When it comes to texting- I am the worst! I have a history of sending break-up texts, having serious conflicts by text message, and trying to communicate my emotional reactions and needs by text message. The thing is- we don't get anywhere by

48. Burnout in Mid-Life and 'The Way Home' w/ Ben Katt

Mar 14th, 2024 1h 6m

I started this podcast after my own 'rock bottom' story and recovery journey, really in effort to capture the essence of personal growth and transformation coming out of darkness. But, what if there is no rock bottom? What if you simply feel,

47. Managing Fear and Anger During Loss

Mar 4th, 2024 18m 52s

I wanted to share a difficulty that I have been struggling with the last month and how I was able to manage some hard, even shameful emotions that came up for me. When my kids' father got sick and ended up in the hospital for the last month I h

46. Love Stories in Art and Life w/ Olivia DeRecat

Feb 6th, 2024 1h

Love stories captivate all of us, but how do narratives of love influence how we date, make meaning, and tell our own stories? What do we look for in the love stories of our own lives and how do larger narratives about love influence how we pur

45. Illness, Negative Self-Talk, and Healing

Dec 6th, 2023 20m 1s

Being sick can have a negative impact on our sense of self and mental well-being. Do you feel unproductive, unable to be a good parent, or isolated and lonely when you're sick? When we are ill, a myriad of stories, beliefs, and negative associa

44. Break Ups, Broken Hearts, and Moving On w/ Janice Formichella

Nov 16th, 2023 1h 2m

One of the greatest pains we will ever endure in life is heartache, either from a break-up, rejection, divorce, or the severance of a relationship. In this episode I talked with Janice Formicella, a break-up coach and host of the podcast, "Brea

43. College Pregnancy: An Interview with the Father (20 Years Later)

Oct 17th, 2023 1h 3m

Almost exactly 20 years ago I got pregnant. I was still in college and my boyfriend at the time was getting ready to start a Ph.D. at Harvard. We had big life dreams, that for both of us, seemed inevitable, not to be disrupted by an unexpected

42. My (Ex) Mother in Law Thinks I'm Cray! Dealing with Multiple Truths

Oct 4th, 2023 18m 41s

Any time we try to convince others of our truth and convictions we lose power. When I got divorced I heard a lot of rumors about myself-- I'm crazy, left my husband for a younger boyfriend, etc. This experience taught me a lot about how to stan

41. I Am Trapped in a Foreign Country!- Reimagining Limitations

Sep 26th, 2023 16m 14s

I got on a dating app in 2012 and met my now ex-husband. Now I have two German kids and I can't leave the country! On a bad day this really gets be down, however, it has taught me a lot about the power of reimagining possibility within the very

40. Truth Hurts: Saying the Hard Stuff

Jun 6th, 2022 28m 53s

I took a break from podcasting because I didn't know how to tell my own stories anymore. There was shame, confusion, fear, and hardship around what I was going through- leaving my marriage, becoming a single mother, and learning to embrace the

39. Healing in Sex and Love w/ Quintin Mecke

May 22nd, 2022 1h 18m

Dating after divorce or after 40 can be messy, but it's also a great time for self-growth, healing, and introspection. In this episode, Kate talks with Quintin Mecke, social activist, politician, and former mayoral candidate of San Francisco ab

38. Truth Telling: if you want to heal, you have to be real

May 9th, 2022 23m 52s

This is the first episode in a new season of About Face. Kate shares her personal journey with creating the podcast, what it means to be authentic, why being honest with ourselves is crucial to recovery. She shares about losing a guest to overd

37. I Got Hypnotized: Subconscious Storytelling

Feb 5th, 2021 54m 29s

Last summer I got hypnotized for over two hours and I wanted to share about this experience as well as the relationship I found between narrative healing and subconscious imagery. In this episode I interview Marta Styczen about her hypnotherapy

36. Suffering is Optional- Attachment Stories

Jan 13th, 2021 25m 36s

Today I want to talk about something I call “Attachment Stories,” and it’s the stories that attach themselves to events, issues, or traits about ourselves, our families, communities etc. Basically, it’s the accompanying stories that might crop

35. Why Me? When Bad Things Happen

Dec 7th, 2020 24m 8s

I used to think I could insulate myself against pain or hardship by doing the right thing or making "good decisions." When my daughter was diagnosed with a rare brain condition, I had to face my greatest fears of illness, vulnerability, and a t

34. I'm Successful, How Could I Be An Addict?

Nov 25th, 2020 52m 4s

I hated the thought of being an addict or an alcoholic. I would often point to my external successes as a straight A student, a lawyer, having a good job and other markers of "well-being" to distract from my problem with alcohol, my depression,

33. Sick of Gratitude Lists? Try My Shit List

Nov 18th, 2020 14m 7s

I love gratitude lists, but I think sometimes the pressure to focus on the positive (and shaming for negative thinking) can be destructive. In this episode I want to share my experience with learning to acknowledge some of the challenges in my

E12- Getting Over a Break-Up, Divorce, Love Lost

Oct 30th, 2020 31m 43s

Break-ups are HARD and the heartache can last years. This episode explores the relationship between self-identity and break-ups and why the pain is often because of the stories we tell ourselves about why things ended. Whether you left a 20 yea

E11- Collective Grief and Rising Hope in a Pandemic

Oct 13th, 2020 25m 37s

So. many of us are suffering from the collective grief of this pandemic and it's been manifesting in various ways- pressures on our relationships, money stress, health fears, feelings of isolation, and the unknown. There is also a depressiv

E10- Challenging Our Food and Body Narratives

Sep 25th, 2020 53m 21s

Food is so basic and primal and yet so many of us suffer from disordered eating--why? This isn't about extreme cases of anorexia, bulimia, or overeating (though it could be), but the many little ways that we are tortured by food management, foo

E9: Restor(y)ing a Father's Absence

Sep 15th, 2020 42m 24s

When you think of the most important stories of your life, they are often about relationships. What stories you tell about yourself and your life often begin with family, parental bonds, siblings, and events that involved these important relati

E8- When Fear is Real: Medical Fears, Money & Loss

Sep 8th, 2020 42m 31s

In 2017, my 18-month old daughter had to have brain scans for a suspected tumor. While in the hospital, she didn't wake up from the anesthetic. It turned out she had caught a superbug while being tested, but the doctors told me that she should

E7: Fear Narratives: Finding Self and Truth

Aug 28th, 2020 25m 41s

Fear is so basic, primal, but also gets at the role of narrative in our lives is fear. Fear is an instinct of course, it drives us to make decisions, to do or not do things. It can get in the way of moving forward, but of course it also has t

E6: Reimagining Self and the Journey in Tarot w/ Hannah Joy Graves

Aug 22nd, 2020 53m 9s

This podcast is broadly looking at the way that stories and reimagined narratives can help us shut down negative thinking patterns, deconstruct damaging systemic narratives, and take the power back in reimagining our own lives. My guest today i

E6- Family Secrets, Narratives, and Reclaiming Self w/ Susie Kahlich

Aug 13th, 2020 31m 53s

This episode was originally produced for the Pretty Deadly Self-Defense podcast. It is about family trauma, secrets, and the narratives that work to protect abusers and can leave victims bearing the burden of keeping a family intact. It is abou