The Therapist Who Couldn't Fix This: Tourette's, Caregiving, and Loss

The Therapist Who Couldn't Fix This: Tourette's, Caregiving, and Loss

Most of us have known someone who struggled with anxiety, trauma, or a neurological condition. Far fewer of us have lived with all of it under one roof. My guest today is Jen Knudsen, a trauma therapist whose personal life has given her a front-row seat to many of the challenges she now helps others navigate. We talk about her childhood, her path into counseling, raising a son with severe Tourette syndrome, and the realities of building a family when life doesn't always cooperate with the plan. But this conversation goes somewhere neither of us expected. As Jen shares the story of her father's battle with Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, we find ourselves talking about caregiving, grief, guilt, and the impossible choices families sometimes face when suffering becomes too much to bear. This is an honest conversation about love, resilience, and what it means to keep showing up for the people we care about when there are no easy answers. I think you'll be glad you met her.

The Old Men and the Sea: Rocky Hill's Last Voyage

After hip surgery and a torn rotator cuff left me wrestling with the strange fear of growing older and less useful, my neighbor handed me an old wartime journal belonging to his father, William “Rocky” Hill. At seventy-five years old, Rocky joined a crew of aging World War II veterans attempting something completely insane: Sailing a battered WWII landing ship across the Atlantic Ocean. What followed was a voyage filled with storms, failing machinery, dark humor, old friendships, and a group of exhausted sailors who slowly realized they still had something left to give. This is a story about purpose, brotherhood, and getting busy living.

Under the Waves: The Soviet Who Said No

It’s October 1962. A Soviet submarine is baking beneath the Caribbean, cut off from the world while American ships above drop depth charges—not to destroy it, but to force it to the surface. Problem is… nobody on board knows that. Inside, the air is thick, the temperature is climbing, and the men are running out of time—and patience. Two officers are convinced the war has already started. And they’re ready to fire a nuclear torpedo. One man isn’t. His name was Vasily Arkhipov. And this is the story of the moment when one man’s refusal to panic may have kept the world from nuclear annihilation.

Slapped in Paris — A Diplomat’s Wake-Up Call

When Scott Rasmussen — a husband, father of eight and former U.S. diplomat — is struck in a Paris park, a single shocking moment becomes the first page of a much larger story. That slap sparks a curiosity that sends him from the tightly controlled streets of Asmara to the anxious borders of Poland and into the volatile neighborhoods of Jerusalem, asking a simple question: how do we learn to see each other as human? Through vivid scenes of forced national service in Eritrea, the living memory of war in Poland, and fragile peacebuilding work in Israel and Palestine, Scott shares the small, stubborn practices that actually connect people: conversations, shared projects, and the messy work of cooperation.  Back in the U.S., he turns that hard-earned perspective inward, tracing how contempt and division creep into families and communities and how pluralism — respect, relationship, cooperation — can be a practical antidote. This episode invites listeners to sit down, listen, and rethink what it takes to rebuild trust in a polarized world.

Fire, Flight, and the Truth She Couldn't Hide: Maeve’s Journey

In this episode, host Ty Bruner sits down with Maeve Griffith — U.S. Air Force veteran and retired fire captain — to talk about a life lived on the edge of discipline, danger, and identity. From a turbulent childhood to flying in bombers and battling structure fires, Maeve built a career defined by courage — while quietly carrying a truth she wasn’t ready to face. This conversation traces her journey of coming out in uniform, the weight of secrecy, and the hard-won support that followed. It’s a story about risk, identity, and what happens when one person finally stops hiding — and gives others permission to do the same.