Jenny Jay is a creator to her core. In addition to being a six-figure photographer and videographer, Jenny is passionate about using her online platforms and blog to create a space for ideas, inspiration, love and advocacy. I had Jenny on the podcast almost a year ago, and we had a conversation about how important it is to have uncomfortable conversations in order to learn and grow and develop true empathy and understanding. Today, I am honoured to welcome Jenny back into The Safe Haven’s space ...
Apr 26, 2021•28 min•Ep. 138
Rebekah Borucki is a force. She’s an author, a mother of five, a business owner, meditation guide, a lover of all things joy, and has most recently started a publishing house, which you’ll hear about today! Started her entrepreneurial journey, which she calls her being a woman on her hustle; selling veggies to her local deli at 8 years old. She works as an activist and an advocate, and as a lover of people, Rebekah leads with her heart. Rebekah has had many significant life pivots, which she exp...
Apr 23, 2021•39 min•Ep. 137
Welcome back for another TGIT – Thank Goodness it’s Thursday episode with the host of The Safe Haven, Amanda Lytle! This week, Amanda offers the latest updates on Riley’s spinal fracture recovery and what his next steps look like. She shares some funny memories of traveling New Zealand with a best friend and what “the power of asking” looked like in practice one day for them while touring Queenstown. There are book updates, too! The book She Means Business has undergone a name change, and the ex...
Apr 22, 2021•22 min•Ep. 136
Hasan Wiso came to Canada with his family via Lebanon from Syria in 2016. I was lucky enough to be one of Hasan’s first teachers in Haliburton, Ontario, that fall. Hasan and I learned to communicate as effectively as possible while he learned to speak English using Google Translate and a variety of translation apps. As his English got better and his trust in me grew, Hasan began to share stories about his life in Syria and the journey from Syria to Lebanon and then over to Canada. I was complete...
Apr 19, 2021•25 min•Ep. 135
Reita Johnston is a Coach with a mission to create brave spaces to heal. In addition to life coaching, trauma therapy and speaking events, Reita also facilitates trauma-smart stress-management workshops, retreats, and anti-racism training. Reita’s life experiences, her role as a Mom, and personal health issues – including having her body start to completely shut down from stress – have strengthened the lenses of access she’s able to bring into the brave spaces she’s creating to help others heal....
Apr 12, 2021•24 min•Ep. 134
Phoenix McCoy is the owner and fitness and mindset coach behind The Golden Movement. Using his own experiences with concussions and mental health struggles, Phoenix has created a space for men to feel, grow, and heal. In this incredible conversation, Phoenix shares the stories behind The Golden Movement, and the pillars it stands on. We dive into the importance of mind-body connection, cognition and focus, along with how important healthy personal practices are for holistic health and wellbeing....
Apr 09, 2021•28 min•Ep. 133
Welcome back for another TGIT – Thank Goodness it’s Thursday episode with the host of The Safe Haven, Amanda Lytle! This week, Amanda fills you in on the story behind Riley’s spinal fracture the last weekend in March, with some updates and potential next steps in his healing journey. You’ll also hear a few tears about how life has caught up to Amanda and why she’s been a little extra fragile while running in overdrive for the last few weeks. She also shares a family memory about her cleverly nam...
Apr 08, 2021•31 min•Ep. 132
Kristina McInnes is a 24 year old entrepreneur, with an impressive level of passion and drive. Her business mindset is fierce, and her loyalty to her clients is incredible. Diagnosed with dyslexia, she was able to understand how she interpreted and understood things differently from those around her, and used that as a tool to push ahead in the business world. Her tenacity and resilience in the role as an entrepreneur and leader has helped her grow leaps and bounds through this global pandemic. ...
Apr 05, 2021•31 min•Ep. 131
Celina Caesar-Chavannes served as a Member of Parliament in Ontario, Canada, from 2015-2019. Having recently listened to her book, I was incredibly impressed by Celina’s life story and her level of determination through some major life pivots. Forced into leaving a job she loved, her book called “Can You Hear Me Now?” helps offer a more in depth look behind the difficult decision. I love this conversation so much, especially because we don’t simply recap what Celina’s new book is about. Instead,...
Mar 29, 2021•31 min•Ep. 130
Welcome back for another TGIT – Thank Goodness it’s Thursday episode with the host of The Safe Haven, Amanda Lytle! This week, Amanda shares about the word she’s carried into 2021: intention. She opens up about why and how this word has been so important, now more than ever, and what it looks like in practice. Amanda opens up about the emotions and anxieties that are linked to moving across the country during a global pandemic, and how sending voice notes with her besties and people she misses t...
Mar 25, 2021•19 min•Ep. 129
Crystal “Zee” Hardy, Zongwe Binesikwe, is a Two-Spirit Anishnawbe-kwe from the Bear Clan, living in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Zongwe Binesikwe shares their stories guided by Spirit and includes their personal experiences healing through intergenerational trauma. They hope to help create safer spaces for Indigenous people through positive media representation, education and social justice. They make thunder in topics related to decolonizing healthcare practices through cultural humility, empowerment ...
Mar 22, 2021•35 min•Ep. 128
Sylvia Kim’s life changed course quickly in 2017 with some major life events, including her Dad’s diagnosis with cancer, surgery for her 2nd achilles rupture, losing her job, and ending a relationship. Thinking it couldn’t get much worse, her Mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, and passed away in 2019. During the time her Mom was sick, Sylvia was working a corporate job she didn’t love. After realizing the lack of time she had to spend with her mom, she left that role and so started her journ...
Mar 15, 2021•26 min•Ep. 127
A huge hello and welcome back to the TGIT – Thank Goodness it’s Thursday solo episodes! They won’t be out every week, but you can expect these episodes to drop at least once a month as a fun update and look into the life of yours truly, Amanda Lytle, the host of The Safe Haven. This week, Amanda jumps into surviving a brutal head cold and her experience getting a COVID test. She shares what the heck a TGIT is, where they went, and why they’re back. There are some updates and things to look forwa...
Mar 11, 2021•25 min•Ep. 126
A professional athlete for years, pressure, competition, strict routines, and high expectations were woven into Elisa’s life. A World Cup athlete, she was primed and ready for the Olympics, but placed one spot short of qualifying… she calls this her Olympic failure. This life-shattering moment sent Elisa into a downward and very unhealthy spiral, mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. It was her personal rock bottom that brought her face to face with what she needed to do next in ord...
Mar 08, 2021•25 min•Ep. 125
Vaneeta Kaur had hit her rock bottom while working a job she wasn’t happy in. She was relying on unhealthy habits and patterns to keep her going and communicating with others. It wasn’t until she came in contact with a therapist changed everything. Vaneeta, always a writer, started journaling with more intention, bringing an awareness to her thoughts. Having her thoughts down physically on paper helped her see the thoughts that were controlling her life, and allowed her to literally see and cros...
Mar 01, 2021•26 min•Ep. 124
Christina wasn’t always a heavy drinker. It was after university and into her mid-20’s, her drinking escalated significantly. She began to drink daily, and it became a huge part of her social life. The drinking became an addiction, and the dependence on alcohol that she and her husband shared became a red flag as they came to realize that this wasn’t a lifestyle that they wanted to bring children into. Lying, binge drinking, and even showing up to work drunk, Christina knew she had to make a cha...
Feb 22, 2021•24 min•Ep. 123
Samukele is a self-described recovering overachiever and people pleaser. She spent a large part of her life pouring herself into projects and others, but not herself. At the beginning of 2020, her ways started to catch up to her, and her overworking ways took a toll on her body. As her health started to become a concern, Samukele had to let go of her additional commitments in order to focus on herself for the first time. As her energy slowly returned, she ended up finding so much peace in nature...
Feb 15, 2021•29 min•Ep. 122
Sara Prodanos came home from two years in Australia in January, 2020. Her visa had ended and she came back to Canada and moved into her parents’ house, leaving a relationship and a lifestyle she loved behind. If that wasn’t enough of a shift, she got a new job, the long distance relationship ended, the global pandemic hit, and she lost her newly acquired job, all within a matter of months. Heartbroken, jobless, and living with her parents, Sara had endless time to feel, wonder, think, and of cou...
Feb 12, 2021•26 min•Ep. 121
On June 27, 2011, Michelle Salt was riding her new motorcycle east on Highway 1 towards Calgary. She was in a horrific accident, that medics say she shouldn’t have survived… but she did. Michelle had hardly digested the fact that her right leg had been amputated 10 inches above her knee when she declared that she was going to be a one-legged fitness model and would compete in the Paralympics. In fact, Michelle hadn’t even left the trauma unit and had already called coaches of the national teams....
Feb 08, 2021•34 min•Ep. 120
A year and a half ago, Annelie graduated from her undergrad program, and was a free bird. Finishing her undergrad on a high, she took a four month trip around the world. After returning from her trip, she was hired into a job that she loved. A few months later, and with the arrival of COVID-19, she was laid off, and then re-hired a few months after that. In September of last year, she was promoted and holds a job as a Digital Marketing Specialist. Being an influencer in the Yoga community on Ins...
Feb 05, 2021•26 min•Ep. 119
Among many titles that Weeze holds, she is an anti-racism educator, a podcast host, an advocate for change, and calls herself a compassionate provocateur. She’s both kind and direct, informed and aware, and lives her life full of intention. One of the hardest decisions Weeze had to make was getting a divorce. She realized that in order to make the marriage work, she had to play small. She explains that this was no fault on his part, but really made Weeze herself dig deep and think about what it ...
Feb 01, 2021•34 min•Ep. 118
Michelle Young is an author, a wife, a Mom and an advocate for mental health. Struggling with anxiety and depression has been something that Michelle experiences often, and has channeled her experiences with mental health and infertility into her writing in hopes of helping people feel less alone. Michelle, her husband and their daughter live in Ottawa. A busy Mom, Michelle sits on the board of directors for writing champions and has published three books. Through her poetry and novels, Michelle...
Jan 25, 2021•29 min•Ep. 117
Gina Moffa is a licensed clinical social worker and cognitive behavioural therapist, specializing in anxiety, trauma and grief work, and helping her clients with challenging transitions. Gina puts her heart into her work, helping her clients feel a deeper sense of connectedness with themselves and others. In November, I heard an episode of NPR’s Consider This podcast called “Pandemic Fatigue Q & A: Mental Health, Processing the News, and Staying Occupied.” So many of Gina’s responses resonat...
Jan 22, 2021•28 min•Ep. 116
Bryan and I connected at the end of last year, and totally geeked out about podcasting and education, and the importance of leading with love. Bryan worked as a teacher and school administrator, and is now a youth pastor, and has recently become the host of his podcast, M.A.D. Casters Podcast, “Make A Difference.” Many experiences in Bryan’s life have led him towards his calling as a mentor, but it was a tragic loss in 2017 that led him down a path towards even deeper self-discovery and growth t...
Jan 18, 2021•38 min•Ep. 115
Tiffany Shlain is a wife, a Mom, a filmmaker and an author. Her booked 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week came from a practice that she and her family have continued for over ten years. Tiffany’s non-practicing Jewish family has adopted one very deep, very rich element of Judaism: Shabbat. Tiffany, her husband Ken and their two daughters have been turning off all things tech from 5:30pm on Friday nights for at least 24 hours. Once a week, every week, for over ten years. In this engagin...
Jan 11, 2021•28 min•Ep. 114
You know when you have it in your mind that your worth is based on your accomplishments? Achieving those goals, titles and credentials that someone else would find really impressive? Author of Goal Setting 101, Amira Sookram, joins us to discuss some ways that we can really settle into this brand new year with a clean slate, freeing ourselves of the expectations of others and honouring ourselves, first! Amira shares her own personal struggles with depression and anxiety, and how setting and stic...
Jan 04, 2021•27 min•Ep. 113
At the end of July, I sat down (remotely, of course!) with Alli Arruda. This year has been a big one for Alli for many reasons, but has also been a big year for reflection as she turns 34. Alli’s brother died when he was 34, and this year, she and her family also celebrated what would have been her brother’s 50th birthday. From fashion school to working for MTV, and then getting married and buying a gym, Alli’s life has had some real ups and downs. A lot of her entrepreneurial journey has been a...
Dec 21, 2020•34 min•Ep. 112
Is your vision board getting dusty? We’re told that if we craft vision boards and surround ourselves with affirmations, our desires will automatically come to us. The car would be in the driveway, the person would be in our bed, the first-class ticket would be in your hand! But it doesn’t work that way. And the reason is, you’re skipping a step. Possibilities is a weekly show dedicated to giving listeners the tools they need to harness their mindset and lead healthier and happier lives. Hosted b...
Dec 18, 2020•14 min•Ep. 111
When I asked Namira to tell me a bit about herself, my jaw hit the floor. Namira Anani is the daughter of Bangledeshi immigrants. She is a Lawyer and Graphic Designer, which are an interesting combination! She finds a connection between the two in creativity; creativity in law around ideas and concepts instead of layout or fonts, exploring various forms of problem solving and legal creativity. Namira works in anti-racism education, racial justice, racial equity, healing and grief, as well as sto...
Dec 14, 2020•52 min•Ep. 110
Kind and Confident Ed offers parent and children programs for children ages 0-7 years old, offering opportunities for parents and their little ones to connect, explore mindfulness and education, and try out kids yoga. Kristine Cuenca is a passionate educator and Mom, committed to creating engaging, inclusive and supportive programs for a crucial age for the development of the subconscious mind, 0-7 years old. The foundations and values of Kind and Confident Ed are rooted in love, mindfulness and...
Dec 07, 2020•35 min•Ep. 109
