SHARING OUT LOUD

Sam Wade, @samwade72, is back on the podcast almost exactly one year after we first sat down together.

If you haven’t listened to Part One, I really encourage you to go back and listen before this episode, because Sam’s story has stayed with me.

During one of the darkest periods of her life, Sam spiraled to the point of trying to end her life and ultimately spent an extended period of time in a psychiatric hospital. She was put on 11 different medications (AND had electric shock therapy while in the hospital) and then spent THREE YEARS trying to get off of them because she never needed them in the first place! She just needed her hormones regulated.

Today, Sam is back to tell us what her life has looked like since starting HRT, what has changed, and what she now understands about what was happening to her during those years.

In Sam’s case, hormones turned out to be a massive missing piece of the puzzle. And yes, that makes me angry. Because how many women have been treated for anxiety, depression, insomnia, rage, or other psychiatric symptoms without anyone ever stopping to ask whether perimenopause or menopause could be contributing? Why is the first line of therapy SSRIs?

This conversation is not about telling women to stop psychiatric medication or suggesting that hormones cause every mental health crisis. It’s about asking why hormones aren’t part of the conversation more often. Women deserve providers who understand that.

Please listen to Sam’s story. And please share this episode. There may be a woman out there who desperately needs to hear it.

xxx,

Heather

In Part 1 of my conversation with Hope Henderson, we talked about the sexual assault she experienced in her early 20s and how that trauma shaped so much of what came next.

In Part 2, we talk about the man she thought was going to be her forever.

Hope’s sister introduced them. Her family already knew him. He worked for a church. They dated for three years. He was her everything, and from the outside, it looked like all the pieces were falling into place for the perfect life.

But even after three years together, Hope says she didn’t know the man she was actually marrying.

After the wedding, another side began to emerge. The control. The manipulation. The narcissistic behaviors. Slowly, the marriage she thought she was walking into became something very different.

Hope shares what it was like to recognize what was happening inside her marriage, how difficult it can be to see controlling behavior when you’re the one living in it, and what ultimately led her to divorce and begin rebuilding her life.

This conversation is about marriage and divorce, but it’s also about trusting yourself again, finding your voice, and realizing that sometimes the life you thought you were supposed to have is the life you have to find the courage to leave.

Thank you again to Hope for being vulnerable. Thank you for sharing YOUR story so that others won't feel so alone. Thank you for giving other women HOPE❤️.

Go follow Hope @joinfranke, and yes, she is open to DM's if you need someone to talk. xoxo

Today’s episode is Part One of a deeply personal conversation with Hope Henderson. A quick note before we begin: this episode includes conversations about rape, sexual assault, trauma, and controlling relationships. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

In her early 20s, Hope experienced rape and sexual assault, trauma that didn’t simply end when the experiences were over. It shaped how she saw herself, how she navigated relationships, and what she came to accept as normal.

We talk about how those experiences followed her into adulthood and informed some of the relationships she chose, including a marriage to a man who became increasingly controlling.

Today, Hope shares her life openly through Join Franke, her Instagram page dedicated to divorce, life after divorce, and all the messy, complicated, and sometimes hilarious parts of rebuilding your life.

This conversation is about the ripple effects of trauma. The things we survive, the things we normalize, and the patterns we sometimes don’t recognize until years later.

Hope shares her story with incredible openness, and there was too much to fit into one episode, so we’re sharing our conversation in two parts.

This is Part One of Hope Henderson’s story.

Give Hope a follow @joinfranke for all things personal and divorce-related on instagram! 

If you or anyone else is in need of help with a sexual assualt, PLEASE CALL 1-800-656-4673 (800-656-HOPE). 

Today Kat Rhadans, Hilary Phelps, Maggie Quinn and I sat down for a really honest conversation about maternal mental health—the parts we understand, the parts we still don’t, and the things women are often afraid to say out loud.

And WOW. I could not have asked for better women to have this conversation with.

Katherine Rhadans is a writer, mother of five, recovery advocate, and the hilarious mind behind No Wine in the Carpool Line. With nearly 13 years of sobriety, Katherine has become a powerful voice in the recovery and quit-lit communities, using her own experience with motherhood, addiction, rehab, divorce, and recovery to help other women feel a little less alone. She brings the kind of raw honesty that makes other women feel safe enough to tell the truth.

Maggie Quinn brought the clinical perspective to our conversation. With years of experience as a psychiatric postpartum nurse caring for women during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, Maggie understands maternal mental health from a perspective many of us never see. But what struck me most was her compassion. She never lost sight of the WOMAN behind the diagnosis.

And Hilary Phelps guided this conversation beautifully. Hilary is a speaker, advocate, writer, and certified addiction recovery coach who has been open about her own journey with alcohol and sobriety. She knew when to ask the hard questions, when to push a little deeper, and when to simply let us talk.

And then there’s me. 😂

My own story includes what I now believe was PMDD, postpartum depression, suicidal thoughts, addiction, motherhood, recovery, menopause—and now 7½ years of sobriety. There were times in my life when everything probably looked perfectly fine from the outside. SHOCKER! It wasn't.

The four of us came to this conversation from very different places, which is exactly why I think it mattered. We talked about postpartum depression and other maternal mental health conditions. Addiction. Mommy wine culture. Shame. Stigma. Hormones. Recovery. Motherhood. And what can happen when a woman is drowning behind a life that looks completely normal to everyone around her.

We didn't answer every question, but maybe we made a little more room to ASK them because mothers should not have to become a tragedy before we become curious about what they were carrying.

Katherine, Maggie and Hilary—THANK YOU. I am incredibly grateful to have shared this conversation with you.

And to every woman who watches, listens, shares, or quietly recognizes herself somewhere in our stories: this conversation is for you.

This is why I started Sharing Out Loud.

Because sometimes saying the thing out loud is where everything starts.

RE-RELEASE: Katherine (Kat) Rhadans — Motherhood, Sobriety & Rewriting Your Story

In anticipation of our LIVE Instagram conversation on September 16 about motherhood and mental health, I’m bringing back one of my favorite conversations with the brilliant, hilarious, and incredibly honest Katherine Rhadans.

You may know Kat as the mind behind “No Wine in the Carpool Line” (and yes, we get into how that gem came to be), but there is so much more to her story.

Kat is a mom of five, a prominent voice in the quit lit and sober community, and living proof that you can rewrite your story... even after addiction, shame, divorce, and some of the darkest moments of your life.

At one point, Kat entered rehab while her children remained with their father. One of her greatest fears had become reality. But instead of giving up, she dug in, did the work, and began rebuilding her life.

Today, Kat has created a life rooted in recovery, authenticity, HUMOR, and deep love. In this episode, we talk about motherhood, marriage and divorce, addiction, shame, second chances, and what it really takes to reclaim your life.

And this conversation feels especially important to share again right now.

On September 16, Katherine and I are going LIVE with Maggie Quinn, PNP, PMHNP, and Hilary Phelps, Recovery Coach, advocate, and speaker, on Instagram for a conversation about motherhood and mental health, including postpartum mental health, addiction, sobriety, and the “mommy wine culture” that was sold to so many women as harmless fun when, for some of us, alcohol became a way to cope with things we desperately needed help navigating.

Listen to this episode, then come join us LIVE. This is a conversation we need to keep having OUT LOUD.

Find Katherine:
Instagram: @katrhadans
Website: Katrhadans.com

And please give Maggie and Hilary a follow as well!

@mnichol7

@hilaryphelps_

PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE! I am sure there are women in your life who need to hear the message(s) shared here today❤️.

If you’ve been listening to me for any amount of time, you know how strongly I feel that women deserve BETTER when it comes to our hormones and our health. We deserve to be heard, educated, taken seriously, and treated like partners in our own care.

Enter Dr. Mondona Goodwin.

Talking to Dr. Mondona is honestly like an educational meditation session. 😂 She KNOWS her stuff, but she has this incredibly calm, reassuring demeanor that I swear could put an angry mama bear at ease. And I absolutely loved talking with her.

Dr. Goodwin is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner with more than a decade of clinical experience. She’s also the founder of CYRA Wellness, a practice inspired in part by her own journey with hormones, and by her desire to create the kind of healthcare experience she wished existed.

One of the things I love most about Mondona’s philosophy is this: Don’t just treat the hot flash. Treat the WOMAN.

YES. THIS.

Because we are so much more than a list of menopause symptoms.

We talked about hormones, metabolism, mood, long-term health, individualized hormone therapy, and why estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone can all have a place in the conversation when appropriate.

But we also talked about something that I think is just as important: how a woman FEELS when she leaves her doctor’s office.

Did you feel heard?

Did you feel taken seriously?

Do you understand your options?

Do you know what the plan is?

And do you feel like your provider is actually your PARTNER in your healthcare?

This conversation is educational, empowering, and, thanks to Dr. Mondona, somehow incredibly calming at the same time.

Thank you for turning in, AND HUGE THANK YOU to Dr. Mondona for taking the time to hang out with me on Zoom😘.

You can find out more about CRYA Wellness practice in California here: https://drmondona.com/

And please follow her on Instagram! @drmondona

xoxo,

Heather

Today’s guest is Lisa Peterson, a fitness and life coach who specializes in working with women over 40, and Lisa didn’t just find her way into the midlife space professionally. She lived it. And she’s been through some stuff.

Fitness had always been a huge part of Lisa’s life. She even trained throughout her pregnancies. But after having children, her health began to unravel. She was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroid disease, and then, at just 39 years old, she went into premature ovarian failure, also known as premature menopause.

Suddenly, Lisa was dealing with an alarming list of symptoms at an age when menopause wasn’t even on her radar. She went from provider to provider looking for answers, only to have her concerns brushed aside. She was offered antidepressants. Birth control pills. And when she finally asked a functional medicine doctor to test her hormones, he wrote the order—but not before asking her with a smirk, “Why, is that what your friends are doing these days?”

That began what Lisa calls the answer-seeking period of her life.

Looking back, Lisa can see just how much her body had endured: graduate school, infertility, an intense corporate career, a new marriage, three babies in four years, three years of breastfeeding, surgery—and then over-exercising and under-eating in an effort to “get her body back.”

And then, two years ago, Lisa faced yet another life-changing health diagnosis: a benign brain tumor. While benign, the experience took an enormous emotional toll and, in Lisa’s words, left her feeling emotionally paralyzed.

In this episode, we talk about all of it—the hormones, the health scares, the fear, the pressure women put on themselves and their bodies, and what Lisa has learned about fitness, nutrition, stress, and taking care of ourselves as we move through our 40s and beyond.

Because Lisa’s approach to coaching women in midlife isn’t something she learned only from a textbook or certification. It comes from living through her own body changing, searching for answers when answers were hard to find, and ultimately finding her way forward.

Let’s get into my conversation with Lisa Peterson.

You can find Lisa on Instagram @lisavp305 and also on Substack https://lisavpeterson.substack.com/

Welcome back to Sharing Out Loud!

Today I’m talking with Paige Nicole, APRN, a nurse practitioner providing virtual menopause care to women across the states of Montana, Arizona, UT, WA and Colorado  

Paige is part of a growing group of healthcare providers who recognize that women deserve more than being told their symptoms are simply part of getting older—or that they need to suffer through them.

In this conversation, we talk about what IDEAL menopause care looks like and why access to knowledgeable providers can be such a challenge, especially in more rural areas, and how virtual care is helping to close that gap. We also talk about why medical providers are moving to privatized care -- who really has any idea what medical staff really has to go through when billing through insurance???

We also get into hormone therapy, symptom management, the misconceptions women are still hearing, and what Paige wishes more women understood about their bodies during perimenopause and menopause.

If you live in one of the multiple States where Nicole practices,  and want to make an appointment to learn more about what working with Paige would look like, head over to her Instagram page (she is still working on her new website!) @paigenicole.npand click the link in her bio to fill out your information, or you can DM her there as well.

In addition to her 1:1 services, Nicole also offers a program called "The Heard Method", which is a tool that helps you gain confidence for the appointment with your doctor. See below for a message from Paige:

You walk into your next appointment, and you're not dismissed. You're not the anxious woman apologizing for taking up time. You're the one with the timeline, the right labs, the specific ask, and the study in your hand — and she takes you seriously, because you've made it impossible not to. And you know exactly what to do next if she doesn't.

You stop losing years to the run-around. Instead of five, six, seven appointments that go nowhere, you know which door to walk through, exactly what to say when you get there, and what to do if the answer is still no.

You finally understand your own body — not in vague "everything's normal" terms, but in the actual numbers, and what they mean for why you feel the way you do.

And you get a real shot at the thing you actually came for: feeling like yourself again. Not the version running on fumes and willpower — the one whose energy matched her day, whose mood felt like hers, who slept. This guide can't hand you that. But it hands you the map to go get it — wherever you live, whatever your budget, insurance or not.

Again, head over to Instagram @paigenicole.npand click the link in her bio to fill out your information, or you can DM her there as well.

If you've spent any time on social media looking for honest conversations about perimenopause and menopause, chances are you've come across today's guest.

Jen Brown, better known as @Jenopause_Midlife on both Instagram and Tik Tok, is the founder of Jenopause Midlife, a women's health education and advocacy platform dedicated to bringing honesty, support, and empowerment to the midlife experience. With her signature warmth, humor, and authenticity, Jen has become a trusted voice for thousands of women who are searching for answers—and finally feeling seen.

After spending more than 30 years in high-performance advertising sales, Jen found herself experiencing a whirlwind of physical and emotional symptoms that multiple doctors couldn't explain. After countless appointments with physicians and specialists, she finally learned she was in perimenopause. Later, receiving an ADHD diagnosis brought even more clarity, helping her understand challenges she had unknowingly navigated for much of her life.

Rather than accepting the lack of education and support so many women receive, Jen decided to do something about it. She became a certified menopause coach and launched Jenopause Midlife to educate, validate, and advocate for women who deserve better care. Today, she helps women navigate midlife with confidence, teaches them how to find knowledgeable providers, and encourages the kind of open conversations that women haven't been taught to have.

Her message has clearly resonated. Jen has built a community of more than 23,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, has appeared on numerous podcasts, speaks at events around the country, and was even cast in a New York City play after being discovered on TikTok.

Beyond her advocacy work, Jen serves on the Board of Directors for the YMCA of Greater New York and is deeply involved in fundraising and community service. She splits her time between New York City and the Jersey Shore with her husband.

After recording this conversation, Jen and I finally had the chance to meet in person in New York City, and I can honestly say she is every bit as wonderful offline as she is online. We had the best time together, and she truly feels like the sister I never had. She is just as kind, funny, authentic, and menopause-educated in person as she is on social media, and that authenticity is exactly why so many women trust her.

In today's conversation, we talk about what it feels like to be dismissed by the medical system, the overlap between ADHD and perimenopause, the incredible power of social media to build real friendships and community, and why no woman should have to navigate midlife feeling alone.

Please welcome my friend, Jen Brown, and be sure to follow her on all the social platforms!

xoxo,

Heather

My guest today is Michelle Gelband, a sexual health expert with two master's degrees who is dedicated to transforming women's health through innovation, collaboration, and evidence-based care.

In this episode, we talk about Michelle's journey into sexual health, what inspired her to dedicate her career to this often-overlooked field, and how her own endometriosis diagnosis exposed the frustrating gaps in women's healthcare. Like so many women, Michelle experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to find knowledgeable providers, trustworthy information, and meaningful support.

That experience became the catalyst for creating Openly Health—a platform designed to make sexual healthcare more accessible, accurate, and connected.

Openly Health brings together vetted sexual health providers who specialize in conditions and life stages including endometriosis, PCOS, pelvic pain, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause, sexual dysfunction, intimacy concerns, hormones, and overall sexual wellness. Rather than relying on endless internet searches, users can connect with trusted experts, access evidence-based education, discover products tailored to their needs, and participate in an anonymous community where questions can be asked without fear or judgment.

We also discuss why collaboration among healthcare providers is so important, the future of virtual sexual healthcare, and Michelle's vision for making it easier for people to find the right care at every stage of life.

Whether you're navigating an endometriosis diagnosis, struggling with menopause, or simply looking for reliable sexual health information, this conversation is filled with practical insights and hope for the future of women's healthcare.

Please follow Michelle @michellegelband and @openlyhealth. She welcomes any questions you might have! Or if you would like to collaborate with her.

And please visit the Openly Health Website https://www.openlyhealth.io/