In this episode, Lindsey and her daughter, Addie, have an intimate mother-daughter conversation. While at first listen, it may seem that the focus of this conversation is Addie's recent awareness about her disordered relationship with food, the heart of this issue is much deeper. Lindsey and Addie discuss how Lindsey's own dysregulation showed up at a time when she was trying to transition their family to a healthier way of eating. Her patterns of perfectionism, hypervigilance, and binary thinking tainted the message she was trying to teach her kids about food, and now, at 18 years old, Addie is experiencing those consequences in her own relationship with food. Lindsey explains how her dysregulated patterns and voice became her daughter's Inner Critic voice about food, health, and sugar, in particular. Addie shares about her rebellion with food, developing her first cavity, and her desire to listen to her body about what feels nourishing as she thought-stops her Inner Critic's messages of guilt about food and expresses feeling safe with her mom's support.

More broadly, Lindsey shares with Addie about the collective disconnect between Millennials and their Boomer parents and how she desires to foster the intimacy, safety, and authenticity in her relationship with her children that she and many other Millennials do not have with their Boomer parents. Lindsey brings awareness to the "healing journeys" that Millennials are now going through.

Links:

Feel Without Fear - Lindsey's 4-month Group Program

In this conversation, Lindsey and Sarah Cook, a writer and trauma-informed mentor, discuss the transformative power of creativity, why it's so important to create simply for ourselves, apart from external validation or goals. Sarah also explores the cyclical nature of creativity, the need for periods of rest and dormancy, and the myth of writer's block. Childhood experiences impact our creativity and can hold potential for healing through imagination and intuition. This conversation explores devotion to creativity, the difference between creativity as a necessity for survival and creativity for pleasure, and the role of seasons in creative expression. Trauma a societal expectations can hinder our creativity, and it is necessary to reclaim and nurture our creative impulses in every season of the creative cycle. Sarah's trauma-informed approach to creative coaching recognizes and challenges clients' limiting beliefs, creates a safe space for exploration, and honors each clients individual creative process. Lindsey and Sarah also discuss intuition and imagination as powerful tools for reconnecting with your creativity, if you feel that your creativity is elusive.

Links:

• ⁠Join the waitlist⁠ for Lindsey's signature group coaching program Feel Without Fear. Group opens for enrollment in February 2024.
• Interested in moving forward with your creative journey with an eye toward healing + resiliency and with the safe company of a trauma-informed guide? ⁠Schedule a free, one-hour consultation with Sarah here. ⁠
• Learn more about ⁠Sarah's Creative Mentorship⁠.

In this episode, cult survivor Tara Oathout shares her experience growing up in the IBLP cult (think the Duggar Family/Quiverfull Movement) and the impact it had on her life. Tara and Lindsey open up about the effects of purity culture and the shame they felt around sex, despite growing up in 2 different cult environments. Tara and Lindsey also discuss other experiences with religion, including some of the aspects they miss. They explore the stages of anger and ambivalence towards religion, the complexities of faith deconstruction, the longing for corporate worship, and the personal growth and self-discovery that come when one bravely challenges indoctrination.

Links:

• Join the FEEL WITHOUT FEAR Waitlist⁠: this is Lindsey's signature group coaching program for people with Complex PTSD. The group opens in February 2024!
• Shiny, Happy People documentary

About Tara: Tara Oathout may not know the Duggars, but she was still asked to participate along side her husband, Floyd, in the Amazon Prime documentary Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. The documentary does touch on the famous family of "19 Kids & Counting but primarily uses them as an introduction to the religious, cult-like organization called Institute in Basic Life Principles. The legalistic and toxic ideology put forth by IBLP is deeply imbeded in both Tara's upbringing. In an effort to underscore the harm this belief system is capable of, Tara, and her husband, along with many other survivors, share their stories. Tara is still in her deconstruction era and while she doesn't promise to have the answers, she is deeply motivated to share her journey in an effort to help others shed the shame of Christian fundamentalism. Giving up the "certainty" that a religious life offers is a hard addiction to beat and the journey can be incredibly isolating, but Tara's goal is to find peace, not in the answers, but in herself. She works daily to rebuild a relationship with herself through inner child work, somatic movement, healthy boundaries, therapy and more. The sacrifice for this cause has been monumental, but every time someone finds camaraderie or comfort in her story, Tara knows it was worth it.