Re-Mothered

In this episode I open the locked door to a memory that had been living deep within my nervous system. I speak of crossing the threshold of our house every day and immediately surveying the weather inside and determining how I needed to respond to keep my emotional self "safe"

Relief for Approval — When Being Needed Felt Like Being Loved The first time Lori remembers feeling relief because someone was pleased with her… she was four years old, sitting between her parents during a late-night argument, trying to make peace happen with tiny hands and a terrified nervous system. In this episode of ReMothered, Lori explores the roots of people pleasing, emotional hypervigilan...

"When my mother told me I was no longer welcome in her family, I didn't panic. I didn't plead. I felt free." I’m taking you into the heart of a "compliant dance" I performed for decades—the avoidance, the redirected conversations, and the crushing weight of being responsible for someone else’s emotional stability. But what happens when the "avoidance shuffle"...

In this opening episode of season 2, I begin somewhere steady. With my grandfather. We called him Pa. He lived 89 years and in a life that held a lot of complexity, he was one of the few place that felt simple in the best way. Solid. Consistent. Safe. Pa didn't say more than he needed to. But what he showed me stayed. What it looked like to live with integrity. To be steady in who you are. To...

What happens when the truth finally costs too much to carry? In the final episode of ReMothered Season One, Lori returns to the moment everything broke open—the discovery of the stolen $15,000 from the family farm. But this isn’t just a story about theft. It’s about the instant a daughter realizes she cannot keep protecting what is destroying her. This episode marks the internal shift—the quiet, s...

Will this be the final straw? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when the moment you choose yourself… your mother suddenly gets sick? In this episode of ReMothered, Lori tells the story of the phone call that changed everything — the biopsy that returned “positive,” the instant switch into caretaker mode, and the decision to walk away from a dream opportunity in Vancouver to return home. But as casseroles piled up and prayers rolled in, something d...

In Episode 9 of ReMothered , I share a story about routes—the streets, the uniforms, and the paths that shape us when someone else tries to choose our life. From learning the rhythm of a radio station to navigating small-town dynamics with my mother, I explore independence, enmeshment, and the freedom that comes from claiming your own road. This episode touches on childhood enmeshment, parental co...

Episode 8 — Carbon Copy What happens when a child becomes the outline instead of the author? This episode explores the quiet, consuming shape of enmeshment — when “being close” slips into becoming a carbon copy. From copied tastes and borrowed perfume to triangulation, guilt-curfews, and the soft gaslighting that rewrites a future into something “sensible,” Lori traces how identity gets pressed th...

Birthdays are supposed to bless—not test. I woke up with a clean kind of hope and ended the day reading a room like a budget. On the farm: fried patties, boiled potatoes, gifts with price tags spoken out loud, and a mask I didn’t choose. In Edmonton: my Gram and Pa’s house glowed—gifts without secrets, a table that always had room. Between performance and belonging, I learned why “happy birthday”...

Episode 6 — The Family Name In an oil-and-ag town where reputation is currency, a sign in a gas-station window turns a private crisis public: Do not accept cheques from him. My dad brings the storm home; what follows isn’t confession—it’s fog: denial, deflection, and the slow math of soft gaslighting. Between the sign everyone can see and the silence at our table, I track the moment my autonomy re...

Content note: This episode discusses emotional abuse, gaslighting, and the cumulative impact of “small” harms. Please listen with care. If you’re in the US or Canada and need support, call or text 988 . What breaks you isn’t always a hurricane. Sometimes it’s a drip—quiet, steady, waved off as “not a big deal.” In this episode of ReMothered , Lori traces the micro-moments that soaked the floorboar...

What happens when a child becomes the confidant of their parent? In this episode of Remothered , Lori returns to a cold winter morning in her childhood — a day in an old wood shed where her father shared a secret no eight-year-old should have to carry. That moment would shape decades of emotional caretaking, silence, and survival. Through the lens of parentification and Internal Family Systems the...

The Weight of Secrets: When a Child Becomes the Keeper What happens when a child is asked to hold what was never theirs? In this episode of Remothered , Lori McLean revisits the day her childhood shifted—from innocence to silence. Through memory, reflection, and compassion, she explores how emotional neglect, secrecy, and control can shape a nervous system for survival rather than safety. Drawing...

What happens when a child’s cry for comfort is met with anger instead of care? In this episode, I reflect on an early lesson that shaped how I carried pain—my own, and my mother’s—and share a letter to little Lori reminding her that her feelings were always valid. Social Media Links Insta: @re.mothered_podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first episode, I return to the afternoons I came home to an empty house as a child — a place where fear was met with shame instead of comfort. I share how those moments of abandonment shaped me for years, and the weight of carrying that silence into adulthood. Through a letter to my younger self, I remind her — and us — that it was never her fault to feel scared, and that healing begins wh...

This is more than a story; it's a reclamation. "Re-Mothered" explores the wounds left by unmet needs, mother trauma and generational silence. Tune is every Tuesday as Lori peels away another layer and continues her healing journey in real time by sealing each episode with a letter to her inner child. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.