In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Sarah Stasica sits down with Kim Black, founder of Scarred and Fabulous, to talk honestly about healing after medical trauma and surgery.

Kim shares her story of childhood surgery, nervous system survival responses, and the long journey of learning how to feel safe in her body again. Together, Sarah and Kim explore why medical experiences can feel traumatic — even when procedures “go well” — and how powerlessness, avoidance, shame, and control patterns can show up long after hospital stays are over.

This episode offers gentle, practical tools for:
✨ Preparing emotionally for medical appointments
✨ Understanding fight, flight, and shutdown responses
✨ Rebuilding trust with your body after trauma
✨ Releasing stored stress and fear
✨ Practicing self-compassion on the healing journey

If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your body, anxious about doctors, overwhelmed after surgery, or wondered, “Why am I still struggling?” — this conversation is for you.

You are not broken. Your nervous system adapted to protect you. And healing is possible.

More about Kim:

Kim Black is a Post Surgery Confidence Coach and author who helps women heal from the PTSD no one warned them about after surgery. After 30 years of misdiagnosed 'anxiety,' 'IBS,' and 'anger issues,' Kim discovered she had Medical PTSD from childhood surgeries—a condition affecting up to 20% of patients that doctors rarely mention. Now she teaches women the research-backed tools she wishes she'd had, combining neuroscience with raw honesty (zero toxic positivity). Founder of Scarred & Fabulous and previously featured on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Kim's Book Launch Group

Join the Befriend Your Body Community

When a child experiences medical trauma, parents are often overlooked—but their role is powerful.

In this episode of the Medical Trauma Support Podcast, I’m joined by neuropsychologist and founder of Parenting Kids with CHD, Dawn Ilardi, who has spent over 16 years working in pediatric healthcare. Together, we explore how parents’ nervous systems, emotional responses, and sense of agency directly shape a child’s medical experience.

We talk about:

• Why parents are often “the missing patient” in pediatric care

• How parental stress, anxiety, and trauma affect children’s outcomes

• The power of co-regulation, presence, and advocacy

• Why dissociation can be protective—and how healing happens gently

• How asking for “the pause” can change everything

This conversation is for parents navigating medical systems, clinicians wanting to understand family dynamics, and anyone impacted by medical trauma .

Learn more about Dawn's work, Parenting Kids with CHD, https://parentingchd.podia.com/

Learn more about the Befriend Your Body Community, where you can access peer support, nervous system education and a Foundation Course: https://your-bc-befriend.mn.co/landing

#MedicalTrauma
#MedicalTraumaSupport
#ChildhoodMedicalTrauma
#TraumaInformedCare
#NervousSystemHealing

In this episode, Sarah sits down with Danielle Ford, who opens up about a life-altering medical crisis: after an MS diagnosis and years on a high-efficacy disease-modifying treatment, Danielle developed a “run-of-the-mill” infection that rapidly became life-threatening—resulting in 97 days in the ICU, 12 surgeries, months of wounds and recovery, and a permanent colostomy.

Together, we explore what it means to survive—and then return to a life that doesn’t look the same. Danielle shares the mental and emotional aftermath (including post-ICU trauma/PICS and PTSD symptoms), the difficulty of seeing scars in the mirror, and how therapy, community support (including ostomy communities), and faith helped her reclaim purpose. We also talk about a rare but deeply hopeful experience: a surgeon who went beyond medical care—checking in emotionally, advocating for her readiness, and helping her feel seen when she was most vulnerable.

If you’ve been through an ICU stay, a medical emergency, or a body-changing procedure, this conversation is a reminder: you’re not alone—and healing is possible.

Mentioned in this episode: Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS), trauma therapy, exposure/support, ostomy community support.

To reach out to Danielle:

Email - [email protected] - https://www.instagram.com/d.b_ford/FB - https://www.facebook.com/share/16zzudq61U/?mibextid=wwXIfr

To join us in the Befriend Your Body Community - https://your-bc-befriend.mn.co/landing/

What happens when healthcare providers are truly supported—and how does that ripple out to patient care?

In this powerful and deeply human conversation, I’m joined by three heart failure nurses from Christ Hospital Health Network who are quietly transforming what compassionate, trauma-informed care can look like from the inside of the system.

Together, we talk about:

• Why medical trauma can occur even when “everything goes right”

• How chronic illness and hospitalization impact both patients and providers.

• The importance of peer support—for patients and clinicians

• What patients are really processing after they go home

• Why being seen, believed, and supported by medical staff matters so deeply

• How systems that care for their staff create better outcomes for everyone

These nurses also share how they run a heart failure support group that welcomes both inpatients and community members—creating connection, hope, and healing during some of the hardest moments of life. We explore grief, nervous system overwhelm, and the simple yet powerful practices that help people feel safer in medical spaces.

This episode is especially meaningful to me as I continue expanding my work supporting medical providers, knowing that when clinicians are resourced, regulated, and supported, patients feel it.

Whether you’re:

• A medical professional navigating burnout or moral injury

• A patient or caregiver recovering from a traumatic medical experience

• Or part of a healthcare system looking to do better

To connect with the Christ Hospital Heart Failure Support Group you can call the Heartlink Line at 513-585-0378

or email Pam at [email protected]

If you are looking for a peer support group for medical trauma, please join us in the Befriend Your Body Community where you can feel seen and validated with others who "get it".

What happens when the place that caused trauma is also the place you must return to for care?

In this episode of the Medical Trauma Support Podcast, Sarah Stasica is joined by Irish psychotherapist and former emergency department nurse Emma Tynan for a deeply compassionate conversation about medical trauma, chronic illness, and the nervous system.

Emma shares her journey from working in emergency care to becoming a trauma-informed therapist specializing in medical trauma and chronic illness. Together, they explore why medical trauma is uniquely complex — because unlike many other forms of trauma, healing often requires returning to the very environment where harm occurred.

This episode gently unpacks:

• Why returning to hospitals and medical settings can feel terrifying — even years later

• How medical trauma and chronic illness impact the nervous system

• What it means to “fall apart” in medical settings — and why that response makes sense

• The importance of co-regulation, support people, and realistic expectations

• Why “good news” medically doesn’t always mean emotional relief

• How caregivers and loved ones are often traumatized too

• Why compassion — not self-judgment — is essential for healing

Whether you’re living with chronic illness, navigating medical trauma, supporting a loved one, or working in healthcare, this conversation offers validation, nervous-system wisdom, and a powerful reminder:

Your experience deserves recognition — even when healing isn’t linear.

If you’ve ever avoided medical care, felt ashamed of your reactions, or wondered why your body responds the way it does — this episode is for you.

Connect with Emma Tynan

Emma Tynan Instagram

Emma's Therapy Academy Course

Midlands Counselling Clinic

Connect with Sarah at Medical Trauma Support

Befriend Your Body Community

In this episode, I’m joined by Seantae Jackson, speaker and co-founder of the Sandal Blue Foundation, who shares the life-changing story of the catastrophic car accident that reshaped her family’s world — and how that moment led to the creation of a nonprofit supporting survivors after severe crashes.

We talk about:
• Navigating medical trauma and long-term recovery
• Parenting a child with a severe TBI and rediscovering hope
• The healing power of community and nervous system regulation
• Why asking “What can I do?” can transform the recovery journey
• Support for caregivers and the unseen layers of trauma

We also pause for a grounding straw-breath exercise to help listeners regulate as the story unfolds.

This episode is emotional, inspiring, and full of hard-earned wisdom. If you’ve ever felt alone in your healing, may this conversation help you look up and see that your island is closer to others than you think.

Connect with Seantae at sandalbluefoundation.org or @seantaejacksonperspectives or [email protected]

Find out more about Sarah's support community, the Befriend Your Body Community.

In this episode, Sarah sits down with therapist and founder Shakira (Kira) O’Garro to talk about her powerful journey through endometriosis, medical gaslighting, and reclaiming trust in her body. Together, they explore how trauma responses like shutdown and fawning show up in medical settings, the importance of somatic healing, and the transformative power of community and faith.
Whether you’ve experienced medical trauma yourself or support others on their journey, this conversation will leave you feeling seen, validated, and hopeful. Please share this episode with anyone who would benefit, the more we share, the more we spread awareness of medical trauma as well as the awareness that we can recover.

Get in touch with Kira

⁠Cheerful Heart Mental Health Counseling⁠

Get in touch with Sarah

Medical Trauma Support Website

Befriend Your Body Community

Many kids feel anxious or afraid during medical visits — and parents often feel helpless watching it happen. In this powerful conversation, Sarah talks with Mary A. Jenner, pediatric nurse and founder of The Butterfly Pig, about how medical play can help children feel safe, brave, and confident during medical care.

They explore how fear, anxiety, and even trauma can develop from medical experiences — and how parents and providers can take small but meaningful steps to prevent it.

You’ll learn:
• How to prepare kids for medical visits through play
• What parents can say and do during procedures to reduce fear
• Why simple tools like the Buzzy Bee or toy medical devices make a big difference
• How to advocate gently but effectively for your child’s emotional safety

Whether you’re a parent, healthcare provider, or someone who’s had your own difficult medical experiences, this episode offers hope, compassion, and practical tools to help you and your loved ones feel safer in care settings.

Guest: Mary A. Jenner, RN, Founder of The Butterfly Pig

Links: Parent Resources

Keywords: fear of doctors

Many children experience medical procedures that leave lasting emotional wounds — even when everyone involved had the best intentions. In this episode, Sarah talks with Christina Gonzalez, MSW, who wrote her graduate thesis on childhood medical trauma. Christina shares her own story of growing up chronically ill and what her research revealed about how forced procedures, lack of informed consent, and emotional neglect impact children for life.

Together, Sarah and Christina explore what medical trauma looks like through a child’s eyes, how parents and providers can do better, and what healing can look like — for both children and parents.

You can find Christina's thesis project here: https://www.medicaltraumasupport.org/all-about-medical-trauma

You can reach Christina's blog post on Childhood Medical Trauma here: https://www.medicaltraumasupport.org/blog

You can read more about ACES here: https://www.cdc.gov/aces/about/index.html

Learn more and access parent resources at medicaltraumasupport.com

Topics covered:

• Violation of bodily autonomy in pediatric care

• The missing emotional care that children need after medical experiences

• How it can feel to the child like their parents have betrayed them — and how parents can rebuild trust

• What parents can do now to support their children before, during, and after medical experiences
  

In this heartfelt conversation, Sarah sits down with licensed professional counselor and chronic illness therapist Destiny Davis to explore what happens when medical systems fail to see, believe, or support you.

Together, they unpack the layers of medical trauma, chronic illness, and the emotional toll of being dismissed or disbelieved. Destiny shares her lived experience growing up with parents who had disabilities, the trauma of being labeled “hypochondriac,” and how that shaped her path as a therapist and advocate.

They talk about the importance of accommodations, neurodiversity, and how society’s “push through” mentality harms those living with invisible illnesses. You’ll also hear powerful insights on:

• How medical trauma isn’t always what was done to you, but also what you didn’t receive

• Rebuilding trust in a system that has caused harm

• The overlap between medical and attachment trauma

• Simple, somatic ways to begin feeling safe in your body again

Whether you live with chronic illness, support someone who does, or work in healthcare, this conversation will help you see medical trauma through a more compassionate, nuanced lens.

Show Links:

Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency - https://gvs.georgia.gov/

Connect with Destiny Davis:

• Website: thechronicillnesstherapist.com

• Membership: thechronicillnesstherapist.com/membership

• Podcast: The Chronic Illness Therapist Podcast

Learn more about Medical Trauma Support: medicaltraumasupport.com