Debra Bryant is a pediatric therapeutic practice owner and a Certified and Licensed Behavior Analyst. She is also the Co-Owner/Co-Founder of e-volvedLIFE. Debra has experience and success using video conferencing to deliver telehealth services to children with Autism for one on one therapy and group social skills. e-volvedLIFE was developed in response to COVID-19, as Debra and her team were looking for new and innovative ways to keep kids engaged and learning. Since Debra was able to deliver telehealth services successfully, she decided all people should have this opportunity to connect to others.

Debra and her team came up with the idea of virtual summer camps to provide some sort of normalcy for kids. She also recognizes the need for parents to have a break during the day, so the camps are designed for ages 7+, which allows the child to participate independently. While Debra specializes in services to children with Autism, the virtual camps are for all children of all abilities.

The other thing about Debra, she’s a working mom. At work, she felt empowered. At home, she felt empowered. However, once COVID-19 forced her to start working from home, suddenly the lines were blurred and there were no boundaries between work and family life. She explained to Jill Devine when those lines became blurred, she has found it to be hard to be successful at her job and hard to be successful as a mother. She feels like she isn’t doing any of it well.

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Shannon Buescher stuck around for a Part Two. In Part One, Shannon discussed diet culture and the damaging effects it has on women.

In Part Two, she talked more about diet culture and how society will deem a bigger body as a bad thing, so women measure everything based on external results. Diet culture makes you buy into weight stigma, so when the scale doesn’t move, it sets you up for failure. Instead, what women should think about is, if you’re doing things that make you feel good – food and movement – why isn’t that enough?

Shannon also discussed in detail what intuitive eating is. She told Jill Devine permission is the key part in healing your issues with food. It’s the scariest part, but necessary. She also said you must be curious because you need to experiment with different foods and how they make you feel. Shannon also suggested to be more dialed in and listen to what your mind and body are telling you.

Shannon’s final thoughts, “stay kind and stay curious”.

Follow Shannon on Instagram - @shannonbuescher, on Facebook, Hayes Nutrition.

Learn more about Shannon and start finding your freedom with food.

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Shannon Buescher is an intuitive eating & health at every size registered dietitian. She’s not your “average” dietitian. She helps you look at how you are prioritizing food and yourself in your life. She encourages changing the language you use with food and yourself to be kinder, more loving and self-honoring.

In Part One, Shannon talked to Jill Devine about “diet culture” and why so many women are failing because they aren’t intuitive eaters. A diet follows rules and people like to break rules. Diet culture also brings shame, so the mental side of dieting is damaging.  

Jill has been very open about her struggles with self-image throughout several episodes, but in this episode, she opened up more about her food insecurities. Shannon helped shed some light on Jill’s struggles.

You can start finding your freedom with food with Shannon’s help.

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Jill Devine saw an article featuring St. Louis baker, Sarita Gelner. Sarita is an innovative baker, TV Chef & Lifestyle Expert. She’s also a stay-at-home mom. Sarita was on “The Great American Baking Show” and since appearing on “The Great American Baking Show”, Sarita has been on “The Tamron Hall Show” and is a regular on KSDK (NBC affiliate in St. Louis) and KTVI (FOX affiliate in St. Louis).

Jill was honored when Sarita agreed to be a guest on the podcast. Jill loves to bake, so she thought the conversation would be about Sarita’s experience on “The Great American Baking Show”, in addition to other food related topics. Those items were discussed, but so much more became a part of this episode. Such as: Sarita’s dark childhood, her movement to shine light on the efforts of minority women in the fields of food & media, her gratefulness for the life she is living, and women empowerment.

You can follow Sarita’s journey and get her free recipes through her blog, Ritzy Mom, and you can see the beautiful creations she makes on Instagram - @ritzymomblog

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Jessica Butler is a stepmom and an adoptive mom. In adding the titles of stepmom and adoptive mom to her life, she tried to find resources to help with her new role as a mom. She noticed through research 44% of women in America either have a stepchild, a stepparent, and/or step sibling. She kept looking for resources for non-traditional families and couldn’t find anything. She thought she was missing something because it was so obvious, yet there was nothing. This led to the question - how is there not a parenting magazine for non-traditional families in the year 2020?

After some more research and determination, Jessica gained a new title. She is the founder of Raise Magazine. Raise Magazine is described as:

A lifestyle site for modern mothers, featuring stories of stepparenting, adoption, foster care, surrogacy, and non-traditional families.

Jessica provided her perspective to Jill Devine about custody schedules, building traditions with her stepchildren, open adoption, birth moms, and much more in this week's episode.

You can follow Raise Magazine on Instagram - @raiseparentmag

https://raisemagazine.com/

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Bravery. Courage. Self Confidence. Love Yourself.

Those words are part of Judi Holler’s daily vocabulary and she wants us to make them part of our daily vocabulary. Judi is a motivational speaker, a best-selling author, a podcast host, a 90’s hip-hop expert, and so much more.

On this week’s episode, Jill Devine and Judi dove deep into Judi’s book, Fear Is My Homeboy. Jill loved reading this book and the message it delivers to its readers. Judi suggests participating in “fear experiments” because “if you don’t have the courage to get it wrong, you will never get it right”. The experiments don’t have to be big things to prove you’re brave. She encourages you to experiment with small things, such as setting an alarm in the morning or not hitting snooze. These small experiments help with your bravery and yes, “things can go wrong, but think about what can go right”.

Jill often talks about not wanting her girls to have self-esteem issues like she has, and Judi reminded Jill that when Jill’s girls see her do brave and courageous things, it’s contagious and they are learning from the best role model out there. Judi challenged Jill to be a fear role model, because “your self-love and courageous ways are contagious”.

If you text “Brave” to 474747, Judi is going to give you some freebies, which includes free chapters of Fear Is My Homeboy.

Don’t forget to follow Judi on Instagram - @judiholler and check out her podcast “The #FearBoss Show".

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Meditation can be a scary term because a lot of people feel like they aren’t doing it correctly, so they give up. There’s passive and active mediation and it’s super important to know which one you need to practice based on the moment you are in.

Tejal V. Patel joined Jill Devine this week to talk about the different meditation practices available to us and how beneficial meditation is for children. Tejal is starting a movement for family meditation because meditation isn’t just for parents, it’s for the entire family. The book she wrote, Meditation For Kids: 40 Activities to Manage Emotions, Ease Anxiety and Stay Focused, is the perfect resource for families looking to practice meditation. About the book:

Inspired by some of the greatest yogic teachings, these 40 exercises will help children combat the most common problems they face on a daily basis—distraction, anger, disappointment, jealousy, and low self-esteem. And these meditations aren’t just for kids. As you and your child make meditation a part of your daily routines, you will begin to notice YOU will feel less stressed, too. Practice with your child, and you’ll be on the right path to building deeper connections, open communication, and creating a more peaceful home environment. 

Tejal compared daily meditation to brushing your teeth. You brush your teeth every day to prevent cavities and to keep your teeth clean. You need to brush your brain of yucky thoughts and mediation needs to be part of your daily hygiene; then it becomes a habit.

You can visit her website to purchase the book and to learn more about Tejal’s courses and trainings. Also, follow Tejal on Instagram @tejalvpatel. PROMO CODE: Before May 21st, you can get 50% off her Kids Can Meditate Course by using kidscanmeditate.

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Michelle Lynchard was Jill Devine’s final guest on Season 2 and Jill knew Michelle would be the perfect person to kick off Season 3 because everyone could use a little (actually, a lot) of calm in their lives right now.

Michelle specializes in helping overwhelmed, busy moms bring more calm to their lives and with the added stress everyone is facing with the quarantine, more mindful practices need to be done to help with overwhelmed feelings.

This episode served as a therapy session for Jill, as Michelle talked through some of the things that were making Jill feel anxious. Michelle then offered tips on how to calm Jill’s mind, such as focusing on what you can control, not what you can’t control. Michelle said people who are control freaks (Jill in included in this group) keep focusing on the end date of this virus and the quarantine, but since that is not determined, you have to focus on what you can do today. Michelle also said you must include something in your daily schedule to recharge your own being outside of your family and work obligations. She added that meditation is a good practice to start and she highly recommends the Breathe app for mediation practice.

If you’re feeling anxious and need some calm in your life, Michelle is offering a free one-hour coaching call. You can sign up for that call by accessing her website HERE.

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Michelle Lynchard sent an email to Jill Devine, proposing being a guest on the podcast. 

Here’s some of that email:

I recently discovered your podcast and I am officially your new fan. :)  I especially loved your episode with Allie Corey and Dana Dean (episode 19).  I love the way you spread the message of “we’re all in this together” instead of “let’s judge other Moms.”

I am a Life Coach here in St. Louis. I specialize in helping overwhelmed, busy Moms bring more calm to their lives.

Would you be interested in doing an episode like “A Mom's Guide to a Calm Holiday Season”?

I’d love to work with you. Thanks for the good, positive Mom energy you’re putting out into the world. 

Jill thought, “a calm holiday season”?  100%, YES!  This episode taught Jill much more than how to create a calm holiday season.  It was a very therapeutic episode and you will more than likely feel the same after you listen. 

In the episode, Michelle refers to the holiday guide to help with your calm Holiday season.  Here’s the link for the holiday guide: http://bit.ly/mlholiday

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This week's guest is STL Veg Girl.

If you live in the St. Louis area, you’re bound to know or have heard of Caryn Dugan, A.K.A. STL Veg Girl.

Caryn lost her Dad to cancer in 2008 and 10 weeks after his passing, she was diagnosed with cancer.  She decided to take matters into her own hands and research immune boosting diets and cancer prevention tips.  All searches led to a plant-based diet.  Fast forward, those searches lead to Caryn opening the Nation’s first ever Center for Plant-Based Living!

In this week’s episode, Jill Devine and Caryn talked about the journey from cancer scare to entrepreneur.  They also discussed how Caryn doesn’t have children and she often felt left out among her mommy friends, but now she understands her mommy friends a little bit more because her child is in the form of a brick and mortar.  

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