Watch them in Action
Sonia Funk
Speaker Expertise
Stress Management/Wellness
Sonia Funk is a Corporate Wellness Strategist & Speaker, and Nutritional Therapist, with international experience in the wellness industry: New York, Ottawa, London, The Middle East and Winnipeg. Sonia has travelled the world as both student and teacher. Her superpowers include outrageous common sense and a willingness to ask the hard questions, which allow for easier answers. Sonia’s questions cut through all the misinformation, fads and cliches around wellness and mental health. She gives her audience the courage to find a better question that can help them understand the real reasons they are struggling. With this awareness and the tools she provides, real change for wellbeing becomes possible.
When Sonia left her career as an award-winning singer/songwriter, with a mission to help people, she moved into her career as a Nutritional Therapist. Soon she became a regular guest on radio talk shows and podcasts. Her unique collaborative healthcare events in her community, and her partnership with the local Co-op Grocery stores, have seen her in the media regularly. Over the years she naturally evolved into a corporate speaker, keynoting the City of Morden’s Mental Health Week in 2019 and speaking on brain health and nutritional psychiatry at Manitoba Safety Service’s conference in early 2020.
Sonia’s genius lies in her insightful and strategic telling of the human story behind the issue at hand. Sonia is a heart-centred and funny professional that always brings the big picture to the table. Effortlessly flooding the room with the feeling of empathy and non-judgement, she invites a perception shift in the participants. To her, this is the fundamental first step to lift the apathy and fear that keeps people stuck. Sonia’s presentations are psychologically crafted in a way that allows her to effectively communicate life-changing information and awareness. Her experience as an effective coach and therapist translates into her ability to relay useful tools and tips, that are relevant to everyone. Sonia is one of those speakers, trainers and consultants that is truly willing to jump right into the collective struggle and help people sort it out.
Presentation Description & Topics
The Biology of Safety
A New Way to Assess Risk
In “Accidents of Adaptation,” Sonia takes research and insights from the “Father of Stress” himself, Hans Selye, into the context of safety. Hans Selye is most known for his description of “General Adaptation Syndrome” This syndrome speaks to the physical impact of stress on the body, the breakdown of specific body systems and how that breakdown leads to illness.
By the end of this presentation, the audience will have a deep understanding of
- how daily stress and lifestyle choices impact our body and brain function
- how that function alters our neurotransmitters & hormones
- how those imbalanced chemicals in the body have a direct impact on safety.
Sonia walks through an easy to understand explanation of how a chronic stress response (which 2020 activated), a taxed nervous system (everyone at this point), poorly regulated blood sugar (sugar and coffee to cope), fluctuating blood pressure (neurotransmitters produced by stress), can set a person up for poor decisions and accidents. To perfect the story of this biological brain-fog storm, Sonia then touches on how past trauma, stuck in the brain, and an upset digestive system, send mixed messages to the brain, making it even more dangerous.
Educating employees on how this acts out in their daily lives could potentially save as many lives as a hardhat. In addition, educating leaders on biological red flags to watch for, will help them assess a whole new dimension of risk. Your people are sick and tired of being sick and tired. When you give them the right information, in an empathetic and humorous way, they will finally hear it.
“In a day and age when your employees are going to be working for you longer than you ever meant for them to, and with more health conditions than we have ever seen before, this kind of intervention is also the prevention you are looking for.” – Sonia
It’s not your fault
Mental Health Keynote or Workshop
We are all surrounded by triggers, instigators and compounders of stress, anxiety and depression in our daily lives. They are everywhere. They are in the news, on our dinner plates, in our morning mugs, in our homes, at school, on the road, at work, in our email. Some of the most powerful ones shine out to us from our phones and are hidden within our own digestive tract and immune system. They lurk behind hormonal imbalances in our bodies. They hide between dysfunctional relationships. They can be camouflaged by “positive thinking” that is based on avoidance – but they can also be magnified by “negative thinking” that is not constructive.
Due to our personal histories, our genes and our environment, some of us are more susceptible to the heavy load that all of these factors place on our minds and our bodies carry every day. The factors Sonia sheds light on in this keynote are stress, food, our microbiome, social media & phones and relationships. In true Sonia style,
she does it in a way that leaves you with the most incredible relief: That it’s not your fault, and that you can actually do something about it.
Hear what others have to say
Sonia has a unique knowledge which she is able to bring to people’s suffering in a way that gives them choice – Paul Penner, M.A. Counselling, CCS, PACCP Executive Director Pembina Counselling Centre
Sonia’s passion for health and wellness is truly inspiring. At Decor we’ve had the privilege of working with Sonia for a few different events. She has led some smaller workshops with specific departments, giving us tools to help reduce stress in the work environment and helping us understand our interactions with coworkers. We were also fortunate to have her as a guest speaker at our Disrupt Conference with dealers and designers from across the US and Canada. The sessions focused on how stress and anxiety impact all areas of our health and how to deal with it in a productive way. Sonia is an accomplished speaker, confidently sharing her knowledge and expertise gained working around the world. We would highly recommend her to any company looking for effective employee wellness strategies and targeted wellness presentations and events. – Decor Cabinets