Why the Same Stress Breaks One Person and Builds Another.
The biology of burnout and anti-fragility: why capacity, not willpower, decides who keeps going.
“I'm not advocating from the outside. I'm living it.”
About
I had a head start most SEND caregivers never get.
Before I became the father of a child with special needs, I'd spent years obsessed with learning about metabolic health. So much so that I wrote a book about it, started publishing on Substack, and launched a podcast exploring how metabolic health shapes physical and mental health.
So when my son's complex needs emerged, and with them the relentless demands of helping him navigate them, fighting for the right provision and facing a judgemental world, I realised the chronic stress that burns most caregivers out wasn't breaking me. Without meaning to, I'd already given myself the tools to stay standing under the strain.
That isn't fair. This knowledge shouldn't be a happy accident. It should be mainstream, in the SEND community and system and well beyond it, for everyone facing chronic stress. So now I write, speak and advocate to hand others the head start I had, so they don't have to rely on luck.
I also volunteer with the Metabolic Collective, a non-profit building grassroots communities that widen awareness of, and access to, metabolic therapies for mental health.
The gap I am bridging
Chronic stress is now the water we all swim in. It doesn't have to break you.
Almost every part of modern life can feel stressful, from work to home and everything in between. Much of that stress has no simple off-switch: you can't just walk away from it. That's where conventional stress management falls short, because it assumes you can reduce or remove your exposure to the stressor. When you can't, what decides whether you burn out or keep going is your capacity to carry the load. It's why the same relentless stress breaks one person and builds another. And that capacity isn't fixed. It can be deliberately built.
Metabolic psychiatry is an emerging field that looks at mental illness through the lens of metabolic health. My work takes its principles upstream. Drawing on lived experience, I apply them preventatively: using metabolic health to build the capacity to withstand stress that won't let up, rather than just managing the stress. That capacity can be the difference between burning out and becoming anti-fragile.
- Chronic stress
- Dysregulated stress response
- Metabolic strain
- Mood, focus and resilience suffer
Speaking
Tailored to your audience
Every keynote, webinar or workshop is built for the audience that books it, around my key insights and discussion points. Choose your audience to see yours, along with the options and fees.
For leadership, HR and wellbeing audiences facing the chronic stress of everyday life that conventional stress management doesn't touch.
Key insights & discussion points
It's Not in Your Head. It's in Your Biology.
How metabolic health underpins mental health and our ability to absorb chronic stress, and what the emerging science means for anyone under sustained pressure.
The Stress You Can't Walk Away From.
Why traditional stress management fails when the pressure won't let up, and how to build anti-fragility instead of grinding down through attrition.
Capacity, Not Just Coping.
Practical, biology-informed strategies for teams and individuals to keep showing up without running on empty.
Formats
- Keynotes & talks
- Webinars
- Workshops
- Panels
- Podcasts
- Interviews
Audiences
- Corporate
- Leadership
- HR & People
- Wellbeing & Resilience
For schools, colleges, early years settings, care providers and SEND parent support groups: the staff and parents who care for others, especially SEND children, where chronic caregiver stress runs highest and is least seen.
Every intervention a child with special needs receives reaches them through an adult. Supporting that adult isn't a kindness. It's the delivery system for the child.
Key insights & discussion points
The Caregiver Is the Intervention.
Why supporting the adult is the real delivery system for the child, and what the SEND system overlooks when it forgets that.
The Metabolic Roots of Resilience.
How metabolic health underpins mental health and our ability to absorb chronic stress, and what the emerging science means for caregivers.
The Load You Can't Put Down.
Why conventional wellbeing advice fails SEND families, when the demands of caring, fighting for provision and facing a world that judges before it understands have no end date, and what actually helps.
Burnout on the Front Line of Care.
Practical, biology-informed strategies for education and care staff to keep showing up without running on empty.
Formats
- Keynotes & talks
- Webinars
- Workshops
- Panels
- Podcasts
- Interviews
Audiences
- Schools
- Colleges
- Early years settings
- Care providers
- SEND parent support
Highlights
Recent engagements
-
Metabolic Psychiatry Summit
Interviewed lived-experience advocate.
M3 Job Club
Half-day workshop. Seaworthy: how to build anti-fragility against the storms of chronic stress.
-
Mind Circles Talks, London
Keynote on chronic stress, burnout and metabolic resilience.
As heard on
- The Autism Mums Podcast Why “Self-Care” Doesn’t Work for Autism Parents, and What Does
- Decoding Health Transform Your Metabolism for Optimal Health
- Metabolic Wellbeing without the BS From Captain Biscuit to Nutritional Wisdom
- Health Wealth Exploring Human Biology and Dietary Evolution
Publications
Want to explore this for yourself? Start here.
Years of work on how metabolic health shapes physical and mental health. Listen, read or follow along.
The Animal-Based Dad Podcast
Podcast
The Animal-Based Dad Podcast
Where metabolic health meets mental health.
Ricky Du Plessis@rickyduplessis on Substack
Writing
Articles on Substack
Regular articles on metabolic health, mental health and chronic stress.
Ricky Du Plessis@ricky_duplessis
Book
Conquering King Stomach
A guide to species-appropriate nutritional lifestyle change. The first in a series on how metabolic health underpins mental health.
Book me
Let's discuss how I can help you and your audience.
Whether you're an event, a podcast, an organisation, or a parent or professional who'd just like to talk, I'd love to hear from you. I read every message personally.
Media kitPhotos, bios and one-sheets