It Was Never Your Brain: Rethinking Mental Health, Trauma, and Who Gets to Define "Well"

It Was Never Your Brain: Rethinking Mental Health, Trauma, and Who Gets to Define "Well"

In this episode, I explore how the mental health system's obsession with fixing individual brain chemistry kept me from understanding that my symptoms were never random, but rather rational responses to environments designed to harm people like me. I reflect on how this shaped my journey toward being able to honestly say that home is wherever I am right now. I talk about: 1. What the system told me was wrong with me (00:55) 2. Why your brain was never the problem (12:47) 3. From "what's wrong with you" to "what was done to you” (20:00) This episode is created from an unedited writing fragment on my blog. Visit What My Connective Tissue Knows [https://piquant-radiator-e92.notion.site/What-My-Connective-Tissue-Knows-2f8eaba735ac8003bafcfc58a8f14f11?source=copy_link] to read more. This podcast also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is [https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is] How to contact me: You’re welcome to share reflections, feedback, or thoughts at homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com [homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com] If this episode was meaningful to you: Leaving an honest review or sharing it with someone who might find it helpful is the best way to support this work.

Why DEI Doesn't Work, And Was Never Supposed To

In this episode, I explore how DEI initiatives, despite their stated purpose, function as a sophisticated mechanism of the systems they claim to dismantle — selecting for compliance, gatekeeping dissent, and abandoning the most marginalized through the very architecture of participation. I reflect on how my experience of this shaped my journey toward being able to honestly say that home is wherever I am right now. I talk about: * Renovation rather than demolition (00:55) * Filtering, gatekeeping, and compliance (10:34) * Moral indemnity and the road out (20:46) Resources mentioned: * https://neuroqueer.com/throw-away-the-masters-tools/ [https://neuroqueer.com/throw-away-the-masters-tools/] This episode is created from an unedited writing fragment on my blog. Visit What My Connective Tissue Knows [https://piquant-radiator-e92.notion.site/What-My-Connective-Tissue-Knows-2f8eaba735ac8003bafcfc58a8f14f11?source=copy_link] to read more. This podcast also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is [https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is] How to contact me: You’re welcome to share reflections, feedback, or thoughts at homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com [homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com] If this episode was meaningful to you: Leaving an honest review or sharing it with someone who might find it helpful is the best way to support this work.

Coercive Dependency: The Real Reason You're Blamed for Needing Support

In this episode, I explore coercive dependency, the system that weaponizes your need for support against you, and how separating 'needing help' from 'being at fault’ is necessary. I reflect on how this shaped my journey toward being able to honestly say that home is wherever I am right now. I talk about: * What is coercive dependency and why it's not your fault (00:55) * The burning frustration of being required to contort (14:35) * Separating needing support from being at fault (24:06) This episode is created from an unedited writing fragment on my blog. Visit What My Connective Tissue Knows [https://piquant-radiator-e92.notion.site/What-My-Connective-Tissue-Knows-2f8eaba735ac8003bafcfc58a8f14f11?source=copy_link] to read more. This podcast also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is [https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is] How to contact me: You’re welcome to share reflections, feedback, or thoughts at homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com [homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com] If this episode was meaningful to you: Leaving an honest review or sharing it with someone who might find it helpful is the best way to support this work.

What Online Dating Taught Me About Safety, Trauma, and Self-Reliance

In this episode, I explore how my experience of dating exposed deep trauma patterns around love and safety. I reflect on how this shaped my journey toward being able to honestly say that home is wherever I am right now. I talk about: * No one owes me a relationship (00:55) * Self-reliance: I can be my own parent and savior (09:31) * Removing external conditions for feeling complete (16:34) This episode is created from an unedited writing fragment on my blog. Visit What My Connective Tissue Knows [https://piquant-radiator-e92.notion.site/What-My-Connective-Tissue-Knows-2f8eaba735ac8003bafcfc58a8f14f11?source=copy_link] to read more. This podcast also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is [https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is] How to contact me: You’re welcome to share reflections, feedback, or thoughts at homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com [homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com] If this episode was meaningful to you: Leaving an honest review or sharing it with someone who might find it helpful is the best way to support this work.

Unlearning People-Pleasing After Parentification: Practical Steps to Stop Caretaking and Build Healthy Boundaries

In this episode, I explore practical tips for re-parenting and self-regulating after a parentified childhood. I talk about: * Release schedule update (00:55) * Summary of previous parentification episode (01:34) * Reiterating tips shared in previous episode (05:02) * Continuing list of tips for re-parenting and self-regulating (06:38) * Summary of list (24:18) This episode is created from an unedited writing fragment on my blog. Visit What My Connective Tissue Knows [https://piquant-radiator-e92.notion.site/What-My-Connective-Tissue-Knows-2f8eaba735ac8003bafcfc58a8f14f11?source=copy_link] to read more. This podcast also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is [https://www.youtube.com/@home-is-where-the-body-is] How to contact me: You’re welcome to share reflections, feedback, or thoughts at homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com [homeiswherethebodyis@gmail.com] If this episode was meaningful to you: Leaving an honest review or sharing it with someone who might find it helpful is the best way to support this work.