"I was the kind of kid that made friends with my bully," Alyssa told Renée. This didn't help her much, because the bullying was rampant. She was bullied at school all day, every year, only to come home to the biggest bully of all: her father. Add to that the facts that Alyssa grew up racially isolated and that her parents' divorce only intensified her father's abuse, and you get a nasty web of complex trauma. Alyssa comes to the show looking for help with the present, however, specifically a fri...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Season 2Ep. 89
"Here I am two years later and I still think about her every day," Mark told Renée, referring to his ex-wife. His first marriage survived his partner's affair and went on to produce two children before ending amicably in divorce. His second marriage came to a much pricklier conclusion, and Mark is still struggling to accept and process its end. He came to the show hoping Renée can help him "get closure and move on." And get this: he specifically wants some guidance around his own relationship be...
Nov 13, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Season 2Ep. 88
Edited to add this note from Renée: Hey there everyone! The feedback on this episode has been intense already. I was aware when we aired it that this would be the case! Our guests are almost exclusively deeply vulnerable and eager for support. Bianca comes to the show in a much different place. So I decided to air this episode to challenge us all -- myself included. How do we find our empathy and desire to help someone who doesn't immediately inspire us to want to help them? If you find yourself...
Nov 06, 2024•2 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 87
"I think I'm just a temporary person," Michee told Renée, explaining that she has never felt prioritized by friends or family. She describes her childhood as "toxic and abusive," with a controlling, unpredictable father and a loving but absent mother. She has struggled with all of her relationships, whether platonic, familial, or romantic, and insists that she "wasn't someone people cared much for." You need to hear Michee for only a few minutes to know that this can't be true. She is smart, fun...
Oct 30, 2024•2 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 86
When Bobby applied to be a guest on the show, he wanted help resolving the leftover emotional wounds from his childhood, which he described as one of "constant chaos, instability, and... abuse." Despite some intense breakthroughs in talk therapy, strands of trauma remained. But get this: a few days before he recorded his episode, Bobby had a life-changing Ayahuasca journey that healed those wounds. And that's not the only fascinating part of Bobby's story. He tells Renée about all of it, from gr...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Season 2Ep. 85
"Emotions were a taboo thing in my house," Alyssa said when Renée asked about her childhood. And, get this: Alyssa is now a therapist. She raised in an invalidating environment by an emotionally misattuned mother and often absent father, but since then Alyssa has made it her job, literally and figuratively, to honor her sensitivity and sharpen her insight. She has done both and beyond, yet she still struggles to release her anger over the circumstances of her recent divorce, and for good reason....
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 2Ep. 84
Dan grew up in an abusive household with perfectionist parents who often asked him, "Why can't you be normal?" Not only did Dan feel misunderstood and disconnected at home, but he also struggled in social situations; his childhood was lonely. Now, at 41 years old, Dan has a loving wife, a happy daughter, and a new understanding of his neurodivergence. What he doesn't have is a sense of peace about his parents. That's where Renée comes in. She and Dan sort out his wounds and triggers, and in the ...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 57 min•Season 2Ep. 83
Last week's guest, Annette, shared with us late in the episode that she is in an abusive relationship, one that she is not quite ready to leave. So many people were moved by Annette's story, and some of those people reached out to Renée with questions about why it can be so hard to leave an abusive partner. Renée had planned to address the questions in this week's intro - and then Brandi came to the show. "I'm not afraid to talk about it anymore. I need to talk about it," she said. Brandi's beau...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 42 min•Season 2Ep. 82
"I have so many stories for you, you don't even know," Annette tells Renée early in this episode. And, wow, was she right. Fortunately for all of us, Annette is hilarious and smart and tells her story perfectly. This makes it easy for Renée to find places to go - so much so that a conversation that Annette had expected would be about one aspect of her childhood trauma becomes a much deeper and more complex dive. Annette and Renée cover a lot of topics as they explore her story, from promiscuity ...
Sep 25, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 81
Lisa ordered diet pills through the mail when she was 15 years old, and that order became the cornerstone of a decades long eating disorder. She has completed an inpatient eating disorder treatment program, she attends ongoing outpatient therapy, and still she falls back into disordered eating whenever her stress is unmanageable. Lisa has worked hard, and she is tired of shrinking herself. She comes to the show hoping Renée can help her figure out how to stop battling herself and her body. Renée...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 80
On the heels of Andre's punchy episode, Tolu changes the tempo this week. If André was pop punk, Tolu is smooth jazz. His voice is gentle and comforting, and his spirit matches. Tolu doesn't have a childhood trauma story to tell, but he does have a problem he needs help with, and it just happens to involve one of Renée's favorite topics: meddling moms. Despite a childhood he calls "fun" and the easy awareness that his mom loves him, Tolu, now 29, finds himself dreading contact with her. What's g...
Sep 11, 2024•2 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 79
Andre is a 47 year-old father of three who is "tired of being in survival mode." He comes to the show hoping Renée can help him resolve his persistent anxiety. And she can, but not before she and Andre discuss his childhood trauma, his first wife's death from cervical cancer, racism, parenting, stand-comedy, grief, and more. Andre has a complicated story, and he is brilliant at telling it, which makes it easy for them to unravel the persistent knot that has lived in his body for decades. Andre i...
Sep 04, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 2Ep. 78
"I'm just terrified to get close to anyone right now," Elio told Renée early in their conversation. When you hear their story, you will easily understand their terror. Elio wasn't sure what they wanted from coming on the show, but they certainly gave Renée plenty to work with. There have been a series of hard hits in Elio's short life, and yet their spirit is bright and infectious; they inspire Renée to carve out some healing within overwhelming circumstances. Elio's playfulness makes it easy fo...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Season 2Ep. 77
This episode starts with a few different bouts of uproarious laughter, and this definitely sets the tone for the episode. There is a lot of laughing, thanks to both our hilarious guest, Jenny, and also our inimitable guest co-host, Victoria. Jenny is beautifully colorful. Her stories are colorful, her language is colorful, her life is colorful. From selling cannabis cookies to medical students to selling real estate at the top of the field, she has put her impressive drive to good use. Renée doe...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 76
Kristin was kidnapped when she was 3 years old. Let's just start there. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there. In her 37 years of life, Kristin has endured almost every type of trauma one can imagine - attachment, sexual, medical, financial - and she has lived in over 40 different places, including prison. Her story would be hard to believe if Kristin weren't so beautifully honest and vulnerable as she narrates it. So while her story is tragic and shocking, Kristin herself is inspiring. And in bet...
Aug 14, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 2Ep. 75
Hey there, everyone. Renée here. As requested, I am back this week as the guest to take you on a wild ride through my romantic relationship history. Just a reminder that unlike our normal weekly episodes, those with me as the guest build on one another. So if you haven't yet listened to Episodes 60 and 67, go back and listen to those first - this one will make much more sense once you have. Likewise, if you're new to the podcast, don't start here! This isn't our normal format. As for the rest of...
Aug 07, 2024•2 hr 27 min•Season 2Ep. 74
Yolanda grew up fearing two things, God and her mother, and she had the anxious, people-pleasing behavior to show for it! After losing her dad at 18, however, Yolanda ditched her "good girl" role for the first time. She has been back and forth ever since: between rules and rebellion, between partners, between versions of herself. Now in her 40's, Yolanda comes to the show to ask Renée, "How did I fall into this pattern again?" To get to an answer, Renée follows Yolanda through her relationship h...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Season 2Ep. 73
When Kenny was in middle school, he participated in his first drive-by shooting. Not long after, he went to prison for the first time; ultimately he would serve 28 years. He was released 7 months ago and has come to the show to tell his story. Kenny and Renée talk about all of it - murder, Maslow, family, gangs, grief, and more. Despite the devastating trauma he unfolds, Kenny makes Renée laugh quite a bit. Renée captures the psychological strands and gets Kenny started on a healing path, while ...
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr 52 min•Season 2Ep. 72
"The more people that know, the better," Leanne told Renée after she narrated her devastating experiences as a patient in the Troubled Teen Industry, a network of therapeutic boarding schools and treatment centers that she first entered at 12 years old. This is the first time Leanne is telling her entire story; she only recently began telling it at all. And despite an understandable bout of stage fright beforehand, she not only tells her story but also delivers a gripping cautionary tale that ex...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 2Ep. 71
By age 7, Jojo had already faced the very adult ideas of murder and self-loathing. Now in her early 20s, she is grounded, healing, and absolutely lovely. The story of how she arrived at said loveliness is fascinating, and lucky for us, she is here to tell it. She is here also to ask Renée why, after so much healing, she still struggles so desperately with confidence. They talk families, psychedelics, racism, and lateral violence before identifying the wound that keeps Jojo stuck and developing a...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 2Ep. 70
Vivian and her story are both so compelling that they defy summary. She is hilarious and engaging - and she has been through unthinkable trauma. Fortunately, she has a brilliant therapist and a seemingly bottomless well of resilience. What she doesn't have, however, is a way out of her current emotional predicament. She comes to the podcast hoping Renée has some advice to offer where this predicament is concerned. Guess what? Renée does. Vivian has questions, Renée has answers, and everyone does...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Season 2Ep. 69
Matt "had no idea" what he wanted or was expecting from being on the show, but he did know that he had a story to tell. He is 41 years old, funny, whip smart, stunningly resilient, and he has never been in a relationship or on a date. This will make sense when you hear what he has survived. Renée and Matt discuss the terrorizing abuse he endured at two different Catholic schools and the complicated path to his recoveries from both trauma and substance abuse. Due in large part to Matt's inspiring...
Jun 26, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Season 2Ep. 68
Back by popular demand! Renée returns this week as the guest on her own show to follow up on Episode 60 and answer listener questions - this time, she traces the development and resolution of both her eating disorder and her chronic illness and explains how the two intersect. This is a raw, rogue, really Renée episode: no planning, no editing, no breaks, no outro - just a whole lot of content. Next week, we will return to our regularly scheduled guests and our finicky editing, But for now, Renée...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 58 min•Season 2Ep. 67
When Kaila was a 16 year-old runaway, she was tricked into coming home only to be virtually kidnapped and taken to residential treatment. Her experiences that followed were so intense that she has written a book about them. But now, just as the book is about to be released, Kaila is panicking. Why is she suddenly riddled with fear about sharing her truth? She comes to the show hoping Renée can help her reclaim her confidence. Almost as exciting as Kaila's story is her relief when Renée sorts it!...
Jun 05, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 2Ep. 65
"Feelings really aren't me," Dalton told Renée about halfway through their conversation. In addition to making Renée laugh, his sentence sums up the problem he brings to the podcast. Dalton has suffered more than a few tragic losses in the 28 years he has been alive, and the experiences have left him less than friendly with his emotions. It is often said that comedy comes from tragedy, and in Dalton's case, this idea holds true. He has managed to retain his humor - and then some - but loss after...
May 29, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 2Ep. 64
In the three decades they have been alive, Kaeden has survived some profoundly traumatic events, including their mother's suicide and their own nervous breakdown. Despite a childhood they describe as "terrorizing," Kaeden astonishingly emerged with a beautifully tender heart. Likewise, after years spent recreating their childhood dynamics with problematic partners and self-defeating behaviors, Kaeden is now happily married, reinvested in creating art, and steeped in insight. Still, they struggle...
May 22, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Season 2Ep. 63
Makensi and Mick are artistic, articulate Aussies. Parents to a 3 year-old daughter, they share the desire to have a more harmonious relationship, and they come to the show hoping Renée can help them get there. Renée talks first to Makensi and then to Mick, exploring their childhoods, their current emotional landscapes, and the fights they hope to extinguish. As the conversation unfolds, clear patterns emerge, and thanks to the couple's remarkable insight and honesty, Renée is able to tie the st...
May 15, 2024•2 hr 43 min•Season 2Ep. 62
What do you get when you mix a traumatized nervous system and a new relationship? For Love, a 37 year-old single mom with an uber-social boyfriend, it's a whole lot of anxiety. So much anxiety, in fact, that she and her new man are fighting almost every weekend. She comes to the podcast hoping Renee can help her figure out how to build intimacy while navigating the many triggers associated with her unresolved trauma. Renee helps love leverage the, well, love that the couple shares and gives her ...
May 08, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 2Ep. 61
Yes, that Renée. The host of the show. She's the guest. What's going on? Well, a whole bunch of stuff! This episode is something a little different. Rather than get into it here, We'll just let you listen. Support the show
May 06, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 60
"I honestly don't think you could give me any therapy," Rob wrote to Renee when she asked if he wanted to be on the show. He agreed to appear nonetheless, and Renee took his hopelessness as a challenge. Once Rob's story unfolded, it was clear that he had come to his hopelessness honestly, as his biography is punctuated by bullying, chaos at home, addiction, and isolation. Despite this - or perhaps because of this - Rob is absolutely hilarious, which makes his already stunning story that much mor...
Apr 22, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 58
