Buckle up, because this one went a little left in the most HME way possible. This week, I was able to dive in with Jana Stern, host of The Just Jana Show. What starts with her incredible mental health journey somehow takes us through BPD, astrology, spirituality, crystals, Gemini men, and a few much needed detours along the way.

Jana opens up about growing up with a father with schizophrenia, developing a severe eating disorder, surviving an overdose, receiving a Borderline diagnosis, and the years of treatment and self-discovery that followed.

We talk about the complexity of what happens when a diagnosis becomes part of your identity, learning to trust yourself again through recovery, and giving yourself grace without using your mental health as an excuse. Then we headed STRAIGHT into the woo-woo with astrology, intuition, spirituality, nervous system regulation, and the different ways we find meaning in what we’ve been through.

Mental health, healing, astrology, trauma, crystals, and two women with absolutely no interest in staying on one conversational path. You know, a normal episode of Hot Mess Espresso.

This week, I was able to sit down with Dr. Erin Ventoso, a RocDoc provider and host of the Hardcore Healing Pod. We just DOVE into a conversation about mental health, music, and what taking care of yourself actually looks like... especially when your job happens to involve living on the road.

Erin opens up about navigating OCD, anxiety, and a later ADHD diagnosis, how music became a lifeline for her, and the not-so-glamorous reality of keeping touring musicians and crews healthy behind the scenes. We get into nervous system overload, sustainable self-care, why healthcare on tour needs to be more accessible, and how Erin found a way to give back to the music community that helped her through some of her hardest moments.

Plus naturally, some ADHD tangents, feline interruptions, millennial coping mechanisms, and a little House of the Dragon obsession made their way in. Because this is still Hot Mess Espresso, and even with heavy topics there's always some chaos.

After having the pleasure of meeting up with the guys from Lives Lost when their tour came through, this week I’m joined by Tanis, Shawn, and Dan to talk about the reality of building a band, surviving tour, and making music out of some of the hardest parts of life. We get into how the band has evolved with a new lineup, writing through grief and trauma, and what it’s like putting deeply personal songs into the world knowing someone else might hear their own story in them.

Of course, we couldn’t keep things serious for too long. We also get into their most unserious coping mechanisms, the songs we put on when we need to be dramatic, everyone's guilty pleasure music, questionable tour purchases, and why holding your dog up like Simba might actually be a valid mental health strategy. Check out the end of the episode for info on where you can find Lives Lost on tour very soon.

This episode hits a little differently for me. JT isn’t just a guest: he’s my friend, and I still remember getting the text after he got out of the hospital telling me how close he had come to ending his life. I’d talked to him just days before and had absolutely no idea what he was carrying.

One year and one day after his attempt, JT joined me to talk openly about what led him there, his experience in the mental health system, and what the last 366 days of choosing to stay have actually looked like. We talk therapy, medication, finding pieces of yourself again, saying yes to the things you’ve always wanted to do, and building a life that finally feels like your own.

It’s a heavy conversation, but it’s also about what can happen after your darkest moment; and getting to hear my friend talk about the future he’s building is something I’m incredibly grateful for.

IG: @heavymetalcowboy

This week, I’m joined by marriage and family therapist Candice Coughenour for a very real conversation about relationships, communication, and all the complicated stuff that happens when two people bring their own histories, triggers, and nervous systems into the mix. We talk about why premarital counseling deserves way more attention, how neurodivergence can impact communication between partners, and what it actually means to take accountability for the role we play in our relationship patterns.

We also get into boundaries versus requests, people pleasing and overfunctioning, learning to sit with discomfort, and why “protecting your peace” doesn’t necessarily mean avoiding anything that makes you uncomfortable. Candice breaks down why more than one thing can be true at the same time, how our family dynamics follow us into adulthood, and why sometimes the healthiest thing you can do during an argument is go to bed angry and come back to it when everyone’s nervous system has calmed the hell down.

Nervous system resets, cortisol, supplements, hormones… the internet has approximately 47 solutions for everything wrong with us. So I sat down with integrative health practitioner Ashley Cruz Arata to cut through some of the noise.

Ashley shares her own journey from being repeatedly told she was “fine” to discovering a precancerous thyroid tumor, and how that experience completely changed the direction of her life and career. We talk about medical dismissal, chronic illness and mental health, functional medicine, supplement overload, perimenopause, and why “resetting your nervous system” probably isn’t as simple as TikTok makes it sound.

The biggest takeaway from this episode? You know your body better than anyone.

We've all been told our best years are supposed to be in our 20s, but what if they're later in life? This week, I sit down with Andy Bigelow to talk about rebuilding after life completely flips you upside down. From divorce and losing his career to moving back in with his parents and starting over, Andy shares how he found his footing again one small step at a time. We also get into creativity, podcasting, dark humor, and why sometimes the best way through the mess is to laugh at it. It's a conversation about resilience, reinvention, and proof that your story doesn't end when life doesn't go according to plan.

Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala returns to the podcast to share the results of her groundbreaking clinical trial and officially introduce BPD Compass, her new workbook designed to make effective Borderline Personality Disorder treatment more accessible. We talked about what the research revealed, why BPD is often misunderstood, how personalized treatment can create meaningful change in just 18 sessions, and what the future of BPD care looks like. Plus, BPD Compass is now available to order, giving both individuals and therapists a practical, evidence-based resource to start building lasting change and relief to those suffering from BPD.

• Web: https://www.shannonsauerzavala.com/
• The BPD Compass Workbook - Pre-order and Bonuses: https://www.shannonsauerzavala.com/the-bpd-compass-workbook
• Instagram: @self.made.personality: https://www.instagram.com/self.made.personality/

This week, I'm sitting down with author Corwin Michaels for one of the most powerful conversations I've had on the podcast. Corwin shares his experience growing up in foster care, navigating adoption, surviving unimaginable abuse, and how those experiences shaped both his mental health and the fantasy worlds he creates as an author. We also dove into religious trauma, ADHD, bipolar disorder, therapy, resilience, and why telling your story can be one of the most healing things you do. It's an honest, emotional conversation about surviving what should have broken you, and choosing to keep living anyway.

This week, I sit down with fellow podcaster Matt Homes for a real conversation about creative burnout, knowing when to walk away, and finding your way back to something you love. We also get into parenting, breaking generational cycles, accountability, and trying to do things differently than the way we were raised. It's honest, a little messy, and a reminder that sometimes the hardest person to hold accountable is yourself.

The Homes Room Pod is officially (mostly) back up and running, so go check it out now!