In this deeply human episode of The Inner Room, host Vanessa Spinarsky sits down with New York-based therapist Lauren Larkin (@leltherapy) for an honest conversation about eating disorders, what recovery actually looks like, and why healing is never a solo act.

Lauren shares her personal journey through disordered eating, the familial and cultural forces that shape our self-image, and the unique pressure of living in a city like New York...where comparison and performance can feel like a second skin.

Together, Vanessa and Lauren explore the truth that therapists are humans first and how their own wounds, identities, and lived experiences shape the way they sit with clients. They discuss the importance of relational therapy, the messy middle of balancing work and life, and the courage it takes to name the unspeakable parts of our struggles.

Lauren also gives us a first look at her upcoming Eating Disorder Recovery Workbook, arriving July 2026, designed for those who want deeper support, reflection, and structure in their ongoing healing journey.

This conversation is a reminder that recovery isn’t linear, perfection isn’t the goal, and being a “work in progress” is not a flaw...it’s proof of your humanity.

Connect with Lauren:

• Instagram & TikTok: @leltherapy

• Website: leltherapy.com

• Eating Disorder Workbook: Coming July 2026

Our bodies. Our timing. Our emotions. Ourselves.

In this episode, host Carrie Parker sits down with Kelsie Schlese from @maidentomothertome for a deeply honest conversation about infertility, postpartum mental health, and the quiet pressure mothers carry to “stay positive” while navigating uncertainty.

Kelsey shares her fertility journey, including what it meant to release control and shift toward trusting to conceive .. not as a mindset hack, but as a relational process with her body and nervous system.

Together, they explore how language shapes our fertility and motherhood experiences, why online communities can either harm or heal, and how intentional use of social media can support (rather than drain) mental health.

They also name the realities many mothers feel but rarely say out loud: seasonal depression, postpartum anxiety, and mom rage .... not as personal failures, but as nervous-system responses to overwhelm and isolation.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, soften self-blame, and remember that motherhood was never meant to be navigated alone.

If you’re craving more trust, less noise, and a community that meets you where you are .. this conversation is for you.

Follow @madeintomotherhood for more honest motherhood conversations.

Looking for community?

The Mama Healing Hub is always open.

In this powerful episode of The Mama Healing Hub Podcast, Carrie and Alyssa sit down with Sophia Ashley, founder of Intimacy After Kids, for a conversation every parent needs to hear.

Together they unpack what really happens to intimacy, identity, libido, and emotional connection after kids — and how couples can rebuild something deeper, softer, and more alive.

Sophia shares her own journey from personal struggle to sex coaching and breaks down the nervous system science behind why intimacy feels harder after children. This episode is filled with practical, relatable insights on creating micro moments of connection, navigating dysregulated nervous systems, communicating desire, and rekindling intimacy in a season of life where everyone is tired, touched-out, and overwhelmed.

And yes… you’ll hear why she believes we all need to “throw our libido a party.”

Sophia will also be joining us for a live drop-in in the Mama Healing Hub on January 15th 2026, and you can join for free.

Join The Mama Healing Hub & Start Building Your Mom Circle Today!

Our therapist-led online community is a sanctuary for mothers who crave real connection, emotional support, and space to breathe. Inside, you’ll find:

• Monthly live therapeutic gatherings (art therapy, coffee talks, and expert-led workshops)

• Drop-in sessions to process emotions and reconnect with yourself

• A book club centered on growth and motherhood

• Gentle monthly reflections and prompts to guide your healing journey

• A private ad-free space filled with moms who get it—because they’re living it too

Join today and receive 30 days free → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠themamahealinghub.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🌿 Follow along on Instagram:Stay connected with our community conversations, reflective art sessions, and upcoming events at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@themamahealinghubinc⁠

Connect with Sophia:

• Instagram: @intimacyafterkids

  Her podcast: Intimacy After Kids — listen here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7kv3GupPsb2RjsYx98lDNC?si=laGuwd89TIiQhcWiTIsCKQ

  
  

  
  

What happens when a mother tells the truth about how she feels?
On this episode, Vanessa Spinarsky cracks open the viral Instagram post that stirred up thousands of reactions...both deeply supportive and shockingly judgmental.

The post was simple:

“I’m a parent who does not thrive with constant little-kid energy.”

But the internet heard:
“You don’t love your kids.”
“You’re cold.”
“You’re rejecting your children.”
“You shouldn’t have had them.”

In today’s conversation, Vanessa breaks down why mothers’ honesty is so threatening, the emotional labor that gets erased in motherhood, and the very real nervous-system limitations that social media refuses to acknowledge.

This episode is a grounded, unfiltered look at what mothers actually experience behind the scenes and why naming those truths is not only allowed, but essential for our mental health, our relationships, and our kids’ emotional safety.

If you’ve ever felt guilty for being overstimulated, overwhelmed, touched-out, or simply human…
this episode will feel like coming home.

In this deeply honest and refreshingly grounding conversation, Carrie and Alyssa sit down with Jenna Cavadas, postpartum marriage coach and mother, to talk about the hidden emotional terrain couples face after infertility, birth, and the early-motherhood years. Jenna opens up about her own journey through infertility and the ways it shook her marriage, her identity, and her sense of self.

What began as her rock-bottom moment became the doorway into her work today: helping women rebuild connection, reclaim their desires, and re-root themselves in their feminine power, especially during the most demanding seasons of motherhood.

Together, we unpack the messy parts of postpartum relationships: the resentment, the uneven labor, the exhaustion, and the quiet ache of not recognizing yourself anymore. Jenna offers a clear, compassionate path back, one rooted not in doing more, but in doing less, softening, communicating honestly, and remembering your own needs.

Whether you’re in the newborn trenches, navigating the mental load, or craving a deeper connection with your partner, this episode will make you feel seen and remind you that healing is always possible.

📲 Connect with Jenna

Find Jenna on Instagram at @jennacavadas
She offers 1:1 coaching, workshops, and deeply supportive content for women navigating postpartum, resentment, and relationship repair.

Join The Mama Healing Hub & Start Building Your Mom Circle Today!

Our therapist-led online community is a sanctuary for mothers who crave real connection, emotional support, and space to breathe. Inside, you’ll find:

• Monthly live therapeutic gatherings (art therapy, coffee talks, and expert-led workshops)

• Drop-in sessions to process emotions and reconnect with yourself

• A book club centered on growth and motherhood

• Gentle monthly reflections and prompts to guide your healing journey

• A private ad-free space filled with moms who get it—because they’re living it too

Join today and receive 30 days free → ⁠⁠⁠themamahealinghub.com/join⁠⁠⁠

🌿 Follow along on Instagram:Stay connected with our community conversations, reflective art sessions, and upcoming events at ⁠⁠⁠@themamahealinghubinc

In this heartwarming episode, Alyssa invites her friends Samantha, Kylie, and Kristen onto the podcast to explore what friendship really looks like inside and outside of motherhood.

Together, they unpack how community, shared goals, and honest conversations become anchors for women in this season of life.

From swapping recipes to sweating through workouts together, they reveal how simple everyday rituals can transform into meaningful support systems.

The conversation celebrates the kind of friendships that help moms feel seen, grounded, and empowered...reminding us that we don't have to do any of this alone.

Join The Mama Healing Hub & Start Building Your Mom Circle Today!

Our therapist-led online community is a sanctuary for mothers who crave real connection, emotional support, and space to breathe. Inside, you’ll find:

• Monthly live therapeutic gatherings (art therapy, coffee talks, and expert-led workshops)

• Drop-in sessions to process emotions and reconnect with yourself

• A book club centered on growth and motherhood

• Gentle monthly reflections and prompts to guide your healing journey

• A private ad-free space filled with moms who get it—because they’re living it too

Join today and receive 30 days free → ⁠⁠themamahealinghub.com/join⁠⁠

🌿 Follow along on Instagram:Stay connected with our community conversations, reflective art sessions, and upcoming events at ⁠⁠@themamahealinghubinc

In this first Inner Room conversation, I sit down with Grant, a mental performance coach who blends truth, energy, and embodiment.

We talk about the cold plunge moment that cracked something open in me, the emotional release that followed, and how that single experience revealed a template of masculinity I didn’t know I was missing.

From there, this episode goes everywhere:
→ what masculine and feminine energy actually mean beyond the internet clichés
→ why so many men are emotionally stuck
→ the real cost of suppressed emotions
→ how to build trust with yourself
→ breathwork, regulation, and surrender
→ what women misunderstand about men (and what men miss about women)
→ the bridge back to each other

Grant drops truth bomb after truth bomb ... the kind that makes you rethink how you show up in love, conflict, and in your own body. He shares the importance of self-reflection and trusting yourself and provides a few tips for emotional regulation.

If you’ve ever felt disconnected from yourself, your partner, or your emotional life… you’re going to feel this one in your chest.

Instagram: @grantdziak
Website: https://grantdziak.com/

If These Walls Could Talk → hit follow so you don’t miss episodes from both The Mom Room & The Inner Room.

In this episode, Vanessa Spinarsky dives into what most people avoid: the truth that change isn’t blocked by willpower... it’s blocked by invisibility. We can’t shift what we’ve never slowed down enough to see.

Through honest stories, clinical insight, and the kind of emotional x-ray only a therapist-mom-human can bring, Vanessa explores how unconscious patterns quietly run the show: the over-functioning, the shutdowns, the chronic self-protection that once kept us safe but now keep us stuck.

She breaks down why capacity: emotional, nervous-system, mental capacity is the foundation for growth, and why most of us try to change from a dysregulated place that cannot support transformation.

This episode is an invitation to wake up from autopilot, meet your inner world with curiosity instead of criticism, and build the internal spaciousness required to actually witness your life… instead of just surviving it.

It’s not self-help. It’s self-seeing.