52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life with the author Farzana Doctor.

Posted: 10th April 2025

In May, 2025, World BEYOND War will be holding a weekly discussion each of four weeks of the book 52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life with the author Farzana Doctor.

The book is a practical guide to self-care, written for helpers—the caregivers, activists, community leaders, mental health and medical professionals who are the first to help others, but the last to seek help themselves.

When you register for the club, we’ll send you an e-book. (The publisher has provided free Apple eBooks. If you don’t have an Apple device, WBW will buy you a Kindle version.)

We’ll let you know which parts of the book will be discussed each week along with the Zoom details to access the discussions.

HERE.

When:

For one hour on May 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2025, beginning at UTC 23:00, which is 1:00 p.m. in Honolulu, 4:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, 5:00 p.m. in Mexico City, 7:00 p.m. in New York; and May 7, 14, 21, and 28 at 7:00 a.m. in Beijing, 8:00 a.m. in Tokyo, 9:00 a.m. in Sydney, and 11:00 a.m. in Auckland.

Where: Zoom (details to be shared upon registration).

This is a small group series with limited space of up to 18 people. Sign up to reserve your spot. We look forward to reading and discussing this important book with you!

REGISTER HERE.

About the Book: A Workbook of Emotional Hacks, Self-Care Experiments and Other Good Ideas

A practical guide to self-care, written for helpers—the caregivers, activists, community leaders, mental health and medical professionals who are the first to help others, but the last to seek help themselves.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Author is a registered social worker who takes an evidence-based approach.
Unlike many self-help books, community care is centred throughout, in addition to self care.
A practical guide for those that need it most, at a time when burnout levels are high.
With its simple ideas and deeper dives, this workbook is flexible, in terms of the amount of time readers would like to put in.

As an activist, community organizer and social worker, Farzana Doctor has preached self-care to hundreds of people struggling with burnout and exhaustion. But for years she couldn’t manage to take her own advice. Many other helpers she knew were the same: they knew the signs of burnout, and they understood the science of self-care. Maybe they’d taken workshops on vicarious trauma; maybe they’d even taught them. But still they struggled to escape the cycle of overwork, overwhelm and recovery.

52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life is a workbook that speaks directly to these people—the helpers who struggle to pause, set boundaries or put themselves first. The workbook contains fifty-two lessons, one for each week of the year. Each week, readers will find a simple new idea and an experiment for trying it out, with deeper dives into the material provided, but every level of participation celebrated. Throughout, Doctor embraces both community care and self-care at the same time, showing readers the overlap between the two. Beautifully written, direct and insightful, this workbook is a gentle and practical guide to a more balanced life, written for those who need it most.

Farzana Doctor is a Registered Social Worker who has been working with individuals and couples since 1993. As an activist, educator and writer, she has taught clinicians, co-written manuals for mental health providers and contributed chapters and articles about 2SLGBTQ+ issues, anti-oppression, self-care and female genital mutilation/cutting. She is the co-founder of WeSpeakOut and the End FGM Canada Network. She has written four critically acclaimed novels and a poetry collection. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

REGISTER HERE.

A note from the author:

This book explores self-care and community care from an inside-out and collective approach. It’s an offering based on the ideas I’ve learned over my thirty-five years as a social worker and activist, and is the result of thousands of conversations with friends, clients, colleagues and healers. It’s for anyone who works with people or causes and who like me, has struggled with finding balance.

What I’ve learned about activists and helper-types is that most of us were inadvertently raised to be in these roles. In other words, the stresses, traumas or losses we experienced growing up and living in an inequitable society taught us how to be helpers and activists.

The good news: we probably developed super powers—as empathic listeners, change-makers, crisis managers, social justice warriors or problem-solvers. We learned how to direct our care and love in good ways.

And the bad news? We probably weren’t taught how to metabolize messy feelings or manage boundaries. Most of us will take care of others before ourselves. We light up during crises and chaos in our organizations, friend groups, families and activist circles, but we can’t identify our own impending nervous breakdowns.

Added on to this are the oppressive and wrong messages that our inequitable society—and structural forces like colonialism, toxic capitalism, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism and ageism—may have offered us about work-life balance and caring for ourselves and others.

My wish is that this book helps readers explore personal and political barriers to, and new options for, self-care and community care practices.

REGISTER HERE.

Praise for the Book:

“In a world that often disempowers us, 52 Weeks offers a spirited and seamless approach to both self-care and community care which is both refreshing and radical. Step by step, Farzana shows us how to reclaim care and our power.”
—CATHY CROWE, long-time street nurse and social justice/housing advocate

“52 Weeks is possibly the most important book I’ve ever read! It is a wake-up call, and I feel completely awakened.”
—BIF NAKED, performing artist, activist and author of I, Bificus

“Farzana Doctor has given us permission to care for ourselves. 52 Weeks asks us as service providers to take a leap of faith, invest in our well-being without guilt, and commit to self-care.”
—NOTISHA MASSAQUOI, University of Toronto

“I wish this guide had been part of my psychotherapy training’s curriculum. 52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life is an invaluable resource for learning how to take care of yourself while also taking care of others.”
—SIL HERNANDO, registered psychotherapist and clinical educator

“The antidote to activist burnout: this book.”
—ANN DOUGLAS, author of Navigating the Messy Middle

“Self-care can feel like a monolith, but in 52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life, Farzana makes it manageable with brief activities that create tangible change in the short-term and leave you reflecting on what’s possible for yourself over the longer-term.”
—JEN VASIC, registered, social worker, phd candidate, city councillor

“This book has been a lifeline during a period whenI felt like I was drowning. It’s comprehensive, and the little chunks and offers for deeper dives are really wonderful.”
—NATASHA STEER, racialized intersectional feminist, writer and social justice educator

“I’ve read a number of self-help books and this is the most useful. If I contrast 52 Weeks to Atomic Habits, for example, 52 Weeks has been much more effective at helping me work through my own personal blocks to self-care.”
—ZAK GREANT, multi-disciplinary executive

“At long last, here is the guide to self-care and self-healing that healers, activists, and social change makers have been waiting for. Unpretentious, insightful, and deeply aware of the system-ic conditions that influence well-being, psychotherapist and author Farzana Doctor offers down-to-earth advice about personal growth, burnout recovery, and relationship health alongside highly relatable anecdotes from her personal experience. Self-help skeptics and wellness aficionados alike will find grounded, practical wisdom in this succinct yet powerful workbook divided into a series of profoundly helpful themes and exercises. 52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life for Care-givers, Activists and Helping Professionals should be required reading for anyone who wants to change the world—because as the author reminds us, changing the world requires practicing care for ourselves.”
—KAI CHENG THOM, MSW, MSc, certified professional life coach and author of Falling Back in Love with Being Human

REGISTER HERE.

About the Author:

Farzana Doctor has been interested in community organizing since her teen years. Her early focus on environmental issues, gender violence and 2SLGBTQ+ rights led her to study social work – becoming a Registered Social Worker working in community-based and hospital settings, including Street Outreach Services, Youth Substance Abuse Program and CAMH. Today she has a private practice and works with individuals and couples. As an educator and writer, she has co-written two counsellor manuals, taught clinicians, and contributed chapters and articles about 2SLGBTQ+ issues, anti-oppression, self-care and FGM/C. Doctor provides clinical consultation to other therapists and organizations, including Victim Services Toronto, YWCA Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Regent Park Community Health Centre.

Farzana Doctor is a founding member of WeSpeakOut and the End FGM Canada Network, she is also the Maasi behind Dear Maasi, a sex and relationships column for FGM/C survivors hosted by Sahiyo. In summer 2023 she facilitated an online group for FGM/C survivors. She is registered with the Ontario College of Social Service Workers and Social Workers and is a member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers. She’s also an active member of The Writers Union of Canada.

Doctor has written four critically acclaimed novels and a poetry collection. She won the prestigious Freedom To Read Award in 2023. Her novel Seven was chosen as the Amnesty International Readers Choice. The Beauty of Us, a YA novel, will be released in fall 2024. Farzana Doctor lives and writes in Etobicoke, Ontario.