What if spiritual practices are about more than obligation or routine? What if they are actually part of how we experience renewal, resilience, peace, and emotional healing?

In this episode, April Bordeau is joined by therapist Jean Crane to close out our May Mental Health Awareness Month series on whole-person wellness. Together, they explore how faith practices impact the body, mind, and spirit and why spiritual rhythms are an important part of emotional wellbeing and renewal.

This conversation explores:

• How faith practices support mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health
• The connection between prayer, worship, gratitude, creativity, and nervous system regulation
• Why silence, solitude, and rest matter for emotional wellbeing
• How spiritual practices can reduce stress, anxiety, and emotional overwhelm
• The role of Sabbath, stillness, and slowing down in a culture of constant productivity
• Why faith practices are meant to bring connection and renewal rather than pressure or performance
• How spiritual rhythms help build resilience before difficult seasons come
• Navigating faith practices during seasons of doubt, grief, spiritual struggle, or church hurt
• Practical ways to begin incorporating life-giving spiritual rhythms into daily life

April and Jean also discuss how spiritual practices can become legalistic or emotionally exhausting when disconnected from relationship, grace, and renewal, and they offer compassionate encouragement for those who feel spiritually tired, disconnected, or overwhelmed.

Whether you are in a season of burnout, emotional fatigue, grief, anxiety, spiritual questioning, or simply longing for greater peace and connection, this episode offers practical encouragement and hope for caring for your whole self.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Spiritual Practices for the Brain by Anne Kertz Kernion
• Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest by Ruth Haley Barton

Related Topics:

• Prayer and nervous system regulation
• Silence and solitude
• Gratitude and emotional wellness
• Worship and connection
• Sabbath and rest
• Creativity and emotional healing

At Care to Change, we believe healing happens when we care for the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. Our hope is that this conversation encourages you to create intentional space for renewal, connection, rest, and hope in your everyday life.

What if movement is about more than physical health?

In this episode, April Bordeau sits down with Brittany Gipson, Director of Clinical Services at Care to Change, to explore the powerful connection between movement, emotional wellness, stress, trauma, and the nervous system.

Together, they discuss how distressing events impact the body, why stress and trauma are often stored physically, and how intentional movement can help the body release tension, regulate emotions, and restore a sense of safety.

This conversation explores:

• What happens in the brain and body during stress and trauma
• How the fight-or-flight response impacts emotional and physical wellbeing
• Why the body stores cortisol and adrenaline
• The connection between unresolved stress and chronic tension
• How trauma can become generalized in the body over time
• Why movement helps complete the stress cycle
• Gentle ways to begin moving when feeling emotionally drained or overwhelmed
• How body scans increase self-awareness and emotional regulation
• The importance of working with your body instead of against it
• Why healing requires caring for the body, mind, and spirit together

Brittany also walks listeners through a simple body scan exercise and shares practical ways to support the nervous system through movement, breathing, stretching, prayer, grounding, and rest.

Whether you are navigating chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, grief, anxiety, trauma, or simply feeling disconnected from your body, this episode offers practical tools and compassionate insight to help you move toward greater healing and emotional wellness.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• The Body Keeps the Score
• Try Softer
• What Happened to You?
• Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga

Related Resources:

Care to Change also offers trauma-informed yoga, life coaching, counseling, and other whole-person wellness services designed to support emotional healing and nervous system regulation.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, or carrying the effects of past distressing experiences in your body, we want you to know there is hope. Healing happens when we create space to listen to the body, care for the whole person, and move forward one step at a time. Connect with us.

Grief is not only emotional. It is physical, spiritual, relational, and deeply personal. In this episode, April Bordeau sits down with therapist, Teresa Land to explore how grief is experienced and stored in the body, and why understanding that connection matters for healing.

Together, they discuss the physical effects of grief, including brain fog, fatigue, body aches, sleep disruption, anxiety, overwhelm, and nervous system dysregulation. Teresa explains how stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline impact the body after loss and why grief often feels like a roller coaster, tornado, and voyage all at once.

This conversation also explores:

• Why grief has no timeline
• How the body responds to both expected and unexpected loss
• The “firsts” that make grief feel ongoing throughout the first year
• Gentle ways to support the body during grief
• Grounding and breathing practices that calm the nervous system
• The “Five Rs” exercise for moving out of emotional freeze
• The spiritual practice of lament and bringing honest pain before God
• How hope and healing can coexist with sorrow

Whether your grief comes from the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a life transition, retirement, empty nesting, or another unexpected change, this episode offers practical insight, compassion, and encouragement for the journey.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Transforming Grief and Loss
• Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy
• The Garden Within
• Spiritual Practices for the Brain

Related Episode:

Want to learn more about the different types of grief? Listen to our previous episode focused on understanding grief and the grieving process.

If you are struggling with grief, feeling overwhelmed, or noticing how stress and loss are impacting your body, we want you to know you do not have to navigate it alone. Our team is here to create space for hope, healing, and support as you move forward.

In this episode, April and Jared explore the powerful connection between mental and physical health and why wellness is about far more than diet and exercise. We discuss how stress, anxiety, trauma, and burnout show up physically in the body and how healing often involves both the mind and nervous system.

You’ll learn:

• How the brain and body constantly communicate
• Why emotions are biological, not just mental
• How chronic stress impacts the body
• What fight, flight, and freeze responses look like
• Why symptoms can be signals instead of failures

We also break down common wellness myths, including:

• “If I look healthy, I must be healthy”
• “Stress is just part of life”
• “Mental and physical health are separate”
• “Strong people shouldn’t need support”

Plus, we share simple practical tools listeners can try immediately:

• Breathing exercises for nervous system regulation
• Learning where stress sits in the body
• Using movement and nature to support emotional health

One of the biggest reminders from this conversation: The body often speaks when the mind cannot.

Your body is not working against you. It may be trying to protect you.

Quotes From This Episode

• “Your body is not just reacting to your life. It is participating in it.”
• “Wellness is not just what we do with our bodies. It’s how we listen to them.”
• “Mental health and physical health are two languages describing the same story.”

If you are struggling to make peace with your body or you are having unexplainable aches and pains, call us today. 317-790–9396. Or check out our website.

Church should be a place of safety, connection, and healing. For many, it has also been a place of deep pain.

In this episode, April Bordeau and Jean Crane explore the reality of church hurt and the often-overlooked role of spiritual bypassing. We talk about what happens when faith language is used to silence pain instead of support healing, and why experiences in spiritual spaces can feel especially confusing, isolating, and shame-filled.

This conversation creates space for honesty. It offers language for what many have felt but struggled to name, and gentle direction for those trying to heal, rebuild trust, and reconnect with their faith in a meaningful way.

Whether you’ve personally experienced church hurt or want to better support others, this episode invites a more compassionate and grounded approach to faith and emotional health.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• What “church hurt” really means and why it can run so deep
• How spiritual bypassing shows up in everyday faith conversations
• The difference between encouragement and emotional avoidance
• Common experiences that leave lasting wounds in spiritual spaces
• Why acknowledging church hurt can feel confusing or even shameful
• Practical steps toward healing and emotional clarity
• How churches and leaders can respond in healthier, more responsible ways
• What it looks like to rebuild trust in yourself, others, and your faith

Key Takeaways:

• Pain experienced in spiritual settings often impacts both emotional and spiritual identity
• Spiritual bypassing can sound supportive on the surface while actually dismissing real pain
• Naming your experience is a powerful first step toward healing
• Healthy faith makes space for grief, questions, and emotional honesty
• Rebuilding trust takes time, intention, and safe relationships

A Gentle Reminder:
If you’ve been hurt in a church or spiritual setting, your experience matters. You are allowed to feel what you feel. Healing does not require you to minimize your story.

Resources & Support:
If this episode resonates with you, consider reaching out to us. Healing often happens in safe, relational spaces where your story can be fully heard.

Connect With Us:
Care to Change Counseling

Helping you care for your mental and emotional health with compassion and clarity 🧡

Betrayal isn’t always obvious. It often shows up through repeated disappointments, broken trust, or subtle patterns that leave you feeling unsettled. In this episode, we explore how to recognize true betrayal, what it does internally, and how to discern whether a relationship can be repaired or needs to end.

Join April Bordeau as she talks through the difference between mistakes and patterns, what real trust repair requires, and how to tell if someone is genuinely changing or simply avoiding consequences. We also unpack the important distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation.

For those feeling stuck, we offer guidance on how to move from confusion to clarity, including the role of boundaries and how to stop holding onto potential instead of reality. We also name the fears that keep people in unhealthy relationships and how to begin trusting yourself again.

Key Takeaways:

• Betrayal is often about patterns, not just one moment.
• Trust is rebuilt through consistent action over time.
• Forgiveness does not always mean staying in a relationship.
• Clarity comes from accepting reality, not hoping for change.

Closing Thought:
Clarity can feel painful, but it’s also what makes healing possible.

Reach out to Care to Change to discuss more or to have someone walk this difficult decision making process.

Have you ever walked away from a conversation questioning yourself… wondering if you were the problem, even when something didn’t feel right?

In this episode, Larry sits down with therapist Teresa Land to unpack the reality of gaslighting, a subtle but powerful form of emotional harm that can leave you doubting your thoughts, your feelings, and even your sense of reality. They explore how it shows up in everyday relationships, why it’s so hard to recognize, and how it slowly erodes confidence over time.

You’ll also hear practical, compassionate steps for finding your footing again, setting boundaries, and getting the support you deserve. Whether you’re navigating this personally or simply want to better understand relationship dynamics, this conversation will help you put words to what you may have been feeling for a long time.

Resources: The Gaslight Effect by Dr. Robin Stern
Learn more at caretochange.org

The word narcissist gets used everywhere right now—but what does it actually mean?

In this episode, April and Brittany take a grounded, clinical look at narcissism and separate truth from trend. We unpack what narcissism really is, where it comes from, and how it shows up in everyday relationships. You’ll also learn how to distinguish between harmful patterns and normal human behavior, and what to do if you find yourself in a relationship that feels confusing, one-sided, or emotionally draining.

Whether you’ve wondered if someone in your life is narcissistic or you’re trying to better understand relationship dynamics, this conversation brings clarity, compassion, and practical guidance.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• Why the term narcissist is often misunderstood and overused
• A clear, clinical definition of narcissism
• The difference between everyday self-centered behavior and true narcissistic traits
• Common behaviors that get mislabeled as narcissism
• What narcissism can look like in real-life relationships
• Healthy ways to set boundaries when dealing with difficult behavior
• Whether meaningful change is possible
• What most people get wrong about narcissism

Key Takeaways:

• Not all hurtful or self-focused behavior is narcissism
• Narcissism exists on a spectrum, not as a simple label
• Understanding the pattern matters more than labeling the person
• Boundaries are about protecting your wellbeing, not changing someone else
• Clarity reduces confusion and empowers healthier choices

A Thought to Sit With:

Sometimes the most important question isn’t “Are they a narcissist?” but “How is this relationship impacting me and what do I need to be well?”

Resources & Support:

If this episode resonated with you, working with a therapist can help you process relationship patterns and build clarity and confidence in your boundaries.

Connect with Care to Change:

🧡 Learn more about our services

🧡 Explore resources for healthier relationships

🧡 Reach out for support