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The fastest way to turn dinner into a battlefield is to treat food like a test of willpower. Dr. Wendy Shofer joins us to explain why the familiar “eat less, move more” playbook can raise stress, fuel shame, and even plant the seeds of disordered eating, especially for kids and families already carrying a heavy load.

Wendy is a pediatrician, a Navy veteran, and the founder of Family in Focus. We talk about what she kept hearing from parents in the exam room: “I’m failing my child.” From there, we unpack a different model of family nutrition and health, one that’s trauma-informed and relationship-centered. We dig into the emotions that sit underneath eating patterns like boredom, loneliness, disconnection, celebration, and exhaustion, plus why food can become the easiest thing to control when life feels out of control.

We also zoom out to the bigger system: why 15-minute appointments can’t hold these conversations, why insurance often demands a diagnosis instead of supporting prevention, and how social determinants of health shape what’s realistically possible at home. You’ll leave with practical, pressure-free ideas, including Wendy’s focus on tiny “experiments” that help parents regulate themselves and change the entire tone at the table.

Learn more about Dr. Shofer at: https://www.wendyschofermd.com/

If this helped you rethink food rules, share it with a parent who needs less shame and more support, then subscribe and leave a review so more families can find the conversation.

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Help Moral Injury Support Network for Servicewomen, Inc. provide the support it needs to women veterans by donating to our cause at: https://misns.org/donation or send a check or money order to Moral Injury Support Network, 136 Sunset Drive, Robbins, NC 27325. Every amount helps and we are so grateful for your loving support. Thanks!

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Getting told “never run again” can shrink your world fast. We sit down with Heath Jones, an Australian former Army medic, emergency nurse, and exercise scientist, to talk about what happens when a serious back injury derails the military path you built your identity around and how you rebuild from the inside out. Heath entered the Army at 28 through a direct recruiting pipeline aimed at special forces, thrived in the intensity, then faced the emotional gut punch of being medically downgraded and reassigned after a training injury.

From there, the conversation turns practical and honest: remote medic work in oil and gas, making decisions without a full hospital behind you, and why that kind of self-reliance can translate into entrepreneurship. Heath launched Active and Ageless, a fitness business focused on adults over 50, at the exact start of COVID. He breaks down the real lessons of building a gym when the economy is shaky: expect constant surprises, put out fires daily, and lean on the discipline the military teaches while learning the parts it doesn’t, like marketing, staffing, and cash flow.

The heart of this talk is chronic back pain recovery and active aging. Heath shares how years of “play it safe” thinking, multiple back surgeries, and escalating medical interventions didn’t give him his life back, but progressive movement did. We dig into strength training for longevity, mobility for joint health, and the mindset shift that helps older adults stop seeing themselves as fragile and start building capability again. If you care about veteran transition, resilience, fitness over 50, and living with less fear, this one delivers.

Learn more about Heath's program at: https://activeandageless.com.au/

Subscribe for more conversations like this, share it with someone who needs a nudge to move again, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

Support the show

Help Moral Injury Support Network for Servicewomen, Inc. provide the support it needs to women veterans by donating to our cause at: https://misns.org/donation or send a check or money order to Moral Injury Support Network, 136 Sunset Drive, Robbins, NC 27325. Every amount helps and we are so grateful for your loving support. Thanks!

Follow us on your favorite social channels: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moral-injury-support-network-for-servicewomen/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dr.danielroberts

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

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Some pain lives in words, and some pain lives in the body. When trauma is fresh or chronic, a person can show up to therapy overwhelmed, shut down, or unable to tell the story at all. That is why we invited Susan Pease Banitt to talk with us. Susan trained in Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals, spent decades in trauma therapy, and now brings a rare mix of clinical depth and complementary approaches to healing, including holy fire Reiki and past life regression.

We dig into what Reiki is and what it is not, why Susan views it as non-dual and self-directed, and how it can help when someone feels flooded by PTSD symptoms, dissociation, or intense stress. We also explore the idea of “stuck trauma energy” and why some clients keep looping back into the same memories even after years of talk therapy. Susan shares how energy-based and somatic methods can support nervous system regulation so people become more available for deeper trauma work and more present in daily life.

From there, we zoom out into the bigger picture: how imagination fuels creativity, why neurological flexibility matters for recovery, and how practices like improv and laughter can literally train the brain to respond differently. We also connect this to moral injury and the real challenges many veterans face when moving from rigid military structure into a messy civilian world. Finally, Susan walks us through past life regression, how the process works, and why it can reduce fear, unlock courage, and bring relief, whether you see it as literal past lives, ancestral memory, or meaningful material from the unconscious mind.

If this conversation helps you think about healing in a new way, subscribe, share it with someone who feels stuck, and leave a review. What part of trauma recovery do you wish more people understood?

Learn more about Susan's work at: https://www.suepb.com/

Support the show

Help Moral Injury Support Network for Servicewomen, Inc. provide the support it needs to women veterans by donating to our cause at: https://misns.org/donation or send a check or money order to Moral Injury Support Network, 136 Sunset Drive, Robbins, NC 27325. Every amount helps and we are so grateful for your loving support. Thanks!

Follow us on your favorite social channels: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moral-injury-support-network-for-servicewomen/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dr.danielroberts

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