When you’re parenting a child who’s struggling with substance use or mental health, it changes you in ways most people will never understand.

Your nervous system rewires itself around fear. Your world shrinks to monitoring, anticipating, and trying to prevent disaster. And before you even realize it, your sense of self - your identity - becomes injured by the constant crisis.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about the kind of identity injury moms go through and the healing that has to happen for you to feel like yourself again.

You’ll hear me explain:

• what identity really is

• how chronic fear reshapes your brain and sense of self

• why your identity becomes wrapped up in saving your child

• why healing your identity is different from “changing” it

• how repetition, regulation, and community help repair identity

You’ll also hear about the moment I understood that my life, my identity, and even who I thought my daughter was had been completely reshaped by crisis. And how healing began only when I accepted that I couldn’t go back… I had to integrate and rebuild.

This episode isn’t just about understanding identity injury, it’s about showing you what’s possible when you begin healing it. This is the path to becoming a Peaceful Mom. Not a perfect mom. Not a detached mom. A grounded, regulated, connected mom who leads her family from clarity instead of fear.

And if you want to experience what that feels like in real time, I’m offering 2 free Peaceful Mom group coaching calls before Christmas. Something I’ve never done before!

You can sign up at https://heatherrosscoaching.com/peaceful-mom-group-free-coaching/

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to get coached, to be in a room where you can just show up no matter how you feel, or to be surrounded by moms who are healing right alongside you this is your chance.

Come join us!

Resources From Heather Ross Coaching

If you want answers and support to help you and your child Sign up for a 45-minute $17 Road to Recovery call with Heather using the link below.

https://heatherrosscoachingcalendar.as.me/RoadtoRecovery⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The truth about enabling - If you've ever worried about enabling, this guide is for you!

https://heatherrosscoaching.com/perspective-about-enabling/

How to leave a podcast review

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5xkPZM8mj-E

When traditional treatment hasn’t created the changes you hoped for, it’s easy to feel like there’s nowhere left to turn. In this episode, Jeremy French -founder of Making Whole -offers a completely different way of seeing substance use and what people actually need for recovery and a meaningful life.

In this episode, we explore:

• How substance use becomes a powerful solution because it temporarily solves real problems - and how that solution eventually shrinks a person’s world and limits their ability to live, grow, and function.
• The missing piece in the treatment world: very few places help people build the everyday skills, confidence, and problem-solving needed for real life. Making Whole fills that gap with an apprenticeship model where change happens through real work, real responsibility, and a supportive environment.
• Why real-life experience, individualized support, and authentic human connection create more lasting change than rigid, one-size-fits-all treatment models.

If you’ve been searching for a clearer, more human understanding of recovery and a program that sees the whole person, not just the substance use, you’ll find this conversation eye-opening and hopeful.

Listen to Jeremy’s first episode:

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/nmXFafnEFYb

Contact Jeremy French at Making Whole

https://makingwhole.com/

Resources From Heather Ross Coaching

If you want answers and support to help you and your child Sign up for a 45-minute $17 Road to Recovery call with Heather using the link below.

https://heatherrosscoachingcalendar.as.me/RoadtoRecovery⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The truth about enabling - If you've ever worried about enabling, this guide is for you!

https://heatherrosscoaching.com/perspective-about-enabling/

How to leave a podcast review

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5xkPZM8mj-E

We all start out with dreams for our kids — who they’ll be, what their lives will look like, and how it will feel to be their parent. But when it doesn't turn out anything like we expected, fear kicks in.

Maybe your child is struggling with substances, their mental health, or their identity.

Maybe they’ve made choices that scare you, or revealed parts of themselves that challenge everything you thought you knew.

When that happens, it can feel like the ground beneath you gives way. The future you imagined disappears, and you’re left wondering how to love your child — and yourself — in a world that suddenly looks unrecognizable.

In this deeply moving conversation, Heather talks with Meagan Skidmore, author of TransparentSEE: How I Learned to See Through My Journey as a Parent of a Transgender Kiddo.

When Meagan’s child came out as transgender, it shook her beliefs about love, faith, and family — and became the catalyst for profound personal growth.

Together, Heather and Meagan explore what happens when your heart breaks open — and how love, curiosity, and acceptance can rebuild what fear once tried to destroy.

They talk about:

• The moment you realize your child’s life won’t follow the script you wrote
• How to confront the fear and grief that come with shattered expectations
• Why “whole love” — not perfect love — is what heals relationships
• The difference between fixing your child and truly seeing them
• How letting go of the need for certainty can lead to deeper peace and connection

Whether your child’s struggle is with substances, identity, or something else entirely, this conversation will remind you:

You’re not alone. And even when life doesn’t go as planned, you can still find peace — by loving the child you have for who they are, not who you imagined they'd be.

Contact Meagan or purchase her book:

https://meaganskidmorecoaching.com/media-page/

Resources From Heather Ross Coaching

If you want answers and support to help you and your child Sign up for a 45-minute $17 Road to Recovery call with Heather using the link below.

https://heatherrosscoachingcalendar.as.me/RoadtoRecovery⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The truth about enabling - If you've ever worried about enabling, this guide is for you!

https://heatherrosscoaching.com/perspective-about-enabling/

Boundaries That Create Connection Masterclass

https://heatherrosscoaching.com/boundaries-that-create-connection-masterclass/

How to leave a podcast review

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5xkPZM8mj-E