Forget juice cleanses. Forget crystal-infused water bottles. Join leading physician Dr Pooja Lakshmin for an evidence-based guide to achieving real and lasting wellbeing.

From yoga workshops to meditation apps, ‘self-care’ has become a staple in women’s lives. Women are being sold breezy fixes in pastel-coloured packages, then made to feel at fault when they don’t work.

Leading psychiatrist Dr Pooja Lakshmin knows first-hand how toxic the wellness industry can be. In search of radical answers to her own personal experience of burnout and depression, she bought into the cult of wellness and faux “self-care” and found an industry rigged against women’s real interests.

Now she joins us with an alternative framework for achieving true wellbeing. In this conversation, she will  provide methods for us to truly care for ourselves. Her solutions involve internal and long-lasting work like setting boundaries, moving past guilt and practicing self-compassion.

Using case studies, clinical research and actionable strategies, Dr Pooja is a leading a personal and social revolution that provides effective solutions to our society’s mental health crisis.

She says: ‘Real Self-Care is not a noun, it’s a verb—an ongoing internal process that guides us toward profound emotional wellness and doesn’t come about via short cuts or life hacks. Instead, it requires self-knowledge, self-compassion, and ultimately, the willingness to make difficult decisions that allow us to be in the driver’s seat of our own lives.’

Praise for Pooja Lakshmin’s Real-Self Care:

“A bracingly honest, galvanizing and necessarily provocative look at what ‘self-care’ looks at – through a political and feminist lens. Expect to fold down every other page.” – Pandora Sykes

“In Real Self-Care, Pooja explores what it really means to take care of ourselves and provides a revolutionary self-care framework that is honest, compassionate, and completely actionable.” – Dr Becky Kennedy, New York Times bestselling author of Good Inside

“This is a practical and helpful guide for anyone who has done all the things the listicles have outlined and is still feeling overrun and worn out. Pooja provides a real path forward paved with compassion and encouragement.” – Dr Joy Harden Bradford, Founder of Therapy for Black Girls