Healing from loss is a long, hard journey. There is no one way to heal, no one way to grieve.

Grieving is a very personal thing. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

Jesse Brisendine suffered multiple losses in a short period of time. He comes on the show to share his tips and wisdom for getting over loss.

We hear stories every day, whether from a family member, on a podcast or news program, or even live on stage. Stories connect us.

Storytelling is a powerful tool that takes time, strategic planning, and practice. When we encounter painful experiences, storytelling can be therapeutic, making us aware of our story and helping others along the way.

Ignite your passion. Inspire the story. Influence the audience. Your story matters.

In an era defined by trauma—from #MeToo to COVID to social injustice—survivors often turn to “branded for healing” fitness modalities like yoga. But these approaches can trigger survivors.

What may be the answer? Trauma-informed strength training; which benefits not only your heart, muscles, bones, posture, and balance but also your feelings of self-confidence, self-efficacy, and physical safety.

And that’s empowering.

A celebrated personal trainer, trauma practitioner, and educator, Laura Khoudari reveals this new approach to healing in her debut book, Lifting Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time.

Recovering from a divorce no matter how amicable it is, is not an easy task. There are a lot of emotions and pain to overcome and healing to be done.

Dr. Dawn Menge shares her story and tips for recovering from divorce.

Takeaways:
Why self-care is so important during divorce
Building a support system
Learning to go beyond destructive behaviors and rebuild your life
Letting go of guilt and shame

After being diagnosed with breast cancer at 43 followed by 4 surgeries & 18 months of treatment, coupled with dealing with anxiety/depression, Jennifer Smrz is passionate about helping others by sharing coping strategies & showing them how to take control of their lives.

Takeaways
How to handle a diagnosis
Tips for getting healthy
Overcoming depression

Healing from a narcissistic relationship is difficult. The gaslighting and love bombing techniques that they use leave us reeling and confused. Were we to blame? Are we going crazy? (the answer to both is no just FYI)

Dana Humphrey joins Tracey to discuss:

What is narcissism
How to get away from a narcissist
What is gaslighting and love bombing
What going "no contact" means
and much more

We all have a story within us. Sometimes we keep it to ourselves, other times we verbalize it or write about it. Getting your story out of you is a big step in the healing process. It doesn’t have to be public. It just needs to be out of your mind and body.

Samantha Laycock, author of Write Your Story, joins us to share why telling your story is so important.

Takeaways:

How accepting your past allows you to heal.
How writing helped build a community around my story.
How to share your story.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been a newer approach to support individuals that have had severe trauma in their life.

It really breaks down various methods to gradually approach the traumatic events and how to build a future through committed action that is guided by their values.

There are 6 core processes within ACT: Committed action, values, contact present moment, self-as-context, acceptance, and defusion.

ACT has one main feature that is separate from other types of therapy (CBT, DBT, etc.), which is that you are not trying to get RID of the negative experiences, but rather, increasing your psychological flexibility to manage and process those negative thoughts/emotions/sensations/behaviours.

Takeaways

ACT as a whole - what it is, how it is different from traditional therapies, and how it can be utilized in ALL aspects of life;
Dropping anchor;
Various defusion techniques;
How trauma shows up in our every day (no matter the severity of experience).

Our inner child is wounded. She's frightened and she's angry. In order to let go of trauma and move forward, we need to heal our wounded child.

Takeaways
What is your inner child
How do you heal her
Why you need to heal the inner child

Repeated stress and physical and emotional trauma has long been known to impact bodily systems and processes, which can contribute to cognitive, behavioral, and psychological difficulties.

Stress is on the rise and according to the American Institute of Stress (2019), with 55% of Americans reporting stress during the day. 60% of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives (National Center for PTSD, 2019).

There are clinically effective natural ways to protect the brain from stress and support the nervous system including biofeedback and neurofeedback.

Neurofeedback is an evidence-based approach that supports a variety of mental health symptoms with over 3,000 peer reviewed studies to support it's efficacy.

Takeaways

How stress impacts the brain and body;
What is neurofeedback and how it works;
How neurofeedback produces lasting change in the brain;
How neurofeedback specifically supports trauma.