Hey, today I'm super excited because I got to chat all about trauma, therapy, and how we are stuck and not broken with Justin Sincero. Justin is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who calls himself a trauma nerd. It was such a fun conversation, and I hope this can help you seek the help you might need and gives you hope that trauma is not the end of your story. As Justin says, there is so much more information on the internet, and so much help other than just therapy. Therapy is amazing and super helpful, but it's not the only path. Let's listen in to this amazing conversation with Justin.

-Who is Justin, and how did you come to be a Family Therapist?

-Many people want to go to therapy, or they think they could benefit from therapy, but they are overwhelmed with trying to find a therapist. How can someone take steps to find a therapist, when they are exhausted and don’t have much energy to spend trying to find someone?

-Bad Therapist Experiences

-Trauma Nerd and Polyvagal Theory in a nutshell

-You call yourself a trauma nerd, which I love because it’s super fascinating to me as well. 

-#Stucknotbroken

-Is there hope for someone who has experienced trauma? (I ask this because so many people believe they are broken and that they have stuck in the trauma the rest of their lives)

Grief is not a disease. It is not an illness that needs to be done with and moved through quickly. So what do you do, when grief is overshadowing our lives, and it feels like joy is not possible for us again?

-Who is Nicky, and how did you come to be a sleep coach?

-How do you calm your mind so you can go to sleep?

-Sleep is safety and Satisfaction

-Sleep Hygiene.

-How does one who doesn’t feel safe, and has extreme anxiety and sadness because of grief support their mind to go to sleep?

What in the world does our engagement story have to do with Aria, and grief? Well, it actually has a lot to do with it. It’s funny how we can look back and things are so perfectly connected, even though they are connected in ways we don’t wish they would be.

Our story certainly is a unique one, and a very special one to us. You will have to listen in to find out why!

I want to thank Nicole for sharing her story today, there are so many layers and parts to it, that I felt like we hardly got into it. We could have kept talking for hours it felt like. We didn’t really even get into grief and what it’s like after losing a child, but Nicole’s story is so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time, that those things can wait for another time

I want to talk about surviving the holidays I remember my first year after Aria died. I looked around and everyone was so excited for the Christmas season. There is such a feeling of joy, excitement and happiness. When you are grieving, it seems like all that excitement is too much to handle. And I longed for my old self who could laugh and not have a care during the holiday season.

Today I’m chatting with Melissa Dgueleocki, a life coach, a bereaved mother, and podcaster, like she says so many other things as well. But Melissa shares the lessons she’s learned from her daughter Leyden so openly, and helps other people find those lessons within themselves as well.

Today’s topic is surrounding grief and the common saying there is no wrong way to grieve. Everyone says that over and over. And I'd like to say that we all get to choose how we want to grieve.