The Golden Thread Studio

....Cancer turned my world upside down

It still feels pretty surreal, especially since I left the beauty industry to focus on wellness. I mean, ...the irony of it all.🙄

One thing’s for certain, cancer has had me uplevel my self-care game in ways I never imagined✨

Throughout the years, balancing a demanding corporate career and caring for a special needs family led me to prioritize others over myself, resulting in burnout and highlighting the critical importance of self-care. I prioritized everyone else over myself, running on empty until burnout forced me to reconsider everything.

Learning to care for myself still feels clunky, sometimes even met with resistance—but when a life-threatening illness is nipping at your heels, you start figuring it out pretty quick!

Today is World Cancer Day—🌎🌏🌍 a global movement to raise awareness, encourage prevention, and drive action against the cancer epidemic.

Cancer is more than a diagnosis. It’s deeply personal, just like self-care. Behind every case is a human story—one of grief, pain, healing, resilience, and love. It impacts every part of life: physical, emotional, mental, social, and even spiritual.

The truth is, 1 in 5 people will develop cancer in their lifetime. But here’s the hopeful part: between 30-50% of cancers can be prevented through lifestyle choices and evidence-based prevention strategies—a powerful form of self-care. I even throw in some “woo” from the alternative world for good measure😉

Every experience with cancer is unique, but one thing is clear: we need a world where we see the person before the patient. Where healthcare centers around people and communities, not just treatments.

Today I’m flipping my pic upside down in awareness of —but this conversation doesn’t end here. Cancer has changed how I see self-care, and I’d love for you to be part of this journey with me. Let’s rethink what it means to care for ourselves, to support each other, and to build a world where well-being isn’t an afterthought.

Time to celebrate!🎉🍾🥂

I’m not going to lie, when I left the beauty industry for a career in ✨🍄✨psychedelics, it wasn’t as clean of a pivot as I had hoped.

With an ecosystem that is still dimensionalizing, legalization that is a work-in-progress, a global pandemic, and some of my own limiting beliefs, you could say I’ve earned a degree in resilience!

I know in my bones this work heals people.♥️

To witness folks’ stories of transformation and the impact it has on their lives, families, and communities is deeply moving. The kind of moving that keeps you going when others think you’re crazy…. It’s sad to say the stigma of psychedelics remains alive and well (it was a bit surprising how many people “righteously” let me know!)😜

Which makes me thrilled to be able to share the amazing work that’s being done in this field…..because like it or not, we have a mental health crisis that continues to implode.

And I’ll be sharing a lot more because I’ve recently taken the role as Program Advisor at , where we offer education, training, clinics, and services in psychedelic therapy. You’ll also find us conducting Health Canada-approved clinical trials on psychedelic medicines to continue advancing research and understanding.

Mental health and wellness is a long game, so I’ll still be leading breathwork journeys at because….. psychedelics aren’t for everyone, but the breath IS! 😉

If you have questions or are interested in learning more about the world of psychedelics hit me up – it would be a total honor to support you and they’re quite literally my favorite thing to talk about!

Mush Love ♥️🍄♥️
Rissa

P.S. – a giant THANK YOU to everyone who cheered me on and supported this dream, I love you for that and will never forget it.💋

Last night I had the privilege of holding space for some amazing humans while they ✨🍄❤️journeyed during last night’s full moon ✨🌕✨lunar eclipse ceremony facilitated by

I’m present to the beauty of the human experience – the messy raw bits to the joyful beauty that we all can encounter, and what’s possible when we honor ALL of it.

Assisting within the ceremony, I found myself noticing the action of “mothering” and how we all just want to be seen, nurtured, protected, and held in compassion…regardless of our age.❤️

It takes courage to be willing to receive the lessons given on a journey and it was a total gift to witness
XO

If you’re curious about ceremony and what could be possible for you, check out the offerings of

I sat with her this spring and made a pinterest board after – it was so magickal I never want to forget it! 🥰

Day #3&4 ✨🍄✨

✨Key Take Aways: Increased flexibility with life circumstances and general interest in NOT getting jammed in about things not going as planned.

The last few days have been full with birthdays, work, company…life. (and in very good ways too I might add) AND on this planet, we have a dedicated amount of time each day to fulfill on things which has caused unusually late bedtimes/early mornings for me. I’m exhausted and yet totally energized. I could make myself “wrong” about not doing my self care the way I know how to, but instead of self shaming, I’m noticing there’s a softer voice that’s encouraging me along.

✨Day #3 was a microdosing day and brought the usual suspects of triggers and old ways of being. I noticed I was easier to let go of ruminating thoughts and stay in the present moment. To also identify specific thought patterns as negative/ unhelpful and reroute my focus to something else…like my intention or values and even just NOT thinking and enjoying music. Basically not falling into a downward spiral of thoughts that highjack my body into a state of stress was a real win. 😆

✨Magic and Miracles: We had a lovely time celebrating our son’s birthday. 💙🎂💙
This year our family has been challenged with health issues and we’ve had to dial back how we typically approach life. It’s been hard not celebrating long weekends, summers, holidays (basically insert anything that one would associate as fun or something to look forward to here) the way we’d like to.
But this time, we really got to enjoy both each other and the day……..together. And that was a total gift
🎁❤️