Worrier to Warrior Lisa Dumas

Long-time nurse, business owner and yoga/Ayurveda educator Aimee Pruitt is back on the pod sharing how to create boundaries and burnout resistance when caring for others as a career or as a parent or partner. Useful tips for anyone in a helping role and some extra advice for up-and-coming health professionals.

Who better to speak about what it’s like to love someone who has struggled with their mental health than Lisa’s long time partner, Cliff Dumas! Listen to hear how Cliff discovered the truth of Lisa’s disordered panic and the best things he did to support her, plus how facing big fears can prove to us we’re stronger than we think.

After personally encountering nurses sharing stories of their degraded mental health due to the staggering pressure they’ve experienced throughout the last 2.5 years, Lisa talks to her former co-host and longtime RN Aimee about her perspective working in the industry, the toll she has personally paid and what can be done to help the people who we may need to help us one day.

Yessica Avencena is a psychotherapist and the founder and CEO of Aspire Behavioural Health clinics and MindfulYou healing centers in California’s Central Valley. Yessica and Lisa discuss the mental health crisis we are collectively experiencing, how parents can support their struggling teens and how to meet difficult emotions within yourself and others. This episode is full of beautiful and helpful concepts on the path of living a full and mindful life.

This week Lisa shares tools for feeling grounded and how important it is to ground ourselves while supporting others. She offers more information about holding space for loved ones struggling with anxiety and guides a simple practice to quickly get out of stressful thoughts and into a centred, connected space.

For us “worriers”, a lot of energy can be directed toward navigating our anxious inner dialogues and attempting to protect ourselves from the uncomfortable symptoms of anxiety. Cultivating a more peaceful inner landscape is not a luxury, it’s essential so that life can expand beyond worry. This week, Lisa shares that constructive rest, self-compassion and purpose can amplify our energy while making ourselves wrong for our feelings can further deplete it.