0:00

from like a sematic lens is that trauma also shows up in our body in different capacities, right? And I think if we look at there's been some studies done

0:07

7 seconds

on like individuals who have higher AC scores will have higher heart rates um and different different physiological responses to trauma. Um and so I think

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16 seconds

that if we're able to acknowledge that and look at like okay my and and I'm going to just use an example of like

0:23

23 seconds

experiencing anxiety. uh when I'm starting to experience anxiety, I notice that my hands start to get clammy or I

0:30

30 seconds

start to feel it in my stomach. And there is often those physiological warning signs um beforehand that we

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37 seconds

might not traditionally notice. Um but if we're able to notice them before it kind of turns into a panic attack or

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turns into um an elevated emotional or mental health response, then that can be really beneficial. And

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so I think that really getting in touch with our bodies is really important um for trauma recovery and for trauma

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healing. [music]

1:04

1 minute, 4 seconds

[music]

1:09

1 minute, 9 seconds

Welcome to True Hope Cast, the official podcast of True Hope Canada. I am your host, Simon Brazia. At True Hopecast, we explore the many physiological and

1:17

1 minute, 17 seconds

psychological dimensions of mental health, seeking to provide motivation, inspiration, knowledge, and practical solutions for living well in a beautiful

1:26

1 minute, 26 seconds

but sometimes wild world. Today's guest is Stephanie Mallister. She is a counselor, researcher, and entrepreneur who is passionate about making

1:34

1 minute, 34 seconds

professional mental health care more accessible to Canadians. She is the founder of Virtual Connect Counseling Clinic, a Canadawide practice helping

1:42

1 minute, 42 seconds

individuals and couples receive support from the comfort of their very own homes. We explore the growing understanding that mental health is

1:49

1 minute, 49 seconds

never just psychological. Healing the mind requires supporting the whole person, including the brain and the body, and we'll discuss how therapy,

1:56

1 minute, 56 seconds

lifestyle, and proper nutrition can help work together to support lasting recovery. Stephanie brings wisdom, compassion, and practical insights that

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2 minutes, 5 seconds

I know you'll find encouraging and empowering. Here is my conversation with Stephanie Mallister. Enjoy the show.

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2 minutes, 11 seconds

Stephanie, hi. Welcome to True Hope Cast. How are you? What is going well?

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2 minutes, 16 seconds

Hello. Hello. Thank you very much for having me. I am doing very well. Happy to be on the show.

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2 minutes, 22 seconds

Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, we just chatted before. I'm in Cam Loops. You're in Vancouver. That's like only a few hours away. So, it's not often we get to have someone local on the call, which

2:31

2 minutes, 31 seconds

is, you know, really, really good. So, yeah, thank you again for being here.

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2 minutes, 34 seconds

We're we're going to be discussing healing beyond talk, trauma, nutrition, and the future of mental health today.

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2 minutes, 41 seconds

But before we jump into that, can you let us know a little bit about who you are and what it is that you do?

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2 minutes, 48 seconds

Absolutely. Um, so my name is Stephanie Mallister and kind of live in two worlds. I am a clinical psych or clinical psychotherapist.

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2 minutes, 57 seconds

um and the owner of virtual connect counseling clinic. Um and so I run the practice and then I also do um some counseling. I've spent a lot of my

3:04

3 minutes, 4 seconds

career in trauma therapy and trauma work. Um and then in my other world I have done quite a bit of research in the realm of addictions working on

3:12

3 minutes, 12 seconds

prevention projects um as well as working on uh detox and recovery centers. So kind of lived in the

3:20

3 minutes, 20 seconds

clinical world both in research and um in actual practice. [snorts] Amazing. Great intro. Love it. Thank you very much for that. Yeah, some different

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3 minutes, 29 seconds

areas which is really really cool. Um, just like as a as a side, what is there a particular passion that comes from like a a life experience or a loved one?

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3 minutes, 40 seconds

Like I feel like so many amazing people, practitioners we have on the show, you know, their passion, their drive, their career is stem it stems from, you know,

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3 minutes, 47 seconds

something happening in their lives and they're going out there trying to benefit the world.

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3 minutes, 52 seconds

Yeah, I think a combination of a couple things. I was one of those really weird people who in like grade seven I vividly remember being like I want to be a

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4 minutes

counselor. Um so I kind of just always knew. Um and then I have had a lot of um people kind of in my personal life

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4 minutes, 8 seconds

who've struggled with addictions and just seeing the implications of that. Um and then throughout my undergrad and

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4 minutes, 15 seconds

then following that kind of got into the world of addictions research and then obviously also uh brought that over into the clinical world as well. So, that's

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4 minutes, 24 seconds

kind of how that all came to be. Um, yeah, let's talk about healing beyond, you know, just talking. We've had I said to

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4 minutes, 31 seconds

you before we went live here that we've had so many amazing different types of of therapists on the show. We have so

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4 minutes, 38 seconds

many options for people to to be able to connect and be supported by somebody to help them out. It's just just just

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4 minutes, 46 seconds

amazing. But, you know, kind of for decades, mental health treatment has really primarily focused on thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

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4 minutes, 54 seconds

Why Why do you think we're beginning to recognize that healing often needs to go beyond just talking alone and and

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5 minutes, 2 seconds

addressing the whole person, the mind and body?

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5 minutes, 5 seconds

Well, I think that one of the biggest things um is from like a sematic lens is that trauma also shows up in our body in different capacities, right? And I think

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5 minutes, 13 seconds

if we look at there's been some studies done on like individuals who have higher AC scores will have higher heart rates um and different different physiological

5:21

5 minutes, 21 seconds

responses to trauma. Um and so I think that if we're able to acknowledge that and look at like okay my and and I'm

5:30

5 minutes, 30 seconds

going to just use an example of like experiencing anxiety. Uh when I'm starting to experience anxiety I notice that my hands start to get clammy or I

5:39

5 minutes, 39 seconds

start to feel it in my stomach. And there is often those physiological warning signs um beforehand that we

5:45

5 minutes, 45 seconds

might not traditionally notice. Um but if we're able to notice them before it kind of turns into a panic attack or

5:52

5 minutes, 52 seconds

turns into um an elevated emotional or mental health response, then that can be really beneficial. And

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6 minutes

so I think that really getting in touch with our bodies is really important um for trauma recovery and for trauma healing.

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6 minutes, 9 seconds

That's an interesting point you just made there, Pete. Becoming, you know, in touch with your bo with with our bodies.

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6 minutes, 14 seconds

Do you think that just our our current culture makes that more of a challenge?

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6 minutes, 20 seconds

I've had the conversation with a few people on the show where I feel like we've we've lost this like this this sense, this ability to know our bodies a

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6 minutes, 28 seconds

little bit better. I think that in traditional cultures, dance, breath work, like all these types of things would have been actual traditional

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6 minutes, 37 seconds

traditional methodologies that we would have had like as as tools in our in our tool tool chest to deal with situations when when they come up. Do you think do

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you agree with that? Do is there any like research on that? Do you think we've maybe like lost a little bit of our ability to let's say self-regulate or deal with the traumatic things that happens to us?

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6 minutes, 57 seconds

I don't know. I can't like think of a specific research study, so I I won't quote anything there. But I I will say I think that as we like just zoom out from

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7 minutes, 5 seconds

our general society, like we live in such a fast-paced environment now, right? Like with access to social media, having the entire internet in the palm of our hands and a phone at all times.

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7 minutes, 15 seconds

And I think there's there's always a distraction and there's always something to pay attention to. There's always something that's grabbing our attention.

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7 minutes, 23 seconds

And that's in my opinion grabbing away from maybe that like focus of what's actually happening within my body. And

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7 minutes, 31 seconds

if I am to stop and like like you said like do some breath work um maybe I'll notice that like oh my back's really tense and and I didn't notice that

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7 minutes, 39 seconds

before. Why is that? Is that physiological response? Is there an emotional part to that? Um, so yeah, I can't necessarily quote a research

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7 minutes, 47 seconds

study, but I definitely would would say that um, we live in such a fast-paced society that it has moved us away from

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the very general expression of stop and smell the roses.

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Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Well, we I mean, we I just obviously I can't imagine what it was like to live 20,000 years ago,

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but living now just with everything that we have, especially like big cities, you know, you're in Vancouver, which is a big city. I'm from London, which is a

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8 minutes, 13 seconds

monstrous city, and you can't not um like feel the the energy, the stress, the anxiety that

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8 minutes, 21 seconds

everyone's in to like go go go and get things done. And that cultural evolution that we do have in big cities, smaller cities, even you know, towns, etc.

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8 minutes, 31 seconds

That's not really how our physiology has evolved like biologically speaking in regards to like being being responding

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8 minutes, 40 seconds

to stress. You know, I think we're, you know, our biology is designed to deal with stress in very acute short phases and bursts, but it's having to be

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engaged in like really long periods of time, and that's that's not something yet that our biological evolution is really caught up with yet. What do you think?

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I do agree. And I think that the the biggest thing that comes to mind for me is distraction and the whole like when you live in that hustle and bustle and

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9 minutes, 5 seconds

constantly moving and um you have distractions and so it's it's more of an intentional time to reconnect with our

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9 minutes, 13 seconds

bodies. I think that's what you're referencing as opposed to yeah big cities there's there's a lot of movement a lot going on.

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9 minutes, 21 seconds

Yeah. And when we do take the time to, you know, get out of the silly city and go get skiing or go camping or even just

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9 minutes, 28 seconds

like going for a hike or a walk with a loved one or or the dog, I feel like it's uh the really quite amazing thing that we're able to do. But it would have

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9 minutes, 37 seconds

been that would have been the absolute norm every single day from waking up to going to bed and that's how you know how

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9 minutes, 43 seconds

the environment has helped dictate our biology and vice versa. So yeah, it's it's just just an interesting thing that we really have to be conscious and aware

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9 minutes, 51 seconds

and put the time in and be dedicated to helping our minds, helping our bodies with our behaviors to to get them in a

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place where we can restore, replenish, and you know, maybe deal with some of the things that happen to us.

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Yeah, absolutely. And and I like that you said that. So I'm I'm originally from Ontario and I do I will give BC a lot of credit that you can go out and go

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on a hike and go go skiing or go on a camping trip in a different way. And and I do think that that really helps to connect with your body and connect in like a grounding grounding way.

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Yeah. I think yeah, the environment in which we grow up in is super interesting because you know I'm from I'm from the UK and you'd have to you have to go to like you have to go off the off that

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island into Europe to find a hill that isn't like 50 feet more than 50t tall.

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And I find that that's that's interesting because it's just like flat cities everywhere. You just go from town to town and to be in the awe of nature

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is quite a challenge for a lot of those a lot of those places like you know the England is 52 54 million people that's

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nearly twice the twice the population of Canada and it's like where where are you supposed to go to find solace and calm and in a lot of these countries so it's

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11 minutes

it's it's a real challenge for a lot of people but we do you know we we certainly do have options. I think as you get older, you recognize that, you

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know, just like you, we need to try and eat as best as we can, we need to try and move our bodies as best as we can, we need to like literally put our

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physical body in a place of of nature to help just like recalibrate and finally like rest our minds.

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Yeah, absolutely. And to create the time for that, I think it's like you said, it's not something that is just going to be handed to you. You kind of have to carve out that space.

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Yeah, it's a commitment just like anything else. Absolutely. So, you know, there's always ways ways around those things. Um, I want to talk about trauma like living in the body and what that

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means. And I've got I've got like a scripted question here that I thought up when I was looking at your your website and your work, but I wanted to ask you what do you think in regards to like where is our trauma response primed?

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There's obviously many factors to that, but and it's a probably a massive question, but I don't know if you're able to like narrow that down a little bit. I'd love to be able to understand

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from your you you know you're way more experienced in in this than I am but yeah like that that trauma response that we all have that all seems to be very unique and different where where does it originally become primed.

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Yeah that's such a good question and as you were asking I think of like three answers immediately. So yeah it's a broad one. Um, but first and foremost, I

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I always like to say that any reaction to trauma is a normal reaction because it's a reaction to an abnormal experience, right? And I think we

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sometimes have this feeling of like, oh well, is this a normal response or is this a regular reaction to this? And and I just kind of want for listeners to

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hear like any reaction to a traumatic event is a normal response because your body is reacting to something that is abnormal. Um, and I think from more of a

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clinical standpoint, there is the categories, right? Like there's people who react in the fight, flight, freeze,

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and fawn responses. Um, and that's either obviously fight is like you're going to kind of confront the situation,

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12 minutes, 59 seconds

confront the issue, you freeze, you kind of clam up, don't really know what to do. Uh, fawn kind of goes into the category of people pleasing,

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right? A flight, and then a flight is obviously kind of running or fleeing the situation. And so I think that those would be categorized as like our

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physiological responses to trauma um depending on the person. And like I said, I do think that each person um

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experiences trauma differently um and in their reaction. Those are kind of the four areas that are are most common. Um

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and then the third thing that came to mind for me and this is a lot more of like an individualistic uh perspective to trauma and that is that depending on

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13 minutes, 40 seconds

the events that have happened sometimes we feel trauma in our body related to that event. And so what I mean by that is let's say you were in a really

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13 minutes, 49 seconds

traumatic car accident and you felt it in your arm and then when we're discussing that traumatic situation,

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you feel it in your arm and that's because that's where the experience took place for you. And so I think that to

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answer your question, I think there's a lot of areas, but I also do think that there is a specific to the event that took place. I' I've noticed that just in

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working with people over the years that sometimes they'll feel things where it happened for them if that makes sense.

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Absolutely. And you said the reaction to an abnormal event. I'd love to explore that a little bit because you know for

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for my friend John uh for just just making a name up he you know his abnormal event that he could his event that he could react to would be

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something that you know I wouldn't consider to be like abnormal for example. So where is what do you mean by like abnormal for and also for like a

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lot of people maybe previously previously in their life what like causes them to have a big reaction now

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is abnormal but before they didn't have a reaction to it so like what what would have changed there? Yeah. And I think that um in relation to this, it's also

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trauma comes from a place of the narrative that we tell ourselves, right?

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And I think to what your point is is that some people are going to react one way and other people are not going to have a reaction at all.

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Um the narrative that we tell ourselves, what we make of a situation is more important than any event. Right?

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if somebody and I'm going to use I always like to go back to a car accident because it's kind of a a very common trauma and kind of known about. Um but

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let's say if you and I were in the same car accident and for me I told myself like oh my god like I think my life was ending like I thought I was going to die

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and you were like oh like I realized that it was just going to be a fend a bender and we were going to walk away.

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I'm gonna have probably a much higher trauma response to that because the threat that I perceived was significantly higher.

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And I think that that is in and of itself a really important feature of how we understand and interpret um trauma is

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what did we tell ourselves about the event? What did the event mean to us?

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What was the symbol? Um, and that creates more of a trauma response than kind of anything else, if that makes sense.

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Yeah, I love that. I think that cuz what I try and do is try like try and hold myself with as much empathy and understanding for people at any point

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ever. Even if there's someone driving horrifically, I kind of try and imagine that it's my like grandma or my some friend's grandma in the front seat to

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16 minutes, 30 seconds

just like kind of chill myself out. But I think that that's um know to to recognize when somebody

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16 minutes, 38 seconds

is struggling from something that I would I wouldn't react to or I would just try and maybe like just pull my socks up or something like recognizing

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16 minutes, 45 seconds

that their their life experience is going to be like viciously different than mine. Um and you mentioned about like what did that event mean? you know,

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obviously that, you know, the event happens and then from there there's going to be thoughts, emotions, behaviors that that that probably rise

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up for like many weeks or even months or even years for people. And I wonder what the what the brain does and the body does in

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17 minutes, 9 seconds

a in a trauma response like that depending on the circumstances that you're actually in like pre-event. So, like, you know, if I'm driving and I'm

17:17

17 minutes, 17 seconds

really like anxious about like all this stuff that's going on and that and my buddy next door, my my my buddy in the the passenger seat is just like sitting

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17 minutes, 26 seconds

there chilling to music, doesn't have a care in the world, and we both have this accident. I wonder what what because I was already in like a prime stress

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17 minutes, 34 seconds

response, what that would do to the to the future of that situation. Plus, I'm driving as well, like, you know, I'm kind of responsible for that other

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17 minutes, 41 seconds

person. You think what I could have done? Is this my is this my fault? These are all things obviously come up. But do you know what I mean in regards to like

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17 minutes, 49 seconds

where am I in my life and world when this like bad thing happens and how that will guide my experience post event.

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Absolutely. And I think the biggest thing and what you said there that I think is really important is is there something I could have done different?

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What was my role in this? And I think that um in and of itself, the ownership that we take over events um can be

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18 minutes, 16 seconds

really hard, right? Like if you've been in a situation where it's like, oh, like what else could I have done, right? And

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18 minutes, 23 seconds

feeling that sense of a lack of control is also really hard, right? Like it's like, oh, if I had swerved this way, then maybe me and my friend wouldn't

18:32

18 minutes, 32 seconds

have been in this scenario, right? and the level of responsibility and then also um our our ability to cope and deal

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18 minutes, 40 seconds

with things, right? Like if you're already in a state where you're feeling really really anxious, a car accident ironically might actually just kind of

18:49

18 minutes, 49 seconds

be like, oh, just another thing to add to the list as opposed to somebody who's feeling calm and then has this big event take place, which is kind of an

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18 minutes, 57 seconds

interesting flip and maybe not what is often perceived. But yeah, that would be that would be something to consider. Yeah, I mean there's so many factors.

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19 minutes, 6 seconds

It's like, you know, how how did your parents deal with bad situations? are certainly going to have an impact when you're younger and you're kind of unconscious to the idea of dealing with

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19 minutes, 14 seconds

bad things. And um the schools we're in, the school we're in, the the our friend groups, like all of these things that I guess probably have like different

19:22

19 minutes, 22 seconds

factors. That's why, you know, it's so complex in regards to like, you know, what is that individual going through and what's the brain telling them? And

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19 minutes, 30 seconds

we could go on forever about that. Like that's why it's that's why we barely know anything about the brain, right?

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19 minutes, 35 seconds

You know, like it's this super unbelievable complex thing that we barely know anything of. and you know within like 10 years what we do know is

19:42

19 minutes, 42 seconds

not not right and all these things. So yeah it's it's what can we what can we use right now to kind of help and

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19 minutes, 49 seconds

support people is is obviously more really really important but I want to talk about EMDR and and reprocessing

19:56

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trauma. So yeah EMDR has become you know one of the most talked about therapies for trauma I'd say. Um, can you explain

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20 minutes, 4 seconds

a little bit more about like how it works, why it can help people move beyond experiences that have, you know, maybe kept people stuck for years, sometimes even decades.

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Yeah, absolutely. And and I love your comments about the brain. It's the irony in the fact that the brain doesn't understand the brain. Um, but when it

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20 minutes, 22 seconds

comes to EMDR, it's a very I will say it's a very scripted form of counseling and it's very connected to

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20 minutes, 30 seconds

um, so the way I would explain EMDR to clients starting out is that when we experience a traumatic event, um, it's stored in one memory network of the

20:38

20 minutes, 38 seconds

brain and the ability to process that is stored in another memory network of the brain. And through EMDR, we work to connect those two kind of parts of the

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20 minutes, 47 seconds

brain and process it. Um, and that's done through what's referred to as like bilateral stimulation, either visually,

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20 minutes, 55 seconds

auditory, or um through physical, the sensation of tapping, hearing, or seeing kind of like a light bar go across your

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21 minutes, 3 seconds

eyes. Now, with EMDR, the goal is to kind of I don't want to say make sense

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21 minutes, 10 seconds

of, but make sense of an event and process it and be able to put it to rest. You're not going to forget the event. Um, I have had some clients

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21 minutes, 18 seconds

who've come in and are fearful that like, oh, if I go through this, am I going to forget that this ever happened?

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21 minutes, 22 seconds

Um, you're not going to forget it, but you're able to make sense of it and almost put it to rest in a different way. Um, I have found that EMDR works

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21 minutes, 30 seconds

for quite a few people. Um, it's it's helpful in when we experience a traumatic situation. There's a lot of

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21 minutes, 38 seconds

like triggers and flashbacks and those kind of things that come up that often impact people. And through the

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21 minutes, 46 seconds

processing of EMDR, we're able to kind of make sense of the event, understand it a lot of the times, recognize, yeah,

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21 minutes, 54 seconds

this wasn't my fault. Um, and put it put it to rest. Does that answer? Do you have any questions about EMDR?

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Yeah, absolutely. So, first of all, just for people what EMDR stands for, it stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.

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And just what you said, I'd love to just like just clarify just so I understand.

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22 minutes, 14 seconds

So the memory of an event is stored in a different part of the brain to the area in which you would process the event. Is that right?

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22 minutes, 23 seconds

Yes. Yeah.

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22 minutes, 24 seconds

Super interesting. And is that like left part of the brain and right part of the brain, front, back? Is it like is it is it far away? Because I wonder like is

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22 minutes, 32 seconds

there a deliberate reason that that that they're so far away and they're separated? Because if you were to try and do both of those things in the same

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22 minutes, 40 seconds

part of the brain, that could be very that could be really troublesome if you were, you know, 20,000 years ago and trying to get away from a tiger.

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22 minutes, 46 seconds

Yeah. So, um I actually don't know the specifics of the brain anatomy, so I don't want to um comment on that as it

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22 minutes, 53 seconds

relates to EMDR, but I think the idea is that interesting that you brought up the tiger is that like our fightlight freeze

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23 minutes, 2 seconds

response, right? I go back to kind of what I said at the beginning with it's a reaction to an abnormal event and we don't know how to process it like kind

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23 minutes, 10 seconds

of a normal memory, right? Like, okay, we're going to remember this podcast after provided nothing traumatic happens into it and it's just going to go into

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23 minutes, 17 seconds

our memory network and that'll be the end of it, right? Whereas when you've been exposed to, I'll go back to our car

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23 minutes, 24 seconds

accident example, a car accident, um you might have not fully processed that or you might not be able to kind of quote

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23 minutes, 31 seconds

unquote put that into like a memory network because you constantly have those triggers and those flashbacks and

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23 minutes, 38 seconds

those moments and like you said like, okay, could I have done something different?

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23 minutes, 43 seconds

Um whereas through EMDR, the goal is to work on kind of okay, no, I did the best that I could. um the events over and

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23 minutes, 51 seconds

let's store this in the memory network the same way that we would store kind of non-traumatic memories.

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23 minutes, 58 seconds

Yeah. Very cool. Yeah, that makes sense that you know we have this podcast for an hour and the way that my brain would process that to like you know we have it we do this for an hour and then like

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24 minutes, 7 seconds

this the the bathtub falls through the roof here.

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24 minutes, 10 seconds

Yeah. [snorts] And falls close to me, right? Like that would be a very very different situation. Yeah. It's that's cool. I like that. Uh great answer. Bravo. That

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24 minutes, 17 seconds

wasn't that was a that was a complex question. I just Yeah, I was just thinking about the the different areas of the brain and why that happens and why they're there. I don't know too much.

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24 minutes, 26 seconds

Yeah, that's fair.

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24 minutes, 28 seconds

I don't think anyone could have answered that question any better. So, bravo to you. That's awesome. Um, let's talk about addiction, trauma, and the brain.

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24 minutes, 36 seconds

You know, you've mentioned that, you know, addiction and trauma and detox and, you know, these things are big passions of yours. So you've worked I

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24 minutes, 44 seconds

think extens extensively in addiction research and counseling. So how often do you find that trauma is at the root of

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24 minutes, 52 seconds

substance abuse and what role does restoring brain and body health play in long-term recovery?

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25 minutes

Yeah. So, I think that I'm going to speak to the side of like trauma and addictions really kind of being

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25 minutes, 7 seconds

overlapped, but I do want to make a note um for you and for listeners that just because or sorry, I do want to make a

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25 minutes, 15 seconds

note for you and the listeners that um you don't need to experience a traumatic experience in order to struggle with an addiction. and that it

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25 minutes, 24 seconds

is a separate separate situation and it's not that they have to be paired but I do think that when there is the

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25 minutes, 31 seconds

relationship it is helpful um to address the traumatic situation as well as the substance use right and I think a lot of

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25 minutes, 39 seconds

the time when you see those things overlap it's connected to a coping mechanism and so from like a clinical standpoint

25:47

25 minutes, 47 seconds

okay we're trying to and I also like to point out that everybody's um goals through recovery is different and I kind

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25 minutes, 55 seconds

of I think we all kind of assume abstinence is always the goal, but it isn't for everybody. Um, but assuming that somebody wanted an abstinence and

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26 minutes, 3 seconds

not to use any substances, I would take it from the standpoint of okay, what

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26 minutes, 11 seconds

what are your triggers? What are the things that have led you to use? Um, and how can we replace that with coping

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26 minutes, 19 seconds

mechanisms that are more beneficial? And I also think lifestyle create doing things constantly to put

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26 minutes, 28 seconds

ourselves in a place where um we're feeling mentally well, we're feeling um better about ourselves, where we don't

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26 minutes, 36 seconds

feel like we need to kind of use substances as a means of coping. Um and that's a lot easier said than done, but

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26 minutes, 45 seconds

I do think that that's another part I always like to say like you're not going to practice a fire drill in the middle of a fire. And so, um, making sure that

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26 minutes, 53 seconds

you're kind of creating a lifestyle the best that you can where you are filling your cup in simplistic terms.

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27 minutes

Amazing. Yeah, filling the cup is is a hu beautiful term. I love that. I'd love to get your

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27 minutes, 8 seconds

input on like your your education, your experience, your circles of therapy that you know whether we have a trauma be

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27 minutes, 14 seconds

that physical or or psychological and the body is either it could be very physically damaged from a car accident

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27 minutes, 21 seconds

for example or a concussion and then you have a psychological trauma or a stress that you know your body is going into a sympathetic

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27 minutes, 29 seconds

fight orflight response where your requirement for nutrients ramps up, right? Like you

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27 minutes, 38 seconds

know, you you're you hurt yourself, your your body's got to deal with that. Um physical trauma and you know, if you are

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27 minutes, 46 seconds

constantly in a stress state because of a psychological trauma as well, your requirement for specific nutrients just

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27 minutes, 53 seconds

like ramps up because your body's in this like go go go state. What what's the talk around

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28 minutes

those types of traumas that lead into like nutritional deficiencies because [clears throat] you know your body is like rip your body is like ripping bone

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28 minutes, 8 seconds

tissue out for example to just like get those minerals in to to do all of the enzyatic functions that the brain does and the body does and the endocrine

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28 minutes, 16 seconds

system and all these things and how much that ramps up in a stress situation.

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28 minutes, 20 seconds

What what's the conversation around like nutrition and getting good like supplementation and eating well and

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28 minutes, 28 seconds

doing all those things to help deal with that traumatic event because you know if you if you broke your leg hopefully if you were a smart person you would be

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28 minutes, 36 seconds

looking to maybe provide your body with the ingredients necessary for your body to recreate bone tissue and ligaments

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28 minutes, 44 seconds

and all of these things. Um, so yeah, I wonder what what's the what's the talk around, you know, using nutritional practices to aid in that because it's

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28 minutes, 53 seconds

not going to be the only thing that's going to help you, but to aid in that process of healing.

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28 minutes, 57 seconds

Yeah, I think that's a really valuable question and I do want to start this out by saying I'm not a doctor. Um, [laughter] but one,

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29 minutes, 5 seconds

but I would like to just kind of focus on I think we're all as a society going back to whole foods and recognizing how

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29 minutes, 14 seconds

important it is to have whole foods and to stay away from things that are processed. And I think a big part of

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29 minutes, 21 seconds

that, like let's say you did have an injury, is it gives your body a break so that you're not focusing on breaking

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29 minutes, 29 seconds

down um processed foods and other things as opposed to putting that energy

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29 minutes, 36 seconds

towards healing, right? Like let's say your leg, right? If we're really focusing on nourishing ourselves and

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29 minutes, 43 seconds

putting good food into our bodies. And I think like just from a straight up humanistic perspective, I feel better when I'm eating whole foods and when I'm

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29 minutes, 51 seconds

eating things that are rich in nutrients. And I think we can all relate like when you go out to eat or when you go out for fast food, your body just

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29 minutes, 59 seconds

doesn't doesn't feel as great as when you're going to make like a simple chicken and broccoli dish at home. Um,

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30 minutes, 7 seconds

and so that that would be my take. And then I would say for a concussion, I had a pretty serious concussion a little over a year ago now. And so that one

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30 minutes, 15 seconds

that one was hard. And um I think a lot of water really helped. Drinking water.

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30 minutes, 21 seconds

I'm not the best at that, but really trying to make that more part of our life. And obviously getting additional

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30 minutes, 30 seconds

additional help and I seek seek out like medical help and like a concussion physiootherapist as well. Um but yeah, I

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30 minutes, 37 seconds

think water, whole foods and that side of things if that answers your question for nutrition.

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30 minutes, 42 seconds

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, it's wonderful. We have we have a few like ex hockey players from like the 70s and 80s that just like their brains just got

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30 minutes, 51 seconds

absolutely smashed. I feel blessed that I was born in England and not and not in Canada because of just the the hockey environment back in those days and how

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30 minutes, 58 seconds

those individuals would, you know, they would recover from a concussion in two minutes having a shift off the ice and they would just go back on again.

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31 minutes, 7 seconds

Yeah. And and then when these individuals retired, you know, I've interviewed a few of them on the show and at health shows and they described

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31 minutes, 14 seconds

it as this like deep dark depression that they would have this just this like filthy rotten cloud that was just like covering

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31 minutes, 22 seconds

covering them from like their head to their neck.

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31 minutes, 25 seconds

And fortunately, they found some of our supplements and they're able to use a combination of our like mineral products, our vitamin products, and our

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31 minutes, 33 seconds

amino acids to actually get in there and like actually help deal with the concussion. And we've got some really incredible research on um being able to

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31 minutes, 42 seconds

do that. And they describe this cloud as it becomes like lifted. And what I fi what I find interesting is is that when

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31 minutes, 50 seconds

they stop some of these individuals like once they took the products and started to feel better again and starting to get their brain back their cognition fatigue is dising appear the fog is dis is

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31 minutes, 59 seconds

disappearing but as soon as they stop the supplements it comes back because it's long longasting damage that the

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32 minutes, 6 seconds

body's got to take a long time to get over. So fortunately they recognized that and they were smart enough to recognize that the missing piece was being able to get nutrition and

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32 minutes, 14 seconds

especially the minerals in our like flagship product is you know the chilated micronized minerals that can pass through the blood brain barrier and actually nutrate the brain in those

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32 minutes, 22 seconds

areas that are damaged. Most supplements can't do that. And um that's primarily why we have all this amazing research that other supplement companies don't

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32 minutes, 30 seconds

have. But that that's an extreme example of like a physical trauma on the brain that's just like, you know, they've probably had 100 plus concussions in

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32 minutes, 38 seconds

their careers over 20 years. And if those individuals are able to like recover like that cognitive function, it kind of bodess well for a lot of other

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32 minutes, 46 seconds

people who are like, you know, coming out of a car accident or something like that. But as again, I'm not I'm not a doctor either. This is just an experience I've had working here with True Hope. But it, you know, logically

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32 minutes, 55 seconds

makes a heck of a lot of sense that if I had damaged tissue and it was a difficult area to access like the brain, you have to be using very unique, very

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33 minutes, 3 seconds

um high quality supplements in order to to be able to do that. And then the other pieces that goes along with that, whether that is breath work, meditation,

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33 minutes, 12 seconds

being in nature, putting your body in a state where it's actually being parasympathetic, where it's actually able to like heal and and repair, how how valuable that would be.

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33 minutes, 22 seconds

Yeah, absolutely. And like especially for concussions, like being able to like sleep and not be on screens, uh rest is so important.

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33 minutes, 31 seconds

Yeah, you got it. You got it. I think there's so many people walking around with concussions that they don't even know that they have. And there are some really cool um practitioners out there.

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33 minutes, 38 seconds

There's there's chiropractors, there's obviously medical doctors as well, naturopaths, osteopaths, all works uniquely and specifically with concussions. And yeah, it's a I guess

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33 minutes, 48 seconds

nutrition being a huge part of that for sure. Like you mentioned about trying to avoid all the other food or trying to avoid those foods that's just like fuel

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33 minutes, 55 seconds

on a fuel on a damaged fire. You know, a damaged fire doesn't make any sense, but you get what I'm talking about. Um,

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34 minutes, 2 seconds

let's talk about virtual counseling. Um, so your clinic serves clients across the country virtually. [snorts] Are the

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34 minutes, 10 seconds

outcomes comparable to traditional like in-person therapy? And what are some of the biggest advantages people might not expect?

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34 minutes, 19 seconds

Yeah, I I would say yes. I think any research, anything that I have looked into, any experiences that I've had, people very much so enjoy virtual

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34 minutes, 26 seconds

virtual counseling um and have the same benefits that they would in-person counseling. Um, the only thing I will say is some people just on a personal

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34 minutes, 34 seconds

note much prefer in-person counseling and and that's totally fair and I think that um there's a space for that and

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34 minutes, 41 seconds

that's just not what what we service but I feel like there's a lot of benefits of virtual counseling and a lot of that is

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34 minutes, 49 seconds

kind of the ability to have your appointments from the comfort of your home. Um, we're talking about some things that are quite traumatic often in

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34 minutes, 57 seconds

counseling. you're working through, you're processing things. Um, and being able to kind of curl up on your couch in your pajamas or feel that sense of

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35 minutes, 5 seconds

comfort is really helpful. So, I think that's a big one. Um, the other piece is we live in a pretty fast-paced society, so you don't have to leave. You get to

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35 minutes, 14 seconds

have your appointments at home. and the fact that we're across Canada virtual counseling clinic also has created this

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35 minutes, 22 seconds

space where people have access to clinicians who specialize in different areas who they might not otherwise have

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35 minutes, 28 seconds

access to um where they live. The other piece to that is that you're not going to run into your counselor provided they

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35 minutes, 35 seconds

don't uh live in the same city as you, right? You kind of have that autonomy and separation. So, I do think that

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35 minutes, 42 seconds

there's a lot of benefits of virtual counseling and yeah, I feel I from my experience and from what I've seen, people have benefited greatly from it.

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35 minutes, 52 seconds

That's great. Yeah, I can see a lot of pros and a lot of cons to like being able to do either. I think I think for me like one would be a con for the

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36 minutes, 1 second

virtual would be like I feel like I would I if I was somebody who was really nervous about therapy. I mean, I'm a man. I I don't think I would say I'm

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36 minutes, 9 seconds

nervous, but like, you know, I'm an egotistical, self-centered male some of the time, and I would think I don't need any help from anyone. I'm absolutely

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36 minutes, 17 seconds

fine. Even though those statements would qualify me that I would require support and help, but anyway, I would feel like it would be a lot more challenging for

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36 minutes, 24 seconds

me to like bail if I was going to go in person. Do you know what I mean? Like it would be easier for me if it was like an online

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36 minutes, 33 seconds

thing to not show up for myself or my therapist. What do you think?

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36 minutes, 38 seconds

That's interesting. I' I've never thought of that approach cuz I I feel like the opposite with virtual that it makes it a lot easier to show up and

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36 minutes, 46 seconds

that you're more likely to do it because you don't I guess have to worry about like seeing other people in the waiting room or going through that process if you are

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36 minutes, 55 seconds

kind of nervous about going into counseling and what that can be like.

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36 minutes, 58 seconds

So, not something I thought about, but it's a new perspective.

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37 minutes, 2 seconds

That's just me. But I also think that it would be it's a it would be way more beneficial for other people, for everybody that if you're in like the

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37 minutes, 9 seconds

most comfortable environment you could be in, which is probably like, you know, at home on your own sofa with your own

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37 minutes, 16 seconds

blanket, you know, not having to like dress up nicely or whatever that means for like going out into town to go to a therapy center. Like I I get it. Like there's it's going to be different.

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37 minutes, 28 seconds

Yeah. Um let's talk about the future of mental health. Um, now you're somebody your organization that they're bridging,

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37 minutes, 36 seconds

you know, research, counseling, and I guess entrepreneurship in a really cool way where you're able to give access to to this to to the therapist to be able

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37 minutes, 44 seconds

to access people across across the country, which is great. Where do you see mental health care leading over over the next decade? Do you think we're

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37 minutes, 53 seconds

moving toward a more integrated model that recognizes the connection between the brain, the body, and emotional well-being?

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38 minutes, 1 second

Absolutely. I I would say that a couple things and again I always like to just preface that I might be a little biased because I am in the field. Um but I do

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38 minutes, 10 seconds

think that mental health care and mental health support has become a lot more common, a lot more talked about. Um a

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38 minutes, 16 seconds

lot more recognized. Um and I think with that comes this openness for help and support. And yes, to your point, the

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38 minutes, 25 seconds

connection between mental health, physical well-being, nutrition, um all of those elements I think are are so

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38 minutes, 33 seconds

important and so critical and again becoming a lot more common.

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38 minutes, 38 seconds

Yeah, I love that. I think that so we spoke earlier in the show about the the like the change in our cultural evolution

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38 minutes, 46 seconds

and how it's go go. I think it's a massive challenge for a lot of people to have somebody in their lives that they can actually talk to and be listened to.

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38 minutes, 55 seconds

Yeah, I think that the requirement for all different types of therapists

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39 minutes, 3 seconds

is necessary because of that fact. And it's so easy to just jump on your phone and feel

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39 minutes, 10 seconds

somewhat connected because you've got social media and all this and all this stuff, but in actual fact, you're you're viciously isolating yourself. I think

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39 minutes, 19 seconds

for a lot of people are they're using that as like a mechanism for you know dopamine hits and you know the comfortability of being kind of like

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39 minutes, 27 seconds

connected to the outside world but you're you're at home on your phone. I [snorts] think that's a lot a big challenge for a lot of people and when

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39 minutes, 35 seconds

you actually have somebody that can just take that minute to like listen to you because so many engagements these

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39 minutes, 43 seconds

days it's you know I talk and then when you're talking I'm thinking about what I'm going to say rather than actually listening to you. I think that we have

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39 minutes, 50 seconds

we we've the the natural response to that is like people like yourself

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39 minutes, 58 seconds

because we don't have that as much as we do as we used to, you know, when the world was a lot quieter and we'd have that option. I um so I moved to Canada

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40 minutes, 7 seconds

to study nutrition and I I did a three and a half year um degree at nutrition on the on Vancouver Island. And when I

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40 minutes, 14 seconds

started working with I primarily worked with like 30 to 40 year old Rob old rob men who weren't getting away with the same diet they had in their 20s and

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40 minutes, 23 seconds

needed some support there and a bit of guidance, a little bit of a kick up the butt, you know. And a lot of those clients,

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40 minutes, 32 seconds

they just never really been like listened to for such a long time. And my initial intake is like two hours. It goes on for goes on forever for that's

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40 minutes, 40 seconds

what they say anyway. It goes on very very long time. I want to leave as much space as possible for all sorts of questions. And by the end of it, you

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40 minutes, 48 seconds

know, I ask them kind of how the session was for them. And a lot of people just like they just they just they've never had like someone to talk to properly

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40 minutes, 55 seconds

about like more vulnerable things. you know, you you you don't necessarily want to be super vulnerable with your family because you're supposed to be the strong

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41 minutes, 3 seconds

one and you're not supposed to, you know, let up. You everything's fine. You can go go and keep going. And, you know, friends have got their own busy lives

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41 minutes, 11 seconds

and you don't want to burden them with your problems. But it just goes to show the value of um I think being empathetic empathetic and understanding to people

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41 minutes, 20 seconds

and if you've got the capability, you've got the time, you got the patience and the skill set to be able to just like sit with somebody and like actually ask them how they're doing and just like

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41 minutes, 28 seconds

listen whether it's they're talking about this that or the other. Just holding that space and being an active listener is just like can just go such

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41 minutes, 36 seconds

such a long way to helping people um get better.

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41 minutes, 42 seconds

Absolutely. And I think uh I love that you brought up men's mental health because I I also think to specifically speak to that it's becoming a lot more

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41 minutes, 49 seconds

common that men are seeking out support and seeking out counseling and having that recognition of like we're also emotional beings and we c we do need

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41 minutes, 58 seconds

support and we need some help in different areas. So [snorts] with you there.

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42 minutes, 3 seconds

Yeah, that's cool. We we're associated with an organization called Heads Up Guys um which is a really amazing like men's organization and I don't always shout them out so I'm going to do that.

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42 minutes, 12 seconds

It's headsupguys.org.

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42 minutes, 14 seconds

Um, they've got some really cool like self checkins like they've got like a depression check-in that you can go do.

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42 minutes, 22 seconds

You can learn more about your symptoms.

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42 minutes, 24 seconds

They've got a therapist directory and you know we've worked with um uh the doctors and the therapists that started that up. They're they're um working out

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42 minutes, 32 seconds

of UBC and yeah, really amazing resource for for for guys and they're doing some really cool stuff. So, I thought I'd just give them a shout out as well because they're very close to where you are, Stephanie.

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42 minutes, 43 seconds

Yeah. Um, I'm just going to finish up with a closing question here and to maybe offer some some ideas and some

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42 minutes, 50 seconds

motivation, some um, inspiration for maybe people who might be struggling now. So, you know, if someone is listening today and they're feeling

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42 minutes, 59 seconds

hopeless or or they believe that they're they're broken beyond repair, what message would you leave with them today?

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43 minutes, 6 seconds

I think the one thing that I'll um leave off with is in giving people hope is that suicide does not end um suffering,

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43 minutes, 13 seconds

but it eliminates the possibility of things ever getting better. And that's a Marshall Lam quote. Um and so give yourself a chance to see something

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43 minutes, 22 seconds

different and to experience something different and to embrace something different. And that would that would be what I would leave off with.

43:29

43 minutes, 29 seconds

Beautiful. Lovely. Stephanie, thank you so much. Um, can you let people know where they can learn more about your work and connect with you?

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43 minutes, 37 seconds

Absolutely. So, um, the company is called Virtual Connect and we offer counseling services across Canada. Um, you're welcome to look us up

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43 minutes, 44 seconds

virtualconnects.ca or send me an email at info@verirtualconnect.ca.

43:51

43 minutes, 51 seconds

Um, we have free 15minute consultations or discovery calls with myself. You're welcome to book in and learn more about counseling in the process. Even if

43:59

43 minutes, 59 seconds

you're not ready to start, I'm happy to answer any questions of what that might look like.

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44 minutes, 5 seconds

Magnificent. Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate your time today. Thank you.

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44 minutes, 10 seconds

Thank you very much for having me. It's been a pleasure.

44:13

44 minutes, 13 seconds

Awesome. Well, that is it for this episode of True Hope Cast, the official podcast of True Hope Canada. For um more information about some of the things

44:20

44 minutes, 20 seconds

we've spoken about, I'll leave links in the show notes so you can connect with Stephanie. I'll leave a link in there for heads up guys as well. If you got a second, you can leave us a review on

44:28

44 minutes, 28 seconds

iTunes and a star review on Spotify. But that is it. We'll see you next week.

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44 minutes, 36 seconds

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