Dr. Maureen Fleming grew up believing that if she followed the rules, treated people well, and worked hard, things would turn out as they should. That belief carried her through school, graduate training, and years of work focused on social justice and identity-based stress. But during her Ph.D. program, the demands placed on her exceeded what her body could sustain.

In this episode, Maureen reflects on perfectionism, acquired disability, and the painful realization that doing everything “right” does not guarantee safety, success, or fair treatment. She talks with Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston about the bodily toll of pushing beyond capacity, the difficulty of accepting disability, and the difference between doing what is expected and doing what is right for oneself.

The conversation also explores embodied stress, emotional regulation, unconditional love, and the people and animals whose care helped sustain Maureen through depression and disability.

In this episode:

• How childhood lessons about goodness and success can shape perfectionism
• The limits of pushing through physical and emotional distress
• Learning to recognize stress through the body
• Accepting acquired disability
• Why unconditional love and community matter in healing

Dr. Maureen Fleming is a licensed counseling psychologist whose work focuses on intersectionality, social justice, and somatic-based healing. She identifies as a White, cisgender woman with an acquired disability and has spent the majority of her life in and around Philadelphia. She received a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oregon, concentrating her research on racial and identity-based stress processing.

Over the last decade, Maureen has provided mental health services in schools, universities, private practice, and community-based clinics. She is also a part-time faculty member at Penn GSE and a long-time trainer and researcher with Lion’s Story. Learn more about Dr. Fleming and her work at  https://www.risingtidespsychologicalwellness.com/

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston