About Your Mother

How do you hold onto hope after the worst kind of heartbreak? My guest on this episode of About Your Mother channeled her heartbreak into creating solutions for others.

In 2012, Carrie Meghie experienced a parent’s worst nightmare: after months in the NICU, her 10-month-old son passed away. Listen as she shares how she navigated the loss and continues to live with a broken heart. 

Carrie and her husband used their experience to help others by founding the Jackson Chance Foundation, an organization that covers parking costs for parents visiting their children in Chicago NICUs. 

Resources Mentioned

Carrie’s CNN Hero feature story

Jackson Chance Foundation

Meet Travis Helms, a local priest in Jackson whom I've had the pleasure of getting to know. We talk about just about everything in this conversation, including his mom's mysticism, her early death, and what she taught him about faith.

We also dive deep into an extremely polarizing topic: religion. Travis shares what he thinks the church gets wrong, the universal struggles people face today, and the importance of storytelling in faith. You're going to love this profound conversation.

Resources Mentioned:

• Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
• Carl Jung 
• Christian Wiman
• Internal Family Systems
• 12 Steps
• Michael Pollan

Here’s something we can all agree on: nature is healing. My guest on this episode of About Your Mother, Scott Schumaker, speaks from firsthand experience about nature's healing power. He explores this topic and more on his podcast Love, Loss, and Hallucinations. 

After retiring as a professional athlete, Scott lost his identity, and his marriage was on the rocks. Listen as he shares his journey in nature to rebuild his life and rediscover his inner emotional life.

Resources Mentioned

• Super Soul Sunday with Oprah
• Carl Jung
• Mark Allen
• The Wild Trees by Richard Preston
• A World Appears by Michael Pollan
• Strangers by Belle Burden

Connect With the Guest

• Scott’s Podcast: Love, Loss, and Hallucinations 
• Scott’s author website
• Instagram

How do you know when you can repair a relationship versus when it’s time to walk away? My guest on this episode of About Your Mother, Kate King, shares the difference between a difficult relationship and a toxic one, and how to know what you should do next.

Kate is a licensed professional counselor and board-certified art therapist. Her latest book, Mend or Move On, dives into the details of dealing with difficult relationships of all types. 

Listen in as she shares her own experience as a “wounded healer,” the seven relationship traps, and why it’s important to maintain relationship tiers. 

Resources Mentioned

The Gottman Approach to Couples Therapy

Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown

Connect With the Guest

Book: Mend or Move On by Kate King

Website: https://theradiantlifeproject.com/

How do you make peace with what your family has given you, both the good and the bad? My guest today is Bridget Crocker, a trailblazer in the outdoor industry and author of The River’s Daughter. 

In her incredible memoir, she writes about breaking the cycle of abuse in her family and relying on nature as a guide. Our conversation will inspire you to face your past and look to nature to help you find answers for the future.   

This episode is extra special because it was recorded live in front of an audience in partnership with an organization I love, Jackson Hole Writers. 

Resources Mentioned

Jane Goodall

Spiegel & Grau Publishing

Connect With the Guest

Bridget’s Book: The River’s Daughter

Life changing conversations can happen at any time in our lives—but what if you are 14 and your mother reveals a secret that upends your adolescence and sends you on a decades long journey to untangle from the world she brought you in, the world you were happy to be a part of? Adrienne Brodeur's best selling book, Wild Game, examines the price she paid to be her mother's confidant and helper in an epic affair with her husband's closest friend. The story doesn't end there. 

Connect with Adrienne
https://www.adriennebrodeur.com/
instagram.com/adriennebrodeur
adriennebrodeur.com/little-monsters

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/category/podcast

If you're loving this podcast, comment. You'll also love my book, Both Sides of Then, inspired by the conversations I have on this podcast. Grab your copy today: https://byjennifergriffith.com/the-book/

Immersing ourselves in a culture is exhilarating and can change our view of the world. What happens when you are an American marrying into a Chinese family? What could go wrong? Good Chinese Wife is a memoir that explores Susan Blumberg-Kason's life integrating into a Chinese family and her thrilling search for agency.

Connect with Susan

susanbkason.com

Good Chinese Wife

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/podcasts

I’m honored to have a hometown hero from Jackson, Wyoming, on this episode of the About Your Mother podcast. Lindsay Linton Buk is a photographer and storyteller originally from Powell, Wyoming. Her dream took her to New York and back, where she learned photography from the best in the industry before being called back home. 

Lindsay and I sat down in person for this conversation about art, her roots, and how she forged a space for her creative career in The Cowboy State. 

Lindsay’s book, Women Shaping the West, tells the story of 25 diverse women who make up the heartbeat of Wyoming. Listen in to learn about the process of bringing this project to life and what Lindsay learned from her subjects along the way. 

Resources Mentioned

• Donna Howell-Sickles
• Paul Nicklen
• Gov. Nellie Tayloe Ross
• Esther Hobart Morris
• Peter Hurley
• Rodney Smith
• Jessie Allen Gottwald

Connect With the Guest

• Women Shaping the West book

How do you turn your trauma into growth? I’m thrilled to share my conversation with Dave Sanderson, a leadership expert, motivational speaker, and one of the passengers on the flight that became the infamous Miracle on the Hudson event.

Listen in as Dave shares about his experience on the harrowing day, how his mother’s voice guided him, and how he turned a traumatic event into one of the best things to ever happen to him.

If you’re struggling with processing your own traumatic experiences, Dave’s advice will teach you how to process and reframe your emotions so you not only survive, but thrive. 

Resources Mentioned

• Miracle on the Hudson
• Dave’s TED Talk: Bouncing Back: An Experience With Post-Traumatic Growth Syndrome
• Tony Robbins’ State Management
• The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan

Connect With the Guest

• Dave’s books, including From Turmoil to Triumph
• Dave’s Website

Is the foster care system in the US broken, or is it even worse than that? According to Rob Schreer, my guest in this episode of About Your Mother, the system is shattered and must be rebuilt.

A child enters foster care every two minutes, totaling around 700 children a day. Eighty percent of death row inmates were foster children, and only 54% of foster children graduate high school.

As a foster kid himself, Rob knows the system and its faults all too well. Listen in to learn about Rob’s story, how he turned pain into purpose through his nonprofit Comfort Cases, and the forever family he’s created with his husband and five kids. 

Resources Mentioned

• Rob’s Viral Upworthy Video
• Rob’s Interview With Ellen DeGeneres
• Nelson Mandela Quote
• Educated by Tara Westover

Connect With the Guest

• Rob’s Book: A Forever Family
• Comfort Cases
• Rob’s Instagram