We’ve heard it and said it: “I had a happy childhood.” What does this really mean? This week we explore the importance of childhood, what NEEDS to happen in childhood that will lead to a healthy adulthood, and how the goal of happiness can actually stunt our growth. Topics we cover in this episode:

- trauma and reducing the harmful effects of a traumatic experience

- how identity is achieved

- what impedes the development of a healthy, authentic identity in childhood and adolescence

- what role the full range of emotions play in our experience of joy

Thanks for listening, and if you like it, share it!

Has therapy become our religion? In this winter episode of The Work of Being Human, I explore what happens when a deeply good and necessary tool is asked to carry weight it was never meant to bear. Using winter as a metaphor for inward attention, stillness, and self-knowledge, I reflect on my own psycho-spiritual journey and the powerful role therapy played in my healing.

Drawing from psychology, attachment theory, and meaning-making research, this episode examines humans as orienting beings—creatures who must organize their lives around something ultimate. Therapy offers compassion, clarity, and relational repair, but it cannot provide meaning, purpose, or wholeness. When we ask it to, it quietly becomes sacralized. This episode is not an argument against therapy, but an invitation to place it where it belongs: as a vital support for facing reality, healing wounds, and preparing the ground for life—while leaving space to reach beyond the self for what the human heart ultimately longs for.

Send me your reactions: [email protected]

Happy New Year to all! In this opening episode, Foundations: The Two Things You Need in Order to Grow, we begin the year by doing something countercultural: slowing down. Instead of rushing into resolutions and forced change, we look to winter — and the natural rhythms of the seasons — as an honest model for how growth actually works. Drawing from the agricultural calendar, psychology, and Christian wisdom, this episode explores why January is not a time for productivity or reinvention, but for rest, stillness, and preparation. We talk about dormancy, readiness, and the unseen work that happens beneath the surface before anything grows. You’ll hear why insight alone doesn’t transform us, how modern mental health culture often pushes urgency over wisdom, and why true change requires both grace and self-discipline. This episode sets the foundation for a year-long journey rooted in reality, humanity, and timing — beginning not with a push, but with a breath.

Follow me on Instagram: @vanessathetherapist

Send me an email: [email protected]

And don't forget... DM me with a photo of you, fascinated by a piece of cheese. And yes -- you have to listen to this week's episode to get it. ;-)

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, near and far! This week, we discuss the essence of what it means to be present. Too often, we offer parts of ourselves and not the whole, and we wonder why we feel lonely and disconnected. The truth is: all healing culminates in the ability to be fully present. We'll look at what it is, what it's not, and why it's the greatest gift we can give another.

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanessathetherapist/

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanessabentleylpc

Follow me on X: https://x.com/Vthetherapist

Send me an email with a podcast request: [email protected]

As we continue our series, Ending the Year Well, we look at a very important question we could ask ourselves at the close of the year: what does the healthiest version of myself look like? If I'm as healthy as I want to be, what does that look like emotionally, physically, mentally, professionally, sexually, and so on. Then we do some inventorying: who is going to help me get there and who isn't? Folks, it's time to "clean out the closet" of our relationships. We're going to talk about recruiting, reconciling, and releasing... and we're looking ahead into 2026 with purpose, intention, and full responsibility for who we are.

To look at the "Yearly Inventory" from years past, click here:

1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vanessa-londino-podcast/id1555914519?i=1000588774344

2: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vanessa-londino-podcast/id1555914519?i=1000589824748

3: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vanessa-londino-podcast/id1555914519?i=1000590594579

4: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vanessa-londino-podcast/id1555914519?i=1000591292133

If you'd like to send me a message, email me at: [email protected] (not .com)

As the year winds down to a close, it’s time to take some inventory and think through how we want to close 2025 out. Starting a new year with a clean slate is one of the greatest gifts you can supply to your mental health. No baggage. No loose ends. No unfinished business. Just a clear mind and an open heart. So we need to ask ourselves: Am I holding on to hurt, bitterness, or resentment? Is there someone I need to forgive? This week, we tackle what forgiveness is and isn’t, how to do it, and how it’s actually essential to your mental health.

Send me an email about the podcast! [email protected]

Buy “The Toolbox” - https://a.co/d/azt401j

Happy thanksgiving to all! I wanted share the gratitude in my heart for you, the audience, some thoughts on how to cultivate a life that overflows with thankfulness, and a prayer for all who listen. Many thanks for keeping this podcast going in its fourth year!

Listen to this episode if you’re feeling defeated, tired, run down, or if you’re hearing yourself complain a lot. Elysia Skye is a speaker, mindset and leadership consultant, and host of The Brilliance Method Podcast, and here’s what I learned from talking to her: authenticity in action is one of the most compelling expressions of humanity. Elysia is brave, bold, deeply caring, and filled with hard fought wisdom. She has faced battles in her own life to reach her goals, and she brings this same passion and practical knowledge to us in this episode. Her work is all about bringing out the “brilliance” in all of us, and I’m so thankful she shared her gifts with the Work of Being Human audience!

Follow me on Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/vanessathetherapist?igsh=MTJ6NTYwdWFsOG5ieg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

https://www.instagram.com/theworkofbeinghuman?igsh=MXd6cTY3b3ZwNXZ1&utm_source=qr

To connect with Elysia…

Watch or Listen to The Brilliance Method Podcast: https://linktr.ee/elysiaskye

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elysiaskye

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elysiaskyecoach

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elysiaskye

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@elysiaskye

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elysiaskye/

Dr. Alan Weissenbacher is a pastor and a neuroscientific researcher. His work in addiction and recovery led him to dive more deeply into the brain’s ability to change and rewire itself. In this episode, Dr. Weissenbacher leads us down the road of recovery, brain change, a grace filled process, and why you should celebrate every step. (Hint: it has to do with how your brain works.) He’s funny, kind, thoughtful, patient, and delivers a strong wind of hope for anyone who has ever felt like giving up. Simply put: this episode is about how you can change anything!

For more information on Dr. Weissenbacher, click here: https://alanweissenbacher.com

To order his book, “The Brain Change Program,” click here: https://a.co/d/2KuNY3N

Many listeners have requested an episode on grief for two reasons: (1) grief is difficult, and we seek all the help we can get. (2) Grief is universal. We will all face losses of many kinds. Marcia’s experience with grief, while heart wrenching and tragic, offers us hope, purpose, and an uncommon vitality. She is an expert on finding life again after loss. Marcia teaches us to view grief as a spiritual passage through our greatest fears to a new version of ourselves. Marcia’s faith, hope, and determination to live again will inspire you to accept grief as part of life and, in her words, get breathing again, moving again, and living again.

For more information on Marcia: https://www.thesterlingrosesanctuary.us

To purchase Marcia’s book on grief: http://a.co/d/3Qq4eHR

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesterlingrosesanctuary/