Dr. Moniek Garside takes the message of her latest book beyond the page with Coffee, Conversation & Community experiences across the country.
Atlanta, GA – September 2026 – What began as a book signing in Atlanta is becoming something much bigger.
Psychotherapist, author, professor, and mental health expert Dr. Moniek Garside is taking The Power of Your Pause: From Autopilot to Awareness – The Transformative Power of Stillness on the road with The Power of Your Pause: Coffee, Conversation & Community Tour, a multi-city experience designed to create space for meaningful conversations about rest, awareness, boundaries, burnout, connection, and intentional living.
The Atlanta book signing in July 2026 marked the beginning. Surrounded by readers, supporters, friends, and community members, Garside saw firsthand that people were not simply interested in buying a book. They were ready to have a deeper conversation. A conversation about what happens when life moves so quickly that we stop checking in with ourselves. A conversation about the pressure to constantly produce, perform, achieve, and keep going. And, perhaps most importantly, a conversation about giving ourselves permission to pause.
From a Book Signing to a Movement of Conversation
“The Atlanta event showed me that this message needed to go beyond the pages of the book,” says Garside. “People are tired. They are navigating transitions, carrying responsibilities, managing expectations, and often doing all of it without creating space to ask themselves, ‘How am I really doing?’ I realized that we needed spaces where people could come together and have those conversations.” That realization became the foundation for the Coffee, Conversation & Community Tour.
Rather than approaching the tour as a traditional series of book signings, Garside intentionally created an experience centered around connection. Each stop invites attendees to slow down, engage in an intimate fireside-style conversation, reflect on their own relationship with rest and productivity, and connect with others in the room. The goal is simple: create spaces where pausing is not something people have to earn.
Why This Conversation Is Needed Now
We live in a culture that often celebrates being busy. Full calendars can become symbols of success. Productivity can become intertwined with identity. Rest is frequently postponed until everything else is finished, even when “everything else” never seems to end. For Garside, who has spent more than two decades working across social work, mental health, healthcare, education, and clinical practice, the consequences of constantly operating on autopilot are familiar. Burnout. Disconnection. Difficulty setting boundaries. Chronic stress. Feeling successful on paper while feeling depleted internally. The Power of Your Pause challenges the idea that slowing down means falling behind. Instead, Garside invites readers to see the pause as a place of awareness. “When we pause, we give ourselves an opportunity to notice,” Garside says. “We can notice what is working, what is no longer serving us, what we are carrying, and what may need to change. The pause is not about doing nothing. It is about creating enough space to become intentional about what comes next.”That message is now moving from the page into communities around the country.
The Power of Your Pause Tour Coffee, Conversation & Community Tour dates:
Chicago – September 2026
Houston – October 2026
Tampa – February 2027
Las Vegas – March 2027
Los Angeles – April 2027
Raleigh/Durham – May 2027
Washington, D.C. – June 2027
Each city will offer its own experience while remaining grounded in the same purpose: bringing people together to pause, reflect, connect, and have honest conversations about how we are living. Coffee is intentional. Conversation is intentional. Community is intentional.
In a time when so much of our connection happens through screens, Garside wants the tour to create opportunities for people to sit together in real spaces and engage with one another beyond surface-level interactions.
About Dr. Moniek Garside
Dr. Moniek Garside is a psychotherapist, mental health expert, professor, author, speaker, and founder of FitLife Wellness. With more than 20 years of experience in social work, healthcare, mental health, and education, her work centers on helping individuals move beyond survival mode and toward greater awareness, alignment, and intentional living. Through her clinical work, writing, teaching, speaking, and community initiatives, Dr. Garside advocates for mental wellness, sustainable self-care, and creating space for people to live and lead with greater intention.
Media Contact
Dr. Moniek Garside
Mindful Media Group, LLC
