Have you struggled with where to begin when looking for a therapist? Or maybe you’ve started working with a mental health professional, but you’re worried they might not be the best fit? Finding support is a vital part of healing, but it can often be a confusing or even daunting process. This episode of You Make Sense was created as a trauma-informed guide to help you know what to look for in a therapist or practitioner.

Sarah explains the two most important qualities a professional needs to embody in order to support others. You’ll learn what truly sets a practitioner apart, the red flags that signal caution, and the qualities you should look for when selecting someone. Sarah reminds us how deeply complex healing work is and the importance of finding a practitioner who is trauma-trained. If you’re feeling lost when it comes to seeking support, this episode will empower you with the tools and knowledge to find the right person for you.

Episode Highlights: keep them short and to the point

• [00:00] Healing starts with finding the right support
• [02:08] 2 things that make a practitioner good at what they do
• [07:33] Red flags to look out for in practitioners
• [21:23] The concept of energy wells and what it means
• [23:43] What to look for in a therapist or practitioner
• [36:55] Question 1: Knowing when you’ve hit your trauma vortex
• [42:58] Question 2: Tending to your nervous system in parts
• [47:07] Question 3: Plant medicine in therapeutic work

RSVP to Sarah’s FREE Live Training + Q&A Series:

Ready to take the next step with nervous system healing? Join Sarah for “Unlock the Life You Desire,” a 2-part somatic healing series to help you experience more joy and aliveness, and step toward the purpose that’s calling you.

Click below to save your spot (limited time replays available!):

http://bit.ly/sp-live-training

Navigating Your Nervous System is NOW ENROLLING:

Wanting to work with Sarah in a live capacity? The doors are now open to her 6-week live program, Navigating Your Nervous System, designed to help you get into the driver’s seat of your experience and start feeling better on a daily basis.

Click below to learn more:

bit.ly/sp-nyns

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community - bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching

Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com

Submit a Question:

sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

Romantic love has a way of poking at our deepest wounding. Even when life feels steady elsewhere, intimacy can trigger reactions that don’t feel like our true selves. Sarah explains that this is often the work of our parts — younger versions of ourselves that carry past trauma and coping strategies — and that these parts can show up most strongly in our closest relationships.

In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah explores how vulnerable, protective, and self-like parts shape the roles we play with partners, from caretaking to perfectionism. She shares how these patterns are often rooted in childhood experiences and why they can make intimacy feel both desirable and threatening. With somatic insights and practical tools, Sarah shows how to reparent younger parts, anchor into the adult self, and create relationships that feel authentic and safe.

Episode Highlights:

• [00:00] Identifying the parts of us that show up in romantic relationships
• [01:41] How parts form through overwhelming or traumatic experiences
• [06:08] Why parts show up most strongly in romantic partnerships
• [09:51] Three categories of parts: vulnerable, protective, and self-like
• [10:48] How protective parts protect vulnerable parts
• [14:23] Self-like parts: how they mimic adult selves and feel rational
• [17:25] Learning to distinguish your adult self from younger parts
• [28:19] Tools to anchor into your adult self in relationships
• [29:50] Exercises to see your partner clearly and take in the good
• [34:21] The importance of reparenting your parts
• [34:51] How to repair after conflict and name adult vs. younger needs
• [37:48] Question 1: Working with caretaker protector parts in relationships
• [53:15] Question 2: Attraction challenges when seeing your partner’s child parts
• [01:08:07] Question 3: The role of your nervous system in letting go of long relationships

RSVP to Sarah’s FREE Live Training + Q&A Series:

Ready to take the next step with nervous system healing? Join Sarah for “Unlock the Life You Desire,” a 2-part somatic healing series to help you experience more joy and aliveness, and step toward the purpose that’s calling you.

Click below to save your spot (limited-time replays available!):

bit.ly/sp-live-training

Navigating Your Nervous System is NOW ENROLLING:

Wanting to work with Sarah in a live capacity? The doors are now open to her 6-week live program, Navigating Your Nervous System, designed to help you get into the driver’s seat of your experience and start feeling better on a daily basis.

Click below to learn more:

bit.ly/sp-nyns

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community - bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching

Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com

Submit a Question:

sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

Have you ever been told you're "too nice" or found yourself saying "I'm fine" even when you're really not? For so many of us, anger can feel scary or wrong, like something we should push down or avoid entirely. But Sarah explains that there's a difference between healthy and unhealthy expressions of anger, and that healthy aggression—your natural ability to protect yourself and speak up when something isn't right—is actually essential for feeling safe and alive in your body.

In this episode, Sarah explores why so many of us learned to inhibit this vital, life-force energy, often as a way to survive difficult experiences. If you've ever found yourself being chronically agreeable, struggling to set boundaries, or getting angry about small things while staying silent about the big ones, this episode is for you. You’ll learn gentle, somatic tools to reconnect with this protective energy so that you can access the full spectrum of who you are.

Episode Highlights:

00:30 Healthy Aggression

10:45 Unhealthy Aggression

17:23 Different Versions of Unhealthy Aggression

21:19 What Happens When We Inhibit Healthy Aggression?

24:58 How to Access Healthy Aggression

38:06 Question #1 - How Do You Overcome Self-Hatred?

47:15 Question #2 - Tending to a Younger Part’s Anger and Resentment

56:36 Question #3 - Why Do I Get So Irritated with My Children?

01:02:47 Question #4 - Releasing Stored Anger From the Jaw

Join My Free Live Training + Q&A Series:                                                                

Understanding how your nervous system works is the foundation for everything you want in life. If you're ready to start learning how to work with this incredible system inside you, I'm hosting a free live training series to help you expand your capacity for joy and step toward your purpose.

RSVP for the two-part series:

 https://bit.ly/sp-live-training

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/

Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/

Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

Have you ever struggled to build or maintain meaningful friendships, felt isolated despite doing the inner work, or wondered why community can feel so hard to create? In the final episode of the Summer Somatic Reset series, Sarah explores one of the most essential yet misunderstood human needs – connection. 

You’ll learn how your attachment style and nervous system influence your ability to connect, and why experiences of trauma can lead to patterns of fawning, isolation, or forming unhealthy relationships. This episode will also equip you with tangible somatic tools to build your capacity for connection, recognize the types of relationships you desire, and begin cultivating community from a place of authenticity.

Join Sarah to discover the power of creating internal safety and belonging to navigate social anxiety, shift inner dialogue, and find your chosen family.

Episode Highlights:

• [00:00] Why community and safe connection are essential
• [01:46] How trauma impacts creating authentic connection
• [04:14] Sarah shares her experience of fawning and isolation
• [06:59] Masking, dysregulation, and misconceptions surrounding anxiety
• [10:34] What it means to be the ‘different one’ in your family or community
• [13:18] Attachment styles and how they influence connection
• [19:18] Examples of secure attachment and healthy connection
• [21:59] The healing journey and finding your chosen family
• [25:39] How to cultivate inner belonging and relational authenticity
• [28:48] Learn how to find and form the right connections for you
• [32:56] Reciprocity and the evolving nature of relationships
• [34:57] Question 1: Healing past relational wounds to form friendship and trust
• [41:14] Question 2: How to find an aligned community and build a chosen family
• [45:17] Question 3: Why it’s hard to reenter a community after healing

Enter the Summer Somatic Reset Giveaway:

Looking for even more tools to transform your life? For a limited time, you can get a FREE 1-hour group call with Sarah for more resources to regulate your nervous system and a chance to ask her questions live!

All you have to do is rate, review, and/or subscribe to claim your spot. Click below to learn more.
 

bit.ly/sp-podcast-giveaway

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community (YouTube): bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletter

Email Community (Apple/Spotify): bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching

Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com

Submit a Question:

sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Summer Somatic Reset: Are They Wrong For Me? Or Is It My Nervous System?

Summer Somatic Reset: High-Performance Leadership Without Engaging in Hustle Culture

Summer Somatic Reset: Healing the Scarcity Wound: A Nervous System Approach to

Trauma & Finances

Understanding Social Anxiety: Are you Actually an Introvert/Extrovert or Is It Trauma?

Many of us carry deep-seated wounds of scarcity rooted in our early attachment patterns, and without realizing it, we continue to recreate those patterns in our adult lives. In this third episode of the four-part Summer Somatic Reset series, Sarah delves into the intricate relationship between trauma, finances, and the nervous system.

Through the lens of attachment theory and nervous system regulation, Sarah unpacks how anxious, avoidant, and disorganized money attachments develop and how they influence our beliefs about worth, safety, and abundance. Learn how to identify your own patterns, understand the protective role your body has played, and how to begin cultivating a secure, embodied relationship with money.

Want to effectively navigate financial anxiety, expand your capacity to receive, and embrace abundance? This is the episode for you! It’s not just a money conversation; it is a pathway to healing, wholeness, and freedom.

Episode Highlights:

• [0:00:00] Today’s focus on money and abundance.
• [0:01:14] Where struggles around money might originate from.
• [0:07:49] Attachment theory and how it relates to finances.
• [0:11:53] How the body protects itself from anxious attachment around money.
• [0:17:05] Avoidant attachment and how it develops.
• [0:21:17] Examples of how the body copes with avoidant attachment.
• [0:23:32] What it looks like to have a disorganized attachment with money.
• [0:25:50] What a secure relationship with money looks like.
• [0:31:09] Reasons why people struggle with the concept of abundance.
• [0:33:00] How to create a healthy relationship with money.
• [0:41:20] Question 1: Overcoming the body’s conditioning to wealth.
• [1:00:14] Question 2: The impact of attachment style on relationships.
• [1:07:10] Question 3: How long will the healing journey take.

Enter the Summer Somatic Reset Giveaway:

Looking for even more tools to transform your life? For a limited time, you can get a FREE 1-hour group call with Sarah for more resources to regulate your nervous system and a chance to ask her questions live!

All you have to do is rate, review, and/or subscribe to claim your spot. Click below to learn more.

bit.ly/sp-podcast-giveaway

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community (YouTube): bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletter

Email Community (Apple/Spotify): bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching

Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com

Submit a Question:

sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Summer Somatic Reset: Are They Wrong For Me? Or Is It My Nervous System?

Summer Somatic Reset: High-Performance Leadership Without Engaging in Hustle Culture

In episode two of the four-part Summer Somatic Reset series, Sarah explores how high-performing leaders can shift from leading through scarcity and fear to embodying leadership rooted in safety and abundance. She unpacks the common traits of many high achievers, how the drive to succeed often stems from survival instincts formed in childhood, the toll this can take over time, and how parts work and nervous system regulation can pave the way for sustainable leadership.

Through practical somatic tools and real-life examples, Sarah offers a path to more life-giving leadership rooted in nervous system regulation, nourishment, and the steady presence of your adult self. Whether you’re leading a company or your own healing journey, this episode will help you shift from striving to thriving so you can lead without sacrificing your wellbeing!

Episode Highlights:

• [00:00] The journey to life-giving high-performance leadership
• [01:25] What it looks like to be a high achiever
• [06:01] How striving protective parts drive high achievers
• [12:44] What happens when protective parts become problematic
• [14:17] How constant striving adversely impacts ourselves and others
• [18:45] Learning to lead from our adult selves, not our younger parts
• [22:44] How to reparent our younger parts and retrain our nervous systems
• [25:45] The importance of prioritizing nourishment, even when it’s challenging
• [32:33] Other focus areas for high achievers, like learning to rely on others
• [35:26] Why people are drawn to regulated leaders
• [40:00] Question 1: Feeling in your power and not getting derailed
• [45:19] Question 2: Starting, running, and sustaining a successful business
• [50:54] Question 3: Navigating imposter syndrome from a somatic perspective

Enter the Summer Somatic Reset Giveaway:

Looking for even more tools to transform your life? For a limited time, you can get a FREE 1-hour group call with Sarah for more resources to regulate your nervous system and a chance to ask her questions live!
 

All you have to do is rate, review, and/or subscribe to claim your spot. Click below to learn more.

YouTube — bit.ly/yt-podcast-giveaway

Apple/Spotify — bit.ly/sp-podcast-giveaway

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community (YouTube) — bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletter

Email Community (Apple/Spotify) — bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching

Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com

Submit a Question:

sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

In this first episode of the four-part Summer Somatic Reset series, Sarah unpacks one of the most common (and confusing) questions in relationships: Is this person wrong for me, or is it my nervous system? Sarah shares how attachment wounds, protective parts, and nervous system patterns shape our experience of love, and why good things don’t always feel good at first.

Through guided practices and personal insights, Sarah invites you to explore how to differentiate between old protective patterns and present-day truth, empowering you to build relational capacity, deepen self-trust, and recognize what truly supports growth and connection.

Episode Highlights:

• [00:00] The truth behind relationship confusion
• [01:43] Why good things often don’t feel good at first
• [03:59] Cultural myths that keep us stuck in romantic uncertainty
• [06:23] How neuroception links past wounding to present experience
• [10:05] The importance of building capacity inside a relationship
• [13:06] A guided practice to access your adult self and discern relationship truth
• [23:19] The mirror effect: How relationships reveal our growth edges
• [26:12] Recognizing when you’re in a protective part versus your adult self
• [30:35] What it feels like when a relationship is right (and why it may still feel uncomfortable)
• [35:23] When is a relationship wrong? Growth, safety, values, and relational polarity
• [41:59] Understanding boredom as a relational signal
• [44:49] Question 1: Building capacity and checking in with your truth daily
• [48:41] Question 2: Breaking patterns by giving your younger parts the love they lacked
• [51:49] Question 3: Reparenting our parts to build attraction and receive healthy love

Enter the Summer Somatic Reset Giveaway:

Looking for even more tools to transform your life? For a limited time, you can get a FREE 1-hour group call with Sarah for more resources to regulate your nervous system and a chance to ask her questions live!

All you have to do is rate, review, and/or subscribe to claim your spot. Click below to learn more.

bit.ly/sp-podcast-giveaway
 

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community (YouTube): bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletter

Email Community (Apple/Spotify): bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching

Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com

Submit a Question:

sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

Many of us know what it feels like to be stuck, wanting to move forward in life but somehow unable to. This is often an indication we’re in freeze—one of the most misunderstood forms of nervous system dysregulation. In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah breaks down the freeze response: what it is, why it happens, and how it shows up in everything from our relationships to our purpose.

Freeze is not laziness or weakness, but a deeply adaptive survival response. Drawing on neuroscience and compassionate insight, Sarah offers powerful somatic tools to gently help you come out of dysregulation and into safety. If you’ve ever felt stuck in a loop of overthinking, avoidance, or self-doubt—this episode will give you a roadmap for stepping toward the life you desire.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 Intro

00:24 Freeze & The Autonomic Nervous System

03:25 Chronic Dysregulation Takes A Lot of Energy

06:21 Characteristics of Freeze

12:50 How We Experience Freeze In Our Relationships

17:32 Tools to Heal Your Relationships

22:44 How Younger Parts Show Up in Relationships

25:08 How We Experience Freeze in Our Purpose 

31:01 Coming Closer to Regulation

36:30 Question 1 - “Why Can’t I Step Toward Dating?”

41:26 Question 2 - “How Do I Get Out of a Deep State of Freeze?”

47:06 Question 3 - “Why Am I Dysregulated So Often?”

Join the Waitlist for Navigating Your Nervous System:

Living a full, expansive life starts with nervous system regulation. If you’re looking for practical tools and support on your healing journey, you can now get on the waitlist for my upcoming 6-week LIVE program.

Everyone on the waitlist will receive access to limited-time pricing:

https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlist

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/

Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/

Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

Our early childhood experiences leave a lasting imprint on how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world around us—often in ways we don’t even realize. In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah unpacks how childhood trauma can shape our nervous system, attachment style, and even our health, and why the self-protective patterns we developed early on often leave us feeling stuck in our adult lives.

Using neuroscience and real-life examples, Sarah will guide you toward tangible tools to address your nervous system and come to the aid of younger parts. Whether you had loving parents who didn’t always get it right or caregivers who were harmful or dangerous, this episode will help you to heal the past and step toward your future with more ease and empowerment.  

Episode Highlights

00:00 Intro

00:15 Childhood Shapes Who You Become

01:36 How Adverse Childhood Experiences Affect Our Adult Lives

07:53 Understanding Adaptive Attachment Styles

11:50 The Origin of Our Younger Parts

16:03 How Childhood Parts Show Up in Adult Life

20:22 Your Nervous System Picks Your Romantic Partners

24:02 How Our Deepest Desires Become the Path to Healing

31:55 Question 1 - Why Do I Feel More Activation As I Heal?

36:25 Question 2 - Are My Struggles with Dating Rooted in the Past?

41:11 Question 3 - Why Don’t I Feel Anything About a Past Trauma?  

Join the Waitlist for Navigating Your Nervous System:

Living a full, expansive life starts with nervous system regulation. If you’re looking for practical tools and support on your healing journey, you can now get on the waitlist for my upcoming 6-week LIVE program.

Everyone on the waitlist will receive access to limited-time pricing:

https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlist

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/

Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/

Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast

We all have needs. But what happens when we stop listening to them, or never learned how to in the first place? In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah gently guides us through the heart of relational healing: learning how to get our needs met.

With tenderness and clarity, she unpacks how early attachment wounds shape our ability to express, feel, or even recognize our needs, leading many of us into cycles of codependency, hyper-independence, or invisible exhaustion. From the helpers who give too much to the ones who learned to stay small and silent, Sarah explores the nervous system patterns that keep us stuck in survival, disconnected from true intimacy.

Through the lens of somatics and parts work, she introduces a compassionate roadmap toward interdependence: a relational experience where we can be fully ourselves and fully connected. It's not about being needy, it’s about being human.

Episode Highlights

00:00 Intro

00:15 We All Have Needs

03:25 Understanding Codependency

08:42 Different Roles of Codependency

12:41 Hyper-Independence

20:31 Unseen and Unknown

22:07 Interdependence

26:10 Getting Your Needs Met

39:33 Question #1 - How to Reshape the Nervous System

48:08 Question #2 - Hypervigilant Younger Parts with Deep Wounding

57:15 Question #3 - Loving Inquiry

01:04:49 Question #4 - Young Part Bargain   

Get on the Waitlist for Navigating Your Nervous System:

Living a full, expansive life starts with nervous system regulation! If you’re wanting practical tools and live support on your healing journey, you can now get on the waitlist for my upcoming 6-week live program.

All waitlisters get access to limited-time reduced pricing. Click the link below to learn more. 

https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlist

Connect with Sarah on:

Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/

Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/

Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast