TELUS Talks with Tamara Taggart

Wildfires are becoming a bigger part of our lives in Canada and across the world. Dr. Michael Brauer says it’s time to adapt our lifestyles to these environmental changes. As a professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health, Dr. Brauer specializes in air quality and health and provides some tips on how to make improvements in your life.

Dr. Diane McIntosh thinks you should take a hard look at your sleeping habits. In the new installment of Your Brain, we dive into the profound impact of sleep on our physical, mental and emotional well-being. We discuss cultivating healthy sleep habits, fighting off insomnia and optimizing the quality of our rest.

“The commonality between Indigenous entrepreneurs is we've all got a history that is relatable,” says Geena Jackson. Geena is the creator of Bears’ Lair, a new reality show on APTN similar to Dragons’ Den, that gives Indigenous entrepreneurs a platform to pitch their business ideas. With more than 13 years of experience in economic development, Geena is a passionate supporter of Indigenous voices. She speaks with Tamara about teaching business basics across Canada and creating a bright future for Indigenous enterprise.

Parenting teenagers can be a delicate dance between providing support and allowing space for independence. Lisa Damour, a clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselling author, has dedicated her career to helping parents understand their teenagers. Lisa speaks with Tamara about guiding teenagers through powerful emotions and her new book: The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents.

What secrets do the brain hold? It’s the most complex part of the human body and it can sometimes be difficult to understand our own thoughts and feelings. That’s why TELUS Talks with Tamara Taggart is launching a new miniseries called Your Brain. Once a month, Diane McIntosh will join Tamara to demystify different parts of the brain and their many functions. As a highly respected psychiatrist, author and member of the TELUS team, Diane shares her knowledge of emotional trauma, PTSD and how to begin healing from traumatic events.

Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, award-winning psychology instructor and author, wants everyone to know that stress is a part of who you are. As someone who has experienced significant obstacles throughout her life, Robyne has learned to use stress as a biological tool to navigate the world. She shares insights from her new book, Stress Wisely: How to Be Well in an Unwell World, about how each of us can make stress an ally in our daily lives.

Amanda Lewis, long-time Toronto book editor turned author, knew she needed a career change after she dreamt of a peaceful walk on a forest path. After moving to Vancouver, Lewis began healing from burnout by hunting down British Columbia’s biggest trees. Her book Tracking Giants: Big Trees, Tiny Triumphs, and Misadventures in the Forest, details Lewis’ journey finding B.C.’s “Champion Trees” and reveals that sometimes it's the smaller joys that make us feel more connected to the natural world.

Anita Nowak, author, professor and empathy expert wants everyone to understand the life-changing nature of empathy. In her new book, Purposeful Empathy, Nowak says we’re all born with the capacity for empathy but we can choose to strengthen this innate trait. With something as simple as smiling to strangers in public, we can flex our empathy like a muscle. For Nowak, a strong sense of empathy can teach us to be kinder to ourselves while making the world a more understanding place.

Dr. Travers, professor of sociology at Simon Fraser University, has something they’d like anyone spending time with children to keep in mind: assume that there are trans kids in every group. The author of The Trans Generation: How Trans Kids (and Their Parents) are Creating a Gender Revolution talks about what life is like for trans kids, how to be an ally – and why it’s time we all questioned our society’s binary gender norms.

Canadian author Yasuko Thanh was already an award-winning novelist and short-story writer when she decided it was time to tell perhaps her most compelling story yet – that of her own life from high-school dropout living on the street to successful author. She shares how writing her memoir, Mistakes to Run With, helped her make peace with the past, heal family wounds and embrace her future.