Holiday overwhelm is real, and choosing presence over perfection can feel harder than it sounds. In this episode, we share three simple steps to reduce holiday stress and make the season feel lighter: breathe and simplify, protect your peace, and practice daily renewal.

As a faith based therapist serving Texas and Florida, Elly brings the emotional wellness lens, while Isa brings the real life, down to earth perspective listeners love. Together we talk about setting gentle boundaries, navigating blended family expectations, making space for grief, and letting traditions adjust with your season of life. We also explore daily renewal through rest, prayer, movement, and creativity. These small rhythms help your nervous system settle.

If you’re craving a calmer, more connected holiday season, these steps can help you slow down and enjoy what matters most. Save this episode, share it with a friend, and tell us what you’re choosing to let go of this year.

🌿 Free Resources:
• Take the Shame Quiz to see how shame might be showing up in your life
www.eleanorbrowncounseling.com/shame-quiz-freebie
• Download the A Better Way Guide and learn Elly’s 6-step BETTER Framework for healing www.eleanorbrowncounseling.com/a-better-way-guide-freebie

Connect with us on Social Media or Visit our website!

Website: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/

Facebook URL: facebook.com/EleanorBrownCounseling/

Instagram URL: instagram.com/eleanorbrowncounseling/

Bookstore: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store

Ever feel like you’re walking on eggshells with a friend? In this episode of A Better Way to Heal: Where Faith Meets Therapy, Elly, a faith based therapist in Central Texas, and co-host Isa explore what it means to be caught in a one sided friendship—and how to move toward healthier, more balanced connections.

They unpack texting misunderstandings, anxious attachment, people pleasing, and mismatched seasons of life, then share a simple Notice Name Nurture framework to help you set boundaries, guard your peace, and repair relationships without cutting everyone off.

In this episode:
• Signs of one sided or emotionally draining friendships
• How texting slips and silence fuel conflict
• Recognizing anxious attachment and people pleasing
• Healthy confrontation and honest repair
• Boundaries around gossip, time, and emotional labor
• Honoring different friendship styles and seasons

If this message resonates, share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe on YouTube so you never miss an episode.

🌿 Free Resources:
• Take the Shame Quiz to see how shame might be showing up in your life
www.eleanorbrowncounseling.com/shame-quiz-freebie
• Download the A Better Way Guide and learn Elly’s 6-step BETTER Framework for healing
www.eleanorbrowncounseling.com/a-better-way-guide-freebie

Looking for a faith-based path toward emotional healing?
Download Elly’s free A Better Way Guide, a 6-step BETTER Framework that blends faith and therapy to help you recognize emotional triggers, build resilience, and start healing from the inside out.
Start your journey today at eleanorbrowncounseling.com/a-better-way-guide-freebie.

Connect with us on Social Media or Visit our website!

Website: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/

Facebook URL: facebook.com/EleanorBrownCounseling/

Instagram URL: instagram.com/eleanorbrowncounseling/

Bookstore: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store

In Part 2 of Healing Holiday Relationships, Elly and Isa continue the conversation about what it really takes to find peace and connection during the holidays.

This episode dives into how to adjust expectations, build small safe connections, and recognize when it’s time to gracefully step away. You’ll hear real stories and faith-filled insights about setting boundaries, extending grace, and protecting your peace when family dynamics get complicated.

Together, they explore how faith and therapy work hand in hand to reduce holiday stress, heal shame patterns, and create healthy relationships built on understanding rather than assumptions.

✨ In this episode:
• Adjust expectations with grace and self-awareness
• Build small connections that nurture belonging
• Redirect difficult conversations with compassion
• Know when to pause or step away without guilt
• Understand how shame and unmet expectations overlap
• Learn how active listening builds deeper connection

A Better Way to Heal: Where Faith Meets Therapy is hosted by Eleanor L. Brown, LPC, a Central Texas trauma therapist integrating Christian counseling and evidence-based tools to help you move from simply surviving to thriving, with co-host Isamary Nieves Banks.

🌿 Free Resources:
• Take the Shame Quiz to see how shame might be showing up in your life

• Download the A Better Way Guide and learn Elly’s 6-step BETTER Framework for healing

Looking for a faith-based path toward emotional healing?
Download Elly’s free A Better Way Guide, a 6-step BETTER Framework that blends faith and therapy to help you recognize emotional triggers, build resilience, and start healing from the inside out.
Start your journey today at eleanorbrowncounseling.com/a-better-way-guide-freebie.

Connect with us on Social Media or Visit our website!

Website: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/

Facebook URL: facebook.com/EleanorBrownCounseling/

Instagram URL: instagram.com/eleanorbrowncounseling/

Bookstore: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store

As the holidays approach, family gatherings can stir up old wounds as easily as warm memories. In this episode, Elly and Isa explore how to heal holiday relationships by identifying emotional triggers and protecting your peace.

Licensed Professional Counselor and Central Texas trauma therapist Eleanor L. Brown shares faith-based insights and practical therapy tools for navigating family dynamics through the lens of Christian counseling. Together with co-host Isamary Nieves Banks, she blends Scripture and psychology to help you create emotional safety, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect with others in healthy ways.

Drawing from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, they focus on love and belonging—why connection matters and how to build it during the holidays without losing yourself in the process. Whether you struggle with family tension, old pain, or holiday stress, this conversation will give you tools to respond instead of react.

✨ In this episode:
• Awareness of emotional triggers and stress responses
• Understanding fight, flight, freeze, and fawn in family gatherings
• Setting boundaries that protect peace without creating walls
• Inviting God into your emotional healing process
• Blending faith and therapy for whole-person healing
• Finding grace for yourself and others this holiday season

🕊️ A Better Way to Heal: Where Faith Meets Therapy is hosted by Eleanor L. Brown, LPC, a Central Texas trauma therapist, author, and speaker helping individuals move from simply surviving to thriving through faith and therapy.

📘 Learn more or find Elly’s book A Better Way: Integrating Faith and Psychology to Heal Inner Wounds at www.eleanorbrowncounseling.com.

Looking for a faith-based path toward emotional healing?
Download Elly’s free A Better Way Guide, a 6-step BETTER Framework that blends faith and therapy to help you recognize emotional triggers, build resilience, and start healing from the inside out.
Start your journey today at eleanorbrowncounseling.com/a-better-way-guide-freebie.

Connect with us on Social Media or Visit our website!

Website: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/

Facebook URL: facebook.com/EleanorBrownCounseling/

Instagram URL: instagram.com/eleanorbrowncounseling/

Bookstore: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store

Holidays can renew a family or reopen old wounds. We’re choosing renewal.

In this heart-level conversation, trauma therapist Eleanor Brown, LPC, based in Central Texas, and co-host Isamary Nieves Banks trade chaos for connection with three simple traditions you can start right away:

• A gratitude-and-story night that invites reflection without rehashing trauma
• Create-together rituals that turn crafts and games into easy bonding
• Memory-making practices that honor loss, spark laughter, and anchor the season in warmth

You’ll hear practical ways to keep stories safe, reframe negativity before it hijacks the room, and navigate holiday gatherings with grace. From gingerbread contests and candle lighting to board games and collaborative letters, Elly and Isa share flexible ideas that work for busy families with different personalities.

They also discuss boundaries—how to shorten visits, meet one-on-one, or skip triggering events altogether—so your holidays feel peaceful, not pressured. Creativity becomes a form of spiritual practice, reflecting the heart of the Creator, while compassion in the moment repairs trust faster than perfection ever could.

If you’re ready to replace dysfunction with connection and joy, this episode offers a roadmap you can use tonight.

💡 Hosted by Eleanor L. Brown, LPC — a trauma therapist offering faith-integrated online counseling across Texas and Florida. Learn more or explore her book A Better Way: Integrating Faith and Psychology to Heal Inner Wounds at eleanorbrowncounseling.com
.

Connect with us on Social Media or Visit our website!

Website: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/

Facebook URL: facebook.com/EleanorBrownCounseling/

Instagram URL: instagram.com/eleanorbrowncounseling/

Bookstore: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store

What if the feelings you’re hiding aren’t proof you’re broken—but clues pointing you toward care?

In this episode of Shame Free Sunday, we sit down with Harmony (our shame-free bear) to explore Mental Health Awareness Week through a grounded, faith-informed lens. We talk about how anxiety, depression, and grief are not flaws to hide but signals to understand—and how shame often twists struggle into identity. Naming what hurts is the beginning of relief.

You’ll hear about simple nervous system tools—like slow exhale breathing and even bubble-blowing—alongside deeper practices of awareness, pattern-tracking, and finding safe people. We unpack when anxiety and grief become maladaptive, what it means to feel stuck in fight/flight/freeze, and how to gently widen your window of tolerance. We also look at biblical stories like Elijah and David, where rest, nourishment, and honest prayer came before solutions—offering a compassionate model of healing that honors both faith and therapy.

As a trauma therapist in Central Texas and Miami, Florida, I also share practical ways to seek support: understanding the difference between coaching and counseling, finding a provider who aligns with your values, and reframing help-seeking as strength—not weakness.

Our refrain throughout: shadows mean light is nearby. If you’ve been feeling ashamed or stuck, this is your invitation to take one small step—name it to tame it, feel it to heal it, and remember you’re not alone.

✨ If this episode speaks to you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one baby step you’ll take today?

Connect with us on Social Media or Visit our website!

Website: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/

Facebook URL: facebook.com/EleanorBrownCounseling/

Instagram URL: instagram.com/eleanorbrowncounseling/

Bookstore: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store

The wounds that cut the deepest often come from the places we expect to feel safest. When church hurt becomes part of your story, how do you navigate that pain without walking away from your faith?

In this honest conversation, licensed professional counselor Eleanor (Elly) Brown, based in Central Texas, and co-host Isa dive into the topic of church hurt and religious trauma with vulnerability and grace. Together, they unpack 3 clear signs you may be experiencing church hurt:

• Avoiding church because it feels more painful than safe
• Experiencing Scripture as a source of pain instead of comfort
• Wrestling with shame rooted in human judgment rather than God’s truth

Rather than dismissing the church or excusing harmful behavior, Elly and Isa share faith-centered tools for healing while honoring the church’s essential role in spiritual growth. They draw on biblical examples, practical counseling insights, and their own experiences of both giving and receiving hurt in church spaces.

💡 Want to go deeper? Elly’s book A Better Way: Integrating Faith and Psychology to Heal Inner Wounds offers a step-by-step framework for healing. You can also take her free Shame Quiz to discover how shame may be impacting your spiritual life.

Whether you’ve walked away from church, are supporting someone who has, or want to help create healthier faith communities, this episode provides a compassionate roadmap for finding a better way to heal.

👉 Resources:

• Shame Quiz: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/shame-quiz-freebie
  
  
• A Better Way: Integrating Faith and Psychology to Heal Inner Wounds: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store/p/a-better-way-book
  
  
• Learn more about Elly’s counseling services in Texas and Florida at eleanorbrowncounseling.com

Looking for a faith-based path toward emotional healing?
Download Elly’s free A Better Way Guide, a 6-step BETTER Framework that blends faith and therapy to help you recognize emotional triggers, build resilience, and start healing from the inside out.
Start your journey today at eleanorbrowncounseling.com/a-better-way-guide-freebie.

Connect with us on Social Media or Visit our website!

Website: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/

Facebook URL: facebook.com/EleanorBrownCounseling/

Instagram URL: instagram.com/eleanorbrowncounseling/

Bookstore: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store

Have you ever felt like your worst experiences define who you are? A painful moment, traumatic event, or difficult season can color how you see yourself, others, and even God.

Trauma has a way of embedding itself into our identity, convincing us that what happened to us is who we are. In this episode of A Better Way to Heal: Where Faith Meets Therapy, licensed professional counselor Eleanor Brown and co-host Isa explore the critical difference between experiencing trauma and becoming trauma.

We talk about how labels can limit healing and isolate us from the fullness God intends for our lives. Drawing from biblical examples like David and Elijah, we unpack how protective strongholds can turn into prisons when we stay in them too long. Just as David couldn’t fulfill his calling as king while hiding in a cave, we can’t walk in our purpose when we’re defined by wounds instead of worth.

You’ll hear practical steps for reclaiming your identity:

• Speaking small truths you can actually believe
• Replacing comparison with gratitude
• Using mindfulness to stay grounded when triggers arise

Most importantly, we’ll remind you of God’s truth: “I have called you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). Your identity is not trauma — it’s rooted in Christ.

✨ Whether you’re working through childhood wounds, relationship pain, or the weight of shame, this conversation offers hope, clarity, and a path forward.

👉 Join us as we discover that while trauma may be part of your story, it was never meant to be your identity.

Looking for a faith-based path toward emotional healing?
Download Elly’s free A Better Way Guide, a 6-step BETTER Framework that blends faith and therapy to help you recognize emotional triggers, build resilience, and start healing from the inside out.
Start your journey today at eleanorbrowncounseling.com/a-better-way-guide-freebie.

Connect with us on Social Media or Visit our website!

Website: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/

Facebook URL: facebook.com/EleanorBrownCounseling/

Instagram URL: instagram.com/eleanorbrowncounseling/

Bookstore: eleanorbrowncounseling.com/store