Clients often ask me this: when do you cut ties with family? That's not a formula, but there are real questions worth asking first.

Quick note: I know I said the next episode would be on something else. That one's still coming, I just moved this one up because it felt more timely.

I'm Natalie Jovanic, trauma counsellor and complex trauma coach. In this episode, I share what actually helped me figure out when to cut off toxic family members, my father and my sibling, and the five questions I use with myself and with clients facing this same decision.

This isn't a "cut everyone off" video. Toxic behaviours exist on a spectrum, and staying can be right too, when there's enough room in the relationship for a boundary to actually be respected.

If you're weighing whether to cut ties with family, or figuring out if going no contact is the right call for you, this one's for you.

Links to go deeper:

How to build healthy boundaries after childhood trauma: A practical guide:

https://brighthorizontherapies.com/blog/how-to-build-healthy-boundaries-after-childhood-trauma-a-practical-guide/

Parts work for adults with childhood trauma:

https://brighthorizontherapies.com/blog/parts-work-therapy-for-adults-with-childhood-trauma/

If you’d like to explore more, here are some ways to connect:

• Discover more about my work: https://brighthorizontherapies.com/
• Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brighthorizontherapies/
• Send me a message: nat@brighthorizontherapies.com

Trauma Demystified is not intended to replace professional guidance, support, medical treatment, or therapy. Please feel free to consult your physician or a mental health professional for any questions about mental health symptoms.

Bright Horizon Therapies is located in the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda. This land is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. I acknowledge the traditional caregivers of the land and the importance of a commitment to the continued decolonization of my work.

Have you ever felt like there are different versions of yourself — one that functions, gets things done, keeps moving, and something else underneath that occasionally breaks through?

This episode looks at structural dissociation: how the brain's natural left/right split gets used, under chronic childhood trauma, to help a child survive. One part carries on — the "apparently normal" part. The other parts hold what was too much to process at the time, and get activated when something in the present touches the past. I talk through how this played out in my own recovery, including during my mother's dying process, and why normal and healthy aren't the same thing.

If you recognize these patterns but can't quite explain where they came from — my free guide explores the connection between what you're living with now and what happened in childhood.
Free guide: https://bit.ly/4xjJfmq

Signs of Childhood Trauma: Why Your Inner World Feels Fragmented: https://bit.ly/4xoKqB0

Ready to work on this directly? Childhood Trauma Coaching for Adults: https://bit.ly/4hCZNS3

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GWV5IjRIO2Y

Natalie Jovanic is a trauma counsellor and complex trauma coach with lived experience in trauma recovery, working with adults online internationally.

If you’d like to explore more, here are some ways to connect:

• Discover more about my work: https://brighthorizontherapies.com/
• Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brighthorizontherapies/
• Send me a message: nat@brighthorizontherapies.com

Trauma Demystified is not intended to replace professional guidance, support, medical treatment, or therapy. Please feel free to consult your physician or a mental health professional for any questions about mental health symptoms.

Bright Horizon Therapies is located in the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda. This land is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. I acknowledge the traditional caregivers of the land and the importance of a commitment to the continued decolonization of my work.

Have you ever reacted in a way that didn't feel like you? Stayed in a situation you knew wasn't good for you — and couldn't make yourself leave? There's a reason for that. And it has nothing to do with being broken.

In this episode of Trauma Demystified, I introduce parts work for adults healing childhood trauma — what parts are, why they develop, and what it actually looks like to build a relationship with them. Watch on youtube: https://youtu.be/IJAERoJMj18

I share the coaching session that changed my understanding of my own inner world — including the part I hated most, and what I found when I finally turned toward it,

Topics covered:

• What parts are and how they show up in daily life
• The difference between being overwhelmed by a part and being in a relationship with it
• Why healing childhood trauma as an adult requires more than talk therapy
• How parts work connects to inner fragmentation and the path toward the core self

If you've been healing childhood trauma as an adult and something still feels out of reach — parts work may be what's missing.

Trauma Demystified is hosted by Natalie Jovanic, trauma counsellor and complex trauma coach with over 15 years of clinical experience and lived experience in trauma recovery.

Want to dig deeper? Parts work therapy for adults with childhood trauma: What parts actually are, why talk therapy often doesn't reach them, and what turning toward them looks like in practice: https://bit.ly/3TxchRb

Ready to work on this directly? Childhood Trauma Coaching for Adults: https://bit.ly/4hCZNS3

If you’d like to explore more, here are some ways to connect:

• Discover more about my work: https://brighthorizontherapies.com/
• Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brighthorizontherapies/
• Send me a message: nat@brighthorizontherapies.com

Trauma Demystified is not intended to replace professional guidance, support, medical treatment, or therapy. Please feel free to consult your physician or a mental health professional for any questions about mental health symptoms.

Bright Horizon Therapies is located in the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda. This land is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. I acknowledge the traditional caregivers of the land and the importance of a commitment to the continued decolonization of my work.