:24

with those individuals would that do you think that would have been like a way to

8:29

actually serve those people better and you'd actually end up in the long term seeing them less because you're able to

8:34

work with them more i think that is definitely a possibility because you're able to address more

8:40

things at one time you're able to do more of a thorough investigation and and that will provide

8:49

a better outcome yeah no questions about that yeah the the time people actually have with a

8:56

doctor Yeah can be like quite time restricting and you might not be even be able to get to all of the let's say

9:02

symptoms that people are having and dive into them a little bit a little bit deeper i remember when I finished um

9:08

practicing I I studied holistic nutrition for four years that's actually what brought me to Canada when I started working with individuals that are

9:15

primarily men in their mid to late 30s who weren't getting away with their um

9:22

dietary choices anymore mhm they were putting on weight they were getting slower they were having poor sleep um

9:29

issues in the bedroom like all these things were like coming up for them out of the blue and they've been to their

9:34

doctor about these things but when they had their initial consult with me it like my initial consult was 2 hours we'd

9:40

have this very long open conversation and by the end of it like we have created this alliance where there was a

9:48

lot of trust there um he these people were able to actually like sit in silence while they actually thought

9:54

about their answers rather than kind of being rushed to get everything out um and I just found that to be a really

10:02

therapeutic thing for not just myself as just like a practitioner and learning more intimate details about about my

10:09

clients but it's very rare that people are in experience where they're being

10:15

listened to with quality for two hours like people don't necessarily even have

10:21

that in their personal lives because everyone's busy i think a lot of people

10:26

are just kind of like waiting for their turn to speak next rather than like really like holding space for people and

10:32

yeah that that that time that you have to be quality time it's is very

10:41

very challenging i suspect I've not worked as a doctor in a conventional model so I don't know but I can imagine

10:46

like those time restraints really dictate the potential quality relationship you're going to have with a

10:52

with a patient or a client 100% i mean because not only are you kind of

10:58

strapped for time and not able to sometimes you have to kind of cut

11:04

people off just to kind of get through everything you need to get through in the short amount of time but also as

11:10

providers you are totally drained and depleted from working at that pace for

11:16

so long so it's not really doing anybody favors yeah well you're it's it's funny

11:22

because you're obviously in a health care setting and it ends up being like this

11:28

stressful state that everyone's kind of in like everyone from the people behind the admin desk to practitioners to

11:36

people in the waiting room etc it's more of a stressful environment rather than like this this healing recovery setting

11:42

so you specialize in helping ambitious women who are silently carrying so much

11:49

and I'd love to know what are some of the like more common emotional or psychological tales that indicate

11:55

someone is actually stuck in this survival mode even though from the outside they look fine they're high

12:01

functioning individuals but inside they're carrying a lot yeah so typically

12:07

like the picture that this brings to my mind is well burnout and someone

12:12

literally who looks like they've lost their spark so people are kind of feeling more well

12:21

burnout is really a sense of emotional and physical exhaustion and so people are looking fatigued they might not be

12:27

interacting as much as they used to kind of withdrawing um they will feel like very wired but

12:37

also tired um having cognitive issues so maybe they're not you

12:44

know they're not completing tasks and doing the things that they used to do at

12:49

the level that they had before they might be kind of dropping the ball so to speak more than they had in the past um

12:56

some cynicism or feeling disconnected u mood shifts someone who

13:02

typically used to be maybe upbeat or bubbly now can appear more apathetic or somewhat depressed or anxious um even

13:10

like physical symptoms can manifest from it as well like headaches or aches or pains or getting like sickness more than

13:18

usual people can even use substances to try to cope which could be you know

13:24

abnormal for that person so so there can be a lot of different signs kind of depending but but I think the

13:30

overarching theme would be someone who really looks like kind of that their

13:35

candle has been blown out they just not really their personality is different

13:41

than it had used to be they just really feel depleted and it and that is showing through in their interactions with

13:46

others and kind of the way that they're functioning in their daily life and do you think you could maybe explain

13:52

to us a little bit about like what's going on like biochemically with with people when they're experiencing that

13:58

because obviously people who are in that survival high stress mode and then that

14:04

burnout happens and it's kind of like a quick crash down and then we're talking about like those personality changes and

14:09

those even those changes in physical appearance that that may happen with that can you maybe explain a little bit

14:14

what's happening from that that high functioning um survival state and then

14:20

and then the drop off yeah sure so because these ambitious women are

14:26

accustomed to kind of going full throttle for everything that they do for so long they're they're in that chronic

14:34

kind of fight orflight mode so they've got the cortisol kind of chronically pumping through their body um and the

14:42

nervous system gets out of balance and eventually things must come crashing

14:47

down and so physiologically that's what you're seeing is this kind of chronic

14:52

stress response and then all of a sudden it just kind of gives out

14:58

yeah i think most people have probably got an example of um somebody in their

15:04

lives who have done who have experienced that even maybe themselves because we do

15:09

live in this culture this society where it is kind of like go go go being stressed and super busy is like some

15:16

sort of um model of success which I don't think so but that's kind of like

15:22

where we're at so yeah that that makes that makes a lot of sense for a lot of

15:27

people and are there any apart from maybe coming to see somebody like you what's the common um what's the common

15:35

pathway for someone who does experience this this burnout this big drop off and they start experiencing probably

15:41

psychological and physical symptoms what's the usual typical pathway that someone might take um especially these

15:47

these ambitious women that you're working with that they would usually take um like when they were going to go and see their their doctor or

15:53

practitioner what's the usual route yeah so I think um women like this tend

15:59

to try a lot of different things for one they might go to their primary care doctor if especially if they're having some kind of like physical symptoms to

16:06

just make sure that there's nothing going on kind of from a medical standpoint and then doing kind of all

16:11

those stereotypical self-care things like maybe going and getting like massages or spas or trying to exercise

16:18

or going on retreats are really common but burnout isn't a quick fix like that

16:25

it's really a lifestyle change and so trying lots of different kind of

16:30

self-care relaxation tactics but not really making any progress or maybe

16:36

feeling a little bit better in the short term but they're kind of going back to square one

16:41

so people typically go for kind of like more of a escapism type of therapy

16:47

whether that's for an hour at a massage or a couple of days at a retreat but then jumping straight into the routine

16:53

that's kind of got them into the place where they've felt like they've needed that but that's not quite getting to

17:00

maybe the root cause of how people are getting there yeah correct and I think

17:05

that women like this their mindset is like "Oh I just kind of got to suck it

17:10

up you know I can get through this take a little break and I'll get back on track and I've got this." But when

17:18

you've been going like I said full throttle for so long at some point in time something's got to give what are

17:24

some of the more like really um let's say dangerous symptoms or disorders that can

17:32

come from let's say fluctuating from that state of like you know high functioning burnout crash and then maybe

17:38

like resting relaxing for a bit and then going through it all again like people do this for decades right so are there

17:45

any like typical disorders that may may come from that especially hormonal I

17:50

guess would be an area yeah Well your your hormones do get out of whack from

17:57

this chronic stress response it's depleting resources from making stress

18:03

hormones into like pumping out cortisol so that can be something that um could

18:10

be determined with more of a medical workup but from a mental or

18:17

psychological standpoint I mean it can it can go a variety of ways people

18:23

can go from the sense of kind of emotional exhaustion or not caring apathetic state to getting depressed

18:31

yeah um because they don't see anything getting better obviously anxiety can be

18:36

a big picture because they're really struggling to hold everything together and it it's getting to be like too big

18:44

to manage um people can even feel suicidal because um they don't see a way

18:50

out or they've been feeling this way for so long and and sometimes people don't want to reach out because they feel like

18:56

they should be able to manage this and um they don't think their problems are

19:02

big enough to complain and so it can it can wear of it can transpire in a lot of

19:08

different ways yeah yeah it m it makes a lot of sense and especially when somebody is going

19:15

through those like very harsh like fluctuations and yeah women have this I

19:21

don't know high expectation within within our society to just like go go and do everything do do everything at

19:27

100 miles an hour take care of take care of the house take care of the kids take care of their career like it's it's ex

19:35

it must be so unbelievably exhausting and you obviously work with these these highly ambitious women and to try and

19:42

help them kind of like I don't know not like get back on track but I'd love to dive a little bit more into your actual

19:47

your own specific practice in your approach so it sounds like your approach moves beyond just traditional symptom

19:54

control so can maybe you could walk us through what root caused focused care

20:01

actually looks like in your practice sure so as you as a prior assistant

20:11

professor I truly believe and this is what I would teach my students is that a

20:16

thorough assessment I mean that is where you need to focus and if because if

20:22

you're missing the correct diagnosis your treatment plan might not work right so it starts

20:28

with really figuring out where did these symptoms begin so a traditional

20:34

psychiatric evaluation would be you know having a conversation with a client

20:40

about um their upbringing childhood experiences any type of trauma that may

20:45

have occurred even little things we call them big T's and little T's big traumas and little traumas little little T's can

20:53

add up we look at genetic predispositions is there a family history of any type of mental health

20:59

disorder um looking at a timeline when did these symptoms begin and what else was going

21:06

on in your life at that at that time that may have been contributing to that

21:11

so the conversational piece is huge and then once we have that information kind

21:17

of moving more into a medical um lens

21:22

and ruling out any type of medical condition that could be contributing to

21:28

their symptoms so I have kind of like a standard protocol that I follow when I'm

21:33

working with a with a patient and it could vary a little bit depending on their individual circumstances and age

21:40

and all all different types of things but generally it includes checking like their um a CBC or checking their blood

21:48

cells to make sure they don't have an anemia or an infection or something like that their kidney their liver their

21:53

electrolytes checking their thyroid that's a big one i can't even tell you how many times I've uncovered a thyroid

21:59

disorder checking their vitamin levels vitamin D like I think it 95% of people

22:05

that I see have vitamin D deficiency um B12 and folate you know and the list

22:11

goes on just to be very thorough and make sure that we've kind of covered all

22:16

our bases gathered all the information that we need to really make sure that we're making the correct diagnosis or at

22:22

least have a good idea of what it could be and and our differentials and then

22:28

developing that individualized treatment plan based on that beautiful

22:35

um and just you were saying at the beginning there in regards to obviously so important to get that initial

22:41

assessment and do do their best to get the right diagnosis is there are there are there cases where and you said the

22:48

trying to get the right diagnosis for the right treatment are there cases where you could get the wrong diagnosis

22:54

go down the wrong treatment plan and that could actually be like that could actually like exa exacerbate

23:00

problems yeah uh 100% that could happen in fact I worked with a woman just

23:06

recently that that exact thing happened to where she had been

23:12

I'm going to change the story a little bit to protect uh the patient's identity but um she had been having some medical

23:18

problems and was put on a medication to kind of treat what she was going through then she was having side effects from

23:24

that medicine and she was telling her team repeatedly "I don't do well on this

23:29

type of medicine i took it in the past i had this same experience and I'm having

23:35

it now and she felt like it was kind of falling on deaf ears and that she needed

23:41

to take this to kind of recover from this medical issue that she was experiencing and she was having

23:47

significant psychological um symptoms from this and it got so bad

23:53

that she ended up needing somewhat of a higher level of psychiatric care wow to

23:59

manage that and it's because people weren't listening they

24:06

weren't they weren't paying attention listening to the patient and she was kind of getting a lot of other things

24:11

thrown at her to try to treat it really what needed to be done was that one medication removed

24:19

taking a step back right yeah that's wild and yeah on that topic

24:25

I was going to ask you like I'm sure you have experienced so many people so many

24:31

um women that come to your practice who have been on loads of different medications but I wanted to get your

24:37

opinion on how do do you think that it's we doctors are way too quick to jump to

24:44

like a psychotropic medication when they have somebody who comes in who's experiencing you know these these these

24:51

changes in their psychological and phys physiological life because they're

24:56

experiencing burnout because they've just been going way too hard and they've got this crash and they go and see their doctor and they're expressing you know

25:02

anxieties or suicidal tendencies or depressions um and then they get thrown

25:07

onto you know in some cases like an SSRI which is you know it's a serious medication and do you think that people

25:14

are getting put on those a bit too easy i I I think that that can happen for

25:22

sure i think that there's good intention behind it but I feel like that that maybe could

25:30

be because we're not able to spend the amount of time that's really required to really understand the full picture that

25:37

could be premature in some cases and could cause more harm than good for some

25:43

people like I said probably really good intentions but maybe not necessary for some people definitely burnout isn't

25:51

really treated with anti-depressants that that's a whole different type of treatment so if we've put somebody on a

25:57

medication for the wrong condition we're not really doing them any favors no I can just imagine like

26:04

you know like somebody going to a doctor's office and explaining that you know they they're feeling tired they're fatigued they're run down they're

26:10

feeling like they've got sad thoughts all the time they're depressed and they're anxious i can just imagine that

26:16

they would get put onto something very very very quickly because I can't imagine like what other options really

26:21

like an alipathic doctor would have at their disposal in like an 8minute consultation mhm to give somebody to

26:28

take away with them because they they obviously want to provide them with something to improve their

26:34

circumstances as quickly as they possibly can and in 8 minutes it can be

26:40

bit bit of a struggle to you know really dive deep into you know this assessment that we're talking about

26:46

i I don't know how you could get anything done in eight minutes honestly yeah for sure and it can look

26:53

like depression and anxiety and people want to help and that is a tool that they're like "Oh these are the symptoms of depression and anxiety this can help

27:00

you out." Not always the case yeah um I'd love to talk to you a little bit

27:06

about like micro micronutrients and supplementation when it comes to like mental health because I think there's a

27:12

growing conversation about the the vital role that they play especially when we're learning how depleted our soil is

27:19

therefore our food is unbelievably nutrient poor and we've got the most

27:25

abundant amount of toxins we're being exposed to on a daily basis like never before in human history people are just

27:31

being bombarded so our liver for example is is having to work like

27:36

overload into dealing with these and if we're under nutrated as well like people are always just going to kind of be in

27:42

this state of deficiency this state of lack um so from your perspective why are

27:49

like what do you think micronutrients role is when it comes to their brain

27:55

function emotional regulation within the the scope of the people that you're working with

28:00

i think it is of the utmost importance to make sure that we're looking at nutrition and that

28:07

the patient is optimized from a nutritional standpoint because nutrition literally is the building blocks of us

28:15

like our DNA is made out of it our cells our mitochondria our

28:20

neurotransmitters our muscles our bones our our brains everything is made out of food you know essentially so um if I

28:29

feel like it's kind of like the foundation of a home if that is not sound there's going to be issues down

28:34

the road right um nutrition affects the way that our cells communicate with each

28:40

other i mean it's just so important and it can be such lowhanging fruit to

28:46

address yeah um and even the most like you said the most like well-intentioned people they could be doing their best to

28:52

eat like a really balanced diet and focus on fruits and vegetables and whatnot and the food the quality of the

29:00

food is not always there yeah for sure yeah i I think I think

29:06

more and more people are beginning to understand the the what the body is going through when

29:12

it's in this like high functioning high stress state and how that's very different to like when you're like on

29:18

vacation in Hawaii at the four seasons your body is biochemically like doing different things it's being able to

29:24

produce chemicals at different rates but when you're in this stress state your body's always kind of on the high alert

29:30

it's not um putting rest and repair as a priority when it comes to like you know

29:37

down to the genetic level down to your cellular level to your organs etc into these systems so there's going to be at

29:43

some point as we said before like when you hit this like burnout your body's unable to deal with what you are you

29:50

know expecting it to deal with especially with the the lack of nutrients it's getting to be able to

29:55

build the building blocks to build the co-actors to build the neurotransmitters all of these things that your body needs

30:02

that something kind of has to give whether you want to call burnout and

30:07

fatigue and depression anxiety whether you want to call these messages from their body that are just saying to

30:13

somebody listen like everything's not doing very well here i need some support

30:18

i need something different we need to we need to get this figured out because like physically the body cannot keep up

30:24

with the expectation here um yeah I feel like more people maybe recognizing a

30:30

little bit more about like how putting yourself in like a rest and digest and a

30:36

parasympathetic state be that through I don't know being in nature or being within community or working out whatever

30:42

that might be meditation yoga whatever um how valuable that type of thing is

30:47

and I think because it's like cheap easy and free to do those things maybe not so

30:52

much value is put on it but what do you think about that yeah I think that um yeah I agree i feel

31:00

like people know that they should do those things but they don't um and but if they were to practice them they would

31:08

realize the benefits that they provide and it's something you can do in your

31:13

own home on your own time and is incredibly valuable like our nervous

31:18

systems are disregulated from this go go mentality that um you know we're

31:24

struggling with on a day-to-day basis and taking time for yourself to reset

31:32

that nervous system and put yourself in like the parasympathetic nervous system that rest that chill out mode um can

31:39

help decrease cortisol and stress and goes a long way for improving your

31:44

mental health and your physical health as well yeah and I think when you're able to have like these longer form

31:50

assessments that you're talking about I'm sure you've got like a very specific intake form where you're kind of like going through ticking all the boxes in

31:57

regards to having conversations about the m the holistic holistic side of the

32:03

different aspects of somebody's life um and many people don't realize that that

32:08

nutrient imbalances nutrient deficiencies can mimic or exa exacerbate

32:14

this psychological disorders so I wonder if have you got any examples or stories of people who have been really supported

32:21

just through nutritional interventions yes I have a lot of those um I would

32:27

have to say like especially for older adults like it's really common knowledge that if they're ex experiencing symptoms

32:34

of like depression anxiety cognitive changes even up to psychosis like it's

32:40

standard to check things like vitamin D and vitamin B12 thamine folate um

32:45

because these are reversible causes and obviously in older adults um that

32:52

there's more risk factors for that but the same exists for younger people too and so I think it it's absolutely so

33:00

common to come across this and I've seen so many patients like most recently I

33:05

was working with like a 30 30-ish year old female with depression and anxiety

33:11

that she'd been on a couple of SSRIs had maybe a little bit of a response but but

33:17

not near to where she was feeling well came in we ran through like those um

33:24

standard labs that I spoke about earlier and uncovered a vitamin D deficiency and

33:29

B12 deficiency she was also a vegetarian which can be a big clue to really check

33:35

out um a person's nutritional status which unfortunately had been missed and

33:41

so we replenished these vitamins and within a couple of months she was feeling so much better her brain fog had

33:50

cleared she had her energy back her mood had lifted anxiety way down and so now

33:56

what we're focusing on is kind of trimming away at the anti-depressant

34:01

medication that she had been on and I mean people make people that feel like

34:06

they will never get better can get so much better with something as simple as

34:12

like vitamin D i mean it it's amazing and again like kind of back to what you were saying about like the mindfulness

34:17

practices people think oh vitamin D not like a big deal but it it is it can be

34:22

life-changing and I've seen it many times amazing thanks for that that's that that's really amazing to hear and

34:29

I'm here at True Hope Canada i'm kind of in charge of all of our marketing and I I see all the the emails and messages on

34:36

the website social media messages of people who have used our product and and have had significant success in kind of

34:44

like lifting that veil of depression or anxiety that's stopping them from like doing all the other things that they

34:50

know are going to benefit them and the things that provide them happiness whether that's exercise or going out for

34:56

dinner with a friend or cooking a good meal rather than getting takeout and at

35:01

the end of the day like it's just good quality nutrition being able to like fulfill the the requirements needed and

35:09

what's quite special about Empire Plus which which is our our flagship product here at True Hope Canada um we put our

35:16

ingredients especially our vitamins and minerals in bioavailable forms and we chate our minerals for 4 days the

35:22

industry standard is four hours so the and that's all through a patented processor at True Hope so our minerals

35:29

are able to actually get through the bloodb brain barrier and actually nutrate cells within the brain and

35:34

that's why we see so much um kind of I want to say quick recovery but like fast

35:40

impact people like in days can start to feel their brain kind of like firing again and therefore they're able to like

35:46

as I say lift this veil and be able to do all these other things because it's not like this one supplement or this one nutrition this one vitamin or mineral is

35:54

going to like cure people but it's it's like it's this building block that can give people like a little bit of a

35:59

motivation to reduce a symptom to help them kind of really get to the root cause and begin um creating kind of new

36:06

habits around their health and wellness and it's just so um it's almost like magical to see like something that's

36:12

like so cheap and so easy to be able to start providing the body and at the end

36:18

of the day we're just giving the body these necessary vital nutrients in in

36:23

good quality forms then the body kind of like just takes care of the rest so we're not really doing too much we're

36:28

just we're just supplementing and providing the body what it needs right

36:33

and it's an amazing product i know that it has been thoroughly researched in multiple countries and has incredible

36:41

results and it's actually the um broadspectctrum micronutrient therapy

36:46

that was recommended in the integrative psychiatry training that I attended so I know that it is a very powerful you know

36:54

vitamin that um yeah when we're looking at a person like nobody is suffering

37:00

from zolaf deficiency right no they're not no so um I mean yes these

37:10

like small but mighty um big impact and and that's where it's at going back to

37:15

nature and you can almost guarantee that most people are nutrient deficient in in

37:21

one or the other and you can usually guess probably what what that's going to be just through through some you know simple questions and testing but at the

37:28

end of the day like our food is not what it used to be um we are stressed out

37:33

more than ever we are taking in these toxins more than ever so supplementing with good quality products and that's

37:40

that's that's really important because there are in Canada anyway most products on the shelves are not great mhm and

37:47

there's a very small percentage which are really really good which is great because you you know you don't have to go there and pick from a thousand

37:54

different bottles if you know which companies are doing a good job and they've got the research to back it but taking good quality supplementation is

38:01

absolutely vital so we you know we we do our best to work with psychiatrists and retail stores around Canada to get their

38:07

staff educated on the fact that you know this product uh and micronutrients in general can work so well for people but

38:14

obviously it's starting at the that that that diagnosis stage that investigatory stage where people can actually have

38:21

conversations with qualified health practitioners to to to find out what they might be lacking and begin by

38:28

supplementing that because there's no there's no credible source from Health Canada anyway that would point to a

38:33

natural health product causing a death so why not why not go for it first you

38:38

know absolutely yeah i mean it's a lowrisk high potential return on

38:45

investment product that um I mean everybody should be taking something

38:50

like this i want to talk a little bit more about your work especially around uh

38:55

perfectionism and imposter syndrome and burnout and these are obviously so

39:00

common in in in in women that you that you see why do you think these patterns are so persistent and how do you help

39:07

clients begin to kind of un unwind them what are those initial conversations like

39:14

yeah so um typically perfectionism develops early on that's something that

39:21

usually begins in adolescence um for a variety of reasons

39:26

different contributors to that um but it becomes very ingrained because it gets

39:32

reinforced oh if I do really well on this test my parents give me attention

39:38

or you know I have a lot of friends because I am um you know the best player

39:44

on the volleyball team or or whatever and and so because of that positive

39:52

feedback these behaviors persist it's really a coping mechanism

39:57

um and women then will tend to be at the top of their class or get positions at

40:04

work and um that are more prestigious

40:09

and they just continue to feel this desire to achieve and work at the

40:14

highest level that they're able to and because kind of the un like the the

40:20

underbelly of it is a sense of not being good enough and not um feeling like you

40:27

deserve it and feeling like you worked so hard that it it probably like

40:33

somebody else should be in this position it shouldn't really be you like that contributes to the imposttor syndrome

40:38

and it kind of just snowballs and entangles with um anxiety and and then

40:44

burnout and so um unwinding it it goes back to that

40:51

that history taking in that timeline like figuring out when did these symptoms begin what are some um events

41:01

that could be contributing or making symptoms worse and trying to figure out

41:09

you know the like I said the root cause and then addressing it from there on out and fortunately most of these um

41:17

conditions that I treat they have similar treatment plan in the therapy realm so um you can address these things

41:25

at the same time and I guess when you're having these like initial conversations with people

41:30

and you're kind of like helping them back track to where they're at and what what might be like primary contributors

41:37

I feel like that's most likely for the patient for for the person you're speaking with a really

41:44

helpful enlightening process because they're able to actually like take a few steps back and realize where when and

41:52

where they slip into those types of patterns absolutely and I mean that all of this

41:57

can be on a spectrum and some people have very very overt perfectionistic

42:03

tendencies and they are very aware of it and some people really aren't aware so

42:09

really exploring that with people can provide insight and just knowing like having an understanding of maybe why I

42:17

am behaving the way that I am and the thoughts and the beliefs that I have can already help with treatment and moving

42:24

forward and um beginning to live life in a way where we're not so caught up in how well we're

42:31

doing and achieving but able to enjoy the things that are really important to us yeah and I know in your content on

42:38

your site you talk about um helping clients shift from performing confidence

42:43

to actually feeling confident um can you tell us a little bit about that and like you know what what shifts make that

42:50

possible for someone mhm so yeah 100% it's so important to present have this

42:58

persona or this mask of confidence and oftent time people just feel very very

43:06

weak underneath that tough exterior and so the work really is done in therapy

43:12

and it's learning how to how to raise your self-esteem by doing things that

43:18

are not achieving and and exposing yourself to experiences where you are

43:25

getting this positive feedback from being authentic and um just really working on

43:33

doing a lot of inner work in that realm to to put less emphasis on being

43:39

successful and achieving goals and being perfect and um and getting that same

43:46

type of reward from other things and it's not a fast process it takes time

43:51

for sure but um that's how it's done beautiful yeah that's great and I just

43:57

want to finish up with maybe pro providing people with some ideas and solutions which they can take into their

44:04

into their into their lives into their days right now but what does mental health re-imagined like mean to you and

44:11

what's one mind shift um mind sorry mindset shift you kind of love every

44:17

listener to take away from like this conversation

44:22

today yeah so I think mental health re-imagined is really just kind of

44:29

throwing this boxed model of care out the window because in my opinion it's just not

44:37

working for a lot of people and so taking a much different approach to

44:42

treatment than um what are your symptoms okay let's start this medicine now

44:47

you're going to go over here and you're going to get this therapy and it's very peacemealed together and people have in

44:54

their mind like oh talk therapy oh anti-depressant that's not going to work for me and it doesn't work for a lot of

45:00

people so coming up with a new fresh approach to mental health care which is truly holistic which is a service that I

45:07

provide um to work on kind of fulfilling all these areas of a person's life not

45:14

just addressing their low mood and their fatigue but their social relationships

45:19

their their um physical fitness expanding upon this kind of

45:25

basic model that I think most people associate with psychiatric services

45:32

today and as far as like what I would like people to take away is that there are other options out there than this

45:39

kind of traditional stereotypical model of care to help you

45:46

through your tough times and it's not um there's no shame in in seeking this help

45:52

there's a lot of different treatment options and people that care and you're not in this alone

45:58

beautiful and I've just got one more question for you that's just kind of popped into my head here for those people who are working with

46:04

like a pri working with their primary care practitioners what are there any maybe like red flags that they could

46:10

look out for to to maybe understand that maybe this isn't the right person for me

46:15

to be working with and maybe they should be looking for somebody more like you

46:21

i think probably the biggest flag that could be raised would

46:26

be something that you spoke to earlier which is not feeling like you're being listened to

46:33

um just not having the time devoted to you and the listening ear um because

46:41

that really limits what can be done to help you achieve your goals and get you

46:46

feeling better and so I I think there's one takeaway that would be it beautiful

46:51

that's wonderful i think that's some really great advice that people can jump into right now so maybe you could just

46:56

let us know where people can connect with you and can learn more about your work sure so um my practice is called

47:04

Mindal Alchemy Mental Health and it's at mindalchemyalhealth.com is my website you can also find me on social media i

47:11

have Instagram page it's the same mind Alchemy Mental Health YouTube i'm out there and I would love it if you have

47:17

questions to reach out to me my email is on my website i would love to hear from you and help you in any way that I can

47:25

amazing well I'll make sure that all those links are available for people so they're just a click away from learning more about you and even connecting so uh

47:31

that's awesome Brit thank you so much for coming on the show i really appreciate your time today you're welcome i loved being here thank you for

47:37

having me of course and you'd never know everybody listening and watching that this was Brit's first ever podcast

47:44

episode but she's absolutely wonderful i hope to get her back on the show soon and without question you need to be on

47:50

more and more podcasts spreading your knowledge and your inspiration and and your and your motivation um so please

47:58

continue to do that and have the more of these conversations because we need them okay we'll do thank you so much awesome

48:05

okay well that is the that is the that is it for this episode of True Hope Cast the official podcast for True Hope

48:11

Canada again you can check out the show notes for links to connect with Brit uh

48:16

and find out more about her work but um yeah that is it for this week we will see you soon

48:23

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