Dear Dr. Tracy

Do you find yourself frequently feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated by your environment? Perhaps you’ve heard those close to you say “You’re too sensitive.” You’re not alone and in fact, you might be part of the 20-30% of the population that are highly sensitive people.  Today I am sitting with Natalie Brunswick to talk about highly sensitive people and the impact that being a highly sensitive...

In today’s episode, I talk about 7 things your parents didn’t teach you about relationships, and the things we should tell our children. I polled the community several months ago about this topic and your responses were so cool to see.  It’s fascinating to see how so many of us didn’t learn how to show up in relationships - things like how to build healthy communication and what a healthy relation...

Let me set the scene. The tree is up. The lights are on. The decorations are hanging. And I am envisioning a picture perfect moment… the kids smiling in their Christmas outfits while we all smile for that Instagram-worthy photo. Cue. Reality. My kids are now 5 and 7. Hot chocolate ends up on their clothes more than in their bellies. I haven’t sat down all day. And this is nothing like what I envis...

For so many, the holidays stir up so many emotions and old wounds. This is particularly true for parents while they sit in front of their children, seeing their own struggles and triggers being reflected back by their children - a window, an opening to be curious and to heal. And it often brings up questions of - where am I with my parent? How do I feel with them? What works and isn’t working anym...

Social media has recently become a place for mothers to connect and share their real, raw truths, but it hasn’t always been this way. For many, we open up our feeds and are flooded with highlight reels of the lives of others. Perfectly curated holiday pictures, clean homes, and women glowing - it can seem as though every other mother has their life together.  Am I the ONLY mother who doesn’t love...

Does it feel like a never-ending cycle with your partner when it comes to setting boundaries with the family?  Maybe you both end up getting stuck on what you should do when your mother-in-law gives TEN gifts, when you both told her only two.  What are the missteps in our relationship when it comes to boundaries? My husband and business partner joins me for today's episode on boundaries. Why bring...

Welcome to Season 4! With each season this community passes new milestones and continues to grow! I am incredibly grateful for you - your DMs, downloads, shares, and comments. Each week, you show up. You bring me your ah-ha moments, your wins, and your struggles. Thank you for joining me here and let's get started with another amazing season! To kick off the season, I am so excited to bring Dr. Be...

Being a parent brings new challenges to your life, but one that might have surprised you was constantly feeling touched out. Your child is tapping your arm, the furnace is humming, and you're beginning to feel like your head is going to explode.  So why is this? In this episode, I sit down with Larissa Geleris, MS, OTR/L from Steady Parents to discuss parenting and sensory overload. Larissa is a l...

We are here! Already at the season finale. Season finales are bittersweet. I have gratitude for all the amazing conversations of this season and I feel sad that we are taking a break! I love ending the season by taking your questions. So here are three of YOUR questions that I will answer in this episode: How does one deal with the fear of abandonment when you are someone with anxious attachment?...

Many people don't think of divorces as happy, which is why the story from today's guests is an important one! When Nikki DeBartolo and Benjamin Heldond got divorced, they devised a strategy to put their son's needs first. Together, they helped each other heal and build a new, blended, family.  In this episode, we discuss: How Nikki and Ben came to be "Our Happy Divorce" The markers/moments that th...

"My partner isn't willing to change - what do I do?" We love certainty and the only thing that is certain about our relationships is that we cannot control other people. It's really challenging when our partners are not interested in learning to shift - especially since a couple is two people that make up the struggles.  In this episode, I discuss: What if your partner doesn't want to change? Can...

Do you find yourself asking… How do we feel close again after we just had a disagreement?  My partner doesn’t like to come back and talk about the hard stuff.  My partner doesn’t apologize. I always have to bring up the hard conversations.   I get it.  This is a common experience in our relationships.  The reality? We didn’t learn how to repair. It was never modelled to us or it came attached with...

One of the most common concerns I hear is, "My partner is struggling with their mental health, what do I do?" Dr. Kojo joins me on the podcast to discuss how mental health can show up in relationships. Dr. Kojo Sarfo, DNP, PMHNP-BC is a social media content creator, mental health nurse practitioner, and psychotherapist with over two million followers on all of his social media channels (TikTok, In...

Growing up we learn so much from our mothers and growing up the messaging we receive is "obey thy mother." The things we learned from our mothers growing up and the way they coped in the world show up in us, throughout our lives. But What if our mother was wrong? What if they are passing along their own trauma? What if they cross our boundaries and teach us not to listen to ourselves? Bethany Webs...

You finally have a minute to pause and relax. As you hold your cup of coffee, just heated up for the fourth time, and look around your house, you feel overwhelmed. How can you relax when the mess keeps triggering you? I get it. There can be so much stuff in our homes that we stop feeling happy in our space, get stuck getting rid of things, and in general, feel a sense of overwhelm by everything go...

A client once told me through tears that she hadn't been honouring her, and she pointed to her body. I could see reflected in her face the experiences of so many women - including me. It wasn't just a week of not listening to her body. It was years. Possibly her whole lifetime. We build these inner dialogues and narratives around our bodies and food, many of them being unconscious that guide us to...

Does your partner share everything with their parents? This episode dives into this topic after receiving a question from one of our community members.  In this episode, we discuss: What kind of impact could sharing everything with your extended family/mother-in-law have on you? Your relationship with your partner? Your relationship with their family? Exploring triangulation and scapegoat dynamics...

One of the most common complaints I receive is, "We never talk about the hard stuff." What's the barrier to turning towards each other and talking? For many, it's time. For others, it's not wanting to upset the other person. Dr. Morgan Cutlip joins me on the podcast for this episode. Dr. Morgan is a relationship expert and owner of My Love Thinks. If you are struggling with the mental load, be sur...

We're getting ready for another holiday season. With Passover, Good Friday, Easter, Eastern Orthodox Easter, and Ramadan coming up, it seemed like a great time to ask you, my community, some important questions about family get togethers and talk about how you want to show up. When it comes to family gatherings, 46% of you feel "okay negative" about them. In this episode, we talk about: What you c...

For the parents who just want their child to be happy. When I told my daughter that I just needed five minutes before I could rub her back at bedtime, she screamed at me. And what I did next was not my best moment. I could feel it coming over me. I screamed back at her. I know so many parents get to this point - the exhaustion and overwhelm. The Demands. Being pulled in so many directions. We rais...

In this week's podcast, I answer your question. Q. Dear Dr. Tracy. Every time I try to share something with my partner, he goes and makes it about himself. Recently, I was trying to share about an issue with my sister. He got so heated and upset - we've had frequent conflict about my sister - that I ended up stop asking for the support that I needed. I'm not sure what to do in these moments, but I...

Did you know that 1 in 4 couples sleep in separate beds?1 Despite this common experience, many people continue to feel a lot of stigma around speaking out about their need for a restful night's sleep - which may mean sleeping in a different room from your lover. People tend to learn that there must be something wrong with a relationship if a couple is sleeping in separate beds. There is a term for...

Our collective experiences recently have been beyond challenging. The frequent suggestions of "go for a walk" are often not enough anymore. Enter Eve Rodsky, an expert in family mediation and organizational management, and author of New York Time's bestselling book Fair Play and Finding Your Unicorn Space. Her message to us is to burn our guilt and get rid of other toxic messages that stop us from...

This episode is quite a bit different than every other episode this season. I asked the community, via Instagram, to submit questions and I picked some to answer similar to a Dear Abby column. As we close out Season 2 I want to thank this beautiful community - especially since we've hit the 100K download milestone! We truly would not be here without each of you listening and sharing it with those...

What happens when you sit two relationship experts down for a chat? This episode is just that - two relationship experts, one conversation. Everyone has their own attachment style, it's the way we build and respond to relationships. When we understand our attachment styles we can better help our relationship maintain healthy boundaries. Speaking of boundaries, have you ever sat down with your part...