Mental Health Awareness Month: Here is a list of my favorite people & what they have to offer!
- Barbara Lally
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
I have personally met the people listed below and I truly believe the work they are doing deserves to be highlighted today, and every day. If you're looking for support with your body-focused repetitive behavior, you're in the right place!
Meet Aneela Idnani
Hi, I'm Aneela Idnani of HabitAware and BFRB Changemakers. I am a mental health advocate, entrepreneur, and co-founder of HabitAware. After overcoming my struggles with body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), I co-invented the Keen2 smart bracelet, a TIME Magazine Best Invention backed by NIH research. Through innovation, storytelling, and advocacy, I empower others to break free from shame and build self-awareness.
I am also a Certified Peer Support Specialist and a TEDx Speaker, using my voice to drive change in the mental health space. My lived experience fuels my mission to create tools and communities that foster healing.
I founded BFRB Changemakers Non-Profit towards this mission. I believe that when we lead with love, we create space for growth and transformation. By turning pain into purpose, I am helping others find self-acceptance and true peace.
Aneela offers:
HabitAware Keen2 smart bracelet & behavior change system
HabitAware Online Community: BFRB Change Collective
CE Trainings for Professionals
Support groups for adults, teens, and kids
Learn more by visiting:
Reach out:
Follow Aneela on social media
Meet Barbara Lally (Me!)
Hi, I’m Barbara Lally, and I’m a BFRB author, advocate, peer coach, podcast host, support group leader, and more!
I started pulling out my hair at 10 years old and spent years hiding my disorder. It wasn’t until my late twenties that I began embracing my journey toward self-acceptance. This led me to write The Trichster Diaries, a memoir detailing my experiences growing up with trichotillomania and my path to self-love.
To foster community and open dialogue, I launched Trich Talks!, an Instagram Live series turned podcast where I interview individuals worldwide about their experiences with BFRBs.
I then created My Trichster Diaries, a guided journal designed to help others explore their relationship with trichotillomania. This journal serves as the foundation for my course, Sharing Our Stories, which encourages participants to reflect and find healing through storytelling.
I work closely with HabitAware as a virtual peer coach and I lead virtual support groups and training sessions, helping people build awareness, develop self-compassion, and find personalized strategies for managing their BFRBs. It’s an honor to work for a company I turned to myself! And one rooted in understanding and hope.
I also host free support groups through BFRB Changemakers! This month there are 2 but typically it is once a month.
Through my work, I strive to create a safe space for those living with BFRBs, offering understanding, resources, and a sense of belonging.
I offer:
1:1 Virtual Peer Coaching through HabitAware
Sharing Our Stories: The Course
2 books focused on trichotillomania:
The Trichster Diaries
My Trichster Diaries: A Guided Journal
Trich Talks! The Podcast
Free monthly BFRB support groups
Learn more by visiting:
Reach out:
Follow me on social media:
@itsbarbaralally on both Instagram and TikTok
Meet Clare MacKay
Hi, I'm Clare MacKay and I'm a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and have spent 30 years studying the brain. For most of that time I lived with the secret shame of hair-pulling (since age 12), and tried to keep my ugly bitten nails hidden from sight. In 2023 I decided it was time to open up, and that by putting my professional expertise and lived experience together, I could help to raise awareness and galvanise much-needed research for BFRBs.
I am:
raising professional awareness (psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience communities)
raising public awareness by sharing my story (TV, radio, social media, podcasts, webinars)
creating new research collaborations and developing new ideas
sharing research outcomes, ideas, tips, experience with the BFRB community
conducting novel research into the physiological and psychological mechanisms behind BFRBs
working closely with BFRB UK&Ireland: including putting together the first Oxford BFRB conference in 2024 (all talks available on the Trich Prof YouTube channel)
writing a book... coming in 2026!
Learn more by visiting:
Reach out:
Follow Clare on social media:
Meet Gessie Perez
Hi, I'm Gessie Perez of Triumphant Trichster & Trichster Sisters and I am a mentor, author, and advocate in the BFRB community. Having had trichotillomania since the age of 11, I have transformed my pain into my purpose and am dedicated to helping others. I have written a memoir and a children's book, both about my journey as a trichster. I founded the Trichster Sisters program in which I mail care packages to young girls with trichotillomania and serve as a mentor and big sister figure to them.
In my everyday life, I work as a direct support professional for kids with developmental disabilities, and I am a proud dog mama and love to travel!
I am a fierce advocate for the BFRB community. I also facilitate virtual hangouts for kids and teens through HabitAware.
Gessie offers:
Trichster Sisters: a program in which I mail personalized care packages to young girls with trichotillomania and act as a mentor and big sister figure to them.
Two books about my trichotillomania journey, including a memoir and a children's book.
Facilitate virtual hangouts for kids and teens through HabitAware.
Learn more by visiting:
Reach out:
Follow Gessie on social media:
Meet Liz Fisher
Hi, my name is Liz Fisher and I am an EFT International Accredited Certified EFT Practitioner and a JDH Academy Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. I studied under Master EFT Trainer Betsy Muller and Master Hypnotherapist Joseph Drumheller. I found EFT while searching for cures for ongoing anxiety about 10 years ago and taught myself how to use it by watching YouTube videos. It helped me so much that I wanted to learn more about it.
After completing EFT Level 1 and 2 courses, I knew that this was my calling. I had been a Graphic Artist for more than 20 years and EFT appealed to a creative side of me that I didn't even know existed! My goal in our coaching sessions is to help you remove your subconscious blocks and become a better version of yourself. Whether you are struggling with anxiety, panic attacks, financial freedom or you just want to better your relationships, EFT can be applied to literally anything you can imagine and it works when other treatments have fallen short.
In 2024, I had a calling to become certified in Clinical Hypnotherapy to better serve my clients and help them heal on a deeper level even more quickly. Hypnotherapy works well when layered with EFT or just on its own. Together, we are able to "tap" into the subconscious with positive suggestions that help remove stubborn blocks. I have personally overcome Emetophobia, Panic Attacks and Trichotillomania, a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) that I had for over 36 years using EFT! I am also using self-hypnosis to heal other layers of my past on a deeper level.
So get ready for this wonderful healing journey that we are about to embark on together! My EFT and Clinical Hypnotherapy Coaching includes, but is not limited to: Addictive Behaviors Anxiety/Panic Attacks Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors Chronic Pain Emetophobia Excoriation Disorder Money Blocks/Finances Nail Biting Performance Anxiety Phobias Tinnitus TMJ/Migraines Trichotillomania Weight Loss/Sugar Addiction
Liz offers:
1:1 Virtual EFT
Hypnotherapy Coaching
Learn more by visiting:
Reach out:
Follow Liz on social media:
Check back for more amazing people supporting the BFRB community as I will update this blog post throughout the month!
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