Trauma & Breaking Cycles
Growing up in chaos, naming what happened, and choosing to parent and live differently.
A lot of these guests grew up in homes marked by chaos: addiction, domestic violence, untreated mental illness, or just the emotional silence GenX was famous for. What makes the conversations land is that so many of them decided the pattern would stop with them.
Denise Conde and Gina Rania talk explicitly about breaking generational cycles. Tracy Collins and Sherri Dindal revisit chaotic, sometimes violent childhoods. Ryan Kemp-Pippan traces trauma and addiction back through his family and became a therapist. Co-host Nicole shares her own story.
The throughline is not the wound, it is the work: naming what happened, and choosing to parent, partner, and live differently.
10 episodes exploring this theme
Episode 54 - GenX Speaks Series: Denise Conde - The Valor of Generation X
12/16/2025A childhood of conflict, and a deliberate choice to break the cycle.
Denise emphasizes recognizing childhood trauma to break generational cycles in her own family.
Episode 66 - GenX Speaks Series: Tracy Collins - Behavior Specialist
5/27/2026ADHD, a father's PTSD, and finding herself through education and parenting.
Tracy revisits a childhood shaped by her father's PTSD, and her own path through trauma and ADHD.
Episode 42 - GenX Speaks Series: Sherri Dindal - The Real Slim Sherri
7/30/2025A chaotic childhood of domestic violence, and how she parents now.
Sherri grew up amid domestic violence and instability, and reflects on parenting differently.
Episode 43 - GenX Speaks Series: Gina Rania - Gen-X RESET Coach
8/7/2025A coach who helps women name and break generational trauma.
Gina built her coaching around recognizing and addressing generational trauma.
Episode 61 - GenX Speaks Series: Ryan The Therapist
3/30/2026A therapist who traced trauma and addiction back through his family.
Ryan follows generational trauma and alcohol through his family, and into his work as a therapist.
Episode 13 - GenX Speaks Series - Nicole's Story
12/31/2024Co-host Nicole on her own childhood trauma, and processing it.
Nicole reflects on her childhood trauma and the coping mechanisms she had to unlearn.
Episode 68 - GenX Speaks Series: Author David La Torre
6/13/2026Growing up amid addiction and violence, then writing his way out.
David grew up in a house marked by addiction and violence, and later told the story in a book.
Episode 65 - GenX Speaks Series: Aileen Harvey - You Keep Me Sane Podcast
5/15/2026Family chaos, an eating disorder, and reclaiming self-worth.
Aileen links an eight-year eating disorder to a need for control amid family chaos.
Episode 58 - The Silent Generation - Sharon
2/7/2026A Silent Generation woman who kept childhood abuse secret for decades.
Sharon kept sexual abuse by her stepfather secret for years, in an era with no support.
Episode 69 - GenX Speaks Series: Gina Scott Williams - GenX Gina66
6/19/2026A father's alcoholism and imprisonment, then healing by sharing her story.
Gina faced her father's alcoholism and imprisonment, and healed by telling her story out loud.
Questions this theme answers
What does 'breaking the cycle' mean here?
Guests like Denise Conde (54) and Gina Rania (43) talk about deliberately parenting and living differently than they were raised, so childhood trauma stops with them.
Do guests revisit hard childhoods?
Yes. Tracy Collins (66), Sherri Dindal (42), and others speak candidly about chaos, domestic violence, and untreated mental illness at home.
Is there a professional lens on it?
Ryan the Therapist (61) traces trauma and addiction through his family and brought that into his clinical work.
Do the hosts share their own?
Yes. In Nicole's Story (13) she reflects on her own childhood trauma and how she processed it.