Send us a textBonus episode! Anne and Alison share:A struggle party (something we're struggling with)A glimmer (moment of joy and connection)What we're currently reading, watching, and listening to that we recommendFollow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textAnne and Alison talk with transformational life coach, Christina Berkley about her childhood as a latchkey kid, Canadian immigrant from Romania, her journey healing her own trauma, and how that lead her to work as a coach. Trance and plant medicine have been foundational to her healing and practice. Working with Christina as a coach in 2014, Alison was able to do some deep inner child healing work.https://christinaberkley.com/https://www.instagram.com/coachchristinaberkley/Follow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textThis week we discuss dysfunctional family roles and dynamics including scapegoat, hero, golden child, caretaker, identified patient, rebel, and more. Anne and Caroline share their stories of growing up Gen X with wild older brothers who grew up to have real mental health struggles. Follow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textWe interview author and speaker Tabitha A. Scott about her healing journey away from corporate burnout culture. She documents her journey in the award-winning book, Trust Your Animal Instincts.Tabitha is an award-winning author and speaker who helps inspire action, ignite change, and provide connection, direction, and power. With over 20 years' experience leading corporate innovation and sustainability, she was named one of the Top 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders of 2022, is a thought leader on the 2023 Forbes Business Council, and her work was honored at the White House as part of its Energy Data Initiative.Tabitha's website.Follow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textWe interview author and coach Mary Giuliani about her new book, It's Not About Food, Drugs, or Alcohol: It's About Healing Complex PTSD. Mary Giuliani is in long-term recovery from alcohol, drugs, food addiction, and severe obesity.  She has a 25-year background as a Master Certified Coach,  is a keynote speaker, and is the author of  "It's Not About Food, Drugs, or Alcohol: It's About Healing Complex PTSD." She specializes in supporting survivors in healing from complex PTSD, achieving long-term recovery, and turning their pain into purpose.Mary's website.Follow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textWe talk about the fact that many children considered "gifted" were either neurodivergent and/or coping with trauma or C-PTSD. We talk about how American culture neglects kids and families and that we now live in the dystopian hellscape that 80s action movies predicted. Kyle Kimball is a law student at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands focusing on climate refugee law. His work criticizing neoclassical economics as it relates to climate change was featured when he spoke at MEERTALK in 2022. Follow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textWe interview Dr. Jamie Marich about her new book, Dissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Daily Life (2023). We talk about how dissociation is a very natural coping strategy for a stressful or traumatic childhood. She's helping define and normalize the term "dissociated."Dr. Jamie Marich (she/they) describes herself as a facilitator of transformative experiences. A clinical trauma specialist, expressive artist, writer, yogini, performer, short filmmaker, Reiki master, TEDx speaker, and recovery advocate, she unites all of these elements in her mission to inspire healing in others. She began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Hercegovina from 2000-2003, primarily teaching English and music while freelancing with other projects. Jamie travels internationally teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, and yoga, while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Northeast Ohio. Jamie is the author of numerous books on trauma recovery and healing, with many more projects in the works. Marich is the founder of The Institute for Creative Mindfulness.Get her new book here.JamieMarich.comFollow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textWe start the year off by talking about sobriety, toxic intensity, cycles of trauma and addiction, and making the choice to turn around family trauma by healing at all costs.Carey Smith Sipp is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at PACEs Connection and a disrupter of multi-generational cycles of trauma and addiction. PACEs = Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences. Her book, The TurnAround Mom: How an Abuse and Addiction Survivor Stopped the Toxic Cycle for Her Family—and How You Can, Too! was published in 2007.The author of a book on breaking multi-generational cycles of addiction and abuse, Carey was writing about the health implications of what she called “toxic intensity” before learning, in 2000, about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).  A lifelong student of the sciences, Carey is drawn to learn daily about brain development, health, and leadership. With all humility, she calls herself a cautionary tale and a success story of what positive and adverse childhood experiences can do to a human. She is an avid believer in post-traumatic growth, big ideas, and the power of good people working to change the world. She also believes that to disrupt toxic systems, we as adults must learn and share about PACEs science, examine and heal our own trauma, and view every child as being our own. PACEs story: "I grew up in addiction and abuse. When I had children, I vowed they would have a saner, calmer childhood than my own, so I joined a recovery group for family and friends of alcoholics, immersed myself in parenting education, and quit drinking, just in case. Somehow I knew children’s brains are wired for peace and calm or for agitation and addiction. In 1996, when I started working on a book about breaking cycles of addiction and abuse, I called the National Association for Children of Alcoholics for resources. In 2000, one of the pieces of information they sent was the ACE Study. I read it and wept. My score explained my health issues; my prognosis was grim. Instinctively, I delved deeper into recovery, spirituality, parenting, exercise, and nutrition. A few years later, hope came when advances in brain science showed the brain has plasticity, the body wants to heal. In 2008 I started contributing articles about PACEs science to a medical information website. Five years later I met Jane Stevens, and five years after that, I was hired at PACEs Connection. My work comes full circle as I write about how PACEs lead to addiction and addiction leads to PACEs, and that PACEs science and trauma-informed communities hold solutions to preventing multi-generational cycles of addiction and abuse."PACEsConnection.comBuy Carey's book.Follow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textOur favorite cohosts are back: Tyler Tamai, RN, BSN, and Kevin Annonymous, RN, a psychiatric nurse. They join us in hearing and reacting to listener-submitted stories about the hilarious, the awkward, and the tragic–all the moments that make the holidays a stressful, joyful, and potentially traumatic time of year. Tune in to hear about the dad who bought 4 Christmas trees...with a catch! The time Alison invited a homeless spiritual guru to her family's Christmas, which household item Kevin turned into drug paraphernalia, and Anne's son steal the show with the best short holiday story.Follow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.

Send us a textAnne and Alison talk with Nivida Chandra about parentification. She is the author of the viral Aeon piece, Parentification: When parents cast a child into the role of mediator, friend and carer, the wounds are profound. But recovery is possible. We talk about feeling like unemotional sociopaths, breaking out of our urchin shells, and exploring cultural differences between collectivist and individualist societies. Chandra helps us explore the nuance in boundaries and self-love.Nivida Chandra is a psychologist and researcher, working with adult survivors of childhood emotional neglect. She is the founder of the mental health centre KindSpace and the founder-editor of The Shrinking Couch website, which publishes informational and experiential articles for those affected by mental health concerns. Her doctoral work was on parentification in urban India. She holds a PhD in psychology from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and was a Fulbright scholar to the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. She lives in New Delhi.Show notes.Follow us on Instagram.Check out our bonus YouTube content.Latchkey Urchins & Friends website.Audio mastering by Josh Collins.Song "One Cloud is Lonely" by Próxima Parada.Cover art by Claire Dierksen.