In Sanity: A piece of mind

Join me this week for a gentle meditation to support all the parents, grandparents, and caregivers out there. Give yourself 25 minutes and a little love - because taking care of others is hard, and you are crushing it.

Reach out if you want to know more about the January parenting group.

Join me this week as we continue the discussion about shame. In this episode, I'll talk about why shame doesn't get better by staying hidden — it gets worse. I'm covering Chapter 6 of Curt Thompson's The Soul of Shame, where he says the fix for shame is vulnerability. I'll explain what that actually means, and why hiding a hard feeling doesn't make it go away. We will also talk about why being really good at things can secretly be a way of hiding, why your body reacts to being truly seen almost like it's in danger, and why letting yourself be known is both scary and one of the best things you can do for yourself. There is something for everyone in this little ditty. Thanks for joining me.

We are about halfway through the parenting group, Raising Connected Kids, and I thought I'd provide an update. It's going well. I will offer it again in January. As a reminder, you don't have to be local because there is a Zoom option.

I've still got other topics to cover, and I haven't forgotten them, so stay tuned.

This is part 2 of the discussion on shame in our faith communities. In this episode, I discuss the healing part: community, confession, forgiveness, prayer, and meditation practices all work to heal shame that may have come to you through your faith tradition. Faith traditions can hurt and heal. This podcast is a good resource for understanding this idea.

This is part 1 of 2, and this week I talk about how faith can be one of the places shame hides deepest — and one of the places it heals most completely. In this episode, I'm looking honestly at how religious teaching can sometimes turn "I made a mistake" into "I am fundamentally broken," and how the same traditions that can wound us also carry some of the oldest tools we have for healing shame: grace, confession, forgiveness, prayer, and contemplative practice. Whether you hold a strong faith, a complicated one, or none at all, this episode connects those old practices to the same research we've been talking about.

Let's meditate. This is not a meditation about NPD. It is a practice about the ordinary, everyday ways that all of us protect our vulnerable places with something hard. So, let's get curious about the armor.

Welcome back to In Sanity: A Piece of Mind. Last episode, I talked about the gap between who someone is and who they need to believe they are, and how narcissism is really a wall built around that gap, not an excess of self-love. In this episode, we will start there.

Today I'm going deeper into what the actual clinical picture of NPD looks like, what the research says about shame specifically inside that diagnosis, where it actually comes from developmentally, and how you protect yourself from narcissistic behavior without needing to dehumanize the person behind it. My hope is you leave this episode able to hold empathy and a boundary at the same time.

**This podcast does not address physical abuse in any way. If you are in a relationship where there is abuse, please seek professional help**

Welcome back to In Sanity: A Piece of Mind. I this episode, going to talk about shame and the narcissist.

Most of us picture someone loud — bragging, taking over every conversation, never admitting they're wrong. But narcissism isn't loving yourself too much. It's the opposite. It's what a person builds when they can't stand to look at the real, ordinary version of themselves.

Narcissism is the cope used when someone can't tolerate the gap between their real, ordinary, flawed self, and the fantasy self they have created, and need to believe is real.

We will discuss two types of narcissism and how they operate from the same egocentric premise.

Join me this week, take a good hard look at yourself, and see if you can't diagnose a bit of narcissism in your own life.

A little break from shame this week.

I have started my own business and would like to share the new brand, and tell you about some new groups and services I will be providing.

Beginning on September 1, 2026, I will be offering a parenting group. This week's podcast discusses the specific things that you will learn in each of the six weeks, and why it matters.

Check out the link below to see the flyer, and use the QR code or the register link to claim your seat. After registration, you will hear from me with further details.

Mental Refinery Therapy and Coaching

Raising Connected Kids, Toddler through Teen

***UPDATED TO INCLUDE PARENTING GROUP INFORMATION***

***UPDATED AGAIN****

The link at the bottom of the description now works and takes you to the current version of my website. Additionally, you can find the website directly by clicking on this link: mentalrefinery

At the end of this week's podcast, I announce a parenting group that I am running beginning September 1st. It will run Tuesdays from 7:00 - 8:30 for 6 weeks. Registration deadline is August 25. For my details check out the flyer linked below.

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This is a great episode. I answer a couple more listener questions, and then have a fun, interesting conversation about shame with my daughters. The intention was to work through some examples of shame behaviors; which they did, and so much more. In this episode you will see real vulnerability, accountability and nuance as we discuss shame and how it has affected our lives.

Raising Connected Kids, Toddler Through Teen
A 6-week parenting group with Stephanie Snuffer, M.Ed, CMHC

Dates: Tuesdays, 6 weeks, starting September 1
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Format: In-person or Zoom — 10 in-person seats, 6 virtual seats
Location: Mental Refinery, 11075 S. State St., Bldg. 25, Sandy, UT 84070
For: Parents of kids toddler through age 18 (beginner-friendly)

Cost: $675/person or $900/couple — due in full at registration
Registration deadline: August 25

Weekly topics:

1. Foundations & Values
2. Attachment
3. Behavior & Nervous System
4. Boundaries
5. Inner Child Work
6. Repair & Integration

Contact: (801) 692-3391 · [email protected] · thementalrefinery.com

Raising Connected Kids Parenting Group