BONDED

In this Nature Series on The Bonded Podcast we explore how humans can build secure bonds with each other, with animals, and with the natural world. Today we sit down with Hanna Wise, a Registered Clinical Social Work Intern (RCSWI) specializing in veterinary social work. Hanna shares how she stumbled into this niche, deeply meaningful field, and what it looks like to support both the humans and animals who walk through the doors of a nonprofit veterinary clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. From pet loss grief groups to staff burnout, this conversation will open your eyes to a field you've probably never heard of but will absolutely relate to if you've ever had an affection for animals or pets.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Veterinary social work is built on one core principle: respecting the dignity and worth of all species.
• Pet loss is disenfranchised grief — it's valid, it's real, and it deserves the same space as any other grief.
• The human-animal bond as a secure attachment — how our relationships with pets mirror the principles of healthy human connection, including trust, consistency, co-regulation, and boundaries.
• What pets can teach us about relationships — body language, respecting "no," early socialization, and growing independence over time.
• The potential for sacred reciprocity within human-animal bond.
• Pets can serve as a mirror for healthy relationships — modeling boundaries, trust-building, and independence.

If this episode sparked something in you, share it with a friend who has loved their pet, works in veterinary medicine, or is curious about the intersection of mental health and animal welfare.

🐾 Virtual Pet Loss Support Group — First Wednesday of every month. Open to anyone in Florida through EveryPet.org email Hanna at [email protected]

Learn mindfulness and self-compassion tools at www.SacredTreehouse.org

Strengthening the Human-Animal Bond This website has so many great links that can be utilized for individuals and families, with a lot of the topics that we discussed being addressed. https://mhanational.org/resources/strengthening-the-human-animal-bond/

Jacksonville Specific

• https://jaxhumane.org/pet-help/pet-owner-assistance/
• https://www.jacksonville.gov/departments/office-of-administrative-services/animal-care-and-protective-services

Veterinary Social Work Resources

• https://vetsocialwork.tennessee.edu/
• https://www.iavsw.org/

In this episode we sit down with Maureen Ake, LMFT, to explore the Wild Woman archetype ~ who she really is, how she lives in all of us, and what it looks like to reclaim her. From Maureen's own initiation of getting pregnant the day after being accepted into her master's program, to the deeply healing work she facilitates in women's groups and retreats, this conversation weaves together themes of authenticity, sovereignty, nature, community, and embodiment. This episode is part of our ongoing series on nature's role in healing and cultivating mind-body-soul wellbeing.

Who Is the Wild Woman, Really? She's not feral or chaotic. The Wild Woman is creative, intuitive, boundaried, compassionate, and sovereign. She understands the cycles and seasonality of life and doesn't apologize for simply existing. Think of the plant that leans toward the sun without asking permission — that is her. Tune into the episode to unleash her full essence.

About Our Guest:

Maureen Ake is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 10 years of experience, and the visionary co-creator behind Wild Woman Therapies and Wild Woman Awakening — a program and community helping women reconnect with their instinctual nature, reclaim their authentic voice, and step fully into their power. Maureen blends therapeutic expertise with creativity, nature, and community through private practice, group therapy, and immersive retreats in Stuart, Florida.

• Wild Woman Awakening Program https://wildwomantherapies.com/About
• Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés (foundational reading on the Wild Woman archetype)

In this episode of Bonded, we continue exploring the theme of interconnection—what Thich Nhat Hanh called “interbeing.”

This conversation is an invitation to remember something many of us have forgotten: we are not separate—from nature, from each other, or from life itself.

Lizzie shares how her relationship with nature opened the door to a deeper sense of belonging, while Dr. Patty reflects on how mindfulness helps us reconnect to what has always been here—our innate capacity for connection.

Together, they explore how disconnection—whether from people or the natural world—can be at the root of suffering, and how gently restoring awareness of interconnection can bring a sense of hope, support, and wholeness.

• What “interbeing” really means and how it shows up in everyday life
• How mindfulness is not about learning something new—but remembering what is already true
• A powerful food meditation practice to experience interconnection directly
• The link between loneliness, disconnection, and emotional suffering
• How reconnecting with nature can support healing—especially when human connection feels difficult
• Why connection (to people and the earth) may be a missing piece in how we understand well-being

This week, try this simple mindfulness practice: At your next meal, pause and really look at your plate.

Notice:

• Where did this food come from?
• What elements made it possible? (sun, rain, soil, animals)
• Who contributed along the way? (farmers, transporters, cooks)

Let yourself feel into the truth that this single meal is made up of the entire universe. Notice what arises—gratitude, awe, connection, or something else.

Connect and Grow with Us:

If this episode resonates, we invite you to continue exploring with us:

• Join our upcoming mindfulness and eco-awareness offerings www.SacredTreehouse.org
• Reach out to learn more about our community [email protected]
• Or simply begin by stepping outside and noticing your connection to the living world around you

In this special series launch episode, Dr. Patty interviews her daughter and co-host Lizzie to explore the origins of their newest podcast series: Nature's Role in Healing Trauma and Cultivating Wellness.

Whether you're a nature lover, a skeptic, a parent wondering how to inspire curiosity in your children, or someone seeking new pathways to healing, this series is for you.

This isn't just another wellness trend, this is Lizzie's life's work coming full circle. From a childhood spent mesmerized by A Bug's Life and asking for World Wildlife Fund donations instead of birthday presents, to sustainable summer camps in Ecuador and Costa Rica, to studying permaculture at Rancho Mastatal, to becoming a health coach and now a trauma therapist—Lizzie's path has always been guided by one question: How can I help the Earth?

In this tender, personal conversation, Dr. Patty and Lizzie trace the invisible thread that connects to her awakening that there is no separation between planetary health and human health.

This episode sets the stage for a groundbreaking summer series exploring how nature isn't just a nice place to visit, it's a fundamental part of who we are, and reconnecting with it is one of the most powerful tools we have for healing trauma, regulating our nervous systems, and living with more joy, peace, and purpose.

Links & Resources

→ Sacred Treehouse Retreats and Eco-Mindfulness Classes: https://sacredtreehouse.org

→ Work with Lizzie: Email [email protected]

→ Rancho Mastatal (permaculture learning center in Costa Rica): https://ranchomastatal.com/

→ Sustainable Summer programs have closed as of 2024

May you remember: We are nature. There is no separation. And taking care of ourselves is taking care of the whole.

If you enjoyed this episode leave a review to help us reach more people ready to reconnect with nature—and themselves.

SEO Keywords: nature therapy, ecotherapy, nature and mental health, trauma healing in nature, permaculture, sustainable living, nature connection, planetary health, environmental wellness, nature-based healing, childhood and nature

Dr. Patty explores one of the most powerful healing modalities she's witnessed in her 30+ years as a psychologist: Family Constellation, a transformational approach to healing generational trauma, attachment wounds, and the blocking beliefs we carry without even knowing where they came from.

Have you ever had a reaction that felt bigger than the moment? A wave of rage or grief with no clear source? What if it didn't start with you? What if you've been unconsciously carrying something that was never yours to carry and what if today, you could begin to put it down?

Dr. Patty shares how family constellation work makes the invisible visible, revealing the unconscious loyalties, unexpressed grief, and unacknowledged suffering that gets passed down through families and how this energetic healing modality can free you to live a life that truly belongs to you.

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT: We are bringing facilitator Maria do Carmo back to the U.S. in May 2026 for systemic healing workshops and family constellation sessions. Click here to explore: sacred-treehouse.mykajabi.com/systemic-healing

CRITICAL: This work requires a highly trained facilitator. Do not attempt constellation work with someone who has only taken a weekend certification. True mastery takes years of training and personal work.

Links & Resources

→ Ep.10 Family Constellation: Healing the Invisible Ties with Maria do Carmo

→ Ep.13 Beyond Words: Generational Healing Through Family Constellation (Part 2)

→ Ep.21 Birth as a Gift: Healing the Mother Wound & Early Attachment Trauma

→ May 2025 Workshops: sacred-treehouse.mykajabi.com/systemic-healing

→ Sacred Treehouse: https://sacredtreehouse.org

In this solo episode, Lizzie shares fresh insights from her recent 5-day EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapist training and why this powerful therapeutic approach is a game-changer for healing trauma, whether you're 2 or 92!

EMDR isn't just for big-T trauma like abuse or accidents. It's also incredibly effective for the "small-t" traumas that shape our attachment wounds, negative core beliefs, and parenting patterns—things like childhood rejection, feeling unseen, or internalizing the belief that "you're not enough".

Lizzie breaks down the science behind EMDR using the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, explaining how our brain naturally processes experiences and what happens when that system gets stuck. She walks through examples, shares four "aha-moment" insights from her training, and explains why this matters for couples preparing for parenthood, parents breaking generational cycles, and children as young as two healing from early trauma.

If you've ever felt stuck in patterns you can't seem to break, or wondered why your child has big reactions to seemingly small things—this episode will change how you think about healing.

Links & Resources

→ Sacred Treehouse EMDR services: https://sacredtreehouse.org

→ Learn more about EMDR: EMDR International Association - emdria.org

→ Connect with Lizzie for EMDR therapy for adults or children: www.BeenenTherapyGroup.com

After two months of interviewing experts on grief, postpartum mental health, adoption, play-based learning, and parenting teens, one truth became crystal clear: Parents go first. Before you can attune to your child, regulate their emotions, or create a secure base for them to grow from, you must first tend to yourself and your partnership.

This episode tackles the hard truths nobody tells you before having kids: that your own childhood wounds will get activated, that your identity will shift in ways you can't predict, that even the best-laid plans will fall apart, and that if you don't protect your couple relationship, everything else becomes infinitely harder.

Whether you're preparing for marriage, expecting your first child, navigating fertility struggles, or already deep in the trenches of parenting—this conversation offers a roadmap for building the kind of relationship that can weather the beautiful chaos of raising a family together.

In This Episode We Explore:

1. Children Activate Your Own Attachment Wounds & Unmet Needs: How your inner child gets triggered by your actual child—and why self-awareness is key before parenting.
2. Becoming a Parent is a Massive Identity Shift: Even with preparation, you can't fully predict how motherhood or fatherhood will change you—and that's okay.
3. The Best Laid Plans Can (and Often Do) Fail: Infertility, pregnancy loss, premature birth, career changes—life happens, and flexibility + communication are everything.
4. The Parental Relationship is the Foundation: Your partnership is the soil from which your family grows. If it's not tended to, everything else suffers.

About the Upcoming Couples Program

Dr. Patty and Lizzie are developing a 3-6 month pre-marital and pre-baby program for couples to:

• Explore attachment wounds and unmet needs
• Build effective communication and repair skills
• Assess individual nervous system needs and regulation strategies
• Create rituals of connection that protect the relationship through life's transitions
• Prepare the "soil" of their relationship before welcoming children

Interested? Reach out to Sacred Treehouse for more information.

Links & Resources

→ Sacred Treehouse programs: https://sacredtreehouse.org

→ Contact us about the Couples Program: [email protected]

→ Revisit Part 1: Episode 33 - 5 Parenting Truths That Matter More Than Perfection

→ Katie K. May episode (Parents Go First): Episode 31

If this episode resonated, please share it with a couple preparing for marriage or parenthood, someone navigating fertility struggles, or any parent who's realized they need to tend to their own relationship.

Leave a review to help us reach more families looking to heal!

In this special reflective episode, Dr. Patty and Lizzie step back from interviewing experts to share the biggest takeaways from the past two months of conversations with clinicians, therapists, educators, and moms navigating the beautiful, messy reality of raising children.

This episode distills wisdom from early loss and grief, pediatric care, intuitive parenting, postpartum mental health, parenting teens with big emotions, play-based learning, and adoption. Whether you're expecting, parenting toddlers, navigating the teen years, or simply wanting to understand yourself more deeply, these five principles are foundational.

Part 2 coming next week will explore how unmet needs shape the way we parent.

Explore More:

Sacred Treehouse programs: https://sacredtreehouse.org

Revisit episodes from our Foundations Series:

• Episode 23: Jessica Malmberg on Grief & Infant Loss
• Episode 25: Ev Leyva on Intuitive Parenting
• Episode 26: Dr. Celina Moore on Pediatric Care
• Episode 27: Stephanie Loesel Building a Business Postpartum
• Episode 28: Erin Vinski on Postpartum Mental Health
• Episode 30: Sunflower Creative Arts Episode on Play-Based Learning
• Episode 31: Katie K. May on Parenting Teens with Big Emotions
• Episode 32: Selina Beenen on Adoption & Belonging

Share this episode with a parent who needs the reminder there's no one, perfect, right way to do it!

In this deeply personal and moving episode, Lizzie and Dr. Patty sit down with Selina Beenen, LCSW to hear her story of being adopted as an infant and how that experience shaped her life, her sense of self, and her calling to become a therapist.

Selina shares what it was like to grow up knowing she was adopted but never being allowed to talk about it. She describes the confusion, the abandonment, the unspoken loyalty to her adoptive mother, and the question that lived underneath everything: Was I wanted? She opens up about the grief of not knowing where she came from, the fear of rejection that kept her from searching for her biological family, and the Christmas morning in 2018 when her four sons gave her an Ancestry DNA kit, a gift that would change everything.

This episode is raw, tender, and full of hope. The journey of adoptee identity integration, healing, and belonging is still unfolding for Selina, tune for this heart-centered honest conversation.

In This Episode We Explore:

• The unspoken rule: Why talking about adoption felt like a betrayal to her adoptive mother
• How adopted children become emotional caretakers, protecting their parents' feelings instead of their own
• The invisible wound: "Was I wanted? Why was I given up?"
• Why adoptees often don't search for biological family
• The grief and confusion adoptees carry even in loving adoptive families
• How normal childhood discipline triggered deeper feelings of abandonment and rejection
• The overwhelming mix of joy, fear, grief, and belonging that comes with reunion with biological family

Links & Resources

→ Beenen Therapy Group: www.beenentherapygroup.com

→ Follow on social media: @BeenenTherapyGroup @SacredTreehouse

→ Sacred Treehouse programs: www.sacredtreehouse.org

Look Forward to Part 2

In a future episode, Selina will share clinical insights for adoptive parents and what helps adopted individuals integrate their identity and heal.

If this episode moved you, please share it with an adoptee who feels alone, an adoptive parent seeking understanding, or anyone navigating the complexity of identity, belonging, and family. Leave a review to help us reach more people who need to know: healing is possible.

In this powerful conversation, Dr. Patty and Lizzie welcome bestselling author and DBT clinician Katie K. May to discuss her book You're On Fire, It's Fine, a deeply personal and skillful guide for parents navigating the overwhelming world of parenting teenagers with big emotions and mental health struggles.

Katie brings both professional expertise and lived experience to this discussion, openly sharing her own journey as a teenager and as a current parent of a teen facing mental health challenges. She breaks down why teens with biological sensitivity feel like they're "on fire" with their emotions, why self-destructive behaviors actually make sense as attempts to put out that fire, and what parents can do instead of minimizing, dismissing, or trying to fix it fast.

Katie emphasizes one critical message: Parents go first. When parents learn to regulate their own emotions, validate authentically, and repair harm, they become the most powerful agents of change in their teen's healing.

If you're parenting a teen who's struggling, if you work with families, or if you're simply trying to understand how to show care and concern for a loved one—this episode is will not disappoint.

In This Episode We Explore:

• How self-destructive behaviors (self-harm, substance use) work to make emotional pain go down, why teens keep doing them, and how NOT to reinforce them
• The connection between emotions and behavior: behaviors are communication
• The various types of validation to show you care, but don't support their destructive behaviors
• Radical acceptance as a grieving process: Letting go of the idealized vision of parenting
• The "good enough parent" theory

About Our Guest

Katie K. May, LCSW, is a DBT board-certified clinician, bestselling author of You're On Fire, It's Fine, and founder of a group therapy practice specializing in high-risk teenagers. Drawing from her own experience as a teen who struggled and now as a parent navigating mental health challenges with her own child, Katie brings deep compassion, clinical expertise, and radical honesty to her work. She leads parent skills groups, trains therapists, and is passionate about empowering parents to become agents of change in their teen's healing.

Links & Resources

→ You're On Fire, It's Fine by Katie K. May: Linked

→ Katie's DBT practice: creativehealingphilly.com @creative_healing

→ Sacred Treehouse programs: sacredtreehouse.org

→ Patty's team: therapeuticoasis.com Lizzie's team: beenentherapygroup.com