Elyse Fitzpatrick's Journey to Flourishing

What if the gap between what you believe about God (head) and what you feel (heart) has something to do with the way your brain learned to protect you? Geoff Holsclaw explores how attachment theory, relational neuroscience, and theology can deepen our relationship with God and change the way we read Scripture, experience prayer, and understand God’s presence. Together, Colleen and Geoff discuss how attachment patterns can shape faith and relationships—and why knowing that God is loving doesn’t always mean we feel close, safe, or seen. Their conversation offers a thoughtful, hopeful look at moving beyond spiritual clichés toward a more embodied and relational faith. This episode also highlights the Attaching to God summit this fall, October 13-15 (free!) where you can dive deeper into what it looks like to deepen your relationship with God, self, and others. Colleen will be featured talking about restoring wholeness after spiritual abuse. Sign up here: https://www.embodiedfaith.life/a/2148315448/Coc3o9H9

In this tender and deeply nuanced conversation, host Colleen sits down with licensed counselor and trauma therapist Tabitha Westbrook to tackle one of the church's most silenced topics: healthy sexuality after abuse, trauma, and coercive control. Tabitha, author of Body & Soul: Healed and Whole, shares how a divine nudge at a women's retreat launched her into teaching — and ultimately writing — about sexuality from a place of rich theology, grace, and compassion. The conversation moves through several layers:

In this deeply moving conversation, Wendy — a certified grief educator trained under David Kessler and the late Dr. H. Norman Wright — joins host Colleen to unpack what grief actually is, why it's so often misunderstood, and why "time heals" is only half true. They explore the difference between intuitive and practical grievers, why grief bursts can resurface decades later, how to tell grief apart from depression, and why sitting with uncomfortable feelings — rather than fixing them — is the real path forward. Wendy also shares tender, practical ways to honor loss: planting flowers each year for lost loved ones, building rituals around remembrance, and the "Box of Comfort and Hope" she sends to people navigating their darkest seasons. This episode is a gentle, honest companion for anyone who has been told to "get over it" and knows, deep down, that healing isn't linear. It's not about finding closure — it's about learning to carry loss forward, touch the pain, take a break, and keep moving, one small step at a time. If you've ever wondered whether it's normal to still grieve someone forty years later, or wanted permission to grieve in your own way — intuitive, practical, or somewhere in between — this conversation offers both comfort and clarity on the long, winding road back to presence, connection, and delight.

What if your exhausted faith is not a spiritual failure at all, but a nervous system issue? Colleen sits down with Janyne McConnaughey, PhD to unpack the counterintuitive idea at the heart of An Exhausted Faith: What If the Struggle Isn't Spiritual - and why so many believers are trying to pray, worship, and "try harder" their way through trauma without realizing their bodies are the ones sounding the alarm. Janyne shares the lived experience behind her work on trauma, religious trauma, and nervous system regulation, including how years of white-knuckled faith, fear-based teaching, and chronic disconnection from her body left her feeling depleted in places she thought were supposed to feel holy. Colleen brings her own perspective as a reader, writer, and fellow seeker, turning the conversation into a deeply honest exploration of what happens when spiritual practices stop feeling life-giving and start feeling like pressure.You'll discover:

Tabitha Westbrook interviews your host, therapist, and author Colleen Ramser about her new book, The Shattered Soul. Colleen shares practical, somatic tools for healing from spiritual abuse and trauma, and she explains concepts like titration, parts work, and spiritual enmeshment, and emphasizes gentle, paced recovery over forcing faith practices. Colleen offers compassionate guidance for grief, differentiation, and rebuilding trust in faith and community, inviting listeners to find small glimmers of hope and sustainable steps toward restoration.