Recovery from Addiction, Mental Health Through Coaching and Intervention with Tricia Parido

Today I'll visit with Trisha Parado, a recovery lifestyle enthusiast and professional life interventionist, on her approach to helping individuals overcome life challenges through emotional intelligence and practical strategies. Trisha explains her role in assisting clients to manage their mental and emotional health, offering practical tips for creating emotional, personal, and professional wealth. She emphasizes the importance of living in the present, changing relationships with food and exercise, and leading life through a new lens to manage weight and autoimmune diseases successfully. Trisha also discusses her coaching practice, Turning Leaves Recovery Life and Wellness Coaching, which uses evidence-based practices to help clients globally transition back into manageable lives and build mental resilience.

Learn more about Tricia's work and get your free food journal at https://www.turningleavesrecovery.com/

Transcript

Magic Barclay: 0:43

Welcome back to A Magical Life. I'm your host, Magic Barclay, and today, Trisha Parado joins us. Trisha is a recovery lifestyle enthusiast, speaker, and writer. She is a nationally certified life coach, an international master addiction specialist, and a professional life interventionist with a psych degree in processed behavioral and chemical addiction, who loves to help change lives. As a Master Life Interventionist, Trisha is ever committed to serving her clients worldwide to find the emotional intelligence they need to conquer their life challenges. As an active business owner of a thriving coaching practice, Turning Leaves Recovery Life and Wellness Coaching, with courses seated in evidence based practices, she not only teaches her clients how to live the life they desire, how to evolve, And live free, but she also teaches those who aspire to become professional coaches exactly how to do so with passion and professionalism. Welcome, Tricia.

Tricia Parido: 1:55

Hello. Hello. Thank you so much for having me today.

Magic Barclay: 1:58

My pleasure. Now, what is an interventionist? I know listeners are probably wondering.

Tricia Parido: 2:04

Well, okay, so the listeners maybe are wondering why. I put a spin on it because, you know, an interventionist for somebody that works in the recovery industry would be somebody that, you know, sits at the table and waits for the addict to show up at home and whisk some away to, you know, they have this big family meeting and everybody reads them a letter and they take them away to treatment. That's not what I do. That's not what I mean by a life interventionist. Um, when, when I talk about being a life interventionist, it means that. I help intervene in people's lives that are stuck and really don't know how to to move in the direction that they would prefer. So that really just looks like. You know, sitting down looking at where they are, where they want to go and creating a very doable strategy to move them in the right direction. Now, it sounds a lot easier than it truly is because again, you know, you have, you know, different levels severity. but, I just truly believe that everybody needs to be on board and engaged and invested and have buy in and, be speaking the same language, as they embark on a journey of life recovery.

Magic Barclay: 3:23

Terrific. Now, I ask all of my guests the same three questions and everyone's answers are very different. So your first one is what can your expertise do to accelerate health, not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual health?

Tricia Parido: 3:40

Well, you know, to me, that's, you know, a very easy answer, um, or a very easy question, if you will, because all of the work that I do. is in the name of cultivating and conditioning the level of emotional intelligence that we didn't know we didn't have, but need in order to experience living the way that we desire. So, you know, it really means that, you know, we get to dive in and. And get connected with the self and truly learn how to articulate to ourselves inwardly or even outwardly what it is we want to see, hear, feel, and experience as we go through this thing called life.

Magic Barclay: 4:28

and this thing called life throws up a rather big stumbling block for many people, and that is wealth. So what are your top three tips to creating wealth, not just financial, but also personal and emotional wealth?

Tricia Parido: 4:44

Well, I think that the top three things that I teach people that help them gain the emotional wealth that really will foster their ability. To have, you know, professional wealth and so on and so on, right, are again, the emotional intelligence and self composure that they need, and in order to do that, everybody has to, um, be willing to or be mindful and willing to, to be effective and do what works. Right. So that, that would be the first tip is to, to get effective and do what works. and, and what that might look like for you would be, you know, gaining true tactics of assertiveness, which, which then, you know, you would have to understand, know, and, and be able to articulate how you handle yourself and know when to make adjustments. But also understanding how you hear and comprehend what's going on around you. Um, so getting effective and doing what works. Number two would be control your moments, right? Because we all have times when we need to face things. distress or stressful situations. And, and so we need to know. Um, that we have the power or the tools to effectively engage in that allow us to control our moments emotionally, cognitively, spiritually, verbally, and so on, right? And then the third thing would be to cultivate the ability to leave the pain behind and lead with a new lens.

Magic Barclay: 6:30

I love that last one, leading with a new lens. If we're looking at our lives moving forward through a lens of the past, it's not going to appear as we want it or as it can be.

Tricia Parido: 6:44

Correct. Correct. And this is a really big, you know, number three, right? Like this, this is a really big, critical, crucial shift for, for, for a lot of people because it actually allows you to reduce your vulnerability in all aspects of living. But in, in learning it, you gain the secrets that you need for yourself on how to regulate your emotions and, and you learn how to, to let go, you know, and, and describe what you're actually thinking or feeling. And we're able to, you know, pull out lessons that will serve us going forward and trash the rest. You know, so what, what really gets people stuck is carrying around that, that knapsack, if you will, of all of their yesterdays and they, and they carry it around and they lug it around. And depending upon how full it is, it's how heavy and weighed down they feel. And all the while their future tripping out there and the, you know, anxiety inducing uncertainty, right. And all the tomorrows. So we're dragging yesterdays and we're, we're seeking the tomorrows and we're not present, but we're slinging all of our yesterday experiences. Like that's where we get all of our evidence is all of our yesterdays, which is fine. If you know how to hold onto the right evidence and leave everything else behind. anyway, I could talk on that topic for hours.

Magic Barclay: 8:06

Okay, so our final standard question is around weight. Have you ever battled your weight and if so, how did you win the war, and what can you offer the listeners who may be in this situation, Also understanding that stress can be a major issue here.

Tricia Parido: 8:23

Hmm. This, this is a very near and dear to my heart question. Um, it was a, big part of my life. It's it spanned well over half of my life to date. and so the answer to that question is yes, I, I have had to manage my weight. and, I will, you know, tell you that figuring it out for me. Was probably one of the most sacred things that happened for me in allowing myself to Have the wealth of physical health emotional health and well being so to to stop being encrypted right like I was born a control freak and and so In that came a lot of tendencies for eating disorders Um, one of those that I battled early on was significant anorexia. Then I developed body dysmorphic disorder. And then I had, period of time where weight gain was an issue and, and then I had a lot of autoimmune disease and, and so I just had a lot of things going on and they were, they were causing me a lot of emotional stress. They caused a lot of relational stress for me. And, and they, you know, just really got in the way. Um, so when I figured out Um, and, and, you know, having body dysmorphic disorder, it isn't really easy, right? Like you have to, you have to come up with what's going to work for you. So, you know, I figured out one that nutrition for me, like I needed to change my relationship with food. Um, so I, to date I, I define food as my fuel, right? Like, it's just my fuel. I like to choose Premium fuel, not, I don't know, diesel, because I don't run on diesel, right? Like, I need to have that premium fuel. and in that premium fuel, there are a lot of items that, that do not serve me. They cause inflammation. and so I've had to remove those, but so I, I spent several years figuring out the exact foods that, that don't serve me and those that, that do and, and keep me, um, from being malnourished or, or overweight from empty calories. And then I had to change my relationship with fitness. Right. Where it wasn't, to where the obsession was taken away. Um, so that, you know, it's more about, That tune up, if you will. And if I'm using that same car analogy, right. Like it's, it's that thing that keeps me running smoothly. It's, but it, but it's not something that, you know, I don't have to visit the shop every day. and then my relationship with the mirror had to change. Right. which means that when I get up and I get dressed for the day, um, I do so without, you know, consulting the mirror, I get dressed with what feels good to me when I put it on my body. And then, you know, when I'm, when I'm putting on my makeup, you know, generally speaking, I don't like I, I watch my distance with the mirror. Right. So I changed my relationship with the mirror. So. So those three things really served me. so for the last, I'd say 10 years, I haven't had any significant weight fluctuations. I've given up, you know, everything that, that causes inflammation up to and including alcohol. and, I have removed all of the autoimmune diseases from being active. So they're all in remission. And I've done that through my relationship with food. and then my, My personal confidence or my personal connection with the self, with my physical body, with the vessel that I live within. my loving it is not reliant on a reflection in a mirror. so I hope that, I hope that that answered your question.

Magic Barclay: 12:03

It certainly did. I can really relate someone with body dysmorphic disorder myself, you know, the mirror has to be something that I consult. Once I've already made up my mind about things, it can't be something that tells me how to do things. And, you know, autoimmune and eating disorders, yes, they are a control freak's path often. It was, it was certainly mine. So thank you for being so open about that. Now we've covered a fair bit. I want to open the floor to you now, Tricia, tell us about Turning Leaves, tell us about what it is that you do and some things that you feel the listeners might need to hear.

Tricia Parido: 12:49

Turning Leaves was born out of a passion to help people transition back into the life they were previously incapable of managing. So in other words, that when people are coming home from, you know, some form of residential treatment, whether that be from eating disorders, chemical addictions, or mental health need, right? Like that, that transitional period back to life, because I, I found in, in all of the work that I've done, because I've worked at every level of treatment, I found that that transitional period, there was a huge gap in support, there was nobody really there to teach them the practical application of all of the psychological things that they talked about while they were in treatment. you have to know how to apply it when you get home. So that's what it was born for, or through that time period, that phase of my life, And it has evolved into, you know, really being a place to serve primarily women. I do work with men, but primarily women, who want to learn how to manage their emotions and build mental resilience so that they can handle their daily life stressors gracefully. and I serve my clients through four primary, evidence based practices. and I've taken all of the evidence based practice and converted it into a coaching model. And which is how I can teach everybody how to apply it in their life anyway. So we have live free, we have evolve, we have loving your physical body, and we have the composure method. Those are my four primary, so that, I can really identify. where that, person's need is. I do have other coaches that have very niche specific specialties, um, and they work under me, and serve their clientele as well, in that. but we're, primarily an online atmosphere. So all of our, sessions are done in the convenience of whatever, right? Cell phone, Zoom, you know, whatever it is. Um, and all of the lessons are prerecorded. They're secure platforms, all the things, right? Like we try to have everything so that everybody can be comfortable, but. Being an international practice, meaning I'm not bound by state lines or country borders, being an online platform, it really allows us to, to be of service to a lot more people.

Magic Barclay: 15:17

So someone might be dealing with ghosts of the past. They might be wanting to move forward and really see their future through a healthier lens, something that's not bound by Past indicators or past self evidence, what are some easy ways that they can start doing that?

Tricia Parido: 15:41

Look for your barriers and distractions would be number one, right? Because if we don't know what's, in our way or what's pulling us away, it's really hard to create a forward momentum. then create an opportunity for fulfillment. Right. Meaning you have to know what is that outcome. What do you want it to look like, feel like, be like, right? So that's, you've got to, you've got to be the creator of that opportunity for fulfillment. Then you want to explore how you experience your days. And in that, it's super specific, break it down. Like, how do I experience every environment? That might be. Um, a lot of different categories, right? Because at home you have your relationship with your kids and your spouse. And that's, you know, we tend to, as human beings, broad brush and attack everything together and lump it all together. So you want to explore how you experience your days and environments and your relationships. You want to break those down as specifically as you can. And then you can start working on the refocus and the strategy for going forward.

Magic Barclay: 16:52

Trisha, everyone's kind of moving forward in a world that seems to be faster, less personal, more detached. What are some ways that people can stay. Centered in their own self, but also community and I guess family.

Tricia Parido: 17:13

Well, I always say start in the now moment, right? We get, wrapped up in thinking, oh, you know, that person's at work right now, or, you know, we, we, we think we overthink everything, right? So we are, we're, we're too much in our logical, rational mind. And, and too far into our emotional states that, that we really aren't ever operating in an, a very intuitive wise mind where we have that, you know, that gut feeling that we know, you know, what we need, what we want, what, you know, what needs to happen. Um, if we're really in tune, so if we're super present and in the now moment, and we feel like we need connection, Then we can actually act upon it, right? Like, I'm sitting here, right here, right now in this moment, and I feel like I, I'm feeling detached. I'm feeling isolated. I'm feeling lonely. So instead of going into the woe is me, ruminating, wallowing, languishing, spiral, mental reels and loops. Instead of that, if you're in that now moment and instead of going into, presumptions. Predictions and whatever, right? Because, oh, they probably don't want to hear it or, oh, they're probably busy. Whatever it is, you want to just act on it, pick up the phone, call whoever it is, that's on your mind. And if you get a voicemail, you get a voicemail, get in your car, go, go wander around the beach and say hello to every single person you walk past. You know, you have to be in the now moment. If something is moving, you're like, ah, I just want to such a beautiful day, I want to get out. There's nobody to go do it with. Just go be around people. And smile at people, you know, like be live in the moment and quit relying on things outside of you. Again, those people, places, things to, to create the fulfillment for you. You don't need somebody else to enjoy your life.

Magic Barclay: 19:16

Beautifully said. Now, before we wrap up, we love freebies here. What can you offer the listeners, and where can they find it?

Tricia Parido: 19:27

Oh, wow. Um, you know, I, I like to keep useful tools available, and so I've, I've created, free five part series on life balance and, and you can find that, but I think the biggest freebie that I can give to people, right, is, is my life mantra. And that's something that, that you can have and you can hold and you can keep. And you can make it your own. So here's the deal. Ready? This is my life mantra. This is my life too. It gets to look, feel, be however I want it to. I get to choose. So because I eat, sleep, breathe that, I embody that, I embrace it, I own it, I also offer it to every other being that I come into contact with, and without judgment. Right? Like we're all unique individual beings. We're all living this thing called life and we all have the same rights. Um, that's not to say there's not bad people out there, but if we all approach, we all approach, you know, living, um, with a little bit of unconditional positive regard for one another. And we offer that there's a whole lot less road rage. There's a whole lot less judgment. There's a whole lot less. Inappropriate attitudes out in public, you know, like, because we really take into consideration that, you know, this is my life. It gets to look, feel, be how I want it to. But that I have to offer that to the next person. If I think that that is true for me.

Magic Barclay: 21:14

Beautiful. Thank you so much for offering that. Now people can find you on LinkedIn at Trisha Peridot. Facebook turning leaves recovery, 2015. You're also on Instagram at I am Trisha Parado. Thank you so much for joining us. I've really enjoyed our chat.

Tricia Parido: 21:37

Thank you so much.

Magic Barclay: 21:39

And listeners, I really do feel blessed to have your time as well, but for now, go forth and create your magical life.