Reach out! You don't have to explain how crazy she was. We believe you!!!

In this episode of Beyond Mommy Dearest, Noelani Pearl Hernandez sits down with trauma-informed therapist and neuropsychology specialist Dr. Victoria Liu-Johnson to explore the deep attachment wounds created by narcissistic mothers.

Using the famous Harlow monkey experiments, real-world examples like Punch the baby monkey, and decades of trauma research, this conversation unpacks:

• Why daughters of narcissistic mothers still long for their mothers
• How attachment trauma rewires the brain and nervous system
• The difference between having a parent who provides and a parent who feels safe
• How culture, colonization, and family hierarchy complicate narcissistic abuse
• Why self-blame is a trauma response, not a truth
• What healing looks like through a biopsychosocial and liberation-oriented lens

This episode is for anyone navigating the mother wound, complex trauma, emotional neglect, and the lifelong impact of growing up with a narcissistic or emotionally unsafe parent.

You are not broken.
You were wired for connection.
And healing is possible.

Reach out! You don't have to explain how crazy she was. We believe you!!!

Breaking Free: Healing Narcissistic Wounds and Rebuilding Self-Trust

🎙️ Episode Show Notes

Guest: Andressa S. Lopes

In this episode of Beyond Mommy Dearest, Noelani Pearl Hernandez sits down with author and healing guide Andressa S. Lopes to explore what it truly means to recover from a narcissistic mother. Together, they talk about naming abuse, releasing lifelong guilt, and learning how to choose yourself without shame.

Andressa shares her personal journey of growing up with conditional love, emotional neglect, and chronic self-doubt, and how therapy became a turning point in recognizing the pattern. Noelani and Andressa also discuss how cultural expectations, family pressure, and generational trauma can make distance or no contact feel impossible, and why chosen family and community are often essential to healing.

This conversation centers survivors and reminds listeners that they are not broken. They adapted to survive, and healing is possible.

✨ What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• Why acknowledging pain is the first step toward healing
• How conditional love shapes people pleasing, guilt, and low self-worth
• The role of therapy in waking up to narcissistic abuse
• Why many narcissistic parents do not seek real accountability
• Guilt, grief, and fear around low contact and no contact
• How narcissistic parents use power, money, and third parties to control
• Cultural and immigrant family dynamics that intensify silence
• How abuse impacts adult relationships and boundaries
• Breaking generational cycles and protecting future children
• The power of chosen family and supportive community
• Why healing is nonlinear and happens one step at a time

🔥 Key Themes

• Acknowledging pain without minimizing
• Reclaiming identity and self-trust
• Breaking emotional dependence
• Cultivating self-worth
• Choosing peace and freedom

📚 Resources Mentioned

• Rising from the Ashes: From Pain to Empowerment: Overcoming Your Narcissistic Mother – Andressa S. Lopes
• Six Ways to Live a Better Life Without a Narcissistic Mother (free guide) – Andressa S. Lopes

👤 About the Guest

Andressa S. Lopes is the author of Rising from the Ashes and creator of a healing guide for daughters of narcissistic mothers. Her work helps survivors move from confusion and emotional dependence into self-trust, self-worth, and freedom. She creates educational content across social platforms to raise awareness about narcissistic abuse and recovery.

🔗 Connect with Andressa

Find Andressa on Instagram, TikTok, and access her books and resources through the link in her bio.

💛 Connecting with Beyond Mommy Dearest

Guided support spaces and facilitated discussions focused on boundaries, guilt, grief, self-worth, and nervous system healing.

Low-cost support options outside the group through Zoom or WhatsApp.

A paid ongoing support group for deeper healing and consistent community.

• You do not have to do this alone.
• You deserve support.
• You deserve clarity.
• You deserve a life that feels like yours.

Reach out! You don't have to explain how crazy she was. We believe you!!!

🎙 Episode Notes

In this episode of Beyond Mommy Dearest, host Noelani Pearl Hernandez, trauma-informed executive coach, sits down with Brittanni Hendricks, MBA, ACC (ICF Associate Certified Coach), ICF-certified Leadership Alignment Coach, speaker, author, and creator of the Playful Power Method.

Together, Noelani and Brittanni unpack why workplace dynamics can feel eerily familiar for adult daughters of narcissistic, emotionally immature, or unsafe mothers. They name how survival mode follows us into leadership, why gaslighting at work is so destabilizing, and how high performers often confuse self-abandonment with resilience.

This conversation is for the overachievers, the emotional regulators, and the leaders who carry the invisible load.

🧠 Topics We Cover in this Episode

• Why narcissistic family dynamics show up so clearly in workplaces and leadership environments
• What workplace gaslighting sounds like and why it destabilizes survivors
• Overfunctioning, people pleasing, and “masking” as professional survival strategies
• Why high performers burn out from responsibility without alignment
• Emotional load: what it is, how it builds, and why it compounds over time
• Conflict cycles at work: overexplaining, self-editing, avoiding hard conversations
• The hidden cost of silence: the price of not having the conversation
• Body signals of misalignment (brain fog, sleep disruption, tension, numbness, stomach aches)
• Why peace can feel unfamiliar after chronic chaos
• Recalibration vs pushing through: how to rebuild self-trust
• The Playful Power Method: reclaiming joy, playfulness, and agency without force

You are not broken.
You adapted.
Alignment is available.

💛 Work With Noelani / Beyond Mommy Dearest

Monthly Support and Trauma-Informed Small Support Groups
Support that is steady, not overwhelming. Community without chaos. Structure without judgment.

Guided Support Program
https://www.beyondmommydearest.org/supportgroup

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

Podcast Page
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-mommy-dearest-podcast/id1871995241

⭐ Guest Bio: Brittanni Hendricks

Brittanni Hendricks, MBA, ACC (ICF Associate Certified Coach), ICF-certified Leadership Alignment Coach, is a speaker, author, and creator of the Playful Power Method. With more than 15 years of leadership experience in talent development and organizational effectiveness, Brittany supports leaders and working parents carrying a high emotional load. Her work centers high performing humans who are not lazy, broken, or unmotivated. They are often misaligned, and ready to stop compensating and start leading from clarity, peace, and power.

Brittanni is the author of It’s My Turn, a part memoir, part manifesto for people who have performed perfection long enough and are choosing alignment over approval.

🔗 Connect with Brittanni Hendricks

Website
https://www.brittannihendricks.com

Instagram
@playfulprofessional

Book a Free Alignment Audit to identify emotional load, body signals, and next steps toward alignme