Overcoming PTSD with Brad Schipke

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

Bilateral Processing Bootcamp: Install New Beliefs After PTSD and Trauma

Host: Brad Schipke • Overcoming PTSD Podcast • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

In this Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching session, Brad walks you through step 3 and step 4 of the bilateral processing bootcamp: installation and closing/recap. After several days of laying the foundation, this episode shows you how to move from simply lowering distress to actually installing new, empowering beliefs after trauma.

You’ll learn how to choose a specific future situation where you would normally get triggered and rehearse it with a new belief like “I am worthy” instead of “I am worthless.” Brad explains how to track both distress level and believability, and why you want the old belief at a 0 and the new belief at a 10 over time.

You’ll also hear practical guidance on different ways to do bilateral stimulation—visual, auditory, and physical—along with how to safely close a session using diaphragmatic breathing, safe space, and quick written reflections. The focus is on imperfect action, consistency, and building a real healing routine you can start using this weekend.

Finally, Brad normalizes feeling tired or overwhelmed after sessions and reframes it as part of your brain’s healing work. You’ll leave with a full, start-to-finish map for running your own bilateral processing sessions and making steady, predictable progress in your PTSD recovery.

💡 What You’ll Learn

🧠 Key Takeaway

Healing isn’t about doing this perfectly—it’s about consistently processing the pain and installing new beliefs until your past no longer controls your present.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • trauma healing • bilateral processing • EMDR style tools • emotional regulation • nervous system regulation • trauma coping tools • installing new beliefs after trauma • PTSD belief change • trauma processing at home • safe space visualization • diaphragmatic breathing for trauma • bilateral stimulation audio • bilateral stimulation visual • trauma recovery routine • overcoming triggers • healing childhood trauma • complex PTSD tools

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

Bilateral Processing Bootcamp: How to Process Trauma with PTSD-Safe Bilateral Stimulation

Host: Brad Schipke • Overcoming PTSD Podcast • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

In this episode, Brad and Kayleen walk you through Step 2 of the Bilateral Processing Bootcamp: the actual processing of traumatic memories. After identifying the root memory and core negative belief in Step 1, this session shows you how to safely bring them up and guide your brain to do the heavy lifting with bilateral stimulation.

You’ll learn how to use short “sprint and rest” rounds of processing so your brain stays focused on what actually needs to heal, instead of drifting into random distractions. Brad breaks down what’s happening in your brain during this process, how it mirrors REM sleep, and why bilateral stimulation helps your nervous system reorganize and properly store traumatic experiences.

Most importantly, you’ll hear how to stay in control the entire time. You’ll learn how to be the observer, keep one foot firmly in the present, and use distress as a compass instead of something to run from. Pain becomes information, not a threat — and a doorway into real, lasting freedom from PTSD and trauma.

By the end, you’ll have a clear, simple mental map of the four-step bilateral process, what Step 2 actually looks like in real life, and how to prepare yourself emotionally and practically for when you start doing the full processing sequence in future sessions.

💡 What You’ll Learn

How bilateral stimulation helps your brain process trauma similarly to REM sleep

The four steps of bilateral processing and why Step 2 is where the “heavy lifting” happens

How to combine a distressing memory and negative belief to target the right root issue

Why processing is done in 45-second “sprints” with 30-second rest periods

How to be the observer of your memories instead of being sucked back into them

What to do when your mind starts jumping to other memories, emotions, or sensations

Why rising distress can actually be a sign you’ve “struck gold” and found what needs to heal

How to track your distress levels (SUDs) across sets so you know when to move forward

The mindset shift that turns pain into the price of freedom instead of something to avoid

🧠 Key Takeaway

Pain in this process isn’t proof you’re broken — it’s a signal that you’ve found what needs to be released so your brain can finally finish processing the trauma.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • trauma processing • bilateral stimulation • trauma healing tools • PTSD coaching • emotional regulation • nervous system regulation • REM sleep and trauma processing • trauma coping tools • belief and memory work • how to process traumatic memories • PTSD flashback relief • recovery bootcamp for trauma survivors • self-guided trauma processing techniques

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

Finding the Root of PTSD: How to Target the Right Memory for Bilateral Processing

Host: Brad Schipke • Overcoming PTSD Podcast • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

In this episode, Brad and Kayleen walk you through the setup phase of bilateral processing so you actually know where to start when you’re overwhelmed by trauma memories, triggers, and emotions. Instead of randomly picking things to work on, you’ll learn how to identify the root memory and belief that are really driving your PTSD symptoms.

You’ll hear how to use a “memory scan” (based on Francine Shapiro’s float-back technique) to trace current triggers, panic, flashbacks, or nightmares back to the earliest or most distressing experience. Brad explains the “domino” effect of unprocessed memories and why you only need to knock over the right one to get lasting relief.

Kayleen also shows you how to pair each core memory with the negative belief it created (like “I’m unlovable” or “I’m not safe”) and then choose an opposite positive belief to grow into. You’ll finish this episode with a simple, structured action step you can do in 15–20 minutes to prepare for deep healing—not coping, but truly changing your brain.

This is bootcamp week, so the focus is on action. By the end, you’ll have your first “target” memory, belief, distress rating, and new belief picked out so you’re ready to step into the actual bilateral processing in the next session.

💡 What You’ll Learn

🧠 Key Takeaway

The goal isn’t to process everything—it's to find and heal the root memory and belief driving your PTSD, so all the other “domino” triggers can finally fall.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • trauma healing • bilateral processing • bilateral stimulation • EMDR-inspired tools • memory scan technique • core trauma memories • PTSD triggers • flashbacks and nightmares • negative core beliefs • belief change • emotional regulation • nervous system regulation • trauma coping tools • healing panic and anxiety attacks • processing childhood trauma • root-cause healing • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

Bilateral Processing Bootcamp: Foundations For PTSD Recovery

Host: Brad Schipke • Overcoming PTSD Podcast • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

In this episode, Brad and Kayleen kick off a special Bilateral Processing Bootcamp week, laying the mindset foundations you need before using one of the most powerful trauma-processing tools they teach. Instead of jumping straight into technique, they walk you through why your beliefs, expectations, and attitude toward healing will make or break your results.

You’ll learn why bilateral processing (similar in concept to EMDR) can give you “unlimited therapy sessions” on your own time, and why it’s actually more dangerous to stay stuck in rumination, self-sabotage, and triggers than it is to process your trauma. Brad and Kayleen dismantle the myth that you need a professional with you at every step and explain the shift from dependent healing to independent healing.

They also reframe discomfort as a good sign that you’re moving toward freedom, not further harm. By the end, you’ll see that you don’t have to be perfect, you don’t need a PhD, and you’re not “too broken” — you just need the right foundations, the right tools, and the decision to keep going.

💡 What You’ll Learn

🧠 Key Takeaway

Healing from PTSD becomes inevitable when you stop waiting for perfect conditions, trust yourself with the tools, and keep taking imperfect action.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • trauma healing • bilateral processing • EMDR style processing • emotional regulation • nervous system regulation • trauma coping tools • independent healing • overcoming PTSD triggers • rumination vs processing • mindset for trauma recovery • self-guided trauma work • PTSD relief tools • recovery toolbox • processing trauma memories • overcoming fear of healing • imperfect action in recovery • healing beliefs and affirmations

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

In this Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching session, Brad and the community explore three powerful but often overlooked parts of PTSD recovery: having fun again, processing in real time, and finding sober, healthy people to share life with. You’ll see how fun isn’t a denial of your pain, but an essential skill you can rebuild after trauma.

You’ll learn why enjoying time alone is a learned skill that PTSD can shut down—and how to gently reclaim it through small, intentional choices. Brad shares practical examples from his own life and from the community, showing how to integrate play, silliness, and rest into a serious healing journey without feeling like you’re invalidating your struggles.

Then, the episode dives into “role-playing” for real-time processing—using visualization and self-talk to handle triggers, relationship conflicts, and everyday stress differently as they happen, instead of only in your formal processing sessions. Finally, Brad tackles the common fear of, “But all my friends drink,” and lays out how to meet sober, healthy people anywhere, both online and in your local community, so your environment actually supports your recovery.

💡 What You’ll Learn

🧠 Key Takeaway

You can be in deep pain and still practice fun, safety, and connection—healing happens fastest when you allow both your darkness and your light to exist.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • CPTSD healing • trauma recovery tools • learning to have fun again after trauma • nervous system regulation • emotional regulation • real-time trauma processing • role-playing for healing • visualization for PTSD • overcoming worst-case thinking • trauma and relationships • sober living after trauma • how to meet sober friends • rebuilding your social circle • healthy coping skills • recovery mindset • trauma healing community • overcoming avoidance • life after PTSD

Struggling with trauma/PTSD and need help? Join my private recovery community here and get my 9 best relief tools 100% FREE: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

In this Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching session, Brad and Kayleen explore patience as a foundational mindset skill in trauma and PTSD recovery. Using a simple real-life story about dog-sitting chaos, they show how healing changes your ability to respond calmly instead of reacting from frustration, urgency, or overwhelm.

They break down why trauma puts the nervous system into constant “life-or-death” mode, making even small disruptions feel intolerable. Patience isn’t something you magically gain once healed—it’s a skill you build along the way, especially in moments of frustration, anxiety, and emotional escalation.

This episode connects patience to control, compassion, boundaries, and acceptance. You’ll learn how to recognize when you’re getting “wound up,” how to pause that momentum, and how patience creates space for clearer thinking, healthier relationships, and more peace with yourself during recovery.

💡 What You’ll Learn

Why trauma makes everyday stressors feel urgent and overwhelming

How patience is a learnable skill, not a personality trait

How to recognize frustration as a signal to pause and slow down

Why “slow the hell down” is powerful nervous system regulation

How patience leads to control instead of emotional reactivity

How to stop negative momentum before it spirals

How patience improves relationships without tolerating disrespect

Why impatience with yourself can slow trauma recovery

How to apply patience to healing, sobriety, relationships, and daily life

🧠 Key Takeaway

Patience isn’t passive — it’s the skill that gives you control when trauma tries to rush you into reaction.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • trauma healing • patience and trauma • emotional regulation • nervous system regulation • trauma mindset • frustration triggers • trauma reactions • slowing down • trauma coping tools • acceptance • self-compassion • relationship triggers • trauma and control • recovery mindset • PTSD emotional skills • trauma reactivity • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching • Overcoming PTSD Podcast

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

In this episode, Brad breaks down why most people in PTSD and trauma recovery keep starting strong, burning out, and ending up right back where they began. Instead of chasing quick fixes or waiting to “feel motivated,” he introduces gradualism and the compound effect as the real path to full healing.

Using powerful examples—from the “magic penny” that quietly turns into millions to how two and a half Oreos a day can change your body over five years—Brad shows how tiny daily actions add up to massive transformation in your nervous system, relationships, and recovery. You’ll see why consistency is the only true “magic pill.”

You’ll also learn how to make your healing goals measurable and specific, so you actually know if you’re getting better. Brad walks through concrete PTSD metrics like distress and believability levels, and how to define what things like “peace,” “safety,” or “compassion” really mean for you.

By the end, you’ll know exactly how to move from all-or-nothing effort to simple, sustainable daily steps that move you from point A to point Z—no matter how big your trauma recovery goal is or how unmotivated you feel today.

💡 What You’ll Learn

🧠 Key Takeaway

Consistency is the only real magic pill in PTSD recovery—tiny daily steps, done over time, create the “overnight” transformation everyone else calls impossible.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • trauma healing • compound effect and PTSD • gradualism and consistency • small daily habits for trauma recovery • trauma coping tools • emotional regulation • nervous system regulation • PTSD distress levels • believability levels in trauma processing • long-term healing mindset • sobriety and trauma recovery • overcoming all-or-nothing thinking • setting measurable healing goals • building a lifestyle of recovery

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

Mosquito Thoughts: How Tiny Negative Thoughts Feed PTSD

Host: Brad Schipke • Overcoming PTSD Podcast • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

In this episode, Brad and Kayleen introduce the idea of “mosquito thoughts” — those tiny, everyday thoughts that seem harmless but quietly drain your energy, shape your beliefs, and keep PTSD patterns alive. Instead of only focusing on big trauma memories, they zoom in on the subtle complaints, judgments, and negative thoughts about things like the weather, traffic, or your to-do list.

You’ll learn how every thought — no matter how small — adds a “stone” to either the positive or negative side of your internal belief scale. Over time, those stones determine whether your default mindset is hopeful and resilient, or heavy and defeated. Brad and Kayleen walk through relatable examples, from dog poop disasters to hot, sticky mornings, to show how quickly a day can spiral when unnoticed negative thoughts stack up.

Most importantly, they give you simple ways to start shifting these mosquito thoughts in real time, without denying reality or pretending everything is perfect. You’ll see how to use gratitudes, “good things” lists, and small perspective shifts to build an automatic positive mind that supports full PTSD recovery.

By the end, you’ll understand that you’re not broken or “too negative” — you’re just running a practiced pattern. And with awareness, repetition, and a little humor, you can retrain your brain to default to peace, possibility, and progress.

💡 What You’ll Learn

🧠 Key Takeaway

It’s not the big traumas alone that shape your life — it’s the tiny thoughts you repeat all day that decide whether your mind stays stuck in PTSD or learns to see possibility.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • trauma healing • mosquito thoughts • belief scale • positive mindset • emotional regulation • nervous system regulation • gratitude practice • good things list • cognitive restructuring • automatic negative thoughts • trauma coping tools • mindset training • daily recovery habits • self-reflection for healing • reframing negative thoughts • building self-belief after trauma • overcoming PTSD podcast • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

How Toxic Shame Keeps PTSD Stuck (And How To Finally Break Free)

Host: Brad Schipke • Overcoming PTSD Podcast • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

In this Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching session, Brad and his co-coach dive deep into toxic shame — the painful, heavy feeling that keeps so many trauma survivors stuck, hiding, and afraid to fully live. They start by redefining shame, not as proof that you’re “bad” or “broken,” but as a perception about your behavior that can be changed.

You’ll hear how shame feeds on secrecy and shadows, and why owning your struggles — addictions, explosive anger, codependency, overspending, food, TV, meds, anything — is the doorway to real change. Instead of letting shame keep you frozen, Brad walks you through what it looks like to stand up, call things what they are, and take your power back.

Throughout the episode, you’ll also see the power of community as members courageously share their own “thing” and experience the relief of being seen, accepted, and understood. Brad shows you how self-acceptance, vulnerability, and practical tools like the Protector exercise work together to release shame and move you toward genuine self-respect.

If you’ve ever thought, “I’m a bad person because of what I’ve done or what I still do,” this episode will help you separate your worth from your behavior, own your reality, and take that next step toward freedom.

💡 What You’ll Learn

🧠 Key Takeaway

Shame loses its power the moment you own your truth, accept yourself, and choose healing over hiding.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

toxic shame healing • PTSD recovery • trauma healing journey • self-acceptance after trauma • overcoming guilt and shame • emotional regulation • nervous system regulation • trauma coping tools • addiction and PTSD • codependency healing • mindset shifts for recovery • owning your story • breaking negative cycles • recovery secrets daily coaching • overcoming embarrassment and worthlessness

Struggling with PTSD and ready to FULLY recover? Join my recovery program here (costs less than a single therapy session): https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

Authority Bias, Science, and PTSD Recovery: Why You Must Believe in Yourself First

Host: Brad Schipke • Overcoming PTSD Podcast • Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching

In today’s episode, Brad and Kayleen dive into authority bias—why we’re so quick to believe doctors, experts, and influencers when they say PTSD or trauma has “permanently” damaged our brain. They unpack how these messages quietly shape your beliefs, your hope, and ultimately the actions you do or don’t take toward healing.

You’ll hear practical stories—from golf leagues to celebrity culture to Facebook PTSD groups—showing how easily we hand our power over to other people’s opinions. Brad and Kayleen walk through how statistics, studies, and even “reliable sources” can be true but still incomplete, especially when they ignore people who are actively healing.

They also explore the science of neuroplasticity and trauma, including research on EMDR, changes in the amygdala and hippocampus, and why science is always one step behind what’s already possible in real life. Instead of waiting for every study to catch up, they invite you to believe in what you can prove to yourself through action.

Most importantly, this episode helps you shift from “Is full recovery from PTSD even possible?” to “What’s the next step I can take today?” You don’t need perfect confidence or blind faith—you just need enough belief to take the next right action and start building your own proof that healing is real.

💡 What You’ll Learn

How authority bias and source bias quietly shape what you believe about PTSD and trauma

Why “trauma permanently changes your brain” is an incomplete and misleading message

How statistics and research samples can be true but still leave out people who are actively healing

The basics of how trauma impacts the amygdala and hippocampus—and how therapies like EMDR can reverse those changes

Why science will always lag behind what is already possible for human healing

How hopeless beliefs about PTSD become self-fulfilling prophecies (and how to break that cycle)

A practical way to stop outsourcing your power to doctors, experts, or online groups

How to use “just believe in the next step” as a realistic path toward full trauma recovery

🧠 Key Takeaway

You don’t need everyone to believe in your recovery—you just need enough belief in yourself to take the next step and let your own results become the proof.

🔗 Next Steps

Subscribe for new weekday episodes from the Recovery Secrets Daily Coaching archive.

To go deeper or work with Brad directly, visit: https://www.skool.com/brokentounbreakable

CHAPTERS:

Topics Covered:

PTSD recovery • trauma healing • authority bias and PTSD • believing in yourself after trauma • neuroplasticity and trauma • EMDR and brain changes • overcoming hopeless PTSD narratives • nervous system regulation • trauma coping tools • emotional regulation skills • mindset for PTSD healing • self-belief and recovery • complex PTSD healing journey • trauma-informed neuroscience • recovery after childhood trauma