A clearing in a redwood forest with 3 benchnes and the midday sun shining

Build yourself up. Live fully.

With support for your wellbeing, as it should be. That meets you exactly where you are – in your work, relationships, health, and life at large. Comprehensive, research-backed, with best-in-class experts, and community done well – for your complete needs.

Surviving the workplace jungle

An 8 week program to transcend difficult people and situations at work

Dealing with a “difficult” colleague or situation? Stressed? Feeling numb heading into work? Struggling to concentrate or make decisions? Having headaches, the Sunday Scaries, or worse?

Emotional exhaustion from work drama can spiral into hopelessness and hurt careers, health, and relationships. White knuckling through it alone makes it worse.

That’s why we're here.

8 weeks | expert facilitator | curated content | private groups

Steady progress every week:

Learn at your convenience. Curated insights, techniques, tools and exercises.
Virtual sessions once a week. With a trusted expert and a small group that gets you.

For your complete needs:

→ find relief, clarity, confidence
→ develop strategy, be tactful
→ make steady progress
→ build lasting skills

Expert Facilitator

Sophia Godkin, PhD

Dr. Sophia Godkin is a psychologist and coach who’s helped people navigate challenges and uncertainty, at work and beyond, for over 15 years. She knows how the right support can change everything when life gets overwhelming – with spaces where people can be real about what they’re going through, make sense of emotions, and find insights that truly move them forward, while feeling supported by others who get it.

Her versatile approach includes diverse evidence-based modalities and she’s a reputed thought leader in Internal Family Systems (IFS). When she’s not busy with work, Dr. Godkin loves camping and hiking, biking along the river, Salsa and Bachata dancing, and enjoying each moment of being alive in the company of friends.

In addition, professionals with lived experience of navigating curveballs and toxic situations in corporate, startup and other workplaces, will support participants with practical challenges and brainstorming.

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We’ll help you answer important questions …

Are they annoying… abusive … a bully? Is this a phase… or a red flag?

Could it get worse? How to dial down overwhelm … revive confidence?

Suck it up – or fix it? Talk to HR … my colleagues? Quit … when and how?

How to get what I need? Handle micromanagers … toxic bosses?

How to limit the damage? Especially if I can’t leave?

How to prepare for the road ahead if I need to leave?

Get through it all, making steady progress

Walk away in 8 weeks feeling lighter with a personalized strategy you’ve started executing, and perspectives and tools for a fuller life, at work and beyond …

You'll progressively learn to …

Build critical context. On your needs, work, distress and its impact.
Stay grounded under pressure. Limit the damage from stress, find high functioning physiological stability, see clearly, think critically and act with intention –- with an arsenal of science backed techniques.
Build a strong core. Show up with self compassion and confidence, for your true needs.
Be strategic, avoid landmines. Insights and frameworks to assess your situation, tackle problems, and take critical decisions.
Operate effectively. Versatile skills and tactics for common situations and issues.
Minimize damage. No one should endure corrosive behavior, but if it’s inevitable, minimize the drain with tested techniques.
Build strong reserves. Sleep is a superpower but hard hit in such times. Just doing the program will help you sleep better, but we also share comprehensive insights to sleep your best, and exercise and diet tips to recover your mojo.
Prepare for the road ahead. If needed, get the ball rolling for your next adventure, think through the tricky stuff.

Work distress is the epidemic no one prepares us for

71% of Americans had a toxic boss
Women are 41% more likely to experience toxicity at work
76% of people in toxic workplaces report impact on mental health

Work distress can cause issues ranging from headaches, numbness, anger and shame, all the way to burnout, unpleasant exits and chronic health conditions*.
‍*People who experienced toxicity at work reported developing health conditions e.g., anxiety, depression, PTSD, migraines, and cardiovascular and immune disorders.

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FAQs

Why groups?

Because they’re transformative.
Group sessions can foster unique resilience, agency and motivation, amongst other things. Quality counts for a lot so our sessions are run by skilled experts.

Why 8 weeks and the same group?

One-off sessions are easier for us but not that useful for you.
We design our programs to be optimally effective and efficient for you. There’s a lot that goes into navigating such situations effectively, that has to be assimilated in a certain manner – hence 8 richly packed weeks with the same group. We’ll have drop-in sessions for other themes better suited to them. If you have any preferences, do write to us.

I don’t feel like discussing my issues with others. Is this still right for me?

Yes, it probably still is.
If you’re a private person like us, you might be pleasantly surprised by how much you like group sessions. Dr. Godkin is skilled in creating safe spaces for reflection and support while maintaining boundaries. You won’t be asked to share personal stuff or anything you’re not 100% comfortable with. And sometimes just listening is powerful.

Is this program therapy or medical advice?

No it’s not therapy or medical advice.
It helps you build resilience, skill and community, all of which can be critical even in times when clinical treatment isn’t enough. But it’s not therapy or medical or mental health care which may be needed by some people in some situations.

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Note: This program is for educational and informational purposes only. The content and participation in the group sessions do not constitute or substitute for psychotherapy, medical advice, mental health treatment, or any other professional healthcare service. Facilitators are not acting in any capacity as a licensed mental health or medical provider in this group, and no provider-client relationship is established. Facilitation isn’t covered by licensure even if facilitators are licensed. The program doesn’t diagnose or treat a physical or mental illness. If you are in need of mental health treatment or crisis support, please seek care from a healthcare service offered by a qualified healthcare professional.

In the works

We’re just getting started and have other interesting programs in the works. We’d love to stay in touch with our newsletter. We’ll never spam you.

Stay in touch

Have a question? Something to share? We'd love to hear from you! Write to us at contact@hellotonik.com.

About us

We’re builders and expert practitioners designing a new paradigm of support for your well-being, one that truly empowers you, and that empowers practitioners to do their finest work – research backed, multidisciplinary, tailored to your context and complete needs in real life, and strengthened by the power of community done well.

We’re starting with underserved issues that have a significant impact on mental and physical health. A lot of them affect women disproportionately. We also want to play the long game, build high quality solutions that are fundamentally better than the status-quo, empower practitioners, and scale responsibly.

Subarna Mitra — Chief Explorer

Subarna has led products at pioneering health and wellness startups for a decade. She’s also a recovering strategy consultant and software engineer. Her vision for Tonik is driven by her work on the frontlines of behavioral health, and the setbacks that she’s personally faced and witnessed amongst family and loved ones.

She believes that people who need support – and the practitioners committed to helping them – deserve far better. She’s seen how mental and physical health are rooted in our practical everyday lives far more than we appreciate, and how we often find the right support too late, if at all. That’s why she’s focused on building a new kind of support, from the ground up, centered on people’s true and complete needs, starting with underserved issues. Women and girls are hardest hit by lack of such support because their experience of life and its challenges, and their physiology are distinct. Their risk for anxiety, depression, burnout, and a host of health conditions, is much higher. While the status quo falls short of the average person’s needs, it's much worse for them – it’s not designed for them, and is at best adapted to them.

What continues to inspire her is the dedication of the practitioners she works with – and the shared human drive to overcome challenges and find wellbeing, no matter the odds. When she’s not immersed in work, she likes to garden, make pottery, solve cryptic crosswords, and enjoy the Bay Area’s vibrant outdoors and food scene.