Healing Out Loud with Donna Blanchard

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Why can our siblings bring out feelings in us that no one else can? Sibling relationships can carry decades of love and shared history — but also comparison, resentment, competition, misunderstanding, and unresolved hurt. In this episode of Healing Out Loud , I explore how the roles and patterns we developed as children can follow us into our adult sibling relation...

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Can you love someone deeply and still need distance from them? Parent-child estrangement can carry grief, anger, unanswered questions, longing, and love — sometimes all at the same time. In this deeply personal episode of Healing Out Loud , I share parts of my own experience with estrangement from both of my parents and how those relationships affected me in very d...

What happens when hurt, anger and unresolved conflict create distance between the people we love most? In this episode of Healing Out Loud , I share my own experience with family estrangement, the pattern of getting angry and walking away, and the painful realization of how much time and energy can be lost. I also reflect on one of my greatest fears—that my own children would repeat the same patte...

The relationship we have with our father can shape far more than we realize. Whether your father was absent, emotionally unavailable, critical, or someone you deeply loved but also experienced pain with, those early experiences can quietly influence your self-worth, relationships, confidence, and the way you move through life. In this deeply personal episode of Healing Out Loud , I share my own jo...

In this deeply personal episode of Healing Out Loud , I share my own experience with the mother wound and explore how our earliest relationship with our mother can shape the way we see ourselves, love others, and move through life. At fourteen, my world changed when my mother left our family. That experience left me carrying feelings of abandonment, shame, and grief that quietly influenced my rela...

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Have you ever found yourself wondering… “Why do I keep repeating the same patterns, even when I know they’re hurting me?” Self-sabotage isn’t a sign of weakness. More often, it’s a survival strategy we developed to protect ourselves from pain, rejection, disappointment, or abandonment. In this episode of Healing Out Loud, I share my own journey through an eating di...

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Have you ever been deeply hurt by someone you trusted? Betrayal has a way of shaking our sense of safety. Whether it’s a parent who leaves, a partner who breaks their promises, a family member who turns away, or a friend who lets us down, the pain often reaches far beyond the moment itself. In this episode of Healing Out Loud, I share some of the deepest betrayals...

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Have you ever reacted to something and wondered… “Why did that affect me so deeply?” Sometimes our strongest emotional reactions aren’t just about what’s happening today—they’re connected to experiences we’ve carried for years. Many of us unknowingly continue living from survival patterns we developed in childhood. We become people-pleasers, fear rejection, avoid c...

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Have you ever found yourself carefully choosing your words because you were afraid of someone’s reaction? Maybe you learned to read the room before you spoke. Maybe you became the peacemaker, avoided conflict, or found yourself apologizing even when you hadn’t done anything wrong. For many of us, walking on eggshells begins in childhood. It becomes a survival strat...

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Have you always been the one everyone could count on? The one who held everything together, supported everyone else, and kept going—even when you were falling apart inside? For many of us, being “the strong one” wasn’t a choice. It became a role we learned early in life. We became caregivers, peacemakers, problem-solvers, and protectors, often believing our own nee...

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Have you ever asked yourself… “Why do I still struggle, even after everything I’ve been through?” If so, you’re not alone. In this first episode of Healing Out Loud, I share my own journey through parental abandonment, betrayal, an eating disorder, failed relationships, and the emotional patterns that followed me for years. Together, we’ll explore why healing isn’t...

Season 1: Understanding the Pain Welcome to Healing Out Loud. I’m Donna Blanchard—author of Heal the Pain and Breaking the Chains. This podcast is a safe place for honest conversations about emotional healing, childhood wounds, relationships, self-worth, and finding hope after life’s most difficult experiences. Whether you’re just beginning your healing journey or have been walking this path for y...