When you have experienced CPTSD due to your partner's infidelity, addiction and abusive behaviors, it's chipped away at your sense of self and empowerment. Divorce is hard enough, but divorcing after betrayal, abuse and a narcissist is another level of hard. I help women navigate a life saving divorce from a place of empowerment, dignity and strength. Learn tools to practice each week, hear from other women & professionals to help you feel supported along your healing journey. Divorce doesn't have to be the story of your life, YOU create the story and are the chooser in it. Because You Can!
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Details about The Empowered Divorce Podcast; Navigating Divorce After Betrayal Trauma and Abuse , a podcast by Amie Woolsey Certified Brainspotting Practitioner; APSATS-CPC, ICF-PCP,
209. Foot Zoning for Betrayal Trauma: How Your Feet Hold the Story of Your Body with Susan Child
Thursday, September 3, 2026 • Duration 43:48
If you've experienced betrayal trauma, abuse, or divorce, you already know how deeply it lives in the body, not just the mind. In this episode, I sit down with Susan, founder of Soul Connections and an experienced foot zoning practitioner and holistic wellness educator, to talk about how the body holds and releases trauma, and how something as simple as your feet can become a doorway back to yourself.
Susan has spent years helping women reconnect with their bodies through foot zoning, an ancient practice rooted in the idea that meridians running through the feet connect to every organ, muscle, and system in the body. We talk about what foot zoning actually is, how trauma drains the body's energy reserves, why the adrenals take such a hit during prolonged unsafe relationships, and how women can start rebuilding self-trust one small, tangible step at a time.
This conversation is a reminder that healing is holistic. The mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual are never separate, and sometimes the smallest physical practice, like pressing a point between your toes, is enough to remind your nervous system that it's safe to come home.
Free Video Series "Am I In An Abusive Relationship" :You will receive an email containing videos that guide you through the 8 domains of a relationship and explore potentially destructive dynamics you may be experiencing.Each video includes a worksheet to help you reflect on your lived experience and gain greater clarity and understanding of your reality.Please note: the email subject line will not include the word "abuse."
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION IComposition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
208. Stages Of Denial
Thursday, August 27, 2026 • Duration 27:35
If you've ever known something was wrong but couldn't quite let yourself fully see it — this episode is for you.
Today I'm sharing a video I created called Stages of Denial: Denial, Awareness, and the Courage to See Things as They Really Are. And I'm airing it here because this conversation matters not just when you're still in the relationship trying to figure out what's real, but after you leave too. Even years into healing, denial can still be present — denial about the severity of what you experienced, about the impact it had on you, and sometimes even about your own healing timeline.
This one meets you wherever you are right now.
What we cover:
Why denial is not a character flaw — it's a rational adaptation to an environment designed to make your reality hard to see
The central dialectic of trauma (Judith Herman) and why the internal war of knowing and not knowing makes complete sense
The four degrees of denial and which one most survivors are actually living in
The dimmer switch analogy — why the room gets dark so slowly that you convince yourself you can still see just fine
How abusers use denial differently than survivors, and what Lundy Bancroft and Evan Stark say about that
The quieter forms of denial: omission, compliance, intellectualizing, hopelessness
A predictable pattern researchers found in recorded calls between abusers and survivors — and why knowing the pattern is the beginning of not being moved by it
Where to actually start: the body, the journal, the emotions you've been holding under water
Free Video Series "Am I In An Abusive Relationship" :You will receive an email containing videos that guide you through the 8 domains of a relationship and explore potentially destructive dynamics you may be experiencing.Each video includes a worksheet to help you reflect on your lived experience and gain greater clarity and understanding of your reality.
207. Healing From Abuse
Thursday, August 20, 2026 • Duration 32:42
Healing from an abusive relationship doesn't end when you leave. In this episode, betrayal trauma coach and somatic practitioner Amie Woolsey gets honest about what it actually looks like to heal from abusive and controlling relationship patterns after divorce — and why your nervous system may still be living inside the old relationship long after the papers are signed.
Whether you are navigating post-separation abuse, still in the middle of a high-conflict divorce, or years out and wondering why certain patterns keep showing up, this episode was made for you.
Free Video Series "Am I In An Abusive Relationship" :You will receive an email containing videos that guide you through the 8 domains of a relationship and explore potentially destructive dynamics you may be experiencing.Each video includes a worksheet to help you reflect on your lived experience and gain greater clarity and understanding of your reality.Please note: the email subject line will not include the word "abuse."
206. Songs That Heal: A Divorce Recovery Conversation with Singer-Songwriter Brian Wolff
Thursday, August 13, 2026 • Duration 52:32
This episode welcomes guest Brian Wolff, a singer-songwriter based here in Austin Texas who I discovered in the most Austin way possible: playing live at the farmers market on a Saturday morning. One particular song stopped me in my tracks, and I knew I had to have him on.
We talk through two of his songs together, line by line, and explore how they connect to the work of healing from betrayal trauma and divorce, even though that's not where they originally came from.
What we cover:
How Brian uses songwriting as his own form of therapy and processing
Why "judging only by what they can see" hits so hard for anyone who's divorced someone who still wears the nice guy mask in public
The exhausting, very real frustration of post-separation abuse and people who don't understand what's happening underneath the surface
A second song about loving someone who's stuck and wanting so badly to help them let go, including the radical acceptance of having to let go of trying to make someone else let go
The "cracked mirror" image and how the people we love can plant ideas in our heads about who we are
The shift from "I want you to heal" to "we want you to heal," and what that says about community and being seen
Hope, even in the hard stuff. That's the thread running through everything Brian writes, and it's the thread I hope runs through this whole season.
205. Summer Song Series 2026; Stay Or Go with Elizabeth Garnett
Thursday, August 6, 2026 • Duration 37:52
What does it cost you to stay? What does it cost you to leave? And what happens when you have been stuck in that question so long you have stopped trusting yourself entirely?
In this Summer Song Series episode, Amie is joined by her friend and former client Elizabeth Garnett to talk about a song Elizabeth wrote from the deepest part of her own healing journey. Stay or Go captures what so many women in the middle of this decision cannot find words for: the soul-level exhaustion of staying, the terrifying unknown of leaving, and the price you pay for not choosing at all.
This is a conversation about creative healing, the weight of the stuck place, what it really costs to stay comfortable in your discomfort, and why sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is ask yourself: at what cost?
Featured Song
Stay or Go by Elizabeth Garnett Written by Elizabeth Garnett — her words, her story, her healing. Available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms. Added to the Healing After Divorce Spotify playlist — https://open.spotify.com/album/3BTrhlHTNuzggY87JkpaJ1?si=tUZEvuLYRwaTmVMqQBCJlg
204. Summer Song Series 2026; "I Miss Me Too" :How Betrayal Makes You Lose Yourself (and Find Yourself Again)
Thursday, July 30, 2026 • Duration 19:41
There is a moment in healing that does not get talked about enough — the moment you realize you are not just grieving the relationship. You are grieving yourself. The version of you that existed before the lies, before the walking on eggshells, before you started shrinking to make room for someone who was never going to show up the way you needed.
This week's Summer Song Series episode is built around I Miss Me Too by Kyndal — a song that puts language to one of the most painful and least-named parts of betrayal recovery: identity erosion. In this episode, I breaks down the lyrics line by line and connects them to the real healing work of coming back to yourself after chronic deception, betrayal trauma, and a life-saving divorce.
If you have ever driven in your car and thought — I miss who I was before all of this — this episode is for you.
Featured Song
I Miss Me Too by Kyndal Available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major platforms.Added to the Healing After Divorce Spotify playlist — https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1oB2IYyLV2fn1oLL0oTVJc?si=toZ8wKvUQD2VIUMtDUp29g
Journal Prompt
Describe a moment — before this relationship, or early in your life — when you felt most like yourself. What were you doing? What did it feel like in your body? What did you know about yourself in that moment that you want to remember?
203. Stages of Healing After Betrayal Trauma & Divorce (Part 2)
Thursday, July 23, 2026 • Duration 45:46
This is a re-airing of Part 2 of the Victim → Chooser series, where I continue the framework for understanding the emotional and cognitive stages of healing after betrayal, abuse, and relational trauma.
In Part 1, I walked through the Victim and Emerger stages. In this episode, I move into the deeper reclamation process and what it actually looks like to step into agency through the Reclaimer and Chooser stages.
This episode is not about perfection or “getting it right.” It’s about awareness, normalization, and learning how to recognize when your nervous system is shifting out of survival and into choice.
In this episode, I explore:
The shift from surviving to reclaiming after betrayal trauma
How trust begins to rebuild (self, body, intuition, and reality)
What it means to reclaim your voice, truth, and decision-making ability
Why “I can make choices and be wrong” is a turning point in healing
Reconnecting to your body after dissociation and trauma
Boundaries as protection, not control
Separating your identity from trauma, emotions, and the body
What agency actually looks like in real life (not just theory)
The Reclaimer stage is where people begin to return to themselves—trusting their body, rebuilding intuition, and realizing they are not powerless or “crazy,” but often were living inside a distorted reality created through betrayal or abuse.
The Chooser stage is where agency becomes embodied. Not because life is easy, but because you begin to trust yourself enough to stay with yourself through anything. Choices are guided by values, not fear. And your identity is no longer defined by trauma, other people, or past experiences.
If you’re in a season where things feel unclear or you’re questioning your direction, this episode is meant to help you locate yourself—not judge yourself.
202. Stages of Healing After Betrayal: From Victim Thinking to Choosing Your Life (Part 1)
Thursday, July 16, 2026 • Duration 37:53
This episode is a re-airing of a previously recorded two-part series on shifting from a victim mindset into a chooser mindset after betrayal, abuse, and relational trauma.
I’m bringing this one back because this framework has been coming up more with clients lately, especially those navigating divorce, post-separation abuse, and the early rebuilding stages of their life after betrayal.
In this first part, I walk through the “Victim → Emerger” stages of healing and the thoughts that often show up in each space. This isn’t about labeling yourself or putting yourself in a box. It’s about building awareness so you can recognize where your mind tends to land under stress, overwhelm, or trauma activation.
We explore how certain thoughts in the victim stage are actually protective in the beginning—but can become limiting when we stay there too long. Then we move into the emerger stage, where reality starts to come into focus, emotions begin to surface, and possibility starts to feel slightly more accessible.
You’ll hear themes around:
Betrayal trauma and loss of trust
Why victim thoughts are often protective, not “wrong”
Power, agency, and where it actually lives
Numbing, shutdown, and emotional overwhelm
The beginning shift into awareness and possibility (emerging stage)
Anger and grief as part of forward movement
What it looks like to start seeing patterns instead of collapse
This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Next week I’ll re-air Part 2 where I move into Reclaimer and Chooser mindset stages and how we begin stepping into agency in a grounded, embodied way.
If you’re in a season where things feel disorienting, heavy, or unclear—this framework is meant to help you orient, not judge where you are.
And just a reminder: healing isn’t linear, and you don’t move through these stages perfectly. Most people move in and out of them as they stabilize and rebuild.
FULL PDF LINK:
201. Why You Feel Stuck in the Past After Divorce (And How to Heal Your Nervous System)
Thursday, July 9, 2026 • Duration 17:12
After a life-saving divorce, many people expect that once they leave the relationship, they should feel better and move forward. But instead, they find themselves replaying memories, feeling on edge, or reacting to triggers that seem small but feel overwhelming.
In this episode, I talk about why feeling stuck in the past is not a sign that you’re doing something wrong—it’s often a sign that your nervous system has not fully processed the shock, betrayal, and chronic stress you lived through.
I explore how trauma responses like hypervigilance, rumination, and emotional reactivity are actually protective responses from the body, and why healing requires more than just thinking differently. Somatic work—healing that includes the body—can help restore a sense of safety, reduce reactivity, and support real movement forward after divorce.
You’ll also hear reassurance that healing does not require erasing the good memories or having every answer. It means learning to hold the full truth of your story while building stability, choice, and agency in your life again.
200. Will My Kids Be OK After Divorce? A Daughter Answers/ Part 2
Thursday, July 2, 2026 • Duration 31:18
In Part 2 of this deeply personal and powerful conversation, my daughter, McKenna, continues sharing her perspective of growing up through divorce, betrayal, emotional pain, healing, and family repair.
This episode moves beyond the fear many parents carry and into something deeper: what actually helped a child heal.
Together, we explore the realities children often face silently during divorce and family trauma — navigating loyalty binds, emotional overwhelm, parentification, confusion, grief, and the pressure to carry emotions that were never theirs to hold.
McKenna vulnerably shares what was helpful, what was harmful, and what she wishes parents understood while navigating separation and healing.
This conversation covers:
The emotional weight children can carry after divorce
Parentification and emotional dumping on children
Why children should not become the emotional support system for parents
The difference between honesty and oversharing
Helping children process difficult truths in emotionally healthy ways
Therapy, healing resources, and emotional support systems for kids
How children learn healthy vs unhealthy relationship patterns
The impact of watching a parent do their own healing work
Letting children form their own relationship with the other parent
Fear, control, custody, and trusting children’s inner wisdom
The importance of continuing to show up for your children, even imperfectly
How children develop resilience through healing and support
One of the most meaningful moments in this episode is the reminder that children are not looking for perfect parents. They are looking for safety, honesty, consistency, and parents willing to keep growing.
McKenna also shares an incredibly important perspective for fathers who may feel discouraged, disconnected, or afraid they’ve damaged the relationship beyond repair: do not stop reaching out. Children still need to know they are loved.
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Need support ?📩 amie@lifecoachingwithamie.com
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION IComposition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Need support ?📩 amie@lifecoachingwithamie.com
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION IComposition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
Free Video Series "Am I In An Abusive Relationship" :You will receive an email containing videos that guide you through the 8 domains of a relationship and explore potentially destructive dynamics you may be experiencing.Each video includes a worksheet to help you reflect on your lived experience and gain greater clarity and understanding of your reality.Please note: the email subject line will not include the word "abuse."
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Need support ?📩 amie@lifecoachingwithamie.com
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION IComposition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Need support ?📩 amie@lifecoachingwithamie.com
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION Composition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION Composition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
KEYWORDS
identity erosion after betrayal, I miss myself after divorce, healing after betrayal trauma, losing yourself in a relationship, love bombing after divorce, self-betrayal recovery, who am I after divorce, somatic healing betrayal trauma, reclaiming yourself after abuse, life-saving divorce, empowered divorce, betrayal trauma coach, divorce recovery podcast, healing your identity after narcissistic relationship
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
📍 Should I Stay or Go? CourseThis guide walks you through one of the hardest questions you'll ever face. It's not about finding the right answer—it's about becoming the chooser of it.👉 Learn more + enroll
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION IComposition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
📍 Should I Stay or Go? CourseThis guide walks you through one of the hardest questions you'll ever face. It's not about finding the right answer—it's about becoming the chooser of it.👉 Learn more + enroll
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION IComposition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Need support ?📩 amie@lifecoachingwithamie.com
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION IComposition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
📍 Intimacy Within: Self-Paced CourseWant real connection in a future relationship? Start by building healthy intimacy within. Learn the 7 levels of intimacy and how to practice them—first, with YOU.👉 Check it out here
📍 Should I Stay or Go? CourseThis guide walks you through one of the hardest questions you'll ever face. It's not about finding the right answer—it's about becoming the chooser of it.👉 Learn more + enroll
💻 Want to work with Amie 1:1?Book a consult: Click here
🎥 Watch on YouTube: Get episodes early + visual tools to support your journey.📲 Follow me on social:Instagram | Facebook | TikTok → @amiewoolsey
Need support ?📩 amie@lifecoachingwithamie.com
Musicbed -January 8, 2024The Music Bed, LLC ("MB") approves the use of "Today Will Be The Day - Instrumental" (Composition(s) and Master(s)) for intro"intro" (the "Production") pursuant to your request date January 8, 2024 as follows:SECTION IComposition/Master: Today Will Be The Day - InstrumentalArtist(s): Summer Kennedy
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