Ritual Sisters

Join us as Michelle Maikoetter, Director of Special Projects at the Neurosequential Network founded by Dr. Bruce Perry, shares insights on trauma recovery, the importance of relational history, and practical rituals for healing and connection. Discover how understanding brain development can transform trauma-informed care. Michelle highlights the importance of “being in it” with people versus approaching difficulties from a “fix it” place. 

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Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

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Resources from today’s episode:

The Neurosequential Model Network: https://www.neurosequential.com/

Bruce Perry Handouts: http://www.bdperry.com/handouts

“What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing” by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/what-happened-to-you/

“The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog” by Bruce D. Perry and Maia Szalavitz https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/bruce-d-perry/the-boy-who-was-raised-as-a-dog/9780465094455/?lens=basic-books

Each month we do a “Ritual Riff” where we dive deeper into our topic of the month and explore seasonal rituals. February’s topic is “self-love.” Kelly and Michelle sit down to discuss how winter (or lack thereof) is going, Julie’s episode on shame recovery/sacred sexuality, and strategies to build self-love. We also share our first listener voicemail!

Contact us: ritualsisterspod.com

Follow us: @ritualsisterspod on instagram

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

Leave a message: speakpipe.com/ritualsisterspod

Resources from today’s episode:

Kristen Neff Self Compassion Work

https://self-compassion.org/

Cultivating kind attention with Shauna Shapiro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeblJdB2-Vo

Our conversation with Julie Elizabeth, a licensed relationship therapist, author, and intimacy & embodiment coach, delves into the complexities of purity culture and its impact on individuals' perceptions of worthiness and sexuality. Julie shares her personal experiences of shame and pressure associated with navigating her sexuality within the confines of a religious upbringing and continued messaging as a young adult. Julie provides tools for healing from the past and describes her personal journey of redefining spirituality for herself. 

Contact us: ritualsisterspod.com

Follow us: @ritualsisterspod on Instagram

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

Leave a message: speakpipe.com/ritualsisterspod

Resources from today’s episode:

Julie’s Website

https://linktr.ee/julie_elizabeth

Julie’s Book 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62112341-sacred-sexuality

Each month we do a “Ritual Riff” where we dive deeper into our topic of the month and explore seasonal rituals. January’s topic is “vision.” Kelly and Michelle sit down to discuss the start to the new year, they’re conversation with Maggie Voisin, and rituals around winter/vision. 

Contact us: ritualsisterspod.com

Follow us: @ritualsisterspod on instagram

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

Leave a message: speakpipe.com/ritualsisterspod

Resources from today’s episode:

Research on Cold Plunging 

https://lifestylemedicine.stanford.edu/jumping-into-the-ice-bath-trend-mental-health-benefits-of-cold-water-immersion/

Andrea Gibson “Tincture” 

https://poets.org/poem/tincture

On today’s episode we sit down with Maggie Voisin, former Olympic skier, to discuss rituals in athletics. We discuss how Maggie has dealt with the shift in identity of retiring at a young age as well as cycles of rest and activity across seasons. Maggie gives amazing insights into building both of these cycles regardless of your relationship to athletics! 

Contact us: ritualsisterspod.com

Follow us: @ritualsisterspod on instagram

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

Speakpipe: https://www.speakpipe.com/ritualsisterspod

Resources from today’s episode:

Maggie Voisin 

https://www.instagram.com/maggie_voisin/?hl=en

Maggie ski video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=_NtEB81ijgU&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGntwxNvr4vu5MDoXED0r-FFXEzBm-KqBC03i4yi3685M8q3shnnMHUYvnQh10_aem_ZiQz24N9XyVljFDq1fm1WQ

Ayurveda

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/ayurveda

We are taking a break for the holidays and will be back in January, but in the meantime - join us on the Patreon for a free 2026 Mindful Food Challenge!

This challenge is designed to deepen our connection to our food, increase mindfulness around eating and cooking, and expand our comfort in the kitchen. For anyone who's New Year's resolution involves cooking or eating!

Check out the free resource on our. Patreon:

https://patreon.com/RitualSistersPodcast?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

What would you do if you met a kindred spirit but had a barrier to communicating with them? On today's episode we speak with two friends who managed to bridge the gap between the Deaf and hearing worlds. We talk about what communication means, what allyship means, and what is unique and special about Deaf culture. Please also check out the full video episode with ASL interpretation on YouTube!

David Naert 

Born and raised in Illinois, David has spent the past decade planting roots in Des Moines, Iowa, where his passion for language and lifelong learning continues to grow. A native English speaker who later learned Spanish, he began studying American Sign Language three years ago and found a deep appreciation for Deaf culture and the people who welcomed him into their world. Now an aspiring trilingual interpreter, he’s motivated by connection, committed to fostering access, and inspired by the relationships that keep him learning.

John Isaacson 

Born profoundly Deaf, John’s first language has always been American Sign Language. Growing up in both the Deaf and hearing worlds, he learned early how to balance and move between them. After being mainstreamed from kindergarten through his freshman year, he transitioned to a Deaf residential school for the remainder of high school—an experience that strengthened his identity and deepened his sense of community.

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Support us: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

How do we evaluate and create family rituals? How do we meet our family members where they’re at? How can we move into a space of doing instead of saying? In today’s episode, Michelle and Kelly sit down with the hilarious and insightful Terry Kottman, PhD, to discuss all this and more. Terry is the developer of Adlerian play therapy, the founder of the League of Extraordinary Adlerian Play Therapists and an author of many books on play therapy. Terry shares heartfelt wisdom from both her decades-long career as a play therapist as well as her 49-year marriage and raising her son, Jacob. 

Contact us: ritualsisterspod.com

Follow us: @ritualsisterspod on instagram

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

Resources from today’s episode:

League of Extraordinary Adlerian Play Therapists

https://leapt.arlo.co/w/

About Dr. Kottman

https://www.encouragementzone.com/page10.html

Books

https://www.encouragementzone.com/page11.html

Terry Kottman developed Adlerian play therapy, an approach to working with children, families, and adults that combines the ideas and techniques of Individual Psychology and play therapy. She founded the League of Extraordinary Adlerian Play Therapists and created a certification program for Adlerian play therapy. Terry is a fun and engaging presenter and author who regularly teaches classes and writes about play therapy. She is co-author (with Kristin Meany-Walen) of Doing Play Therapy: From Building the Relationship to Facilitating Change and Partners in Play: An Adlerian Approach to Play Therapy, and the author of Play Therapy: Basics and Beyond and several other books. In 2014, she was granted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Play Therapy; in 2017, she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Iowa Association for Play Therapy; and in 2020, she received a third Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Society for Adlerian Psychology. (She seems to be collecting them.) In 2024, Terry received the Innovation in Counseling: Practice and Clinical Service Award from the National Board of Certified Counselors. She has been married to her husband Rick for 49 years and has a delightful adult son, Jacob.

On today’s episode, we sit down with Hāweatea Holly Bryson, Indigenous Psychotherapist and founder of Nature Knows. We discuss her expertise in Māori healing, rites of passage, and how profoundly we are impacted by the natural world. Through  Hāweatea’s unique perspective, we explore the concept of rituals as powerful tools for personal transformation. 

Contact us: ritualsisterspod.com

Follow us: @ritualsisterspod on instagram

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

Resources from today’s episode:

Nature Knows
www.natureknows.co

How can we allow grief to move through us and not get stuck? How can we turn grief into a “village making” instead of a “village breaking” process? How are grief and water connected? In today’s episode, we sit down with grief practitioner, death doula, and founder of “Women of the Water,” Lisa Cheney-Philp to answer these questions and more. We all go through grief, so let’s be better tenders of this experience for ourselves and others.

Contact us: ritualsisterspod.com

Follow us: @ritualsisterspod on instagram

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ritualsisterspodcast

Resources from today’s episode:

Women of the Water

https://womenofthewater.com/home

Die Wise: A Manifesto on Sanity and Soul by Stephen Jenkinson 

https://www.amazon.com/Die-Wise-Manifesto-Sanity-Soul/dp/1583949739

Website with resources from David Kessler and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

https://grief.com/