Reclaim your life without losing your edge.
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Renée Zavislak, a licensed psychotherapist, counsels callers, teaches holistic wellness principles, and talks a lot of shit
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I 2015 hadde 7 grunnskoler i Oslo en andel på over 90% med minoritetsspråklige elever - med andre ord elever som ikke hadde norsk som morsmål. På motsatt side finner vi skoler hvor nesten alle har norsk bakgrunn. Hvordan har det blitt sånn? Og trenger vi skolebussing for å sikre en mer integrert Osloskole? Segregering i Osloskolen er laget av Knut Aukland for radiOrakel med støtte fra Medietilsynet.
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One Drop Leads to Another is a project about water connections – the connections between and across species, people, places and times. Each podcast episode features guests from a variety of backgrounds and professions that have water stories to tell, placing emphasis on how they are all interrelated. The idea is to highlight the concept that one drop of water always leads to another, and that the actions we take today, good and bad, trickle down into the water of tomorrow. Visit capecodgroun ...
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On the heels of Andre's punchy episode, Tolu changes the tempo this week. If André was pop punk, Tolu is smooth jazz. His voice is gentle and comforting, and his spirit matches. Tolu doesn't have a childhood trauma story to tell, but he does have a problem he needs help with, and it just happens to involve one of Renée's favorite topics: meddling m…
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Andre is a 47 year-old father of three who is "tired of being in survival mode." He comes to the show hoping Renée can help him resolve his persistent anxiety. And she can, but not before she and Andre discuss his childhood trauma, his first wife's death from cervical cancer, racism, parenting, stand-comedy, grief, and more. Andre has a complicated…
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"I'm just terrified to get close to anyone right now," Elio told Renée early in their conversation. When you hear their story, you will easily understand their terror. Elio wasn't sure what they wanted from coming on the show, but they certainly gave Renée plenty to work with. There have been a series of hard hits in Elio's short life, and yet thei…
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This episode starts with a few different bouts of uproarious laughter, and this definitely sets the tone for the episode. There is a lot of laughing, thanks to both our hilarious guest, Jenny, and also our inimitable guest co-host, Victoria. Jenny is beautifully colorful. Her stories are colorful, her language is colorful, her life is colorful. Fro…
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Kristin was kidnapped when she was 3 years old. Let's just start there. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there. In her 37 years of life, Kristin has endured almost every type of trauma one can imagine - attachment, sexual, medical, financial - and she has lived in over 40 different places, including prison. Her story would be hard to believe if Kristi…
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Hey there, everyone. Renée here. As requested, I am back this week as the guest to take you on a wild ride through my romantic relationship history. Just a reminder that unlike our normal weekly episodes, those with me as the guest build on one another. So if you haven't yet listened to Episodes 60 and 67, go back and listen to those first - this o…
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Yolanda grew up fearing two things, God and her mother, and she had the anxious, people-pleasing behavior to show for it! After losing her dad at 18, however, Yolanda ditched her "good girl" role for the first time. She has been back and forth ever since: between rules and rebellion, between partners, between versions of herself. Now in her 40's, Y…
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When Kenny was in middle school, he participated in his first drive-by shooting. Not long after, he went to prison for the first time; ultimately he would serve 28 years. He was released 7 months ago and has come to the show to tell his story. Kenny and Renée talk about all of it - murder, Maslow, family, gangs, grief, and more. Despite the devasta…
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"The more people that know, the better," Leanne told Renée after she narrated her devastating experiences as a patient in the Troubled Teen Industry, a network of therapeutic boarding schools and treatment centers that she first entered at 12 years old. This is the first time Leanne is telling her entire story; she only recently began telling it at…
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By age 7, Jojo had already faced the very adult ideas of murder and self-loathing. Now in her early 20s, she is grounded, healing, and absolutely lovely. The story of how she arrived at said loveliness is fascinating, and lucky for us, she is here to tell it. She is here also to ask Renée why, after so much healing, she still struggles so desperate…
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Vivian and her story are both so compelling that they defy summary. She is hilarious and engaging - and she has been through unthinkable trauma. Fortunately, she has a brilliant therapist and a seemingly bottomless well of resilience. What she doesn't have, however, is a way out of her current emotional predicament. She comes to the podcast hoping …
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Matt "had no idea" what he wanted or was expecting from being on the show, but he did know that he had a story to tell. He is 41 years old, funny, whip smart, stunningly resilient, and he has never been in a relationship or on a date. This will make sense when you hear what he has survived. Renée and Matt discuss the terrorizing abuse he endured at…
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Back by popular demand! Renée returns this week as the guest on her own show to follow up on Episode 60 and answer listener questions - this time, she traces the development and resolution of both her eating disorder and her chronic illness and explains how the two intersect. This is a raw, rogue, really Renée episode: no planning, no editing, no b…
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When Kaila was a 16 year-old runaway, she was tricked into coming home only to be virtually kidnapped and taken to residential treatment. Her experiences that followed were so intense that she has written a book about them. But now, just as the book is about to be released, Kaila is panicking. Why is she suddenly riddled with fear about sharing her…
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"Feelings really aren't me," Dalton told Renée about halfway through their conversation. In addition to making Renée laugh, his sentence sums up the problem he brings to the podcast. Dalton has suffered more than a few tragic losses in the 28 years he has been alive, and the experiences have left him less than friendly with his emotions. It is ofte…
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In the three decades they have been alive, Kaeden has survived some profoundly traumatic events, including their mother's suicide and their own nervous breakdown. Despite a childhood they describe as "terrorizing," Kaeden astonishingly emerged with a beautifully tender heart. Likewise, after years spent recreating their childhood dynamics with prob…
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EPISODE 62: MAKENSI & MICK
2:43:29
2:43:29
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Makensi and Mick are artistic, articulate Aussies. Parents to a 3 year-old daughter, they share the desire to have a more harmonious relationship, and they come to the show hoping Renée can help them get there. Renée talks first to Makensi and then to Mick, exploring their childhoods, their current emotional landscapes, and the fights they hope to …
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EPISODE 61: LOVE (Bonus Episode!)
1:23:34
1:23:34
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What do you get when you mix a traumatized nervous system and a new relationship? For Love, a 37 year-old single mom with an uber-social boyfriend, it's a whole lot of anxiety. So much anxiety, in fact, that she and her new man are fighting almost every weekend. She comes to the podcast hoping Renee can help her figure out how to build intimacy whi…
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Yes, that Renée. The host of the show. She's the guest. What's going on? Well, a whole bunch of stuff! This episode is something a little different. Rather than get into it here, We'll just let you listen. Support the show
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"I honestly don't think you could give me any therapy," Rob wrote to Renee when she asked if he wanted to be on the show. He agreed to appear nonetheless, and Renee took his hopelessness as a challenge. Once Rob's story unfolded, it was clear that he had come to his hopelessness honestly, as his biography is punctuated by bullying, chaos at home, a…
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Alyson, an artist who attended the renowned "Fame" school in New York City, was 14 the first time she met with a therapist. Despite some prickly family dynamics that would have been perfect therapy content, Alyson had had a different agenda. "I was afraid I was going to die a virgin!" Spoiler alert: she didn't. This theme of longing, however, becam…
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Tyler describes his childhood home as an "active war zone." After years of physical and emotional abuse by his parents, he married young in the hopes that he could create the harmonious family for which he longed as a child. Unfortunately, he once again found himself in an abusive relationship, this time with his ex-wife, who is now colluding with …
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Yvonne is a firecracker! An actor, writer, and comedian who has been sober for 31 years, Yvonne has done a lot of therapy to unburden herself of the codependent behaviors she developed while growing up with an emotionally withholding, narcissistic father and hypercritical, dysregulated mother. But despite her hard-won confidence, compelling persona…
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Andrew grew up in a small town that left his voracious, neurodivergent mind profoundly bored. As a teen, this boredom bred criminal behavior and depression. As an adult, however, his energy found outlets in tremendously successful entrepreneurial endeavors. His peripatetic lifestyle and demanding career kept Andrew safely away from his deeper emoti…
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Morgan is a former Olympic athlete who can't stop moving - moving homes, moving her body, moving away from pain. She comes to the podcast hoping Renee can help her move from self-criticism to compassion and from distraction to contentment. And since Morgan has recently pivoted from sports to psychology as she studies to become a therapist herself, …
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Maya comes to us from New Zealand hoping Renee can get her unstuck. She suffered an emotional trauma during the birth of her second child for which she holds her husband responsible. Now, three years later, Maya still hasn't been able to let go - she hasn't forgiven her husband, and she doesn't understand why. Renee doesn't understand why either, a…
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Adam C. comes to the podcast with a whole bunch of juicy content to discuss: his recent diagnoses of borderline personality disorder and type 2 diabetes; self-destructive romantic relationships; and the internet's favorite topic...narcissists! And these are only a few of the stops Renee and Adam make as they endeavor to break Adam out of the relati…
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"I feel like I just got off Dr. Phil. I don't even know what just happened!" So said Shana towards the end of her conversation with Renee. Shana had come to the podcast without ever having listened to it; she had no expectations. Having noticed from Renee's Instagram bio that she is a nutritionist as well as a therapist, Shana figured they could di…
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Amy has gone from a controlling mother to controlling girlfriends to controlling partners. She comes to the podcast looking to better understand this pattern and, ultimately, to break it. Renee traces through Amy's history - with stops for closer looks at issues from abandonment fear to toxic masculinity- as she helps Amy develop a plan to break th…
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This week's guest brings a different type of problem to the show. Malin comes to the podcast with a puzzle. She's had some persistent physical symptoms for a while now, and she has started to wonder if they aren't all in her head - or maybe because of her head? She comes to the podcast hoping Renee can help her figure it out. Is she making herself …
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Mars has endured a volatile and chaotic childhood, the violent death of her brother, and her own substance abuse battle. And that's not all. Still, it is only now, in her 40s, when she finds herself immobilized by the trauma. She was particularly eager to come on the podcast, hoping Renee can help her out of the social isolation she has created. Re…
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Patty has suffered and healed from the worst pain possible: her newborn baby died in her arms. And this was not the first major trauma she endured. Despite a serious of abusive experiences punctuated by this massive tragedy, Patty has not only survived but has legitimately thrived: she worked hard to heal the wounds she accumulated through the firs…
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After marrying at a very young age, Sidney (who is still at a very young age!) has found herself in constant movement. When she isn't working, she is running; when she isn't literally running, she is figuratively running. In her own words, Sidney finds it "such a struggle" just to breathe. Renée helps Sidney understand what is happening in her body…
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Kelvette's last partner cited some rather dubious reasons for ending their relationship. And despite the fact that he told her directly that he does not want to spend his life with her, Kelvette cannot let go. This is even more surprising once you get to know Kelvette: she is an absolutely hilarious, delightful, intelligent, insightful, no-BS firec…
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Vanessa left home at 17 after a traumatic childhood that positioned her as a parentified child - one who watched her father die of a drug overdose - and that is only the tip of her trauma iceberg. Despite the fact that she "feels good most days," Vanessa still suffers the fragmentation and self doubt that rooted so early in her tumultuous life. Van…
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Max says his mother and father approached parenting on a "sliding scale from permissive to neglectful." Currently an undergrad psychology student who has done some intense therapy, Max understands a lot about his family. But even with his vast experiential and academic knowledge, he still finds himself confounded by his dad. He comes to the podcast…
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Rebecca is whip-smart and wildly witty. Growing up in a family that, as she says, "never met boundaries," Rebecca was a parentified child who has since endured assault, harassment, and the loss of her brother. She has tenaciously pursued healing, but finds herself still mired in anger that she fears she will never release. She asks Renee for help h…
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Paule's childhood was dominated by religious abuse, the scars from which still conspire to rob his days of joy. Nonetheless, Paule has taken his healing work head-on; his lifeforce is indefatigable. He came to the show hoping Renee could help him make greater strides in his healing, and as she does they discuss a wide range of details, from his dia…
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JD has a challenging mental health diagnosis, regrets about her last relationship, and a fantastic sense of humor. She brings all of these to the show in the hopes that Renee can help her resolve her problematic romantic patterns. The two women discuss the validity of JD's diagnosis as well as how the early attachment trauma of JD's adoption contri…
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Mike has done a lot of work on himself and came to the show excited to tackle his recent experiences of procrastination and "self-sabotage." Since both he and Renée like to talk a lot about a lot, they tackle not only that but much more - from substance abuse to taking compliments. Renee helps Mike untangle the current manifestations of some long-f…
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Timothy is a divorced dad with a beautifully balanced life - a life he worked hard to create. When he found himself in personal crisis 6 years ago, he dove into healing with stunning bravery and commitment, despite having been raised in a repressed and avoidant emotional environment. Now in his 40s, Timothy finds himself facing a tricky life transi…
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EPISODE 35: AIYANA & JOSEFA
1:56:18
1:56:18
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1:56:18
When Aiyana was younger, she liked that her mom was more like a friend than a parent. Now that she is a mom herself, Ayana is starting to realize that her relationship with her mom was problematic - as was much of her childhood. Lately, Aiyana finds herself mired in anger, which is particularly problematic since Aiyana and her daughter live with Ai…
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Maeve grew up with a single mom in an abusive household and often dreamt of meeting the dad she never knew, fantasizing that he would rescue her from her isolation and loneliness. When she was 12, her dreams came true - well, sort of. She finally met her father, only to find her dreams of security dashed. Now, at 33, Maeve has risen above the horro…
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Justin says it was "synchronicity" that he came across Renee and the podcast in an Instagram ad. After a lifetime of both emotional and physical trauma, Justin has employed many different healing practices, from meditation to cryotherapy. Despite his remarkable dedication, he still suffers extreme anxiety most days. What's going on? Renee helps Jus…
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Ali's life has been punctuated by abandonment, domestic violence, and homocide. Still, she managed to get a nursing degree and support a family in the wake of so much trauma. Renée helps her create a coherent narrative to support her healing as they sort through the relational complications that are currently blocking her. It's a wild ride, thanks …
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Despite a horrible childhood, Alena is remarkably happy. With a career she loves, a healthy son, and a brilliant co-parenting relationship, she feels like she has it all. Some of her friends and family, however, think differently; they tell Alena she needs a romantic partner. This is where Renee comes in. Alena comes to the podcast to ask if she is…
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EPISODE 30 PART 2: MICHAEL
1:42:28
1:42:28
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Last week we talked to Robelle, and this week it's her partner Michael's turn: He does not disappoint. Michael shares his journey from addiction to fatherhood and, along the way, he stumbles across some unhealed wounds. Renee helps Michael identify the pain points and develop strategies for healing, while also weaving Michael's story together with …
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Robelle and her partner, Michael, have been together for a decade and are now parents of a 2 year-old. They came to the podcast to get help from Renée with their relationship and their new roles as parents. In this episode, Renee talks to Robelle; next week in Part 2 she will talk to Michael; and in a month or two, after working with them a bit, sh…
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Jane came to the show to ask Renee for help with two things: her 17 year-old daughter and her own self-esteem. The teenager breaks her curfew regularly, and Jane has repeatedly let it slide. Now, tensions are building in the home as Jane's husband grows increasingly frustrated with his stepdaughter. The conversation starts like most other episodes,…
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Jay breaks our long run of fabulous female guests, and we are here for it. He came to the show after finding one of Renée's Instagram posts about anxiety in the hopes she can help him with his. After a lifetime of intermittent anxiety and depression, Jay felt his symptoms intensify last fall, and they haven't let up since. He is new to therapy and …
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