Joanne was referred to Mind Over Mood by her long-time family doctor. She had just had open heart surgery and was finding it difficult to heal from that experience as well as cancer, trauma, stress, and eight previous surgeries.
From the time she received the news about her heart condition until her surgery four months later, she lost a lot of weight due to stress.
She described herself as a “a high-stress kind of person” but knew she didn’t want to live the rest of her life feeling that way.
She came into the online course hopeful that something could change. She felt a click when she learned about mindfulness techniques such as thought watching and journaling. She loved everything she was learning and quickly put it into practice. Joanne learned to celebrate the little wins every day, things that she would have certainly overlooked if she hadn’t been taught to look for them.
Following Mind over Mood, Joanne signed up for Intro to Mindfulness – a group program that is open to the public and held over Zoom.
Through these two programs, Joanne learned to recognize when her nervous system is in fight or flight and how to remedy that. She says that her biggest takeaway is that “this can really help” and can make a significant difference in your daily life.
There are two types of recovery from heart surgery according to Joanne. The physical healing and the emotional part. “With heart surgery, you second guess every little twinge.” She credits the way the facilitators immediately put her at ease with the warmth in the tone of their voices. “They were so present, so caring and so understanding.”
She has nothing but gratitude for these free programs. “It’s made a big difference in my life and I am so grateful.”
If you are looking for tools and resources to reduce stress and support your mental health, please visit our programs page to register for one of our free skill-building groups.