Welcome to the very first episode of the Love Is Balm podcast. I’m your host, Ashley Cummings — trauma therapist, identity specialist, and guide on the journey toward healing, self-love, and authentic leadership. This episode invites you to pause, reflect, and consider the emotional foundations that shape your leadership.

In this powerful opening conversation, we will explore:

• Why true leadership begins with self-love and emotional grounding
• How internal turmoil stifles your brilliance and dims your light
• The emotional prisons that keep leaders from stepping fully into their purpose
• A faith-based perspective on self-love, drawn from John 10:10 and Matthew 22:37-39
• The difference between appearing strong and being whole
• A personal story of navigating emotional pain and reconnecting with self-trust
• How self-love fuels our ability to lead with integrity, clarity, and compassion

This episode serves as a love letter and a guide to help you release emotional chaos, reconnect with your purpose, and lead from a place of wholeness. The journey to building a loving, sustainable world starts within. Take Ashley’s invitation to reflect, breathe, and consider how you can return to yourself — because when we lead with love, we help heal the world.

Stay tuned for the next episode where Ashley will explore the difference between self-care and self-love — and why it matters.

Welcome to Love is BALM—a faith-infused therapy podcast where healing and leadership are rebuilt by love. Hosted by Ashley Cummings, licensed therapist, leadership coach, and unapologetic lover of Prince playlist, this show is where we get honest about the wounds we carry, the disconnection we experience, and the sacred journey back to our T.R.U.E. Christ-conscious selves.

BALM (n): is something that soothes, heals, or restores—and that’s exactly what this podcast is about. Each episode offers a restorative pause: therapeutic moments to help you heal your heart, reclaim your identity, and build a life and leadership style that is emotionally healthy, spiritually rooted, and deeply abundant.

Whether you’re leading a team, a family, a movement—or just trying to lead yourself out of bed on a hard day—Love is BALM is your permission slip to stop performing and start transforming.

Ashley is also the creator and facilitator of the BALM Group Coaching Program, a sacred space for women ready to uncover their T.R.U.E. identity in Christ, reconnect with God, and create lives and leadership models that reflect love, alignment, and abundance. Other courses and meditation are available at dawncounsels.com.

So come as you are. Bring your anxiety, your imposter syndrome, your perfectionism—and let’s trade it in for peace, purpose, and that good ol’ soul-level balm.

New episodes drop soon. Subscribe now, and get ready to be Love Balmed.