Honest as a Mother

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Amanda is joined by Dallas Lombardi to talk about adoption in Canada. Dallas Lombardi shares her deeply personal journey as an adoptive parent, highlighting the complexities, systemic challenges, and emotional realities of adoption in Canada. This conversation sheds light on the unseen struggles, the importance of community, and the need for better systemic support for adoptive families.

Included in this episode:

• The Adoption Process in Canada
• Dallas shares her experience in such a raw and vulnerable way that is so needed in this community.
• How Dallas learned (and is still learning) to navigate a broken system.
• Advice for parents who want to adopt a child in Canada.

Follow Dallas on IG @dallas.lombardi

Follow Amanda on IG @amanda.gurman

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Amanda is joined by Laura Sinclair who is a business mentor to high achieving moms to discuss balancing motherhood and business - is this even possible?

Included in this episode:

• Can we actually balance motherhood and entrepreneurship? What does balance mean to Laura
• What actually makes a "good mom" and a "good entrepreneur"?
• How can we grow our business but also thrive as a mother?
• When should someone hire a business coach and why?
• How surrounding yourself with other likeminded people is so supportive to you and your business.
• Learning to ask for help, hire support and lean on others who can support you while you build your business.

Follow Laura on IG @itslaurasinclair

Check out Laura's website www.thismothermeansbusiness.com

If you want to learn more about WEOC and the loans:

https://weoc.ca/loan-program/

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Amanda is joined by Mark Barnes who is a Pharmacist and a pharmacy owner, but he is also a mental health advocate and is raising awareness around the country about addiction and Naloxone.

Included in this episode:

• What does Mark think health care workers are missing when it comes to addiction?
• What does Mark wish more people understood about addiction?
• When should we talk to our children about drugs? How can we do this?
• Are our children more informed today about drugs or are they more vulnerable?
• What is Naloxone and why does Mark feel everyone should have one on hand in their home
• Does Naloxone promote drug use? Breaking the stigma around that conversation
• What is an overdose and what does an overdose look like

The conversation starts here. Pick up your free Naloxone at your local pharmacy. Continue this conversation. Let's break the stigma together.

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Amanda is joined by Laura Federico, who is a certified sex therapist and Morgan Miller, who is a midwife, lactation consultant and a birth centre founder to talk about Menstrual Mental Health.

Included in this episode:

• What is menstrual mental heath and why is it so important?
• PMDD - What is it? What does it look like?
• Genitourinary syndrome of lactation - what the heck is this and why do women need to know about this?
• How do listen to your body and advocate for yourself when you need support but aren't getting it.
• Their book "The Cycle Book"

Follow Morgan and Laura on IG: @itslauraandmorgan

Follow Amanda on IG: @amanda.gurman

Purchase the Cycle Book here:

https://a.co/d/0bhTK6a8

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*** TRIGGER WARNING *** This episode contains conversations about Human Trafficking and may be uncomfortable for some. Please skip this one if this is not something you can listen to at this time.

Amanda is joined by Markie Dell who is a fitness coach here in Hamilton, Ontario who is here to share her story of how she was human trafficked, how she got free, and how she is healing.

Included in this episode:

• Markie bravely shares her story of trusting a friend, but it becoming so much darker than she ever thought.
• Insecurity being the biggest driver. How women sometimes get trapped inside this "good girl" persona and always needed to please others to be accepted.
• What role did Markie's insecurties play in this story?
• How Markie escaped
• How she is rebuilding her life and redefining for herself what peace and acceptance look like.

Follow Markie on IG @markie.dell

Follow Amanda on IG @amanda.gurman

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Amanda is joined today by Amanda Ottoman who is a RN Educator, personal trainer who specializes in Menopause & GLP-1 Management to talk PCOS, Insulin Resistance and Women's hormonal health.

Included in this episode:

• What is PCOS and what are signs and symptoms of it?
• What is Insulin Resistance and why is it so important?
• Can Insulin Resistance cause other health issues? Does it always accompany PCOS?
• When/How can women look further into if they may have PCOS?
• Should we be seeing a specialist? Naturopath? Family Doc?
• Amanda shares her own personal experience with Insulin Resistance and her own health journey.
• GLP-1's

Follow Amanda Gurman on IG: @amanda.gurman

Follow Amanda Otterman on IG: @menohealthnurse

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Amanda is joined by Courtney Bognar, who is a Registered Psychotherapist and owner of Rogue Healing to chat about perinatal mental health.

** Trigger Warning ** This episode does discuss topics of miscarriage, please skip this one if you are not able to listen.

Included in this episode:

• Courtney shares her story of once being a teacher but knew it was not her forever career choice. She shares her story of miscarriage, and why this put her on a path of changing her career.
• Perinatal Anxiety - What did this look like for Courtney?
• Courtney shares with us that her husband struggled with his mental health during this time as well, and why it is so important to support moms, but also dads.
• Courtney explains to us why we need to stop "shoulding on ourselves"
• The Happiness Trap - What is it and how are we putting ourselves in it?
• Value Misalignment - What is this and how can we re-evaluate? 

Follow Courtney on IG: @rogue.healing

Flora's Walk Halidmand is happening on Saturday May 23 @ 11am.

If you would like to support this cause please go to:

 https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/healthy-start-healthy-future-inc/p2p/FlorasWalk2026/team/floras-walk-haldimand?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAdGRleARUechleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAad3Snsli50MlfiHH8L19_zGk-P7qK6l2pHrAq98rrTNd3lQQDbR5bTezLagfg_aem_xzHGr13hrqqEE8GJvR3-Nw

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Amanda is joined this week by Alyssa Lancia, Holly Silenzi and Katie Mitton to have a completely unfiltered talk about motherhood, mental health, friendship and so much more.

Included in this episode:

• Identity Crisis - Did we all go through on once we become mothers? What did this look like for each of us and how are we handling it?
• Being parents of newborns/young children during the COVID-19 Pandemic
• The realization that you can no longer live your life around your own wants and needs. How this realization slapped all of us so hard in the face.
• Friendship after children - What has our experiences been like?
• How friendship dynamics change after kids - and how this is okay.
• Do we have FOMO or JOMO as mothers?!
• What are we doing to refine ourselves now?
• Therapy, medication, boundaries, accepting the seasons as they come, and so much MORE.

Follow Amanda on IG: @amanda.gurman

Follow Alyssa on IG: @darling.donuts.hamilton

Follow Katie on IG: @__cakeandkale__

Follow Holly on IG: @beyondthebombbath

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Amanda is joined by Shirlene Nalepa, another author inside Breakthrough Book 2 to talk about mental health, ADHD and PMDD.

Included in this episode:

• Mental health chat - Normalizing therapy, medication and more.
• Talking to our kids about mental health.
• The transition from motherhood to who am I now?
• Why Shirlene decided now was the time to share her story.
• PMDD - What is it? What's "normal"?

Follow Shirlene on IG: @the.stories.of.our.lives

Follow Amanda on IG: @amanda.gurman

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Amanda is joined by Shannon Smith, another author inside Breakthrough Book 2 to discuss grief, resilience and her story.

Included in this episode:

• How grief taught Shannon resilience and how she learned to live in a space where 2 things can always be true at the same time.
• How Grief is a huge part of Breakthrough Book 2. Whether it is referring to the loss of a person, the loss of a job, a relationship or even just the thought of "this is not how my life was supposed to go".
• What did Shannon write about? And why was now the time for her to step into her story and share it with the world.

Follow Shannon on IG: @theunravelledmom

Follow Amanda on IG: @amanda.gurman

Want to learn more about Breakthrough? Follow: @break_throughbook

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