Because her blog and Daily Flame emails quickly garnered a large readership, she was able to publish her first book in 2010 and has been blessed to have her last 8 books published. Her third book, the New York Times bestseller Mind Over Medicine, has sold over 300,000 copies in 28 languages. Her newest book Relationsick, comes out Spring 2026.
Trained as a creative writing major at Duke University, Lissa has been teaching writing workshops since 2012, both online and at retreat centers around the US and in international destinations like Malta, Paris, and Bali. During the pandemic, she collaborated with Memoir As Medicine author Nancy Aronie for a series of writing retreats online. She also teaches Write To Heal, about IFS and memoir writing, with IFS lead trainer and Harvard trained psychiatrist Frank Anderson, MD.
In addition to putting in her 100,000 hours and writing every day, in 2012, Lissa founded the Whole Health Medicine Institute, where she and a team of luminary faculty train physicians and other health care providers about “Whole Health” and the “6 Steps to Healing Yourself.” Lissa has starred in two National Public Television specials, her TEDx talks have been viewed over 5 million times, and she leads workshops, both online and at retreat centers like Esalen, 1440, Omega, and Kripalu.
Her latest health equity project is non-profit work committed to democratizing trauma healing and spiritual healing while eliminating the public health epidemic of loneliness, bringing Internal Family Systems and other healing modalities out of its current status as a luxury good to anyone who needs it and is open to it, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or gender identity.
Lissa just moved to Sonoma County with her partner Jeffrey Rediger, who is also a doctor/ author. Her daughter Mira is going to art school in NYC, and her dog Gaia, also known as “The Moose” is frequent inspiration for goofy writing and lots of love.