Dr. Mandy Wintink chats with us this week about Neurodiversity, including its links to gender and queerness. Alena and Lauren get into their own experiences with Autism and ADHD as well. If you have questions about your own brain set up, it may be helpful to reach out to a professional to further help you better understand and celebrate yourself. A…

We’re back with Dev and we are chit chatting about our fave subject, reality TV. This week we talk Vanderpump Villa, The Valley, Housewives, The Batchelor, and Traitors. We get into it just enough to confuse you if you aren’t watching and not enough detail if you are. Enjoy! What are you watching!? Tell us @dear.queer.podcast _ _ _ SEND US YOUR QUE…

Alena takes on her first Solo Episode! And this one is oh so good! Alena gives some of her best advice for those questioning while in, or coming out of, a straight marriage such as how to "know," how to handle guilt, how to be in that difficult limbo stage and so much more. Find us on instagram @dear.queer.podcast a _ _ _ SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS! Mu…

It's time to turn those Red Flags into Green Flags. Your host Alena Papayanis and Producer Lauren get into their green Flags when it comes to dating! Find us on instagram @dear.queer.podcast and share some of yours! _ _ _ SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS! Music By: Sean Patrick Brennan @ayeayeayemusic Thank YOU!…

You know you have them! Today we are talking all about Red Flags in Dating, Dear Queer, edition! Are they friends with their ex, do they tip well? We get into it all on this weeks episode. Come back next week for our Dating Green Flags episode. _ _ _ SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS! Music By: Sean Patrick Brennan @ayeayeayemusic Thank YOU!…

On this episode we get to listener questions and are back with resident guest expert Dillion Katrycz. This is part two of a two part series on attachment styles! Please bear with us this week as we had some technical difficulties with our guest audio. _ _ _ SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS! Music By: Sean Patrick Brennan @ayeayeayemusic Thank YOU!…

The time has come!! We are getting into attachment styles with resident guest expert Dillion Katrycz. This is part one of a two part series! Please bear with us this week as we had some technical difficulties with our guest audio. _ _ _ SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS! Music By: Sean Patrick Brennan @ayeayeayemusic Thank YOU!…

Welcome to Dear Queer, reality TV edition! With the most special of guest hosts Dev & Hailey! Watch us struggle to remember everyone's names as we talk about trying to find the Queerness in every reality tv show, we see you Kyle Richards! We are talking Love is Blind the OG Queer dating season that was Are you the One shout out to Kai! Also Mal @ig…

We are back to even the scales with our fave Guest host Nick Rovers. Today we are talking about Reciprocity in relationships; romantic, friends, family even our pets! _ _ _ A BIG THANK YOU to Calan Brekon and Sam Valentine who helped us get started. Your calls and guidance have been invaluable! Please go check out our friends and biggest supporters…

We are off this week but we have plenty of great episodes in the works for all our Dear Queers! SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS! You can also send any questions or comments to our DM's @dear.queer.podcast If you have liked what you have been hearing do us a solid and give us a review as well! _ _ _ THANKS for LISTENING _ _ _ Music By: Sean Patrick Brennan @…

Valentine's day was yesterday but instead of talking about love (again) we're tackling breakups today with guest host Nick Rovers! _ _ _ A BIG THANK YOU to Calan Brekon and Sam VALENTINE who helped us get started. Your calls and guidance have been invaluable! Please go check out our friends and biggest supporters Calan Brekon from The Business Gay …

Today on the podcast we are talking about friendship with our dear friend and guest host Nick Rovers! To see a photo of Nick and Lauren from their University days - Check out our Instagram @dear.queer.podcast _ _ _ Read Alena's Chatelaine article - What It’s Like to Come Out As Queer In Your Late 30s _ _ _ A BIG THANK YOU to Calan Brekon and Sam Va…

This week on Dear Queer, we explore what it's like to be single, queer & Dating with your Host Alena Papayanis and Producer Lauren Hogarth. Find us on Instagram @dear.queer.podcast _ _ _ If you have been enjoying this podcast please share it with a friend and be sure to subscribe. It means a ton especially as we are new here. If you have already th…

Today on Dear Queer, Alena and Lauren talk about some lessons they've learned in Love. Find us on Instagram @dear.queer.podcast _ _ _ A BIG THANK YOU to Calan Brekon and Sam Valentine who helped us get started. Your calls and guidance have been invaluable! Please go check out our friends and biggest supporters Calan Brekon from The Business Gay Pod…

Today on Dear Queer, host Alena Papayanis and Producer Lauren talk about loneliness and the Queer Community. Find us on Instagram @dear.queer.podcast _ _ _ A BIG THANK YOU to Calan Brekon and Sam Valentine who helped us get started. Your calls and guidance have been invaluable! Please go check out our friends and biggest supporters Calan Brekon fro…

Welcome to our episode on People Pleasing with guest expert Dillon Katryz!By Alena Papayanis & Lauren Hogarth

On this weeks Episode of Dear Queer we are talking about Boundaries. Find us on Instagram @dear.queer.podcast _ _ _ A BIG THANK YOU to Calan Brekon and Sam Valentine who helped us get started. Your calls and guidance have been invaluable! Please go check out our friends and biggest supporters Calan Brekon from The Business Gay Podcast CalanBrekon.c…

Dear Queer is OUT! If you like this podcast please consider subscribing and sharing us with a friend! Find us on Instagram @dear.queer.podcast _ _ _ A BIG THANK YOU to Calan Brekon and Sam Valentine who helped us get started. Your calls and guidance have been invaluable! Please go check out our friends and biggest supporters Calan Brekon from The B…

By Alena Papayanis & Lauren Hogarth

In this educational monologue Mandy talks about what is actually going on with the dopamine hits everyone talks about these days and then ends with some practical ways to control our behaviour for better mental health and wellbeing through harnessing the power of the reward system. See also: Berridge KC, Kringelbach ML. Pleasure systems in the brai…

By Sarah and Mandy

Reflecting on what part of this experience we want to take forward...By Mike Lovas and Mandy Wintink

By Nathan Radke, Alena Papayanis, and Mandy Wintink

It’s December. Christmas season is well among us. It’s a crazy time of year for many people. Not me. But for many others. Here in this rant I talk about my process of degifting my holidays, the terribleness of commercialized Christmas, the egocentrism of Christmas, the stress and money issues around Christmas, and where is religion in all of this? …

Me… ranting about gender, gender issues, gender reveal parties, gendered clothing, gender segregation, gender neutral, gender expansion, gendered opportunities, gendered washrooms… It didn’t start out as a rant. It was going to be an introduction to two other conversations about gender I’ve had specifically around gender-expansive parenting. But 17…

Me ranting about accessibility issues and the university system. No, I’m not actually lacking compassion for people’s needs. What I’m annoyed with is why we aren’t individualizing education more. I have lots of issues with the university system and you can read about some of them in the MicroDegree Manifesto too.…

EPISODE 2: Today, I share parts of my conversation with Lindsay about what compelled into this world. I love how she starts with it’s not like they say “hey wanna join this cult and we’re gonna have this sex group?”. The recruiting process is very deliberate and calculated.By Lindsay and Mandy

I am talking with my very dear friend, Lindsay. About 8 years ago, Lindsay got involved in the now famous cult, NXIVM, lead by Keith Raniere. In June of this year (2019) Keith was convicted of federal crimes including sex trafficking, conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor. His sentencing is at the end of October, 2019. I have been talki…

Alia and I speak for the first time during this conversation. We were introduced through email by a mutual friend, Paul, who we both know from CSI (Centre for Social Innovation). Paul connected us because Alia is interested in co-living and because my partner and I bought a house in Toronto with our friends and are in a co-living situation. We talk…

If you want to sit in on a class presentation on the research related to bisexuality please listen to this podcast! Vanessa is a MicroMasters student (part of the Centre for Applied Neuroscience MicroDegree in Psychological Neuroscience) supervised by me, Mandy Wintink. This week’s seminar class was on Sex and Gender and Vanessa’s topic was “Bisexu…

I reflect on two examples of people asking for money, one good, one not-so good.By Confidence in Business for Women (in particular)

Dawn has spoken before about her sever mental health issues (e.g., Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder). She works with a psychiatrist, is on medication, and is on permanent disability and unable to work. Today, she shares with an acute stress reaction she recently had and aims to get some perspectiv…

Truth be told, Mandyland is not my main gig. I actually run a company on the side. ;) The Centre for Applied Neuroscience is where I do most of my work as a life coach, life coach trainer, and a neuroscience workshop leader in organizations. I founded the company in 2010 and now have 7-8 people working for me part-time. During this team meeting, we…

Just a little recap of my experience with season two and forecasting what to expect for season 3. In case it interests you, look into the MicroDegree mentioned in this episode: http://www.knowyourbrain.ca/microdegreeBy Mandy Wintink

A year ago Mike was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, a cancer of the kidneys. He had surgery 6 months later. His experience was, on paper, great because everything went medically well. But his patient experience made him think very deeply about how to improve the cancer patient experience. Mike is the Design Director at Healthcare Human Factors…

Vanessa, who recently came out as Polyamorous, is questioning whether identifying a sexual orientation is enough to really capture all the nuances of romantic relationships. So we discuss… and that obviously brings up a discussion about gay versus bisexual and gender and labels in general. Resources: Living Apart Together: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/…

Pets: We love them dearly, oftentimes more than the humans in our life. When they leave us it is one of the hardest things to experience. It’s been 2 days since we said goodbye to our amazing dog Jett. It hurts like hell. I miss her dearly. I will love her forever. I want her to come back.By Mandy Wintink

Sarah just got news that one of her tumours (a liver tumour) shrunk! Yay! It appears to be from the radiation she had back in March, which is welcomed news after being a bit confused as to what the initial report meant. She shares this with us today in context with the past 5 days of the perpetual roller coaster she is on. We end with a little life…

Tackling the science of [heterosexual] love is an interesting endeavour indeed. Lauren starts us off with the idea of three phases of love (lust, attraction, and attachment), the hormones and neurotransmitters associated with some of these phases, differences between men and women* and an evolutionary perspective on love. We then spend a good deal …

My friend and colleague, Vanessa, recently came out as polyamorous. She’s been living this philosophy for a long time but I was not privy to it, mostly because she had been keeping her professional life separate from her polyamorous life. But she’s been provoked (by our Cosmic Consultant, Cylla — see Cosmic Consultation episode) to let these two wo…

The morning sounds of Costa Rica is such a great example of the diversity of their ecosystem. It makes me laugh thinking back to when I posted a Birds Chirping Meditation from a park in Toronto. This recording was done while I did a morning yoga practice in the open yoga studio. Now, I do my practice to it while back in Toronto, keeping my eyes clo…

In a (school) year when marijuana became legal, how could we resist the temptation to discuss the neuroscience side of this popular drug. With this change in legislation here in Canada, it granted us the ability to have an open conversation about it, including some of our own personal experiences along with research related to two psychoactive ingr…

Sarah provides a spring update on where she's at with cancer. It’s been a year since her metastatic cancer diagnosis. More scans, treatment protocols, surgeries, emotions, and science.By Sarah

Join me for a sitting meditation. Find your comfortable sitting position, close your eyes, focus on your breath, listen to me talk about impermanence and expectations in the context of anxiety. Then stay for silence together.By Mandy Wintink

In this week’s episode, we explore one of the most crucial aspects of the human experience; memory. We start off with a phenomenon Lauren finds particularly interesting: Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, in which individuals can recall specific, extremely detailed aspects of their daily lives spanning years and even decades in the past. From…

Summary: Humans experience and observe some of the most extravagant wonders and marvelous sights the world has to offer using the sense many of us sometimes take for granted ; Vision! How do eyes work? What role does the brain play in all of it ? Can we trust what we see ? Find out in this week’s episode of the neuroscience podcast. Quite literally…

For the second week of our Conversations with Neuroscience Students series, we discuss Nutrition and the Brain, which is a nice extension from what we talked about last week regarding Exercise and the Brain. There were many places we could have gone with this. What we did get into included the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (referred to …

This is a guided meditation practice with a focus on breath awareness. It's one of several basic introductory meditations to help build concentration skills with a focus on the breath.By Mandy Wintink

In this episode, we dive into the world of health and wellness and how exercise affects the brain. We explore concepts such as CBR (cerebral blood flow) and BDNF (brain derived neurotropic factor) to see how these are affected by exercise. We also talk about how exercise can affect different demographics and what significance it holds for illnesses…

I’m going to invite people into the process of my next project related to human intelligence and the need to rethink the way we see intelligence. In this first episode about it, I talk about Multiple Intelligence according to Howard Gardner and also about VIA Character Strengths. At the end, I invite people to take my in-progress screening survey o…