Mending Families Podcast

Mending Families Podcast

Mending Families is hosted by Melissa Pemberton and she brings you weekly content that is a mix of trauma aware interviews, parenting tips for those caring for kids from adversity, and stories from people just like you as they share their beautiful messy moments.

Melissa hopes that when you listen each week, you will feel encouraged, inspired and take a little something away to help you and your family move from broken to mended.

To help keep the podcast going, consider becoming a monthly donor to help cover the costs!

Introducing Mending Families - Trailer

Are you in the trenches of parenting kids from adversity and trauma? Do you find yourself wondering why the "typical parenting strategies" are not working for your family? That those strategies seem to make matters worse? Are you a friend or family member of someone parenting kids from hard and you just don't know how to help? In fact, maybe you don't even fully understand why the struggle is so real for them? Are you a professional, teacher, therapist, social worker, or advocate that wants to better understand how trauma is effecting the kids you are working with? Then this podcast is for you...for all of you!

We all have kids in our lives who have (or are going to) experienced trauma and the reality is, trauma does affect child development, emotional regulation, brain development and so much more. So let's dig in to better understanding trauma. Let's have real talk about how hard it is to parent kids who have experienced trauma, especially if we are still doing our own healing of trauma. Let's not be afraid to talk about trauma, parenting and the healing journey we are all on! Remember, trauma awareness is important for our future generations and it starts with you!

Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 18 - Mondays with Melissa

On today’s episode, Melissa opens up about what led her to finally going to therapy and how she ultimately ended up discovering EMDR. Melissa will share with you a glimpse of how she knows that EMDR is helping her continue to move forward in healing. If you aren’t sure how to even start, this episode will give you the opportunity to hear about how therapy is definitely not linear! As always, contact Melissa through Instagram, Facebook or via email (melissa@mendingfamilieswa.com) anytime!

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 17 - Christina Knudsen

On today’s episode, Christina talks about what led to her and her husband living in their RV and traveling the country, but more importantly, she breaks down what EMDR is and how you might find it helpful in your own healing journey. Christina walks us through the process and what you can expect should you decide to pursue EMDR. Finally, she gives us some great resources and things to think about when facing our own trauma healing.

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 16 - Mondays with Melissa

On today’s episode, Melissa gives you some suggestions on caring for your nervous system if you are not in a space (or have time) to step into the Safe and Sound Protocol. She breaks down the importance of caring for our nervous system and gives you four practical tips that you can start using today!

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 15 - Melissa Corkum

On today’s episode, Melissa shares about how she uses the Enneagram in her personal life, as well as her professional life and how she has found it to be so helpful. She also talks about Blocked Care and Compassion Fatigue, which you can read more about in her new book, Reclaim Compassion. Melissa also gives us some great insight into Polyvagal Theory (I promise it’s not boring!) and how she uses the Safe and Sound Protocol to help families move into healing.

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 14 - Mondays with Melissa

On today’s episode, Melissa shares her thoughts on grief and loss based on her own personal experiences and what she understands about loss. This episode is shorter as Melissa was fighting a cold, but she packs in some good things to think about when it comes to loss, our kids, and supporting those around us who are experiencing loss themselves. Listen to this short and sweet episode to get a better understanding of what loss is and how we can be more mindful of grief.

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 13 - Hannah McLeod

On today’s episode, Hannah tells us about Beachbody and how she has been able to make her daily exercise a habit that she rarely even thinks about. She shares about some of the hard things that she has been through in the past 8 years, including losing her mom and her son being diagnosed with cancer at just 5 months old. Hannah is an inspiration and has such encouraging things to say….enjoy!

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 12 - Mondays with Melissa

On today’s episode, Melissa chats with you about ways that you can step into being a healthy support system to someone in your life who is either parenting kids who have experienced adversity, or IS a kid experiencing adversity. It only takes one adult in the life of a child to help them build resilience and that one adult could be you! Whether you are a parent, relative, teacher, coach, or Sunday School teacher, we all have kids in our lives who we can support and make a difference for.

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 11- Danielle LaBar

On today’s episode, Danielle shares with us how she knows when to say yes which ultimately led her to becoming a foster parent. She gives us some positive things to think about when it comes to foster care and also tells us how she is able to balance all that she has going on, while still staying present for her kids. Danielle even has words of wisdom for those who are not parenting currently but are part of someone's support system. This episode is truly for everyone!

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 10 - Mondays with Melissa

On today’s episode, Melissa gives a brief explanation of what Trust Based Relational Interventions are. She breaks down TBRI’s 3 principles for us (Connecting, Empowering and Correcting) and gives a few real-life examples of how to apply these principles in our everyday life. For a more in-depth look at TBRI, reach out to Melissa to arrange a training or parent coaching session. She can be reached at melissa@mendingfamilieswa.com

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Melissa Pemberton Melissa Pemberton

Episode 9 - Claire Collins Thompson

On today’s episode, Claire shares with us about her journey of surviving cancer and how she learned so much about herself during that process. She talks about the realization that she needed to truly slow down, ask for help with her son, and allow her body the space to heal. Claire gives us a brief run-down on Internal Family Systems and provides us with some great tips, resources and suggestions for our own healing that you won’t want to miss out on!

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