In this episode, we sit down with Emily Beauchamp, a full-spectrum doula and founder of Growing Together Doula Services. Emily shares how her own experiences with pregnancy, postpartum struggles, and breastfeeding challenges led her to pursue a career supporting families through the entire perinatal journey.

We explore what a full-spectrum doula actually does, from fertility and pregnancy to birth, postpartum, and grief and loss. Emily explains how doulas help bridge important gaps in care, like providing education, emotional support, and practical guidance that many parents don’t receive within the healthcare system.

The conversation also dives into maternal mental health, the realities of postpartum life, and why the idea of “it takes a village” is more important than ever. Emily highlights how small acts of support, like bringing a meal or simply showing up, can dramatically impact a parent’s wellbeing and the health of families and communities.

This episode is an honest and compassionate look at the transition into parenthood, the invisible work of caregiving, and how we can all play a role in supporting new parents.

Important Messages

“You don’t know what you don’t know:” Many parents aren’t aware of the questions to ask during pregnancy and birth. Doulas help provide education about options, resources, and decision-making. Seeking support is actually a powerful way to build the support system families need.

The biggest gap is often postpartum support: While much focus is placed on birth, the postpartum period can be the most challenging and long-lasting stage, yet many families feel unprepared and unsupported. Modern families often lack the intergenerational and community support that historically helped new parents.

Small acts of support matter: Simple things, like bringing food, helping with errands, offering practical help, can significantly improve maternal mental health, relationships, parenting, and the emotional well-being of other children in the home.

In this episode, Colleen sits down with Jarvis Strong, Executive Director of the Escarpment Corridor Alliance, to explore the winding path that led him to a meaningful career in conservation leadership.

Jarvis shares how his journey was anything but linear, moving through multiple roles and periods of uncertainty before finding work that truly aligns with his values. He reflects on the power of mentorship, the impact of someone believing in you at a pivotal moment, and how building strong relationships has shaped both his personal growth and professional direction.

The conversation highlights the importance of connection, not just in career development, but in cultivating confidence, belonging, and self-worth. Jarvis speaks candidly about early struggles with self-esteem, the turning points that shifted his trajectory, and why finding work that “ticks the boxes” in its purpose, impact, and sustainability matters more than chasing titles or retirement countdowns.

For young people (and the adults who support them), this episode is a reminder that careers don’t have to follow a straight line, mentorship can be life-changing, and believing in someone might be the spark that changes everything.

Important Messages

Belief can be transformative: Some of life’s most powerful learning happens outside the classroom, and when someone chooses to believe in you, it can shift your entire sense of self-worth and direction.

Meaningful work looks different for everyone: Career paths are rarely linear, and sometimes we need to meander to find something that aligns with our values. Growth often comes through experimentation and risk.

Relationships are foundational: Learning how to connect with people from different backgrounds builds resilience and belonging, and folks who have worked at camp are particularly skilled at this – those “camp skills” really transfer further than you think. Camp leadership, youth work, and community involvement build valuable lifelong competencies.

In this episode, Colleen is joined by Amanda Lamb (Pine River Institute) for a deep, thoughtful conversation about anxiety, emotional regulation, and resilience through a developmental lens.

Rather than treating anxiety as something to eliminate or “fix,” this conversation reframes anxiety as a capacity that develops over time, shaped by relationships, expectations, culture, and lived experience. Using clear developmental analogies, the discussion explores how children and adolescents learn to manage anxiety, and why so many young people (and adults) are struggling right now.

The episode also offers practical, compassionate guidance for parents, educators, and professionals supporting anxious youth, with a strong emphasis on attunement, co-regulation, and building distress tolerance instead of avoidance.

Important Messages

Considering anxiety on a developmental framework: Much like motor skills, anxiety regulation develops in stages; these stages are both sequential and flexible, and regression under stress is normal. Many young people haven’t “failed” to regulate anxiety, they may simply not have learned the skill yet.

Early development begins with adults and transitional objects: Infants rely entirely on caregivers to regulate distress, while toddlers begin managing anxiety with external supports like stuffies, blankets, and soothers.

School-age children and adolescence begin to self-regulate: School introduces opportunities to build distress tolerance and social regulation without caregivers or transitional objects. Increased screen time and reduced in-person interaction interfere with this process, and many adolescents lack consistent co-regulating relationships outside their families.

Supporting anxious teens: We need to rethink age-based expectations (age is “just a number;” support should be based on developmental capacity, not chronological age). We need to see a young person accurately, not through grades, age, or expectations.

We can build capacity through responsibility: Chores are a powerful, evidence-based tool for building resilience that introduce manageable, tolerable discomfort; repetition builds confidence and distress tolerance.