Invisible Scars Podcast

A conversation with Jessalynn Biederstadt

In this powerful episode of the Invisible Scars podcast, I share my family’s journey with mental illness, particularly my daughter’s struggles with an eating disorder, depression, and self-harm. I open up about my own healing journey, triggered by my daughter’s challenges, and discuss the anxieties I faced in sharing our story through my book. The conversation touches on the complexities of navigating the healthcare system, the impact on our mother-daughter relationship, and the importance of self-care and listening to one’s inner voice.

I emphasize the need to normalize conversations about mental health, highlighting the significance of breaking unhealthy patterns and focusing on inner work for true healing.

This episode offers a powerful message of vulnerability, resilience, and the transformative power of love and self-awareness.

Each week, Jessalyn engages in open and honest conversations with clinicians, trauma specialists, and fellow healing survivors who are all on their unique paths to healing. Invisible Scars offers a space for listeners to learn from the experience of others, gain practical tools for their own healing journey, and find inspiration and hope in the stories of those who have found their way to the other side of trauma.

Experiences she has had in life could have lead her down a very dark and dangerous path. And while she made many mistakes along the way she also created an incredibly beautiful life. She owns her dream business, an online clothing boutique Doted. She has a beautiful daughter and step daughter, and an incredible husband of 15 years.

After decades of being silenced her story has always been there inside of her waiting to be heard. She knew that she wanted to share it with the world to give hope to anyone that is suffering from the effects of trauma, and prove that no matter where you came from or what your story is, there can be beauty on the other side of pain.

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Episode Highlights

In this episode, you’ll hear…

Why it’s so important to me to share our journey openly and honestly
My repeating family patterns of difficult relationships with food, weight, and body image and how that passed down to my daughter.
Briefly, our journey within the system and suggested improvements for parents and providers.
How community involvement and destigmatizing conversation is crucial for everyone’s mental health.
The part of self-care we don’t understand and why giving more is not the answer to how we best help our children. (Inc. tools like therapy, creativity, tuning in to intuition, journal, writing, community, mindfulness, gratitude)
Spiritual practice as key to healing, and giving ourselves permission to explore what works for us.