Light from the Rabbit Hole

If you’ve ever been body shamed or felt like losing weight was the answer to everything, or even if you're not the one struggling with body image, this is an important conversation to hear. Dawn speaks with her good friend Shoshana Gordon about the importance of words and finding a healthy balance between calories in and calories out.

The story of her journey from using food as comfort and begging to go to “fat camp” to becoming a gym rat, obsessed with calorie counting, contains so many relatable nuggets of wisdom. She’ll tell us some of the things you should and shouldn’t say about a person’s weight and if it’s beneficial to keep track of weight and calories while you practice loving yourself and owning the body you have.

Shoshana Gordon is a personal trainer with a master’s in social work who specializes in addictions such as eating disorders and substance abuse. Her mission is to reframe the idea of body image in society to help people find happiness using the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of exercise.

Learn more about Shoshana Gordon on Instagram: @sg_fitnesshealth

Behind the scenes of Light From the Rabbit Hole, both former guests from Season One connect on this important Mental Health episode. Kris Rice who debuted on Episode 24, “Advocating Mama Bears”, sought guidance to help her daughter with her mental wellness after listening to Episode 11, “Brain Based Treatments Lighting the Mental Health World on Fire” where world renowed Dr. Roseann Capana Hodges debuted.  Her message of supporting the brain and behaviors without medication as the first alternative was exactly what Kris needed to hear. Dawn brings the ladies back together to continue the conversation of destigmatizing mental health in their own journey together.

While providers repeat the same treatments with medications again and again, people like Kris, are looking for a better outcome. They’ll tell us about the brain map and how it can be used to rewire the brain. They’ll explain how neuroclinical treatments like neurofeedback and biofeedback work in conjunction with other mental wellness support modalities.

It is important to not only calm the brain down when it starts to spiral, but also to teach the brain how to change. Dr. Ro says, “a regulated brain is the only brain that can learn new behaviors”. Her ground-breaking success is changing lives across the country and to have impacted one of Light From The Rabbit Hole’s listeners gives proof to the power of podcast listening.  We can’t wait to share this exciting journey and outcome with you!

Dr. Ro has written 5 books and she has co-authored another awesome book which is a resource guide for parents and caregivers called “Brain Under Attack” and has been called by Forbes Magazine, as “The thought leader in children’s mental health”. She has appeared on CBS, NBC, Fox News, The Mel Robbins Show, USA Today and in the New York Times. Dr Ro is a bad ass and has been referred to as a leader who is “changing the way we view and treat children’s mental health”. You can find her and her services at drroseann.com. You can find her on all of these social media outlets: youtube.com/DrRo, facebook.com/DrRoseannCapannaHodge/, instagram.com/drroseannandassoc and linkedin.com/in/roseanncapannahodge

Kris Rice, Empowerment Coach, can be reached at her company www.krisricecollective.com and on Instagram at krisricecollective

Robyn Jennings returns to continue the conversation from our first season around her struggle with mental wellness and maintaining a healthy relationship with food. She acknowledges that the intrusive obsessive thoughts about her body and weight continue to plague her, but it’s being aware of her disease, every hour of every day, that’s saving her.

We discuss the powerful tool of mindfulness and the different ways to use it, keeping in mind that tools are no good unless you have awareness and more importantly, the desire to live a healthier life. Robyn continues to work to strengthen her ability to recognize when stress is stirring up old habits and goes into action with a remedy which usually includes pausing . . . to simply take a deep breath.

Good friends (and hand-twins), Robyn and Dawn, reveal some deeply personal stories, including the one about when they went wine tasting and had a little too much wine, which triggered them both and allowed them to openly evaluate their relationship with alcohol. This episode is about the mountains you can climb when you decide to wake up and stop judging yourself.

If you are mentally struggling, with food or anything else, please find a support group at www.eatingdisordersanonymous.org to find help or message us at www.lightfromtherabbithole.com.

Jen Slatosch was an open book when Dawn first met her working at Dawn’s apartment complex. Feeling trapped in a toxic job and in recovery, but discovering light through yoga and meditation, you know that got Dawn’s attention and their friendship has blossomed ever since. In this episode, the new friends will dig into the reasons Jen turned to alcohol at an early age and drank until she blacked out. You’ll hear how she’s fighting to get her power back.

They discuss some of the fundamental characteristics of addicts, such as having a tendency to catastrophize everything, taking everything to the extreme and seeing herself as the most important person in every situation. She’ll advise us on what we can do if we have a friend working a program and how being aware of an unraveling moment is key.

Jen’s working hard to stay accountable to herself, honor her emotions and let them pass. She’s passionately working her recovery program and understanding that her story may help someone else struggling with sobriety. She says, “Don’t jump on the ship and let it carry you away!”

If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, please contact Alchoholics Anonymous to get help.  Go to AA.org or call 1-800-839-1686.

If you or someone you love is struggling with domestic abuse, please contact the National Domestic Abuse Hotline. Go to thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

You probably don’t know anyone with a sex or love addiction, right? It’s a topic that nobody talks about, but Hollywood working actress, Brianne Davis, is talking about it with us in this episode. She is the author of the 4 time Best-Selling novel, Secret Life of a Hollywood Sex and Love Addict, and is speaking out about this secret addiction that can bring shame and guilt to a person’s life even beyond what most addictions can handle.

She’ll dispel myths like, not all people with sex and love addiction have been abused or come from broken families. Or like, sex and love addiction meetings are a great place to pick up dates. These people learn how to create boundaries and Brianne goes to 14 meetings a week which she calls a “massage for your soul.”

She’s come a long way from the days when she was manipulating and trying to control others in order to fulfill her fantasies for not just sex, but also romance. She’ll talk about the important realization that at the end of her life, it’s only her love for herself that will matter, so she married herself. She’ll tell us what it’s like to do the work to give yourself worth and find a way to connect to sexuality in a healthy way.

Learn more about Brianne Davis:

On IMBD - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1732403/

Her book: https://amzn.to/3cC921T

This week’s episode titled “Suicide Prevention-Holding space can save lives-Connection/Persuade/Refer”, I have the honor of interviewing Jill Babiarz who is a death by suicide survivor.  Jill leans into her intense lived experiences of severe depression, suicide, and multiple baby losses, She is dedicating her life’s work to the people who have died, so that we may understand their stories and help save lives.  As a Yoga Practitioner, Jill’s been teaching healing movement for over 2 decades both through her online platform and in her studio in Madison, Wisconsin.  She is training to become a Yoga Therapist and her mantra is to “breaking the silence so prevention can get there before it becomes a crisis”. She talks about the technique that we can all learn to help support those in crisis called CPR which stands for Connection Persuade and Refer.  You will be moved by her story and her dedication to destigmatize the shame and blame of suicide. She can be reached at www.healingwithjill.com to book healing sessions or  www.jillbabiarz.com. If you know someone in crisis, don’t hesitate to call your local mental health crisis line, drive them to the ER or dial the National Suicide prevention hotline for them at 1-800-273-8255.

In this fun episode, titled “Creating Normalcy is Everyone’s Responsibility”, Dawn interviews 13 year old Natalie Hills’ who will help educate all of us on how best to support those in the LGBTQ+ community as an ally and advocate.  She explains the pronouns and why they are SO important to understand and use so that we can help normalize the community.  Why does it matter to help normalize something that may seem different to you?  Because when there is a feeling of normalcy, there is a feeling of community.  When there is a feeling of community, there is love and kindness and where there is love and kindness, there is a reduction in bullying, violence and suicide.  There are some great organizations such as The Trevor Project that provide crisis support services for LGBTQ youth in need. They provide crisis intervention and suicide prevention services and can be reached at The Trevor Lifeline: 866.488.7386, www.thetrevorproject.org/help and there’s also an awesome organization called The It Gets Better Project whose mission is to uplift, empower, and connect the LGBTQ+ community www.itgetsbetter.org

This episode was a painful realization of the true heartbreak of addiction and mental illness and it still continues to hit home for us.  Relapse is a common part of the recovery process.  Boredom and isolation could easily be listed as the number one reason for relapse by many individuals in early recovery. Any and all down time prior to recovery was usually used getting their substance, using their substance, and recovering from their substance.  According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), relapse statistics show that 40-60% of people relapse after completing treatment.  Common triggers for relapse are fear, resentment, boredom, and unrealistic expectations. Stress, exhaustion, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Revisiting people, places, or things that used to lead to drug use.

One thing I have come to understand and accept is that addiction is a lifelong diagnosis that needs constant management and vigilance.  Setting healthy boundaries is one of THE BEST ways to love someone struggling with addiction.  But most importantly, DON’T GIVE UP. Don’t be discouraged. Relapse doesn’t mean treatment was unsuccessful or that your loved one won’t be able to stay clean in the long run. It can even be helpful in teaching them what certain triggers are and how to avoid them in the future. It’s never too late for your loved one; don’t give up hope, they need to know they matter to you.  If you are in the Portland Oregon or Vancouver, WA area please turn to www.bridgestochange.com who can help you support your loved one.  If you are suffering from mental health, addiction and homelessness, they are here specifically to help YOU.

In this week’s episode, Dawn interviews not only a dear friend but an amazing entrepreneur who created an online holistic health coaching platform called Deconstructing Wellness. It’s a place where “high achieving mamas can empower and prioritize their own needs and wellness so they can show up even stronger for those they love”.  She discusses why she started this company and how her own personal experiences created the urgency to start this company to support women and specifically moms.  Kris talks about her recent breakthrough in her business that made her realize clearly why she started this journey of health coaching. She shares her own personal story of her daughter’s struggle with mental health and how she and her husband had to quickly pivot to meet her needs, hire an occupational therapist to uncover the specific disorder and how to support her own self-care as a mom.  She shares tools and tips to help other moms to recognize some of the warning signs to watch for, how to support those you love in their mental health journey and how to show up for yourself so that you have enough left in your tank to be your very best as a mom, wife and friend. The reality is that as parents we are all in this together…learning, growing, making mistakes, finding solutions, asking for support.  We can’t do it alone and we shouldn’t have to. There are so many resources out there for whatever level of advocating you are doing for your children. Her company is a beautiful representation of holistic coaching for the moms that need support and balance in their life whether they have a child with mental illness or not.

Join her movement and subscribe to her Mind Body Collective monthly membership that is changing mamas lives all over the country! You can find her at deconstructingwellness.com or on Instagram @deconstructingwellness.

In this shorter solo podcast, Dawn shares a recent personal experience that sparked her to sit down and record this podcast on the topic of Empathy.  Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people's emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. Empathy has a powerful place in our lives and for those we are called to be empathetic towards.  We take for granted the extreme impact we can have when we stop and create a safe environment for someone who may need our empathy.  It's the ability to understand another person's thoughts and feelings in a situation from their point of view, rather than your own. The empathetic person will recognize the person's struggle without minimizing it. This podcast has some guidelines on WHEN to recognize that you need to exhibit empathy and HOW to exhibit empathy.  Please take a listen and I hope we can all reflect in your own lives on who we can touch with own empathy today.