Beyond Mommy Dearest Podcast

Beyond Mommy Dearest is a podcast for adult daughters navigating the complicated, often painful reality of difficult, emotionally immature, or narcissistic mothers. Hosted by a trauma-informed leadership coach, this show explores the long-term impact of mother-daughter wounds, boundary setting, grief, identity, and healing beyond blame. Through honest conversations, education, and lived experience, Beyond Mommy Dearest helps listeners reconnect with themselves, trust their instincts, and move forward with clarity, compassion, and strength.

Beyond Mommy Dearest Podcast is a health podcast hosted by Beyond Mommy Dearest, with 38 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Beyond Mommy Dearest hosts Beyond Mommy Dearest Podcast, a health show with 38 episodes published.

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  Episode #35

  Beyond Mommy Dearest - The Family Scapegoat: Narcissistic Parents, Childhood Trauma & Breaking the Cycle with God’s Favorite Problem

  Oct 2, 20261h 3mS1

  Reach out! You don't have to explain how crazy she was. We believe you!!! Buy me coffee :) - https://buymeacoffee.com/beyondmommydearest What happens when the child blamed for everything grows up and realizes they were never actually the problem? In this episode of Beyond Mommy Dearest , I sit down with therapist Amy, better known online as God’s Favorite Problem , for a raw, funny, and deeply honest conversation about family scapegoating, narcissistic parents, generational trauma, divorce, boundaries, and learning to trust yourself again. Amy explains why dysfunctional family systems often need a scapegoat and why the role frequently falls on the sensitive, deeply feeling child who notices what everyone else has learned to ignore. We talk about what happens when that child grows up. People-pleasing. Overexplaining. Constantly second-guessing yourself. Feeling responsible for everyone else's emotions. Becoming a high achiever while secretly believing you're never doing enough. Replaying conversations in your head. Struggling to say no. And outsourcing your self-worth to parents, partners, bosses, and anyone else who might finally tell you that you're good enough. We also get personal about divorce and co-parenting, how unresolved trauma can repeat itself across generations, and why breaking the cycle sometimes requires looking honestly at our own behavior. Amy shares one of my favorite lines from the entire conversation: “Children explain. Adults inform.” If you grew up believing you had to justify every decision, prove your feelings, keep everyone happy, or explain yourself until someone finally understood you, this conversation is for you. We also discuss why setting a boundary can feel terrifying when you were raised without permission to have one, why estrangement should be an individual decision rather than something automatically prescribed, and how healing ultimately comes back to rebuilding self-trust . Because being the family scapegoat may have been the role they assigned you. It doesn't have to be the role you keep. In this episode: • What a family scapegoat really is • Scapegoat vs. “black sheep” • Narcissistic family systems • Generational trauma and cycle breaking • People-pleasing and self-abandonment • Why survivors overexplain and justify themselves • Rumination and replaying conversations • High achievement and outsourced self-worth • Narcissistic relationships and repeating childhood patterns • Divorce, co-parenting, and protecting children from adult conflict • Boundaries and the discomfort of saying no • Estrangement, distance, and self-protection • Rebuilding self-trust after emotional abuse • Amy's Scapegoat Reset work • Why you absolutely can get out of the scapegoat role And perhaps the most important reminder from Amy: You can go through hell, come out the other side, and discover that life can be better than you ever thought it could be. Reasources in the podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3YdldNXZnQ - Dr. Jennifer Jill Harman https://www.joshiattorneys.com - Ashish Joshi, Parental Alienation / Family Law / International Child Kidnapping / Child Abuse https://link.amazon/B03VJbpwW - Boundary boss Connect with Noelani | Beyond Mommy Dearest https://www.facebook.com/BeyondMommyDearest/ https://www.tiktok.com/@beyond.mommy.dearest https://www.instagram.com/beyondmommydearest/ https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondMommyDearest https://substack.com/@beyondmommydearest https://www.threads.com/@beyondmommydearest Connect with God’s Favorite Probelm, Amy Watkins Performing Normal: Find Your Voice, Discover Yourself, Reclaim Your Life - https://link.amazon/B0hWA6xau Instagram - Amy Watkins (@gods.favorite.problem)Instagram · gods.favorite.problem102.2K+ followers Facebook - Gods.favorite.problemFacebook · Gods.favorite.problem26K+ followers amywatkinsstudio.com Support the show

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  Episode #34

  Breaking the Control: Nomz Bistline on FLDS, The False Prophet & Reclaiming Her Life

  Sep 25, 20261h 14mS1

  Reach out! You don't have to explain how crazy she was. We believe you!!! ⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses religious trauma, coercive control, sexual and physical abuse, child exploitation, threats of violence and murder, incarceration, suicide attempts, suicidal thoughts, and death. What does it take to survive when fear, religion, manipulation, and coercive control have shaped nearly everything you believe? In this episode of Beyond Mommy Dearest , I sit down with Nomz Bistline , featured in The False Prophet , for a raw conversation about growing up in the FLDS, becoming entangled in Samuel Bateman’s group, surviving extreme coercive control, spending 21 months in prison, and ultimately beginning to find herself again. Nomz takes us behind what viewers saw in the documentary and explains how years of religious conditioning made threats of punishment and damnation terrifyingly real. She shares how manipulation, fear, intermittent kindness, threats against people she loved, and relentless pressure eventually caused her to become numb and disconnect from her own intuition. We also talk about something far more complicated: how someone can be both accountable for their actions and a victim of profound coercive control. Nomz opens up about incarceration, surviving a suicide attempt, months of suicidal depression, and finally receiving therapy. Surprisingly, prison also gave her something she had rarely experienced before: the freedom to think and feel without being punished for it. During her darkest days, she began writing down ten things she was grateful for. Sometimes the glimmer was simply a bar of soap, clean clothes, a mattress, or a meal. Eventually, she became grateful for something much bigger: awareness. We talk about rebuilding self-trust, grieving family members who remain in the FLDS, learning what healthy love feels like, and why people on the outside often misunderstand survivors who stay, comply with, defend, or return to their abusers. Nomz describes survivors as clay models . Abuse, fear, manipulation, and conditioning can mold someone into what an abuser needs them to become. But underneath those layers is a foundation that was there all along. The real person is still there. And sometimes healing is the process of breaking away that clay, piece by piece, until you finally recognize yourself again. Because Nomz found those tiny glimmers and kept going, she is here. And now we all get to experience her glimmers, too. ❤️ If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis in the United States, call or text 988 for immediate support. Support the show

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  Episode #33

  Toxic Parents, Religious Trauma & No Contact: Breaking Narcissistic Family Cycles with Therapist Sandra Fraser Maurer

  Sep 18, 20261h 11mS1

  Reach out! You don't have to explain how crazy she was. We believe you!!! What happens when healing allows you to recognize that the relationships you once considered normal were actually harmful? In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, Noelani sits down with licensed professional clinical counselor Sandra Fraser Maurer to explore childhood trauma, narcissistic family systems, parent-child estrangement, religious trauma, perimenopause, intergenerational trauma, and the grief of going no contact with a parent who is still alive. Sandra shares how her earlier work as a birth doula and prenatal yoga teacher led her to become a therapist specializing in women’s health, reproductive and perinatal mental health, trauma, and mental health throughout the lifespan. She and Noelani discuss why pregnancy, parenthood, perimenopause, and other major developmental transitions can cause unresolved trauma to return to the surface. They also examine the connection between authoritarian parenting, high-demand religion, narcissistic family structures, and adult children’s decisions to establish boundaries or end contact. Sandra explains why a healthy relationship with a partner or therapist does not “cause” estrangement. Instead, experiencing safety, emotional regulation, and respectful boundaries can help someone finally recognize how painful or abusive another relationship has been. Together, Sandra and Noelani discuss: Why perimenopause can bring unresolved trauma back to the surface How becoming a parent can change the way someone views their childhood Religious trauma and the lasting effects of authoritarian parenting Why accountability and genuine apologies matter Physical punishment and the normalization of violence against children How trauma is passed from one generation to another Transactional love, entitlement, and power within family relationships The grief of losing a relationship with someone who is still alive Why adult children rarely choose no contact casually Enmeshment, individuation, and resistance to adult children’s independence How safe relationships can reveal previously normalized abuse The similarities between controlling family systems and broader authoritarian systems Racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and the ethical responsibilities of therapists How healing can help individuals and communities choose a different path This conversation is honest, fiery, compassionate, and ultimately hopeful. Healing does not require pretending the harm never happened. It requires telling the truth, developing healthier relationships, interrupting generational patterns, and deciding that trauma will no longer be passed through another person’s body. Books Mentioned My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem - https://link.amazon/B09b3MBgC How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir by Molly Jong-Fast - https://link.amazon/B02OtjdqE Well Trained Wife by Tia Levings- https://link.amazon/B04xWkpoX Of Woman Born by Adrienne Rich - https://link.amazon/B00UsRWx6 Do the Work! An Antiracist Activity Book by W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz - https://link.amazon/B06Uqc8L9 Connect With Sandra Sandra Fraser Maurer, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor https://sandrafrasermaurer.com Sandra Fraser MaurerFacebook · Sandra Fraser Maurer6.6K+ followers Sandra Fraser Maurer (@mn_therapist)Instagram · mn_therapist30.7K+ followers Connect with Noelani | Beyond Mommy Dearest • https://www.facebook.com/BeyondMommyDearest/ • https://www.tiktok.com/@beyond.mommy.dearest • https://www.instagram.com/beyondmommydearest/ • https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondMommyDearest https://substack.com/@beyondmommydearest https://www.threads.com/@beyondmommydearest Support the show

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  Episode #32

  It’s Them, Not You: Toxic Parents, Childhood Trauma, No Contact & Breaking the Cycle

  Sep 11, 202659 minS1

  Reach out! You don't have to explain how crazy she was. We believe you!!! Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of childhood abuse, domestic violence, addiction, suicide, family trauma, and estrangement. Please take care of yourself while listening. If you are in the U.S. and experiencing a mental health crisis or need immediate emotional support, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If you are outside the U.S., please contact your country’s local crisis line or emergency services for immediate support. What happens when you stop numbing the pain and finally have to face what was underneath it? In this powerful and candid conversation, Noelani sits down with Mr. Josh Connolly , author of It’s Them, Not You , to talk about childhood trauma, toxic family systems, addiction and recovery, parenting, emotional neglect, boundaries, masculinity, and what it really means to heal. He opens up about getting sober at 24 and discovering that alcohol wasn’t the problem he thought it was. Once the alcohol was gone, he was left face-to-face with the emotional pain he had spent years trying to escape. Together, they explore why families and society so often protect the person causing harm instead of the person experiencing it, and why speaking the truth can make you the scapegoat in a dysfunctional family system. They also dive into adult children going no contact, the difference between imperfect parenting and abuse, and why a parent’s willingness to listen, take accountability, and repair can completely change a relationship. Josh shares how childhood emotional neglect can show up later as hypervigilance, chronic people-pleasing, difficulty knowing what you actually want, and building your identity around what other people need from you. The conversation also challenges traditional ideas about masculinity. He explains why healing wasn’t about becoming a different kind of man. It was about becoming comfortable enough to finally be himself. They discuss: • Addiction, sobriety, and discovering the pain underneath the coping mechanism • Childhood trauma and emotional neglect • Toxic parents and dysfunctional family systems • Why families protect abusers and scapegoat truth-tellers • Narcissistic mothers and mother-daughter dynamics • Adult children, estrangement, and going no contact • Parenting, accountability, and the power of repair • Hypervigilance and chronic people-pleasing • Developing a healthy sense of self • Boundaries and why toxic systems fight back when you change • Men, vulnerability, emotional expression, and masculinity • Raising children who are allowed to become themselves • Why being yourself creates healthier relationships • Taking responsibility for your healing without taking responsibility for what happened to you He leaves us with an important distinction: you can take responsibility for what you do moving forward without taking responsibility for what was done to you. His Book - https://amzn.to/3ULzMXa Connect with Noelani | Beyond Mommy Dearest https://www.facebook.com/BeyondMommyDearest/ https://www.tiktok.com/@beyond.mommy.dearest https://www.instagram.com/beyondmommydearest/ https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondMommyDearest https://substack.com/@beyondmommydearest https://www.threads.com/@beyondmommydearest Connect with Josh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josh_ffw/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@josh_ffw Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshffw YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JoshConnolly_FFW LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshconnolly/ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/josh_ffw Website: https://www.joshconnolly.co.uk/ Support the show

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  Beyond Mommy Dearest Podcast

  Narcissism Is Everywhere: Childhood Trauma, Toxic Leadership, Power & AI

  Aug 23, 20261h 5m

  Reach out! You don't have to explain how crazy she was. We believe you!!! Narcissism Is Everywhere: Childhood Trauma, Toxic Leadership, Power & AI Trigger warning: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, narcissistic and emotional abuse, substance use, overdose, politics, and other potentially difficult subjects. What happens when a conversation about narcissistic parents becomes a conversation about narcissism everywhere? In this special live episode of Beyond Mommy Dearest, Noelani sits down again with Chris Van Linda (@hype.r.vigilance) for an unscripted conversation about growing up with narcissistic and emotionally unhealthy parents, the long-term effects of childhood trauma, and how those same dynamics can show up in workplaces, leadership, technology, culture, and systems of power. Noelani and Chris explore something many survivors struggle to put into words: why success doesn't always feel like success. When you've spent childhood learning that your accomplishments belong to someone else, that your role is to please, perform, fix, or remain dependent, adulthood can bring a complicated relationship with achievement. Even objectively successful people may struggle to feel pride, ownership, or satisfaction in what they've accomplished. They discuss self-sabotage, enmeshment, learned helplessness, family roles, identity, and the process of asking: “Is this actually what I want, or is this who I learned I needed to be?” The conversation then moves beyond the family system. What happens when narcissistic behaviors are rewarded in workplaces, corporations, politics, technology, and other positions of power? Noelani and Chris discuss narcissism in executive leadership, trauma-informed organizations, AI and technology, surveillance, cultural norms, fear, social change, and the importance of recognizing how interpersonal dynamics can become systemic ones. They also explore the uncertainty many people are feeling right now and why naming fear, anger, sadness, hope, joy, and everything in between matters. This is a wide-ranging, candid conversation about narcissism, trauma, identity, power, technology, culture, and ultimately, reclaiming ownership of your life. In this episode: Growing up with narcissistic and emotionally unhealthy parents Why male survivors need to be part of the conversation Stage-parent dynamics and children being treated as extensions of their parents Why survivors sometimes struggle to feel successful Self-sabotage and learned helplessness Enmeshment and reclaiming your identity Family roles beyond the scapegoat and golden child Narcissism in leadership and workplace culture Trauma-informed executive leadership Why narcissistic behavior can sometimes be rewarded professionally Narcissism, power, politics, and cultural systems AI, technology, surveillance, and the people creating these systems Fear and uncertainty in periods of rapid social change Finding your voice after growing up afraid Choosing what matters to you and taking action Reclaiming your life as your own Connect with Chris: https://www.instagram.com/hype.r.vigilance Chris on Instagram https://tinyurl.com/bddemu7bm - Chris on Cameo https://bit.ly/4ahfgCz Chris’ Lint.ree Connect with Noelani | Beyond Mommy Dearest https://www.facebook.com/BeyondMommyDearest/ https://www.tiktok.com/@beyond.mommy.dearest https://www.instagram.com/beyondmommydearest/ Beyond Mommy Dearest explores the impact of narcissistic and emotionally immature parenting and what it takes to heal, break generational cycles, rebuild self-trust, and come home to yourself. Support the show

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