Experts Connect with HelpMeSara

Sara Dimerman in conversation with anger management specialist, Nicole Ali, about how to manage your anger rather than letting it manage you. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• Whether or not anger is a "bad" emotion.
• How to distinguish between when we're feeling frustrated and agitated, for example, versus when we're feeling angry.
• Physiological triggers for feeling angry such as hunger, for example.
• Whether or not an angry temperament is inborn or learnt.
• The difference between being aggressive and assertive.
• Some of the most typical environmental triggers that lead to anger in everyday life.
• Whether or not other people have the power to make you feel angry.
• How we can tell that our anger is managing us rather than the other way around.
• Some steps and strategies for managing anger.
• More about The Anger Managers and how they can help.

Sara Dimerman in conversation with psychiatrist and author, Dr. Joan Tucker, about finding your way back to work after a mental health break. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• Whether there's been a change in the number of people who are taking a mental health leave from work during the pandemic
• When taking time away from work, what is recommended so that this time off is as productive as possible
• Taking time away from school due to mental health concerns
• Whether or not most people return to work or school after taking a mental health leave
• Exploring options other than a return to what one was doing before
• Joan's books and how they can help

Sara Dimerman in conversation with video gaming addiction expert and author, Elaine Uskoski, about how to successfully battle video gaming addiction. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• Some of the red flags that you or someone you know may be addicted to video gaming
• The best approach if a parent suspects that their teen or young adult may be addicted to video gaming
• Factors that may contribute to someone developing a gaming addiction
• How to successfully battle video gaming addiction and maintain sobriety
• Support and information around managing technology from the time that children are very young
• Elaine and her son's personal journey
• How Elaine's books can help
• Supports for video gaming addicts and their families

Elaine's resources:

• www.gamequitters.com
• CAMH for 8 week group: Problem Gambling and Technology Use Treatment Services
• Intenta

Sara Dimerman in conversation with Janyce Lastman about the impact of stopping and starting school during the pandemic. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• The impact that this has had on parents, students and teachers.
• Some of the most challenging aspects of both having kids at home with their parents 24/7 in addition to online learning.
• What parents and teachers can do to help support kids when they are asked to stay away from school.
• whether there will be gaps in learning or whole years worth of learning lost as a result of how going back and forth to school has been managed.
• How parents can best equip themselves to help their kids prepare to go with the flow.
• What strategies, plans and resources can be put in place to support the current climate of education - in Ontario, Canada and around the world.

Janyce recommends these additional resources:

• WindowSwap - New name for this now VERY popular site. Anyone can join in and broadcast their own view for free if they wish. Here's the backstory which really contextualizes it: What is WindowSwap?.
• Toddler who sees world through hand sanitizer stations... really says it all!

Sara Dimerman in conversation with sexual health educator and consultant, Carly Basian about how to promote healthy sexual development, from toddlers to teens. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• Why it's important that teachers and parents understand how to promote healthy sexual development in children.
• How young is too young to begin communicating in a way that supports and promotes healthy sexual development in children and ways to do so in everyday life.
• Stages of development - from toddlers to teens - and how each stage requires something new or different in order to continue to promote positive and healthy sexual development.
• What a parent should be on the lookout for in their teenager – for reassurance that they are going in the right direction in regards to healthy sexual development.
• Some warning signs or red flags that there are gaps in children's sexual development and how to fill them.
• How parents and teachers can work together in fostering what children need to know when developing sexually
• Resources for parents and educators

Additional resources:

• Photoshop transformation ("Dove Evolution" - this was part of a campaign Dove put out)
• Resources on Carly's website
• Planned Parenthood
• Ophea (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association)

Sara Dimerman in conversation with Lauren Barrett about how to live through loss. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• The different kinds of loss that we are likely to experience in our lifetime
• How unexpected or sudden loss differs from loss that is anticipated
• Emotions experienced by most human beings after someone close to them dies
• Whether or not it's typical for people to expect to overcome their loss within a certain time frame
• The guilt that people may feel for being alive and for continuing to live and potentially feel joy after losing someone very significant in their lives and how they can work towards experiencing some happiness again
• The discomfort that one might feel when talking to someone who is mourning a loss and some of the best ways to comfort them

Sara Dimerman in conversation with dating coach, Damona Hoffman, on the do's and don'ts of dating. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• The role of a dating coach
• Whether dating is different in your fifties or sixties compared to your twenties or thirties, for example
• How dating is different now compared to decades ago
• Whether or not men and women approach dating differently
• How dating is different now that we are living through a pandemic
• How people can continue to grow their relationship, despite Covid
• Whether or not soulmates are a real thing
• Some do's and don'ts of dating

Sara Dimerman in conversation with Brent Edwards, about helping newcomers understand Canadian business culture. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• How Brent Edwards got to where he's at in his career today and more about how he helps people who have recently immigrated to Canada
• What most surprises newcomers to about Canadian business culture
• The value of networking and how it's done
• Important things for newcomers to note when adapting to Canadian business culture

Sara Dimerman in conversation with Giselle Bloch, about understanding the transgender world, from a parent's perspective. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• Understanding words used in the LGBTQ+ community and beyond, such as transgender and cisgender, non binary and pronouns they/them.
• The difference between gender identity and sexuality.
• Giselle's personal experience as a parent of a transgender son.
• The stages of transition for transgender folks.
• Some of the uncomfortable questions people have asked Giselle along the way and advice on a sensitive way to discuss a child transitioning with their parent.
• How to guide a transgender adult child to advocate for themselves and how to educate family members - grandparents, for example, who might not understand or might be judgemental.
• Support systems that are in place for transgender youth and their parents/families.
• How actors such as Jeffrey Tambor who played a transgender role on Transparent, Laverne Cox on Orange is the New Black and reality TV stars Caitlyn Jenner and Jazz on I Am Jazz helped to raise people's awareness of what being transgender means.

Sara Dimerman in conversation with Jayni Bloch, about how to tap into your creative and intuitive self. Over the course of this episode you will learn more about:

• Jayni, her work and some of her creative endeavours
• What tapping into one's creative and intuitive self means
• Whether the creative and intuitive parts of one's self are connected and if so, how
• Whether everyone has the potential to tap into these parts of oneself and if so, how
• What a therapist can do to facilitate this and why it's helpful for oneself and interpersonal relationships