Send us Fan Mail

You can do everything “right” and still feel stuck, wired, and exhausted, especially when the parts of you that need attention have been buried under performance, positivity, and coping. I sit down with Kenny Whitelaw-Jones, a deep process psychotherapist and author of The Shadow at Work, to talk about what happens when repressed thoughts and emotions don’t disappear, they reappear as conflict, control, burnout, and those confusing moments when your body feels on full alert for no obvious reason.

We dig into Jungian shadow work in plain language: the shadow is often just what we’ve learned to deny. Kenny explains why emotions are not enemies but information, grief for loss, anger for boundaries and injustice, fear for danger. We also explore how deep process therapy works with “parts” of the psyche, why long sessions can help people safely embody what they normally avoid, and why insight alone doesn’t always unlock change without new choices in the moment.

We go beyond therapy talk into real life: midlife awakening versus midlife crisis, the way “should” thinking builds a rigid persona, and how triggers can become a surprisingly reliable map to what we’re not allowing in ourselves. If you care about leadership development, workplace culture, trauma recovery, veteran mental health, or simply having a calmer mind and better relationships, this conversation offers a grounded path toward more freedom.

Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with someone who’s carrying too much alone, and leave a review with the one trigger or pattern you’re ready to understand next.

Reach out to Kenny at https://www.theshadowatwork.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/

Send us Fan Mail

Suicide prevention is everywhere in the military, but “everywhere” does not always mean effective. Dr. Daniel Roberts sits down with mental health advocate and suicide attempt survivor David Woods Bartley to argue for a more workable, more human frame: life preservation. A life preserver keeps someone’s head above water until help arrives, and that simple metaphor changes how we talk to soldiers, veterans, chaplains, and families who are exhausted by scripts that do not fit real life.

We go deep on what actually drives the urge to die: hopelessness and the beliefs built by trauma. David shares his own history of loss, abuse, and silence, then connects it to a surprising truth about recovery: belief is not the same as truth, which means belief can change. Together we explore moral injury and institutional betrayal, including what women veterans often carry when systems fail to protect them, support them, or hold offenders accountable. We also talk leadership in plain language, including specific tactics for NCOs and officers to build trust without turning “connection” into something soft or awkward.

You will leave with practical tools you can use today: learn and use names, ask “what inspired you?” instead of “why,” remember important dates, and create steady touchpoints like a short daily text. David also shares how people can reach him directly, plus his experience with ECT and TMS for depression treatment. If this conversation helps, subscribe, share it with someone who leads others, and leave a review so more people find a life-preserving way forward.

Reach out to David at: https://www.davidwoodsbartley.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/

Send us Fan Mail

Quitting the substance is only the first wave. The true reckoning begins when the silence sets in, forcing you to face the quiet lie you’ve carried for years—that you don't matter, that you're impossible to love, and that staying numb is the only way to survive.

In this deeply vulnerable episode, we sit down with Paul Drayton, author of Ride or Die Trying: A Life Before, During, and After the Laughter. Paul opens up about the crushing weight of living as "the invisible one" in rooms dripping with fame and attention, the desperate attempts to drown out undiagnosed ADHD with alcohol, and the profound, agonizing loss of self that happens when you disappear into someone else’s shadow. He walks us through the painful shift from carrying decades of toxic shame to finally finding grace through a late-in-life diagnosis.

We bridge Paul’s journey with the unspoken grief so many women veterans carry: the quiet agony of losing your identity, being rendered invisible, and suffering in silence because asking for help feels like an invitation to break.

This isn't just a story about hitting rock bottom; it’s about the terrifying, beautiful work of pulling yourself out. It’s an honest, raw look at public judgment, the quiet daily effort of sobriety, and the gentle resilience it takes to rebuild a life from the ashes.

If you have ever felt completely unseen, if you are exhausted from just trying to survive, or if you're terrified that it’s too late to start over—this episode was made for you.

Listen through to the end. Subscribe, send this to a friend who is fighting a quiet battle, and leave a review sharing the moment that cracked your heart open.

You can find Paul's book on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Die-Trying-Before-Laughter/dp/B0HDR233Q9/

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/