Latchkey Urchins & Friends

Healing trauma with humor. There's a nurturance void when we experience childhood emotional neglect. Anne is a therapist. Alison works in child wellness and trauma education. They look at the personal, interpersonal, and societal forms of neglect—the whole interconnected ecology of neglect. They often ask, "Why can't we care?" This podcast seeks to end the stigma of talking about mental health, trauma, and neglect while providing some resources for healing and growth. Topics: childhood emotional neglect, attachment, trauma, child trauma, mental health, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), growth, healing, nurturance, community, love, friendship, marriage, parenting, book recommendations, podcasts, pop culture, economics, politics, culture, racism, the patriarchy and more

Latest episodes

Nov 22, 2022 • 1h 9min

S2.E5. Peace Begins at Home—F*cking Chat About It! —with guest Laura Danger, certified Fair Play facilitator

Send us a textChances are you've seen Laura Danger chat about some hard-hitting topics: domestic labor is labor, weaponized incompetence, naming the issues, using data to point to injustices, and community care. Laura has 17.5 million likes on her videos on TikTok—and there's a reason why! Laura, through her work as a certified Fair Play facilitator, educates and advocates for active and engaged partnerships, self-love and the dismantling of the systems that keep us from thriving. She's giving couples and household partners the exact tools and language they need to negotiate care, mental load, emotional labor, and everything else that tends to split us apart and keep us fighting or sulking. Her wisdom could save any of your struggling relationships!Laura Danger is an educator, community advocate, and millennial parent using her platform to empower overwhelmed caregivers to value their own time and the priceless care labor they provide. She's impassioned, silly, and sincere and she brings equal doses of ambition and realism to her work. She believes we can build a better future...together.Laura's Instagram: @thatdarnchatLaura's TikTok: @thatdarnchatLaura'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.

Nov 8, 2022 • 1h 31min

S2.E4. Parental Estrangement—with guest Harriet Shearsmith, author & content creator

Send us a textWe interview Harriet Shearsmith, author, podcast, and award-winning UK blogger on motherhood, self-love, estrangement, and fashion. We were inspired to interview Harriet after reading and seeing the popularity of Jennette McCurdy's book I'm Glad My Mom Died. Harriet shares why she thinks Jennette's story is resonating with so many right now and shares her own story of recovering from narcissistic parental abuse and her journey to parental estrangement. She shares how she's creating a better parenting world through her inspirational online content.Topics include: enmeshment, emotional eating, narcissism, mental illness, covert narcissism, parental alienation, British attitudes about therapy, healthy parenting, breaking the cycles of traumaHarriet Shearsmith is the author of Mommin’ It; podcaster, award winning UK blogger and content creator. Much more importantly, she’s a mum to three wonderful kiddos. Harriet shares her family life, fashion finds and works to break down generational trauma and end the stigma around estrangement across her platforms, you can find her via @tobyandroo on instagram and TikTok, Harriet Shearsmith on YouTube.Follow Harriet on Instagram.Harriet's book Mummin' It.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.

Nov 2, 2022 • 34min

Bonus: Struggle Party - Thanks For Making Me Feel Something

Send us a textAnne and Alison check-in:what's fun right now (spoiler alert: not much)what we're reading, watching, and listening toStruggle Party: what we're struggling with right nowFollow 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.

Oct 25, 2022 • 1h 15min

S2.E3. Don't Abandon Your Inner Child—with guest Cynthia Perez, therapist

Send us a textAnne and Alison interview Cynthia Perez, LCSW, a Chicana therapist, author, public speaker, and Inner Child Hype Woman. We learn how she came to do this work of hyping up our inner child, how to do the work, and why acknowledging our inner child is so important (the pain is not too great! We can do it!). We discuss social justice-informed therapy and healing, the work of feeling self and historical pain, and Cynthia’s Chicana identity. Cynthia Perez, is a Chicana therapist and Self Proclaimed "Inner Child Hype Woman". Upon entering motherhood she realized she had a lot of Re-Parenting of herself to do. Cynthia created Rooted in Reflection, a mental health meets social justice space. Cynthia enjoys curating inner child workshops that are creative and joyful! Cynthia is a 1st generation latchkey kid to immigrant parents and a storyteller for the family.Cynthia's website.Cynthia's Instagram.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.

Oct 11, 2022 • 57min

S2.E2. Radical Access is The Future of Mental Health Care—with guest Dr. Philip Butler, creator of Seekr Bot

Send us a textOur World Mental Health Day episode is a conversation with Philip Butler, Ph.D., about the future of mental health care: one that puts healing in each person's own hands. We talk about the barriers to accessing healing and mental health care, especially for Black people. Dr. Butler's solution is to put the Internal Family Systems therapy methodology in everyone's hands through his Seekr Bot app so that we can access healing anytime anywhere. "The Seekr Project is part of a larger plan to bring culturally relevant artificial intelligence to smart devices. " Since Black people in the United States have historically been oppressed economically, Dr. Butler went out to create a way for folks to access care no matter their budget. Tune in to hear how artificial intelligence therapy can help us all heal on a massive scale, eliminating gatekeepers, stigma, and labels. Dr. Philip Butler is an interdisciplinary scholar in neuroscience, technology, spirituality, and Blackness. He writes on artificial intelligence, disruptive ethical models, and constructive speculative Black futurisms.His first book, Black Transhuman Liberation theology explores the potential for Black people to integrate technology and spirituality for liberation. He is the editor of the forthcoming volume Critical Black Futures which takes a critical and speculative approach to wildly imagined and critically examined future worlds yet to exist.His interdisciplinary work, deep love for Black communities, and desire to construct digital consciousnesses associated with racial and cultural identities are directed towards making difference normative in emergent technologies and future realities.Seekr Bot Instagram Learn more about The Seekr Project and Seekr Bot App here.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.

Sep 27, 2022 • 1h 6min

S2.E1. The Commercialization of Childhood—with guest Susan Linn, author, psychologist

We interview Susan Linn about her new book, Who's Raising the Kids: Big Tech, Big Business, and the Lives of Children. We discuss the negative effects of commercialization in childhood, the pressure for young people to achieve success at a young age, and the harmful impact of marketing on children's well-being and values. We also explore the influence of smartphones on parenting and childhood, the importance of communication in solving the climate crisis, and reflect on the need to prioritize children's well-being.

Sep 26, 2022 • 2min