Ep. 15: Melissa's story & how your brain remembers pain

Ep. 15: Melissa's story & how your brain remembers pain

In today's episode, Amy is joined by Melissa Melia Dunn—a registered psychotherapist in Hamilton, Ontario, with a private practice supporting teens, adults, and couples. She has a specific niche: women and couples experiencing chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis. She wasn't always a therapist—she spent years in event planning, working with organizations like Free the Children and Lululemon before making the shift to therapy during the pandemic. What drew her to this specific work was her own 20-year endometriosis diagnosis journey. In this episode, Melissa breaks down how the nervous system works, why pain persists even after surgery, and why endometriosis is actually a chronic pain condition that needs to be treated differently than the medical system currently treats it. Key Components: * Her 20-year endometriosis journey and the moment she realized nobody explained it as chronic pain. * How your brain generates pain even after surgery, and why intercourse can hurt after a hysterectomy when "everything is fixed." * The nervous system's job is to keep you safe, not just to hurt: How emotional safety, relationships, and life stress directly impact pelvic pain. * Endometriosis is being treated like a structural problem when it's also a nervous system problem. There's a gap in how we approach chronic pelvic pain. "There's this chronic pain experience, and there are so many tools that we can do. But because this is women only, the research gaps mean we're behind the scene." Connect with Melissa on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/thewholeyoupsychotherapy/] Check out Melissa's workshop on neuroplastic pain [https://www.thewholeyoucounselling.com/workshops] 👉 Click here to join the movement at downthereaware.org [https://www.downthereaware.org/] 🩲 Subscribe, like, and share to show us you care! 🤘 Podcast produced by Binge-Worthy Studio For informational and entertainment purposes only — not medical advice. We're here to get loud, not to play doctor.

Ep. 14: Shayne's story & what C-sections, massage, and money have in common

Shayne Henderson is a Registered Massage Therapist from Collingwood, Ontario, who spent 25 years helping women recover from trauma—especially postpartum and C-section trauma. She's also a licensed finance broker in the insurance sector. What connects these two seemingly different careers? Her belief that everything—our bodies, our nervous systems, our relationship with money—is interconnected. She didn't plan to become a finance broker. A health scare forced her to get her own financial house in order, and what she discovered was that women are ghosting their finances the same way they're ghosting their bodies. In this episode, Shayne talks about informed consent in healthcare, why women need to start investing early, and how your nervous system shows up in every conversation you're avoiding. Key Components * How a 25-year massage therapy career revealed what postpartum care should look like, and what most women never get. * How a health scare that made her realize she needed to plan for her family's future—and caused her to become a licensed finance broker. * The nervous system connection nobody's talking about: How our bodies react to money conversations the same way they react to healthcare decisions. * Starting with $50 a month—why the shame about not having "enough" is keeping women from securing their futures. "Ninety percent of us will be in charge of the family finances at some point in our life. Right? Because our partner passes away, we're single, whatever it is, and so many of us don't have the tools or the knowledge to manage anything." Connect with Shayne on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/shayne.henderson/] Connect with Shayne on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/ShayneLHenderson] Connect with Shayne on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@shaynehendersonwellness] 👉 Click here to join the movement at downthereaware.org [https://www.downthereaware.org/] 🩲 Subscribe, like, and share to show us you care! 🤘 Podcast produced by Binge-Worthy Studio For informational and entertainment purposes only — not medical advice. We're here to get loud, not to play doctor.

Ep. 13: Lily's story and eating disorders, menstruation, and how to get help

Lily Thrope is a licensed clinical social worker and certified intuitive eating counselor with a private practice in Manhattan. She specializes in eating disorders, body image, and women's health—and she came to this work because she lived it. She got her period at 10, spent two decades battling an eating disorder that no doctor caught, and it wasn't until a friend finally named it that she began recovery. Throughout college and her early twenties, she lost her period for months at a time, saw multiple doctors, and not one of them asked the question that mattered: Are you eating enough? Now she runs a practice treating women in larger bodies, hosts free Recovery Supper Club dinners in NYC, and is passionate about one thing: the dangerous intersection of eating disorders and women's health. Key Components: * Starting her period at 10 changed everything — it was the moment her body became something to shrink instead of something to live in. * How doctors never asked the one question that mattered, and instead went through years of tests and theories while the real answer went unspoken. * Why doctors hand out weight loss prescriptions like they're candy, and what that actually does to women with PCOS, endometriosis, and eating disorder histories. * From rock bottom to building a practice where women in larger bodies actually get support: Her journey from restricting her way through college to helping others recover. "Not one doctor that I saw said, 'are you eating enough? What's your relationship with food like?' No one thought to ask those questions and I slid under the radar and was never noticed until this friend in grad school who noticed it." Check out thropetherapy.com [https://thropetherapy.com/] Connect with Lily on Instagram @thropetherapynyc [https://www.instagram.com/thropetherapynyc/]  👉 Click here to join the movement at downthereaware.org [https://www.downthereaware.org/] 🩲 Subscribe, like, and share to show us you care! 🤘 Podcast produced by Binge-Worthy Studio For informational and entertainment purposes only — not medical advice. We're here to get loud, not to play doctor.

Ep. 12: Melanie's story & the pelvic health conversation we need to be having

Amy is joined today by Melanie Sutherland — the CEO and founder of Body Co, a multidisciplinary clinic in Toronto. She is also a recognized pelvic health & perinatal physiotherapist. Melanie started her clinic 12 years ago because she got tired of being shuttled between different practitioners who never talked to each other. She never planned to work in pelvic health — until a humbling moment in training made her realize her own pelvic floor wasn't what she thought it was. Now she watches women suffer from untreated perimenopause and pelvic floor symptoms because they don't know the care exists, that it's covered by benefits, or what to expect. In this episode, Melanie talks about the gap between what women need and what the system offers, why kegels aren't always the answer, and what actually happens in an appointment. Key Components * How she accidentally became a pelvic health expert: Until she realized her own pelvic floor wasn't what she thought. * The gap between Canada and other countries: Why France gets 12 paid appointments after birth and we get silence. * Why half the women doing kegels are making their problems worse: Nobody checks under the hood first. * What actually happens in a pelvic health appointment: It's not what you think. * Why saying things are "common" in pelvic health actually gives women a permission slip to not investigate further. "When you look to European cultures, like France, when you have a baby, you get 12 paid pelvic health appointments afterwards. But we're so prudish here in Canada." Check out Body Co. Toronto [https://bodycotoronto.com/] Connect with Melanie on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/bodycotoronto/] 👉 Click here to join the movement at downthereaware.org [https://www.downthereaware.org/] 🩲 Subscribe, like, and share to show us you care! 🤘 Podcast produced by Binge-Worthy Studio For informational and entertainment purposes only — not medical advice. We're here to get loud, not to play doctor.

Ep. 11: Alicia's story & the "productive rage" that's raised over $120,000 for ovarian cancer

Alicia Tone is a PhD in ovarian cancer biology, the Director of Research at Ovarian Cancer Canada, and the founder of Run for Her [https://runforher.ca/]—a trail running event that's raised over $120,000 since 2020. What started as a solo half-marathon fundraiser during COVID turned into something bigger: a community-driven event that brings together patient advocates, local businesses, and women who want to change outcomes for people living with ovarian cancer. In this episode, Alicia talks about what she's seeing in women's health research funding, why her work as a scientist matters less without the human stories behind it, and the productive rage that fuels everything she does. Key Components: * How a solo fundraiser became a movement, and what happens when you just share what you're doing and let people show up. * The glaring gap in women's health research funding: Why ovarian cancer is still the underdog—and what that means for outcomes. * "Poductive rage" and what happens when you channel dismissal and frustration into action. "There's been this overarching theme of dismissing women. Dismissing women who come knowing that there's something wrong in their bodies. Unfortunately, that's the overwhelming theme anytime I survey individuals who've been diagnosed with ovarian cancer." 👟 Check out Run For Her [https://runforher.ca/]  Connect with Alicia on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/aliciaatone/] 👉 Click here to join the movement at downthereaware.org [https://www.downthereaware.org/] 🩲 Subscribe, like, and share to show us you care! 🤘 Podcast produced by Binge-Worthy Studio For informational and entertainment purposes only — not medical advice. We're here to get loud, not to play doctor.