Trauma, ACEs, and Mother Wounds Talk: Is Everything a Trauma Response? Rethinking ACE Scores, Mother Wounds & Emotional Impact Summary Social media has made it easy to label behaviors as “trauma responses,” but is it really that simple? In this episode, we unpack why human behavior can’t be reduced to blanket statements and explore the nuance behind trauma, ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) scores, and emotional impact. Drawing from personal experience as a therapist, we examine how contex...
May 22, 2026•19 min•Season 3Ep. 69
Two Mothers and Two Mother wounds In this deeply personal and emotional conversation, Desiree shares her journey of growing up between two mother figures, her biological mother and the great-aunt who raised her after she entered the foster system at age five. From early instability, abuse, and emotional parentification to navigating identity, race, and belonging in a predominantly white town, Desiree opens up about the lasting impact of her childhood experiences. Now a licensed professional coun...
May 15, 2026•45 min•Season 3Ep. 68
The Ripple Effects of Mother Wounds. How the Mother Wound Impacts Every Relationship in Your Life The “mother wound” doesn’t stay confined to your relationship with your mom, it shapes how you show up in romantic relationships, friendships, parenting, and even your relationship with yourself. In this episode, Brittany Scott breaks down how early relational patterns formed in childhood continue to influence your behaviors, beliefs, and emotional responses as an adult. You’ll learn how these patte...
May 08, 2026•18 min•Season 3Ep. 67
Why Loving Your Daughter “Your Way” Might Be Missing the Mark ? What your daughter needs from you You’ve given your daughter everything you wish you had growing up, so why does it still feel like it’s not enough? In this episode, we unpack an often overlooked truth: loving your daughter the way you need isn’t the same as loving her the way she needs. When parenting is shaped by your own unmet needs, it can create a disconnect, no matter how good your intentions are. We explore why this mismatch ...
May 01, 2026•25 min•Season 3Ep. 66
Slow, Authentic Repair To The Mother Wound Social media often portrays healing the mother's wound as a "glowy" moment of sudden forgiveness or a definitive "I chose me" caption. In reality, true healing is often quiet, unremarkable, and invisible to the outside world. This episode strips away the misconceptions of "pivotal breakthroughs" and explores how reclaiming your life is a layered, non-linear process of reducing the power the past has over your present. This episode explains: Why the "one...
Apr 24, 2026•17 min•Season 3Ep. 65
When Your Teenager Pulls Away: Individuation vs. The Mother Wound Is your teenager becoming prickly, private, or distant? While this "pulling away" is a healthy developmental milestone, for mothers with unhealed wounds, it can feel like a devastating personal rejection. In this episode, Brittney explores how to distinguish between normal teenage behavior and your own emotional triggers, providing a roadmap for breaking generational cycles and building a lasting adult connection with your daughte...
Apr 17, 2026•20 min•Season 3Ep. 64
Four Years No Contact: A Mother-Daughter Reconciliation Story In this episode, we dive deep into the powerful and often complex world of mother-daughter relationships with bestselling authors Leslie and Lindsay Glass. After surviving a tumultuous history involving addiction, codependency, and a four-year period of complete "no contact," Leslie and Lindsay share the tools they used to reconcile and build a relationship based on respect and healthy boundaries. They discuss their journey from "kill...
Apr 10, 2026•51 min•Season 3Ep. 63
To the Mothers Whose Daughters Pulled Away: Understanding Ambiguous Loss In this compassionate yet accountable episode, I speak directly to mothers experiencing estrangement or distance from their adult daughters. I name what you're feeling, "ambiguous loss," and give you permission to grieve a relationship with someone who's still alive but no longer accessible to you. From the isolation of explaining why your daughter doesn't call, to the shame you carry at family gatherings, I validate the ve...
Apr 03, 2026•19 min•Season 3Ep. 62
Understanding Why Daughters Choose Distance: The Truth About Detachment and Estrangement (Part 1) In this episode, I address the spectrum of detachment daughters create with their mothers (from minimal surface-level contact to complete estrangement) and dismantle the harsh cultural narratives that blame daughters for being "ungrateful" or "cruel." Distance is never a daughter's first choice; it's what happens after years of trying everything else (talking, boundaries, being smaller, being differ...
Mar 27, 2026•16 min•Season 3Ep. 61
When Your Mom Waited for You - Dr. Imani Steele on Jealousy, Addiction, and Final Goodbyes In this interview, I sit down with Dr. Imani Steele, researcher and storyteller focused on Black mother-daughter relationships, who shares her story of being the child her mother didn't know how to handle. From embodying everything her mother never felt empowered to be, to watching addiction fracture their already strained relationship, Dr. Steele walks us through years of convincing herself she didn't nee...
Mar 20, 2026•54 min•Season 3Ep. 60
My Story - How I Became a Mother-Daughter Therapist (And Why I Almost Didn't Share This) In this vulnerable episode, I share something I've kept hidden for years: I don't do mother-daughter work because I have a painful mother-daughter relationship. From wanting to be a doctor at Johns Hopkins to falling into clinical psychology almost by accident, I walk you through my unexpected journey into this field. I reveal how working with teen girls led me to discover that mom was always at the center o...
Mar 13, 2026•20 min•Season 3Ep. 59
Grieving a Mother Who's Still Alive - Erin Gorrie's Story of Loss, Healing, and Finding Joy In this heartfelt interview, I sit down with Erin Gorrie, author of "We Have So Much In Common" and founder of Muskoka Puppy Yoga, to explore a type of grief many people don't recognize: losing your mother while she's still physically present. Erin shares how her mom's multiple sclerosis diagnosis at age 10 began a lifelong grieving process as the disease slowly took her mother's emotional presence away. ...
Mar 06, 2026•52 min•Season 3Ep. 58
When Your Mother Creates Conflict in Public: Why It's Different and What to Do In this episode, I address the heartbreaking reality of mothers who create conflict, criticism, or drama in front of others—turning what should be joyful celebrations into displays of their need for attention and control. I open with a devastating wedding story where a mother made her living daughter's special day about herself by constantly bringing up her deceased daughter, exposing how public conflict carries shame...
Feb 27, 2026•32 min•Season 3Ep. 57
Reconnection and Loss: Genifer's Story of Mental Illness, Repair, and Saying Goodbye In this interview, I sit down with Genifer Salandy, school psychologist and founder of Rooted Joy Wellness, who shares her deeply personal story of estrangement, brief reconnection, and ultimate loss. From being parentified as a child by a mother struggling with undiagnosed bipolar disorder to navigating a crisis during the pandemic that led to complete estrangement, Genifer's story reveals the complexity of lov...
Feb 20, 2026•49 min•Season 3Ep. 56
Why Popular Boundary Phrases Backfire With Your Mom (And What Actually Works) In this episode, I tackle the viral Instagram advice telling daughters exactly what to say to their "dysfunctional moms" when boundaries get challenged. Phrases like "I am not a child anymore and you don't get to control me with guilt" or "Your disappointment is not my responsibility to carry." The problem is these phrases might feel empowering, but they're guaranteed to put your mother on the defense, escalate conflic...
Feb 13, 2026•14 min•Season 3Ep. 55
Understanding the Mother Wound and How to Heal Without Your Mom In this episode, I break down what a mother wound actually is and provide a roadmap for healing without waiting for your mom to change, apologize, or acknowledge what happened. From understanding that mother wounds stem from attachment trauma and missing emotional support to recognizing that waiting for her to change is keeping you stuck, I guide you through concrete steps for reclaiming your healing journey. You'll learn why compar...
Feb 06, 2026•17 min•Season 3Ep. 54
How to Prevent Your Mother Wound from Becoming Your Daughter's In this episode, I explore how mother wounds get passed down through generations - not because you're a bad mother, but because patterns repeat until they're consciously broken. From the opening story of a mother who overcorrected her childhood invisibility by making her daughter's achievements into performances, I explain how emotional inheritance works through both repetition (doing exactly what your mother did) and overcorrection ...
Jan 30, 2026•23 min•Season 3Ep. 53
Questions Your Daughter Wishes You Would Ask: From Preteens to Motherhood In this comprehensive episode, I walk mothers through the questions daughters desperately wish they would ask at every life stage, and why most mothers miss the mark by asking surface-level surveillance questions instead of connection-building ones. From preteens who need "What makes you feel afraid?" instead of "Did you finish your homework?" to new mothers who need "How can I support your motherhood?" instead of criticis...
Jan 23, 2026•46 min•Season 3Ep. 52
Did We Grow Up in the Same House? How Family Roles Shape Your Mother Wound In this episode, I break down common roles children play in families and how each one creates a mother wound that follows you into adulthood. Whether you were the parentified daughter who became a mini-adult too soon, the golden child living on a pedestal, the scapegoat blamed for family dysfunction, or the invisible child overlooked for being "easy," none of these roles were your choice; you were a child surviving in an ...
Jan 16, 2026•27 min•Season 3Ep. 51
Why Your Mother Wound Gets Triggered When Raising Small Children: Introducing Safety in Sisterhood Group In this episode, I address mothers who've caught themselves sounding just like their own mothers and felt crushing guilt because they swore they'd never parent that way. I break down why motherhood activates mother wounds like nothing else: you're reliving your childhood in real time through each developmental stage, your stressed brain defaults to automatic patterns from your own upbringing,...
Jan 09, 2026•18 min•Season 3Ep. 50
When Your Daughter Pulls Away: Introducing Bridge Builders Group for Mothers Facing Estrangement In this honest and compassionate episode, I address mothers whose adult daughters have distanced themselves or cut off contact completely, a pain that's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't lived it. I break down why daughters pull away: accumulated unaddressed pain, different perspectives on the same childhood, boundary violations, or being the first in the family to break generational patterns. The...
Jan 02, 2026•22 min•Season 3Ep. 49
Why You Don't Have to Heal Your Mother Wound Alone - Introducing The Mother Wound Circle You've been doing the work: going to therapy, reading the books, doing the inner child exercises, but you still feel like you're healing in isolation. In this episode, I'm breaking down why community matters in mother wound healing, what changes when you're not doing it alone, and how I'm creating a specific space for exactly this kind of healing. Society tells us mothers are sacred, so admitting your mother...
Dec 26, 2025•13 min•Season 2Ep. 48
Partnership Over Pressure: Building Trust During Test Prep with Athena Savino In this unique episode, I interview Athena Savino, CEO of Top Marks Prep and longtime tutor, who has witnessed countless mother-daughter dynamics play out during the high stress world of standardized test preparation. Athena shares how well intentioned moms often become taskmasters—constantly asking about study hours and scores—which strains relationships and increases test anxiety rather than improving performance. Sh...
Dec 19, 2025•37 min•Season 2Ep. 47
Announcing Raising Teens Differently: A New Group Coaching Program for Mothers of Teen Daughters In this announcement episode, I'm introducing my first group coaching offering for 2026, "Raising Teens Differently," designed specifically for mothers navigating the push-pull dynamics of raising teenage daughters. If you're watching your daughter seek independence while struggling to keep connection strong, this 8-week closed group starting in February 2026 is for you. I break down why teenagers pu...
Dec 12, 2025•15 min•Season 2Ep. 46
From Strong to Well: Unlearning the Strong Black Woman Narrative with Dr. Cecily Moore In this episode, Dr. Cecily Moore , a licensed therapist, researcher, and self-proclaimed "recovering strong black woman,"shares her dissertation research on unlearning the Strong Black Woman narrative. After experiencing postpartum depression and realizing her mother and grandmother couldn't give what they didn't have, she discovered this trauma-rooted narrative passes through maternal lineages, teaching daug...
Dec 05, 2025•54 min•Season 2Ep. 45
How Your Mother Wound Shows Up in Your Romantic Relationships Do you keep attracting the same type of partner? Find yourself doing all the emotional work in relationships? Struggle with trust, intimacy, or constantly choosing people who can't meet your needs? Your mother wound might be running the show in your love life. Your relationship with your mother is your first relationship template, it's where you learned what love looks like, what connection feels like, and what you can expect from peo...
Nov 21, 2025•22 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Surviving the Holidays: Navigating Family Gatherings While Healing Your Mother Wound In this episode, I address the knot in your stomach that appears every holiday season when you're in the middle of healing your mother wound. Family gatherings can feel like emotional minefields, filled with triggering comments, guilt trips, old dynamics that resurface, and the pressure to perform happiness while suppressing your authentic feelings. I walk you through the first decision: whether to attend at all...
Nov 14, 2025•22 min•Season 2Ep. 43
The Six Stages of Mother-Daughter Relationships: How to Navigate Each Transition The 6 Stages of Mother-Daughter Relationships: A Guide to Healing and Growth Blog In this episode, I break down the six stages that every mother-daughter relationship goes through and why understanding these stages is essential for maintaining connection and avoiding breakdown. From birth through adolescence, young adulthood, marriage and motherhood, midlife, and finally caring for an aging mother, each stage requir...
Nov 07, 2025•26 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Accepting the Mother You Got: The Hardest Part of Healing In this episode, I walk you through one of the most difficult yet essential steps in healing a mother wound, accepting the mother you actually received instead of continuing to long for the mother you wanted. We all carry an image of what a mother should be, how she should show up, and the ways she should love us. When our actual mothers fall short of these expectations, the gap between what we wanted and what we got creates a wound that ...
Oct 31, 2025•15 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Cultural Context Matters: Setting Boundaries Without Losing Your Community In this episode, I respond to a social media post about how North American therapists often push boundary-setting without understanding the cultural consequences for children of immigrants and those from collectivist cultures. While setting boundaries is crucial for healthy relationships, the Western approach of individualism doesn't always translate to cultures where family connection and community are central to surviva...
Oct 24, 2025•21 min•Season 2Ep. 40
