In this conversation, host Yvonne Pierre speaks with Susan Gold, author, and consultant, about healing from a toxic family system. Susan shares that understanding the lineage of her toxic family system was incredibly healing for her. Yvonne shares her own experiences of becoming toxic due to the toxicity of her childhood and how she took the time to do the work on herself to recognize and change her behaviors. They discuss the importance of healing and how it can help to transform childhood trauma into adult freedom.

Susan and Yvonne spoke about how Susan changed her life despite her traumatic childhood. Her father was an alcoholic. He drank early in the morning and came home at random hours. Her mother was a stay-at-home parent and was overweight and surly. Susan was initially relieved when she heard her father come home, seeing him as her savior. She eventually realized she had to be intentional about changing her life, and that her trauma was a gift.

Susan is talking about growing up in an abusive household with an alcoholic, narcissistic father, and a pill-popping mother. He recalls a traumatic incident from his childhood in which his mother suddenly became violent, grabbing and beating him. The room started to swirl and brown out, leaving him terrified and confused as to what had happened. This experience left him with feelings of fear and insecurity that stayed with him into adulthood. He emphasizes that his parents hid the abuse from the outside world and that his mother was still a dutiful wife and mother in the home, making homemade meals and birthday cakes.

Susan had a traumatic childhood, living in an abusive home filled with violence, shame, and rage. Her mother was not in a good state and she knew something was wrong, so she kept focusing on how to get out. She graduated high school and left the morning after, never to return. She tried to cope with the trauma by turning her anger and confusion inward but still ended up in similar situations in her professional life. She was sexually harassed in the workplace and quit without another job. She then created her talent brokerage firm and was successful but had to face alcoholism and addiction first. She ended up working with Barbara Walters, who she had watched growing up, and the greatest lesson she learned from her was to be intuitive and to read people.

ABOUT THE HOST: Yvonne Pierre is a wife, mother of two (one with Down syndrome), storyteller, producer, advocate, and host of Let’s Talk About Healing. To connect with Yvonne visit www.Linktr.ee/Yvonne.Pierre Check out the podcast on other platforms, visit www.Linktr.ee/LetsTalkAboutHealing

ABOUT THE GUEST: Susan Gold is magical. Raised in a chaotic and challenging family system, she's an author and consultant. Her book, Toxic Family: Transforming Childhood Trauma into Adult Freedom is the trajectory of her journey. Her joy is in inspiring others to transform their own traumatic experiences into priceless gifts. To receive a free audio recording of the first few pages of Susan's new book and stay up to date on the release, please visit https://www.susangold.us/

Intro/Outro by Zyair "Statik" Pierre, check him out on IG at www.instagram.com/statik_arcadejunkiez/