The Terri Cole Show

Terri Cole
  • 4.9 (1.4K)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Semiweekly

The Terri Cole Show is where psychology meets real life. Hosted by licensed psychotherapist and bestselling author (Boundary Boss, Too Much and Father Wound coming 10/27/26) Terri Cole, this podcast is for anyone who is ready to understand themselves more deeply, create healthier relationships, and stop repeating patterns that no longer serve them. With nearly three decades of clinical experience, Terri breaks down complex psychological concepts into practical tools you can actually use. From boundaries, high-functioning codependency, and people-pleasing to attachment, family-of-origin wounds, self-worth, anxiety, and relationship dynamics, each episode is designed to help you connect the dots between what you learned in the past and how you're living today. You'll hear solo episodes, listener Q&As, and conversations with leading experts in psychology, relationships, wellness, and personal growth. Because when you understand why you think, feel, and behave the way you do, you have the power to make a different choice. Tune in to The Terri Cole Show and start creating more freedom, healthier relationships, and a life that thrills and fulfills you.

  1. 2d ago ·  Video

    863 Build an Empowered Blended Family with Cameron Normand

    Build an Empowered Blended Family with Cameron Normand In this episode of The Terri Cole Show, Terri sits down with nationally recognized stepfamily expert Cameron Normand to explore the unique challenges stepmoms face and why traditional parenting advice often doesn't work for blended families. Cameron shares practical guidance on building relationships with stepchildren, navigating parenting and discipline, setting clear expectations with partners, and managing the stress of stepfamily life. She also explains why it can take four to seven years for a stepfamily to feel cohesive and why moving at the children's pace is essential. Cameron also shares details about her annual Stepmom Summit, a virtual event designed to give stepmoms expert guidance, resources, and a supportive community. The summit starts September 14th and you can grab a free ticket at terricole.com/stepmomsummit 00:00 Welcome to The Terri Cole Show 02:52 From Capitol Hill Lawyer to Stepfamily Expert: Cameron's Origin Story 07:08 Why "Super Step" Overperformance Backfires on Stepmoms 12:04 The Training Gap: Why Therapists Are Giving Stepmoms the Wrong Advice 14:53 What New Stepmoms Should Actually Expect (Including the 4-7 Year Timeline) 17:12 The "Connected Adult" Role: Why Stepmoms Should Skip the Disciplinarian Hat 21:43 The Partner Conversations Most Couples Never Have Before the Wedding 24:30 Why Stepmoms Have Higher Depression Rates Than Bio Moms and Stepdads 26:23 One Thing Walking-on-Eggshells Stepmoms Can Do Right Now 28:15 Find Cameron, the Stepmom Summit, and Free Tickets at terricole.com/stepmomsummit   You can get the show notes at terricole.com/863

  2. 4d ago ·  Video

    862 How the Father Wound Impacts Emotional Safety in Relationships

    Having an unhealed father wound impacts your ability to create emotional safety in your relationships. If you grew up in a house where emotional safety was not part of your relationship with your father, calm can feel weird or unfamiliar, and vulnerability can feel risky. Trusting another person to be there for you, if that wasn't your experience, may feel  counterintuitive. In this episode, we're exploring how father wounds impact our ability to feel safe in relationships, why calm can feel so unfamiliar, and what emotional safety can look like as we heal. We may have learned to protect ourselves through high-functioning codependency, hyper-vigilance, or hyper-independence. These strategies made sense at the time, but they can keep us from the safety we actually want now. From The Episode:  A father wound is a worthiness wound. We may have learned in childhood that we weren't good enough as we were. Without emotional safety from our fathers, we find other ways to protect ourselves: high-functioning codependency, hyper-vigilance, or hyper-independence. When your system is more familiar with hypervigilance than with safety, you may be drawn to relationships that are familiar but not necessarily good. We repeat what we do not repair. If you're not attracting someone who's calm and securely attached, we may need to heal the wound first. Emotional safety is the felt sense that you can be yourself and still belong. You can have needs, say no, and make mistakes without being punished or rejected. I wrote a whole book on father wounds to help you understand how they show up in your relationships, your sense of safety, your self-worth, and the way you give and receive love. If you're ready to start healing those patterns at the root, preorder your copy today. Plus, when you preorder now at https://fatherwoundbook.com, you'll get a free 3-hour virtual healing retreat.

  3. Sep 3 ·  Video

    861 Feel Hot, Healthy, and Unbothered With Liz Tenuto

    What if the key to better sleep and less stress wasn't doing more, but moving less? In this episode, I sit down with Liz Tenuto, aka The Workout Witch, to talk about somatic exercises, nervous system regulation, and why so many of us can't sleep or relax. Liz teaches tiny, lazy movements that release stored tension from the body, and she demonstrates three of them during our conversation. We also talk about why standard sleep advice fails trauma survivors, and how dissociation shows up in women who take care of everyone but themselves. If you feel wired but tired and can't remember the last time you felt truly rested, this episode is for you. 00:00 Welcome to The Terri Cole Show 02:29 Liz's Origin Story: Chronic Pain, Bad Sleep & 10 Years of Searching 05:28 Why Somatics Is Not Woo-Woo: The Science & Ancient Roots 08:23 Why Sleep Issues Are So Widespread Right Now 10:08 How to Luxuriate Your Sleep Routine (Especially If You're a Trauma Survivor) 13:39 The Hip-Rocking Exercise That Helps You Fall Asleep 17:14 Fight-Flight vs. Freeze: What Nervous System Dysregulation Actually Looks Like 20:24 What Dissociation Really Means Beyond Just Zoning Out 22:41 Two Somatic Fixes: Ear-Pulling for Dissociation & Forehead-Swiping for Fight-or-Flight 25:15 Inside "When the Body Speaks" & Where to Find Liz you can get the shownotes at terricole.com/861

  4. Sep 1 ·  Video

    860 The Father Wound–Boundary Connection

    If setting a boundary feels like you're risking the whole relationship, your unhealed father wound might be why. When the person who was supposed to protect you didn't, you can grow up without the sense that you're even allowed to say no. In this episode, I'm walking through how the father wound shapes your boundaries, the different father archetypes and the specific boundary struggles each one creates, and why so many of us never learned we were allowed to protect ourselves in the first place. Whether your father was absent, critical, emotionally distant, abusive, unreliable, narcissistic, passive, or played favorites, those wounds can make certain boundaries especially difficult. It often comes back to the same things: learning to protect yourself, honoring your needs, and being able to disappoint other people without abandoning yourself. The best part of healing your father wound is that you don't have to keep going along to get along anymore. Not sure if your father wound is affecting your boundaries? Get the journal prompts from this episode to uncover how your father wound may still be shaping your boundaries, relationships, and ability to say no.  terricole.com/860 KEY TAKEAWAYS If your father didn't protect you, you may have learned you weren't worth protecting. That belief shapes your boundaries in adulthood. Different father archetypes create different boundary struggles: absent fathers make saying no feel like abandonment, critical fathers make you fear getting it wrong, narcissistic fathers teach you that your needs don't matter. Pleasing, being compliant, achieving to belong — these are the opposite of having healthy boundaries. They kept you safe as a child, but they're not serving you now. You'll never build the life you want if it's built on self-abandonment. You don't need your father's permission or participation to heal your father wound. This work is for you. I wrote an entire book to walk you through this work. Pre-order Father Wound and get access to a free 3-hour virtual retreat with me. fatherwoundbook.com

  5. Aug 27 ·  Video

    On Our Knees with Regena (Mama Gena) Thomashauer

    What if surrender could help you reconnect with pleasure, heal emotionally, and feel fully alive again? In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Regena Thomashauer to explore surrender, pleasure, self-healing, and emotional healing. We talk about why high-functioning women can become exhausted from trying to control everything, how surrender is different from submission, and what happens when we stop fighting our lives. Regena shares her deeply personal journey from trauma and self-doubt to discovering the power of pleasure, reconnecting with her body, and learning to trust what comes next. If you're ready to let go of control, reconnect with pleasure, and discover a new way to move through burnout and life's difficult moments, this conversation is for you.  Find the show notes at terricole.com/859

  6. Aug 25

    858 The Art of Self-Soothing (396 Re-Run)

    Let's say you have a rough interaction with someone, a disappointing outcome, or you get bad news–what do you do to help yourself feel better? Do you have a couple of drinks? Maybe smoke a little weed? Or eat a tub of ice cream? No judgment here, but I want to invite you to think about it because many of us confuse self-numbing with self-soothing.  In this episode, you'll learn my favorite self-soothing tips, healthy ways to support your nervous system and emotional wellbeing, plus how to create your own self-soothing and stress relief toolkit.  Learning how to effectively self-soothe can be life-changing!  Read the show notes for today's episode at terricole.com/396

  7. Aug 20 ·  Video

    The Power of 'Moving Art' for Mental Health with Louie Schwartzberg

    What if beauty could change the way you experience life? In this conversation, I sit down with visionary filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg to talk about gratitude, nature, beauty, wonder, and mental health—and why paying attention to the natural world can help us become more present and connected. Louis shares the story behind his breathtaking films Fantastic Fungi, Gratitude Revealed, and Moving Art, and explains why he believes beauty can be a powerful antidote to a world filled with fear, conflict, and constant bad news. We talk about how nature teaches us to live, why gratitude begins with presence, and what happens when we slow down enough to actually see the beauty that's already around us. If you're feeling overwhelmed by the world, this conversation may give you a completely different way to look at it. Read the show notes for this episode at terricole.com/857

  8. Aug 18

    Signs of Abandonment Issues (374 Rerun)

    Do you find that you attach unusually quickly to people, whether in friendships or romantic relationships? Do you stay in relationships that you know are bad for you because the thought of being alone scares you more than staying in a bad relationship? Or do you repeatedly find yourself in relationships with unavailable people? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might have abandonment issues. In this episode, I'm helping you recognize the signs of abandonment issues in adult relationships and reviewing the most common causes of chronic fear of abandonment. Find the show notes for today's episode at terricole.com/374

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Hosts & Guests

4.9
out of 5
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About

The Terri Cole Show is where psychology meets real life. Hosted by licensed psychotherapist and bestselling author (Boundary Boss, Too Much and Father Wound coming 10/27/26) Terri Cole, this podcast is for anyone who is ready to understand themselves more deeply, create healthier relationships, and stop repeating patterns that no longer serve them. With nearly three decades of clinical experience, Terri breaks down complex psychological concepts into practical tools you can actually use. From boundaries, high-functioning codependency, and people-pleasing to attachment, family-of-origin wounds, self-worth, anxiety, and relationship dynamics, each episode is designed to help you connect the dots between what you learned in the past and how you're living today. You'll hear solo episodes, listener Q&As, and conversations with leading experts in psychology, relationships, wellness, and personal growth. Because when you understand why you think, feel, and behave the way you do, you have the power to make a different choice. Tune in to The Terri Cole Show and start creating more freedom, healthier relationships, and a life that thrills and fulfills you.

Information

  • Creator
    Terri Cole
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    863
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2015 | Terri Cole
  • Show Website
    The Terri Cole Show

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