TrU

Being a part of a mission to advance women's health wakes me up every single day! It was great to be on @chch_morninglive with @annette.hamm this morning being a part of the support system for advancing women's mental health and brain health. What inspired me to focus on helping women understand and work with their brains? My own lived experience. Navigating postpartum without conversations about what was happening in my brain. Carrying stress that was never mine to hold. Experiencing anxiety, depression, and eventually a traumatic brain injury that changed how I understood women’s neurological health. Here’s what we’re facing: Only 7% of research funding in Canada is specific to women’s health — and just 0.58% to women’s mental health. Women are twice as likely to experience anxiety and depression, have a 32% higher risk of burnout, and account for two-thirds of Alzheimer’s diagnoses. Women’s mental health is multifactorial — biology, hormones (puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause), caregiving roles, societal constructs, IPV and chronic stress all compound. When stress becomes chronic, the brain’s alarm system stays on. The limbic system (threat/emotion) overrides the prefrontal cortex (focus/decision-making). This isn’t weakness — it’s protection that hasn’t switched off. One small place to start today: Slow down. Tune into your body. Notice your inner narrative. Your nervous system is listening to the story you repeat. Mental health is whole-person work — and it begins by listening to yourself. _________________________ I work with forward-thinking leaders who want to design workplaces where women can sustain high performance without burnout. If you’re exploring strategy, advisory, or consulting support in this space, I’d love to connect. Individually, I am on a mission to connect with high performing women who are curious about their brain health and how it impacts their performance. If that sounds like you (or someone you know), I’d love to chat — coffee chats welcome. Link in Comments. #internationalwomensday #iwd #brainhealth #mentalhealth #leadership #womenshealth

THANK YOU 💛 To everyone who has been supporting the launch of my first book Claim Your Brain — I am incredibly grateful. This has been a journey to remember! When I started writing this book, I had no idea what the outcome would be. I just knew I had to follow my calling and turning my pain into purpose, and reach the people who may be quietly holding it all together, while quietly falling apart like I was. Not everyone has access to community, supportive family or resources in times of distress. I wrote this book, for anyone wanting connection and a few tools. A HUGE thanks to @cp24breakfast and to @jenniferhsiungtv and @newsguynick for having me on the show on launch day. This was a really special moment! We’re now in launch week, and to help get this book into as many hands as possible, the eBook is available for just 99¢ on Amazon (available in your local country). As well please leave your Amazon review so more people know about this important book. 🧠 Order your 99cents ebook today on your local Amazon!!! Thank you for sharing, reading, and being a ripple in this movement — one that I hope grows into a wave of compassion, awareness, and healing. #mentalhealth #claimyourbrain #booklaunch #author #purpose #healing #community #toronto #cp24 #torontonews #canadianauthor. @indigospiritoakville @indigo @amazon

Women’s health is not niche. It is an economic, workforce, family, and community imperative. At the Women’s Health Collective panel, the message was clear: when women are healthy, Canada is stronger. From productivity and leadership to caregiving, wealth transfer, philanthropy, and longevity, investing in women’s health creates a ripple effect across businesses, families, and communities. One powerful idea shared: what if every woman in Canada had just one more week of good health? Across 21 million Canadian women, the impact would be enormous. The panel highlighted the urgent need for better data, more research funding, workplace flexibility, benefits that reflect women’s real health needs, and more open conversations around perimenopause, menopause, mental health, neurological health, caregiving, and longevity. The takeaway I’m holding onto: When we invest in women’s health, we don’t just support women — we strengthen the future of work, families, communities, and Canada’s economy. #WomensHealth #WomenInLeadership #WorkplaceWellbeing #brainhealth

✨ GIVEAWAY ✨ May is Mental Health Month and Women’s Health Month so there’s no better time to share (and GIFT!) a copy of this incredible book! Claim Your Brain: Your Practical Guide to TrU Mental Health by Jocelyn Pepe, MSc, MHC, MCC and Founder of @truliving.ca published this amazing book last year. In it, she shares vulnerable details of her own mental health journey - including a TBI - while weaving her extensive experience and knowledge into this book, culminating in a tremendously valuable resource that enables and empowers readers to take their mental health into their own hands. It’s packed with evidence-based and science backed tools that are actionable and effective. 👉🏼 We will be giving away a digital copy of Claim Your Brain to one winner! To be eligible to win: 1) follow @msamycwillis and @truliving.ca 2) like this post 3) tag a friend in the comments (each tag is one entry) 4) share in your stories for 5 bonus entries (must have a public account so stories can be verified) Giveaway is open now until 11:59pm ET on Sunday May 17th, 2026. Good luck! . . . #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawarenessmonth #womenshealth #sobercoach #giveaway

Last week was Wellbeing Week in Law and I had the opportunity to speak with Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP. Social Wellbeing: Strengthening Connection, Trust, and Support in the Workplace. Litigators work in a culture trained — and paid — to listen for truth, solve problems, and fix what is broken. It is work that demands precision, discretion, emotional control, and sustained cognitive performance. In that kind of environment, connection can easily become transactional — especially when empathy and curiosity are already being drawn on all day. And yet, social connection is not a soft extra. 🏥 The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that the mortality impact of being socially disconnected is comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. (HHS.gov) Our conversation explored how, even in high-demand cultures, small intentional shifts — asking a better question, listening without immediately fixing, offering specific support, and staying curious about the person beyond the role — can help strengthen trust, belonging, and more meaningful connection at work. Even the people who are paid to listen need to feel heard, supported, and less alone. It was great to partner with you Rose Yanco in supporting the wellbeing of the people in your care. ________________ Individually, I am on a mission to connect with high performing women who are curious about their brain health and how it impacts their performance. If that sounds like you (or someone you know), I’d love to chat — coffee chats welcome. I work with forward-thinking leaders who want to design workplaces where we can sustain high value, high impact work backed in neuroscience. If you’re exploring strategy, advisory, or consulting support in this space, I’d love to connect. #socialwellbeing #wellbeingweekinlaw #law

Thank you to @ElemTeachersTO for having me speak on the final day of your Women’s Wellness Weekend, at the start of Mental Health Week. It was an honour to lead the conversation on Women’s Brain Health for Longevity — a topic that is imperative. Women deserve to live longer in good health, and that begins with how we understand stress, mental health, brain health, and the everyday realities women are carrying. I’m so grateful to everyone who showed up with openness, engagement, and care for themselves and for the people they love. We are not meant to navigate this alone. We are in this together, and it is time to help turn the tide so women can live, lead, and age with greater health, vitality, and support. #MentalHealthWeek #WomensHealth #BrainHealth #Neuroscience #WomensBrainHealth Longevity MentalHealth Wellbeing

Yesterday I had the honour of attending the MaRS Health Impact Expo and the special breakfast, The Future Is Female: Fuelling Impact in Women’s Health. One message was clear: ➡️ Women’s health is not a niche conversation. It is a health, innovation, economic, workplace, and national competitiveness conversation. A few statistics shared stopped me: ‼️ Only 7% of federal health funding in Canada goes toward women’s health. ‼️ Canada ranks 64th in the world on the Women’s Health Index. ‼️ By 2030, women are projected to own 50% of the country’s wealth. ‼️ 70% of migraine sufferers are women, yet many are dismissed, delayed, or left waiting years to see a neurologist. We heard that 60% of people with migraine go on short- or long-term disability, and many lose up to 60 days a year with productivity cut in half. ‼️ McKinsey Health Institute estimates that closing Canada’s women’s health gap could unlock $37 billion in annual GDP by 2040. This is not just a health gap. It is an economic gap. Women’s health affects workforce participation, productivity, caregiving, disability, leadership, innovation, and long-term prosperity. We heard about powerful work across policy, FemTech, ovarian cancer, menstrual blood testing, menopause, migraine, brain health, care pathways, and community-based models of care. 🚫 Women’s health is not “bikini medicine.” 🤍 It is whole-body, whole-brain, whole-life health. Canada has an opportunity to lead through funding, research translation, entrepreneurship, and a national women’s health framework that turns insight into impact. Because when women’s health is understood, funded, and designed for, the benefits extend far beyond women alone. They strengthen families, workplaces, communities, and the economy at large. We are in this together. #WomensHealth #BrainHealth #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #Leadership

Our most recent NEWSLETTER IS NOW OUT: March was a month to celebrate women with International Women’s Day, and a month we spoke candidly about what many women are carrying and the impacts this has on women's health, along with tools on how to navigate better brain health. Check out our recent newsletter talking all things women's mind and brain health across industries. SIGN UP @ www.truliving.ca to receive this to your inbox with science back insights to your mind and brain. We send this out at a maximum monthly. _________________ Individually, we are on a mission to connect with high performing women who are curious about their brain health and how it impacts their performance. If that sounds like you (or someone you know), we'd love to chat — coffee chats welcome. We work with forward-thinking leaders who want to design workplaces where women can sustain high performance without burnout. If you’re exploring strategy, advisory, or consulting support in this space, ’d love to connect. #brainhealth #mentalhealth #womenshealth #leadership #neuroscience

Claim Your Brain is now available in AUDIO. This audiobook offers a whole-person approach to caring for your mind and brain, with practical insights to support your mental health, wellbeing, and the way you live now for your future self. Now available on:�iBooks�Audible�Amazon Download it and listen while you are on the go. How you live now shapes how you live later. Take a moment for yourself. Your brain, mind, and future matter. #audiobook #author #brainhealth #mentalhealth #wellbeing. Thank you Jim @musicboxxca Oakville for partnering with me on this fun project!

Women’s brain health and mental health are not side conversations. They shape clarity, energy, recovery, performance, and long-term wellbeing. What gets dismissed as stress or overwhelm is often the real impact of sustained demand on the brain and body. We need less glorifying depletion and more understanding of what women actually need to thrive. #WomensBrainHealth #MentalHealth #WomenInLeadership #BurnoutPrevention #WomensHealth

Mental health at work is not just about the individual. It is shaped by leadership, pressure, and culture. When people feel unsafe, overloaded, or constantly activated, it affects how they think, recover, communicate, and perform. Nervous system regulation and psychological safety are not extras. They are part of what makes healthy, effective workplaces possible. #MentalHealthAtWork #PsychologicalSafety #NervousSystemRegulation #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeWellbeing

Psychological safety is not about lowering the bar. It is about creating workplaces where people can ask questions, raise concerns, admit mistakes, and do strong work without fear. High-performing teams are not built on silence. They are built on trust, clarity, and accountability. #PsychologicalSafety #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #TeamCulture #EmployeeExperience