The Soul's Work Podcast

In this episode, Janice explores that oh-so-common experience of getting triggered in the present due to past experiences of trauma, and how the activation of our fight-flight-freeze response in these situations can make it super challenging to stay calm and objective.

She also discusses that we may have explicit memories of past traumas, but also implicit ones that we aren’t aware of consciously. And she shares why it can be useful to learn how to discern between experiences where there is an actual threat to our safety, experiences where there is a valid concern but an additional layer of past wounding, and experiences where safety is there but we are unable to feel safe.

This episode is part 3 of an ongoing series on healing trauma.

*Please note that Janice is not a trauma expert or therapist, and that this series shares about her one personal experience of learning about and healing trauma

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
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• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Get the show notes and resources mentioned here: S2|EP8: Healing Trauma (Part 3): Getting Triggered (Why Can’t We Just Leave the Past in the Past?)

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice breaks down 4 (unofficial) “trauma basics” in sharing more about how trauma develops and is experienced: 

1. Different types of trauma (shock, developmental, and complex trauma) and examples of potentially traumatic events; 
2. Trauma is not about the event but a person’s subjective experience of the event; 
3. Some factors that influence how vulnerable or resilient an individual might be to a potentially traumatic event; 
4. Trauma is something that is experienced in a person’s nervous system + how our fight-flight-freeze response and more primitive parts of our brains are involved in the development of trauma.

She also offers some perspectives for how folks might approach learning about trauma and doing the healing work that involve self-compassion, holding multiple truths at the same time, and a holistic approach to our healing practices.

This episode is part 2 of an ongoing series on healing trauma.

*Please note that Janice is not a trauma expert or therapist, and that this series shares about her one personal experience of learning about and healing trauma

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Waking the Tiger (Peter Levine)
• Healing Developmental Trauma (Laurence Heller and Aline LaPierre) (the NARM model)
• Episode 007: Dr. Laurence Heller in Conversation with Dr. Gabor Maté on Complex Trauma and the Future of Trauma-Informed Care (Transforming Trauma Podcast)
• The Healing Trauma 3-Part Video Training (Irene Lyon) 
• The Complex PTSD Workbook (Dr. Arielle Schwartz)
• How Your Brain Works & Changes | Episode 1 (Huberman Lab Podcast) 

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice defines what trauma is and shares about her personal trauma-healing journey. She explains why taking that exploration into addressing the impacts of past traumatic experiences has been so important in changing her life, including the story (i.e., “the big relationship problem”) that compelled her to face her shadows.

She also discusses common objections people have to exploring trauma, plus a big lesson she learned about how to approach trauma-healing (and what happened when she did the opposite). 

This episode is part 1 of an ongoing series on healing trauma.

*Please note that Janice is not a trauma expert or therapist, and that this series shares about her one personal experience of learning about and healing trauma

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Dr. Gabor Mate
• Trauma definitions by Alex Howard and Asha Clinton were from last year’s Trauma Mind & Body Super Conference
• @traumaawarecare 

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice takes a step back from talking about the self-work she's been engaging in to reflect on how she wants to approach doing self-work as a whole in the first place. This is coming after months of what has felt like non-stop self-work (the self-work is always a choice, but the challenging events that precipitate it are not always in one's control) and finding it hard to access moments of joy. If you’ve also been feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or in shutdown while wanting to navigate the self-work, this episode might resonate with you!

(You might also refer to self-work as inner work, soul work, self-development work, spiritual work, light/shadow work, etc.)

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice shares a bit about her background in understanding the racism that exists both in so-called Toronto/Canada and the self-development/wellness space. She also shares about her own shame, fears, and uncertainties with doing what’s really required of us to dismantle our culture of white supremacy, and discusses what has helped her so far in continuing this work despite all of the uncomfortable feelings.

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Black educators, activists, authors, and creators mentioned in this episode:

• Layla Saad (Instagram)
• Leesa Renee Hall (Instagram)
• Leesa Renee Hall’s Patreon
• Desiree Adaway (Instagram)
• Sydnei from @hermodernlife (Instagram)
• Nasimiyu Murumba (Instagram)

Please note that I am NOT an anti-racism educator. The purpose of me sharing about this topic on my podcast is to encourage other non-Black folks to do the work despite the challenging feelings we might be experiencing. Please learn about doing the anti-racism/anti-bias work first and foremost from Black educators.

As mentioned in the episode, remember that if you are going to follow Black folks online to learn about how you can do the anti-racism work, also learn how they would like people to respect and engage in their space.

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice explains how a person’s brain becomes addicted to alcohol (or other addictive drugs), and how there’s actually a rational explanation for the seemingly irrational behavior of people who become dependent on drugs. She also gives an update on her current journey exploring her relationship with alcohol, and the pros and cons of going AF (alcohol free) during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Recorded: May 13, 2020 

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• This Naked Mind Podcast (Annie Grace)
• Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction (Judith Grisel)
• "Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction" (02/25/19) (Recorded talk by Judith Grisel, Ph.D.)

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice talks about the struggles we often face in sitting with our hard-to-feel feelings – like sadness, anger, grief, and shame – when they come up. And are they ever coming up for her during COVID times and at 1 month in her journey exploring her relationship with alcohol. Janice also discusses how we often unwittingly deny others of their emotional experiences, and shares some suggestions for how we can build our capacity to just be with all the feels.

Recorded on: May 11, 2020

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Reflection questions:

1. Which hard feelings are coming up for you during this time of COVID-19 and having to shelter in place?
2. In general, which uncomfortable feelings tend to repeatedly come up for you (e.g., anger, shame, sadness, grief, loneliness)? Why do you think that is?
3. How do you usually cope when your hard feelings come up? Is it working for you or would another response/strategy feel more supportive?
4. If you were to share with a loved one that you're feeling the hard feelings, how would you like them to respond?
5. What is your typical response to someone who is sharing their hard feelings with you? Why do you think that is?
6. What is one new thing you'd feel comfortable doing to be able to sit with your hard feelings the next time they come up?

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In the Introduction of The Soul's Work Podcast: Season 2, host Janice Ho welcomes you all back to the show and shares a bit about her almost two-year hiatus off the mic. You'll get a sneak peek of the topics she'll be discussing this season, plus some background on her recent journey exploring her relationship with alcohol.

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice and her guest Rebecca Lam dive into a raw and open discussion about music, spirituality, mental illness, perfectionism, vulnerability, leadership, and so much more. Don't miss this insightful and honest conversation!

Originally published: July 17, 2018

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Rebecca Lam:

• Website: www.thechorusstudio.com
• Instagram: @thechorusstudio
• Facebook: @thechorusstudio

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice and her very special guest (and partner in life), Bruno Nunes, get deep into discussing the topic of romantic relationships. Listen in as they talk about four common challenges in relationships – communication and empathy, authenticity, vulnerability, and overcoming social/gendered expectations – and reflect on some ways that partners can nurture a relationship while staying true to themselves.

*Please keep in mind that this conversation takes the lens of being in a gender-normative, heterosexual relationship.

Originally published: May 15, 2018

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Janice:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.