In 2017, Max Gruver began as a freshman at Louisiana State University. He, along with his parents, was full of hope and excitement. From Georgia, his parents heard about his first weeks away at school which included pledging at various fraternities. They never anticipated that on September 17th they would receive a call that would change their lives forever. Max had died at LSU from a hazing event held at Phi Delta Theta house. Since 1959, there has been at least one hazing-related death in Canada, the United States and Mexico. In the year that Max passed away, there were seven hazing-related deaths. In her grief, Rae Ann Gruver new that something needed to change so that no one else would die they way that her son Max did. Her family created The Max Gruver Foundation to abolish hazing on campuses, to educate young people on the risks associated with it and to change laws state by state. Her efforts along with the volunteers who support this initiative are making a big difference. I spoke with Rae Ann about: - the day that they moved Max to LSU - what happened in those first few weeks - how is hazing defined - the days following Max's death - the purpose that she found to honour his memory and becoming a changer - where her resilience comes from

Toronto psychiatrist and sleep expert Dr. Cara Ooi is my latest guest on the RESILIENT PEOPLE podcast. Helping teens to sleep better is her main focus, but as our conversation will show, sleep disorders cover every age group. As many of us struggle to get a good night's rest, Dr. Ooi offers simple and effective tools to help us. Without getting the necessary amount of sleep, it impacts everything from our productivity to our relationships. But as she confirms, there are many options. Her approach includes changing the way we use our bed, addressing the light around us and sleep timing. ​Listen and learn how to get the sleep you've been dreaming of.

Canadian author Ann Douglas has been writing books about parenting for years. Popular guides to help pregnant women and new parents prepare for the exciting and very unpredictable life of parenthood. In her latest book, "Navigating the messy middle: A fiercely honest and wildly encouraging guide for midlife women", Ann Douglas is turning her attention and expert research to helping women through the midlife years. As she said in our conversation, "I am fascinated by human growth and development. Being in the middle chapter of life, I started to wonder what is this life stage and how can I enjoy it?" Having interviewed over 100 women during the pandemic, the book is full of their wisdom and strategies to thrive in midlife through heartfelt, funny, sad and inspiring stories. Ann and I spoke about: - the need for women and society to rewrite the narrative - going beyond negative stereotypes of what it means to be a midlife woman - practicing self-compassion - the importance of building a like-minded community of support - learning from different generations on best practices for living our best lives - the joy that can be found in the midlife years

I've been reading the latest book by Dr. Sanjay Gupta titled, "Keep Sharp: Build A Better Brain At Any Age". It's very informative and a science-driven guide to preventing brain decline. But I also found that the advice is beneficial for overall wellness and positive mental health. As I focus a lot of my learning for RESILIENT PEOPLE on building resilience and learning from those who demonstrate a positive mindset, Dr. Gupta offers some terrific and easy to employ tips for maintaining our overall health. In this short episode of the podcast, I offer some of my favourite takeaways.

Bonjour and welcome to RESILIENT PEOPLE. My guest on this episode is Katie Clark - an American in Paris. Katie is 42 years old, from Utah, got married very young, had three children pretty quickly and for the last 16 years has practiced as an emergency room nurse. Like many married couples, she and her husband were going through the motions of life and marriage. Focused on raising children and busy with their careers. As she was approaching her midlife years, Katie felt unhappy with the status quo and looked for ways to make a change. After years of soul searching and discussions with her husband, she filed for divorce earlier this year and months later bought a one-way ticket to Paris. It may not be the part about moving to France that resonates with many, but surely there are many midlife women who question the state of their marriage by the time their children are grown. They wonder, "Is this it?" Katie decided that she wanted more out of life. And so the theme of this episode is all about prioritizing ourselves. To not feel guilty about putting ourselves first, rediscovering who we are and how Katie Clark is doing that in Paris. We spoke about the importance for midlife women to not give up on their dreams, finding joy again, our love of singing, learning to be your own best friend and getting comfortable with being alone and on their own.

On this episode of the RESILIENT PEOPLE podcast, I welcome my friend Leanne Townsend. A divorce and family lawyer in Toronto. Running a busy law practice, the creator of the Divorcing Well podcast and mom of two adult children - Leanne is a terrific person to have on to talk about midlife issues. We spoke about some big changes that have recently happened in her life. Namely, selling her family home and starting her own law firm. As two midlife women, we talked about: - embracing big life changes and the benefits of changing everything at once - the freedom of letting go - including children in our decisions - how to find a good divorce lawyer - building a solid support system - our mutual appreciation for the TLC show 90 Day Fiancé - and calling this "The Year Of (insert your name here)" as a form of self care

When Audrey Guth was 50 years old, she was diagnosed with cancer. This inspired her to shortly after create a new non-for-profit organization. As the operator of a personnel agency which specialized in home care and nanny services, she felt uniquely positioned to help mothers undergoing the heavy demands of cancer treatments. By having this purpose, she felt that it helped her get better as well. Switching careers at any point in your life can be hard, but doing it in midlife can come with extra challenges. At a time when many women are seeking a way to reinvent themselves, Audrey's story is a powerful message for midlife women that it is never too late to learn something new and to feel that you are making a difference in the world.

Hello RESILIENT PEOPLE! Welcome to Season 3 of the podcast! I am your host, Janet Fanaki. I am so excited to be back and ready to introduce you to more EXTRAordinary people who are admired for their resilience. But this season - with a twist. You will hear more of the voices of midlife women and how they are reinventing themselves, finding a purpose and moving through this new chapter of their lives with a sense of joy. In this trailer for Season 3 of the RESILIENT PEOPLE podcast, Janet Fanaki explains the exciting new direction that she's taking listeners in. For the first two seasons, we met regular people from around the world who are admired for their resilience. Men and women who have experienced major life challenges, but found a purpose from these events and are inspiring others to be resilient too. As a midlife, single mom I have now found myself looking to other midlife women for guidance and inspiration. So this new season of RESILIENT PEOPLE will be exploring the stories of women who have encountered various challenges and found that this latest chapter is one of the best and most rewarding in their lives. The aim is to show that our lives are always evolving and can be changing for the better. Even in the midlife years. It can also be a platform to help you find new meaning, and build a positive and resilient mindset.

On this episode of the RESILIENT PEOPLE podcast, I welcome Grief Coach Sherrie Dunlevy as my guest. Sherrie is the creator of the Graduating Grief Academy. Her goal is to help people find joy again while living with loss. An innovative group program, her goal is to cycle you through the stages of grief where you come out of the other end with a sense of gratitude, healing and hope. We spoke about: - different forms of grief - how others can support grievers - infant, parental and pet loss - self-care She is a best-selling author, podcast host and public speaker. Early into her marriage, Sherrie and her husband suffered the loss of their infant son Brandon. As she says, "For 13 years following his death, I would describe myself as a mother who was existing, not really living. I was surviving, but I certainly wasn’t thriving." Over time, she experienced additional forms of grief from parental loss to the collective grief we all lived through with the pandemic. As she did the work on herself to get back to finding joy in life again, she wants to impart her wisdom on others who are living with loss and the collateral damage that comes with it.

We all remember being in high school and dating someone new and thinking that that person was all that mattered. When things went south, where were your friends? They would be the ones to lift your spirit, get you drunk to feel better about the break-up and help you move on. For this short episode of the RESILIENT PEOPLE podcast, I talk about friends and friendships. In my 53 years of being on this earth, I've come to learn that not everyone has their own set of friends outside of their marital or partner relationship. I make an argument in this episode on the importance of having your own friends - especially the kind who have known you for a very long time. Life can change on you at the drop of a hat - in case be through divorce, separation, catastrophe and like in my case where a partner passes away. When these terrible things happen in our lives, we want our really close friends to offer support and pull us out. To help us be resilient. So I talk for a few minutes here about this. The same happens as middle aged adults. We need our really good friends more than ever to help us feel okay. And we need to teach our children the importance of good solid friendships. This episode of REVELATIONS on RESILIENT PEOPLE is all about the importance of maintaining our good friendships to build resilience.