The Mind Behind Iron Minds
Cassandra Brandt is an author and scholar with a background in sociology and education. She has lived experience with religious trauma, long undiagnosed and untreated anxiety and depression, addiction, PTSD and catastrophic spinal cord injury.
A former structural ironworker, today Cassandra lives a quality life as a complete quadriplegic, producing work she's proud of, and enjoying an inner peace she never knew on legs. Her coaches were the Stoics of first century Rome, sometimes referred to as the psychotherapists of their day. They taught resilience in the face of adversity, and even today their philosophy can provide the essential cognitive tools needed to rebuild after incredible trauma. Now Cassandra is committed to helping others reinforce their own minds into resilient structures of steel.
Cassandra Brandt holds a Master's in Educational Studies and a Sociology BA. Her work has been nominated for awards and published in literary magazines as well as publications such as Daily Philosophy and Philosophy Now. She has worked in peer support for people with disabilities since 2020. Check out her memoir IRON GIRL and her self help book on Stoic philosophy SEVEN SECRETS OF A SEDENTARY STOIC: PURSUING A PATH TO POST PARALYSIS PEACE .
"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body." SENECA
"I've lived trauma: from upside-down in a crushed car to listening to a ventilator keep me alive; from watching my loved ones walk away to watching my body deteriorate. I've been marginalized and institutionalized. I've been invalidated by loss of my career. I've experienced soul crushing depression and suicidal ideation. But there was light waiting deep in the darkness. Upon discovering my inner strength, learning acceptance and gratitude, and cultivating a new perspective, I'm inspired to pay forward the peace I've found."
Cassandra Brandt, Stoic Coach
Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it." MARCUS AURELIUS