“Stress is a friend, but it can become an enemy if you don’t take care of it.” - Professor Sonia Lupien

This episode of the Mindspace Podcast is dedicated to Bell Let’s Talk day, January 30th, 2019. Please share this post on social media (see instructions below) to contribute to mental health initiatives focusing on anti-stigma, care and access, research, and workplace health.

In this episode, Dr. Joe talks with professor Sonia Lupien. Sonia is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Montreal. She is also the Founder and Director of the Centre for Studies on Human Stress. Sonia is a highly prolific research scientist, with dozens of publications in some of the top journals in her field. In recent years though she has directed some of this ambition to making her scientific discoveries more accessible to the public. For example, she set up a website to explain all of her lab’s findings in accessible language. She published Par Amour du Stress (the english version is called Well Stressed). And she appears regularly on local radio and TV. She also recently released a stress management iPhone app called iS.M.A.R.T., which was funded by Bell Let’s Talk.

Sonia was generous enough to share with us one of her worksheets from her DeStress for Success program. You can download it here. It’ll come in handy during the podcast.

In this episode, Sonia and Joe discussed:

- The basics of stress physiology
- The upside of stress and the importance of the stress mindset
- How stress is impacted by social media
- The link between stress and mental health
- The strategies her research has identified as the most effective for reducing stress

To help support the Bell Let's Talk campaign please share this episode on social media. And if you want to support the Bell Let's Talk campaign directly in other ways, on January 30th, Bell will donate 5 cents for the following actions:

1. Twitter: Every tweet and retweet using #BellLetsTalk and every Bell Let’s Talk video view on their Twitter page
2. Instagram: Every Bell Let’s Talk video view on their Instagram page
3. Facebook: Every use of the Bell Let’s Talk Facebook frame or every Bell Let’s Talk video view on their Facebook page
4. Snapchat: Every snap sent using the Bell Let’s Talk filter or every Bell Let’s Talk video view
5. Texts and Phone Calls: Every mobile and long distance call and text made by Bell Canada

And finally, if you are struggling with stress in any way, please feel free to reach out to Mindspace for information on our therapies, mindfulness trainings, and workplace programs at mindspacewellbeing.com.