Penny Dillon is a professional speaker/presenter, Mental Health First Aid trainer, counsellor and clinical nutritionist. She runs Mental Health First Aid training and delivers wellbeing presentations on physical & mental health, women’s health, sleep, resilience and overall wellbeing. As a counsellor, Penny supports clients through stress, anxiety, anger management, parenting challenges and mental wellness. As a clinical nutritionist, she is passionate about using food and lifestyle to support mental and physical wellness. During her spare time, Penny volunteers at Lifeline, rock climbs and paddleboards. Penny makes her home in Sydney, Australia with her foodie husband, voraciously hungry teenage boys and beloved pooch.
Have you ever felt like a fish out of water in your career? That was me most of the time. I spent most of my time wanting to understand how people felt, rather than wanting to do my job. So, I decided to make finding out about how people felt, my career.
Fear held me back from pursuing my passion for over a decade. Fear of failure. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of not being good enough. So when a redundancy came along….I figured it was now or never. I was done with work controlling my life, and decided it was time that I (and my lifestyle) controlled my work.
It’s OK to mistakes. Whilst it’s human nature to dwell on them, I’ve learned to pick myself up, figure out what I did wrong, and know I’ll probably never make that mistake again. Plus, I’m better off spending an hour marketing my awesomeness, than wallowing in the odd, stupid mistake!
After being a clinical nutritionist for nearly a decade, I found many clients had not only physical health issues, but also mental health issues. I wanted to support them emotionally, not just physically. When I evaluated the market, I realized that the two areas I could differentiate myself (food counselling and nutritional psychiatry) were poorly represented.
Follow your dreams, or you’ll spend the rest of your life working for someone who did.
I’d share the advice I was given: say ‘yes’ to everything and fake it ‘til you make it (within reason!). This pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I realised I always managed to deliver. Also, there’s sooooo many free government resources for small businesses in Australia. Use them!
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