Better Me

Better Me

The Better Me Podcast delves into how people navigate through life’s challenges and live as the best people they can be. Writer and educator Heather M. Ross chats with guests about issues affecting mental health, and how they’ve gotten past life’s bumps in the road, from potholes to sinkholes. She also shares her own stories of living with a mental illness while striving to pursue her dreams. Visit Heather's website at http://betterme.ca

Episodes

EP 179 Buddies, Books, and Baseball (with guest Jennifer Diehr)

October 26, 2025 • 46 mins
My dear friend Jennifer Diehr returned to the podcast to talk about the World Series, what we've been reading, and the terrible algebra course we met in a long, long time ago.

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EP 178 Adoption, Culture, and Identity (with guest Dr. Brittany Penner)

October 13, 2025 • 19 mins
Dr. Brittany Penner, an author and practicing family physician in Manitoba, joined me to talk about her new memoir, "Children Like Us: A Métis Woman's Memoir of Family, Identity and Walking Herself Home," growing up as an Indigenous woman in a non-Indigenous family, the 60s Scoop, and how her experiences growing up, including multiple traumatic events, shaped who she is as a person and a doctor.

A note of warning, in this episode, w...
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EP 177 Writing for the LGBTQ+ Community and Having Your Books Banned

September 29, 2025 • 29 mins
Author Ashley Herring Blake joined me to talk about her writing process and what it's like to have her books banned.
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EP 176 Welcome to Fall

September 17, 2025 • 16 mins
Here we are with the start of another season of the Better Me Podcast. In this episode, you'll hear about some of the upcoming episodes, self-care, and my impending experience with empty-nest syndrome.
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EP 175 Patience With Yourself

July 21, 2025 • 12 mins
It's time to take some time off for the summer, but before I go, I recorded this episode on having patience with yourself and setting up your supports and tools before you need them.
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EP 174 Chronic Pain, Identity, and Mental Health (with guest Gabrielle Drolet)

July 7, 2025 • 24 mins
Writer and illustrator Gabrielle Drolet joined me to talk about her struggles with chronic pain, its effects on her ability to write and draw, and what that has meant for her identity and mental health.
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EP 173 The Unexpected

June 23, 2025 • 15 mins
Unexpected things happen all the time in our typical days. We need to keep an eye out for the ones that will make us smile or laugh. I also talk about the parody film Hardware Wars (1978), which I was reminded of when I recently saw the trailer for the sequel to Spaceballs.
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EP 172 Feeling Grief for People and Places (with guest Tessa McWatt)

June 9, 2025 • 18 mins
Award-winning author Tessa McWatt and I had a lovely chat about the role that elders, whether human or trees, play in the world. We spoke about her latest book, The Snag: A Mother, A Forest and Wild Grief, and about the joy and peace we both find in writing.
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EP 171 The Bad and The Ugly of GenAI (with guest Terry Greene)

May 26, 2025 • 22 mins
Friend and fellow educator and podcaster Terry Greene joined me to discuss our concerns regarding generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).
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EP 170 Changing Perspectives on Bears and Life (with guest Claire Cameron)

May 12, 2025 • 25 mins
Best-selling author Claire Cameron joined me to discuss her latest book, How to Survive a Bear Attack. We talked about an infamous bear attack, how much bears and humans are alike, and how her life has changed since a cancer diagnosis.
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EP 169 Self-care as Community (with guest Renee Hess)

April 28, 2025 • 45 mins
Once Renee Hess discovered the game of Hockey, she was hooked. But as a black woman, she found that she and women and girls like her weren’t always welcomed into that space as fans, players, or the families of players. Out of that came the founding of the Black Girls Hockey Club. Renee joined me to talk about her journey into the hockey world, what BGHC is and does, and the role that individual self-care has on a community.
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EP 168 Being True to Yourself (with guest Noelle Podar)

April 14, 2025 • 37 mins
Noelle Podar was finally living as the person she truly is, but as a trans woman, she couldn’t keep silent anymore about what the U.S. government and others are doing to the trans community. She joined me to talk about her journey and becoming a reluctant activist.
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EP 167 Trying to Regain Some of What Depression Has Taken

March 31, 2025 • 6 mins
Depression can mean missing out on years or experiences. In this episode, I talk about that and how I’m trying to make up for some of what I missed out on.
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EP 166 5 Years of Better Me

March 17, 2025 • 3 mins
Welcome to the new season! It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years and 166 episodes. Here’s a bit of a preview of what’s coming up. 

Oh, and be sure to follow me on Bluesky: @mctoonish
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EP 165 Caring For Yourself During the Holidays

December 23, 2024 • 14 mins
This is the final episode of 2024. In it, I shared some of the things I’m trying to keep in mind to care for myself and things I’m hoping you will take to heart as well.
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EP 164 Why is Change So Hard (with guest Najwa Zebian)

December 16, 2024 • 39 mins
Dr. Najwa Zebian, my guest for episode 64, joins me 100 episodes later to talk about her latest book The Only Constant and to talk about why change can be so challenging for people.
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EP 163 Choice, Consequences, and Comfort Zones (with guest Oliver Burkeman)

November 26, 2024 • 23 mins
Best-selling author Oliver Burkeman and I discussed the fact that we all have choices in life as long as we’re willing to deal with the consequences and that what is often called our "comfort zone” may not be all that comfortable.







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EP 162 What She Said- Conversations About Equality (with guest Elizabeth Renzetti)

November 11, 2024 • 24 mins
Bestselling Canadian author and journalist Elizabeth Renzetti joined me to discuss her new book What She Said: Conversations About Equality. We talked about the way victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault are treated and about the shifting attitudes of young men toward the gains women and members of marginalized groups have made.
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EP 161 Every Little Thing She Does is Magic (with guest Michelle Hébert)

November 4, 2024 • 23 mins
Author Michelle Hébert joins me to discuss her debut novel Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, which is a story of a quirky and intriguing family in Nova Scotia dealing with grief and ghosts. It’s also filled with lots of fun 80s references.
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EP 160 Telling the Story of Jack Whalen

October 21, 2024 • 28 mins
Bestselling author Lisa Moore joined me to discuss her latest book, Invisible Prisons: Jack Whalen’s Tireless Fight For Justice. Moore co-authored the book with Whalen, who spent four years in the Whitbourne Training School for Boys in Newfoundland, half of which he spent in solitary confinement.
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