We Tell You Why Dr. Monica Vermani’s Uplifting Book “A Deeper Wellness” Is What Your Soul Needs

Hina P. Ansari: You have a thriving practice as a Clinical Psychologist specializing in treating trauma, stress, and mood & anxiety disorders, the founder of Start Living Corporate Wellness, noted speaker, and of course a regular contributor to www.anokhilife.com, so what motivated you to write this book A Deeper Wellness: Conquering Stress, Mood, Anxiety and Traumas?

Dr. Monica Vermani: As a clinical psychologist, I am aware of three things: ONE, that we all struggle at times; TWO, that therapy not only relieves symptoms and helps us when we are struggling, it can also be powerfully life-enhancing; and THREE, that for many people, due to economic, circumstantial (situational) or time constraints, one-on-one therapy is not an option.

My goal — and this has been a goal for a long time — was to write a book that could genuinely help people who are struggling, with the same tools, information, and insights that help my patients. This desire to help people who are facing barriers to therapy was the inspiration for A Deeper Wellness.

HPA: Tell me about the basic outline of the book. Is this a tool kit? 

MV: A Deeper Wellness is both a ‘wellness’ book and ‘wellness’ workbook. It guides users — and since this is a book that people work with and use, I prefer to call its audience ‘users’ rather than ‘readers; — through a healing process consisting of 18 lessons and self-reflective exercises that challenge them to reflect on their lives and apply what they learn to their own healing and life. After all, the first step to treatment is awareness. A Deeper Wellness provides psychoeducation, life lessons, and tools to implement for a better quality of life and wellness.

HPA: How did you manage to come to the specific areas that you felt needed to be addressed in your book?

MV: I have taken my 25+ years of experience, and broken it down into core themes and struggles people come to me with. I create chapters — or life lessons — to work on for their healing and betterment. Themes apply to everyone’s life and betterment, across all age groups.

HPA: When it comes to mental health and the idea of working towards the betterment of mental health, do you feel that we as a South Asian community, have come a long way in terms of being open about it?

MV: Yes, I did a talk for CAMH – Center for Addiction and Mental Health for a South Asian Diwali event and was proud to see people asking questions and openly sharing struggles. As a culture, we are learning to speak up about suffering, symptoms and go beyond the family unit to resources/professionals for advice, support, and help.

HPA: So, what are we lacking? 

MV: Openly speaking up amongst our culture and community about mental health issues that impact us all, across all genders, socio-economic, and age brackets.

HPA: What do we still need to do as a community when it comes to the overall social acceptance of the mental health dialogue?

MV: In our community as in every community, the golden rule is this: the first step to treatment is awareness. Awareness is key to everything. We need to build an awareness of how symptoms manifest in our lives — how they can become worse and lead to clinical disorders.

HPA: What was your writing process? Early morning or late at night or anywhere in between?

MV: I have a full practice of patients … amongst my work, I was guided to help those that cannot obtain help or have access to therapy due to finances or access of resources or time constraints. The greater good intention became louder as the times shifted with more challenges. I entered this field to help provide a greater good and it was time to contribute in the way I could to help people beyond my practice or hospital work. I wrote pieces day and night, weekdays and weekends … and on vacations too.

And, of course, as with any process or project, it always takes a lot more time and effort than we could imagine, starting out. For me, I took my moments where ever and whenever I found them! And my concept of the book shifted and changed as I worked. For example, I had originally envisioned this book as two books: one offering psychoeducation, and the other a workbook. But in the end, I merged the two into a single book!

HPA: How long did it take for you to write this book?

MV: On and off, 6 years … life happens and so I would start and stop this passion project to manage the obstacles in my life that needed care and attention (work changes, personal struggles, parental health concerns, etc.), I was guided internally to continue to keep going back to it and here we are now. It is done and out for people to work with. Of course, when I started out I thought it would take a few months to write since I knew what I wanted to write. The actual writing process was, of course, quite a bit longer! As an academic, I needed to break down concepts to make the information simple, applicable to many and easy to work with to facilitate change in ones life.

HPA: In addition to this book, you also have A Deeper Wellness program that global audiences can subscribe to. Tell me more about that? 

MV: Yes, as a companion series to the book, I created a series of online videos ‘life lessons.’ These lessons follow the same path and structure as the book with guided resourceful worksheets as well. This program was designed to appeal to people who prefer to engage and work online, and with video learning tools. Both offer the same psychoeducation and exercises.

HPA: Were there any challenges/obstacles that you had to overcome while writing this book? 

MV: I started with creating the online platform script and then realized that the book needed to be created as they go well together and allow more people access. Some will want a workbook, some will like the online video life lessons visual format or both. I have packaged my lessons in various forms as we are all unique and have different ways we learn and absorb information. I wanted to help as many people as I could with a deeper wellness.

I want to mention one particularly interesting challenge that I did not anticipate: naming my book! I lost track of how many titles I came up with over the years. I was looking for a title that embodied both the promise and the challenge of the book. The title of this book, A Deeper Wellness is just that: a challenge to go deeper to grow and to heal, and a promise of our ability to heal and grow, with the right tools and steps!

Of course, the most obvious challenge for me — and it is one I am sure anyone can relate to — is that there are only so many hours in a day! Time is a precious and finite resource. At times, while I wanted to press on, and wished I could spend more time on the book, I simply did not have the time.

HPA: Is this book geared to a specific age group? Or can teens/young adults also benefit from this book? 

MV: I deliberately wrote this book in a clear and accessible style. I deliberately avoided over-burdening the book with too much jargon. I wanted to develop a friendly, engaging, and efficient way of delivering a lot of information. I wanted everyone — from teens and young adults to the elderly, all genders and orientations, and races — to benefit from this book and online platform.

I have heard it said that a book that is for everyone is a book that is for no one — but I say that rules are made to be broken and that this book — A Deeper Wellness — is the exception to this rule! After all, we all have problems. Problems are a part of life. And we all benefit from knowing how to understand and navigate through the challenges that come up in our lives. We all can benefit from practical tools that show us how to go deeper into our healing and growth.

HPA: What challenges did you have to overcome when writing this book?

MV: Again — time! I am blessed with success as a clinical psychologist in my field of work and this makes me quite busy with a full patient workload. I needed to establish a tone and style, a format, and a structure. I wanted to organize and simplify — and that was a creative challenge. But the biggest challenge was by far time!

HP: What do you feel that the readers would get out of this book? 

MV: Readers — who I like to think of as workers — will learn psychoeducation, life lessons, practical life skills. They will have the tools and honesty to look at their life, understand how problems manifest, how to deal with what is holding them back, and how to move forward to become a higher, better, version of themselves.

HPA You have a very engaging website presence at www.drmonicavermani.com, where you have different ways you connect with your audience. Tell me more about your site www.drmonicavermani.com and what you offer? 

MV: I offer individual, couples, and family psychological services (assessment and therapy). Corporate wellness services – wellness talks, retreats, workshops, and seminars as well as crisis intervention and workplace wellness support. Online Life lessons self-help platform, The book – A Deeper Wellness.

HPA: Is there anything else you would like to add for our audience? 

MV: I’m also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and podcast stations like Spotify … please follow, like, and share.