Dr. Joti Samra
Principal & Founder: MyHomesteadHealth MyWorkplaceHealth PH&S Clinic "You can solve all the world’s problems in a garden." ~ Geoff Lawton "Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple." ~ Bill Mollison |
Dr. Joti Samra is national thought leader on issues relating to psychological health, wellness and resilience. She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology, involving 11 years of formal education in mental health. She also has over 25 years of clinical, consulting and coaching expertise working with a range of clients (1:1 and corporate) through her two companies: MyWorkplaceHealth, a full-suite national workplace consulting firm, and the Psychological Health & Safety (PH&S) Clinic, a virtual counselling and resilience/leadership coaching practice.
Dr. Joti also has unique interest and expertise in media consulting, including: Podcast Host, Tardigrade Talks (a podcast on psychological health, wellness & resilience, sharing inspiring stories of resilient living); Casting Consultant, Farming for Love (the Canadian franchise of a reality dating show for farmers); and, Executive Producer, Back Home Again (an animated short film inspired by the Fort McMurray wildfire - one of the largest wildfire evacuations in Canadian history; the film has an all-star voice cast and aims to build mental health awareness and spark conversations on community resilience). Why MyHomesteadHealth? Dr. Joti's work through MyHomesteadHealth reflects an evolution of her professional journey — shaped by her personal real-world experience, as much as by formal expertise. In 2014, despite objectively being at the peak of physical health and habits (training for and successfully placing in the Top 5 in her first bodybuilding fitness competition), she developed significant diet-related health issues. This led her to do a deep dive into understanding how industrialized, compromised, and fragile the modern food system had become, and led her to make make massive personal changes in how and what she ate, with a strong emphasis on a balanced, organic, whole-foods plant-based diet. What began as curiosity turned into hands-on learning — by 2017 she became interested in learning about permaculture, food forests and sustainable food systems. By 2018 she was learning how to grow her own food - sowing seeds, planting fruit and nut trees, and learning about natural, organic and integrated systems of land stewardship. The events of 2020 significantly accelerated this journey. During this time, Dr. Joti expanded into more intensive gardening and urban homesteading — expanding garden beds; adding grow tunnels/greenhouses; growing a wider range of crops; learning to ferment, can and dehydrate food; making herbal preparations and medicinals; and intentionally supporting pollinators and biodiversity. Through this process, she became deeply aware of the unique psychological, relational, and emotional challenges that can accompany homesteading, land stewardship, and food production — challenges that are often overlooked or minimized. Despite the central role that farmers, growers, and land stewards play in community and societal well-being, Dr. Joti observed that mental health and well-being resources for these populations are strikingly limited, fragmented, or poorly tailored to the realities of this way of life. MyHomesteadHealth was created to address this gap. It brings together Dr. Joti’s expertise in workplace/organizational dynamics, psychological health & safety, and systems-based thinking with the lived realities of growing, farming, and land-based living. The focus is preventative, practical, and grounded — supporting emotional health, developing sustainable rhythms of work and rest, nurturing relationships, and cultivating resilience in the context of life on the land. At MyHomesteadHealth, we recognize that well-being is impacted by:
Looking Ahead Today, Dr. Joti continues to lead national initiatives in psychological health & safety through MyWorkplaceHealth and provides clinical assessment and treatment through the PH&S Clinic, while expanding innovative, preventative approaches to well-being through MyHomesteadHealth — supporting individuals, families, farmers, and land stewards in building resilience in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. |
