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Your heart can be broken and you can still lead well, but you have to stop treating that ache like evidence you’re failing. We sit down with Marisol, a former mental health therapist of 21 years turned resilience consultant and trauma-informed leadership trainer, to name what so many helping professionals are carrying right now: grief that doesn’t resolve neatly, emotional labor that doesn’t get seen, and the pressure to keep performing competence when the world feels unstable.

Marisol shares a deeply personal story from kinship care and godparenting that reveals the real work behind “showing up” over time. We talk about the moment a therapist told her that staying in a child’s life meant learning to live with a broken heart, and how that truth translates to clinicians, nonprofit leaders, immigration advocates, and anyone trying to serve others in high-stakes systems. Instead of chasing a fantasy of fixing everything, we explore how to stay present, keep healthy boundaries, and let grief exist without turning it into frantic over-responsibility.

We also dig into therapist burnout versus brokenheartedness, the kintsugi metaphor of repairing cracks with gold, and why identity can get dangerously fused with the role of “helper.” If you’ve ever thought “my clients need me,” felt disposable in a commodified therapy culture, or wondered who you are outside your job title, this conversation offers language and practical reframes to build resilient teams and a sustainable career while staying fully human.

Subscribe for more honest conversations, share this with a colleague who’s carrying too much, and leave a review so more helpers can find it. What part of your identity do you want to strengthen outside of work?

A Hero's Welcome Podcast © Maria Laquerre-Diego & Liliana Baylon