Episode Details

Trigger warning: This episode includes discussions of mental health and suicide ideation. Please take care of yourself and skip this episode if it feels triggering.

What happens when the workplace you once loved becomes the very thing that breaks you?

This week, I’m joined by Sophia Salmon, business mentor and founder of Wise Mind Consulting. Sophia helps women step into confidence, self-trust, and authentic visibility through an integrated, no-fluff approach that supports business growth without sacrificing lifestyle.

But before the thriving business and clients who adore her, there was a version of Sophia left shattered by a workplace that failed her.

Sophia openly shares her journey through burnout, psychiatric care, mental health discrimination, workplace exclusion, a traumatic leave experience, and the devastating realisation that her employer wasn’t going to let her return.

In this conversation, she takes us inside the reality of what it’s like to rebuild your identity after a workplace breaks your spirit, and how a 100km charity walk became the symbol of her mental and physical strength returning.

In this episode, we chat about:

• How years of perfectionism and high self-expectations led her to mask her internal struggles
• The moment COVID ended a job she once loved, and the loneliness and loss of identity that followed
• Navigating psychiatric inpatient and outpatient care, and what a Crisis Assessment Team is
• The emotional toll of workplace exclusion, dismissal, and finding out her employer was stopping her from returning
• How a long and exhausting legal battle reshaped her understanding of mental health at work
• What a 100km fundraising walk for Beyond Blue taught her about resilience and self-belief
• Rebuilding her confidence, voice, and purpose, and how that led her into business

This episode is a powerful listen for anyone who’s experienced burnout or exclusion in the workplace.

It’s a reminder that so many burnout stories start in environments that don’t support their people, and why backing yourself, rather than staying somewhere that doesn’t value you, matters so much.

Connect with Sophia:

Website: https://www.wisemindconsulting.com.au

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wisemind.consulting

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-salmon-abbott

Age Article: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/hawthorn-accused-of-mental-health-hypocrisy-20220814-p5b9nt.html 

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