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Get Out of a Rut With Christine Sauer
38 Plays2 years ago
Christine Sauer is a neuroplasticist turned coach who helps women struggling with depression and other mental health issues thrive.
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Transcript
Meeting at LIFT Conference
00:00:04
Speaker
Thank you for listening to Unapologetically Canadian. Please consider supporting our podcast for $2.99 a month. Join select listeners and get additional episodes every month. And so today, well, we're here because we're talking about creative entrepreneurship and I am so excited because we met
00:00:22
Speaker
through the LIFT conference. We've just finished. When this podcast goes live, it will have been about six weeks ago. And so we were both in the Canadian section. And so then I was like, oh, I'd love to interview you for my podcast. Can you tell people what you do?
Facing Depression after Moving to Canada
00:00:41
Speaker
You're in the health sector.
00:00:43
Speaker
Well, I'm a German trained but retired MD and ND. So I was a physician in Atropath in Germany. And then I came to Canada and I had a very bad fall. I was very depressed, ended up in the mental hospital for a while, tried to kill myself. So there's a story there.
00:01:01
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and I tell it on my website and then I struggled for about 10 years. In the meantime I met my now husband which is a wonderful person and he went with me to thick and thin for now 23 years close on.
00:01:16
Speaker
And at some point I decided that that was not a life for me to be stay depressed and victim of my circumstances and not being able to work as a doctor. So I said, how can I fulfill my passion and do what I really want to do in life, which always was helping people. So I got creative and looked what's there and I decided to become a coach.
Starting and Struggling with a Coaching Business
00:01:44
Speaker
First I took a health coaching program. It was the closest to what I learned and I decided, yeah, okay, just put it out there and people will come. Well, which is a big mistake as all entrepreneurs know, because once you put it out there and you think you can help everybody, yes, you can help everybody, but that doesn't work because nobody will feel addressed. So in the end, I ended up being bankrupt.
00:02:14
Speaker
and had to reinvent myself so I know the ups and downs and I actually am grateful for the Canadian system that allows us to declare bankruptcy. In Germany it is impossible you end up with your debts until
00:02:32
Speaker
So they only allow you an amount of income to remain if you have large debts. It's about on the social assistance level. So that is hard for many people there. And I'm grateful that the Canadian system allows personal bankruptcy that helps people get out of debt and start over.
Business Reinvention for Mental Health Support
00:02:53
Speaker
So that's what I did. And I reinvented myself, my business, and I'm actually just started with my own business partner, a great coach in training and a very strategic gentleman. And as Doc Christine, we help people
00:03:15
Speaker
start living the best life they can and start living their best life, help people out of the darkness, out of their depression and anxiety and mental health rot and be kind of the lighthouse
00:03:33
Speaker
that they see through the fog and they know there is a way out and it helps them in their search. And we help them by giving them a little bit of a direction and guiding them along the way, lifting them up, helping them out of the rut and the wagon. When they fall off the bandwagon, they start back again. And that is so rewarding to see people change.
00:03:58
Speaker
Wow. And so how long have you been doing that then? And where are you located? I'm located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but of course all I do is online. Nowadays, COVID, everything is going online. I love technology. I'm lucky that way.
Client Responsibility in Coaching
00:04:15
Speaker
I always was a coach even when I was a doctor because my tenant always was, the patient is at the center, the client is at the center. It's their life, their responsibility, it's their decision, what happens with them. Yes, they need proper information, they need guidance sometimes, they need somebody to help them.
00:04:39
Speaker
But it's always the client that's at the center. It's not, you can delegate your responsibility in life to be your own person, to the best doctor, to the best whatever. It just doesn't, it's not good. It doesn't work. Now, I know when you're working with such a deep, um,
00:05:00
Speaker
issues with people.
Client Success Story
00:05:02
Speaker
It can be a little bit difficult talking about some of the people who help because you can't be specific. But can you give us an idea of maybe one of the success stories of some of the people that you work with and what happened in a general sense?
00:05:22
Speaker
Yes and a typical person that I help comes to me and they often are couch surfing or they can't get out of bed. They may be still working but they are generally unhappy, anxious and I'm not sure what they want to do and sometimes they really lost themselves.
00:05:43
Speaker
And I'm thinking of a gentleman. I love coaching men. They are very receptive. And there's very few mental health services that specifically address men. And what I do first is I do a thorough assessment. So that's what I did with that client. And I found out he needed certain supplements to be healthy. And then I recommend a strategy. I do a health life strategy around the five dimensions of life.
00:06:13
Speaker
which are physical health, they have to work on their nutrition, physical fitness and other aspects of the body health. I review medications, illnesses and have clues what's missing and what may need to be added or substituted or further investigated.
00:06:36
Speaker
So we did a few additional tests and changed some supplementation and he started to feel more energy and that allowed him to address more issues that we addressed in the psychological, emotional part, spiritual part and then the social and relationship and financial parts at all. So at all the points
00:07:00
Speaker
It is always, we are there. You make the decision. And he decided after the test and the supplements were there,
00:07:11
Speaker
to do a lot of research. And many clients, they go on Google, sample everything, take courses, read books, and that is so helpful. And they say, okay, I want to eat so and so. And then they do it, and after two or three days, they follow the bandwagon. We all do that. And then next coaching session, how are you doing with it? Well, kind of stopped it. Okay, that's okay. Don't beat yourself up over it. Tomorrow's another day.
00:07:42
Speaker
And the more often you try something that you know you need to do, the more often you do it for longer and the more your chances of eventually actually changing those habits. Because nobody changes the habits just by making the decision, today I'm going on a diet or even preferably January 1st, so I can eat everything I want before,
00:08:11
Speaker
I gained 20 pounds and then in January first I'm going on a diet and I'm losing 20 pounds. That's what most of us do. That's what I did. I was doing the 15 pounds myself. So that's why I'm using that example. What works is actually slowly changing your diet more and more and eventually you end up with a lifestyle that supports a healthy weight.
00:08:36
Speaker
And those are the little chain and it takes time. When somebody tells you, oh, in 30 days you have a rippled body, you'll be healthy, you'll be happy, it's a lie. And people know that more and more. So we just try to go with them and be their guiding post, kind of the lighthouse that they look for in the fog.
00:09:02
Speaker
So do you have courses? Do you have a coaching session that they pay for by a period of time? How do you offer your services?
00:09:15
Speaker
That's a very good question.
Coaching Programs Offered
00:09:16
Speaker
Thank you. We offer, of course, individual sessions for those that wanted. We offer a whole program that includes a course and hybrid session, a course that means include group coaching session and individual session, because everybody needs at least for individual session to be successful. And then group coaching session is enough for some.
00:09:40
Speaker
And they can always ask for an additional individual session. But for those that want to be very private, we offer a complete individual program. That includes also course materials and additional materials. Of course, the group coaching program has the advantage. Of course, it's cheaper. It's more. And some people aren't really a financial problem. And they sometimes invest in things that don't give them what they need.
00:10:10
Speaker
And so can you talk a little bit about success that you're really proud of? I'm really proud of those clients or those people generally, whether they're clients or not, that make the decision for change and then go on the search to find the person that can work with them or those people that can work with them and guide them along the way.
00:10:37
Speaker
to recovery from whatever else. I'm so proud that my greatest success is seeing somebody that was stuck in the victim route make the decision that they want to live a better life and then actually go for it.
00:10:56
Speaker
When you look five years later, 10 years later at the same person and see somebody that was unable to work on their mother's couch, being successful in whatever career they choose, hey, that is reward. Yeah. Now that can be really, and can
Entrepreneurial Mistakes and Lessons Learned
00:11:13
Speaker
you talk a little bit about, um, uh, what has happened like over time as you've built your business? Cause you've been doing this now for how long?
00:11:22
Speaker
I've been building my business now for five years and I made so many mistakes. I wasn't good as an entrepreneur. In Germany, it was easy. As a doctor, you hang your sign out there and people flock. And in two years, I had the biggest dermatology, allodecology and family practice in the area.
00:11:46
Speaker
And I had a wait list. Okay. I thought in Canada works the same. I'm an entrepreneur. Oops. Boom. Not true. So I had to change. My marketing message had to change. I had to learn new things. I'm still learning new things and I'm enjoying every moment. And the biggest messages I learned is number one, you can't be everything to everybody.
00:12:15
Speaker
people that don't want to change will never change. And it doesn't make sense to lecture them on what they should do because they don't want to change. So okay. And number three, you never learn out. It's always good to explore new things and live
00:12:39
Speaker
your truth be who you really are in every interaction with people don't try to put up oh i'm the successful entrepreneur facade those who are real will look through it and those who work with you after a while will know it's all not true yeah exactly no so i'm a struggling entrepreneur yes i know what i'm doing i'm good at what i'm doing but
00:13:07
Speaker
The financial success is still waiting for me. I know it is. It's fine. I'm happy with the place I am in. And I'm just loving my people that I coach to everything I do. That's so lovely. Can you talk a little bit about how your life is because of what you do as work?
00:13:34
Speaker
That's an interesting question because my husband sometimes is not very happy with me sitting in the office which is in the home for about five to seven hours a day and doing a lot on the computer and sometimes he doesn't understand what I'm doing. He's a lovely person but he doesn't understand business.
00:13:54
Speaker
And sometimes he says, you're playing on the computer again. But he starts to realize that I truly help people. And he is fully supportive. So what changed? Because in five years, I'm sure your business has changed significantly. What do you think made that easier on the two of you?
00:14:18
Speaker
What made it easier is number one that I changed. And after the bankruptcy, our marriage nearly failed, which is not unusual. The bankruptcy was how long ago? That was two and a half years ago. Wow. Okay. So it's still kind of fresh too. It's still kind of fresh, but we worked through it and we came out stronger than before.
00:14:45
Speaker
And I'm still in the process of building financial trust with him, but I know the business right now supports itself, which is great. Right.
00:14:57
Speaker
So it's no longer just a hobby, which is nice, but I don't see it so much a business as a mission to help others. In the end, it doesn't matter to me if I make actually money with what I'm doing. I want to support the systems I need, like I need Zoom calls, I need some business software and a computer to work, but I do not want to make more money than what I need.
00:15:27
Speaker
I want to support our modest lifestyle, which we live in a two bedroom mobile home. It's all we need. We don't need a fancy house on the beach. Sorry, we can make a vacation on the beach if that's what we want to do. I want to bring the message of hope to as many people as I can. And I want to make money with the business to employ others
00:15:56
Speaker
Bring my services for free to those who can't afford it yet because they haven't been through their own process of recovery and help those that really need it and want it. And that is my purpose and mission and I care for people. I love people and when I live that comfortable but simple life that I'm
Living Simply and Helping Others
00:16:25
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living now, that's all I want.
00:16:27
Speaker
And so you said that you have a partner in your business and so how have you changed your operations and how are you operating now in terms of getting clients and working forward? That's really an interesting question about the business itself. What will be changing and is changing is that he needs to support his lifestyle and his mother too.
00:16:53
Speaker
So, and he wants to have an additional education. And I said to him, I have no issue when our business is growing to support all those goals. Whether the profit split is 50-50 or not, I don't care because what I want is you to have what you need.
00:17:18
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I don't have what I need and our clients have even more than what they need. And all of us to live
00:17:31
Speaker
reasonably comfortable, modest, happy life. That's all we need. I mean, we don't need fancy stuff to be happy. We lived in a 3,000 square foot home with chickens, which was lovely. We had chickens and our own eggs, but it was a lot of work. We are getting older. We don't want to have all that work. We don't need a big house. And even if I had millions, I don't think I would be
00:17:59
Speaker
having a big property at the beach with a fancy house, 20 employees, well, maybe employees to help them out. But I don't need that kind of lifestyle.
00:18:14
Speaker
And that's important for people to realize and think they are attached to their things. Oh, I can't let go of that. We downsized from the big house to this one in four weeks. In four weeks? Wow. We let go of five sheds and about 2,000 square feet of stuff. Wow.
00:18:35
Speaker
That was a big struggle, eh? It wasn't a struggle. It was a relief. We got rid of the stuff that was weighing us down. Stuff is weighing you down. You don't realize it. How much stuff can weigh you down?
00:18:53
Speaker
And I constantly review my wardrobe now, not so much because we don't have the space, but what didn't I wear that in the last year? Will I ever wear that again, Gauss? Somebody can use it, if it could.
00:19:10
Speaker
Yeah. No, it's interesting because I'm a gardener, so I tend to collect things for it to be used. I love to garden. We have a garden still here. We have a few things. But every now and then you have to do that spring cleaning and just clear things out. It's true. Yeah.
Decluttering for Mental Clarity
00:19:28
Speaker
And I started doing webinars, and one of my friends and we were clients for each other. She does decluttering your space and your life.
00:19:38
Speaker
Ah, okay. Well, that's a good combination. She'll do a webinar with me in June, I think. Ah, okay. June is July. And she is a very interesting person. She coaches, especially ADH people, which many of us are because we deorganized, disorganized. Right. And so she's a great organizer. So I'm looking forward to that. And she helped me organize my workspace and
00:20:06
Speaker
I do that periodically and throw out all the old notes that I guarantee it will not read again. Yeah, it's, wow, that's really interesting. So you talked about, I mean, bankruptcy, I guess, is your, do you consider it your biggest failure or do you have something else that you consider as a failure or was that? No, I wouldn't say the bankruptcy itself.
00:20:37
Speaker
My biggest failure in my life was probably to lie to my husband about having so much debt that I made until I was forced to go bankrupt. Wow. And that was worse than the bankruptcy itself. I'm sure. So everybody that does that and thinks, oh yeah, next month I'll have the money to pay it all off. I don't need to tell them.
00:21:06
Speaker
Not a good idea. Right. Even if they know it, the partner will be angry mad at them or go away. Eventually it will come out and it will be worse and it would have been had to told them earlier. Right.
Honesty and Partnership in Marriage
00:21:20
Speaker
Right. Wow. That's a big lesson. Yeah. Partnerships. I mean, a marriage is a partnership. So if you're going to be a marriage common law partnership, same thing. Yeah.
00:21:33
Speaker
between men, women, same thing. The issues are all the same between people, even between families, sisters, brothers, similar issues. Wow. So what did you learn from all of that that you've been able to take over into your business? I took over a big lesson in relationships. And I, of course, researched that. I'm a scientific researcher by
00:22:03
Speaker
love and education and I love science.
00:22:08
Speaker
If it makes sense, because I also love Judge Judy, she always said, if it doesn't make sense, it's not true. That applies to science also. There's a lot out of there that's not true because scientists are people and scientists are influenced by what their bosses or whoever pays them expect of them to do and the results to be.
00:22:38
Speaker
And I know that from personal experience in science and doing research. Oh, that's interesting. I had to falsify results because of pressure that if I wouldn't do it, I would lose my job. Wow. That's tough. That was very tough. And I still think it wasn't right for me to do it.
00:23:07
Speaker
But I know that was an interesting experience because I know there's more of it out there. Oh, I'm sure you're not the only person that has succumbed to it's pretty hard to do the right thing when you're paid to do the wrong thing. That's exactly it. The right thing to do is to walk out and say I'm not doing it. Yeah. But if you have a young family, what do you do? Yeah.
00:23:34
Speaker
It's tough. Rock in a hard place, for sure. And I understand people that do it, and I respect people that later say, don't believe that science. I falsified it myself. If it's significant, it's important to come out with it. Yeah, but then again, how do you get people to come out with it when they are encouraged not to? As long as they are still dependent on the payee,
00:24:02
Speaker
or in that community where their reputation is everything, they can't. Wow. Well, yeah, that's a challenge. That's a big challenge. And if I was still in Germany working as a physician, I would never say that. Wow. Now, when did you leave Germany? 1997.
00:24:26
Speaker
1997. You came to Canada. Were you in Halifax right from the beginning? I was. My ex actually and I decided to come to Halifax because it was close to Germany. It has a nice climate in Canada and we bought a property down in Digby. It was a beautiful piece of property with woods and the lake in it and
00:24:49
Speaker
then we decided to immigrate and then he decided when we had the immigration paper he decided to commit suicide so I was left with the two boys they were teenagers till then at immigration papers so I talked to the boys and said hey let's go to Canada so that's what we did
Immigration Challenges and Adaptation
00:25:08
Speaker
And it was the best decision in my life because I love Canada. I'm a Canadian by now. Then it was very hard because I knew nobody. And that's why I ended up in the hospital and tried to kill myself because I was so isolated, so shy. People that know me now can't believe that I was a very shy and introverted person. I didn't even want to pick up the phone because I was so afraid to bother anybody.
00:25:35
Speaker
Wow. And what about the two boys? Are they still in Halifax too? Oh, no, no. One went back to Germany and he has now six kids, four from his first wife and two of my grandchildren. And the other boy is in England, very successful businessman. And as my first grandchild there, well, not my first, but his first
00:25:59
Speaker
Oh, exciting. Wow, that's so, congratulations. I'm a three-time grandmother. I'm sure you are too a grandmother. I am not actually. My kids don't have, my kids are older, but they don't, they're 21 and 26, but they don't have... They're still young. 39 and 40. Ah, okay. I'm a little older, although my hair is dark, it will turn white soon, I think. I don't know, my mother's
00:26:24
Speaker
91 and the hair is still dark, but she now started to color it. And 91, isn't that actual? No, she started, I think, in her 60s, so I'm shortly starting. No, I don't think my hair is not gray enough. I want to try, let it just gray out and bear it with dignity. Because I think it looks kind of funny when an older person suddenly has dark hair, doesn't look right.
00:26:53
Speaker
Wow, I think people can do what they want, but I like to go all gray. I'm actually quite happy with the natural gray highlights from God.
00:27:08
Speaker
Some people are born with white hair by nature, they are albinos and they just have white hair and it's fine and my son has red hair and he loses them all and he's okay with it. That leads to the last question which is, it links to the Canadian and because you were just saying that you are a Canadian now, can you tell me what that means to you?
00:27:31
Speaker
Yeah, I decided to be a Canadian after being in Canada for about seven or eight years.
Pride in Canadian Multiculturalism
00:27:38
Speaker
And I decided to become a Canadian because I got immersed in the Canadian culture. I'm married to a Canadian. And I love the multicultural experiment that Canada is.
00:27:55
Speaker
I call it experiment because there's clashes, there's political correctness that is sometimes a little overdone. It is still a good society to live in. People are very kind usually, but as always, you look for the kind people, you find the kind people, you be kind, you meet kind people, you be nasty, you will be met with nasty people.
00:28:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's the old story of the ferryman that takes people across the river. And one guy comes and says, well, how are the people on the other side of the river? And the ferryman asks him, well, how were the people at where you came from? And he says, oh, they were nasty and mean and lying to each other.
00:28:49
Speaker
Well, he said, you'll find that on the other side of the river, they're very much the same. And then there was another person that came and asked the same question, ferryman, how are the people on the other way of the river? And he asked them the same question. What do you think? How are the people where you came from? And he said, oh, they are lovely, kind, loving, caring for each other. He smiled and said, well, you will find on the other side of the river, they're very much the same.
00:29:20
Speaker
Isn't that a great world of the story? That is a lovely story. And was there anything that I didn't ask you that you were hoping to talk about? No, I'm very happy.
Invitation for Coaching Inquiries
00:29:34
Speaker
I'm always happy to talk to people and I'm very happy to meet people. And yes, it's a podcast and I want to encourage people to go to my website, docchristine.com, D-O-C-C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N-E.com.
00:29:50
Speaker
And I offer a free coffee chat where you can meet me in my kitchen or a cup of coffee, tea or drink of your choice. And so it's an informal chat and we'll talk about how you are doing. I'm not so much talking about myself like I did today. And then you can decide whether I'm maybe the person to work with you or not. That's completely fine.
00:30:15
Speaker
Okay, and I will put that link in our show notes too. Thank you very much, Christine. It was great. Thank you so much, Tracy. It was so much fun to meet you. Same here. My name is Tracy Ariel and I am an apologetically Canadian.