TELUS Talks with Tamara Taggart TELUS

What if the key to addiction recovery lies not just in treating symptoms, but addressing long-buried trauma? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Alana Hirsh, a Vancouver physician specializing in trauma-informed addiction treatment. Through moving patient stories and her own experiences, Alana shares how a trauma-informed lens is transforming healthcare for her patients and is a crucial step toward holistic healing.

When Miranda Newman was growing up, her mother didn’t know if Miranda needed ‘a psychologist or an exorcist.’ It took years for Miranda to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder - an explanation for the complicated way she moved through the world. Miranda discusses her experiences navigating the Canadian mental healthcare system, her work breaking the stigma around her diagnosis and her new memoir Rough Magic: Living with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Indigenous peoples have used fire to shape landscapes for millennia, but centuries of colonial fire suppression policies have disrupted these relationships. Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson is a fire research scientist and expert in Indigenous fire stewardship. She is working to restore the relationship between Indigenous communities and fire. We discuss the concept of ‘good fire’ and its potential to preserve forest health.

How can we get ourselves in the right headspace to lead? The importance of leaders having leadership skills can’t be overstated. Dr. Diane McIntosh joins us to discuss the psychology of a successful leader, how to create a thriving work environment and her new co-authored book, You Belong Here: How to Make People Feel Safe to Be Their Best, Take Bold Risks, and Win.

For as long as Kate Manne can remember, she wanted to be smaller. Even as a feminist philosopher, she wasn’t exempt from the cultural conditioning that drives so many of us to a negative body image. Kate draws on her research from her new book, Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia, to discuss what fatphobia is, how it works and why it’s a vital social justice issue for everyone.

Psychiatrists Dr. Benjamin Rosen and Dr. Andrew Howlett believe the mental health of fathers is a wellness indicator for the whole family. Why then, do so many dads feel shame about caring for their mental health? Benjamin and Andrew discuss this stigma, how the brain is impacted by becoming a dad and why they founded the Fathers’ Mental Health Network.