Healers Get Vulnerable

Hosted by Annie Schuessler

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270

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Jul 2026

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About the show

Healers are often drawn to this work because of their own histories and emotional pain. the only way to thrive and avoid burnout while we help others heal is to do our own healing. On this podcast, Annie Schuessler-Zam talks to all kinds of healers as they share vulnerable stories about pain, healing and growth.

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60 recent

August 27, 202646 min

Healing Birth Trauma With Alicia Taverner

My friend Alicia is opening up about healing the traumas she experienced giving birth. You'll hear how these painful experiences opened her up to things she never would have expected, like psychedelics and listening to her ancestors. Alicia Taverner, LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist in Southern California specializing in trauma, relationships, and psychedelic integration. Her work explores the intersection of psychotherapy, psychedelic integration, Indigenous wisdom, and the lifelong practice of remembering who we are. Here's some of what we talked about: Having panic attacks and intrusive thoughts after the birth of her son Getting on medication and going to a weekend training Having birth trauma with her second birth Exploring healing with psychedelics Working through her birth traumas with redo experiences Continuing this healing work little by little Doing indigenous work with psilocybin in an apprenticeship program Connecting with her ancestors and guides Becoming a much more spiritual person How her healing journey has changed her work as a therapist Show notes at https://anniezam.com/podcast/262

July 29, 20261 hr 2 min

Nurturing Psychic Gifts With Maegan Megginson

My friend Maegan has been a successful couples therapist, group practice owner and business coach. In this conversation she opens up about tapping into her psychic gifts, even though at one point she would have said "no way" about that possibility. Maegan Megginson is a spiritual strategist and sabbatical coach for small business owners who want to recover from burnout, reconnect with their intuition, and design sustainable ways of working. Her approach blends practical business wisdom, therapeutic insight, and grounded spiritual guidance, offering entrepreneurs a new way of doing business. Here's some of what we talked about: What happened when Meagan felt the limits of talk therapy several years ago Discovering the power of psychedelics in her healing journey Leaving success behind (as she used to define it) Hitting her resistance about having psychic abilities Finding mentors and honing her psychic gifts Embracing enoughness over scarcity Working with boundaries and discernment Being a sexy spy (you'll have to listen to understand) Show notes at https://anniezam.com/podcast/261

June 29, 202642 min

Getting Sober Around Money With Cody Cook-Parrott

When Cody Cook-Parrott showed up for this conversation, I assumed they were about to talk about leaving social media. I had just finished their book The Practice Of Attention, Cultivating Presence In A Distracted World. I had been through my own leaving social media journey, and found their voice around this supportive and affirming. But I'm always open to what area of healing my guest is wanting to talk about, and Cody showed up ready to talk vulnerably about what is up for them right now: money. You're going to hear a lot of wisdom around money healing, because Cody's been working in depth around money for a long time, and you're also going to hear their vulnerability and struggle, because as of the recording, according to their own definitions, they were 2 days solvent after financial relapse. Cody Cook-Parrott is a writer, artist, and movement practitioner who builds simple structures that help artists make work. Their focus is attention, creative ecosystems, and research—so your practice becomes a scaffolding to grow steadily—online and off. Shout out to my good friend Podge Thomas ( https://www.podgethomas.com/ ) for introducing me to Cody's work. Here's some of what we talked about: After being in and out of financial solvency, Cody is 2 days solvent today as of the recording Engaging in a 12-steps program around finances The difference between solvency and being debt free Finding their "enough number" Guardrails and money healing Spiritual solutions to money Show notes at https://anniezam.com/podcast/260

May 31, 202636 min

I'm The One I Was Waiting For with Lawanda Jackson

Relationships bring out our unhealed wounds. My guest today shares how painful relationships used to be for her, and a big moment that helped her start healing. Lawanda Jackson is a licensed somatic therapist and the co-founder of Light Heart Therapy along with her wife Phoenix Jackson. She's passionate about creative expression, embodiment, and joy. She lives her life directing her attention and energy toward things she's naturally drawn to, where she feels an internal yes. Here's some of what we talked about: The desperation she used to feel in her relationships Realizing she felt hatred for her little one inside and then healing that wound How she made a huge shift, put her foot down, and decided to BE the one she was waiting for Connecting to her spirituality Finding her path as a somatic therapist Advice for people wanting to connect to self-love and self-compassion How she finds the right practitioners Show notes at https://anniezam.com/podcast/259

May 1, 202642 min

The Power Of Brainspotting With Dr. Mercedes Samudio

Every time I've talked to Mercedes Samudio, something has happened to my nervous system that was just total trust. I feel her integrity and vulnerability and I walk away feeling inspired. After this particular interview, I felt like everyone I know should hire her and get trauma healing from her. I also feel grateful for this interview because I am a Brainspotting practitioner and I believe so deeply in the power of Brainspotting. Mercedes explains it in a way that will help you really get why it is so effective. And she talks about how receiving Brainspotting changed her healing trajectory. Dr. Mercedes Samudio (she/her), DSW, LCSW, AfroNerd, author, and mental health advocate, empowers Black families through trauma-informed care, pop culture scholarship, and innovative healing frameworks. Founder of Shame Proof Parenting®, she integrates geek culture and social justice into culturally responsive practices, mentorship, and clinician supervision, championing mental wellness, resilience, and representation. Here's some of what we talked about: Her wakeup around her own unhealed trauma in 2020 Using EMDR and also identifying its limits Why the process of Brainspotting can hold marginalized identities and bodies particularly well (in the hands of the right practitioner) Discovering Brainspotting and then diving all the way in How Brainspotting works Convincing her therapist to learn Brainspotting Recovering young parts of herself in her trauma healing journey Integrating new boundaries into her work to prevent burnout Show notes at https://anniezam.com/podcast/258

April 1, 202650 min

Poetry As Healing And NEVER Getting Off The Growth Train With Emily G Barrett

New Workshop! Feel More Regulated In Your Relationship For folks who sometimes feel crazy or dysregulated in our relationships. April 17th, 2026 —> Get on the waitlist . Emily got into therapy at age 27 when everything on the outside was looking good, but she was feeling miserable. Her therapist welcomed her big emotions and tears, and a new path opened up. She realized that she wanted to be a therapist herself. She also wrote her first poem, and tapped into a way of healing that she still engages in decades later. In our conversation today, you'll hear about how she used poetry and other things to heal depression, misery and other constraints. Emily G Barrett is a queer radical mystic poet and psychologist tossing seeds in the Long Dark*. She is in love with grief, healing and embodiment and wants to live in the culture created through them. For maintenance, her life requires deep crying and dancing at least every few days, often at the same time. I know her as an Internal Family Systems therapist colleague. I love the way she thinks and expresses herself, so wasn't surprised to find out she's a poet. We first met when we were both in The Free Joy Experience hosted by Thea Monyee and Ebony Janice Moore. *thank you, Francis Weller for this language Here's some of what we talked about: Getting into therapy at age 27 and a whole new path opening up (including a career as a therapist!) Working through a crisis of her sister's and the line between codependency and loving support Writing that first poem that described depression "some days are like ice" and bringing it to therapy Writing a manifesto / poem for living her life Starting SSRIs and experiencing profound difference in the way she feels about time Engaging in Authentic Movement How her poems describe and deepen her dreams Show notes at h ttps://anniezam.com/podcast/257

March 3, 202641 min

Healing Childhood Wounds In MDMA Assisted Therapy With Wil Fisher

In this conversation, my guest talks about two MDMA assisted therapy journeys in which he engaged in healing childhood wounds, fear of death, and opening up to more aliveness. You're going to love his playfulness, his depth, and his expansiveness. Wil Fisher is the host of the podcast Queerly Beloved, founder of Willfully Living, his life coach practice, and facilitator of Awakened Hearts, a retreat for GBTQ men. Wil is on a mission to empower GBTQ men to lead lives of unwavering authenticity, unbridled freedom, and boundless joy! After you listen to this one, I invite you to go over to Wil's podcast Queerly Beloved where he's dropping an episode this week in which he interviewed me about trauma, spirituality and family estrangement. Here's some of what we talked about: We each describe the drag avatars that best describe our spirit at the moment of our conversation looking for pockets of possibility in creating our podcasts and doing our work Annie's dream the night before, and Wil's help analyzing it. How before a psychedelic assisted therapy session, his unconscious begins to bring things forward How he was taught to disown his brightest light: his queerness and openness to his femininity Healing the messages he received as a kid that he was broken, not enough, and that he needed to show up in perfectionism to be worthy of love Loving on himself and healing the little boy version of himself Practicing emotional release techniques in advance of the psychedelic assisted therapy sessions Exploring death through theatrical therapy techniques and then experiencing life differently Show notes at anniezam.com/podcast/256

February 1, 202648 min

A Couples Therapist In Couples Therapy With Tonya Lester

Tonya Lester , LCSW, is the author of Push Back: Live, Love, and Work with Others Without Losing Yourself and a Brooklyn-based psychotherapist and writer. Her essay, "Couples Therapist, Heal Thyself" was published in the Modern Love column in The New York Times , and she has been writing the popular Staying Sane Inside Insanity blog for Psychology Today since 2020. Tonya is a well known couples therapist, so it's particularly juicy and important that we're going to talk about struggles Tonya faced in her own marriage, and how she and her husband worked through them in couples therapy. Here's some of what we talked about: The conflict that landed them in couples therapy Being challenged by their couples therapist How Tonya and her husband changed their pattern The difference between a deal-breaker issue and a grappling issue Tonya's thoughts on secure attachment and attachment bonds How her own work as a couples therapist changed after being a client Show notes at https://anniezam.com/podcast/255

January 3, 202650 min

A Profound Group Psilocybin Ceremony | Cheryl Tien

My guest today did some significant healing at a psilocybin ceremony at a retreat center in Mexico. She takes us there and explains why she was able to heal in that environment in ways she hadn't before. You'll also hear how and why she does psychedelic work as a therapist. Dr. Cheryl Tien, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist who helps individuals navigate grief, identity, and life transitions with a culturally attuned, trauma-informed approach. She specializes in psychedelic integration—supporting clients in making meaning of experiences with medicines like MDMA and psilocybin in a grounded, evidence-based way. Her work centers on safety, ethics, and translating profound experiences into sustainable change in everyday life. Here's some of what we talked about: Deciding to get licensed, and the pros and cons of that as a psychedelic facilitator Advocating for psychedelic medicine accessibility Grieving the loss of a former client to suicide Getting racially assaulted Having fears, visuals and nightmares as a result of stressful events Hitting the limits of talk therapy in her own healing Choosing to attend a psilocybin ceremony retreat in Mexico Why the medicine is 10% of the experience Her internal experience during the ceremony Doing a sweat lodge the following day How she decides when to do a psychedelic journey and what medicine she needs Being "spiritually hopeful" Her advice to people new to psychedelics healing generational trauma Show notes at https://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/254

December 4, 202546 min

Unapologetic Aging With Deb Benfield

Deb Benfield has helped hundreds of women heal their relationship with food, eating, and their bodies in her 35-year career as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She is a needed expert at the cross section of pro-aging and body liberation. Her new book, Unapologetic Aging, teaches us to navigate anti-aging and diet and wellness culture so we can enjoy our lives. As women enter perimenopause and menopause, we become more vulnerable to risk of disordered eating. This book is an antidote. I got an early copy of this book so I could prep for this interview. I want to get more copies for people I love. As I talk to a few friends about my conversation with Deb, they've admitted to me how much they struggle with their body image and how much they need to hear this conversation. This is a personal conversation about Deb's own journey with her body. Here we go. Here's some of what we talked about: Deb's journey from struggling with her body image to loving her aging body fully Seeing the harms of diet and "wellness" culture to her clients as a dietician Transitioning away from "body as project" thinking Perimenopause, Menopause and body-trust Why the mainstream messaging about belly fat is misleading Making body liberation her family legacy Show notes at https://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/253