Conversations That Heal

Beyond Survival: Michelle's Journey of Faith, Healing & Rediscovering Beauty | Conversations That Heal

What happens when you've survived so much, but you're still learning how to heal?

In this episode of Conversations That Heal, I sit down with Michelle McKenney, a three-time cancer survivor, Army veteran, mental health professional, holistic esthetician, and owner of Unstoppable Aesthetics, for an honest conversation about resilience, faith, self-love, and discovering beauty beyond what we've experienced.

Michelle's journey has been anything but easy. From battling cancer and navigating a misdiagnosis to experiencing domestic violence, losing her mother to pancreatic cancer, and facing serious vision challenges, including retinal detachment, she has encountered seasons that challenged her physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

But what I appreciated about this conversation is that Michelle doesn't present healing as something she has completely figured out.

She is still learning. Still growing. Still becoming.

We talk about what it means to reconnect with the child within, challenge the thoughts we've carried about ourselves, and recognize how our experiences can influence the way we see ourselves and the world around us.

Michelle shares how changing her mindset, releasing the need to control everything, and learning to surrender to God have become important parts of her healing journey.

We also explore those uncomfortable in-between seasons when you've moved beyond who you used to be but haven't quite figured out who you're becoming.

Sometimes those seasons aren't about being stuck. They're about learning to trust God while He continues working in areas of our lives we may not fully understand.

One of the most meaningful parts of our conversation is how Michelle has connected her personal experiences to her purpose.

Through Unstoppable Aesthetics, her work goes beyond skincare. She creates opportunities for people to recognize their beauty, reconnect with themselves, and experience care that considers more than their outward appearance.

Because sometimes the most important transformation isn't what we see in the mirror. It's how we begin to see ourselves.

We also discuss the connection between our thoughts and physical well-being, the importance of alignment, and why resilience doesn't mean we never struggle.

As we close in prayer, my hope is that this conversation reminds you that you can be grateful for what you've survived while still acknowledging the parts of you that need healing.

You can be strong and still need support.

You can have faith and still have questions.

And you can be healing while still becoming.

Your beauty, your worth, and your purpose are not determined by what you've been through. 💙

Connect With Michelle McKenney

If Michelle's story resonated with you, I encourage you to connect with her, explore her work, and learn more about the resources and services she offers. Author Website: https://www.iammichellemckenney.com

Unstoppable Esthetics: https://www.unstoppable-esthetics.com

Skincare Products: https://www.uglyessentialsonline.com

Instagram: @unstoppable_esthetics

TikTok: @unstoppableesthetics

Trauma Coaching with Dr. Stephanie Jeffreys

Through Renewed Perspective Coaching, I help individuals explore how past experiences may be showing up in their present lives and begin making intentional choices toward healing and growth.

Let's Make Space for Your Healing: https://calendly.com/sdjeffreys

Listen to Conversations That Heal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StephanieJeffreys

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🎙️ Conversations That Heal Healing One Conversation at a Time. #ConversationsThatHeal #BeyondSurvival #CancerSurvivor #FaithAndHealing #SelfLove #HealingJourney #UnstoppableAesthetics

What does it really mean to become a cycle breaker?

In this episode of Conversations That Heal, I sit down with Rain for an incredibly honest conversation about childhood trauma, resilience, healing, and what it takes to intentionally create a life that looks different from the one you came from.

Rain’s story began with circumstances she had no control over. She was born in prison, experienced poverty and multiple evictions, battled renal vasculitis and endured years of chemotherapy, witnessed her mother’s addiction and arrest, and was eventually taken across the country by an estranged father into another environment affected by alcoholism and violence.

But this conversation isn't only about what Rain survived.

It's about who she decided to become.

We talk about how childhood trauma can follow us into adulthood—affecting our sense of safety, relationships, self-worth, and even what feels normal to us. Rain shares how healing required her to stop bypassing difficult emotions and begin facing what she had experienced.

She also talks about becoming a cycle breaker, not simply by saying she wanted something different, but through the choices she makes every day.

Through her relationship with her husband, Carlos, and his family, Rain began experiencing what safety could actually feel like. Her healing journey has also included therapy, reading, EFT, hypnotherapy, breathwork, meditation, and inner-child work.

We also talk about the unexpected path that eventually led her into entrepreneurship—from leaving college and briefly joining Amway to building Raintavia LLC, where she now provides operations and technology support for online businesses.

One of the things I appreciated most about this conversation was Rain's reminder to “trust in chaos.”

Your beginning may explain parts of your story, but it does not have to determine how the story ends.

You can heal.

You can choose differently.

You can become the person who says:

The cycle stops with me. 💙

🎙️ Conversations That Heal

#ConversationsThatHeal #CycleBreaker #TraumaHealing #ChildhoodTrauma #Resilience #InnerChildHealing #HealingJourney

What happens when you grow up loved and supported, but there is still a part of you wondering where you came from?

In this episode of Conversations That Heal, I sit down with Dr. Adam Anthony for a powerful conversation about foster care, adoption, identity, faith, and the journey of finding yourself.

Dr. Anthony was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, abandoned at the hospital, placed in foster care, and eventually adopted through a foster-to-adopt program. Although he grew up in a stable and loving family, there was still a longing to understand his biological roots—what he describes as the “ghost kingdom” many adoptees experience.

We talk about the complicated emotions that can come with searching for your biological family, the fears adoptive parents may carry, and why adoptees need community, mentorship, therapy, and support as they navigate questions about identity and belonging.

Dr. Anthony also shares how his faith shaped his journey, how telling his story helped remove the shame once attached to it, and how his experiences eventually became part of his purpose.

Today, through Mpowerment, he equips and supports those working with young men of color who come from foster care and adoption backgrounds.

One thing that stayed with me from this conversation is the power of knowing your story without allowing the painful parts of that story to determine who you become.

Sometimes healing isn't about finding every missing piece.

Sometimes, somewhere along the journey, you realize:

I found me. 

If you would like to learn more about Dr. Adam Anthony, his work, or the services and support he offers, you can connect with him here:

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Dr. Anthony offers services and resources for individuals, families, organizations, and professionals connected to foster care, adoption, identity development, mentorship, and the support of young men of color. Visit his website for additional information about his current services and offerings.

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#ConversationsThatHeal #IFoundMe #Adoption #FosterCare #Identity #FaithAndHealing #HealingJourney #Mpowerment

Have you ever spent so much time waiting for someone else to choose you that you forgot to ask whether you were choosing yourself?

In this episode of Conversations That Heal, I’m talking about the emotional toll of waiting to be chosen, in relationships, friendships, family, careers, and even spaces where we have spent years trying to prove that we belong.

For some of us, this started long before adulthood.

When you grow up believing you have to perform to receive love, attention, or affection, you can carry that same belief into your adult relationships. You overgive. You overextend. You accept the bare minimum. You work harder to prove your value, hoping that eventually someone will look at everything you bring to the table and finally say, “I choose you.”

But I’ve had to confront something in my own journey:

Being needed is not the same as being loved.

And someone choosing me does not determine my worth.

God has already chosen me.

In this episode, I share what I’m learning about stepping back from the need to be needed, recognizing when childhood wounds are influencing adult choices, and asking myself a different question:

“Am I choosing me?”

Choosing yourself doesn't mean you stop loving other people. It means you stop abandoning yourself in the process of loving them.

It means refusing to audition for love.

It means no longer accepting less because you're afraid nothing better will come.

It means recognizing that you don't have to convince someone of your value in order to possess it.

I close this episode in prayer, asking God to give us the courage to release relationships and dynamics that no longer serve us, seek Him before seeking validation from others, and learn how to choose ourselves differently.

Maybe you've spent enough time waiting to be chosen.

This time, choose you. 💙

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#ConversationsThatHeal #ChooseYourself #ChoosingMe #SelfWorth #ChildhoodWounds #Relationships #FaithAndHealing #HealingJourney

Choose Me Differently: My Story & the Start of Conversations That Heal

In this episode of Conversations That Heal, I’m taking you back to the beginning, not just the beginning of this podcast, but pieces of the story that shaped the woman behind the microphone.

On the day before my 49th birthday, I find myself reflecting on my life with an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

I share pieces of my childhood growing up in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and some of the experiences that shaped me, growing up with drug-addicted parents, experiencing abandonment, molestation, abuse, and negative words that followed me long after childhood ended.

But this episode isn't only about what happened to me.

It's about who I became.

I talk about becoming an author and writing Praying Your Way Through IVF and Finding the Courage to Heal. I share how travel became an unexpected part of my healing journey and eventually led me to create Grateful Wanderer Travel, giving women the opportunity to simply show up, breathe, experience the world, and allow someone else to take care of the details.

As a trauma coach, I have spent years helping others change the way they see what they've survived. I believe deeply in the power of a renewed perspective, faith, resilience, and honest conversations.

But now, at 49, God is teaching me something else:

I can show up for myself too.

This next chapter of my life is about choosing me differently—not selfishly, but intentionally.

And I'm inviting 1,000 women to join me.

For the next 365 days, what would happen if we intentionally chose ourselves? What if we stopped waiting until everyone else was okay before giving ourselves permission to live, heal, rest, dream, explore, and become?

If you're ready to take this journey with me, comment:

“I CHOOSE ME.” 💙

Together, we'll spend the next year learning what it looks like to choose ourselves differently through weekly challenges, reflection, encouragement, self-care, solo dates, and affirmations.

And, as always, we close our conversation in prayer.

Continue the Journey With Me 💙

💙 Choosing Me: A Year of Self-Care, Solo Dates & Self-Love

✈️ Wander With Me — Grateful Wanderer Travel

📚 Purchase Praying Your Way Through IVF

📚 Purchase Finding the Courage to Heal

Welcome to Conversations That Heal.

Healing One Conversation at a Time. 🎙️💙

In this episode of Conversations That Heal, I sit down with breast cancer survivor, author, speaker, and advocate Cynthia Smalls for a powerful conversation about surviving breast cancer, learning to love your changing body, advocating for yourself, and finding purpose after diagnosis.

Cynthia shares how a 3D mammogram in 2016 helped detect an aggressive form of breast cancer early and how her own experience revealed a lack of breast cancer resources and representation specifically for Black women. That realization eventually led her to create Melanin & Pink Ribbons, a platform dedicated to providing culturally relevant education, encouragement, and support for Black women fighting and surviving breast cancer.

We talk honestly about the parts of survivorship that aren't always discussed—the grief that can accompany changes to your body, learning to look at yourself differently, and understanding that healing doesn't always happen in a straight line. Cynthia shares how mirrors, journaling, affirmations, community, and intentional self-love became part of her healing journey.

We also discuss the importance of advocacy, taking someone you trust to medical appointments, asking questions, educating yourself instead of allowing fear to have the final word, and creating resources where representation matters.

Cynthia also shares the books and resources she has created for breast cancer fighters, survivors, and their families.

We close our conversation in prayer for those currently fighting breast cancer, survivors continuing to heal, and the families and communities walking alongside them.

Connect with Cynthia Smalls:

Founder, Author & Speaker

Email: [email protected]

Blog: melaninpinkribbons.com

Instagram: @MelaninPinkRibbons

Books & Resources:

Push the Button

Positive Affirmation Journal for Breast Cancer Fighters & Survivors

Love, Strength & Crayons

The Self Love Journal

🎙️ Conversations That Heal — Healing One Conversation at a Time.

In this episode of Conversations That Heal, I’m talking about what it means to choose gratitude when life doesn’t feel good.

Gratitude doesn’t mean denying sadness, anger, grief, relationship endings, financial stress, or disappointment. It means recognizing that even in difficult seasons, there can still be something worth holding onto.

I share pieces of my own therapy journey, including the fear I once had about telling family secrets and the freedom I experienced when I finally had a safe place to be heard without judgment. I also share a lesson from therapy that changed how I approached my healing: pain can help us understand our behavior, but eventually we have to take responsibility for what we do with that pain.

I reflect on navigating profound loss, including losing a baby and my mother, and a season when the weight of everything I was carrying became incredibly heavy. I talk honestly about experiencing suicidal thoughts and why I believe it is so important to stay, reach for support, and give yourself the opportunity to see what can exist beyond the pain you're experiencing today.

I also share practical ways to begin choosing gratitude: write down the names of people who have shown up for you, notice the everyday things your body allows you to experience, thank God for what you still have, remember the times He has shown up before, identify what you love about yourself, and revisit memories that remind you that your story contains joy too.

Gratitude doesn't require us to pretend everything is okay.

Sometimes gratitude simply says, “This is hard, but I can still find something to thank God for today.”

I close this episode with prayer for anyone who is struggling to find gratitude in their current season.

🎵 Praise Song of the Week: “Because of You” by Tamia

https://youtu.be/xTFBocxo1DU?si=2u1eDuWuXLQo60tZ

🎙️ Conversations That Heal — Healing One Conversation at a Time.

In this episode of Conversations That Heal, I sit down with Dr. Monica Sines for a powerful conversation about healing, boundaries, authenticity, and discovering the beauty of who you truly are.

Dr. Monica shares how her journey as a veteran, pharmacist, author, and singer helped her move from survival mode to a place of peace and freedom. Together, we discuss people-pleasing, family trauma, accountability, re-parenting ourselves, self-forgiveness, and why true self-love goes far beyond what we see on social media.

One of my favorite reminders from this conversation is that you are not your experiences—you are worthy of healing, grace, and love.

I pray this episode encourages you to take one small step toward your own healing journey.

If this conversation blessed you, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

Romans 8:28 (NIV)

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

"Lord You Are Good" – Todd Galberth Lord You Are Good

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Healing One Conversation at a Time. 💙

Grief, Purpose & Gratitude Can Coexist | Conversations That Heal with Dr. Stephanie Jeffreys