Our AMA episode airs on December 23! You have until Dec 13 to as anything—just fill out the handy form HERE. It’s quick, easy, and anonymous.

About

Re-Creation is a podcast about trauma, faith, and mental health from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Hosts Nicole Roccas, a trauma-informed coach and author, and Eleni Opperwall, a registered therapist, explore what it means to be human after trauma through honest and hopeful conversations. Drawing on Orthodox tradition, professional insights, and personal stories, they share reflections to support healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

What’s up with those nice fur coats God gives Adam and Eve before they’re exiled from the Garden? Who was really cursed in the so-called curses He dishes out after the Fall? This week we’re back to the Genesis narrative, exploring what it means in the light of trauma, healing, and what it means to be human in a broken world.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

Ask us anything HERE. Send us your questions by Dec 13 and we’ll include them in the last episode of this season, airing December 23, 2025!

In this episode, we talk about:

* Winter blues

* The profound significance of the garments of skin (Genesis 3:21) for our lives, deaths, and healing

* Did women get leg hair before or after the Fall? A theological inquiry.

* The curses aka the punishments aka the consequences spelled out by a loving God.

* Introducing the fourfold fragmentation the Fall enacted: within ourselves (intra-personal); between us and one another (intra-personal); between humanity and creation; between humanity and God.

Resources and links mentioned:

* Jean Danielou, From Glory to Glory: Texts from Gregory of Nyssa’s Mystical Writings (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1979)

* Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Discourse, Popular Patristics Series (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2019)

* Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, Life after Death (Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 1996)

* Fr. Steven Freeman, Face to Face: Knowing God beyond Our Shame (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2023)

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

More about Nicole:

https://www.nicoleroccas.com

More about Eleni:

https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

* Subscribe to our Substack for show notes + behind-the-scenes reflections:

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

Re-Creation is a podcast about trauma, faith, and mental health from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Hosts Nicole Roccas, a trauma-informed coach and author, and Eleni Opperwall, a registered therapist, explore what it means to be human after trauma through honest and hopeful conversations. Drawing on Orthodox tradition, professional insights, and personal stories, they share reflections to support healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In today’s episode, we’re still in the Garden—reflecting on the role shame and blame play after trauma, loss, and other rupture experiences in our lives.

Ask us anything HERE and we may answer your questions in the last episode of this season, airing December 23, 2025!

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* Adam and Eve’s participation in the fall and their immediate response in the aftermath

* Shame: is it ever a helpful emotion?

* Don’t conduct Zoom calls naked

* The necessity of facing our shame in community with others

* Co-regulation 🤝 self-regulation

* Fig leaves = our desperate attempt to avoid the distress of shame, guilt, and blame

Resources and links mentioned:

* Ask us anything HERE for our final episode of the season, airing Dec 23, 2025.

* Definition of shame and moral emotions found in: Piretti et al. (2023). The Neural Signatures of Shame, Embarrassment, and Guilt: A Voxel-Based Meta-Analysis on Functional Neuroimaging Studies

* Fr. Stephen Freeman, Face to Face: Knowing God beyond Our Shame (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2023)

* Eleni’s Substack article, “Winnicott, Eden, and the Relational Ground of Self: A few extra thoughts”

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

More about Nicole:

https://www.nicoleroccas.com

More about Eleni:

https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

Subscribe to our Substack for show notes + behind-the-scenes reflections:

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

Back to humanity’s Ground Zero. How do we understand Adam and Eve’s human nature before the Fall, and how does that shape the way we view both humanity and God? In this episode, we revisit this ancient story through the lens of human development and the parental love of God.

Join us as we explore the deeper meanings of the Fall – not merely a story of sin, but also a story of growth, maturity, rupture and repair.

Ask us anything HERE and we may answer your questions in the last episode of this season, airing December 23, 2025!

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* Reviewing the Genesis narrative in chapter 2: protection, connection, and freedom

* What Adam and Eve are like before the fall—and why this matters

* Adam and Eve as culpable adults vs. Adam and Eve as childlike and not yet ready

* Nicole’s thought experiment, or “don’t take candy from strangers”

* “The tree of knowledge itself was good”

* This was not God’s plan B: the Lamb slain before the foundations of the earth

* Holding two views in tension

Resources and links mentioned:

* Ask us anything google form HERE

* St. Basil the Great, On the Human Condition, edited by Nonna Verna Harrison (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2005), quoted p. 51

* Irenaeus, Proof of the Apostolic Preaching 11-14

* Apocryphal text, The Life of Adam and Eve

* Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, Book II Ch. 25

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

* Subscribe to our Substack for show notes + behind-the-scenes reflections:

Re-Creation is a podcast about trauma, faith, and mental health from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Hosts Nicole Roccas, a trauma-informed coach and author, and Eleni Opperwall, a registered therapist, explore what it means to be human after trauma through honest and hopeful conversations. Drawing on Orthodox tradition, professional insights, and personal stories, they share reflections to support healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth.

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

We return to Eden, our original home, and explore the world for which human beings were created. Coming back to the three elements of safety (protection, connection, and freedom), we talk about how the last two—connection and freedom—are crucial elements of our original human nature.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* How connection shows up in the garden

* Radical trust

* What a fetus’s favorite shape is

* Why freedom is the foundation of all love, both human and divine

* The reason ai therapists make no sense

* Fear of freedom and why risk is unavoidable in healing and growth

Resources and links mentioned:

* Part 1 of this series

* Orthodox creation icons, an example here

* Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh, Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters) (Orbis Books, 2010)

* Ronga et al., At First Sight: Fetal Eye Movements Reveal a Preference for Face‐Like Configurations From 26 Weeks of Gestation. Developmental Science, 28 (2), 2025

* D.W. Winnicott, The Theory of the Parent-Infant Relationship (London Press, 1960)

* Ainsworth, M., The Infant-Mother Relationship. American Psychologist, 34 (10), 1979

* Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

More about Nicole:

https://www.nicoleroccas.com

More about Eleni:

https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

Subscribe to our Substack for show notes + behind-the-scenes reflections:

Re-Creation is a podcast about trauma, faith, and mental health from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Hosts Nicole Roccas, a trauma-informed coach and author, and Eleni Opperwall, a registered therapist, explore what it means to be human after trauma through honest and hopeful conversations. Drawing on Orthodox tradition, professional insights, and personal stories, they share reflections to support healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth.

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

If trauma has shaped our world, what did the world look like before trauma?

Join us as we begin our Genesis 1–3 series and discover how creation itself might be a blueprint for healing—one built on safety, connection, and freedom. Maybe the story of “the before times” can help us better understand how to reclaim what’s been broken.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* A new miniseries about Genesis 1-3

* How Genesis 1 “starts with safety” — a world structured, ordered, and ready before humans ever arrive.

* God’s boundaries—light from darkness, sea from land—as acts of protection and containment, not division.

* Humans don’t have claws and that’s a good thing. Also parenting + relationships with our caregivers.

* Sabbath as the ultimate expression of safety: rest as a sign of a world secure enough to stop, delight, and dwell.

* What Genesis 1 might reveal about a God who creates from calm, not chaos—and what that tells us about safety as the foundation of healing.

Resources and links mentioned:

* Genesis 1-2:3 (NRSVCE)

* Donald Winnicott and object relations theory

* Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man

* Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

* More about Nicole:

https://www.nicoleroccas.com

* More about Eleni:

https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

* Subscribe to our Substack for show notes + behind-the-scenes reflections:

Re-Creation is a podcast about trauma, faith, and mental health from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Hosts Nicole Roccas, a trauma-informed coach and author, and Eleni Opperwall, a registered therapist, explore what it means to be human after trauma through honest and hopeful conversations. Drawing on Orthodox tradition, professional insights, and personal stories, they share reflections to support healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth.

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

Going in circles? Maybe that’s a good thing. Find out why as we talk about how time and healing play out in Eugene Vodolazkin’s 2012 historical novel, Laurus.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* Laurus, by Eugene Vodolazkin

* Interesting side-quests: premodern notions of healing, homeopathy, and how Eleni’s grandmother made soap with a rock

* How trauma can affect our experience of time

* What the theology of trauma can teach us about the problem of evil

* Healing as upward spiral rather than vicious circle (see diagram similar to the one we discussed here)

Resources and links mentioned:

* “Time in Trauma” podcast miniseries - Episode 1 (of 8)

* Nicole’s Book - Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2017)

* The Way of a Pilgrim

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

* More about Nicole:

https://www.nicoleroccas.com

* More about Eleni:

https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

* Subscribe to our Substack for show notes + behind-the-scenes reflections:

Re-Creation is a podcast about trauma, faith, and mental health from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Hosts Nicole Roccas, a trauma-informed coach and author, and Eleni Opperwall, a registered therapist, explore what it means to be human after trauma through honest and hopeful conversations. Drawing on Orthodox tradition, professional insights, and personal stories, they share reflections to support healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth.

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

A friendly shoutout to the skeptics, curious, and those who are hesitant to attach labels like “trauma” to people’s core identity.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* Valid and less valid reasons why people may be skeptical of the entire concept of trauma

* How Christian communities may be particularly prone to minimize the reality of trauma

* DSM-5 criteria for PTSD and other addendums to episodes 3-4 (“What is Trauma” Parts 1-2)

Resources and links mentioned:

* Gary Greenberg, The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry

* Allen Frances, Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life

* The tradition of consuming blessed apples of St. Irene for women struggling to get pregnant

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

* More about Nicole: https://www.nicoleroccas.com

* More about Eleni: https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

A reflection on Rilke’s poem “I am praying again, You Awesome One,” which paints a powerful picture of brokenness and the sacred work of becoming whole.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* Read Nicole’s translation of “I am praying again, You Awesome One” here

* The rhythms of gathering and scattering our fragmented selves

* Traumatic elements of Rilke’s upbringing

* Why do we gather our selves if God is only going to scatter them in the end?

* The poetics of the Psalter

Resources and links mentioned:

* A good English translation of The Book of Hours by Anita Barrows: Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God (2005)

* Philip Yancey, What’s so Amazing about Grace? (1997)

* Ralph Freedman, Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke (New York: Northwestern University Press, 1998)

* Psalm 102

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

* More about Nicole:

https://www.nicoleroccas.com

* More about Eleni:

https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

* Subscribe to our Substack for show notes + behind-the-scenes reflections:

Re-Creation is a podcast about trauma, faith, and mental health from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Hosts Nicole Roccas, a trauma-informed coach and author, and Eleni Opperwall, a registered therapist, explore what it means to be human after trauma through honest and hopeful conversations. Drawing on Orthodox tradition, professional insights, and personal stories, they share reflections to support healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth.

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.

Following up on last week’s episode, we discuss two more lenses for understanding what trauma is and offer some hope for those healing.

Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS wherever you get podcasts.

In this episode, we talk about:

* Trauma as lasting imprint

* Why trauma memories just feel and act differently

* Trauma as fragmentation of the self

* What Internal Family Systems (IFS) and the perichoresis of Trinitarian theology have in common

* Where we’re hoping to take the rest of this season

Resources and links mentioned:

* CAMH definition of trauma found here

* Not mentioned by useful: NICABM’s infographic on how trauma affects the four kinds of memory

* Richard Schwartz, No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model (2021)

* All music featured on this podcast is used in accordance with Creative Commons licenses. For a full list of the tracks we use, visit https://recreationpodcast.substack.com/p/music-featured-in-our-episodes

Let’s Connect:

More about Nicole: https://www.nicoleroccas.com

More about Eleni: https://www.eleniopperwallcounselling.com/

Subscribe to our Substack for show notes + behind-the-scenes reflections:

Re-Creation is a podcast about trauma, faith, and mental health from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Hosts Nicole Roccas, a trauma-informed coach and author, and Eleni Opperwall, a registered therapist, explore what it means to be human after trauma through honest and hopeful conversations. Drawing on Orthodox tradition, professional insights, and personal stories, they share reflections to support healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth.

Disclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional mental health care.