Episodes
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Lisa ordered diet pills through the mail when she was 15 years old, and that order became the cornerstone of a decades long eating disorder. She has completed an inpatient eating disorder treatment program, she attends ongoing outpatient therapy, and still she falls back into disordered eating whenever her stress is unmanageable. Lisa has worked hard, and she is tired of shrinking herself. She comes to the show hoping Renée can help her figure out how to stop battling herself and her body. Renée goes looking for what Lisa's treatment missed, and in the process she and Lisa discuss relationships, parts work, psychedelics, why relapses are helpful, and why traditional eating disorder treatment just doesn't work. By the end, Lisa knows what needs to heal, and Renée shows her how to get there.
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On the heels of Andre's punchy episode, Tolu changes the tempo this week. If André was pop punk, Tolu is smooth jazz. His voice is gentle and comforting, and his spirit matches. Tolu doesn't have a childhood trauma story to tell, but he does have a problem he needs help with, and it just happens to involve one of Renée's favorite topics: meddling moms. Despite a childhood he calls "fun" and the easy awareness that his mom loves him, Tolu, now 29, finds himself dreading contact with her. What's going on? Enmeshment is the name of the game, and Renée gets in there and sorts the boundary problems and solutions, while Tolu tries to get Renée and Ashley to talk about themselves - and succeeds a few times. Ultimately, Renée and Tolu not only conduct a master class on boundaries, they also discuss how to navigate unbalanced romantic and platonic relationships and the relationship between codependency and social anxiety. Renée gives Tolu concrete strategies for managing all of it, Tolu gives us all reasons to root for him.
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Episodes manquant?
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Andre is a 47 year-old father of three who is "tired of being in survival mode." He comes to the show hoping Renée can help him resolve his persistent anxiety. And she can, but not before she and Andre discuss his childhood trauma, his first wife's death from cervical cancer, racism, parenting, stand-comedy, grief, and more. Andre has a complicated story, and he is brilliant at telling it, which makes it easy for them to unravel the persistent knot that has lived in his body for decades. Andre is as funny as he is vulnerable, much to Renée's delight. He basically takes over the last third of the episode and teaches a master class that is beautifully wise and hilarious all at once - much like Andre himself.
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"I'm just terrified to get close to anyone right now," Elio told Renée early in their conversation. When you hear their story, you will easily understand their terror. Elio wasn't sure what they wanted from coming on the show, but they certainly gave Renée plenty to work with. There have been a series of hard hits in Elio's short life, and yet their spirit is bright and infectious; they inspire Renée to carve out some healing within overwhelming circumstances. Elio's playfulness makes it easy for Renée to navigate their intense content, and the two of them cover a lot of topics - sexuality, social anxiety, survival, schools...these are only a few. It's a juicy episode with an inspiring guest and no shortage of laughs, thanks to Elio's inexplicably lovely energy.
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This episode starts with a few different bouts of uproarious laughter, and this definitely sets the tone for the episode. There is a lot of laughing, thanks to both our hilarious guest, Jenny, and also our inimitable guest co-host, Victoria. Jenny is beautifully colorful. Her stories are colorful, her language is colorful, her life is colorful. From selling cannabis cookies to medical students to selling real estate at the top of the field, she has put her impressive drive to good use. Renée does her best to keep Jenny's boundless energy on task, and eventually she finds the well of darkness underneath the laughter. Jenny has endured and witnessed some deeply disturbing things, and yet she has never been to therapy. A recent violent experience has reactivated her older, unresolved trauma, and, having stuffed the trauma away for years, she now finds herself struggling with rage and reactivity. She has come to the show hoping Renée can help. Renée does an in-depth analysis of Jenny's anger and maps out the steps she can take to find peace. This one starts out absurdly fun, travels through some intense pain, and comes back to laughter at the end.
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Kristin was kidnapped when she was 3 years old. Let's just start there. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there. In her 37 years of life, Kristin has endured almost every type of trauma one can imagine - attachment, sexual, medical, financial - and she has lived in over 40 different places, including prison. Her story would be hard to believe if Kristin weren't so beautifully honest and vulnerable as she narrates it. So while her story is tragic and shocking, Kristin herself is inspiring. And in between the tragic and shocking, her conversation with Renée also manages to be laugh-out-loud funny. Kristin comes to the show hoping Renée can answer one question: After having been hurt so many times in so many ways, how can she trust again? Renée gives Kristin an answer and a plan, and Kristin gives us a story you'll never forget.
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Hey there, everyone. Renée here. As requested, I am back this week as the guest to take you on a wild ride through my romantic relationship history. Just a reminder that unlike our normal weekly episodes, those with me as the guest build on one another. So if you haven't yet listened to Episodes 60 and 67, go back and listen to those first - this one will make much more sense once you have. Likewise, if you're new to the podcast, don't start here! This isn't our normal format. As for the rest of you, well, you know the drill. This one comes to you with no preparation, no editing, and no shame. You've been warned. See you on the other side!
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Yolanda grew up fearing two things, God and her mother, and she had the anxious, people-pleasing behavior to show for it! After losing her dad at 18, however, Yolanda ditched her "good girl" role for the first time. She has been back and forth ever since: between rules and rebellion, between partners, between versions of herself. Now in her 40's, Yolanda comes to the show to ask Renée, "How did I fall into this pattern again?" To get to an answer, Renée follows Yolanda through her relationship history - and it is a juicy rollercoaster of a narrative. Yolanda not only has a compelling story to tell, she's a captivating storyteller. By the end, Renée takes all the twists and turns and ups and downs and makes sense of them, much to Yolanda's surprise and delight. Ultimately, Yolanda has an answer to her question, and her rawness and charm mean everyone else has a great time on the way there.
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When Kenny was in middle school, he participated in his first drive-by shooting. Not long after, he went to prison for the first time; ultimately he would serve 28 years. He was released 7 months ago and has come to the show to tell his story. Kenny and Renée talk about all of it - murder, Maslow, family, gangs, grief, and more. Despite the devastating trauma he unfolds, Kenny makes Renée laugh quite a bit. Renée captures the psychological strands and gets Kenny started on a healing path, while Kenny's honesty and intelligence make for a fascinating conversation.
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"The more people that know, the better," Leanne told Renée after she narrated her devastating experiences as a patient in the Troubled Teen Industry, a network of therapeutic boarding schools and treatment centers that she first entered at 12 years old. This is the first time Leanne is telling her entire story; she only recently began telling it at all. And despite an understandable bout of stage fright beforehand, she not only tells her story but also delivers a gripping cautionary tale that exposes the web of corruption and greed at the heart of these systematically abusive "therapeutic" centers. Plus, she does all of this with a wisdom and fluency that belie her 19 years of age. Leanne came to the podcast to educate others, and also she came to ask Renée one critical question: "How do I move forward?"
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By age 7, Jojo had already faced the very adult ideas of murder and self-loathing. Now in her early 20s, she is grounded, healing, and absolutely lovely. The story of how she arrived at said loveliness is fascinating, and lucky for us, she is here to tell it. She is here also to ask Renée why, after so much healing, she still struggles so desperately with confidence. They talk families, psychedelics, racism, and lateral violence before identifying the wound that keeps Jojo stuck and developing a plan to resolve it.
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Vivian and her story are both so compelling that they defy summary. She is hilarious and engaging - and she has been through unthinkable trauma. Fortunately, she has a brilliant therapist and a seemingly bottomless well of resilience. What she doesn't have, however, is a way out of her current emotional predicament. She comes to the podcast hoping Renée has some advice to offer where this predicament is concerned. Guess what? Renée does. Vivian has questions, Renée has answers, and everyone does a lot of laughing.
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Matt "had no idea" what he wanted or was expecting from being on the show, but he did know that he had a story to tell. He is 41 years old, funny, whip smart, stunningly resilient, and he has never been in a relationship or on a date. This will make sense when you hear what he has survived. Renée and Matt discuss the terrorizing abuse he endured at two different Catholic schools and the complicated path to his recoveries from both trauma and substance abuse. Due in large part to Matt's inspiring spirit, everyone does a lot of laughing -- including Ari, who is back as a guest cohost. Be prepared to be stunned by both Matt's story and his tenacity.
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Back by popular demand! Renée returns this week as the guest on her own show to follow up on Episode 60 and answer listener questions - this time, she traces the development and resolution of both her eating disorder and her chronic illness and explains how the two intersect. This is a raw, rogue, really Renée episode: no planning, no editing, no breaks, no outro - just a whole lot of content. Next week, we will return to our regularly scheduled guests and our finicky editing, But for now, Renée lets it rip. Enjoy!
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When Kaila was a 16 year-old runaway, she was tricked into coming home only to be virtually kidnapped and taken to residential treatment. Her experiences that followed were so intense that she has written a book about them. But now, just as the book is about to be released, Kaila is panicking. Why is she suddenly riddled with fear about sharing her truth? She comes to the show hoping Renée can help her reclaim her confidence. Almost as exciting as Kaila's story is her relief when Renée sorts it! Be prepared to be blown away by Kaila, her story, and her remarkable resilience.
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"Feelings really aren't me," Dalton told Renée about halfway through their conversation. In addition to making Renée laugh, his sentence sums up the problem he brings to the podcast. Dalton has suffered more than a few tragic losses in the 28 years he has been alive, and the experiences have left him less than friendly with his emotions. It is often said that comedy comes from tragedy, and in Dalton's case, this idea holds true. He has managed to retain his humor - and then some - but loss after gripping loss have stranded his more tender feelings. Renée goes on an excavation mission to find Dalton's exiled emotional self, and in the process they touch on issues from pet loss to parenting. In the end, Renée gives Dalton a plan for stepping back into his feelings, and Dalton leaves Renée with a stomach sore from laughing.
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In the three decades they have been alive, Kaeden has survived some profoundly traumatic events, including their mother's suicide and their own nervous breakdown. Despite a childhood they describe as "terrorizing," Kaeden astonishingly emerged with a beautifully tender heart. Likewise, after years spent recreating their childhood dynamics with problematic partners and self-defeating behaviors, Kaeden is now happily married, reinvested in creating art, and steeped in insight. Still, they struggle with dissociation, chronic feelings of unworthiness, and the general sense that they are "stuck." They come to the show hoping Renée can get them unstuck and on the path to true healing. After navigating the gripping story of Kaeden's life to date, Renée maps the path to wholeness and liberation. And, as always, both of them manage to laugh plenty along the way.
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Makensi and Mick are artistic, articulate Aussies. Parents to a 3 year-old daughter, they share the desire to have a more harmonious relationship, and they come to the show hoping Renée can help them get there. Renée talks first to Makensi and then to Mick, exploring their childhoods, their current emotional landscapes, and the fights they hope to extinguish. As the conversation unfolds, clear patterns emerge, and thanks to the couple's remarkable insight and honesty, Renée is able to tie the strands of their individual childhood wounds to their current marital conflicts. It's couple's therapy, deconstructed!
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What do you get when you mix a traumatized nervous system and a new relationship? For Love, a 37 year-old single mom with an uber-social boyfriend, it's a whole lot of anxiety. So much anxiety, in fact, that she and her new man are fighting almost every weekend. She comes to the podcast hoping Renee can help her figure out how to build intimacy while navigating the many triggers associated with her unresolved trauma. Renee helps love leverage the, well, love that the couple shares and gives her a plan towards deeper healing.
It's an extra episode this week to mark the switch to our new schedule. New episodes will now be released on Wednesday mornings. We know a lot of you are used to listening on Mondays, so this way you will still have a new one if you want to stay on schedule. We gotchu!Support the show
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Yes, that Renée. The host of the show. She's the guest. What's going on? Well, a whole bunch of stuff! This episode is something a little different. Rather than get into it here, We'll just let you listen.
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