Show notes
What if the thing that saved your mental health wasn’t therapy alone—but your hands, your creativity, and your ability to choose differently? In this powerful conversation, G-Rex and Dirty Skittles sit down with Carrie to discuss trauma, abandonment, people-pleasing, and how creativity became her lifeline amid chaos.
Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads is a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health) and 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast) with over 3 million downloads and counting.
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Mental Health Quote
“You can visit devastation, but you can’t live there.” — Carrie
Episode Description
Carrie’s mental health journey didn’t begin in adulthood—it started in childhood, shaped by sudden moves, family instability, abandonment, and the quiet expectation to “be okay” no matter what. In this deeply honest episode, Carrie joins G-Rex and Dirty Skittles to share how creativity became her survival tool when life felt completely out of control.
From waking up to moving trucks without warning to becoming a parentified child at twelve, Carrie learned early how chaos can wire the nervous system. Rather than numbing out or self-destructing in obvious ways, she chose a more socially accepted—but equally damaging—path: people-pleasing, over-functioning, and carrying everyone else’s emotional weight.
Through art, crafting, and intentional use of her hands, Carrie discovered a way to temporarily shut off trauma, regulate her nervous system, and reclaim a sense of power. This episode explores how creativity isn’t just a hobby—it’s a form of mental health care. Carrie also opens up about breaking generational trauma, setting boundaries with family, redefining self-care, and teaching her children emotional agency instead of emotional suppression.
This conversation is raw, validating, and deeply human. If you’ve ever struggled with anxiety, trauma, abandonment wounds, or the pressure to be “the strong one,” this episode will remind you that healing doesn’t have to be perfect—it just has to be intentional.
Keywords: Carrie, mental health, trauma healing, creativity and mental health, childhood trauma, abandonment issues, people-pleasing, anxiety coping skills, generational trauma, boundaries, self-care, emotional regulation, creative healing
Meet Our Guest
Carrie is a creative mother and lifelong advocate for using hands-on creativity to support mental health and emotional regulation. Shaped by childhood trauma, family instability, and abandonment, she learned to transform chaos into meaning through art, crafting, and intentional self-reflection. Her story is a powerful reminder that healing is often built—not found.
Key Takeaways
Creativity can regulate the nervous system and quiet trauma responses.
People-pleasing is a socially accepted form of self-abandonment.
You can choose healing—even if you have to choose it daily.
Boundaries protect mental health, even when they disappoint others.
Trauma doesn’t disappear, but it can lose control over your life.
Actionable Items
Find a “busy hands” activity that helps calm your mind (drawing, knitting, baking, crafting).
Give yourself permission to feel devastation—then set a limit on how long you stay there.
Ask yourself daily: Am I choosing myself or abandoning myself?
References Mentioned
Between Two Worlds (book on the impact of divorce on children)
Important Chapters
00:04:20 – Waking up to a moving truck and the roots of abandonment
00:10:30 – How creativity helps turn off trauma
00:17:10 – People-pleasing as a hidden destructive coping skill
00:18:30 – “You can visit devastation, but you can’t live there.”
00:23:40 – Breaking generational trauma and setting boundaries
00:36:40 – Advice Carrie would give her younger self
00:38:10 – Self-love, anger, and permission to take up space
Closing CTA
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#MentalHealthPodcast #MentalHealthAwareness #Grex #DirtySkittles #Podmatch #TraumaHealing #CreativeHealing #ChildhoodTrauma #AnxietySupport #PeoplePleasingRecovery #GenerationalTrauma #BoundariesMatter #EmotionalWellbeing #SelfCareTools #HealingJourney #MentalHealthMatters
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