This week on the podcast I speak to dr Scott Lear, professor in at Simon Fraser University on mental health, lifestyle strategies and speaking out in order to help foster awareness and acceptance  amongst those around you. We spent most of our time discussing Professor Lear’s own depression diagnosis after several years of feeling down but for no (what Scott calls) good reason for it. We discuss the stigma that is attached to mental health diagnoses and the impact this can have on people talking about their mental health. We talk about the strategies he employed (both professional and also personal) to help recover from it and how important it was for him to receive treatment even though he was doing a lot of what is recommended we do to help our mental health (like exercise, diet etc). and how this led him to become interested in (and an advocate for) the impact that lifestyle has on mental health.

Dr Scott Lear is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and holds the Pfizer/Heart and Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul’s Hospital. He is also a member of the Division of Cardiology at Providence Health Care.

Over the past 20 years, he’s been conducting research in the prevention and management of heart disease focusing on supporting healthy lifestyles and improving access to timely health care.

In addition to publishing over 160 research papers, his work has been featured in various media outlets including The Vancouver Sun, The Conversation, The Heart and Stroke Foundation, CityTV and Global News. He also has an active blog and regularly podcasts on issues to do with health, including heart health, mental health and overall health. Link is below for his blog.

https://www.sfu.ca/fhs/about/people/profiles/scott-lear.html

BLOG https://drscottlear.com/category/patient-journey/

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