Welcome!
Brush Your Mind is your hub for mental health promotion in turbulent times. My goal is to empower you in taking a proactive approach to your emotional health and wellbeing. Brush Your Mind is a project of the World Love Forum.
Did you know that there are a variety of things that you can do proactively to promote your emotional health and wellbeing, in much the same way that you are already doing to promote your oral health? Hence I coined the metaphor “Brush Your Mind.”
Just as preventive dentistry is an important part of dentistry, within mental health, there is a lesser known area that is focused on preventing psychological distress and disorders and promoting emotional health and wellbeing.
Over the years, I have taught this subject to graduate students in Switzerland and now I want to share this information with you - so you can join a worldwide movement to advance prevention and health promotion in mental health.
Brush Your Mind aims to address two major gaps in the mental health promotion space:
A clearly mapped pathway to mental health promotion, grounded in psychological research, that everyone can use for themselves, their families and communities.
Support people in an ongoing way to go from knowing to doing. Chances are you already know some of the things I will be sharing with you. If you are like most people, the challenge lies not necessarily in the knowing part, but also the doing part. Another challenge is finding a way to make sense of the flood of self help information that we are surrounded by.
Your Challenges:
High Stress: The demands of your job and the pressure to perform can lead to persistent stress. Care-giving is also a source of on-going stress for many people.
Burnout: Long hours, emotional strain, and rigid work schedules contribute to professional burnout, affecting both work and personal lives.
Emotional Distress: Many people experience high levels of emotional distress and feelings of isolation within high-pressure work, school or family environments.
Spill-Over Stress: The pressures of your job can spill over into family life, affecting relationships and home environments.
As someone who deeply cares about your well-being, and as a behavioral scientist and mental health professional, I’ve created Brush Your Mind to provide practical, evidence-based tools that combine science, strategy, and soul to help you build resilience, reduce stress, and lead a healthier, happier and more peaceful life.
And if you decide to attend my webinars, I will teach you the tools and methods of mental health promotion that I have taught many graduate students - so you can put this information into direct action to benefit yourself, your family, your community and even the world.
Remember the power of collective action!
Together we can use the tools of psychological science to create compassionate and humane environments - at home, in schools, in the workplace and in society at large.
Yes, we can shift harmful social norms and I will empower you to do so.
Solutions Brush Your Mind offers:
Emotional Health Strategies: Practical, easy-to-implement tools to manage stress, promote your emotional wellbeing and reduce risk of burnout.
Mindfulness Practices: Easy to implement mindfulness techniques that you can integrate into your daily routine to access your inner calm and reduce stress and anxiety.
Resilience Building: Strategies to help you become more resilient and handle the pressures of turbulent times without sacrificing your well-being.
Stress Buffering Tools: Techniques to protect yourself from stress and its negative impact on your health and most important relationships - both at home and at work.
Brush Your Mind is here to support you in your journey toward emotional well-being and a balanced life.
Subscription Levels
Free Membership
What you get: Access to newsletters and tools to promote your emotional health.
Who it's for: Anyone who want to prioritize their emotional health and improve their quality of life.
Benefits: Gain practical tips, science-based strategies, and tools to help you build resilience, manage stress, and enhance your well-being. This free access ensures that everyone can take steps toward better mental health.
Paid Membership ($5/month or $50/year)
What you get:
Access to newsletters and tools to promote your emotional health.
Mini-meditations via video to rapidly restore calm and inner peace.
Help advance mental health promotion through supporting the work of Dr. SD Shanti
Gain access to a supportive community of practice where your questions are answered, and you feel heard, connected, and empowered.
Who it's for: Anyone who wants to go beyond newsletters and dive deeper into advancing emotional health and resilience and be an agent of change within their spheres of influence.
Benefits: You will become an informed advocate for advancing mental health promotion and related issues within your spheres of influence. You will understand the basics of prevention science and can advocate effectively for the change you want to see in your community, nation and the world.
Founding Member ($200/year)
What you get: In addition to everything included in the Paid Membership, a live mindfulness session for you and up to ten participants via Zoom.
Perfect for a workplace, study group, or circle of friends. Includes your choice of focus (e.g., stress relief, stop stress contagion, promote emotional resilience, or chocolate meditation!)
Benefits: Learn practical strategies personalized for your situation and which you can immediately use to experience more calm, more joy and more meaning in your life.
Plus you can feel good knowing that you are supporting the work of Dr. SD Shanti as she grows the World Love Forum and related activities with the goal of advancing love and emotional health in the world.
Testimonials
Please contact me for sponsorship inquiries and speaking engagements. I am available to speak to your organization as a keynote speaker, continuing education provider and workshop and retreat leader.
or send me an email at: brushyourmind@substack.com
Your Wellbeing is My Mission
I’m committed to empowering people to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. Join me on this journey to promote your emotional health!
I am a multidisciplinary professional and public health practitioner, committed to promoting mental health, and preventing violence and depression. My multi-faceted approach to mental health promotion integrates mind, body, and spirit.
In my role as a global public health advocate, one of my areas of focus is the translation and dissemination of research-based prevention modalities. I translate prevention science into practice through teaching, workshops, writing, animations, entertainment education (soap operas for instance), and improv comedy.
I have spent many years working out innovative ways to address the global epidemics of depression and violence - and in particular - by advancing the prevention of psychological distress. Now this body of work is ready for scaling and this newsletter and my webinars for the public are one part of that work.
Origin Story
My journey in mental health promotion and prevention began in 1997, when the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report that stated that depression was a leading cause of disability in the world. This journey intensified in the face of startling data on violence: according to the WHO, violence affects one in every three women in the world, and one in every two children. It is important to keep in mind that men and youth also experience high levels of violence.
In response to these data, I founded an NGO in Switzerland, with a focus on violence prevention, because that is the bleeding artery of what I call “Quiet Desperation Syndrome” comprised of poverty, illiteracy, violence, depression and inequality. Often, more than one of these occurs and they create a negative synergy that leads people into a downward spiral of despair. The idea behind my approach is to get at shared root causes (or what is called the shared risk factor approach in public health speak), and stop the downward spiral, and instead, promote an upward virtuous circle.
When I began my formative research to see what could be done about the global epidemic of depression and related issues, I encountered many experts in mental health and public health, who in private, expressed pessimism about the possibility of real change. One renowned expert said to me “It’s hopeless…why do you even bother?” To that I replied “How long do we watch people suffer when we know there is a better way?”
Their pessimism only drove me to keep finding a way forward, and led me to the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford University. During this time, I developed a research-based violence prevention framework, called the Blueprint for Hope, that was reviewed by the Violence Prevention Alliance of the World Health Organization and to which my NGO was admitted through a review of the science behind it. The following year, I was a visiting scholar in the department of psychology where Albert Bandura and Philip Zimbardo, two of the most renowned psychologists in the world, were my sponsors. There I continued to incubate my innovations. Since that time, I have done pilots, proof of concepts, and deepened the scientific foundations of the work. Now am scaling my portfolio of science-based innovations.
I dedicated my life to ending the global epidemic of violence which affects about two billion people. As a scientist, I have developed cost-effective, research based solutions that can be implemented by individuals, communities and nations - to “vaccinate against violence.” (No needles by the way…It involves behavior change…and brushing one’s mind is one of the behavioral vaccines.)
The small NGO that I first founded in 2004 has continued to evolve in tandem with my work. In 2024, it officially came into existence as the World Love Forum, dedicated to the implementation of love as a public health intervention and promoting actions in daily life that are informed by compassion, empathy and kindness.
Disclaimer
The content of Brush Your Mind, this website and webinars is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health care, or care from any other health care provider. The suggestions here are general and shared in the context of health education and health promotion. They do not replace personalized evaluation by your health care provider. It is your responsibility to adapt the content of this site to your personal situation, according to the advice of your health care provider.
By subscribing, you agree that the information provided does not replace personalized advice from a licensed professional. For emergencies, please contact your local crisis line or seek immediate help from a healthcare provider.
Karma & Copyright
This newsletter and website content are shared in good faith to serve the public. I encourage you to invite friends to subscribe rather than sharing content, as it helps track its reach.
Please do not use this material for profit. If you wish to share it in a nonprofit setting, please reach out to me for permission. Thanks for your understanding!
