Author: Salima Jadavji

Justin expresses the depth of his experiences with trauma, substance abuse issues, cycling through the system, mental health challenges that have been part of his journey, and the recovery process which all led him an opportunity to pave his career successes in the field. He shares what it’s like to be raised in a religious cult led by prominent family members who also met with mental health challenges of their own. Justin mentioned he was not allowed to interact with anyone outside the cult, with consequences of being “harmed by the apocalypse”. He shared that when he was taken out of the cult and attended public school, those beliefs from the cult life stuck with him, making it hard for him to make sense of the life of the cult and public life outside of the cult. Justin openly talks about drug and alcohol use starting at age 14, after a close friend of his died as well as learning about the death of his grandfather which was announced on the front page of the newspaper, the leader of the cult. As addictions escalated, focus on school lessened, and he continued to escape from the pain that he endured. Justin shared how he cycled through several opportunities where he got cleaned, yet things continued to waver even after his period of incarceration. He spoke about what rock bottom looked like for him and how he got himself back up. His key message to the listeners is that: treat people equally, you don’t know what the other person is going through; learn about what trauma means so you can approach both individuals and situations with sensitivity and care; don’t take things personally; it’s okay to get help, remain hopeful; your voice matters.

Guest Bio: Justin is an international consultant, advocate, and peer specialist based out of Miami, FL. He has presented and trained mental health facilities and other organizations on trauma informed practices and used his life experiences to discuss workforce issues and connecting community providers to better serve individuals in need. Previously before his role with ‘National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors’, NASMHPD, Justin worked as a Jail Diversion Peer Liaison for the 11th Judicial Criminal Mental Health Project for 14 years. He has worked as a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist in Florida since 2008 and has local and national experience. Justin has extensive work experience in the community and has supervised and coordinated thousands of engagements with participants with serious mental health and co-occurring issues in the criminal justice system. He has assisted in training over 2,500 Miami Dade Law Enforcement Officers in Crisis Intervention Team Training.

His passion for this work is based on bringing systems together locally and nationally while reducing stigma and advocating for the persons served. He is recently the recipient of the 2021 Fred Frese Award from CIT International and has many other awards and achievements; including multiple articles and film (Definition of Insanity, PBS 2020) with his experience with the Jail Diversion Program and the upcoming Ken Burns Documentary: “Hiding in Plain Sight”, set to air June 27^th and 28^th this year, in 2022 on PBS.

Passionate about:  

Jail Diversion Program, Miami FL: https://www.miamidade.gov/global/police/diversion-program.page

A PBS film, Definition of Insanity: https://doifilm.com/

A PBS film, Hiding in Plain Sight: https://kenburns.com/films/hiding-in-plain-sight-youth-mental-illness/

Shirley identifies herself as an introvert who stepped into a male dominated workspace, and found her way to shine, despite facing barriers as a black woman, facing gender inequities, pay disparities, and finding her voice. She spoke about what it was like to work ten times harder than others for less opportunities, and for whatever did come her way, she needed to be gracious for it, and sacrificed a great deal to get an ounce of what another in the same position would receive. Shirley chose not to speak up at first, out of fear, she internalized majority of her painful experiences and learned to have all her feelings and reactions in private, safe from other’s view, so she wouldn’t appear “weak”. She expressed that she was afraid to look weak as vulnerability was not accepted or welcomed in the workspace. She spoke about the more she held her truth back, the more physical toll she withstood, and it got to the point where she had a physical response to the emotional and mental turmoil, psychosomatic pain – in her case, it was back pain that impacted her so greatly it was difficult to walk, sit, stand, or lie down. Shirley shared that one consequence of showing up with assertiveness would be interpreted by others as having an attitude; she carried the weight of many stereotypes; stayed small and didn’t take risks; and she worked hard to manage multiple perceptions. Her key message to the listeners is that: value your authenticity, it matters, learn about yourself and learn to show up that way; connect with your purpose and core values; know your worth, own it and communicate it; and be open to feedback so you can keep growing; don’t shrink yourself, speak up and use your voice to get what you need; separate fact from fiction and don’t let your inner critic guide you; do it scared, be courageous.

Guest Bio: Shirley is a mother, wife, mindset coach and business strategist for introverts and multi-passionate women who need help to come out of their shells and boost their confidence and monetize their unique genius. Shirley comes from 20+ years of experience in the logistics and supply chain industry and decided to stop blaming herself for her discontentment in her career and took the steps to become an active co-creator of the life she has stepped into. Her goal is to empower women and outfit them with tools they need to succeed and make the impact that they desire.

She believes the skills which are learned in the corporate environment combined with natural talent, lived experience, passions and abilities perfectly set the tone for women to take back their power so women no longer feel they need to adapt to places like male dominant industries. Shirley aims to create massive impact by increasing female human potential and family quality of life at home by creating a global community of 10,000 independently, wealthy, intentional, and holistically healthy woman owned and operated brands.

Passionate about:  

Slay You Inner Critic Group Coaching, a program she experienced firsthand as a learner and now she is part of a team that runs the program: https://www.manifestyourexcellence.com/pages/home

Melissa unpacks details of a childhood that was unpredictable, intense, and full of turmoil. She delved into what it was like to grow up in an alcoholic household that was very abusive, particularly after her mother’s death. She explained that her parents were divorced, and while living with her mother, at 8 years old, mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer suddenly and deteriorated quickly, this led Melissa to return to her father’s care. She spoke about the emotional abuse that she endured, the manipulation she had to take from her father, and though she was the youngest at home, she took a protective stance and wasn’t afraid to speak up, call the police, or handle the landlords at various times. At the young age of 12 she attempted suicide, having a tough time tolerating all the abuse, witnessing abuse and all the unpleasant facets of what took place inside the home, while masking it all in the public eye. At age 14, Melissa left home and charted her own path, continued to compartmentalize her feelings, experiences, and pain. Through her journey which encompassed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), she has relied heavily on therapy, and has worked on managing themes of overcompensating with independence, not letting people in, not being able to admit to being a victim of trauma until adulthood and processing all the trauma that she endured along the way. Her key message to the listeners is that: you can always figure out whatever is in front of you, it may not go as expected, but you can sort through it; only go where you are happy, do the things that make you happy; take ownership of your “stuff”; become aware of the power of labels and how you might unknowingly label and limit yourself in the process.

Guest Bio: Melissa has dedicated her career to supporting teams in driving a highly engaged and successful workforce. She knows what it takes to go from an idea in a leader’s mind to execution on the front line. Melissa has spent over 20 years as a sales and operations executive with a focus on health, wellness, and employee wellbeing.  She is the founder of Happy Leader Enterprises and the co-founder of All Women L.E.A.D.  Melissa developed a passion for helping others find happiness at a young age, and now helps leaders do the same.

With a focus on productivity, leading with emotional intelligence and creating a culture where “Everybody Wins” she will ensure you leave every engagement with actions you can implement tomorrow. Melissa is a sought-after speaker, and a best-selling author who was named one of the Top 20 under 40 in 2018 by London Inc magazine and named as a Top 50 Visionary for 2019 by Radical Business Magazine.

Passionate about:  

Supports and resources available at these two hospitals:

Princess Margaret Hospital – https://thepmcf.ca/

Sick Kids Hospital – www.sickkidsfoundation.com

Jennifer describes what she experienced as an emotional divorce, finding herself in a situation where she made a choice that she would have never thought could be something she would follow through with — an affair. She speaks about the consequences to her mental well-being and how it affected others. The big change in her life started when she came across the most devastating email. She openly shares that she found herself in the same place of where her husband was a few years earlier, being outside her comfort zone, and being at war with herself with regards to values and morals with that one decision she made at that time in her life. Jennifer became so unforgiving of herself for the choices that she made, she engaged in self-shaming, and expressed how alone she felt. She sat with the emotional pain and suffering until with support she gained the perspective that she can separate herself from the choice and not get consumed by the guilt of it. While it might have been a poor choice, it doesn’t negate her entire character and doesn’t define who she really is as a whole person. Jennifer speaks about taking responsibility for her actions and being accountable to herself and those involved. It took her a great deal of time to calm her inner critic and to stop seeing herself as a hypocrite. She learned to make peace with the idea that while her intention was never to hurt anyone, even though the impact of the actions did hurt people she cared most about. Her key message to the listeners is that: whatever you experience today, doesn’t have to define your tomorrow; believe you can get through; there is a lesson to learn, so take it and go forward; relish in great things; and don’t let negativity bias define your character.

Guest Bio: Jennifer is a dynamic motivational speaker, certified life coach, therapist, author, and trainer in the field of Social Work. She was chosen as one of the recipients of the Queen Elizabeth the II Diamond Jubilee medal in 2012 for her community work and as one of Canada’s women of confidence in the national publication, Chatelaine magazine.

Jennifer currently owns a private practice where she provides psychotherapeutic services and coaching to individuals primarily experiencing feelings of depression, anxiety and/or immobility.  She is an educator and has created workshops, online programs and delivered various speeches that support and encourage people to overcome fear to reach their full potential.  Her latest endeavors have been creating educational platforms through All Women L.E.A.D. workshops, anti-racism training through Shifting Perspectives and co-produced an award-winning TV show on Rogers TV called Melanated View.  As of the fall of 2021, Jennifer has been hosting the local community television show, What’s Up London. Jennifer lives by the motto – ‘to whom much is given, much is required’ – and she is prepared to share and grow with others.

Passionate about:  

Congress of Black Women https://cbwc-ontario.org/

Wynnikka is no stranger at sharing her story of living with a disability since birth, due to a birth injury and having to navigate through life because of the irreparable impact on her overall well-being. She openly speaks about having a wealth of support from her parents, extended family, good friends, and solid mentors, all guiding her to reach her potential and become the woman that she is today. Wynnikka expressed the many difficulties that her parents had to navigate on their own as there was little support available to families who underwent obstetrical (birth) brachial plexus injury. She poured her heart out on what it was like to feel like an outcast, being bullied by other school children, deliberately to have fresh starts. In addition to discovering her way through life, disability and pursuing forward, she kept her own momentum going to complete academics and quickly grow up to help raise her younger siblings from the age of 18 after her mother suddenly passed away. Through her journey, she has learned to love and accept herself fully, has worked to heal from trauma, anxiety, depression and working through suicidal ideation, and has reached a place in her life where she has been able to find meaning and love in her personal relationships, while having clarity that she can reach her full potential with anything she puts her mind to. Her key message to the listeners is that: give yourself all the compassion you need and foster less self-blame; healing takes time and it does get better with time; people’s perception of you, is not you, so don’t let them define you; not everyone will recognize disability, and you may not be aware of one’s disability, don’t judge what you see, get to know their full story.

Guest Bio: Wynnikka, also known as “Wyn Inspires” is a young black woman with a physical disability living in Toronto, ON, Canada. At the age of just 22, she self-published her memoir called “Brighter Days Ahead,” where she opens up about her journey living with Brachial Plexus Injury | Erbs Palsy. By exploring themes from adapting to everyday living, overcoming many forms of bullying, self-hate + self-harm to learning how to love and accept herself, Wynnikka continues to share her story with the goal of inspiring others.

Not only is she a speaker and fierce advocate for all things disability and mental health, through her merch and awareness pages, she continues to raise consciousness on these topics. Wynnikka also co-hosts a podcast on love and relationships and is currently a Community Healer and Senior Peer Mentor with the Community Healing Project in Toronto. With a passion for working with others and raising awareness for mental health especially within the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and person of colour) community, Wynnikka continues to be inspired by everyone she meets and uses her own voice and journey to meet, uplift, heal and inspire others.”

Passionate about:  

Community Healing Project: https://stellasplace.ca/community-healing-project/

Brittany gives us a deep dive into her challenging upbringing as a child and all the disorder that came her way. While facing adversity, she highlights how she drew from a place of strength, resiliency, and perseverance that has shaped her into who she has become today. Some of the odds that Brittany faced included coming from a family of divorce and having a young mother (who is currently a missing persons’ case) who did not know how to parent, instead maintaining her ‘party life’ and leaving Brittany at the age of 6 to take care of her younger siblings, as well as struggling in school and overhearing a teacher share an opinion with her father that she wasn’t going to make it through higher education. All of this culminated in Brittany developing people-pleasing tendencies, low-self-esteem, and learning to bottle her feelings and not express what she truly felt. Brittany expressed what it was like to crying all alone at times and she just didn’t know how to sort out articulate her difficult feelings, she felt confusion about having to constantly adjust to the living standards between each parent’s home and sat in silence bearing the agony of deep pain. Her key message to the listeners is that: everyone has hardships in life and it doesn’t matter where you come from, what matters is where you want to go and where you go is really up to you; if you want that chance, it is yours to take, it will come with a great deal of effort and trying times –  many will tell you that you will fail, but connect with what you want and set your mind to it; and feel all your feelings, including extreme sadness and know there is always someone to reach out to.

Guest Bio: Brittany grew up in Toronto, Ontario, and is the eldest of 6 siblings. Brittany had dreams of becoming a teacher; she worked tirelessly to obtain two university degrees, one from the University of Guelph, and the other from Queens University. Brittany now resides in Nashville, Tennessee where her career has really taken off. Brittany began her career in substitute teaching in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to then working in procurement for a senior living company managing their healthcare contracts. Brittany presently holds the role of Director of Provider Network Development for Wellpath.

As well as her thriving career, Brittany lives with her husband Benson who is her number one supporter and they have been together since age 16. Together, they have an 8-month-old son Sebastian and a wonderful dog named Hudson, and Brittany is enjoying learning to have a work life balance as a new mom. Brittany also loves to travel the world and has been to 16 countries! She enjoys packing up with her husband and exploring, and now brings their son along – who has already been to California twice, Florida, and Toronto!

Passionate about:  

Play like a girl, charity in Nashville, TN. https://playlikeagirl.wpengine.com/

Stephanie takes a plunge into sharing how she has lived her life from a young age, coping with mental illness while learning to hide it from the outside world, including those she is close to. As an individual who has encountered trauma at age 15, worked through suicidal ideations, and combatted diagnoses of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, she openly speaks to what it has been like to navigate the mental health system and how she had to become her own advocate. Stephanie acknowledges that her journey has been long, colourful, and tumultuous, yet it came with numerous lessons along her way. While she claims she is currently at her most optimal state of mental well-being, it was a rough path that she endured, and it didn’t come without panic attacks, roller coaster-like emotions, and moments where she lacked motivation to get out of bed. It took Stephanie time to learn how to regulate her emotions and apply self-soothing skills she learned both inside and outside the therapy room. Her key message to the listeners is that: keep an open mind about where your support system can come from; don’t be ashamed about what you are going through and what you need; it is okay to speak up; push to find your right fit support – no therapist must be permanent, you have choices; there are a variety resources out there, so do your research; and always be honest with yourself.

Guest Bio: Stephanie focuses on bringing a new and modern narrative to mental illness while fighting stigma and breaking intergenerational trauma. Her aim is to fill the very large knowledge and experience gap between having and recognizing mental health challenges and successfully getting help. Stephanie has worked with prominent leaders from various industries including, banking, retail, government, farming, health care and community hubs; tailoring mental health programming and examining the complicated intersection between one’s workplace and mental health and what organizations can do to support their staff.

Stephanie is a second-generation Canadian born to West Indian parents and lives in Toronto, Ontario. Her debut fictional novel inspired by her journey with mental illness, ‘A Hidden Life’ will be released in the upcoming summer of 2022.

Passionate about:  Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) + Gene-guided treatment for mental health: https://www.camh.ca/en/science-and-research/institutes-and-centres/tanenbaum-centre-for-pharmacogenetics

CAMH webpage on pharmacogenetics: https://www.camh.ca/en/science-and-research/discoveries/camh-research-impact-report-2019/pharmocogenetics

https://ssnon.com/

Alyza pours her heart into sharing how the imposter within her emerged, while successfully masking it for years to her external world. She speaks about the internal struggle of fearing to let her guard and let herself see her true worth. Alyza openly talks about what it is like to grow up in a home where she witnessed her father’s abusive personality take a toll on her mother, while not having any abuse directed to herself. She found she often walked on eggshells as it was unclear what tone her father would be expressing on any given day. Alyza speaks about how second guessing herself became her nature, continuously wondering if she was ever enough, and battled to accept her accomplishments and successes as they occurred. She also shares how her overall mental well being stifled which led to the development of coping with anxiety, worrying about worst case scenarios, constantly in anticipation of something to happen, suppressing her emotions and shutting herself down as she didn’t know how to talk about it or even acknowledge it. Once she was able to seek out therapy and have her supports in place, she started to openly share with others what some of the life struggles she has experienced, how this activated the imposter from within and how the anxiety manifested for her. She is an advocate for mental health now while she continues to pay attention to her own mental well-being. Her key message to the listeners is that: look at mental health as a whole; it is equally important to go see a doctor for physical health as it is to check out your mental health and check in with yourself and have conversations with therapists; and stop worrying about what others may think and consider what is most important to you.

Guest Bio: Alyza was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya until she moved to Canada in the year 2000.  She now resides in Toronto, Ontario with her husband and two young children. With a vision to elevate healthcare to a truly patient-centred model she co-founded Integra Health Centre in 2015 and is currently the Chief Operating Officer. With her core beliefs in mind, Integra was built to bring a truly integrated and collaborative model of care that benefits patient outcomes in ways never seen before in traditional healthcare models. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Alyza realized from a young age that a true way to affect change is to be the driver in that change.

Alyza loves to travel and immerse herself in different cultures as she truly believes that looking outside the bubble we live in is where real understanding and growth happens. Her wealth of experiences around the world have helped in shaping the beliefs she has for healthcare including mental health and its accessibility and delivery. 

Passionate about:  Social Services Network – https://ssnon.com/

Returning guest, Asante speaks about the providence in being vulnerable and nourishing himself with emotional and psychological tools rooted in strength, truth, and honesty. Asante explores what the last two years of his public life experience has been behind closed doors, and how he needed to take a step back to re-evaluate his goals. He also identified what he was working towards by taking a second look at what he truly valued about his successes; and what is truly important to him at the centre of his core. Asante details how his mental energy and stamina would be consumed, and how he needed to ensure that he wasn’t getting pulled into the crossfires of advocacy work misinterpreted. After much re-evaluation of priorities, Asante discovered that his ‘family first’ motto was his way forward, which led him to the tough decision to leave advocacy work, which allowed him to feel freer once he leaped. Asante shared the dangers of the ‘ego’ and chasing something that isn’t what he thought he was after. He spoke about the bitter truths about running on zero fuel, keeping a public face, and dealing with the depth of depression and burnout all served on one platter. His key message to the listeners is that: in leadership, there are more considerations that are required to be made which the public will never learn or be part of; when you are in the public spotlight, it is easy for people to think that individual’s life is perfect; don’t make judgements about people and automatically think they are or have done something terrible, check it out first.

Guest Bio: Asante is a mental health advocate devoted to changing the world. He is focused on amplifying the stories of everyday people to illuminate gaps in the system while working to build bridges between community members and policy makers in order to find solutions to challenges together. Asante is the co-founder of the Reach Out Response Network, an organization advocating for non-police led mobile crisis emergency response. Asante is also a 2x TEDx speaker and a CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) Difference Maker, awarded with the distinction of being one of the top 150 mental health influencers in Canada.

When Asante is not speaking and advocating, he is designing, managing and facilitating peer support training programs at Stella’s Place, a youth mental health service agency in Toronto and hosting the web show, Cypher, which turns peer support stories into original songs by Juno nominated musicians. Young at heart, silly, self-deprecating and able to find a sports analogy for virtually anything, Asante tries not to take himself too seriously despite being engaged in the serious work of changemaking!

Passionate about:  Pathways to education; Stella’s place; the community healing project/city of Toronto; reach out response network

Her cancer diagnosis necessitated her to come to terms with facing death and mortality. Rishma elaborates on how her cancer journey ran deeper than just the physical toll, preparation, or adjustment during and after treatments. She gave herself an opportunity to turn inward, connected to herself and did some soul-searching. She identifies with some prominent thoughts that played on her mind in the early stage of her journey and her positioning to get curious, leading up to her own conclusions about death and dying. Rishma shared, in addition to physical pain she endured, she tapped into a deeper meaning of her hair loss experience and feeling as though she had lost parts of her identity. She delves into details about the exhaustion she experienced; worry thoughts as she wondered what life might look like; what would happen if she didn’t make it; time spent facing her truths; planning for potential outcomes and worrying about her children and husband. Today, she explains that she doesn’t have constant thoughts about the cancer, though in full awareness acknowledges how it has completely changed her life as she lives each day to the fullest. Her key message to the listeners is that: don’t be afraid to die that you don’t allow yourself to live; indulge in life; and if you do fear death — get curious as to what is getting in the way.

Guest Bio: Rishma is a 50-year-old married mother of two adult sons, and, like many 50-year-olds, she has lived her half century full of ups and downs. She has worked as an Occupational Therapist for over 28 years, and in the year 2020, Rishma decided to take the plunge into entrepreneurship. She has since started her own business called OT4Life and has been supporting clients through their rehabilitation and recovery process, encompassing all facets of an individual’s needs from the standpoint of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual lenses. Rishma is also a cancer survivor and has begun her journey share her story of her personal struggles as it relates to mental health as she is inspired to empower others to share their stories.

Rishma also provides workshops on stress management and has her very own YouTube channel where she posts videos about stress management.

Passionate about:  

Rishma provides workshops on stress management, in addition to her very own YouTube channel where videos are posted about stress management.

YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChjWCtlEFTDwRb_Z-MeeWrw