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Brooke Siem    

Food Network “Chopped” Champion & Author of "May Cause Side Effects"

Brooke Siem was among the first generation of teens to be medicated with antidepressants. After spending half her life—and her entire adult life—on antidepressants, she wondered: Who might I be without them?

Six years after taking her last antidepressant and now fully healed from what was once assumed to be lifelong depression, Siem’s mission is to share the story of what happened after she booked a one-way ticket to Malaysia and got off all the psychiatric drugs.

Unfurled against a global backdrop and her work as an award-winning chef, Siem’s story chronicles explosive and terrifying antidepressant withdrawal and the fight to manage the modern mental health system, all while demanding hope and forgiveness in the name of healing.

Speech Topics

FINDING HAPPINESS THROUGH FACTUAL OPTIMISM

In this corporate-focused talk, Brooke explores how using data to quantify emotion can actually empower people take control, recover from depression, and learn the skill of happiness.

LESSONS FROM THE GRANDMOTHER PROJECT

In this inspiring (and delicious) talk, Brooke shares how a year of traveling the world to cook with grandmothers taught her to grieve, connect, and heal from the death of her father. In the event of a kitchen, this talk can also come with snacks Brooke prepares in honor of the grandmothers who taught her.

THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF ANTIDEPRESSANT WITHDRAWAL

In this academic talk, Brooke bridges the experience of antidepressant withdrawal with research, enabling practitioners, patients, and caregivers with the tools to taper off psychiatric drugs safely.

THIS TALK MAY CAUSE SIDE EFFECTS

In this motivational talk, Brooke explores the unintended long-term effects of a young adulthood spent on psychiatric drugs, while asking us to reframe our conception of depression through the lens of hope and love.

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