Entrepreneurship After Trauma: Redefining Strength with Amy Friesen

In this heartfelt episode of Healthy Mind, Healthy Life, host Avik Chakraborty speaks with Amy Friesen—award-winning entrepreneur, author, and founder of Tea & Toast—about the emotional realities of caregiving, trauma, and entrepreneurship. Amy shares how her personal journey through loss and family dysfunction led to creating two impactful organizations dedicated to guiding caregivers and families through the complex world of elder care.

Amy reveals how building a business was both an act of survival and healing, and how her work now helps others navigate caregiving with boundaries, resilience, and community. From launching an entire industry category to supporting caregivers facing trauma, Amy's story offers powerful lessons for anyone balancing emotional weight with leadership.

About the Guest:

Amy Friesen is the founder of Tea and Toast and Elder Care Planners of Canada, both pioneering services helping Canadian families navigate eldercare. With over two decades in the senior living industry, Amy’s mission is to bring clarity, structure, and compassion to an emotionally taxing process. She’s also the author of a book that empowers caregivers with practical tools and insight to make informed, confident decisions.

Key Takeaways:

• Caregiving often reactivates old trauma, especially in estranged or difficult family relationships.

• Entrepreneurship can be a vehicle for healing—but it requires resilience when recognition is absent.

• Amy created a new category in eldercare planning from scratch, confronting legal and systemic barriers with determination.

• “You are not alone” is more than a slogan—it’s a strategy for mental wellness through connection and community.

• Leadership in caregiving isn't about doing more, but about setting boundaries and doing what matters.

Connect with Amy Friesen:

Visit https://teaandtoast.ca for resources, services, and to learn more about Amy’s work with Tea and Toast and the Elder Care Planners of Canada.

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