Cindi welcomes Amrita Subramanian, a former Fortune 500 VP with decades devoted to helping organizations thrive amid crisis. Amrita shares her personal journey from a convent upbringing with selective mutism to becoming a professor teaching post-crisis leadership. Our discussion delves into Amrita's recent study exploring the profound insights of pain leading to growth, trauma, and the language of renewal. We explore the ideal role of organizations in creating space for self-expression and authenticity as a response to post-traumatic growth.

Amrita’s global study represented 13 countries, 30 highly successful adults representing12 languages, 17 industries, and brought substantive evidence of growth post the pandemic. The two main aspects of post-traumatic growth evident in adults are appreciation of life and newer possibilities. For more information, or to reach Amrita: https://growbeyondpain.com

Nine To Thrive HR

Grow Beyond Pain: A Conversation with Amrita Subramanian

In the final chapter of this three-part sister series, we look back at the breaking point that changed everything.

Joined once again by my sisters Kate and Teresa, we reflect on our final years living under the same roof with our mom—years marked by addiction, instability, and the slow unraveling of the only structure we knew. From her escalating substance use to a devastating car accident that nearly took her life, we talk about the moment we thought things might finally change… and what happened when they didn’t.

This episode dives into the emotional cost of a childhood shaped by instability, addiction, and undiagnosed mental illness. We reflect on the toll it took on our sense of identity, our relationships, and our ability to feel safe in the world. While the journey into early adulthood is explored more fully in the next series, this conversation begins to unpack the long shadow of survival mode—and what it took to make it out.

Host/Producer/Writer/Director: Jenn St John

Editor: Andrew Schiller
Website: www.jennstjohn.ca
Follow along:
Instagram: @jenn_stjohn
LinkedIn: Jenn St John

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Subscribe, leave a review, or just send a little love—your support helps these conversations reach the people who need them most.

Becoming

What if the way you love, fight, avoid, or people-please wasn’t a personality flaw—but a survival blueprint?

In this episode, I sit down with trauma-informed therapist Laura Fess, founder of VOX Mental Health, for a powerful conversation about what really happens to our nervous system when we grow up in survival mode—and how those early patterns shape our adult relationships, attachment styles, and mental health.

We explore:
• How survival mode wires the brain for hypervigilance
• What anxious, avoidant, and disorganized attachment really look like in adulthood
• The neuroscience behind healing, storytelling, and post-traumatic growth
• Why unlearning old patterns isn’t failure—it’s neuroplasticity
• The quiet, resilient power of hope—and how to let it drive

I also share a journal entry from when I was 15, written during a pivotal turning point in my family’s story. It’s conflicted and searching, filled with the kind of quiet hope that surfaces when you're desperate for change but not sure it will come.

It’s vulnerable, reflective, and the perfect opening to this layered conversation about pain, healing, and how we can slowly carve new paths—machete in hand—toward something different.

If your story includes trauma, survival mode, or the long journey of trying to feel safe again, this one is for you.

🔗 Connect with VOX Mental Health:
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

Host/Producer/Writer/Director: Jenn St John

Editor: Andrew Schiller
Website: www.jennstjohn.ca
Follow along:
Instagram: @jenn_stjohn
LinkedIn: Jenn St John

If this episode spoke to you, share it with someone who might need to hear it too.

Subscribe, leave a review, or just send a little love—your support helps these conversations reach the people who need them most.

Blueprint

CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes candid discussion of depression, burnout, and suicidal ideation. Please listen with care and prioritize your well-being.

What does it mean to truly feel alive after you’ve nearly lost yourself? This week, I’m joined by Rachel Molenda — DJ, entrepreneur, and founder of Reunion, a women’s dance party movement rooted in joy, community, and remembering who you are.

But before Rachel was creating space for others to heal and dance, she was navigating a deep, disorienting depression that brought her to the brink. In this conversation, she speaks honestly about what it was like to be in that place — when even getting through the day felt impossible — and how music, movement, and community slowly helped her find her way back to herself.

We talk about:

What it feels like when your light starts to go out
The role of dance and movement in emotional regulation
The pressure to “heal” before feeling joy again — and why that’s backwards
The link between nervous system health and our capacity to experience joy
How creativity, connection, and radical honesty became Rachel’s way through
Rachel's courage in sharing her story is a powerful reminder that joy and sorrow aren’t opposites — they’re companions. That remembering who you are sometimes begins when everything else has fallen away. And that healing doesn’t always happen in stillness — sometimes it happens in motion.

Learn more about Rachel and her work:

Follow @rachelmmolenda on Instagram
Join the @thereuniondanceparty movement
Visit her website at rachelmmolenda.com
Host/Producer/Writer/Director: Jenn St John

Editor: Andrew Schiller
Website: www.jennstjohn.ca
Follow along:
Instagram: @jenn_stjohn
LinkedIn: Jenn St John

If this episode spoke to you, share it with someone who might need to hear it too.

Subscribe, leave a review, or just send a little love—your support helps these conversations reach the people who need them most.

Alive

Hi, I’m Jenn, and I’m passionate about transforming the conversation around mental health through creativity, connection, and advocacy. Nearly 50 years of life have taught me that we all carry shadows—stories that shape who we are and how we show up in the world. My story began with the challenges of growing up with a parent battling undiagnosed mental illness, an experience that deeply influenced my resilience, empathy, and innovative spirit.

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New tracks tagged #post-traumatic growth