Guest: Dr. Saira Sabzaali
In her sit down, Dr. Saira without holding back, shares her story about her journey with depression the depth and impact of her most recent depressive episode, living through food addiction and how she copes in day-to-day life with it, and how this all showed up in its fullest form after an encounter with her brother who at the time was homeless and suffering through addiction of his own, and disconnected from the family. She shares what it is like to be in denial, what it is like to reach out and accept support from close friends and family, and how she chose to get back in the ‘game’ and getting herself to where she is today. As a therapist and community leader herself, she was tasked with meeting her obligations to her profession while wearing a mask and attending to her own mental health. Her key message to listeners is to: shake the idea that you have to do it alone, because you don’t and you shouldn’t do it alone; it is important to lean on people, so find your people; whatever you are going through, it is not forever, even in the darkest of nights — look for the moon; she has an inspiring mantra which is, “change your story, change your life”.
Guest Bio: Dr. Saira Sabzaali is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology, and she is certified in Creative Expression and Spiritual Guidance. She specializes in managing depression and anxiety symptoms, increasing family harmony, recovering from burn-out, and repairing relationships between adult children and their parents. With her team at Dragonfly Wellness Centre, Dr. Saira provides mental health support through counselling and coaching, group support, education, and corporate wellness.
Dr. Saira has delivered two TEDx talks and teaches in the counselling program at Stenberg College. Her podcast “Sabzi Life” explores conscious living and her YouTube channel, “Dragonfly Wellness TV” provides free mental health content. Outside of work, Dr. Saira enjoys reading by the fireplace or watching the trees while sitting on the balcony at her home on the mountains in British Columbia.
Passionate about: Bright Line Eating — brightlineeating.com; Canadian Mental Health Association — CMHA.ca; Scouts Canada — www.scouts.ca
