Sandwich Parenting
An Essential Conversation
Recently I had the privilege of having a conversation with Sherry from Sandwich Parenting in relation to those of us raising the first generation of Trauma Informed Children whilst navigating our older family members.
Heal from CPTSD with Linda Meredith as your guide.
Linda Meredith is Australia’s first Certified Trauma Recovery Coach and the founder of the world’s first Trauma Recovery Academy. She is the mother of three grown children and about to be a grandmother!
Through her own healing journey, Linda has developed a gentle but powerful way to heal CPTSD – at one point, she lost all her cognitive functions. Her recovery is miraculous, but even more inspiring is what she does now to help people.
Linda has made her courses, worksheets, resources and videos available to the public.
She is a coach and a counsellor who is working to make the world an emotionally safer place for all of us, as individuals, parents and children. What a thrill it was to interview her at her home in Brisbane, Australia.
A Sandwich Parent who saved herself from a complete loss of cognitive functions to being Australia’s first Certified Trauma Recovery Coach, Linda Meredith truly knows what suffering from CPTSD is like. Based out of Brisbane, Linda makes her trauma recovery expertise available globally through her YouTube channel, Healing CPTSD website, and Facebook community. She wants you to believe in yourself and have hope. She did it and she wants you to know you can too. (Side note: Bill forgot he was editing as he got caught up listening to her thoughtful, passionate, and wise advice.) ---
podcast
Listen Here
Where Canada and Australia collided to discuss all things Sandwich Parenting!
Of course I got the time difference wrong, so I was sitting around waiting for her and had an entire hour free from distraction (what a gift) as the husband and the kids were told to give me quiet time in the kitchen after dinner. I used the time to watch a few more of her videos and ended up getting engaged, the hour went by in a flash. Linda’s videos are short, personable, and accessible. I felt completely heard, understood, and supported. And this was BEFORE I had actually spoken to her in person.
She joined the Zoom call and immediately I just felt, well, safe. She exudes this strong yet gentle, passionate but not overwhelming personality. She has a ready smile and great screen presence. She really knows her stuff and has helped countless people understand what they are going through. In our conversation during and after the interview, she made me feel important and that I had something meaningful to contribute to the conversation.
My journey of recovery from CPTSD has been greatly enhanced by exploring her website, Facebook Community Page, Instagram, and YouTube videos.
In our podcast, we talk about:
- CPTSD (Complex Post-Trauma Stress Disorder) and how it comes from things like ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), inter-generational abandonment issues, or emotional neglect.
- How unspoken rules like “When anything bad happens, we don’t talk about it” are so dangerous for children.
- She shared some of the changes she made as a parent, such as, wanting to know her kids as individuals, even down to what they liked eating.
- She touches on how unconditional love of children is non-negotiable; otherwise it impedes their ability to keep being curious, which they need in order to develop.
- Linda knows what it’s like to be a single mom who struggles, has financial barriers, and wants better for her children. That’s why she makes so much of her work available for free.
Her Key Message: Believe in yourself! You have to be willing to make changes where you won’t see results until your children become adults! Your vision as a parent is to make changes that impact not just your children, but also your children’s children.
I hope you enjoy ‘working’ with Linda as much as I do!
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