Mental Health Champions: Why & How Nurse & Yoga Instructor, Lesline Pittman Is Helping To Champion Mental Wellness
An Interview With Michelle Tennant Nicholson
Warm lemon water- Every morning I start my day with warm lemon water. Studies show that starting your day with warm lemon water helps with restarting your digestion for the day ahead.
As a part of our series about Mental Health Champions helping to promote mental wellness, I had the pleasure to interview Lesline Pittman.
As a Registered Nurse, Certified Yoga Instructor, and Certified Life Coach, Lesline has a decade of experience caring for people in her wellness business, leslinedoeswellness. Lesline understands that a commitment to self is integral to managing your mental health. Lesline uses 3 modalities to create permanent change: yoga, breath work, and mindset coaching to show busy moms how to prioritize their mental health.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I grew up in a Jamaican household with my mom, dad, and younger sister. My parents instilled in my sister and I at a young age to be hard-working and “keep your head down” type of people. This type of mentality definitely helped me become the incredibly motivated and successful person I am today. However, this mentality also hindered me because growing up with my “head down” I was also told not to ask for help. Having immigrant parents I saw both my mom and dad do a lot on their own. We didn’t have a large extended family to rely on so everything, and I mean everything fell on my immediate family. I didn’t learn about the importance of asking for help or how necessary a community was until I became a mom myself and had my first mental health scare.
You are currently leading an initiative that is helping to promote mental wellness. Can you tell us a bit more specifically about what you are trying to address?
I am working on addressing mental wellness being a priority for busy moms. As a Registered Nurse I learned about conditions such as Postpartum Depression in nursing school, but never thought it would happen to me. I’m a nurse and a mom. I should have my life together, right?
WRONG!
After having my second child during the pandemic I began to have suicidal thoughts because I could not take being a mom with 2 little ones under the age of 2. I also felt like I was not doing a good job as a mom. But it wasn’t the suicidal thoughts that led me to seek professional help; it was the next thought I had that made me realize I needed a therapist. The thought of wanting to harm my 3-month-old daughter. I remember having an out-of-body experience after this thought. I looked at myself and began throwing so much judgment at myself: “You can’t have these thoughts. That’s your daughter. Your DAUGHTER!” I was terrified of myself and embarrassed to share these thoughts with anyone that knew me, so I decided to seek out a therapist.
From my own mental health journey, I have felt led to share my story online with other moms that feel alone with their thoughts like I did. What is so interesting about my story, and a part of my initiative is that I plan on reaching those moms who are on the cusp of Postpartum Depression, you don’t check all of the boxes to fully qualify or need medication, BUT YOU STILL NEED HELP. I am one of those people. I remember going to my first few therapy sessions after my daughter and being told by my therapist that I do not have Postpartum Depression but she reassured me that she would still help me. “What a relief!” I remember thinking to myself.
I believe there are many moms who don’t think what they’re going through is “that bad” so they don’t think they qualify or are even worthy to seek help. Those are the moms I want to reach.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
My passion has turned into my purpose after being in a very low place 3 months postpartum. It was the thought of wanting to harm my 3-month-old daughter that restarted my mental health journey. I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was March 2020, the month the entire world shut down. My husband and I were both working from home and I just finished my maternity leave. We decided to split the child care in shifts. Daycares were closed at this time, so this meant when my husband worked upstairs I was caring for the kids and vice versa. It was my shift of caring for the kids and my daughter was colicky (gas that newborns develop in their bellies) at the time and everything I did to console her was not working. I remember feeling so frustrated while I was rocking her and the thought flashed across my mind to harm her. I immediately put her down, ran upstairs, and told my husband that I needed to take a walk. I did not disclose to him the thoughts I just had for fear of being judged or being committed to the hospital. I took the walk and intuitively came back to my yoga practice through deep belly breathing. After feeling somewhat grounded I came back inside and found 5 therapists. Only one called me back and I was seen within the week. I am forever grateful for my therapist and still see her to this day.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
The final trigger, that’s a great question. My moment would be the first time I shared my story publicly and people messaged me telling me how similar their story was to mine. At first, I downplayed these comments thinking that meant that my story wasn’t needed, but realized that meant quite the opposite. My mental health journey needs to be shared and I have been on a mission to share my story with more moms so that I can hopefully save their lives.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
The most interesting story that has happened to me, has actually happened to me a couple of times. I am a yoga teacher and I teach at retreats and pop-up locations. I recently taught at a gym grand opening with over 20 people. At the end of the yoga class, I like to look at each person and make sure they are ok. I locked eyes with one of the students who was crying. After the class, I went up to her privately and asked how she was doing. She said this was her first yoga class and I unlocked something within her that she didn’t even know she needed.
This is why I do what I do. To ultimately heal people through movement, breathwork, and coaching.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
Oh my gosh, do you have time? I have a list. HA! I’ve had incredible mentors that have made me see what can be truly possible for my life. One of my main mentors is Hina Khan. She is my peak performance coach who encouraged me to become a public speaker. I would not be where I am today without her. She held the belief in me that I too could transform women’s lives through the use of my story. I am forever grateful to her and her incredible team.
According to Mental Health America’s report, over 44 million Americans have a mental health condition. Yet there’s still a stigma about mental illness. Can you share a few reasons you think this is so?
This statistic is sad but I am glad that more and more people are sharing their stories. There is still a stigma because of how mainstream media used to showcase mental health. Luckily, there is definitely a shift taking place specifically in the Black community. I am a Black woman in case you are not aware already and I can definitely say it is nice to see more and more of us coming out and sharing our vulnerable stories. It is not easy, trust, I know, but it is necessary. It was scary for me to share my story because I was afraid people would judge me by thinking that I’m not a capable mother. But in fact, I am a very capable mother because I made the decision to seek help.
Judgment is such a scary feeling to overcome especially for me, a Black woman, who grew up in church thinking that God is always judging me no matter what I did. This was a hard thing to unlearn but through the use of therapy and life coaching, I have been able to unlearn the fear of being judged and am now unleashing my story to the world. Don’t get me wrong I still am fearful at times of judgment but I look within when that happens and sit in stillness to allow my intuition to speak with me and give me comfort.
There was one day recently when the stigma of mental illness almost inhibited me from sharing my story on World Mental Health Day. But I am so glad that I listened to my intuition and shared my mental health story on Instagram that day because I know I saved someone’s life. You don’t know how scared I was days leading up to that Instagram post. My palms were sweaty, I had a lump in my throat for days. But I kept feeling intuitively that I HAD to share it. There was someone else on the receiving end that needed to hear my story. The more I share on social media I am realizing it is NOT about me. It is about YOU. The busy mom who feels so alone. I am here for you.
In your experience, what should a) individuals b) society, and c) the government do to better support people suffering from mental illness?
The first thing that comes to my mind is Mental Health Paid Time Off. So we have PTO in general but I feel that HR departments need to rebrand these PTO days and allocate additional days as Mental Health days. A lot of working moms are afraid to take a Mental Health day because they are afraid they may lose their job. If companies had these days embedded in the benefits packages moms would be more apt to take those days for themselves.
What are your 5 strategies you use to promote your own well-being and mental wellness? Can you please give a story or example for each?
- Movement- take 15–30 minutes a day and move your body. My favorite way to move my body is walking and yoga.
- Breathwork- take 5 minutes a day and just breathe. I teach breath work to my clients during our yoga coaching sessions to help them open up their minds so they can tap into their full potential.
- Therapy- this should be number 1! Therapy, therapy, THERAPY. Having someone who does not know who you are has been a breath of fresh air for me. And everyone, I repeat everyone needs therapy. Do not wait to go to therapy. We have all been through enough. If you are reading this, you went through a global pandemic and encountered a ton of stress from it. You need a therapist to decompress and get all of what you went through out of your head.
- Life Coaching- Over the past 3 years, I have invested in 2 life coaches and I am so glad I did. The first life coach I had really helped me get out of my own way and stop playing the victim. My second life coach, Hina Khan, helped me achieve goals I did not even think were possible for me. Since working with Hina, I became inspired to become certified as a life coach in her coaching program; Khan Method Coaching. Since then I have been coaching other busy moms and helping them create goals so they can be their best selves.
- Warm lemon water- Every morning I start my day with warm lemon water. Studies show that starting your day with warm lemon water helps with restarting your digestion for the day ahead.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a mental health champion?
The first resource I have to share is a new one and that would be 988. This is the mental health crisis line that is similar to 911 but it is solely for mental health conditions. If you have a mental health scare like I did with my daughter, call 988. Please please share this with everyone you know, reader.
Two of my favorite books would have to be The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie.
If you could tell other people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
Do it. You are needed. Your story really is necessary. Do it.
How can our readers follow you online?
Yesss, love this question. I live on Instagram- HAHA! Follow me on Instagram @leslinepittman.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Inspired by the father of PR, Edward Bernays (who was also Sigmund Freud’s nephew), Michelle Tennant Nicholson researches marketing, mental injury, and what it takes for optimal human development. An award-winning writer and publicist, she’s seen PR transition from typewriters to Twitter. Michelle co-founded WasabiPublicity.com.
