Understanding the Impact of Societal Systems on Mental Health
How often do we hear that mental health challenges are ‘just personal problems’? What if the real issue runs much deeper—beneath the surface of individual struggles, into the very systems that shape our world? What if societal systems themselves are shaping not just...
Trauma Doesn’t Make Us Stronger—Let’s Talk About It
If you take anything away from this blog post, let it be this: we need to stop telling trauma survivors that what they went through made them stronger. This idea minimizes the real impact trauma has on an individual and can invalidate their experience. My Trauma...
Unmet Needs = Hidden Costs — Let’s Talk About It
Beneath every behaviour, there is a feeling. And beneath every feeling is a need. And when we meet that need rather than focus on the behaviour, we begin to deal with the cause and not the symptom. How many of us walk around day to day with unmet needs? We all have...
Is It a Trauma Response or a ‘Diagnosable’ Symptom?
When we hear the words trauma response we think of the four F’s - fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Each of these actions are adaptive, functional, and necessary in the short term enabling us to survive.But what happens in the long term? When the impact from that...
Beyond the Diagnoses — Why I Challenge Mental Health Norms
Some may ask, Lindsay, why are you so passionate about this side of mental health? And the honest answer is — because the significant flaws in the current Western mental health system almost killed me.My journey has shown me the importance of challenging established...
The Detriments of Chronic Stress — It’s Making Us Sick
"Have you ever felt like your to-do list keeps growing no matter how much you cross off? Or like you’re always running out of time, juggling responsibilities, and feeling the weight of it all? You’re not alone. Stress has become so normal in our society that we barely...
9 Reasons Why We Should Stop Referring To The DSM
The DSM, including its most recent revision, the DSM-5-TR, is the foundation for understanding and treating mental health. But what if some of the emotions and behaviours we’ve labelled as disorders are just normal, human responses to life’s toughest challenges? What...
One of the Leading Causes of Human Suffering—Trauma
Trauma is one of the leading causes of human suffering, influencing lives in ways that often go unnoticed or misdiagnosed. What Is Trauma? Let's start with a simple but important question: what exactly is trauma? Most people think of trauma as the event itself—abuse,...
The Mental Health System Isn’t Working Here in Canada
I'm curious, do you think the mental health system is working here in Canada? The system claims it has solutions, but time and time again, we're seeing it fail to meet the diverse and complex needs of those it's meant to serve. We're told help is available — they say...
In the Most Health-Obsessed Society, All Is Not Well
In the most health-obsessed society, all is not well. In a society that is so fixated on health and wellness, why is it that our collective well-being continues to decline? This paradox exists because the focus is often on surface-level solutions rather than...