Carrie on Mental Health, Trauma, and Healing Through Creativity

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.

 

We Have Been Nominated

We are thrilled to share that Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads has been nominated in the Podcast Tonight Awards for Best Mental Health Podcast. This is a listener-driven award, which means your vote genuinely matters.

Vote here: https://www.podcasttonightawards.com/voteheads
Important Dates:
• Voting ends December 25, 2025

Your support has carried us this far, and we are grateful beyond words.

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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

Subscribe, Rate, and Review! Remember to subscribe for more inspiring stories. Rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform, or visit our Website: https://goesoninourheads.net/add-your-podcast-reviews

#MentalHealthPodcast #MentalHealthAwareness #Grex #DirtySkittles #Podmatch #TraumaHealing #CreativeHealing #ChildhoodTrauma #AnxietySupport #PeoplePleasingRecovery #GenerationalTrauma #BoundariesMatter #EmotionalWellbeing #SelfCareTools #HealingJourney #MentalHealthMatters

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If You Need Support, Reach Out

If you or someone you know is facing mental health challenges, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a crisis hotline in your area. Remember, it’s OK not to be OK—talking to someone can make all the difference.

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