The Top 6 Leaders in Mental Health that You Need to Follow
How many of these incredible people do you know? I’m going to share 6 amazing thought leaders that have changed my and many of my clients’ lives for the better.
By the end of the article, you will discover how to resource your own leaders to help you experiment to see what changes they will make for you. These are the top leaders I recommend my clients engage with, and all who engaged with them have found at least one strategy that changed their lives to help them control their minds.
Ready? Let’s dive in! No time? Download my FREE resource printable to refer back to when you need it!
Leader #1: Kara Loewentheil, UnfuckYourBrain.com
This feminist rockstar is my go-to for a breakthrough when I need guidance and coaching, and I have seen how her approach positively influences others who listen to her material. She blends my favourite things about therapy; feminism, psychology, and coaching. Now, I’m not a coach (I’m a therapist), but what we do is similar in many ways, which is allowing individuals to determine for themselves what exactly they want to do and how they want to do it. I have been researching the literature in mental health therapies for years, and Kara seamlessly blends the most effective long-term solutions into a discussion that is very powerful. She utilizes her platforms to challenge, explore, and critique how the systems in which we live are helping/hindering us and brings light to how the socialization of women affects our lives socially, emotionally, mentally, and physically.
One of the biggest things I appreciate about her approach is that it is simple. Yes, our brains hate simple, but it's exactly what it needs most of the time. We crave answers, yet, when simple ones are given, the brain tends to have a bit of a temper tantrum, saying, “there’s got to be more than that!” But no… healing our minds can actually be asking ourselves simple questions like what Kara asks her chickens:
How can you hold space for yourself?
How can you accept the parts of yourself that you want to hide from?
What would your life be like if it weren’t driven by anxiety, fear, insecurity, shame, or guilt?
What emotions would you want to have instead?
What would you create in your life if these emotions were driving your actions?
See? Pretty powerful. You can learn more about Kara here
Leader #2: Dr. Caroline Leaf
Every day, I read Dr. Caroline’s Mental Health Self Care tips on Instagram, and she is the one I promote and share most through social media. She is a neuroscientist who has been researching the science of thought for decades and has come up with reliable and valid systems to promote healthy thinking habits in our brains. She distributes her information through her best-selling books, research, podcast, social media, and app. Her podcast, Cleaning Up the Mental Mess, is actually where I first heard Kara Loewenthiel and Dr. Adi Jaffe share their radical and effective ways of thinking (pretty sure we need to be a bit radical to shake some things up for the better). She interviews people on her podcast from all walks of life, different disciplines, and the speakers often have different ideas than herself or other interviewees, and she approaches every one of them with curiosity and respect, which as you are getting to know, is something I value.
She uses her platform to give insight, ideas, and strategies into healing thinking that is hurtful to ourselves. At the end of the day, all the major influencers work at similar goals: that everything starts as a thought. As a neuroscientist, she has decades of experience and data that support this. As a self-confessed research enthusiast, I like seeing the evidence of why something works, rather than just take it for granted.
You can learn more about Dr. Caroline Leaf here
Leader #3: Dr. Adi Jaffe, IGNTD Recovery
I had the honor of meeting Dr. Adi last year and chatting with him about his program and ideology, and let me tell you… in the field of substance abuse, his methodology and program are top-notch. I have been doing addiction counselling since 2008, and always felt off about the traditional methods of decreasing use through different tactics and strategies, which in part can be helpful, but not if the counselling is solely focused on that. Dr. Adi put to print what I was finding through counselling individuals… what if the use wasn’t the biggest concern? His focus is on the “feelings and circumstances that surround substance use’ (The Abstinence Myth, DATE, PAGE), which is 100% accurate.
His influence and platform encourage individuals to look beyond their use/behaviour of concern and address the roots that create & sustain the habits. For example, one client of mine who talked with me about their concerns about alcohol use at first was trying to eliminate the behaviour without success, but when they realized that they were using alcohol as a way to try and get away from the ‘hustle culture’ of this world, it was a game-changer. Cravings decreased, healthier habits increased...all because they were addressing what needed to be acknowledged in the first place: that they didn’t need to hustle for their worth.
Dr. Adi and his wife have a podcast that covers recovery and healing in a holistic, whole-self way. They talk openly about their relationship, Dr. Adi’s own recovery journey, and the social, emotional, and physical aspects that pertain to health and wellness.
Leader #4: Brené Brown
Brené Brown… a hero she is in my world. It took me 6 months to get through Daring Greatly because it felt like I was getting knocked on my ass every page (that’s a good thing… I needed that back then). She is also a social worker, and what kind of social worker would I be if I didn’t shout her name to the rooftops for her ability to transform the conversation about shame and vulnerability.
She is a major influencer for us type-A perfectionists because she gets it! She also teaches gently how to show up in your life with compassion, connections, and courage, and we need that. We need to know we aren’t on this journey alone, and her research, and podcast are all about helping us amazing humans live our lives as wholeheartedly as possible. Don’t believe me? Read her book, The Gifts of Imperfection. You won’t be disappointed. You’ll instead be truth-bombed the entirety of it.
You can learn more about Brené here.
Leader #5: Dr. Jody Carrington
Oh, sweet mamas and teachers… She gets you. She gets kids. She gets connection. More importantly, she supports you to do the same.
I’ll never forget when I heard her speak for the first time, prior to her book Kids These Days was published. This was also in the time when hugs were happening and I definitely gave her a huge hug because she is that awesome (full disclosure: I’m not normally a hugger... so this was a big deal).
In this workshop, she talked about getting excited when kids are having intense feelings. Can you believe that? Excited! And you know what… she was fucking right. I was having a lot of struggles with my son at the time, and she changed my life as a parent because she got me excited to see him have emotions! Right?! Totally crazy, but it works. Emotions are not meant to be feared but embraced. When we can look beyond the outward behavior, we can see what our bodies are actually trying to say they need.
You can learn more about this amazing influencer here.
Leader #6: Sweet Jolie Boutique
I have a clothing boutique on here as a mental health influencer? Hell, yes! They are a resource I show my clients who are struggling with their bodies and food. When I talk to clients about detoxing their social media from images/accounts that make them feel ‘less than’ or ‘not enough’, I show them this boutique and get them to critically think about marketing, societal expectations, and how they were socialized growing up.
The number two things I hear people share when we are doing this analysis is that people perceive the messages from the models and website content from this company as “freedom” and “joy.”
Check them out here. And yes, pretty much everything I wear is from them, and no, I’m not affiliated or sponsored by them. I love not just their clothes, but their message about empowerment and positive body talk.
Conclusion
As you can see from these great influencers, they all have their own way of promoting healthy thinking, which we know from long-term studies is crucial to feeling well. Whether it’s through challenging systemic messages that we know are hurtful, teaching tools that connect with how the brain naturally works, examining the feelings and circumstances that surround the behaviors we want to change, teaching that emotions aren’t to be feared, but welcomed, and that you can fill your mind, social media feed, and closet if you want with items that celebrate joy and freedom of being perfectly, wonderfully, you. All these components speak to holistic health from the inside out.
What are your major mental health influencers and how do they challenge and encourage you? Leave a comment below; I can’t wait to hear from you.
Hi, I’m Sharla.
I’m a Registered Social Worker who specializes in working with women to heal anxiety and all the fun it brings to the party, ADHD struggles, disordered eating, shame, and trauma.
I founded Bloom Narratives, a private practice that provides holistic wellness services.
Why? So you can be a game changer in your life. Because healing people heal people.