07 - The Wellness Revolution: Teresa Clark’s Story - from Trauma to Empowerment - PART 1

In this deeply moving and inspirational episode, Maria Walters and Melanie Dakin from The Brain Collective sit down with Teresa Clark – keynote speaker, wellbeing expert, and founder of The Wellness Revolution, a pioneering employee wellbeing consultancy, to explore her powerful story of trauma, recovery, and transformation.

Useful links :

https://linktr.ee/thewellnessrevolution

Dr Caroline Leaf
https://drleaf.com/

Edith Shiro: The Unexpected Gift of Trauma
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unexpected-Gift-Trauma-Posttraumatic-Growth/dp/0358713668

Dr Joe Dispenza - All books and courses
https://drjoedispenza.com/

Jessica Maguire: Nervous System Reset
https://www.jessicamaguire.com/

Find out more information at our website

Edited with finesse by Mike at Making Digital Real

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the seventh episode in our podcast series from The Brain Collective.

Today, we're talking about navigating and growing through trauma, and we are honored to be joined by Teresa Clark. We first met Teresa when she was delivering the keynote speech at the CMS conference for case managers. And for those of you who don't know what a case manager does, they are incredible individuals who help support and rehabilitate people after they've been through some catastrophic and life-changing events and injuries.

Teresa's own story is one of loss and recovery following a devastating accident. Teresa, we are absolutely thrilled you agreed to be a guest on our show today, and thank you so much for sharing your story with our listeners. Teresa, where does your story begin? Thank you for that lovely introduction, Maria. 

So my story begins when I was 27 years old, a long time ago now, back in 2006. I was a young woman navigating life as you do, and I had just been offered a new job and was at a sort of pivotal crossroads in my life, actually. And I agreed. 

I was asked by a group of friends, who I actually worked with at the time, if I would like to go to V Festival and be the driver. And I jumped at the chance. It was great to spend that time with them, but also it felt really nice as I was leaving that we would have that shared moment of memory together. 

So we all set off on the 20th of August to V Festival, excited young people. There were six of us in total, and we had an amazing day. I made several series, I would say, of choices and decisions actually leading up to that decision to say yes. 

I was working two jobs. I was super tired. I was a massive people pleaser. 

And even though I really wanted to go, when I look back now, I actually didn't really have the capacity to agree. And a very seriously bad choice I made at the time was to take ecstasy during the day when I was with my friends. And, you know, it's something I will regret for the rest of my life.

I can't take it back now. And unfortunately, after being there all day, I think we left at around 12 p.m. I hadn't drunk at all. And I fell asleep at the wheel driving home. 

We were about 30 minutes away from home. Everybody in the car had fallen asleep pretty early on, which I kind of knew would happen. And we'd had many discussions between me and my friends actually before going that somebody would stay awake with me. 

But, you know, how things go, it never goes to plan, does it? And unfortunately, as I fell asleep and my arms sort of dropped to the left, we came off the motorway, actually was sort of leading up to a junction just as I was about to have my act or just before I was thinking to myself, I would get off straight away because I'd started to nod off. And I went into the left hand lane and was approaching an exit. And my plan was to get off at that exit as soon as I could safely pull over and get some fresh air. 

Unfortunately, between thinking that and then falling asleep was probably 30 seconds. And my friends in the back, unfortunately, weren't wearing their seatbelts. So when we came off the road, the force of hitting a curb, you know, 60, 70 miles an hour, they were thrown straight out of the vehicle and tragically died on impact. 

The people carrier I was driving then rolled down a bank through a fence post, which pierced me in the right groin. I was fully impaled. It went right through my right groin and out of my buttock. 

I also had a post go into my left leg, the top of my thigh. I dislocated my shoulder. I severed my little finger. 

I don't know if you can see that. And broke my shoulder blade and had lots of kind of other broken bones and things. And sadly, my friend who was sitting in the front, he also died on impact as the car rolled and was affected by a fence post too. 

And we were in that field for probably two and a half hours before we were found. And all that time I was awake. And, you know, as I don't really know how much sort of detail you want me to go into, I'm not sure kind of, I think probably the listeners can understand the severity of what happened. 

I lost six and a half pints of blood at the scene. I had to be resuscitated several times. And actually at the scene, I did leave my body. 

I had an out of body or I don't know what they call it now, a near death experience where I actually did die and I came out of my body and was sort of watching everything that was going on. And when I came back in the ambulance, I just screamed at the top of my lungs like nothing could ever articulate the pain and the just sheer, you know, we talk about that concept of hell, don't we? And what does that actually mean? And in those moments, I was living hell and I still get, you know, upset about it now. It's not because I haven't processed it. 

It's just because it was a horrendous experience that, you know, I'll never forget. Teresa, at the time, did you know your friends had died? I mean, obviously them missing from that, looking into the backseat and kind of knowing that they weren't there. I mean, I think it was a really, when I look back now, I knew that they had died, but like cognitively, your brain kind of goes into like a protective mode. 

And I had this sort of cognitive dissonance of, you know, hoping somehow miraculously they would have survived. And my friend who was next to me, it was obviously even worse because I couldn't touch him because the car actually landed upside down or I dislocated my shoulder, my arm sort of hanging in front of my face. But I was also holding myself up with this hand because I didn't realize what had happened to my legs because the post had gone so right through. 

It had actually gone right through the seat and in the footwell of the seat behind. So I had to hold myself up kind of like this and I couldn't touch him. So it was even more agonizing, you know, being in that experience and just not being able to touch him and check his pulse. 

And I kept shouting at him and, you know, asking him to wake up and he just wouldn't. And for me, that was probably the most agonizing part of the whole experience too, of just being so close to him and just not know. And my friends were sort of trapped in the backpack. 

Thankfully, they were kind of pretty much unharmed. One of my broke their arm, but my other friend just had a sort of scratch on his face and that was it. And so yeah, it was just, you know, and I think being there for so long, just sort of waiting and it was very strange in terms of like physical pain. 

I wasn't in any physical pain because the adrenaline was so powerful that the body goes into the natural, you know, your natural pain relief. I had no idea really of my injuries apart from my shoulder and my finger because they were the only things I could see. But the mental agony, you know, was a completely, completely different thing.

And then when the ambulance crew came to tend to us and the fire brigade, I asked them, I said that I didn't want anybody to touch me until they had seen to my friends and made sure everybody else was okay. And then I just, I sort of, I think I was struggling then in a very much in and out of consciousness because it took, I think a further two hours or so to cut me out. Because when they realized, when they were doing it, they then realized that they had to take the wood with me to hospital because there was no way to remove it kind of on the scene. 

And then my whole journey over the last nearly 20 years, 19 years this year has been rebuilding my life. And I made a promise to my friends when I knew that they'd passed away. I was told about a week later in hospital that I would live my life for them. 

And I didn't really know how the hell I was going to do that at the time because, you know, I was in hospital, I couldn't move. I knew I'd go to prison as soon as it happened. Like that minute when I woke up, you know, in that field, I wanted to go then, you know, and I knew I would. 

And I just accepted that fully. And so my whole journey really has been making good on that promise that I made to my friends of, you know, trying to make a difference and trying to do something positive. And so that's why mental health is, you know, I'm really happy we're doing this week as well, Mental Health Awareness Week is such an important thing for me. 

And when I met you both at the conference, like that really resonated with me too, of just, you know, how much you both care about what you're doing. Yeah. And, you know, one of the things that the listeners probably don't know is you, when you did take that choice of taking that ecstasy that everybody knew about that and agreed with it, and they all knew you drive and essentially you, you were so tired, you fell asleep at the wheel, but that, you know, so it was discussed, wasn't it, Teresa, that yeah, yeah, you know, and, and so many people would make that choice as well. 

It just was terrible what happened with it. And it was a collective decision that we all made together that everybody knew about. And it was, you know, we tried to be, you know, looking back now, obviously it was, wasn't conscious at all, really, but we, we tried to be as conscious and responsible as we knew, knew best to, you know. 

Yeah. And how many of us have gotten a car, really tired. I think we could all put our hands up with that one as well. 

So, you know, what, what we, we think you're incredible. You have spent the rest of your life giving back, Teresa. You're really well qualified to do it as well. 

So what, what was really inspiring when we listened to you at the conference is how you obviously have been to some pretty dark places and you pulled yourself around. You, you started work in prison on it, didn't you? Yeah. Yeah. 

So, and, and you've never snopped and you've done amazing work, not only in the NHS, but outside the NHS with individuals. And now through the amazing organization you've created, which is all about, is a wellness revolution is all about the belief that fostering happy and supportive working environments has a massive ripple effect to lots of corners of society. And we, we couldn't agree more here.

We see trauma. We're increasingly seeing more and more trauma come through our door and that the problem for trauma and the NHS, for instance, they've got so few tools in their kit bag to be able to help. So anything we can do to help individuals turn things around and, and to make sure that nothing feels hopeless. 

Yeah. Yeah. And I, would you like me to maybe talk a little bit about prison? Cause I sort of, I didn't really talk about that.

So we'll be able to cover that a little bit. Teresa, that would be great because I think, you know, there'll be a lot of our listeners sitting at home who feel pretty desperate and we see them in clinic as well. There is always a way forward. 

It's about positive intention. Yeah. And to, to give people some guidance on that, I think it's really valuable.

Amazing. So part of, um, what happened as I, as I said, I knew I'd go to prison and a year later, um, I, in 2007, I was convicted of causing a death by direct, three counts of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced to four years imprisonment, which I served two years. And it was during that time. 

And I guess I want to sort of caveat a couple of things that you mentioned. And one of the things I'm going to talk about later is called post-traumatic growth. I don't know if any of the listeners have heard the concept, but this is a very powerful, um, framework and has been, I didn't know that I'd applied in my life, probably a few years ago, but it was actually a pathway that I naturally went on. 

So, and it started really, um, from day one, I think about how you, you have the power of your mindset and you always have a choice, you know, just like we always have the power of our choices and decisions are so huge that we don't fully, I think, understand that. And we can either make terrible choices and, and, you know, go down wrong pathways. And sometimes those choices and decisions are not necessarily bad, but they maybe lead us down a road where we encounter trauma for no fault of our own. 

Just we're in the wrong place at the wrong time, or, you know, so many, there's so many factors, isn't there? And life is so unpredictable. But I think one of the biggest messages that I like to share with people, especially for those people that, you know, are feeling super hopeless, that their, their circumstances that they find themselves in make them feel like there's no, um, you know, there's no way out that there, you know, I want to be that example that there is a way out. You know, I was, I was a broken woman. 

I went to prison for four years. Um, you know, the shame, the guilt that all of those things, you know, living with my own mental health, I had post-traumatic stress disorders, severely anxiety, depression, you know, I wasn't a well person, but I made it through that. And if I can make it through that, then you out there listening, whatever's happened to you, you can do it too, you know, and there's ways that I can tell you that, you know, different things that you can sort of follow. 

But it was actually in prison that I started to volunteer for the Samaritans. And if anyone knows the Samaritans, they are an incredible organization that rely on volunteers. You know, they were run pretty much fully by volunteers and really, you know, they really sort of focus on taboo topics of, you know, suicide, mental health, that's getting better nowadays. 

But, you know, back, back when I went as well, if you think of how long ago that was, um, you know, there was still a huge stigma, um, that existed. And it was during that time that I, I mean, I was so unwell, I don't even know how I got on the program, to be honest, but I was good at wearing a mask. And I think probably we all are good at that. 

So sometimes it comes in handy. Um, but when I was actually volunteering and went through the training program, and I was supporting these young women in prison, or women of all ages that were really, really, you know, very desperate and had come to that end point. And I realized that I could really empathize with them because I was also going through my own stuff and that it gave me a real sense of purpose and a way to, at the time, you know, start that longer journey of transforming my pain into purpose.

And, you know, just understanding like how similar we are and, you know, when you actually really listen to somebody else's story, you know, you spend a, you know, one day in their shoes and you'd be in exactly the same position. And sometimes we just need somebody to, to listen to us. You know, we don't need advice. 

We don't need guidance. We don't need problem solving. We just need someone to, to be there and witness our pain, you know, because pain is painful, you know, and suffering is something that we would all experience throughout our lives. 

But I think as just maybe it's better now, but I think still, you know, sometimes we don't want to be vulnerable because we don't want to be seen as weak, or, you know, we have, we have so many other belief systems, which, which a lot of them aren't ours. And one of the biggest things I've found on my journey is it's about actually belief. It's about self-belief and it's about the beliefs of others.

And so, especially when I went on later to work in the NHS and I used to work in forensic mental health, which is obviously quite a challenging place to be here. Lots of, you know, very serious cases, very sad cases, you know, a heavy, heavy amount of like very traumatic experiences that have then led to other traumatic experiences. And what I sort of realised was that most of these people, in fact, probably 99% of them, had never had somebody believe in them. 

You know, they'd got a very heavy clinical diagnosis of severe schizophrenia, for example. So that comes with so many belief systems and labels. And then they'd also committed some kind of offence or had some involvement with the criminal justice system, which then heaped on a load of other stigma, more labels. 

And so not only had they written themselves off, but the services that supported them had written themselves off. Their family and friends had written them off. Society had written them off. 

And so how can you expect somebody to recover from, you know, not only that awful experience that they've gone through, you know, childhood trauma, the, you know, the mental schizophrenia, I mean, can you even imagine what it would must be like to have a condition like that? All of those things. And then to, you know, really struggle with the rehabilitation, you know, they want to get better and they're receiving certain help that helps them. But if that belief system is damaged, if they don't believe in themselves, and then, you know, their services that support them don't believe in them, then really, I'll be, you know, 100% honest, if they're not going to get better, they're going to stay in that very difficult position, you know, hugely reliant on services, very low quality of life. 

But if somebody, even one person believes in you, that is the catalyst, because you just need a reflection. And I had that definitely through my journey. You know, when I worked for the Samaritans, the person who took me into that programme, you know, maybe the odd prison officer that gave me positive, you know, intention, or, you know, gave me a hug when I needed one, all of those things, when somebody is reflecting back that you matter, and that, you know, things can get better, you know, that's kind of all we need. 

And it's so simplistic, but it's so powerful. And I think case managers, you know, I know you two are like walking earth angels, that you give people that belief. And it's, and really, that's, you know, all we need is some catalyst to, to sort of get that energy moving, even if it's a tiny, if it's moving the needle a tiny bit, because then the next day, you wake up, and you can see the sun a little bit, you know, whereas before the day before that the sun was out, but you just couldn't see it.

You're really inspiring, Teresa, you know, there wasn't a dry eye in the house at the CMS conference when you told your story, and you're brave, you're really brave, but you have, you've created something out of tragedy, this whole area of post-traumatic growth is, you know, you, you need to write a book. I would like to. And, you know, and we see a lot in here, you just need one safe person to be in your life to make that big difference. 

And, you know, I think our message, and Melanie's here with me as well, is when, you know, everybody who walks through our door could be our mum or our dad, our brother or our sister or our best friend. And it's a personal thing, this, you know, we help people who really, really struggled and are struggling. And I think the message is, find yourself with someone safe, find yourself someone that you can link with who can help you on your journey. 

And don't be alone. And I think one of the big things we feel when people are in a terrible space, they isolate themselves. Yeah, and then, and they build a wall. 

And actually, it's the reverse of what we need to be doing. It's really interesting, it's still so powerful to hear you talk about it again, because it was, there was not a dryer, but it was also this, you could hear a pin drop when you were talking. So powerful. 

But there are a couple of things that really resonate with me. So, you know, our brains are incredibly neuroplastic. And every day they're changing, depending on what happened to us in our lives. 

And when there is a catastrophic event, like life changing event, our brains rewire. And quite often in a very, very negative way. And, but the important thing about the next step is that growth, because our brains can rewire. 

It doesn't mean you're stuck like that forever. You can get out of that maladaptive condition. It just needs those, it's a mechanism how you get that change. 

But just because something bad has happened, your brain has rewired in a maladaptive way does not mean you're stuck there. Things can get better, your brain can learn to get better. And I loved your analogy of you needing somebody to sort of to show you, you know, how to one person to help you get better. 

And I think that from a neurofeedback perspective, what we are doing in the chair without any discussion, is we are showing a person's brain, their own mirror. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very powerful, because our brains are desperate to get better. 

Even if cognitively, you are not allowing yourself to do that. And so that concept of needing just that those important people around you to support you. And knowing that you, you can, things can get better, you can grow out of our events and adversities.

Unbelievably powerful. There is hope. Yeah, totally. 

And that's why I absolutely love your work, because I think so many people still, you know, I don't know when, but I think it's only been quite recently in the last sort of 10, 15 years, that we've understood that the brain isn't set or our behaviour isn't set. And that actually, you know, the whole concept of neuroplasticity and rewiring the brain. And I often talk about it in like a bit of a metaphor, when I sort of work in one to one with people or larger groups of the, the analogy of thinking, you know, you keep repeating the same thing every day, like the same thoughts, the negative thoughts, that feeding into all these belief systems or attached to your trauma. 

And what happens is it's like walking for, you know, a field when you're taking your dog for a walk, and you carry on walking the same path. And then, you know, the grass grow, the grass doesn't grow there anymore. It's just a muddy path. 

And then the more you walk there, you know, it turns into, you know, just mud, and you carry on walking the same path, and it gets more and more ingrained. And then one day you walk down that path, and I don't know, there's a log there, and you have to walk around it, and you start to, you know, create a different path. And so that's essentially all we're doing with our brains. 

But I think some people, I would say probably most of the population, they don't understand that this is, it's not just kind of behavioural, it's actual science. And that, you know, the science of understanding, I think the biggest thing as well to do is to educate yourself, you know, if you've had a traumatic event, you know, understand what trauma does to you understand your brain. And then once you have that knowledge, you know, knowledge is power, isn't it? I mean, it's cliched and a bit cheesy, but that's the actual truth. 

And, you know, by understanding how your brain works, you can then start to, I love the work of Dr. Caroline Leaf, because she talks about neuro cycles. So, you know, she'll have she'll sort of set like a 30 day kind of challenge where you start to work on like one, you know, negative or negative core belief, say, that's based on your trauma. And then you start to sort of tell yourself different things and act in different ways. 

And you know, you're actively removing or not removing, but you're changing direction on the pathways that you've been thinking constantly. And so for me, you know, neuroplasticity has literally changed my brain, I'm a walking example of it. But you also have to do the maintenance, you have to, you know, it's self discipline, because if you don't continue it, then, you know, it's very easy to fall back to those, you know, very ingrained pathways that we've walked for maybe 10, 20 years in our brains. 

And so there are, you know, lots of things that can really support that. I think neurofeedback is just an incredible, you know, such an innovative and amazing way of doing that, because also, you know, the person doesn't really have to do anything. So, you know, that is amazing, because, you know, other people, they might get a bit stuck in or what should I do? Or, you know, it seems like so much to change, because that's the other thing, even though we're desperate for change, like Maria said, you know, the brain wants to heal, the brain wants to change. 

But sometimes as a human, we can get stuck in like our negative cognition. And even though we desperately want to change, we're miserable as hell, and we hate our lives, we hate everything that's going on, we just feel like hopeless and helpless. And there is that whole thing of positive psychology. 

Martin Seligman did a lot of research on something that's called learned helplessness, which, again, is a very interesting thing to have a look at. So, you know, you're, even though you want to change, you can fall into these kind of ways of being that kind of stop you from changing. So neurofeedback, coming to see, you know, the two earth angels that are you and sitting in, in your clinic, and having, you know, being able to have this experience that is kind of, you know, doing that work, and then seeing your ability to make healthier choices, to make better decisions, because you're not stuck in fight, flight, fawn, freeze, you know, when we take on, I think that's the other thing as well is like understanding the role the nervous system plays in change and healing. 

Because if your nervous system is totally dysregulated, you know, doesn't matter how powerful, you know, you think, you're still going to really struggle to, you know, overcome because the body and the mind is so connected, that you might have a positive thought if your body's reacting, you know, low stress tolerance, not sleeping, all of these things, it's very difficult to keep your keep optimistic and positive, isn't it when you feel dreadful? Yeah, Teresa, for the listeners. So you've done so much reading, you are so well qualified to talk on this subject. If they could only read one book, what would it be? Do you think? Oh, goodness, that is a really hard question. 

Read one book, what would that be? Um, I think actually, it would be, and I can maybe send you a list of five after this that you can share with the listeners. But I think actually the one which I would really share for, especially for the people that you support is called The Unexpected Gift of Trauma. And that's by a clinical psychologist called Edith Shiro. 

And that actually is very much focused on post traumatic growth. And I love the way that she kind of changes the initial two psychologists invented the concept, I think sort of maybe in the early 2000s, or maybe in the late 90s. But they talked about it from a much more sort of clinical approach, I would say, whereas Edith Shiro, she talks about it in a more encompassing, I would say holistic approach. 

And she gives five stages, which I think is really important to have some sort of framework. And it doesn't mean that you go through those five stages in like a linear way. I think when I look back at my journey, I think I went sort of went up and down and then came back to one and back to another.

But the first stage is acceptance. Now, I think this is really, really key. Because if you can't accept what's happened to you, it doesn't mean to say that you're okay with it. 

Because, you know, we're never going to be okay with, you know, losing, you know, whatever we're grieving, whatever trauma we've experienced, but we have to understand that it's happened, that there's nothing we can do to change it. And that the only thing we can do is to almost regain our power back by being okay with the facts. Sorry, I hope you're not hearing all these notifications.

We're okay with the fact that we're where we are, because we can't really build from anywhere unless we accept it. And you know, that process can take a while we grieve the life that we had before and the identity that we had before. And especially if it's, you know, somebody that we love or that we're supporting, you know, it's a process. 

I'm not saying that you can just come to that, like overnight, but that you have to work on that part first. Because if you grieve your old life, and you can't, you can't move away from that so hard for you to be able to grow and be able to, you know, use that experience as a catalyst for change. And I think the other sort of steps of post-traumatic growth talk about, you know, acceptance, the first one, and then you start to sort of awaken. 

And part of that one is, you know, having safety and community. So even if it's just one person that you can be completely vulnerable with, or, you know, you can have them kind of encouraging you and supporting you. And then the next stage is, you know, really kind of creating a new narrative for yourself. 

So I'll give you an example of that process with me. And I would say my post-traumatic growth journey has been over many years, you know, when I came home from prison, I really struggled, actually, I think that was probably my darkest time. Because I changed so much. 

And I went back to this small town where you walk down the high street, and everybody knows who you are. And, you know, everybody else's lives had changed. But also, it wasn't their trauma, you know, yes, my family and friends all went through it with me.

But after several years, you know, it's not, they obviously want to know you're okay. But it has just so many layers to it. And also, you know, life moves on for other people, you know, they still obviously care about you and things, but it's not their story. 

So, you know, it's, and I think sometimes we can, I think, in all honesty, I felt a bit resentful about that, you know, but people couldn't see that I was still in a lot of pain. But also, I wasn't able to verbalize that because I didn't want to be a burden. Other people were walking on eggshells, they didn't want to, you know, trigger me and whatever. 

And so, you know, through those social pleasantries, we think we're actually being kind, both of both sides think you're being kind, or we don't want to bother you or this. But actually, what you do is you really isolate yourself, you know, you'll be there in body, but completely checked out. And then, you know, through your inability to be authentic, or, you know, open about what you're experiencing, you know, relationships start to become very superficial, because you're not really being, you know, you're not being congregant, are you to who you are and how you're feeling. 

And then people can tell that. So they also start to be, you know, the same in response. So, you know, I think the other thing as well, I'm sorry, I can just I'm going off on loads of tangents. 

But I think that is really important to understand is, is the concept or the phenomenon, I'd never say the word of emotional contagion, and how, you know, our mirror neurons, how we spread emotions, we don't kind of understand that we're doing it, but it actually can be a superpower. So if we tune into that, and, you know, we understand that actually, if we're sort of intentionally seeding an emotion that we would like to sort of spread intentionally, whether that's kind of like transparent, you know, an openness to be vulnerable, if I'm vulnerable, then hopefully, I will encourage you to be vulnerable. And if I'm, you know, trying to be slightly more up to optimistic, hopefully, I will encourage you to also maybe look through a different lens that maybe you weren't looking through. 

So I think these are really powerful tools and understanding, you know, they're natural things that are happening in the background anyway. So if we can tune into them and direct it in a more positive sense, or not even positive, I think, again, we sometimes that word gets a bit misconstrued, doesn't it? But we can do it more intentionally. And then that's going to be really helpful.

Theresa, you spent your whole life trying to help other people through the journey you've been through. Where are you up to at the minute? Because I know that you run an amazing service trying to help companies and businesses promote better staff, staff wellbeing. It's the ripple effect. 

And, you know, any, any company, any business, any organization that ignores that is very foolish, because we are, we are the people we employ, we are the people we surround a bit, as you talk about superpowers, that is a superpower too. So how have you used your superpower in businesses? Yeah, 100%. And I think the wellness revolution was created off the back of like my own personal journey, and then working through for the NHS and developing services, and really kind of understanding the power. 

So when I worked at Dialofo, which was the company that I worked up for my accident, they had an incredible culture. And I witnessed, you know, the power of that culture. And right down to when I had my accident, I didn't work for a year.

Bearing in mind, I was just about to leave that job a week later, that company had, had brought me on so much. And I was so, so valued as a part of that company, they actually paid my salary for a whole year before I went to prison. And that's what a good culture and a good company does. 

It's not about profit, it's about people. And, you know, they used to do so many different things that really kind of brought us all together, you know, they very much cared about their teams. Then I worked for the NHS, which is obviously a much bigger organisation. 

And, you know, has each trust has lots of different, you know, siloed, separate parts. And they also have like their own culture. So there's sort of, you know, one kind of main culture that comes through. 

And Melanie, you're smiling there, because I know that you've had that experience of the NHS too. And sometimes those mini, the mini cultures are like, when I worked for the North London Forensic Trust, and I set up Recovery College, we had like a micro culture, which was, you know, amazing, because we could like, we could create that ourselves. But it was part of a bigger culture, which, which was actually quite toxic, if I'm really honest.

And there was a lot of bullying, there was a lot of, you know, just burnout, mental health stress. And it was sort of witnessing that, I thought, wow, you know, what's going on in the real world, we're a mental health trust. And if this is happening here, and we're not, and also people aren't, there's no safe psychological safety to actually say, you know, I'm stressed, I'm burnt out. 

These are the things that are going on, you know, what's happening every day. And then I sort of started to look around, sort of, you know, in a bigger picture sense, and just think, you know, I've gone through this journey, which has been, you know, most people in their lives will probably never go through something that I've gone through. So obviously, my story is like, very extreme. 

But the tools I've learned along the way, everybody should be taught those, and we're not teaching them in schools. So the workplace can be such a powerful catalyst, because we can actually educate people on very simple things, you know, positive psychology, nervous system regulation, how to manage stress, la la la, there's so many things, isn't there, but actually, you know, they're not as huge things that we think, they're quite simple. And so the wellness revolution was created to do that. 

And, you know, I feel very privileged that I get to do that as my job and go in, you know, some workplaces aren't quite, you know, they still want to tick boxes, the ones that I love working with the most, who actually write, you know, who want to create a strategy, because if you've got a strategy, you know, and you can sort of really work through that, you're going to change that culture, you're going to, you're going to get a good culture, and you're going to make it brilliant, you know, and that's, and the, and the legacy that that has, because it has a ripple effect, like you said, just now, you know, it's not just your employees, it's your, your employees, families, their friends, their communities, everybody's touched by, you know, good wellbeing, aren't they? And, and all of those things. So we do lots of different things. Like I said, strategy is my favourite thing, because everything kind of leads from a strategy. 

But we also do workshops and webinars, keynotes, panels, and we create wellbeing experiences. We've got this amazing initiative at the moment called the Breakfast Club, which brings, we come into your workplace, and we are working with the workplace caterers, we do a nutritious breakfast, and we match that with wellbeing activities. And, and it ticks so many boxes, but it also, it's kind of like magic in terms of what it creates, it creates that sense of community, cohesion, but it's also, you know, giving opportunity for people to really kind of like experience, you know, nutrition and exercise or activity together, and the impact that that has on how they feel at the start of the day, and all of those things. 

So we, we do, we, we like to be innovative and do different things that kind of reach different audiences, because, you know, everyone's starting at a different point, you know, some companies do really great at wellbeing, other companies are sort of starting their journey. And it's really about like, how do we bring everybody on board? And, you know, how do we get people to sort of, you know, engage with this, because we could deliver an amazing programme, but if people aren't going to engage with it, you know, it's not going to work, is it? So, you know, that's really, you know, meeting people where they're at. And then I also do, I've started to do this a bit more recently, is I've started to do one-to-one coaching again with people who, you know, have, recently, I was actually coaching a young boy, I think I told you both, who was, who had had a very similar thing happen to him. 

He had had an accident, and one of his friends had passed away. And so I've been kind of going through a coaching process with him to get him ready for prison, because we obviously knew he was going to go. And then I also, you know, just working with people who've experienced trauma and they want to change their life. 

I'll give you another example of this lovely lady that I've been working with for 18 months, actually. And she had a very long history of severe anxiety and depression. Her mum actually was schizophrenic and was diagnosed when she was about eight years old. 

And so can you imagine, you know, living with your mum, like, you know, kind of becoming a caretaker at that age and the impact that that had on her nervous system? And she had a, she'd never meditated before, and I taught her this meditation. She's been doing it nearly every day. And when I tell you that this lady has transformed beyond belief, and she's in her 50s, you know, she really kind of had written herself off again. 

And like, and I just feel so privileged and honoured to be able, I feel a bit emotional actually, like being able to help her, you know. Yeah. My mum was schizophrenic, as I was a carer. 

And she was the loveliest lady. But she, way back in 1958, everybody had their children at home. So she was having this home birth, my, my elder sister, and she, the baby was born, the midwife gave the baby to my dad, but the placenta didn't come away. 

So she pulled it and caused a massive hemorrhage. She told my, because nobody had a telephone. So my dad had to run to the end of the street to phone an ambulance. 

And the nurse said, phone an ambulance straight away and ask for the blood lorry. So what turned up, it was, I don't know if anybody ever watches Call the Midwife, but there's a really interesting episode with the flying squad that turns up to a lady who's bleeding to death, essentially. Anyway, it was the first week of the flying squad's operation in North Tyneside.

Wow. The blood lorry turns up with this junior doctor, and it was his first day ever as a junior doctor. And he walks into a massacre scene with blood on the walls. 

And he walks into a lady he thinks is dead. And he says to my dad, he gives the baby to my dad and says, I'm really sorry, I think we've lost your wife, but I'm going to do everything I can. So the blood lorry, they got every ounce of blood out of that blood lorry and gave it to my mom. 

And about 20 minutes later, she sort of came round, but she didn't come round as the same person. And everybody who knew my mom before said a different woman woke up. And what unfolded for the rest of her life was hypoxia, essentially. 

We see it all the time in our clinic. We see people with lots of different diagnosis, but when you unpick a story, it's something different sometimes. But they didn't know in the 50s and 60s how to deal with it. 

So they popped my mom. They said she had postnatal depression, and they put her on barbiturates. And then when she kept trying to kill herself, they gave her ECT, electric shock treatment. 

And so as a kid, it was quite entertaining, actually, in many respects, because I used to see this man coming in at the house, who was a psychiatrist, who would literally call the van to take my mom away. So a lot of our childhood experience, myself and my two sisters, was visiting my mom in hospital. But she was a elegant lady and fell through the gap in later years, because everybody just classified her as schizophrenic. 

And she never went out the house. In fact, anybody I went to school with thought I didn't have a mom. Everybody thought my mom had died, because they'd never seen her, and I'd never talk about her. 

But she was an incredible lady, and she taught me the power of freedom. So every time I get on a train at five in the morning or have to do a grubby task, I'm doing something my mother could never do. So she gave me a massive gift, and it's the reason I do what I do in here, because I know that if I had what we have now, Melanie, what we've created here, I could have changed her life, and my mom would not be alive. 

So there is always hope out there. It's a tragic situation my mom went through, but she survived, and she went on to have two more children, and I was the youngest. And she gave me so many gifts, and she loved me. 

And you talk about the power of having just that one person. I was loved, and it was the most important thing to me. So never take me to the shop. 

She never took me shopping for my wedding dress. I was lucky she was at my wedding. I lost her a long time ago now, but she gave me so many gifts. 

And I think it's really important for anybody listening as well to know that it isn't hopeless. The world is changing, and what we do is we keep pushing the boundaries of that change. We are so able to heal ourselves. 

It doesn't take lots of medication. It doesn't, you know, and dumbing down, you know, there are so many, whether it be digitally filtered sound, neural feedback, even, you know, we do a lot of work with light and the brain, which is amazing. All of this technology, all these techniques are out there in the world. 

They're in the U.S. They're in Canada. They're in Europe. They're just not really available here, apart from through us and through a really small selected number of companies. 

So it is not impossible. There is such a powerful, we are on the absolute cusp of a revolution. Yeah, we need a wellness revolution, you know, well, don't we? Do, and so many, there's so much opportunity and all we're doing within this practice here is we're accelerating progress, helping someone accelerate it. 

And, you know, so there is this perfect union in terms of what you do and what we do in getting people on a better journey. 100%. And I can't wait for our future collaborations, which we're currently exploring too, because I think just combining the two things and, you know, when we look at burnout cultures, which we've spoken about, you know, that's actually just getting worse and worse. 

And, you know, I don't think it's being addressed properly at all, really, from the kind of organizational perspective and the individual perspective. And it's something that unless we sort of really start to use, you know, innovative groundbreaking solutions, that's just going to have, you know, it's going to be the next wave of, you know, the knock on of society and, you know, putting people, making people feel like they're a prisoner to it too. And I think, you know, that's something that I would really love to, you know, share as well to do with post-traumatic growth is that you aren't a prisoner to your circumstances. 

It can feel like you are, but, you know, there is so much hope and there's just so, so much out there now, you know, the incredible work that you're doing. I'd also say for people to explore Dr. Joe Dispenza, who's, you know, an incredible being on this planet, who's doing revolutionary work too. And, you know, when you can see these other ways, then you, it's almost automatically, you know, those bars start to fall off because you see, you just need someone to show you a different way.

And then once you can see a different way or a different way of looking at things, a different perspective, you know, a different experience, then, you know, that's, that's the beginning of your journey of, you know, self-revolution, isn't it? Teresa, how do people get in touch with you? I mean, you know, you offer this incredible service to organisations and companies to, you know, essentially, it's a no-brainer for a company. This is about more profit as well. It's not just about your people. 

How do they get in touch with you? The best way to get in touch with me is to connect with me on LinkedIn or just send us an email either to Teresa at thewellnessrevolution.co.uk or hello at thewellnessrevolution.co.uk. And we would love to support you, you know, and even if you just want to ask some questions, like there's no, no pressure because obviously we know everyone starts at a different place. And follow us on, follow the Wellness Revolution actually on LinkedIn on our business page. We've just done a couple of posts this week for Mental Health Awareness Week and just looking through that lens actually that I was talking about of emotional contagion and like the neuroscience of connection and community and how that enforces. 

And I've shared like lots of practical exercises that you can just go on there and think, oh, I'll try that out in my team. Even if it's not in your team, you know, try it out with your family and your friends. One lovely thing I was just going to maybe, I know we're probably coming to the end in a bit, but I wanted to actually share this exercise with you both. 

And I'm going to send you like a little image of it. Actually, I did share it with Olivia already. I don't know if she passed it on. 

Which is called joy tennis. So it's about sharing your joy with somebody else and reflecting that back to each other. And it's such a great game. 

So, you know, someone who's going through something really traumatic right now, they might not think that, you know, they might, they wouldn't necessarily think about joy, but we can always, if we really think about joy, we can find joy. We can, you know, think of something that we love doing or that we have some experience that we had that brought us a lot of joy. And just by recalling that experience, I'm feeling those emotions. 

Our brain doesn't know whether it's happened, happening or not. It just feel, it just changes it and it automatically, you know, gives you a little bit of a joy buzz. So that's something that is a great thing to share with everybody. 

Yeah. Yeah. We were practicing it in the office yesterday. 

Doing it with everybody. And so someone said, what gave me joy? And I've got the most beautiful client, but she's never slept more than three hours in her life, pretty much. Even as a child, she didn't sleep very well.

And so we'd done the session and she rang me up to say she'd slept six hours and this had never happened in her life. And I'd changed, I'd changed her life and she'd felt so positive, motivated, but her brain felt like it knew how to go to sleep. Well, that just blew my mind because I know what we do is really powerful, but it's, that was just absolutely great. 

You make so much joy doing that. And, you know, and as you know, Teresa, it's not about the money for us. We, and Melanie and I volunteered here for 15 years. 

We have to pay the staff. They'll tell you not very much, but you know, we have to pay that. We come to work for very different reasons.

We're on a mission. We are on the healthcare revolution and together we will, we will get there, but it's a fantastic, and perhaps what we'll do in the podcast is put that little technique in the bottom. Oh yeah, I'd love that. 

Let's spread joy. It's been an absolute pleasure talking today. We could talk for many hours, so much work to be done. 

I think it's really important that people know how to get to talk to you and to use your services. And, you know, together there's a really bright future. 100%. 

And I'm just so grateful to have met you both. It was one of the highlights of the conference for me, and I'm really excited for our future collaborations and can't wait to come and visit you in Harrogate. So we'll get that date sorted out soon, and that's a privilege to be able to be here and talk to your listeners too and just, you know, give them a different experience to think about. 

Yeah, you're inspiring, Teresa. If anybody wants to contact us directly, we're at harrogate at thebraincollective.co.uk and our website is The Brain Collective. Please do just drop us a line. 

We've got a little contact form. We're always talking to a lot of people, so don't hesitate. Just drop us a line. 

We will talk and we'll have a chat about anything that's bothering you. And just please reach out, please talk to people, and please talk to Teresa if you think Teresa can help. She's a phenomenal resource. 

Thank you so much. Thanks, everyone. Lovely to see you.