Notes from the Edge

Gamut Podcast Network
  • 4.9 (135)
  • Personal Journals
  • Updated Weekly

Notes From the Edge is where polished stories end and the truth begins. Hosted by writer, trauma educator, executive advisor, and author Lisa Lacy, this globally ranked podcast explores survival, identity, trauma, addiction, recovery, leadership, relationships, and reinvention through raw, deeply human conversations. No scripts. No small talk. Just the stories we were taught to hide, the roles we performed to survive, and the truths that set us free. What did you perform in order to survive? Welcome to the edge. www.lisalacy.com

  1. 2d ago

    What if the traits that make you successful stop working? Complex Trauma, High Achievement, Attachment & Nervous System Survival with Dr. Christopher Barker

    Dr. Christopher Barker is a clinical psychologist and author whose work explores complex trauma, attachment, and one powerful idea: high functioning and psychological health are not always the same thing. In this conversation, we dig into what happens when competence, independence, perfectionism, and overachievement become survival adaptations. We talk about why you can intellectually know a relationship is unhealthy and still feel pulled toward it, why “energizing” can sometimes be mistaken for love, and how the nervous system can keep anticipating danger long after the original threat is gone. In this episode: • Complex trauma and high achievement • Attachment injuries in childhood and adulthood • Perfectionism vs. healthy ambition • Hypervigilance and waiting for the other shoe to drop • Why “activated” may be more useful than “triggered” • Trauma-informed relationships and finding safe support • Why healing may be better understood as repair • Rebuilding choice, trust, and freedom through repeated experiences Maybe the goal isn’t to get rid of every survival strategy that got you here. Maybe it’s simply to stop letting it run the company. Connect with Dr. Christopher: https://drchristopherbarker.com Connect with Lisa:  https://www.lisalacy.com What did you perform in order to survive? Welcome to the Edge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    What if the traits that make you successful stop working? Complex Trauma, High Achievement, Attachment & Nervous System Survival with Dr. Christopher Barker

  2. 3d ago

    Why is it so hard to leave when they hurt you? Trauma Bonding, Coercive Control & Abusive Relationships | Solo Episode with Lisa Lacy

    Why can leaving someone who hurts you feel almost impossible? Lisa Lacy, trauma educator and relationship advisor, explores trauma bonding and why intelligence alone cannot protect us from relationships that reshape our attachment, reward, and stress systems. At 40, while in inpatient rehab, Lisa was told she was trauma bonded to her husband. Her response was, “I’m too smart for that.” It would take three more years to go fully no contact, and another three to work through the anger and resentment left behind. In this solo episode, she explains the biology of intermittent reinforcement, why separation can feel unbearable, and why shame rarely helps someone leave sooner. In this episode: Trauma bonding and intermittent reinforcementCoercive control in abusive relationshipsDopamine, oxytocin, cortisol and the stress responseWhy people leave and return repeatedlyNo contact and breaking the cycleMoving from survival to self-trust Connect with Lisa: www.Lisa Lacy.com What did you perform in order to survive?  Welcome to the Edge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Why is it so hard to leave when they hurt you? Trauma Bonding, Coercive Control & Abusive Relationships | Solo Episode with Lisa Lacy

  3. 4d ago

    How do you break free without labels? Faith, Neuroscience & Recovery with Rose Ann Forte

    What happens when the life that looks successful from the outside is quietly falling apart underneath? Rose Ann Forte is an international bestselling author and creator of the Choose Freedom® Program, and her work explores how lasting change can happen without building an identity around shame. In this conversation, Lisa and Rose Ann talk about Rose Ann’s years as a successful executive and church leader while privately struggling with alcohol, toxic relationships, and the pressure to keep everyone else happy. They explore why traditional recovery language did not resonate with her, how neuroscience helped her understand deeply rooted behaviors, and how her Christian faith became part of rebuilding her identity. In this episode: • Alcohol use and behavioral habits • Recovery without shame-based labels • Faith and the renewing of the mind • Neuroscience and habit formation • Toxic relationships and people-pleasing • Self-condemnation versus lasting change • Identity after addiction • Learning to choose freedom Learn more about Rose Ann Forte: https://choosefreedom.today Learn more about Lisa Lacy: https://www.lisalacy.com What did you perform in order to survive? Welcome to the Edge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    How do you break free without labels? Faith, Neuroscience & Recovery with Rose Ann Forte

  4. 5d ago

    What Happens After You Survive Yourself? Suicide Prevention, Lived Experience & Finding Meaning-Solo Episode with Lisa Lacy

    What if suicide prevention is about more than keeping someone alive for the next 72 hours? In this special September Suicide Prevention Month solo episode of Notes From the Edge, Lisa Lacy speaks from lived experience about her first suicide attempt at 15, later attempts, psychiatric hospitalization, and the complicated work of finding reasons to remain when life has become unbearable. Lisa remembers arriving at the hospital still wearing her cheerleader jacket, being met with shame instead of understanding, and later experiencing psychiatric interventions that contained a crisis without necessarily addressing the pain underneath it. She also explores what decades of survival have taught her about meaning, spirituality, mortality, human connection, and making life small enough to survive one hour, one breath, or one tomorrow at a time. In this episode: Suicide prevention through the lens of lived experienceSurviving a suicide attempt as a teenagerWhy shame can deepen an already unbearable crisisPsychiatric hospitalization and the limits of crisis containmentTrauma, suicidal thoughts, and emotional painWhy asking directly and listening without judgment mattersFinding meaning when purpose feels impossibleSpirituality, ancestors, and feeling connected when physically aloneSurviving one hour instead of trying to solve an entire lifeWhy a temporary state of consciousness should not make a permanent decisionWhat Lisa wishes the 15-year-old version of herself could have known This is not a clinical guide to suicide prevention. It is one survivor’s perspective on what helped her continue, what did not, and why sometimes staying alive begins with making the horizon small enough to reach. If you are in immediate danger or believe you may act on suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 in the United States, contact emergency services, or go to the nearest emergency department. Connect with Lisa Lacy: https://LisaLacy.com What did you perform in order to survive? Welcome to the Edge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    What Happens After You Survive Yourself? Suicide Prevention, Lived Experience & Finding Meaning-Solo Episode with Lisa Lacy

  5. 5d ago

    Complex Trauma, Survival Identity & Disability Advocacy with Ashley Townsend

    What if the thing you call your personality is actually something you learned to perform in order to survive? Ashley Townsend is a transformational and integration coach and complex trauma recovery specialist who spent 15 years working inside the mental health system before deciding that traditional labels and approaches were no longer enough. In this conversation, Ashley and I go straight into what made her become a self-described “former LCSW gone rogue.” We talk about what she witnessed working across domestic violence, addiction, foster care and trauma treatment, and how being blind shaped her own experience of trying to belong inside systems that often failed to see the whole person. Ashley also challenges the idea that personality is fixed, arguing that some of what we call personality may actually be protection we practiced until it became familiar. Then the conversation gets even deeper. Ashley shares how she performed being the “nice girl,” performed being sighted as she progressively lost her vision, and eventually performed the role of rescuer, believing she could carry systems and other people on her back. We explore why those protections were once brilliant, why they eventually become heavy, and what happens when we stop building our lives from fear and begin creating from love. In this episode: Complex trauma and the protective patterns underneath behaviorWhy Ashley chose to leave the traditional therapy modelDisability advocacy and the experience of performing being sightedMental health diagnoses, labels and the limitations of treating personality as fixedWhy “just do it” can completely miss the context of traumaThe difference between an explanation and an excuseRecovery as an ongoing process rather than a finish linePsychedelic preparation and integration, and why Ashley does not view psychedelics as a magic fixThe “nice girl,” the rescuer and other identities we perform to belongSelf-trust, play, the inner child and why healing does not always have to hurtWhat becomes possible when we stop fighting everything and start creating from love Connect with Ashley: http://www.findingyourphoenixcoaching.com/ Connect with Lisa: www.lisalacy.com What did you perform in order to survive? Welcome to the edge See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Complex Trauma, Survival Identity & Disability Advocacy with Ashley Townsend

  6. 6d ago

    What Do We Reach for When Purpose Is Gone? PTSD, Gambling Addiction & Life After War with Sean Carberry

    What do we reach for when the thing that gave us purpose, identity, adrenaline, and belonging is suddenly gone? Sean Carberry is an award-winning journalist and former NPR Kabul correspondent whose experience raises a difficult question: what happens when you come home from years of danger, but your mind and body are still wired to look for it? In this episode of Notes From the Edge, Sean and Lisa Lacy talk about what happened after Afghanistan, when Sean returned to civilian life carrying undiagnosed PTSD, without the structure, intensity, or sense of purpose that had defined his years overseas. He describes walking into a Maryland casino about six weeks after coming home, initially gambling a few hundred dollars, and how the risk, rewards, recognition, casino perks, and escalating bets gradually began filling something that was missing outside those walls. The conversation goes far beyond gambling. Sean talks candidly about identity loss, loneliness, relationships, the psychological impact of years spent witnessing human suffering, and eventually recognizing patterns he could not see while he was living inside them. He also discusses how writing became part of processing his experiences and why we need to take much more seriously what happens when veterans, journalists, humanitarian workers, and others who have spent years operating in dangerous environments are expected to simply come home and resume ordinary life. In this episode: • PTSD after war and conflict reporting • Gambling addiction and compulsive gambling • Adrenaline seeking, risk, and the nervous system • Identity loss after leaving high-intensity environments • Returning home and adjusting to civilian life • Why danger can begin to feel familiar • Casino rewards, validation, and escalating gambling behavior • Loneliness, relationships, and destructive coping patterns • Mental health among journalists and war correspondents • Supporting veterans, reporters, humanitarian workers, and civilians after high-risk assignments • Why being functional does not necessarily mean someone is okay • Writing, memoir, and processing trauma • Learning to recognize patterns before they become destructive • Why coming home deserves as much attention as going into danger Sean’s work and books: passport-stamps.com Lisa Lacy and Notes From the Edge: lisalacy.com What did you perform in order to survive? Welcome to the Edge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    What Do We Reach for When Purpose Is Gone? PTSD, Gambling Addiction & Life After War with Sean Carberry

  7. Sep 5

    Why Do We Self-Sabotage? EFT, Nervous System Safety & Trauma Responses with Carol Look

    What if the behavior you’re trying hardest to get rid of was once the very thing that helped you survive? Carol Look is a psychotherapist and founding EFT Master who has spent decades helping people understand the emotional patterns underneath self-sabotage, and why lasting change often begins with asking what the behavior is protecting us from. In this episode of Notes From the Edge, Carol and Lisa Lacy explore the idea that the problem was once the solution. Addiction, procrastination, people pleasing, overworking, staying invisible, and even creating chaos can serve a purpose when the nervous system believes they are keeping us safe. Carol explains why we are wired for safety before success, and why someone can consciously want more visibility, healthier relationships, greater success, or a completely different life while unconsciously pulling themselves backward when the next level doesn’t feel safe. Lisa shares her own experience of appearing highly successful while privately unraveling, using alcohol to avoid painful emotions, and later discovering how uncomfortable peace and stillness could feel after years of chaos. They also talk about functional freeze, grief, hypervigilance, the importance of mentorship, learning to regulate reactivity, and what becomes possible when we stop asking, “What is wrong with me?” and start asking, “Why am I doing this, and what is it protecting me from?” Carol also shares how growing up in an alcoholic family shaped her tendency to take care of everyone around her, how that survival skill eventually became an asset in her work, and why learning to extend that same care toward herself changed everything. In this episode: Why self-sabotage may actually be a protective responseNervous system regulation and why safety comes before successFear of success, visibility, and “up-leveling”Why procrastination can have an emotional payoffAddiction as a way of anesthetizing difficult emotionsEFT tapping and Emotional Freedom TechniquesTrauma responses, hypervigilance, and emotional patternsWhy peace and stillness can initially feel uncomfortableFunctional freeze and appearing capable while internally checked outGrief, emotional avoidance, and learning to feel againPeople pleasing and taking care of others as survival strategiesWhy changing your own reactivity can change your relationshipsGratitude, emotional well-being, and Carol’s Yes workThe value of mentorship and support in personal growthWhy healing doesn’t mean life stops being difficultThe power of stillness, space, and finally hearing yourself Learn more about Carol Look and her work: www.carollook.com Learn more about Lisa Lacy and Notes From the Edge: www.lisalacy.com What did you perform in order to survive? Welcome to the Edge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Why Do We Self-Sabotage? EFT, Nervous System Safety & Trauma Responses with Carol Look

  8. Sep 4

    Closure, Betrayal Trauma & Rebuilding Self-Trust | Solo Episode with Lisa Lacy

    How much longer are you willing to wait for someone else to validate what you already know happened? Lisa Lacy is a trauma educator and relationship advisor exploring one powerful idea: sometimes closure is not something another person gives you, it is something you create by trusting your own experience. In this short solo episode, Lisa shares what she learned from waiting for accountability, explanations, and validation that never came, and why healing began when she stopped requiring someone else’s version of the story to confirm her own. In this episode: Closure after betrayalRebuilding self-trustLetting go of the need for an apologyBoundaries without agreementWhy unanswered questions keep us attachedMoving forward without validation Connect with Lisa: https://www.lisalacy.com What did you perform in order to survive?  Welcome to the Edge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Closure, Betrayal Trauma & Rebuilding Self-Trust | Solo Episode with Lisa Lacy
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4.9
out of 5
135 Ratings

About

Notes From the Edge is where polished stories end and the truth begins. Hosted by writer, trauma educator, executive advisor, and author Lisa Lacy, this globally ranked podcast explores survival, identity, trauma, addiction, recovery, leadership, relationships, and reinvention through raw, deeply human conversations. No scripts. No small talk. Just the stories we were taught to hide, the roles we performed to survive, and the truths that set us free. What did you perform in order to survive? Welcome to the edge. www.lisalacy.com

Information

  • Creator
    Gamut Podcast Network
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    99
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Lisa Lacy
  • Show Website
    Notes from the Edge