#24: Jen Elizabeth has dedicated her second chance at life to addiction recovery and healing from childhood traumas. She is a recognized writer, speaker, and recovery activist living in Southern California. She shares her story, the wreckage and the reckoning, as a way to keep the light on for anyone who is suffering under the darkness of shame and silence.

Ashley sits down with Jen in this interview to discuss the myriad of inter-generational traumas that she has faced, including mental health issues, addiction, eating disorders and molestation at an early age.

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Show Notes:

2:30 - Jen’s book - “Shape of a Woman” + the other books that are in the process of being written

3:55 - Revisiting the wounds in her childhood when speaking about her experiences with her own children

4:45 - Speaking about her family and the background with her mother’s mental illness

6:10 - “Why doesn’t she want to live for me?”

7:08 - Explaining the diseases of Munchausen and Munchausen by Proxy

10:50 - Referencing the TV show “Sharp Objects” to help understand Munchausen and Munchausen by Proxy

12:45 - Referencing the Netflix movie “Mommy Dead and Dearest” about the story of Gypsy Rose and her mother who was diagnosed with Munchausen by Proxy

14:03 - Moving to Mobile, Alabama to join a cult with her family as a young child

16:55 - Talking about when the molestation happened and how it escalated

23:07 - Having to work through the feeling of participation in her sexual molestation

24:07 - Referencing the started documentary “The Flock” about the cult she was in (the documentary never aired)

24:45 - The man that secretly was rescuing families from the situation

25:15 - Coming back to California at age 9

27:19 - Telling her parents about the molestation that happened in the cult

32:49 - The present family dynamic

34:33 - “Alcohol and drugs did save me” - the moment she became an alcoholic

36:35 - The first time Jen picked up heroin

37:53 - Jen’s eating disorder, mimicked by what she saw in her own mother

41:20 - The complications of prison + addiction

43:30 - Her boyfriend’s murder

48:55 - Jen’s moment of change - a divine intervention - and her clean date

51:30 - Struggling through the beginnings of sobriety

52:38 - Starting to “do the work” in her recovery

55:00 - Getting pregnant with her first child and how she started to love herself as a woman

1:01:10 - The fear she started facing as a mother

1:16:31 - “If you’re searching for a way out, you’ll always find a way out”

1:17:44 - Talking about being a member of 12-step programs along with other ways Jen maintains her recovery

1:24:55 - Shape of a Woman - the birth or her book

Get Jen’s book:

https://www.amazon.com/Shape-Woman-Jen-Elizabeth/dp/1732647151

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The Courage to Change: A Recovery Podcast would like to thank our sponsor, Lionrock Recovery, for their support. Lionrock Recovery is an online substance abuse counseling program where you can get help for drinking or drug use from the privacy of your own home. For more information, visit http://www.lionrockrecovery.com.