EINPresswire/ -- Public Health Expert, 2x TEDx Speaker, Empowered to Exhale Founder Dr. Portia Preston announces two wellness speaking events in October in New England in sync with ADHD Awareness Month, Mental Illness Awareness Week (Oct 5 – 11, 2025) and World Mental Health Day (October 10, 2025). During these meetings, Dr. Preston will present a sustainable Wellness Blueprint with timely tips based on her extensive research, experience being neurodivergent, and new bestselling book: “Hustle, Flow, or Let It Go?: A Guide to Shame-Free Wellness That Honors Your Reality and Gives You Life” (Revell, Aug 5, 2025).

These wellness presentations will be hosted by the 2025 New England College Health Association (NECHA) and New York State College Health Association (NYSCHA) Annual Meeting and Middlebury College for staff and students. Several meetings will also be hosted with staff to support staff wellbeing and neuroinclusive wellness for students.

To help others, Dr. Preston will discuss life-changing insights based on her personal and professional journey, which includes a late stage diagnosis of AuDHD (autism and ADHD). When this happened, Preston was on top of her game after earning tenure as an Associate Professor of Public Health at California State University, Fullerton, and consulting with organizations in multiple sectors. Dr. Preston’s experiences with autistic burnout were a call to action to create a more inclusive wellness practice that treated her perceived flaws as needs worthy of support.

Reflecting on her journey, Dr. Preston emphasizes, “We’re all complicated as humans, so you need to find the best ways to support your health with sustainable practices. Ask questions, change your habits, seek professional help if needed, build a support squad, and create a wellness plan that works for you.”


EVENT 1: Tuesday, October 16, 2025

HOST: 2025 New England College Health Association (NECHA) and New York State College Health Association (NYSCHA) Annual Meeting

TOPIC: Mending the Cracks: Individual and Organizational Strategies to Foster Resilience and Affirm Humanity in College Health

SUMMARY: Dr. Preston will present practical approaches to wellness that are inclusive and shame-sensitive, honoring the unique needs of the individual, and adaptive institutional frameworks to support the evolving needs of the collective.


EVENT 2: Saturday, October 18, 2025

HOST: Middlebury College Counseling

TOPIC: Wellness through a neurodiversity lens, hosted by Middlebury College Counseling

SUMMARY: Guest facilitator Dr. Portia Preston will share her personal story and facilitate a conversation about strategies for managing stress and nurturing your mental and physical health, navigating daily life using the SANE Cycle, and developing a Wellness Blueprint. To encourage others to get help if needed, Preston will share her personal health challenges with depression that led to a late stage diagnosis of AuDHD (autism and ADHD). Preston explains, “To the outside world, I was successful and achieved many goals, but inside – I knew that I had to slow down because something was wrong.”

For anyone not attending these featured presentations, Dr. Portia Preston’s sustainable Wellness Blueprint and health tips are available in her new book, “Hustle, Flow, or Let it Go?”. In addition, book excerpts can be downloaded on the author website: .


WHERE TO BUY THE BOOK
AMAZON
“Hustle, Flow, or Let It Go?: A Guide to Shame-Free Wellness That Honors Your Reality and Gives You Life” (Revell, Aug 5, 2025).

BARNES AND NOBLE

BOOKSHOP


ABOUT
Dr. Portia Preston (Long Beach, CA) is a 2x TEDx Speaker, Author of “Hustle, Flow, or Let it Go?” (Revell, Aug 5, 2025), CEO/Founder of Empowered to Exhale, Associate Professor of Public Health at California State University, Fullerton, and Certified Executive Coach. Preston helps individuals and organizations embrace an inclusive and sustainable approach to wellness using insights from her research and personal and professional journey in almost every sector, including government, higher education, healthcare, nonprofit, entrepreneurship, and more. As an Associate Professor, she teaches courses on stress management and promoting health in diverse populations. Dr. Preston holds a BA in cultural and social anthropology from Stanford University, a master's of public health from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate of public health from UCLA. Her work has been featured on FOX 11 Los Angeles, Orange County Register, Atlanta Tribune, Authority Magazine, ADHD Rewired, Mind Over Matter Podcast, and in many research papers.

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