Tabita Green is an author, speaker, blogger, and community organizer. In 2011, she left her six-digit corporate job to focus on family, health, and community building. After three years of research into mental health and resilience for her book, Her Lost Year, she believes humanity’s future health and happiness depends on the creation of resilient, sustainable communities. Tabita discovered blogs over ten years ago and has been blogging ever since. Her blog at tabitagreen.com inspires readers to take action for personal wellness, social justice, and a sustainable future. A native of Sweden, Tabita is an engaging speaker and offers presentations on topics ranging from mental health optimization to simple productivity. She has presented at the National Wellness Conference, offers workshops on time management and health, and is a guest lecturer at Luther College on several different subjects, including mindfulness in education. (She also happens to manageluther.edu.) At the Laugh-Fest she will share her unique and inspiring vision for optimizing mental health for all. Below is my interview with Tabita.
LAURA: Tabita, we are so excited to have you join us for the Laugh-Fest this year. Your book Her Lost Year was recently published. Can you tell us about what led you to write this and what you’ve learned in the process?
TABITA: Thanks Laura. I'm excited too! Wow, yes—big question. In 2010, when my daughter, Rebecka, was in seventh grade, she approached me and my husband about feelings of depression. She also lost a lot of weight that spring, which concerned us, because we knew she had friends who had been diagnosed with anorexia. So we took her to see her doctor and a therapist and before long, they suggested she "kick-start" the treatment process with Zoloft, an antidepressant. Zoloft led to Prozac, and by the end of the summer (before eight grade), Rebecka was hallucinating and feeling suicidal. This led to her first psychiatric hospitalization, where the attending psychiatrist added an antipsychotic medication to the mix. Long story short, she ended up being hospitalized eight times over the course of her eighth grade year and at times, we thought we had lost her.
Fortunately, a friend lent us the book Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker, which provided a different narrative about psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry. Armed with this knowledge, we asked Rebecka's psychiatrist to get her off all medication. Within weeks Rebecka's psychotic symptoms abated, as did the suicidal thoughts. We were left with an eating disorder from which Rebecka recovered fully thanks to appropriate care and lots of hard work by the whole family.
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| Tabita and her daughter, Rebecka |
The main reason I decided to write a book about our ordeal was because I learned so much during the process, and I wanted to share this with other parents and caretakers. Originally, my thesis was that medication should be a last resort for kids. But the more I read and wrote and thought about mental health, the more I realized that mental health is not just an individual issue—it's a social issue. (You might even say it's a social justice issue.) So the last part of my book is all about social change required to optimize mental health. And that's where I'm focusing my efforts now—finding ways to create resilient, sustainable communities. If we're able to do this, I believe health (physical, mental, and spiritual) will follow.
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| The cover of Tabita's book Her Lost Year |
LAURA: What really inspired me about Her Lost Year is how you imagined and clearly explained what a vibrant, healthy society would look like—one that fostered mental health and wellness for children and their families. Your lecture at the Laugh-Fest will paint that picture for us. Would you give us a preview of that?
TABITA: Absolutely! A society optimized for mental health would value nature, humans and the human experience above all—above profits and power. This is a fundamental paradigm shift. When our planet and all the creatures on it become more important than profit and power, we start to do things differently. We focus more resources on helping families be healthy through family-friendly policies such as paid family leave, flexible work, and child-centered learning. We restore nature rather than rape it. We raise children from a standpoint of cooperation rather than competition. We practice slow living. And we value time together: laughing, crying, being. While some of this can be promoted through policy work at the federal and regional level, much of it starts in homes, in schools, in places of worship, in communities.
LAURA: I am always inspired by the ways you seek wellness for yourself, your family and your community. Tell us about some of the practices you engage in to do this and how they’ve been helpful.
TABITA: I've been exercising regularly the last 15 years or so, primarily because I have a sedentary job. Moving our bodies is extremely important for mental health—maybe more so than physical health. I try to build in movement wherever I can throughout the day by walking or biking to work, to the grocery store, to church... I have also practiced yoga for a few years—this is a great mindfulness practice that I think can benefit everyone. Speaking of mindfulness, I try to notice my breath a few times every day. Formally, I practice 4-7-8 breathing twice a day, which helps calm the nervous system and helps me sleep soundly. I also spend time in nature as often as possible—it's good for the soul. Related to food, I try to stay away from overly processed "food" (even though it's oh so convenient). Food and mood go together. Also, by tuning in to my body through mindfulness work, I have noticed what foods make me feel bad, so I can avoid them. Finally, I try to observe a day of rest (as I'm typing these answers up on a Sunday morning—hahaha!). Taking a break from the digital world is key for me, since I work on the computer all day.
LAURA: What are your hopes for the Laugh-Fest?
Tabita will join our amazing group of presenters for the Laugh-Fest. We hope you'll be there, too! The Early Bird Special is still on so you can save money! Register and see the full schedule at: Laugh-Fest of the Midwest.
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