The Liberation Effect – Details, episodes & analysis

When a child’s behaviour pushes all our buttons, it can be hard to separate the present from the past. In this powerful episode, a mother explores her deep discomfort around her son’s intense emotional responses and defiance—asking herself if he might be a narcissist, like her own father was. 

But as she sits down with Helen, a different picture begins to emerge. How do unresolved wounds from narcissistic abuse shape the way we interpret our children’s behaviour? What part is ADHD or Autism playing in the dynamic?

This honest, tender conversation dives into projection, ADHD, autism, parental guilt, and the courage it takes to break inherited patterns.

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To be on the show please apply here: https://hub.liberationacademy.co.uk/podcast-application

The Expert Series is a conversation between a professional and me discussing their specialism in relationship to the course on The Hub. Listen as we explore people pleasing and sex, trauma and shame, or identity and neurodiversity. This content is free for Hub members, or available for a small monthly subscription. 

Thanks and take care! 

Helen

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If you're looking for stories from people just like you, and suggestions on how to find a way through similar problems, welcome to The Liberation Effect. 

Join me as we pull apart struggles and problems and see what's going on and how to move forward. 

https://liberationacademy.co.uk/the-hub/

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When we’ve grown up in chaos, it can be hard to untangle our trauma from who we truly are. In this episode, Patrick explores the tangled web of trust, identity, and survival after a lifetime shaped by narcissistic abuse - and a recent autism diagnosis that’s reframed everything.

As he sits down with Helen, we witness a moving conversation about how trauma disguises itself in our thoughts, how autism and trauma intertwine, and how addiction can become a clever - if costly - coping mechanism. Together, they unpack people-pleasing, perfectionism, emotional disconnection, and the shame that lingers long after the abuse ends.

This is an episode about rebuilding from the rubble, reclaiming joy, and learning to trust yourself again.

Join The Hub at ⁠https://liberationacademy.co.uk/the-hub/⁠ 

To be on the show please apply here: ⁠https://hub.liberationacademy.co.uk/podcast-application

In this episode, Helen talks with Amanda as she wrestles with the idea of reconnecting with her mother - someone who caused her deep pain. Diagnosed with autism later in life, Amanda shares how being neurodivergent shaped her understanding of the relationship, her patterns of trust, and the grief of toxic hope: the belief that maybe, one day, her mum might change.

Together they explore what it means to let go of the version of a parent you needed, how autism complicates that process, and what healing can look like when you stop waiting for someone else to be different.

Grow, connect and thrive with The Hub: ⁠https://liberationacademy.co.uk/the-hub/⁠

To be on the show please apply here: ⁠https://hub.liberationacademy.co.uk/podcast-application

What happens when the ‘safe parent’ lets you down?

In this episode, Lucy joins host Helen to explore the painful realisation that the parent she once saw as kind, gentle and safe – may never have been that at all.

After going no contact with her emotionally abusive stepmother, Lucy began speaking to her dad about what she’d lived through. But what followed was denial, gaslighting and invalidation – not just from her stepmother, but from the man she thought would be in her corner.

Together, Helen and Lucy explore toxic hope, the idolisation of the “good dad”, and the heartbreak of seeing someone clearly for the first time.

If you’ve ever been made to feel too sensitive, too difficult, or like you’re remembering it all wrong – this one’s for you.

Grow, connect and thrive with a free 7-day trial of The Hub: ⁠⁠https://liberationacademy.co.uk/the-hub/⁠⁠

To be on the show please apply here: ⁠⁠https://hub.liberationacademy.co.uk/podcast-application

In this episode, Helen is joined by Kate, who shares her story of going no contact with her mother and navigating the complex aftermath. What starts as a conversation about finding peace after estrangement becomes a profound exploration of trauma, covert abuse, family conditioning, and the grief that often follows disconnection.

Together, Helen and Kate discuss the deep roots of people-pleasing, how it links to childhood experiences, the long-term effects of narcissistic parenting, and the role shame plays in keeping us silent. With honesty and vulnerability, Kate offers a voice to what so many survivors feel but often can’t say.

Important note: There is a trigger/content warning in this episode for sexual abuse - please listen with caution and seek appropriate support if necessary.

Grow, connect and thrive with The Hub: ⁠⁠https://liberationacademy.co.uk/the-hub/⁠⁠To be on the show please apply here: ⁠⁠https://hub.liberationacademy.co.uk/podcast-application

What if everything that made you different was dismissed, not just by the world, but by the people meant to protect you?

Christina joins Helen to share the quiet heartbreak of being visibly different but never truly seen. Despite clear signs of neurodivergence from a young age, her parents dismissed the red flags, choosing image, denial and normality over acceptance and support. Now, with a late autism, ADHD and dyscalculia diagnosis, Christina is left untangling years of confusion, anger, and grief.

Together, they explore what it means to grow up performing for approval while being punished for your needs. From emotional shutdowns and school struggles to masking, meltdowns and the fear of peace itself, this conversation cuts to the core of what happens when your suffering is invisible - even to the people who say they love you most.

If you’ve ever found yourself asking why they didn’t do more, or how to stop needing their validation to move forward - this episode will speak to you.Grow, connect and thrive with a free 7-day trial of The Hub: ⁠⁠https://liberationacademy.co.uk/the-hub/⁠⁠

To be on the show please apply here: ⁠⁠https://hub.liberationacademy.co.uk/podcast-application

What if everything you thought was real… wasn’t?

In this episode of The Liberation Effect, Helen is joined by Emma, who’s facing the grief of being discarded by her narcissistic mother - not because she walked away, but because she finally said no.

Now in her fifties and newly separated, Emma is navigating the disorienting fallout of a lifetime spent performing for love, questioning every memory, and grieving the identity she was never allowed to form. Together, she and Helen unpack what happens when your childhood starts to unravel in adulthood, and how hard it is to trust yourself when you've spent your whole life being told who to be.Grow, connect and thrive with a free 7-day trial of The Hub: ⁠⁠https://liberationacademy.co.uk/the-hub/⁠⁠

To be on the show please apply here: ⁠⁠https://hub.liberationacademy.co.uk/podcast-application

What if understanding it won’t make it hurt less?

In this episode of The Liberation Effect, Helen is joined by Megan, who’s gone no contact with her parents but is still being pulled back in through guilt, shame, and flying monkey messages. Now pregnant again, Megan finds herself circling old patterns of self-doubt and wondering if she really was the problem all along.

What unfolds is a conversation about grief, survival, and the desperate need to make sense of the senseless. Together, Helen and Megan explore how the urge to understand - to explain, justify, or find a reason - can sometimes be a trauma response in itself. Because if we can figure it out, maybe we can fix it. And if we can fix it, maybe we weren’t really abandoned at all.

Trigger warning: this episode involves discussions about child loss and bereavement.

Grow, connect and thrive with a free 7-day trial of The Hub: ⁠⁠https://liberationacademy.co.uk/the-hub/⁠⁠

To be on the show please apply here: ⁠⁠https://hub.liberationacademy.co.uk/podcast-application