Way OUT of Childhood Trauma

Barb Varcl Smith - Parenting and Generational Trauma Recovery Specialist
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Trauma is not an excuse. Trauma is an explanation. Join Barb Varcl Smith, Trauma Recovery Educator, Speaker, Therapist, and creator of The Ascendance Method™, Fake Resilience™ and 5 Pillars of Self™, as she helps you understand trauma, recognise survival patterns, and reconnect with your inner strength. Through expert conversations, real stories, and practical insights, discover a different path to recovery. 🔹 For survivors: Find validation, clarity, and the courage to heal. 🔹 For professionals: Gain fresh perspectives and therapeutic insights. There is a way out — and it starts here.

  1. 1d ago

    EP 38 - Is It Okay to Cut Contact to Heal? Family Trauma, Guilt & Going No Contact with Katrina Collier

    Is it okay to distance yourself from a parent in order to heal? What if they're getting older? What if other people tell you you'll regret it? What if you understand why they became the person they are — but being around them continues to hurt you? In Episode 38 of Way OUT of Childhood Trauma, Barb talks with author and speaker Katrina Collier about childhood abuse, generational trauma and one of the most difficult decisions she made during her own recovery: ending contact with her parents. Katrina describes growing up with a mother she identifies as having covert narcissism and a father who enabled her behaviour. She shares the cycle of distancing herself, returning, trying again — and eventually reaching the point where she decided she could no longer keep exposing herself to the relationship. But this isn't a conversation about telling people to go no contact. It's about recognising that understanding someone's trauma does not require you to excuse their behaviour. Barb and Katrina explore the generational patterns behind her family story, the guilt surrounding estrangement, forgiveness without reconciliation, and the difference between understanding why someone behaves as they do and accepting the impact of that behaviour indefinitely. They also talk about the words we're given in childhood that can eventually become our own internal voice, taking responsibility for the survival patterns we carry into adulthood, and finding the recovery approaches that resonate with us individually. Katrina began her own recovery at 40. One of the changes she describes today is beautifully simple: she no longer needs everybody to like her. Because she likes herself. And perhaps recovery sometimes begins with something equally simple: Giving yourself permission to take the next step. Connect with Katrina CollierKatrina Collier is a three-time published author, global keynote speaker and facilitator. In her memoir, The Damage of Words, she shares her journey of recovery from childhood abuse, complex PTSD and self-loathing. LinkedIn — Katrina Collier Instagram — Katrina Collier TikTok — Katrina Collier The Damage of Words:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Damage-Words-Healing-Self-Hate-Self-Mastery/dp/1610369130 Continue the JourneyExplore The Ascendance Method™ Discover a different way of understanding trauma, survival adaptations, recovery and human potential. Your Steps of Ascendance 🧡 Help Keep the Conversation Going Support the ripple. Help Keep the Conversation Going

    EP 38 - Is It Okay to Cut Contact to Heal? Family Trauma, Guilt & Going No Contact with Katrina Collier

  2. 4d ago

    EP 37 - Can Your Breath Access What Your Mind Can't? Trauma, Breathwork & Altered States with Megan Ashton

    What if changing the way you breathe could give you access to emotions and experiences that talking and thinking haven't reached? And if breathwork can take us that deep, an equally important question follows: How do we do it safely? In Episode 37 of Way OUT of Childhood Trauma, Barb talks with Megan Ashton, founder of Unity Breathwork, about Conscious Connected Breathwork, nervous-system regulation, non-ordinary states of consciousness and why facilitator competency matters when using powerful practices in trauma recovery. Megan shares how her own journey through trauma, bulimia and alcohol dependence eventually led her — somewhat sceptically — into her first breathwork session. Within that experience, she found herself connecting with grief and unmet needs from early childhood that she hadn't consciously realised she was carrying. Barb and Megan explore the difference between simple everyday breathing practices and deeper Conscious Connected Breathwork, what Megan says happens physiologically during extended breathwork, why accessing non-ordinary states can feel powerful, and why more intensity isn't necessarily better. Most importantly, they talk about safety. Screening. Contraindications. Choice. Qualified facilitation. Knowing how to slow or stop. Grounding. Aftercare. Integration. Because a powerful modality also carries responsibility. Connect with Megan AshtonMegan Ashton is the founder of Unity Breathwork, a teacher and facilitator, and an advocate for higher safety and training standards within the breathwork industry. Unity Breathwork Instagram — Unity Breathwork Continue the JourneyExplore The Ascendance Method™ Discover a different way of understanding trauma, survival adaptations, recovery and human potential. Your Steps of Ascendance 🧡 Help Keep the Conversation Going Support the ripple. Help Keep the Conversation Going

    EP 37 - Can Your Breath Access What Your Mind Can't? Trauma, Breathwork & Altered States with Megan Ashton

  3. Nov 4

    EP36 - Are You Coping — or Actually Living? Emotional Agility After Trauma with Tricia Parido

    You've understood what happened. You recognise your triggers. You can explain where your patterns came from. But what happens next? In Episode 36 of Way OUT of Childhood Trauma, Barb talks with Emotional Performance Strategist Tricia Parido about the difference between coping with life and developing the emotional agility to actually live it. Tricia is the founder of Total Emotional Performance™ and Turning Leaves® Recovery, Life and Wellness Coaching. Her work grew partly from her own experiences with trauma, eating disorders, alcohol and the patterns she realised she was still carrying into her life decades later. Together, Barb and Tricia explore why understanding trauma is important — but insight alone may not change what happens when life activates an old response. They talk about learning to experience uncomfortable emotions without automatically escaping them, recognising genuine danger versus an old alarm, listening to the body's signals, people-pleasing, hyper-independence, control and the role our physical wellbeing can play in emotional regulation. They also explore an important question: Are the strategies that once helped you survive still serving the life you're living now? Because recovery isn't simply becoming better at coping. It's developing the capacity to experience life, respond with greater choice and stop allowing yesterday's survival strategies to automatically lead today. Connect with Tricia ParidoTricia Parido is an Emotional Performance Strategist and founder of Total Emotional Performance™ and Turning Leaves® Recovery, Life, and Wellness Coaching. LinkedIn — Tricia Parido Facebook — Tricia Parido YouTube — Total Emotional Performance Continue the JourneyExplore The Ascendance Method™ Discover a different way of understanding trauma, survival adaptations, recovery and human potential. Your Steps of Ascendance 🧡 Help Keep the Conversation Going Support the ripple. Help Keep the Conversation Going

    EP36 - Are You Coping — or Actually Living? Emotional Agility After Trauma with Tricia Parido

  4. Nov 1

    EP 35 - Who Are You Without the Rules? Reclaiming Your Identity After Leaving the Mormon Church with Audra Phelps

    What happens when the life you've been taught to live no longer feels like your own? And if you've spent your whole life being told who to be, what to believe and what your role should be — how do you even begin answering the question: Who am I? In Episode 35 of Way OUT of Childhood Trauma, Barb talks with NLP Practitioner and Coach Audra Phelps about leaving the Mormon/LDS Church after being raised within it and the long process of reclaiming her identity afterwards. Audra describes growing up with a prescribed path centred around becoming a wife and mother. She followed it — yet eventually found herself struggling with severe anxiety and panic attacks despite doing everything she believed she was supposed to do. Leaving meant freedom, but it also brought grief, uncertainty and the loss of a ready-made identity and community. Barb and Audra explore learning to trust yourself after years of looking to external authority, people-pleasing, reconnecting with what you actually want, grieving what you've lost, parenting without the old blueprint and rebuilding belonging. And sometimes reclaiming yourself begins surprisingly small. What do I want for dinner? What do I actually enjoy? What's my favourite kind of pie? Because before making the enormous decisions about who you want to become, you may first need to rediscover the person who's been there all along. Connect with Audra PhelpsAudra Phelps is an NLP Practitioner and Coach and founder of Mama Audra, supporting mothers navigating identity, grief and life after leaving the LDS Church. Mama Audra Instagram — Mama Audra YouTube — Mama Audra LinkedIn — Audra Phelps Continue the JourneyExplore The Ascendance Method™ Discover a different way of understanding trauma, survival adaptations, recovery and human potential. Your Steps of Ascendance 🧡 Help Keep the Conversation Going Support the ripple. Help Keep the Conversation Going

    EP 35 - Who Are You Without the Rules? Reclaiming Your Identity After Leaving the Mormon Church with Audra Phelps

  5. Oct 28

    EP34 - When Trauma Therapy Doesn't “Work”: Finding Your Own Path to Recovery with Dr Efrat Ron

    What happens when you've done the therapy, tried the techniques — and you're still being triggered? Does that mean you've failed? Or could it simply mean you haven't yet found what works for you? In Episode 34 of Way OUT of Childhood Trauma, Barb talks with Dr Efrat Ron, author of Living with Trauma: Ideas and Suggestions for Daily Living, about the reality that trauma recovery isn't one-size-fits-all. Drawing on her own experiences of trauma and treatment, Efrat talks openly about therapies that didn't give her the results she expected and the frustration that can create. Barb and Efrat explore triggers, breathing, returning attention to the present, self-soothing, body awareness and the importance of having practical tools while deeper recovery work continues. They don't agree on everything. Efrat talks about learning to live meaningfully alongside what remains from trauma, while Barb believes we can ultimately remove the emotional charge so the past no longer triggers the present. But they strongly agree on something important: There isn't one route out. Recovery is individual. What helps one person may not help another — and not responding to one approach doesn't mean you can't recover. Connect with Efrat RonDr Efrat Ron is an author, trauma survivor and former medical professional. Her book, Living with Trauma: Ideas and Suggestions for Daily Living, focuses on practical tools for navigating everyday life with trauma. Instagram — Efrat Ron Continue the JourneyExplore The Ascendance Method™ Discover a different way of understanding trauma, survival adaptations, recovery and human potential. Your Steps of Ascendance 🧡 Help Keep the Conversation Going Support the ripple. Help Keep the Conversation Going

    EP34 - When Trauma Therapy Doesn't “Work”: Finding Your Own Path to Recovery with Dr Efrat Ron

  6. Oct 25

    EP33 - Why Am I Parenting Like My Parents? Breaking the “Loyalty Bind” with Olivia Bergeron

    You promised yourself you'd parent differently. Then you're tired, stressed, your child pushes the exact button — and suddenly you hear your mother's or father's words coming out of your mouth. Why? In Episode 33 of Way OUT of Childhood Trauma, Barb talks with psychotherapist and parent coach Olivia Bergeron about The Loyalty Bind — Olivia's framework for understanding why we can unconsciously repeat the parenting patterns we grew up with even when we consciously want to do something different. Olivia explains how changing those patterns can sometimes feel like admitting that our parents hurt us. Instead, we tell ourselves, “I turned out fine,” and familiar responses continue into another generation. Barb and Olivia explore the difference between blame and acknowledgement, respecting children as individuals, parenting from authority without becoming authoritarian, and why understanding our own childhood can change what we pass on. They also discuss Olivia's practical Stop, Soften, See approach for creating space between an emotional reaction and our response. Because children don't need perfect parents. As Olivia says, they need present parents. Connect with Olivia BergeronOlivia Bergeron, LCSW, PMH-C, is a psychotherapist, parent coach and founder of Mommy Groove Therapy & Parent Coaching. She has more than 20 years of clinical experience supporting parents and is also a mother of three teenagers. Mommy Groove Instagram — Mommy Groove TikTok — Mommy Groove Facebook — Mommy Groove Therapy Continue the JourneyExplore The Ascendance Method™ Discover a different way of understanding trauma, survival adaptations, recovery and human potential. Your Steps of Ascendance 🧡 Help Keep the Conversation Going Support the ripple. Help Keep the Conversation Going

    EP33 - Why Am I Parenting Like My Parents? Breaking the “Loyalty Bind” with Olivia Bergeron

  7. Oct 21

    EP32 - What Did You Vow as a Child? The Survival Decisions Shaping Your Adult Life with Kathi Sohn

    What if some of the beliefs running your adult life began as decisions you made when you were far too young to understand what was happening? “Maybe I should stay quiet.” “Maybe I shouldn't ask questions.” “Maybe what I want doesn't matter.” In Episode 32 of Way OUT of Childhood Trauma, Barb talks with Kathi Sohn, founder of Cycle Breaker Pathways, about what Kathi calls childhood vows — unconscious survival decisions that can continue shaping our identity, relationships, emotional triggers and behaviour decades later. Kathi shares her own extraordinary story, including discovering in adulthood that she had been adopted, and explains how her late husband's work eventually led her to continue teaching the childhood-vows process they had developed together. Barb and Kathi also explore parenting and generational change: why parents don't need to get everything right, the importance of repair and apology, and how small moments of awareness can prevent our own unresolved patterns from simply being handed to the next generation. Because recognising where a pattern came from isn't about blame. It's about responsibility — and possibility. As Kathi puts it: when we're young, we're wired to survive. As adults, we can begin to rewire to thrive. Connect with Kathi SohnKathi Sohn is the founder of Cycle Breaker Pathways, an author and speaker whose work focuses on childhood survival beliefs, parenting and generational healing. Facebook — Cycle Breaker Pathways LinkedIn — Kathi Sohn Instagram — Kathi Sohn Continue the JourneyExplore The Ascendance Method™ Discover a different way of understanding trauma, survival adaptations, recovery and human potential. Your Steps of Ascendance 🧡 Help Keep the Conversation Going Support the ripple. Help Keep the Conversation Going

    EP32 - What Did You Vow as a Child? The Survival Decisions Shaping Your Adult Life with Kathi Sohn

  8. Oct 18

    EP31 - When Your Armour Becomes Your Prison: Life After Trauma & Abuse with Dawn Lucht

    The armour we build to survive can be incredibly effective. But what happens when the danger has passed — and we're still living inside it? In Episode 31 of Way OUT of Childhood Trauma, Barb talks with Dawn Lucht, founder of the Heart-Full Academy, whose work grew not only from 15+ years in coaching, leadership and human development, but from her own experiences of breakdown, grief, trauma, domestic violence and rebuilding her life. Together they explore the survival strategies we develop to protect ourselves — and why the very patterns that once kept us safe can eventually restrict our relationships, emotional lives and future. Dawn describes this as “de-armouring”: recognising the conditioning and protective layers we've accumulated and reconnecting with what she calls the Wild One — the instinctive Self underneath them. Barb and Dawn explore emotional clarity, self-trust, relationships, identity after abuse, nervous-system responses and the challenge of building a future when survival has been leading for a very long time. Because survival adaptations aren't evidence that something went wrong with us. They did a job. The question becomes: do we still need them to do that job now? Connect with DawnDawn Lucht is the founder of the Heart-Full Academy and creator of the Heart-Full Way. Facebook — The Heart-Full Academy Instagram — The Heart-Full Academy Continue the JourneyExplore The Ascendance Method™ — a different way of understanding trauma, survival adaptations, recovery and human potential. Your Steps of Ascendance 🧡 Help Keep the Conversation Going Support the ripple. Help Keep the Conversation Going

    EP31 - When Your Armour Becomes Your Prison: Life After Trauma & Abuse with Dawn Lucht
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About

Trauma is not an excuse. Trauma is an explanation. Join Barb Varcl Smith, Trauma Recovery Educator, Speaker, Therapist, and creator of The Ascendance Method™, Fake Resilience™ and 5 Pillars of Self™, as she helps you understand trauma, recognise survival patterns, and reconnect with your inner strength. Through expert conversations, real stories, and practical insights, discover a different path to recovery. 🔹 For survivors: Find validation, clarity, and the courage to heal. 🔹 For professionals: Gain fresh perspectives and therapeutic insights. There is a way out — and it starts here.

Information

  • Creator
    Barb Varcl Smith - Parenting and Generational Trauma Recovery Specialist
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Barb Varcl Smith - Parenting and Generational Trauma Recovery Specialist
  • Show Website
    Way OUT of Childhood Trauma