Motherhood isn't about getting it right all the time.

In this conversation with perinatal and infant mental health therapist Jen Burke, we unpack why so many moms live under the weight of guilt and why that guilt is often keeping us from being present.

We talk about:

• The difference between guilt that helps us grow and guilt that turns into shame
• Why repair matters more than perfection
• How social media fuels unrealistic expectations of motherhood
• The identity shifts that happen after becoming a mom
• Why learning to care for yourself is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children

If you've ever wondered whether you're doing enough, this episode is your reminder that you were never meant to be perfect, you were meant to be human

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ABOUT JEN

Jen Burke, JD, LMSW, IMH-E® (she/her) is a therapist, educator, entrepreneur, and advocate for maternal mental health. She is the co-founder and co-director of Rise Wellness Collaborative, a Michigan-based therapy practice specializing in perinatal mental health, infant and early childhood mental health, and the parent-child relationship. She is also the co-founder of Bloom & Rise, a therapist-created company designing meaningful products that support mothers' mental health and early parent-child connection.

Jen holds a law degree from Columbia Law School and a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan, where she earned a Child Welfare Certificate. She is endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Specialist through the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health and teaches in the University of Michigan School of Social Work as a lecturer.

Drawing from both her professional expertise and her own experience of infertility, pregnancy loss, and motherhood, Jen is passionate about making evidence-based mental health information practical, accessible, and compassionate. Whether she's working with families in the therapy room, teaching future clinicians, or creating resources for parents, her work centers on strengthening relationships and helping caregivers feel supported, understood, and empowered.

risewellnesscollaborative.com (@risewellnesscollaborative on instagram)

bloom-and-rise.com (@bloom.and.rise on instagram)

You work hard. You show up for everyone around you. You give your time, your energy, your care, and your expertise without hesitation.

But when someone offers you help...

When you receive a compliment...

When success finally arrives...

Why does it feel so uncomfortable?

In this episode of Live Lighter, Jessica explores one of the most overlooked patterns among high-achieving women: our difficulty receiving. From childhood conditioning to nervous system responses, she unpacks why receiving often feels vulnerable, even when it's exactly what we need.

You'll learn:

• Why so many women are exceptional at giving but struggle to receive
• How childhood conditioning shapes our relationship with worthiness
• Where this pattern quietly shows up in work, money, relationships, and rest
• Why receiving isn't selfish, it's a skill
• Five simple practices to begin expanding your capacity to receive

Because living lighter isn't about doing more.

Sometimes it's about allowing yourself to receive what's already trying to find you.

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Work with Jessica:

→ Golden Era Mentorship: My signature 1:1 mentorship for the woman ready to do the deep work.

→ Join my Weekly Newsletter

Follow along:
→ LinkedIn | Instagram

Women are leaving corporate in record numbers.

And they're not leaving to slow down. They're leaving to build something on their own terms.

I spent 18 years in corporate, the last 8 at Adobe, before I walked away from a tech salary to build something of my own. And I see this same story play out with the women I work with every single week.

Women are starting businesses at unprecedented rates, burnout among women leaders continues to rise, and more women than ever are questioning whether the traditional corporate path is still worth the cost.

In this episode I go past the surface-level conversation about burnout and flexibility and into the real root: the system itself. What it was built on. What it's become. And what it's quietly costing everyone, including the companies losing these women every single day.

Here's what we get into:

• The numbers behind the mass exodus of women from corporate
• Why this isn't a women's problem, it's a systems problem
• How the corporate structure was built by men, for men, and what that still costs us
• The way technology and modern pace have amplified all of it to unsustainable levels, for men too
• What it's costing corporate America in real dollars
• The honest tension I hold: wanting more women in leadership and refusing to tell women to stay in a system that's breaking them

This isn't about choosing a side. It's about knowing your worth and refusing to spend it somewhere that doesn't honor it.

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Work with Jessica:

→ Take the Survival Pattern Quiz to find out which pattern is yours.

→ Golden Era Mentorship: My signature 1:1 mentorship for the woman ready to do the deep work.

→ Join my Weekly Newsletter

Follow along:
→ LinkedIn | Instagram

For most of my life, I was terrified of death.

As a child, I can remember lying on the floor of my bedroom, overwhelmed by the realization that one day my mom would die. The fear was so intense it felt debilitating.

Then, 30 years later, my greatest fear became reality.

When my mom passed away in 2022, I expected my fear of death to grow stronger.

Instead, something unexpected happened.

In this episode, I share the story of losing my mom, the surprising relationship I've developed with death since her passing, and how what once felt terrifying has become one of the greatest sources of perspective, presence, and gratitude in my life.

This episode isn't really about death.

It's about life.
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Work with Jessica:

→ Take the Survival Pattern Quiz to find out which pattern is yours.

→ Golden Era Mentorship: My signature 1:1 mentorship for the woman ready to do the deep work.

→ Join my Weekly Newsletter

Follow along:
→ LinkedIn | Instagram

Every expert was once a beginner.

But most of us forget that the moment we step into something new.

We live in a world that rewards expertise, achievement, and getting it right. So when we're no longer the expert, when we're learning, fumbling, and figuring things out as we go, it can feel deeply uncomfortable.

The self-doubt gets louder. The inner critic gets stronger. And suddenly the urge to quit starts to feel very convincing.

In this episode I unpack:

• Why being a beginner feels so uncomfortable and what's actually happening in your brain and nervous system
• Why the discomfort you're experiencing isn't proof you're not cut out for this
• The difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset and why mindset alone isn't always enough
• How nervous system regulation helps you stay in the room when things get hard
• Practical ways to quiet self-doubt and navigate the learning phase with more confidence
• How to tell the difference between something that's difficult and something that's truly not aligned

Growth isn't comfortable.

Neither is becoming someone you've never been before.

But every skill you've mastered, every life you've built, and every version of yourself you've become started with being willing to be bad at something first.

And that's where greatness begins.
______________________

Work with Jessica:

→ Take the Survival Pattern Quiz to find out which pattern is yours.

→ Golden Era Mentorship: My signature 1:1 mentorship for the woman ready to do the deep work.

→ Join my Weekly Newsletter

Follow along:
→ LinkedIn | Instagram

Anger isn't the problem. Suppressing it is.

For generations, women have been taught that anger is dangerous, inappropriate, or something to feel guilty about. The result isn't less anger. It's more resentment, self-doubt, anxiety, and disconnection from ourselves.

In this episode I unpack the surprising history behind women's relationship with anger, why so many of us learned to suppress it, and what that suppression is actually costing us emotionally, physically, and in our relationship with ourselves.

Here's what we cover:

• Why women often struggle to feel safe expressing anger
• The hidden cost of pushing anger down
• How suppressed anger impacts confidence, boundaries, and self-trust
• A simple somatic process for moving anger through the body safely
• How anger can become a compass for change rather than something to fear

Anger isn't a flaw. It's information.

And when you learn how to work with it instead of against it, it becomes one of the most powerful tools for creating change in your life.

Work with Jessica:

→ Take the Pressure Pattern Quiz to find out which pattern is yours.

→ Golden Era Mentorship: My signature 1:1 mentorship for the woman ready to do the deep work.

→ Join my Weekly Newsletter

Follow along:
→ LinkedIn | Instagram

You've done the labs. You've heard "everything looks good."

And you still feel like crap.

This episode is for you.

Alex Mufson is the founder of Canary House, an integrative clinician who spent 14 years becoming the provider she needed after her own health unraveled while every doctor told her she was fine.

In this conversation, we get into why the women who look the most put-together are often the hardest to diagnose. Why your labs can look perfect while your body is quietly working overtime just to produce those results. And why over-functioning isn't a personality trait, it's a survival pattern we were trained into.

If something feels off and you keep getting told it isn't, this one will change how you think about your body.

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ABOUT ALEX:

Alex Mufson, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is the founder of Canary House, an integrative healing practice specializing in high-functioning individuals living with persistent exhaustion, pain, and unexplained symptoms despite normal or inconclusive labs. Her work focuses on nervous, immune, and metabolic regulation for people whose lives appear stable on paper but feel increasingly effortful from the inside.

CONNECT WITH ALEX:

Substack: https://alexmufson.substack.com
Instagram: @alex.mufson
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-mufson-lcsw-96146b29/

There is a part of many women that was never given permission to fully exist.

Not because it wasn’t real or because it wasn’t natural.

But because somewhere along the way through culture, religion, relationships, family dynamics, or the pressure to “be a good girl”, many of us learned that this part of ourselves was something to suppress, disconnect from, or feel ashamed of.

And that disconnection costs more than we realize.

Because sensuality and pleasure are not separate from confidence, self-love, power, aliveness, and connection.

They’re deeply tied to all of it.

In this episode, I sit down with Shannon Hamaker, sex and relationship coach, somatic practitioner, and someone who has personally supported my own healing and liberation in this area, for one of the most honest and important conversations we’ve had on this show.

We talk about:

• Why so many women feel disconnected from their own pleasure and where that disconnect actually comes from
• The guilt, shame, and conditioning many women inherited before they were old enough to question it
• How reclaiming this part of yourself impacts confidence, communication, relationships, and self-worth
• The pressure-protection cycle that shows up in intimacy and relationships
• Where to begin if this topic feels uncomfortable and why that discomfort might matter
• Practical, judgment-free resources to begin reconnecting to yourself

This episode is not about being explicit.

It’s about coming home to yourself in a deeper way.

If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your body, your desires, or your sense of aliveness, this conversation may open a door you didn’t know was there.

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ABOUT SHANNON

Shannon Hamaker is a somatic practitioner, speaker, and certified sexual health educator who helps women reconnect to their bodies, heal nervous system patterns, and create deeper intimacy and well-being — especially through midlife.

With over 20 years in the sexual and mental health space and a degree in Human Development, she blends inner child work, somatic practices, and lived experience to support lasting transformation.

Shannon’s work reframes midlife as “Midlife Magic” — an opportunity for greater vitality, connection, freedom, and authentic living.

CONNECT WITH SHANNON

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shannonhamaker/

Website: https://shannon.offeringtree.com/

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Liberated Love by Mark Groves & Kylie McBeath
https://markgroves.com/book#/

Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Come-As-You-Are-Revised-and-Updated/Emily-Nagoski/9781982165314

OMGYES
https://www.omgyes.com/

Sex, Love & Goop Documentary
https://goop.com/the-goop-lab-netflix/?srsltid=AfmBOopvHYuwsiUyPqSBCDiiE57CnuOYDQqy15UoKK62PETbfYhoMMjg