At 39, I’m asking: Was it worth it? Join me and Carlotta Smith for lessons on resilience and finding home through life’s most uncertain seasons.
Welcome!
I’m Jeff. I’ve been training
peer support workers for five years.
Now I’m here to share what it taught me.
CONTACT ME!peer support workers for five years.
Now I’m here to share what it taught me.
For a long time, I thought winter was just something I had to survive.
But over the last few years, I started figuring out what actually helps me get through it—and even feel like myself again.
I wouldn’t say winter is my favourite now…
but I will say this is the closest I’ve come to defeating seasonal depression.
But over the last few years, I started figuring out what actually helps me get through it—and even feel like myself again.
I wouldn’t say winter is my favourite now…
but I will say this is the closest I’ve come to defeating seasonal depression.
What You'll Find Here:
Tools and Tips
I share things I’ve learned from the field like ways to check in with yourself, how to support others and yourself.
Interviews and Stories
I use lived experience to connect the dots between people, stories, and mental wellness.
Experiments in Living
Because sometimes the most helpful thing is
trying something new and seeing what sticks.
trying something new and seeing what sticks.
As I, A Peer - Podcast
As I, A Peer explores how people turn lived experience into care, creativity, and connection. Each episode shares real stories of healing and community
Follow Jeff as he moves through meeting the people who make care real one conversation at a time.
Episode 3: Lora Pesant - Anxiety, Laughter and Joy
In this episode of As I, A Peer, Jeff Turner sits down with Lora Pesant, a laughter yoga facilitator, wellness educator, and longtime advocate for proactive mental health care.
Laura shares her lived experience growing up around addiction, navigating anxiety, and witnessing a parent’s late-in-life bipolar diagnosis and how those experiences shaped her relationship with safety, identity, and joy.
Lora also breaks down what laughter yoga actually is (and what it isn’t), how it works in group settings, and why it’s being used in wellness spaces, conferences, and high-stress workplaces around the world.
Laura shares her lived experience growing up around addiction, navigating anxiety, and witnessing a parent’s late-in-life bipolar diagnosis and how those experiences shaped her relationship with safety, identity, and joy.
Lora also breaks down what laughter yoga actually is (and what it isn’t), how it works in group settings, and why it’s being used in wellness spaces, conferences, and high-stress workplaces around the world.
Tools, Tips & Stories:
Discover how to "Manual Override" your anxiety using the same 4-step protocol the Artemis II crew uses for high-stakes maneuvers.
Learn 10 simple procrastination tips to build momentum, reduce overwhelm, and take action even when you don’t feel motivated.
Contact Me!
jeff@thejeffturner.ca
Métis Owned & Operated.
We acknowledge that this land is part of the traditional, ancestral territory of the Niitsitapi of the Blackfoot Confederacy, made up of the Siksika, Piikani, Amskaapipiikani and Kainai First Nations.
This land is also important to the Îethka Nakoda Wîcastabi First Nations, comprising of the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations; and the Dene people of the Tsuut’ina First Nation.
This is also homeland to the historic Northwest Métis and to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government Nose Hill Métis District 5 and Elbow Métis District 6. We also acknowledge all urban Indigenous people who call Calgary their home.