Episodes – Page 2 – DNA Surprises

Angie’s DNA Surprise

Sometimes DNA surprises lead to flourishing relationships with newfound family, but sometimes they do not. In this week’s episode, Angie shares how a comment from her birth certificate father’s wife revealed a non-paternal event. She discusses how she identified her biological father with the help of DNAngels and her disappointment at his unwillingness to build a relationship. Angie also shares how she reached a place of compassion for him and his family, as well as her mother.

March 14, 2023

Bonus Episode | Let It Rain

Welcome to a bonus episode of DNA surprises. In this episode, I’m joined by Lindsay Johnson, a registered nurse, board-certified nurse coach, and integrative health coach who cares for the caregiver through stress, burnout, and trauma healing. She utilizes various methodologies in her practice, including mindful listening, transformative coaching, somatic experience and trauma healing, mindfulness, HeartMath, and gentle accountability.

Lindsay helps her clients reconnect to themselves and their bodies, become more aware and mindful of their coping mechanisms, access their courage and inner wisdom, and shed old habits in order to make way for more self-compassion and love. In her session, “Let it RAIN: Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture,” Lindsay will teach us how self-compassion is a vital portion of the healing process for DNA surprises

March 9, 2023

Stacy W’s DNA Surprise

DNA surprises can cause major disruptions to our interpersonal relationships, particularly the bonds we have with our raised parents. But often what most affects those relationships isn’t the surprises themselves, but how people act afterward.

In this episode, Stacy shares how she uncovered not one, but two NPEs throughout her life. She shares how she’s built amazing relationships with her newfound family and how things have unfortunately deteriorated with her mother. At the very end of this episode, Stacy graciously shares the letter that she wrote her mother in its entirety–and her mother’s response.

March 7, 2023

Aly’s DNA Surprise

When people experience DNA surprises, the range of emotions they feel can be wide. There’s sadness. There’s confusion. There’s happiness, sometimes. And often, there is anger. In this week’s episode, Aly shares how she felt when she learned that her birth certificate father isn’t her biological father and that she was born after a years-long affair between her mother and a colleague. She discusses how it’s been difficult to get the truth from her mother, how her relationship with her biological father isn’t want she hoped it would be, and how she discovered that her birth certificate father also knew the truth for decades.

February 28, 2023

Bonus Episode | DNA Surprises & Grief

Welcome to a bonus episode of DNA Surprises. In this episode, I’m joined by Jennica Klemann, an Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Specialist and Arizona Licensed Massage Therapist. She specializes in a variety of losses including death, divorce, loss of health, child loss, pet loss, and complicated familial dynamics, just to name a few. Jennica is facilitating a session on grief at the DNA Surprise Retreat. In this episode, we discuss the different kinds of grief, misconceptions about grief, and how we can begin to integrate grief into our lives. Grief is a huge part of the DNA surprise journey. I hope you find this information helpful.

February 23, 2023

Kim M’s DNA Surprise

In this week’s episode, Kim shares how she learned that after feeling different from her family her entire life, she is not genetically related to her raised father. She also learned that she isn’t white as she believed, but descends from a large Mexican family.

She shares how she’s processing her surprise and connecting with her family. After my interview with Kim, she decided to turn her DNA surprise into support for others. At the end of the episode, we reconnect to discuss what’s changed for her and what’s she doing now.

February 21, 2023