Podcast 2: Let’s Talk About Mental Health With Brittany Lafferty

Welcome back to the hosted by Holly podcast. Today, I have a very special guest with me, Brittany, as we unpack the importance of mental health before we get started, I want to invite you to sign up for the weekly emails. This is where you will get exclusive details about upcoming events, promotions, and more.

Be sure to check out the show notes for Brittany's delicious oatmeal, talk, a chip cookie recipe, which you can make while you listen. Everyone deserves to have a seat at the table. So pull up a chair, let's grab a seat, and begin. I have my friend, Brittany, on the podcast today, we officially met at our baptism last spring and became friends over the summer at one of our churches, small groups.

If I haven't said it already before. Surround yourself with community, whether it's a sport or activity or in our case church. I'll let her introduce yourself beginning with hello. Hello. Oh my gosh. This is actually really exciting. Let's it starts happening. All right. So tell us a bit about yourself. Yeah, so yeah, my name is Brittany.

I am 24 years old. I am from Northern Alberta, super small town, little farm girl, Muto city, about four years ago to pursue a career in its aesthetics. So I've been working in the industry for about three years now. Yeah, I have a passion for just connecting with people and that gives me an opportunity to just, connect with women, men of all ages.

And yeah, I don't know if that's going to be for everything. It is now it is where I'm at right now and yeah, I'm really happy with it. So thanks for coming on a couple of rapid-fire questions. What is your favorite color? Yellow. Why is that? It's a happy color. Yeah. It's like sunshine. You can't look at it and be upset.

So, yeah, I still don't understand the concept. Maybe I'm just a very miserable person. Um, and do you have a word of the year? Are you a word you're typical? No, this is actually probably my first year that I thought. When I've been asked and it sounds very typical, but, um, love is the first thing that came to mind for this year.

And I think that goes in different directions of like pouring that into other people's lives as well as my. Yeah. And just kind of focusing on that therapy area. I love that. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing as this goes live, it will be bell let's talk day, and this is a foundation across Canada. Um, as we talk about mental health.

So just a quick disclaimer, we are not professionals. We do recommend that you seek professional help. If you do struggle with mental health, we have linked some great resources below, but we do feel that there's value and hope in sharing our personal lives. And let's jump in Brit, take us right back to the beginning or however far back you want to take us.

So my parents, they met in high school, high school sweethearts, um, back to the beginning. So I've battled with mental health for as long as I can remember, you know, just, it's just always been a thing. Um, so. Since I'm new to walking out of life with Christ as of a year now, um, I've been able to witness what it looks like to battle mental health without the Lord.

And then also inviting the Lord into that. And I'm not saying that if you're a non-believer, there is no hope in that, but that's just where I found my hope was in Christ. How he's completely turned my life around through that. How did you get plugged into the church? I'm intrigued about that story. Yeah.

So what's going through one of my dark seasons and, um, was just super lost and trying to figure out my purpose. Um, the why's all the why's of everything. And I finally decided that my only constant in life has always been. You know, even in times, like, I feel like out of maybe selfishness, I would be like on my hands and knees praying in these times, but in the good times I wouldn't, you know, and I just felt like I should invite that area into every moment.

And so I was just really intrigued to like, learn more about who, who my God is. And so I cleared out a lot of my negative things in my life. I used to party a lot. Um, I mean, just like dating and stuff. I just really cleared out a lot of stuff and just wanted to focus on myself. And, um, so yeah, I started learning more about my faith, what I believed in, and I started praying into it to find a church.

Um, and it was super overwhelming because none of my friends are believers. And, um, so I remember contacting family members and stuff. Like what kind of church do I step into? And like, I don't know. I just felt super overwhelmed. And then finally, one day I was just praying into it and be. Wherever I can grow my face.

Learn more about you find community. I'm just going to surrender that to the Lord. And I don't need to worry about that. Like wherever he wants me, he knows more than I do. So I want to be where he wants me to be. So prayed that one morning went into work. One of my clients ended up coming in conversation, got brought up about our faith and she ended up inviting me to church.

And I think it was the following week. Yeah. She had an extra ticket invited me and I stepped in, so I didn't know her. I didn't know anybody. It's the first time it was super overwhelming and there's like so much fear in that, but I've just learned that like on the other side of fear is always God's comfort, you know, and just like stepping into that.

And so as soon as I went in that day, I accepted Christ back into my life and I was like, this is what I want you to change. And then three years later, just to another disclaimer, Church's always welcome. You don't have to purchase a ticket. It was during the COVID season where we were at capacity and had numbers.

Right. I just want to clarify with tickets. There's no pre-purchase necessary. Everyone is welcome. Um, but that's cool. That's crazy. That leads us into where we are today. And then we met at baptism and that's the funny thing is we got baptized at the same time, but I have been born and raised a Christian my whole life.

And just didn't feel that nudge or. Conviction to get baptized until last year and stuff like that day. I still wasn't registered for baptism until the morning. And I'd really struggled the night before. And I was literally like, I was praying over the book of Luke and I was like, I'm done like, take me now.

Like literally that was my prayer of like, I don't know, what's left. Take me now. And. Obviously got down or was a, uh, no, that's not happening instead. You need to be in a BDO once and follow through. And so it's crazy how our rules have, like our paths of life have been quite different, but let us at the same moment on the same day.

And then that's just blossomed into this and friendship and that's so crazy. Yeah. That's awesome. Do you have a verse or something that you kind of lean into? In particular now, before that you didn't have, yeah. Um, specifically Psalm 1 39. That is my go-to when I'm in my dark seasons, um, specifically some, 1 39 verse 14, I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful.

I know that full well. So I think it's just learning to when you get. Attacks from the enemy of unworthiness and all this stuff. And, um, you just need to open up the Bible and fill your mind with the truth of the God who you can just recognize that like, no, that's a lie because he is perfectly created me in his eyes, you know?

And, um, so that's usually my go-to and yeah, that's cool. Yeah. Do you have any like mental health struggles you'd be willing to unpack or share with us that you. Walked through even after. Cause I think it's safe to say that just because you become a believer doesn't mean it's game over phone. It's a little harder.

Cause you got that target audio, you know, like sometimes when you're living out your purpose and what God wants for you, you're like he's going to come a little harder. And um, I think I actually found myself in a tougher season, um, as I was, um, I believe. And it's just cool because my ways of coping with it have changed so much.

Now I just invite him into that. And the community that I've been placed into has just like helped that so much. And so when I'm battling that, instead of just like feeling that loneliness, um, and struggles and trying to look, just filling that void with other things, um, I would just reach out for prayer.

You know, I lean on friends to just continuously speak truth about. And, and that's just like allowed the Lord to open other doors for me, like where I need help, you know? And I remember I was like, I would pray so much about like, just to snap a fingers, just release me from like my depression, my anxiety, all these things.

And yes, he's a, he's a tough guy. Like he can do that, but sometimes he just wants to be invited into that, to work through these seasons. And like in that one, You will find strength, right? And one of my favorite sayings is your test is your testimony. And it's sometimes really hard to believe that when you're in the test and you don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Okay, well, I'm still being tested. You're like, I think I'm over it. I think I'm really over it. So coping mechanism wise, would you mind sharing what it looked like before and not what it looks like after? I know you mentioned prayer for after. Um, but just that contrast, uh, well, . I used to seek my worth and validation of men, um, comparison to women. And I've learned that my worth isn't in those things, it's in God. And when the enemy does enter, which he will, he always does. He's very predictable. Um, I know where to turn and how to work through it rather than suppress it.

And. That's through asking for help, whether it's in community, prayer therapy, whatever way works for you in order to find that peace and know you're not alone and there's no shame, we all carry a past. And while we can't change it, we shouldn't let it burden us and stop us from moving forward. The enemy is here to kill, steal and destroy.

And while the battle's still come, I'm just better equipped to fight them. Knowing I have an army on my side now. Yeah. So good. And yeah, knowing that the Lord is going to take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it for good. Um, just brings me a lot of comfort to move through those things and being a safe place for friends that are also struggling since I've been more open to it, people around me can reach out and I can, you know, guide them just from my experience.

Um, there's no shame. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing. I know it's just the beginning of your story and I really appreciate you kind of sharing the transformation piece. Cause I think sometimes we get really stuck in our head that we're either alone or like, because we have a faith or because we're doing all the right things, life should be easy, but knowing full well that that's not the case at all.

Um, but I appreciate you sharing. So good to see you on this journey. And I think as you said, like people are going to see you as a light, and they're just going to reach out to you and ask you for guidance and that support. And we have, as I said, resources at the bottom of the page here, that can help as well, but thank you so much for sharing.

Thanks for having me so fun. We'll have to do it again. Maybe on a slightly lighter topic. It was so nice to have you and thank you for listening. Um, we will see you next week and remember you are divinely created. I love that.