In this deeply honest and darkly funny episode, Suzanne Orlando, LCSW—licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and former school social worker—steps out from behind her credentials and speaks from the place that feels far more vulnerable: motherhood. With nearly two decades of professional experience helping families navigate trauma,
emotional regulation, and school struggles, Suzanne is the person everyone assumes has it all figured out. She doesn’t—and she’s here to say that out loud.
Suzanne shares what it’s really like to parent two kids in the thick of adolescence while carrying the invisible weight of professional expectations, Gen X conditioning, and a nervous system that never quite powers down. She opens up about parenting a son with ADHD and emotional regulation challenges, raising a teenage daughter who is doing exactly what teens are wired to do, and the humbling reality that clinical knowledge does not protect you from losing your patience before 8 a.m.
At the heart of this episode is Suzanne’s raw exploration of something many parents feel but rarely name: the trauma of being seen during your hardest parenting moments. From the dreaded school pickup walk to the fear of judgment, she unpacks how shame, hypervigilance, and nervous system overload show up in the body—explaining the neuroscience behind why your brain knows better, but your body panics anyway. This isn’t weakness or failure; it’s biology colliding with impossible expectations.
This episode sets the tone for the podcast ahead—a space where the therapist brain and the mom brain can both speak freely. Together, we’ll talk about parenting without neat endings, the IEP process from both sides of the table, emotionally intense kids and teens, and what it means to survive parenting with honesty, humor, and compassion. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, judged, or quietly falling apart in your car, this episode is for you. You’re not broken. You’re not alone, and you’re doing better than you think.
