DR. SAMANTHA-RAE DICKENSON · EdD, MSPH
You've been the strong one long enough.
I’m a researcher, writer, and speaker, and the creator of High-Functioning Survival Mode™.
My work explores how women learn to function, achieve, and hold everything together while operating in survival mode, and what it takes to begin living differently.
Based on my research-backed HFSM-S scale
1,003
women across 29 countries in my study
15+ Years
Designing human-centered systems for Fortune 500 organizations
7x
Featured in Forbes, including a piece on my research
1,000+
Assessments for Burnout, HFSM™, and Soul Activation™ delivered
THE FRAMEWORK I BUILT
High-Functioning Survival Mode™ doesn’t always look like survival.
Sometimes it looks like success. Being independent. Being the person who always figures it out.
But behind that ability to keep functioning are patterns that can shape how you work, love, lead, rest, and relate to yourself.
I developed HFSM™ to understand why women can be highly capable, self-aware, and accomplished while still living in chronic survival mode.
My research explores the patterns keeping women in this cycle, why they’re difficult to change, and the role that support, identity, and our environments play in getting out.
WHO MY WORK IS FOR
You can understand your patterns and still be living in them.
And maybe you’re beginning to question how much of your life has been built around what you can handle instead of what you actually want.
People depend on you, and you’ve learned to deliver, even when you’re exhausted. You’ve taken the breaks and made the changes. Yet you keep finding yourself back in familiar patterns.
My work is for women navigating that question and exploring what becomes possible when survival is no longer the lens through which they live their lives.
EXPLORE MY WORK
Not sure where to start? Start here.
$29
HFSM™ Recovery Guide
An interactive guide to help you recognize your patterns and begin navigating your way out of the Loop, at your own pace.
WAITLIST
The Cohort
An upcoming group experience to understand your HFSM™ patterns, apply the framework to your life, and begin making changes in community.
STAGES & TEAMS
Speaking & Education
I bring my work and perspective on High-Functioning Survival Mode™ to organizations, conferences, and conversations about women's lives, work, and well-being.
FEATURED IN FORBES • INVITED TO SPEAK AND FEATURED WITH
Fortune
EBONY
The Female Quotient
NIH
General Assembly
92NY
Dove
MY STORY
I built a life that looked successful while I was falling apart inside it. Then I burned out, paused, and rebuilt from alignment.
This work isn't theoretical for me.