July 14, 2025 • 35 mins
In this powerful and heart-centered episode of Authentic Talks 2.0, Shanta sits down with mental health researcher, coach, and author Jocelyn Pepe to explore the deep roots of emotional healing, the stigma around mental health, and the courageous journey of reclaiming your voice after trauma.
Jocelyn shares the story behind her new book Claim Your Brain, which blends neuroscience, soul wisdom, and lived experience into a practical and soulful guide for anyone navigating stress, burnout, anxiety, or personal transformation. From childhood trauma to postpartum depression and a life-altering brain injury,
Jocelyn takes us on an honest and enlightening journey of what it truly means to heal from the inside out. Whether you’re a parent, a high achiever, or someone silently holding it all together, this episode offers insight, hope, and real tools to help you claim your brain—and your peace.
We Cover:
Author websites and social media:Website URL:http://truliving.ca
LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyn-pepe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truliving.ca
Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truliving/
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Connect with the host:
Instagram: @AuthenticTalks2.0
Email: AuthenticShanta@gmail.com
Website: www.AuthenticTalks2.com
Facebook: AuthenticTalks2
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/authentic-talks-2-0-with-shanta--4116672/support.
Jocelyn shares the story behind her new book Claim Your Brain, which blends neuroscience, soul wisdom, and lived experience into a practical and soulful guide for anyone navigating stress, burnout, anxiety, or personal transformation. From childhood trauma to postpartum depression and a life-altering brain injury,
Jocelyn takes us on an honest and enlightening journey of what it truly means to heal from the inside out. Whether you’re a parent, a high achiever, or someone silently holding it all together, this episode offers insight, hope, and real tools to help you claim your brain—and your peace.
We Cover:
- Jocelyn’s personal mental health journey: from childhood adversity to motherhood and burnout
- The meaning and mission behind her book Claim Your Brain
- Why self-care has to go deeper than checklists and bubble baths
- The TRUE model: Science + Soul for holistic mental wellness
- Burnout, spiritual healing, and somatic awareness
- How to create small but powerful rituals for mental clarity
- The ripple effect of healing ourselves and supporting others
Author websites and social media:Website URL:http://truliving.ca
LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyn-pepe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truliving.ca
Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truliving/
***Subscribe to the show and please take a moment to leave the show a review to help the show to continue to grow***
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Spreaker | Castbox and more.
Connect with the host:
Instagram: @AuthenticTalks2.0
Email: AuthenticShanta@gmail.com
Website: www.AuthenticTalks2.com
Facebook: AuthenticTalks2
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/authentic-talks-2-0-with-shanta--4116672/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, guys, Welcome back to Authentic Talks two point oh.
I'm Seante and I am your host. I'm excited that
you're tuning in for today's episode. We have an awesome episode.
We are featuring Jocelyn Pepe, who has a new book
out you guys that you definitely want to get. Before
we dive in with the introduction of today's show, I
(00:21):
do want to take a moment to welcome each and
every last one of you and extend an open invitation
for you to come back again and again. And I'm
going to ask that you share the episode with your
family members, your friends, your co workers, and anyone that
you feel could benefit from this podcast. We have an
amazing lots of amazing episodes here, and I often joke
(00:45):
saying that you can actually go to the Authentic Talks
two point oh School of Wellness. I'm actually not kidding.
We have so many amazing episodes here that there's so
much that you can actually learn and share with so
many others that you know. All right, you guys, let's
go ahead and dive on in with today's episode. Today's
(01:07):
episode is one that speaks directly to the heart and
the mind. We're diving deep into mental health, self care,
beyond the checklist, and the power of reclaiming our inner voice.
I'm joined by insightful and courageous Joscelyn Pepe, a mental
health researcher, a coach, and an author of the brand
(01:31):
new book Claim Your Brain. From childhood adversity to burnout,
postpartum depression, and even a traumatic brain injury. Joscelyn opens
up about her journey of healing and how she's transforming
pain into purpose. Okay, you guys, now, whether you're slightly
(01:53):
holding it all together or searching for new tools to
support your mental and emotional wellbeing, this episode is here
to remind you that you are not alone. So grab
your journal and take a deep breath and get ready
for a real, powerful, and soul aligned conversation. Please welcome
(02:16):
the author of Claim Your Brain, Joscelyn Pepe too Authentic Talks.
Authentic Talks is all about authentic conversations. This show is
all about growth, love, respect, success, mind, body, and spirit.
If you're looking to grow and become your authentic self,
then this is the podcast for you, and I am
(02:39):
your host.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Chante.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Hi, Jocelyn, Welcome, to authentic talks. It's a pleasure to
have you, Hi, Chante.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Thank you so much for having and looking forward to
our conversation tonight.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Absolutely, before we dive in, I know that you wrote
a new book and we want to talk about all
the good stuff, But can you introduce yourself to our
listeners please.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
My name is Jocelyn Peppie.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
I am outside of Toronto in Canada, and I am
a mental health researcher and coach and a fractional head
of mental health and Organizational Wellbeing to work with individuals
and organizations to elevate the mental health and well being
of employees and humanity.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I love what you do, you know that, because it's
something about the mind. I always say there's power and
our minds. So I just love the type of work
that you do. I think that it's really amazing and
it's helping a lot of people in the spaces.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
And what you're in.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So I do want to ask you if we could
dive into just telling us a little bit about your
personal journey and what led you into writing your current
book titled Claim your Brain. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Absolutely, Well, I'll start from the vegan because that's where
most of our mental health journeys do begin, they say
from womb to tomb and so, and my mental health
journey was just that My first memory was one that
really cultivated fear inside of me.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It was a conflict situation where.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I was a little girl three years old, and that
memory stuck with me and led to some impactful events
in my life that really changed the way I feel
like my nervous system was operating. And obviously all of
that at such a young age was at a very
unconscious level, and over time, I feel like I continually
(04:43):
hid or silenced myself in order to stay away from
the fray or any type of conflict, and I continually
internalized conflict as something bad. Those are the adverse childhood
experiences that started beginning of my story. We all have
some level of an adverse childhood experience, some greater than others,
(05:06):
but mine had this impact on me and it carried
forward as I became a teenager, because that puberty phase
for young kids and boys and girls is the phase
where mental health really starts to play a role in
our lives with the hormones and the chemicals in our brains.
For me, it was an age where hormones were happening,
(05:29):
but also life events were happening that I felt I
couldn't control. So I really started to try and control myself.
Did you say from the age of three? From the
age of three is when I had what I would
say is one of my first adverse childhood's experiences. And
then as I entered into puberty, things in my environment
(05:51):
were uncontrollable.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
If I asked you what that if you cared to
share what that was?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Or is that not.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
A good question?
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Yeah, for sure, Here's I'll go as deep as I've
gone in the book. All families have dynamics, since for
my family, there was a lot happening within me. As
a teenager, I was starting to experience hormones which were extreme.
As a young girl navigating life, I dealt with home
environment situations where you know, there could have been conflict
(06:21):
or other mental health challenges happening around me, and so
my own coping mechanisms were to retreat, internalize. What ends
up happening is depression or anxiety. Because of that internalization
of feelings and the inability to control our environments. My
story in My Journey is one intricately woven with alcohol misuse.
(06:45):
In those around me. That is another person's mental health
and their coping strategy, which then impacted me as.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
A human being.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Throughout my life, I continue to internalize someone else's behavior.
It resulted in me shutting down, losing my voice, hiding
to avoid anybody else's mental health challenges impacting me.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It's a slippery slope.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
As I carried forward into my twenties or thirties having kids,
it all became amplified and magnified because it's something I
was never able to really deal with, and so as
a mom, my story is really one of a daughter
and a mother navigating mental health, going through postpartum depression,
going back to work quickly not even physically healed, really
(07:36):
shaped and impacted me. But also the psychological overwhelm that
comes with birthing babies and a miscarriage. So you get
the idea that it's a bit of a snowball of
compounding psychological stress that led me to burn out in
my career. And then because I was always high achieving
trying to prove myself to others, I.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Ended up in twenty twenty one with a traumatic brain injury.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Because I was cycling training for triathlon, I break to
avoid a situation, and I went headfirst into the side
of the road.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I'm conscious. Wow my story.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Wow that sounds terrifying. What does claim your brain mean
to you personally? And what was the moment that you
knew that you needed to reclaim yours?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That's a beautiful question.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Claim your brain means to me two things. It means
mental health. So reclaiming my inner dialogue. My inner dialogue
didn't start negative. It grew negative as a result of
you know, experiences and experiences, and mine became so negative
that it was like borderline toxic.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, so toxic fact itself. Yeah, yeah, toxic inside myself.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
The claim your brain part really came because there was
the darkest point in my life where I really literally
was like if I could take my brain out of
my body and trade it, I would like to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Wow. That is the first time I've ever heard someone
describe it in that way. That is powerful. Like that
puts the explanation point on it.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Do you know what I mean? So it's like you recognize.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
That you wanted something different for yourself, Yes, and I
didn't know how to get there.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
That leads into the why for the book.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I love it I love that you wrote a book
to help other people. Would you agree that you're blending
science with soul and lived experience collectively. If that is
the case, can you walk us through. Is it called
the true model or is it the tru model.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
That's a great question. It's a true model, and that
comes from be true to yourself. So that's the meaning
of true. Be true to yourself, be true in your life,
be fully, express fully aligned fully yourself.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
So that's the meaning of true.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
And I thought the first part was around the science
and soul and lived experience, and that is exactly right
with my masters and the psychology and neuroscience of mental health.
And I'm very spiritual and that was what got me
through some of those really dark days. I created the
True Model rooted in science and grounded and soul because
I believe in order to take care of our mental health,
(10:24):
we need both Eastern and Western medicines and we need
to be merging them more, especially in the West.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I agree with that a thousand percent. Personally, I find
that it's difficult when you're going through a difficult situation
to make it through, or to heal, or to become
whole without having the elements of your mind, body, and
soul collectively. So you do need the social, the physical,
the mental, and all the things. I definitely agree that
(10:55):
it seems like you need all of that collectively. Like
you said, you might not have made it through had
you not had that foundation.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yeah, the spiritual was my foundation. It was the hope,
the connection into something bigger. The reason I created the
model to share with the world was because I felt
like I was finding my way in the dark, one tip,
one tool, one modality.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
At a time.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
I brought all the modalities into the book, tools that
I felt really worked for me, and then researched each
one of them and brought it into the grounded, science backed,
soul full approach that we take to mental health with
all of the elements of well being.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I love that you mentioned that your mother and that
there were some things that you were struggling with. You
mentioned burnout and all the things that kind of collectively.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Were part of you basically coming to writing the book.
Can we talk about self.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Care a little bit and going beyond the checklist. I
know that we hear a lot about self care, and
we know that a lot of people suffer sometimes from burnout.
I went through a phase recently myself. It was like
last year where I was pretty burnt out Joscelyn, and
I didn't even recognize it.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I felt fatigued.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I felt tired, and I thought that I was doing
all the things. I have a self care journal, and
I would open it up and I'm like, okay, well
I took a hot bath and check that off, and like, okay,
so I did this, And it felt like no matter
what I was doing, I could not get out of
that the loop of like I'm doing all the things
(12:41):
and checking all the boxes, but I'm still tired. I
didn't even know it was burnout until I actually moved
and shifted from that current role into a different role.
And then I was like my body, the way my
body respond it was just so different. I didn't even
organize that. My shoulders were really tight and tense. I
(13:03):
felt like they were hurting, and I would often rub them.
But sometimes I learned that we have to shift and
move and just do something completely different when you can't
get up and you just keep on doing all the
things and you're.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Just like, I can't get out of this. I still
feel like this.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
I decided to look into some other avenues and different things,
and it shifted like that.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I think that was parnout.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And once my body relaxed and all the muscles went
from being super.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Tense to gosh, I feel like I'm lighter.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I feel like I lost weight and I stood on
the scale because that's how.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Much lighter I felt, but I was the same weight.
I was like light. Yes, I was like, this is amazing,
And so.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I had an opportunity to feel like what overwhelmed and
true burnout I felt like, and when you're in it,
you're just in this loop, but sometimes you don't even
realize it. But once I got out of it, I
was like, Okay, now I know if my body goes
through a feeling all of that stuff collectively that I
(14:14):
need to do more than just let me take the
hot bath with lavender. I had to make some serious,
major decisions, you know, because I'm like, oh, you know,
I love this and I like what I'm doing and
I wanted, you know, and it's like change is not
something that comes very easy for me, and it seems
like it would have been easier for me to just
(14:35):
take the lavender bath, put your essential oils on, You'll
be fine.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
But that just wasn't.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Cutting it, you know, So I often ask other people like,
how do you recognize the overwhelm and you or the burnout?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And then what is it.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
That you're doing as a form of self care that's
different than what we often hear. I had to go
pretty deep on mine, where it was insane, but in
a great way. We talked about Sidona before the show.
I had to go a bear That helped me a
lot too, just to see the mountains. The air was different.
(15:10):
But I want to come out there where you are
being in Canada. I think you guys have a lot
of great mountains too, right, Yeah, there's a lot of
beautiful outdoor.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Space that I see exactly.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
But I feel like we're aligned in what you're getting to.
The approach that I take.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
It is not.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Just a bubble bass and essential oil, Yeah it is.
It is deep work and it is big boulder work.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
And so starting with a relationship we all have with ourselves,
like really checking in at a deep somatic level into
what is stored in our nervous system. Writing my own
story was really cathartic, and didn't recognize how cathartic it
was going to be because I felt like I had
done so much work. But I recommend everybody write their
(15:59):
story because we all have one. Because what came for
me was a moment of reconciliation on the paradox of life,
knowing that I had grown up in a beautiful place
with a great family, and I have a beautiful life.
And also the paradox was I was suffering inside and
(16:20):
I was struggling with my mental health, and those two
things can be true at once. So just knowing that
and working through that for me was a really big
part of all of this, because there was some guilt
or comparative suffering that I was giving myself. But it's like, no,
this is actually what's true for me, regardless of the
(16:41):
external things that were going on for me. And I
feel like I'm a conscious, present, super intentional parent, and
I felt like I was doing well there, but on
the inside, I was navigating some big boulders with my
relationship to myself first and foremost, checking in with the
health of the relationships around me.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Some of those were incredibly unhealthy.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Oh yeah, And so that my analogy for those types
of relationships, and it might speak to how you're talking a.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Little bit about burnout.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
It's carbon monoxide, silent but deadly. You don't know what's
happening until it's too late.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I love that analogy because that's exactly what I experience.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
So that deep level work, connecting with our heart and gut,
getting out of our mind and doing more intuitive work
and checking in with what our gut is saying. The
more we listen to our gut and take care of
our health, the better guided we are acting on those
intuitive hits. Also with our heart checking in where it's
still blocked. The spiritual wellbeing chapter talks a lot about
(17:51):
the Chokra system, emotional centers and energetic centers of our body.
I had nodules and my thyroid the symbol of losing
your voice. I also had cysts in my ovaries with
symbols lism of losing your power or not connected to
your power. So tuning into those ways my body was
talking to me and listening.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, I'd love that you talked about having a brain injury.
Can we back up and talk about that? What was
that journey like to healing from that physical brain injury?
So I lived with chronic fatigue and pain. I have
good days and I have very bad days.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I came out of that, and I thought I was
just going to bounce back because I was a high achiever. I'm,
you know, like, oh, I'm just going to bounce back,
and okay, I'm physically fine. But little did I know
that the road to healing from a traumatic brain injury
was going to be a lifetime of healing.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Hmm.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
It got worse and were so bad that it couldn't
go to my son's hockey games because the arenas are white,
the lights reflecting on white, so it's super bright.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I had to wear sunglasses.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I had to choose My days of working out in
the morning, taking my kids to school, driving them to
their sports, and working were gone.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I could do one of all of those things in
a day.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
And I had just started my Masters like the week
that the brain injury occurred, so I had to put
that on hold. I've worked with multiple practitioners in the
mainstream medical system but also in the alternative healing system.
In order to reclaim my neurons and reclaim my brain.
I stopped drinking alcohol completely because.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Of the neurotoxic effects it has on.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Our brain and started to eat very cleanly, very anti inflammatory.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
But because what was happening in my.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Brain was neuroinflammation, and I still go for nerve treatment
in my neck. The part of my brain that got
damaged was the occipital lobes, which goes into your eyes,
so there's diipital nerves when my eyes get very tired.
I really am super with my sleep hygiene. I take
all my brain health supplements and make sure I'm eating
(20:02):
all of the foods in brain health and keeping my
stress levels low, which is hard in modern society, but
it's basically my prescription to life now.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
I mentioned that you had to make a decision where
it was like you could only do one thing, either
go to the hockey games or you.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Had to work.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
A lot of people are like that today and they
haven't even had the traumatic experience of a brain injury
that you've had, and they find that it's becoming more
difficult for them to work, be a mom, be a wife,
and then take care of themselves.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
I know that you have.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Rituals in your book that you'd share with people. Is
there one out of all of them that you could
share with our listeners today that would help them where
they're able to pick it up and not feel like, oh,
it's another thing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
That I have to plan in order to do.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I want them to know how easy some of these
practices or that you offer can be for them, where
they know that this is a book they can buy
and have in their home and share with their family
members or friends or in their women's circles, to know that, like, yes,
this is something we can do, and we don't have
(21:18):
to go out and buy fifty million things just for
us to do this.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Does that make sense? Like yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:25):
And I feel like this is where we can point
the conversation for mothers' mental health or parents' mental health
right now, because there are so many pressures raising kids,
like keeping them off social media, the empathetic parent and
absorbing their emotions and all the things that are happening.
But when you ask about ritual, I talk about it
(21:48):
in the book, From Habitual to Ritual. We're just robotic
right now, going going, going, doing all things unconsciously. But
when we take a habitual approach to life, it's a
way of living versus something to do or a task list.
So I think an important place to start is sacred.
Sleep is sacred because that is our foundation for life.
(22:09):
When we are well rested we can perform better, we
can be our best selves, and any other thing is movement.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Movement is medicine.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
It's clinically shown that movement is as effective as lots
of medicines being prescribed in the world. I used to
wake up to go to a class, and now I
incorporate movement in my day.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
So nice, walk, walk the dog.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
But then every hour there's a meeting, you can walk
around the block. Every time you have to drive a
child somewhere, maybe you get to walk around while they're
getting ready, or you get to walk around a track
if there is that available wherever those environments are. But
incorporating movement into your day in five minute increment is
as effective as going to a sixty minute class.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
I've been trying to do that a bit.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I don't know if I've been timing it, but I'm
doing it for a minute now because it just feels
good to move our bodies. As we get older, I'm
realizing that I appreciated a whole lot more. I'm glad
that you are out here helping other people, because people
have a lot of gifts to share, and sometimes they
don't take the initiative to maximize their thoughts when that
(23:23):
thought hit you that you need to write this book.
It's good that you followed through with it, because it
sounds like a really amazing book to me, like something
that Yeah, it's fitting for a variety of groups and
types of people. Yeah, I say that I wrote the
book for anyone silently holding it all together while silently
(23:46):
falling apart. I love that. I think that's a great share.
You wrote it for all types of people, for moms, professionals,
and your everyday people. What would be a message that
you hope they hear loud and clear from you today?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
What do I want people to hear with this book?
Speaker 4 (24:06):
My intention is for people to know they're not alone,
because with mental health there is still a sigma and
people are silently suffering, which.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Makes it worse.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Yes, I shared my story as a means to creating connection,
and what has happened in the pre launch of my
book is that people are now opening up to me
to say thank you. The world needs you. What else
has happened is people are getting tools, but they're also
getting a deeper level of intimate conversation because they're able
(24:36):
to now have a conversation or a dialogue about how
they're actually doing or what their struggles are, and then
it releases the pressure valve, like when you think about
a beach ball and holding it underwater and then it explodes.
That's what happened when we suppress everything, and it creates
more disease inside of our bodies because we're holding it
all in.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
I'm a visual person, so I can see that ball but.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Floating right.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Yes, yes, I get totally see. That's what I want
people to know is you're not alone. We are all
on a spectrum with our mental health, whether we are
in severe mental health or we're in mild to moderate
mental health, which is where the book primarily targets. As
I'm a mental health coach. Mild to moderate mental health
(25:27):
can deal with stress, anxiety, burnout, depression, cognitive performance, all
of those types of things, and we all have all
of that at any given point in time. In mental
health is not static. We don't have good or bad
mental health because we're humans. We have mental health on
a spectrum. We talk about this in the book too,
(25:48):
whether it's with women in their seven day cycles and
cycle sinking with seven day cycles or sinking with the
moon in our cycles, and men having twenty four hour cycles.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
That's new. That's not one that I was aware.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
The moon is like my thing, you know, and I
totally love talking about it and all of that, But
I didn't know that men had a twenty four our
cycle like that. Can we talk about that? So?
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Is this book also for men? This is for anybody?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
I don't go into detail about specifically men's or women's
mental health. It's just mental health and general. I have
a lot of clients who are men that I coach
who are working through their own emotion because men are
learning how to be vulnerable, open up, and not everybody.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
This is just generally speaking.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yeah, men typically decline to mental health through addiction and suicide,
and women decline to mental health through anxiety and depression.
The commonality in both is suppression, suppression of emotion, suppression
of needs, suppression of self without expression. If we can
just go from suppress to express and really not healing.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yes, And you know, men suppress their emotions a lot
more because they don't want to be misunderstood. They don't
want to be like viewed as less than a man
if they My husband was talking about this not long ago.
There's this fine line where you're clothes if you're not
opening up enough, and if you open up too much,
you're not a strong man. I'm paraphrasing it, but it's
(27:24):
something along those lines. And then because I only had.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Sons, I have no daughters.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I have relationships like with my sons the way that
a mom would with her daughter. Because I don't have
a daughter, they have wives, so I get a chance
to talk with them and hear what it's like from
their perspective of being guys. And my sons they will
pick up a book, they have no problem with that,
and they love learning, expanding, growing and having new thought
(27:54):
processes brought to them.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
I loved listening to the session you did with your
and your son, and I was struck by the level
of connectedness I heard in your son. And I do
think awareness the things that help with mental health for
young people. And I do think the younger generations are
growing up with more tools, more conversations. But when we
think about our generation or generations above us, it wasn't
(28:20):
talked about it's taboos. Men are finding their way and
this is really important because we don't need to keep
perpetuating a societal construct we can create a new dynamic
between us all because I believed, really deeply, truly holy
that when we all heal and do the work in
(28:42):
our mental health, we're all advancing together. It's not one
or the other, this person or that person, all of
us together. My mental health didn't start poor. It ended
poor because of the projections and other people's mental health
on top of my own, and I took it on
as mine and that burden is what put me into
(29:06):
the darkest place in my life.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Wow, I'm glad that you were able to recognize it,
because it's some people can recognize it, but they don't
know what to do to pull themselves out. I know
that I might sound like you say that all the time, Chante,
but I mean it from.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
The bottom of my heart.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Books make the best gift, and I believe that when
you know someone who could be struggling with something, if
you're tuning into this episode and you're someone that like
my son, I'm going to come back to that thought.
I have a son who started a library. Like him
and his wife. They went and got one bookshelf and
(29:45):
then it got super excited, and then it got another one.
I believe that, like that's like a gift that when
someone receives it that they're like, wow, I have my
first book or my third book, and then we propped
them into ta making more of an interest in that.
That's when you begin to get another book in another book.
Books help us grow, especially when they're like this book,
(30:09):
you're sharing your story and then there's like exercises that
you can do. I love books where there's takeaways and
it's helping me to grow and glow and show up
being my best self. And so that's what happens with
these books. And that's why I love doing shows where
I have authors on here and they're sharing their stories
(30:31):
and their books because it gives us more options of
what we can read.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Everybody has a.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Different way of taking an information, so I love that
you shared this because there could be someone else that
had a similar situation and you could be speaking to them.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Yeah. And what I feel too is this book is
deeply introspective, so it takes you on a deep introspective journey,
so you can sit with it and be with fit
and experiment with the tools in your day to day life.
There's also actions and accountabilities, so you have high intention
and then take it to action and accountability with a
(31:10):
deep purpose and meaning for yourself. But the other thing
that you were talking about around the importance of books
and being a gift is right now, there's a lot
going on in the world. There's a lot going on
in the economy, and so I coach a lot of
people in my day to day that are losing jobs,
losing benefits, can't continue with therapy or whatever the modalities
(31:33):
of and so this book is not a replacement for anything,
but it is a starting point or a gateway for
individuals who may not have access to all of those resources.
And that's also part of why I brought this all together,
because I had community, I had a family, and I
had resources, and so.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
My mission now is.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
To share all of that with the world in a
very accessible way.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Well, I love that. That's really it gets I enjoyed
talking with you. You're there, and that there's the gift
of the book. That could go out and purchase the
book if they wanted to. Where can they find it? Yeah,
that's a really great question. Right now, for a launch week,
the ebook is on a ninety nine cent promotion in Amazon.
(32:18):
The book in general is going to be available at
all your major online retailers.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Nice, that's good, Steph.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Before we end our episode, I have to ask you,
was there anything that we did not talk about but
you want to talk about, and what is it that
you want to leave our listeners with.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
I don't think there's anything we have untouched in this
moment in time. But what I want to leave listeners
with is this inquiry.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
We all have the.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
Opportunity to have a ripple effect. We are all one
drop in humanity, and we have to consider what's the
ripple effect we're having on ourselves. How are we talking
to ourselves. What's the cellular ripple because ourselves are listening.
What's your ripple effect within you? And then what's your
(33:05):
ripple effect outside of you? When we take care of
our mental health internally and we can have a positive
ripple effect externally, and that's part of the spiritual wellbeing chapter,
the inside out part of mental health. When we get
to give and care and volunteer or support and give
part of ourselves, that can mitigate poor mental health because
(33:28):
there's not so much focus on the self and the suffering.
We get to go out in the world and be
helpful and bring light and help another in need.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I love that, Miss j Justcelyn Pepe, Thank you so
much for hanging out with me.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
The name of Joscelyn's book is Claim Your Brain.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
So Claim Your Brain is available now on Amazon. Go
out and get the book. It is so worth it.
Be sure to share with family members and friends. Thank
you again, jo Justlyn. I enjoyed talking with you.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Thank you, Seance. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
What a powerful conversation.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Thank you so much Joscelyn for showing up with so much.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Truth, grace and wisdom.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Her story reminds us that mental health is not just
about surviving.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
It's about finding ways to thrive.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Even when life gets heavy.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
If something resonated with you today, I encourage you to
check out the book Claim your Brain. It's not available
on Amazon. She also has an e book available for
download as well. It is packed with practical tools, soulful reflections,
and science back strategies that you can use every single day.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
This isn't just another book, you guys. It's a resource, a.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Guide, and a gift you can give yourself or someone
you love Until next time.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I want you to take care of your mind.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Your body, your soul, and remember healing is not selfish.
It it is necessary. I want you guys to stay grounded,
stay true.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
And keep showing up as your.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Most authentic selves until next time, take care of yourselves
and each other. Thank you all so much for tuning in.
I'm chante with authentic Talks.
Hi, guys, Welcome back to Authentic Talks two point oh.
I'm Seante and I am your host. I'm excited that
you're tuning in for today's episode. We have an awesome episode.
We are featuring Jocelyn Pepe, who has a new book
out you guys that you definitely want to get. Before
we dive in with the introduction of today's show, I
(00:21):
do want to take a moment to welcome each and
every last one of you and extend an open invitation
for you to come back again and again. And I'm
going to ask that you share the episode with your
family members, your friends, your co workers, and anyone that
you feel could benefit from this podcast. We have an
amazing lots of amazing episodes here, and I often joke
(00:45):
saying that you can actually go to the Authentic Talks
two point oh School of Wellness. I'm actually not kidding.
We have so many amazing episodes here that there's so
much that you can actually learn and share with so
many others that you know. All right, you guys, let's
go ahead and dive on in with today's episode. Today's
(01:07):
episode is one that speaks directly to the heart and
the mind. We're diving deep into mental health, self care,
beyond the checklist, and the power of reclaiming our inner voice.
I'm joined by insightful and courageous Joscelyn Pepe, a mental
health researcher, a coach, and an author of the brand
(01:31):
new book Claim Your Brain. From childhood adversity to burnout,
postpartum depression, and even a traumatic brain injury. Joscelyn opens
up about her journey of healing and how she's transforming
pain into purpose. Okay, you guys, now, whether you're slightly
(01:53):
holding it all together or searching for new tools to
support your mental and emotional wellbeing, this episode is here
to remind you that you are not alone. So grab
your journal and take a deep breath and get ready
for a real, powerful, and soul aligned conversation. Please welcome
(02:16):
the author of Claim Your Brain, Joscelyn Pepe too Authentic Talks.
Authentic Talks is all about authentic conversations. This show is
all about growth, love, respect, success, mind, body, and spirit.
If you're looking to grow and become your authentic self,
then this is the podcast for you, and I am
(02:39):
your host.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Chante.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Hi, Jocelyn, Welcome, to authentic talks. It's a pleasure to
have you, Hi, Chante.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Thank you so much for having and looking forward to
our conversation tonight.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Absolutely, before we dive in, I know that you wrote
a new book and we want to talk about all
the good stuff, But can you introduce yourself to our
listeners please.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
My name is Jocelyn Peppie.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
I am outside of Toronto in Canada, and I am
a mental health researcher and coach and a fractional head
of mental health and Organizational Wellbeing to work with individuals
and organizations to elevate the mental health and well being
of employees and humanity.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I love what you do, you know that, because it's
something about the mind. I always say there's power and
our minds. So I just love the type of work
that you do. I think that it's really amazing and
it's helping a lot of people in the spaces.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
And what you're in.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So I do want to ask you if we could
dive into just telling us a little bit about your
personal journey and what led you into writing your current
book titled Claim your Brain. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Absolutely, Well, I'll start from the vegan because that's where
most of our mental health journeys do begin, they say
from womb to tomb and so, and my mental health
journey was just that My first memory was one that
really cultivated fear inside of me.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It was a conflict situation where.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I was a little girl three years old, and that
memory stuck with me and led to some impactful events
in my life that really changed the way I feel
like my nervous system was operating. And obviously all of
that at such a young age was at a very
unconscious level, and over time, I feel like I continually
(04:43):
hid or silenced myself in order to stay away from
the fray or any type of conflict, and I continually
internalized conflict as something bad. Those are the adverse childhood
experiences that started beginning of my story. We all have
some level of an adverse childhood experience, some greater than others,
(05:06):
but mine had this impact on me and it carried
forward as I became a teenager, because that puberty phase
for young kids and boys and girls is the phase
where mental health really starts to play a role in
our lives with the hormones and the chemicals in our brains.
For me, it was an age where hormones were happening,
(05:29):
but also life events were happening that I felt I
couldn't control. So I really started to try and control myself.
Did you say from the age of three? From the
age of three is when I had what I would
say is one of my first adverse childhood's experiences. And
then as I entered into puberty, things in my environment
(05:51):
were uncontrollable.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
If I asked you what that if you cared to
share what that was?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Or is that not.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
A good question?
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Yeah, for sure, Here's I'll go as deep as I've
gone in the book. All families have dynamics, since for
my family, there was a lot happening within me. As
a teenager, I was starting to experience hormones which were extreme.
As a young girl navigating life, I dealt with home
environment situations where you know, there could have been conflict
(06:21):
or other mental health challenges happening around me, and so
my own coping mechanisms were to retreat, internalize. What ends
up happening is depression or anxiety. Because of that internalization
of feelings and the inability to control our environments. My
story in My Journey is one intricately woven with alcohol misuse.
(06:45):
In those around me. That is another person's mental health
and their coping strategy, which then impacted me as.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
A human being.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Throughout my life, I continue to internalize someone else's behavior.
It resulted in me shutting down, losing my voice, hiding
to avoid anybody else's mental health challenges impacting me.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It's a slippery slope.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
As I carried forward into my twenties or thirties having kids,
it all became amplified and magnified because it's something I
was never able to really deal with, and so as
a mom, my story is really one of a daughter
and a mother navigating mental health, going through postpartum depression,
going back to work quickly not even physically healed, really
(07:36):
shaped and impacted me. But also the psychological overwhelm that
comes with birthing babies and a miscarriage. So you get
the idea that it's a bit of a snowball of
compounding psychological stress that led me to burn out in
my career. And then because I was always high achieving
trying to prove myself to others, I.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Ended up in twenty twenty one with a traumatic brain injury.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Because I was cycling training for triathlon, I break to
avoid a situation, and I went headfirst into the side
of the road.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I'm conscious. Wow my story.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Wow that sounds terrifying. What does claim your brain mean
to you personally? And what was the moment that you
knew that you needed to reclaim yours?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That's a beautiful question.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Claim your brain means to me two things. It means
mental health. So reclaiming my inner dialogue. My inner dialogue
didn't start negative. It grew negative as a result of
you know, experiences and experiences, and mine became so negative
that it was like borderline toxic.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, so toxic fact itself. Yeah, yeah, toxic inside myself.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
The claim your brain part really came because there was
the darkest point in my life where I really literally
was like if I could take my brain out of
my body and trade it, I would like to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Wow. That is the first time I've ever heard someone
describe it in that way. That is powerful. Like that
puts the explanation point on it.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Do you know what I mean? So it's like you recognize.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
That you wanted something different for yourself, Yes, and I
didn't know how to get there.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
That leads into the why for the book.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I love it I love that you wrote a book
to help other people. Would you agree that you're blending
science with soul and lived experience collectively. If that is
the case, can you walk us through. Is it called
the true model or is it the tru model.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
That's a great question. It's a true model, and that
comes from be true to yourself. So that's the meaning
of true. Be true to yourself, be true in your life,
be fully, express fully aligned fully yourself.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
So that's the meaning of true.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
And I thought the first part was around the science
and soul and lived experience, and that is exactly right
with my masters and the psychology and neuroscience of mental health.
And I'm very spiritual and that was what got me
through some of those really dark days. I created the
True Model rooted in science and grounded and soul because
I believe in order to take care of our mental health,
(10:24):
we need both Eastern and Western medicines and we need
to be merging them more, especially in the West.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I agree with that a thousand percent. Personally, I find
that it's difficult when you're going through a difficult situation
to make it through, or to heal, or to become
whole without having the elements of your mind, body, and
soul collectively. So you do need the social, the physical,
the mental, and all the things. I definitely agree that
(10:55):
it seems like you need all of that collectively. Like
you said, you might not have made it through had
you not had that foundation.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yeah, the spiritual was my foundation. It was the hope,
the connection into something bigger. The reason I created the
model to share with the world was because I felt
like I was finding my way in the dark, one tip,
one tool, one modality.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
At a time.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
I brought all the modalities into the book, tools that
I felt really worked for me, and then researched each
one of them and brought it into the grounded, science backed,
soul full approach that we take to mental health with
all of the elements of well being.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I love that you mentioned that your mother and that
there were some things that you were struggling with. You
mentioned burnout and all the things that kind of collectively.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Were part of you basically coming to writing the book.
Can we talk about self.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Care a little bit and going beyond the checklist. I
know that we hear a lot about self care, and
we know that a lot of people suffer sometimes from burnout.
I went through a phase recently myself. It was like
last year where I was pretty burnt out Joscelyn, and
I didn't even recognize it.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I felt fatigued.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I felt tired, and I thought that I was doing
all the things. I have a self care journal, and
I would open it up and I'm like, okay, well
I took a hot bath and check that off, and like, okay,
so I did this, And it felt like no matter
what I was doing, I could not get out of
that the loop of like I'm doing all the things
(12:41):
and checking all the boxes, but I'm still tired. I
didn't even know it was burnout until I actually moved
and shifted from that current role into a different role.
And then I was like my body, the way my
body respond it was just so different. I didn't even
organize that. My shoulders were really tight and tense. I
(13:03):
felt like they were hurting, and I would often rub them.
But sometimes I learned that we have to shift and
move and just do something completely different when you can't
get up and you just keep on doing all the
things and you're.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Just like, I can't get out of this. I still
feel like this.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
I decided to look into some other avenues and different things,
and it shifted like that.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I think that was parnout.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And once my body relaxed and all the muscles went
from being super.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Tense to gosh, I feel like I'm lighter.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I feel like I lost weight and I stood on
the scale because that's how.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Much lighter I felt, but I was the same weight.
I was like light. Yes, I was like, this is amazing,
And so.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I had an opportunity to feel like what overwhelmed and
true burnout I felt like, and when you're in it,
you're just in this loop, but sometimes you don't even
realize it. But once I got out of it, I
was like, Okay, now I know if my body goes
through a feeling all of that stuff collectively that I
(14:14):
need to do more than just let me take the
hot bath with lavender. I had to make some serious,
major decisions, you know, because I'm like, oh, you know,
I love this and I like what I'm doing and
I wanted, you know, and it's like change is not
something that comes very easy for me, and it seems
like it would have been easier for me to just
(14:35):
take the lavender bath, put your essential oils on, You'll
be fine.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
But that just wasn't.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Cutting it, you know, So I often ask other people like,
how do you recognize the overwhelm and you or the burnout?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And then what is it.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
That you're doing as a form of self care that's
different than what we often hear. I had to go
pretty deep on mine, where it was insane, but in
a great way. We talked about Sidona before the show.
I had to go a bear That helped me a
lot too, just to see the mountains. The air was different.
(15:10):
But I want to come out there where you are
being in Canada. I think you guys have a lot
of great mountains too, right, Yeah, there's a lot of
beautiful outdoor.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Space that I see exactly.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
But I feel like we're aligned in what you're getting to.
The approach that I take.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
It is not.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Just a bubble bass and essential oil, Yeah it is.
It is deep work and it is big boulder work.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
And so starting with a relationship we all have with ourselves,
like really checking in at a deep somatic level into
what is stored in our nervous system. Writing my own
story was really cathartic, and didn't recognize how cathartic it
was going to be because I felt like I had
done so much work. But I recommend everybody write their
(15:59):
story because we all have one. Because what came for
me was a moment of reconciliation on the paradox of life,
knowing that I had grown up in a beautiful place
with a great family, and I have a beautiful life.
And also the paradox was I was suffering inside and
(16:20):
I was struggling with my mental health, and those two
things can be true at once. So just knowing that
and working through that for me was a really big
part of all of this, because there was some guilt
or comparative suffering that I was giving myself. But it's like, no,
this is actually what's true for me, regardless of the
(16:41):
external things that were going on for me. And I
feel like I'm a conscious, present, super intentional parent, and
I felt like I was doing well there, but on
the inside, I was navigating some big boulders with my
relationship to myself first and foremost, checking in with the
health of the relationships around me.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Some of those were incredibly unhealthy.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Oh yeah, And so that my analogy for those types
of relationships, and it might speak to how you're talking a.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Little bit about burnout.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
It's carbon monoxide, silent but deadly. You don't know what's
happening until it's too late.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I love that analogy because that's exactly what I experience.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
So that deep level work, connecting with our heart and gut,
getting out of our mind and doing more intuitive work
and checking in with what our gut is saying. The
more we listen to our gut and take care of
our health, the better guided we are acting on those
intuitive hits. Also with our heart checking in where it's
still blocked. The spiritual wellbeing chapter talks a lot about
(17:51):
the Chokra system, emotional centers and energetic centers of our body.
I had nodules and my thyroid the symbol of losing
your voice. I also had cysts in my ovaries with
symbols lism of losing your power or not connected to
your power. So tuning into those ways my body was
talking to me and listening.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, I'd love that you talked about having a brain injury.
Can we back up and talk about that? What was
that journey like to healing from that physical brain injury?
So I lived with chronic fatigue and pain. I have
good days and I have very bad days.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I came out of that, and I thought I was
just going to bounce back because I was a high achiever. I'm,
you know, like, oh, I'm just going to bounce back,
and okay, I'm physically fine. But little did I know
that the road to healing from a traumatic brain injury
was going to be a lifetime of healing.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Hmm.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
It got worse and were so bad that it couldn't
go to my son's hockey games because the arenas are white,
the lights reflecting on white, so it's super bright.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I had to wear sunglasses.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I had to choose My days of working out in
the morning, taking my kids to school, driving them to
their sports, and working were gone.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I could do one of all of those things in
a day.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
And I had just started my Masters like the week
that the brain injury occurred, so I had to put
that on hold. I've worked with multiple practitioners in the
mainstream medical system but also in the alternative healing system.
In order to reclaim my neurons and reclaim my brain.
I stopped drinking alcohol completely because.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Of the neurotoxic effects it has on.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Our brain and started to eat very cleanly, very anti inflammatory.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
But because what was happening in my.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Brain was neuroinflammation, and I still go for nerve treatment
in my neck. The part of my brain that got
damaged was the occipital lobes, which goes into your eyes,
so there's diipital nerves when my eyes get very tired.
I really am super with my sleep hygiene. I take
all my brain health supplements and make sure I'm eating
(20:02):
all of the foods in brain health and keeping my
stress levels low, which is hard in modern society, but
it's basically my prescription to life now.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
I mentioned that you had to make a decision where
it was like you could only do one thing, either
go to the hockey games or you.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Had to work.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
A lot of people are like that today and they
haven't even had the traumatic experience of a brain injury
that you've had, and they find that it's becoming more
difficult for them to work, be a mom, be a wife,
and then take care of themselves.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
I know that you have.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Rituals in your book that you'd share with people. Is
there one out of all of them that you could
share with our listeners today that would help them where
they're able to pick it up and not feel like, oh,
it's another thing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
That I have to plan in order to do.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I want them to know how easy some of these
practices or that you offer can be for them, where
they know that this is a book they can buy
and have in their home and share with their family
members or friends or in their women's circles, to know that, like, yes,
this is something we can do, and we don't have
(21:18):
to go out and buy fifty million things just for
us to do this.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Does that make sense? Like yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:25):
And I feel like this is where we can point
the conversation for mothers' mental health or parents' mental health
right now, because there are so many pressures raising kids,
like keeping them off social media, the empathetic parent and
absorbing their emotions and all the things that are happening.
But when you ask about ritual, I talk about it
(21:48):
in the book, From Habitual to Ritual. We're just robotic
right now, going going, going, doing all things unconsciously. But
when we take a habitual approach to life, it's a
way of living versus something to do or a task list.
So I think an important place to start is sacred.
Sleep is sacred because that is our foundation for life.
(22:09):
When we are well rested we can perform better, we
can be our best selves, and any other thing is movement.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Movement is medicine.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
It's clinically shown that movement is as effective as lots
of medicines being prescribed in the world. I used to
wake up to go to a class, and now I
incorporate movement in my day.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
So nice, walk, walk the dog.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
But then every hour there's a meeting, you can walk
around the block. Every time you have to drive a
child somewhere, maybe you get to walk around while they're
getting ready, or you get to walk around a track
if there is that available wherever those environments are. But
incorporating movement into your day in five minute increment is
as effective as going to a sixty minute class.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
I've been trying to do that a bit.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I don't know if I've been timing it, but I'm
doing it for a minute now because it just feels
good to move our bodies. As we get older, I'm
realizing that I appreciated a whole lot more. I'm glad
that you are out here helping other people, because people
have a lot of gifts to share, and sometimes they
don't take the initiative to maximize their thoughts when that
(23:23):
thought hit you that you need to write this book.
It's good that you followed through with it, because it
sounds like a really amazing book to me, like something
that Yeah, it's fitting for a variety of groups and
types of people. Yeah, I say that I wrote the
book for anyone silently holding it all together while silently
(23:46):
falling apart. I love that. I think that's a great share.
You wrote it for all types of people, for moms, professionals,
and your everyday people. What would be a message that
you hope they hear loud and clear from you today?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
What do I want people to hear with this book?
Speaker 4 (24:06):
My intention is for people to know they're not alone,
because with mental health there is still a sigma and
people are silently suffering, which.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Makes it worse.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Yes, I shared my story as a means to creating connection,
and what has happened in the pre launch of my
book is that people are now opening up to me
to say thank you. The world needs you. What else
has happened is people are getting tools, but they're also
getting a deeper level of intimate conversation because they're able
(24:36):
to now have a conversation or a dialogue about how
they're actually doing or what their struggles are, and then
it releases the pressure valve, like when you think about
a beach ball and holding it underwater and then it explodes.
That's what happened when we suppress everything, and it creates
more disease inside of our bodies because we're holding it
all in.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
I'm a visual person, so I can see that ball but.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Floating right.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Yes, yes, I get totally see. That's what I want
people to know is you're not alone. We are all
on a spectrum with our mental health, whether we are
in severe mental health or we're in mild to moderate
mental health, which is where the book primarily targets. As
I'm a mental health coach. Mild to moderate mental health
(25:27):
can deal with stress, anxiety, burnout, depression, cognitive performance, all
of those types of things, and we all have all
of that at any given point in time. In mental
health is not static. We don't have good or bad
mental health because we're humans. We have mental health on
a spectrum. We talk about this in the book too,
(25:48):
whether it's with women in their seven day cycles and
cycle sinking with seven day cycles or sinking with the
moon in our cycles, and men having twenty four hour cycles.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
That's new. That's not one that I was aware.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
The moon is like my thing, you know, and I
totally love talking about it and all of that, But
I didn't know that men had a twenty four our
cycle like that. Can we talk about that? So?
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Is this book also for men? This is for anybody?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
I don't go into detail about specifically men's or women's
mental health. It's just mental health and general. I have
a lot of clients who are men that I coach
who are working through their own emotion because men are
learning how to be vulnerable, open up, and not everybody.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
This is just generally speaking.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yeah, men typically decline to mental health through addiction and suicide,
and women decline to mental health through anxiety and depression.
The commonality in both is suppression, suppression of emotion, suppression
of needs, suppression of self without expression. If we can
just go from suppress to express and really not healing.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yes, And you know, men suppress their emotions a lot
more because they don't want to be misunderstood. They don't
want to be like viewed as less than a man
if they My husband was talking about this not long ago.
There's this fine line where you're clothes if you're not
opening up enough, and if you open up too much,
you're not a strong man. I'm paraphrasing it, but it's
(27:24):
something along those lines. And then because I only had.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Sons, I have no daughters.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I have relationships like with my sons the way that
a mom would with her daughter. Because I don't have
a daughter, they have wives, so I get a chance
to talk with them and hear what it's like from
their perspective of being guys. And my sons they will
pick up a book, they have no problem with that,
and they love learning, expanding, growing and having new thought
(27:54):
processes brought to them.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
I loved listening to the session you did with your
and your son, and I was struck by the level
of connectedness I heard in your son. And I do
think awareness the things that help with mental health for
young people. And I do think the younger generations are
growing up with more tools, more conversations. But when we
think about our generation or generations above us, it wasn't
(28:20):
talked about it's taboos. Men are finding their way and
this is really important because we don't need to keep
perpetuating a societal construct we can create a new dynamic
between us all because I believed, really deeply, truly holy
that when we all heal and do the work in
(28:42):
our mental health, we're all advancing together. It's not one
or the other, this person or that person, all of
us together. My mental health didn't start poor. It ended
poor because of the projections and other people's mental health
on top of my own, and I took it on
as mine and that burden is what put me into
(29:06):
the darkest place in my life.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Wow, I'm glad that you were able to recognize it,
because it's some people can recognize it, but they don't
know what to do to pull themselves out. I know
that I might sound like you say that all the time, Chante,
but I mean it from.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
The bottom of my heart.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Books make the best gift, and I believe that when
you know someone who could be struggling with something, if
you're tuning into this episode and you're someone that like
my son, I'm going to come back to that thought.
I have a son who started a library. Like him
and his wife. They went and got one bookshelf and
(29:45):
then it got super excited, and then it got another one.
I believe that, like that's like a gift that when
someone receives it that they're like, wow, I have my
first book or my third book, and then we propped
them into ta making more of an interest in that.
That's when you begin to get another book in another book.
Books help us grow, especially when they're like this book,
(30:09):
you're sharing your story and then there's like exercises that
you can do. I love books where there's takeaways and
it's helping me to grow and glow and show up
being my best self. And so that's what happens with
these books. And that's why I love doing shows where
I have authors on here and they're sharing their stories
(30:31):
and their books because it gives us more options of
what we can read.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Everybody has a.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Different way of taking an information, so I love that
you shared this because there could be someone else that
had a similar situation and you could be speaking to them.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Yeah. And what I feel too is this book is
deeply introspective, so it takes you on a deep introspective journey,
so you can sit with it and be with fit
and experiment with the tools in your day to day life.
There's also actions and accountabilities, so you have high intention
and then take it to action and accountability with a
(31:10):
deep purpose and meaning for yourself. But the other thing
that you were talking about around the importance of books
and being a gift is right now, there's a lot
going on in the world. There's a lot going on
in the economy, and so I coach a lot of
people in my day to day that are losing jobs,
losing benefits, can't continue with therapy or whatever the modalities
(31:33):
of and so this book is not a replacement for anything,
but it is a starting point or a gateway for
individuals who may not have access to all of those resources.
And that's also part of why I brought this all together,
because I had community, I had a family, and I
had resources, and so.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
My mission now is.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
To share all of that with the world in a
very accessible way.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Well, I love that. That's really it gets I enjoyed
talking with you. You're there, and that there's the gift
of the book. That could go out and purchase the
book if they wanted to. Where can they find it? Yeah,
that's a really great question. Right now, for a launch week,
the ebook is on a ninety nine cent promotion in Amazon.
(32:18):
The book in general is going to be available at
all your major online retailers.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Nice, that's good, Steph.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Before we end our episode, I have to ask you,
was there anything that we did not talk about but
you want to talk about, and what is it that
you want to leave our listeners with.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
I don't think there's anything we have untouched in this
moment in time. But what I want to leave listeners
with is this inquiry.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
We all have the.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
Opportunity to have a ripple effect. We are all one
drop in humanity, and we have to consider what's the
ripple effect we're having on ourselves. How are we talking
to ourselves. What's the cellular ripple because ourselves are listening.
What's your ripple effect within you? And then what's your
(33:05):
ripple effect outside of you? When we take care of
our mental health internally and we can have a positive
ripple effect externally, and that's part of the spiritual wellbeing chapter,
the inside out part of mental health. When we get
to give and care and volunteer or support and give
part of ourselves, that can mitigate poor mental health because
(33:28):
there's not so much focus on the self and the suffering.
We get to go out in the world and be
helpful and bring light and help another in need.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I love that, Miss j Justcelyn Pepe, Thank you so
much for hanging out with me.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
The name of Joscelyn's book is Claim Your Brain.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
So Claim Your Brain is available now on Amazon. Go
out and get the book. It is so worth it.
Be sure to share with family members and friends. Thank
you again, jo Justlyn. I enjoyed talking with you.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Thank you, Seance. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
What a powerful conversation.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Thank you so much Joscelyn for showing up with so much.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Truth, grace and wisdom.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Her story reminds us that mental health is not just
about surviving.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
It's about finding ways to thrive.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Even when life gets heavy.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
If something resonated with you today, I encourage you to
check out the book Claim your Brain. It's not available
on Amazon. She also has an e book available for
download as well. It is packed with practical tools, soulful reflections,
and science back strategies that you can use every single day.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
This isn't just another book, you guys. It's a resource, a.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Guide, and a gift you can give yourself or someone
you love Until next time.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I want you to take care of your mind.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Your body, your soul, and remember healing is not selfish.
It it is necessary. I want you guys to stay grounded,
stay true.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
And keep showing up as your.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Most authentic selves until next time, take care of yourselves
and each other. Thank you all so much for tuning in.
I'm chante with authentic Talks.
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