Description

Harriet Shearsmith addresses the balance between honoring our ancestors and drawing firm boundaries around destructive behavior. 

Learn how ancestral trauma is unintentionally passed down through generations, hear stories of personal family estrangements, and dive deep into what it truly means to be a cycle breaker. 

About Harriet

Harriet Shearsmith is an accredited empowerment and life coach, trainee therapist, best-selling author, and content creator of over 10 years. She specialises in working with clients who have experienced childhood trauma and are navigating estrangement or toxic family relationships. Harriet is an award-winning blogger and writer of Unfollowing Mum (2024) and Mummin’ It (2021), and has written for and been featured in publications like Happiful Mag, Guardian, Telegraph, BBC, Daily Express, Metro, Internet Matters and more. Harriet is also an award-winning blogger, content creator behind @unfollowing_mum and @harrietshearsmith, and podcaster with over 250,000 social media followers and 100,000 downloads. 

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Generational trauma often moves through sneaky messages that evolve with each generation but maintain the same underlying thread of "you aren't good enough".
• Estrangement is rarely a whim; it is often the result of one party repeatedly asking for changed behavior and being met with gaslighting or a lack of accountability.
• Becoming a parent often gives you what you need to recognize unhealthy patterns, as we realize we would never want our own children to experience what we endured.
• Being a cycle breaker doesn't mean never making mistakes; it means having the courage to apologize to your children, own your "stuff," and engage in the repair process that builds secure relationships.

Resources

• Dr. Emma Svanberg

Connect with Harriet

• Website
• @harrietshearsmith on Instagram
• Unfollowing Mum Podcast
• @unfollowing_mum on Instagram:
• @itsharrietshearsmith on TikTok

Theme music written and performed by Carter Penny.

Connect with Just Like Nana's Website.

A proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.