S1E5 - Unbreakable: Healing from Childhood Sexual Assault

S2E1 - What Your Enneagram Type Is Really Protecting: A Conversation with Liz Orr

Season 2 is here, and we're kicking it off with a conversation with Enneagram author and expert, Liz Orr. We explore what your type is really about beyond personality, and how it shows up as a survival strategy. We talk about all nine types, self-compassion, conflict, neurodivergence, and why growth is less about the long arc and more about the tiny needle moving day to day. Liz is a personal and professional development coach for medical students by day, and an Enneagram author, nerd, and menace by night. She's a huge proponent of self-compassion and of not taking ourselves too seriously in the work of it. She's the author of The Unfiltered Enneagram: A Witty and Wise Guide to Self-Compassion and the creator of the Instagram account @rudeassenneagram, where she roasts all nine types with equal affection. Liz is based in North Carolina, and when she's not doing Enneagram things, she can be found participating in competitive axe throwing, brewery trivia, or on long walks with her sassy dog, Olive. Find Liz at @rudeassenneagram [https://www.instagram.com/rudeassenneagram] on Instagram. Enneagram assessment: https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/dotest [https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/dotest]

S1E8 - This Is Just the Beginning

What if everything you've been told about middle age is wrong? In the Season 1 finale of The Healing Life, Amanda explores what it means to step into yourself — through her own story, through research on identity and self-transcendence, and through the radical idea that the hard stuff you've lived through was never a detour. It was always the path. For anyone who has ever wondered if they've missed their window: you haven't. It's exactly the right time. Sources Almeida D.M., Rush J., Mogle J., Piazza J.R., Cerino E., & Charles S.T. (2023). Longitudinal change in daily stress across 20 years of adulthood: Results from the national study of daily experiences. Developmental Psychology 59(3):515-523. doi: 10.1037/dev0001469. Reischer, H. N., Couch, N. G., Wright, M. N., Duarte, A. J., & McAdams, D. P. (2026). Narrative self-transcendence: Decreased regret and increased acceptance over late midlife. Journal of Personality, 94(1), 137–150. ⁠https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.13022 [https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.13022] Reischer, H. N., Roth, L. J., Villarreal, J. A., & McAdams, D. P. (2021). Self-transcendence and life stories of humanistic growth among late-midlife adults. Journal of Personality, 89(2), 305–324.

S1E7 - Late Diagnosed

Three weeks before sitting down to record this episode, Amanda found out she's autistic. She shares what that's been like — the thing she's always felt inside herself finally has a name, letting the mask come off, tending to the severe burnout in which she found herself, addressing communication issues that nearly ended her marriage, and why she's scared and okay at the same time.

S1E6 - Reconnecting to the Body After Trauma

Content note: This episode includes non-graphic discussion of childhood sexual assault, pelvic floor dysfunction, panic attacks, dysautonomia, and eating disorder recovery. In this episode, Amanda shares her journey toward reconnecting with her body after a childhood defined by purity culture, sexual assault, and the message that her body was a problem to be controlled. She talks about pelvic floor physical therapy, what happened to her nervous system after surgery and anesthesia, and how she found Rosen Method bodywork that changed everything. She also discloses a dysautonomia diagnosis that sent her back to square one and what eating disorder recovery taught her about the through-line connecting all of it. Learn more about Rosen Method at www.rosenmethod.com. [https://www.rosenmethod.com/]

S1E5 - Unbreakable: Healing from Childhood Sexual Assault

Content note: This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse, suicidal ideation, and the criminal justice system. No graphic details are shared. If you or someone you know needs support, RAINN's 24/7 hotline is available at 800.656.HOPE (4673), through chat at RAINN.org/hotline [https://rainn.org/help-and-healing/hotline/], or by texting “HOPE” to 64673. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and as a childhood sexual assault survivor, this awareness month and episode are close to Amanda's heart. In this episode, she shares her story of abuse, silence, disclosure, healing, and the legal process that didn't go the way it should have. She also digs into the research on grooming, on why survivors don't disclose, and on the staggering gap between how often sexual assault occurs and how rarely perpetrators face real consequences. Amanda also shares the three unshakeable beliefs that have carried her through the worst of it, and still carry her today. Sources Gewirtz-Meydan, A., & Finkelhor, D. (2020). Sexual Abuseand Assault in a Large National Sample of Children and Adolescents. Child Maltreatment, 25(2), 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559519873975 [https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559519873975] Manay, N., & Collin-Vézina, D. (2021). Recipients ofchildren’s and adolescents’ disclosures of childhood sexual abuse: A systematic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 116, 104192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104192 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104192] McAlinden, A.M. (2012). 'Grooming' and the sexual abuseof children: Institutional, internet and familial dimensions. Oxford University Press. McElvaney, R., Moore, K., O’Reilly, K., Turner, R., Walsh,B., & Guerin, S. (2020). Child sexual abuse disclosures: Does age make a difference? Child Abuse & Neglect, 99, 104121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104121 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104121] RAINN. (n.d.). The criminal justice system: Statistics.Retrieved from rainn.org. Data sourced from Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2012–2016 (2017). Winters, G. M., Jeglic, E. L., Johnson, B. N., & Chou,C. (2024). The prevalence of sexual grooming behaviors among survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 154, 106842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106842 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106842]