Susan Lieu shares her family’s trauma both on stage and in her new memoir in an effort to find understanding and healing, despite the fact that her family refused to talk about it. By using her voice she found she could let go of the shame and help others at the same time.

The first episode of season 12 drops March 25. Listen every other Tuesday.

Bonus episode on the science of trees growing out of rock and how wilderness guide, Scout Wilkins not only found safety in nature at a young age, but what that nature has taught her about being alive.

Rattled by the death of a loved one and how little she knew, Sairey Luterman found what she calls her true calling as an end of life counselor to help others be more prepared.

Rachel Zients Schinderman helps people heal through storytelling because that is how she and her mom dealt with her dad’s death by suicide, but she’s learned to make way for new stories.

Jeff Morris has made it his mission to prevent suicide after he attempted to kill himself six times but it wasn’t until he received a bipolar 2 diagnosis and figured out how to manage instead of cure his depression that he learned how to live.

For most of her life Viki Stein has struggled to learn so much that she became a teacher to help other kids who felt frustrated. It wasn’t until age 53 that she learned that she had dyslexia and became better trained to understand herself and help others like her.

At 31 a therapist finally unlocked the mystery inside Joan Kopczynski and told her she could manage her mental illness. But first she had to reconcile a series of traumatic events that would plague anyone with or without this disorder.

Anna Runkle calls herself the crappy childhood fairy and has helped a million people deal with their complex PTSD. But it took 11 therapists and dozens of self help books before she found a name for what she has and a practice that worked.

When Heather Straughter’s son got sick, her perspective shifted. She discovered how fragile life is. She had to keep pivoting, when she was forced to change her expectations and recalibrate hope. 

After years of telling people to face their fears, therapist Michael Brady has taken his own medicine and released an album because he wanted to confront his perfectionism but it’s still difficult to let go.

For years Sonia Kahlon succeeded by her parents’ and husband's standards, but it was only after getting sober and volunteering at a women’s prison that Sonia found her true calling.

After years of relying on cocaine and caffeine to focus Kathleen discovers she has ADHD. The diagnosis and subsequent tools help her achieve her dream of becoming a therapist.

After years of capture kill missions Kervin Aucoin now employs his military training to help people thrive. He says sharing his story keeps his PTSD at bay.

At 15 Meghan Callaghan was left alone with her grandfather for the day. What started out as a seemingly ordinary day became a defining moment in Meghan’s life.

Rod Nordland doesn’t plan to die from an incurable brain cancer. He’s a survivor — of abuse, war, and now disease.

Shawna Beesley, known to most as Adaline, says there’s no dopamine hit like saving someone from hell. Today she finds that high performing on stage. She discovered she had to shed her golden child identity and reconcile with her evangelical upbringing to be true to herself and come out to her family.

Laurel loves stories but she has realized when she’s consuming stories, she’s tuning out the world and her inner voice or source of creativity. This a story about what happened when Laurel learned to get still.

Lauren’s heart stopped for 24 minutes and it took almost dying to realize she couldn’t get through life on her own.

Joshua "The Jedi" Loya lost his eyesight at 15, but that didn’t stop him from skydiving, surfing, Ju-Jitsu, and stand up comedy. Joshua says choosing sometimes the scary thing makes him feel authentically himself and helps him to live well with PTSD.