Going There with Jen
70 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 33 ratingsJoin Emotional Baggage Expert and Coach Jen Vertanen and her guests each week as they explore tough topics through unfiltered, raw, and oftentimes hilarious conversations about the things that make us human. No topic off-limits; no story too much.
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Episodes
017: They/Them Pronouns, Self-Harming, and Working With People To Be Less Accidental Assholes with Mason Aid
February 14, 2018 12:00 - 56 minutes - 39.1 MBMason didn’t think they’d live to their late 20s and is now 32 with a wife, baby, and super important work helping organizations be more LGBTQ friendly.We want…scratch that…NEED Mason here on this planet at this critical time as we all learn how to better navigate how society is changing.Listen in as Mason and I talk about self-harming (they were hospitalized 7 times), having to adopt your own daughter because of the fucked up conventions in our society, the support of amazing parents, being ...
016: It's Season 2 Time and Dyana Valentine Turns The Tables on Me...GAH!
February 08, 2018 00:04 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MBGAH. Life’s a journey…yeah? Firstly…YEAH, IT’S SEASON 2, BABY!!!!!GOING THERE is an absolute labor of love and I pinch myself daily over the interesting people I meet and the deep conversations we have.A GINORMOUS Thank You for joining along on this ride.Now…onto the episode… WHAT’S IN THIS EPISODE Today, the tables have turned and the interviewer has become the interviewee. My friend and former guest, Dyana, asks me the hard questions that demand hard answers. What I had assumed was going t...
Jen Unfiltered 001: My Case of The Dumps
January 25, 2018 01:24 - 11 minutes - 7.63 MBI've been in the dumps since the holidays - sickness, a little family drama that I created on Christmas Eve and oh yeah...my dad verbally abusing my brother, his wife, and my husband. I have him blocked so yeah...fun times folks, fun times.What I've learned through my (many) years is that the darkness will eventually fade/pass. Sometimes it takes a day or two and sometimes twenty but at least it doesn't take years like it used to.I'm being serious here.Anyoo..this is me - unscripted, off the ...
015: One-star Yelp Reviews, Being the Most Calmest Anxious Person Ever, and Writing Super Hot Erotica with Alex Franzen
December 20, 2017 09:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBAlex and I haven't talked in FORever so it was lovely to catch up on all things life including depression, anxiety, one-star Yelp reviews, isolating, and erotica...all wrapped up in our goofy sense of humor and willingness to go there.What I love so much about Alex is what she shares through her writing is both uplifting AND intensely real. She practices vulnerability which such a sense of humor and delight and makes the world a better, kinder place one word/article/book at a time.Alex recent...
014: Writing a Book to Validate Her Existence, Finding Her Way Back to Comedy By Way of the Government, and What You Should and Should Not Google with Susan Stewart
December 13, 2017 09:00 - 38 minutes - 26.4 MBI usually cover a lot of heavy stuff in this show, but as always my main goal is to bring out the light in any dark situation. Today, let’s just stand in the light for a little bit; let’s laugh for therapy's sake and roll with whatever crazy, zany hijinks the universe wants to throw at us. This episode is all about why finding the light in the dark is essential to our personal well-being. It’s time to talk comedy. Humor is healing. This is the anthem of my guest Susan Stewart. Susan is a Toro...
013: Having Her Car Repo'd, Finally Feeling Safe Enough to Break Down, and Not Knowing If It's Ok to be Funny Right Now with Laura Egland
December 06, 2017 09:00 - 40 minutes - 28 MB“Life is fascinating; people are even more so.” My friend Laura Egland couldn’t have started this podcast with anything more fitting. As I record this interview, Laura and I are sitting in her cozy home in Fargo, North Dakota.Life is happening right here, right now including some rambunctious mews and hijinks from Laura’s new kitty. Since I am allll about life being real, sometimes it’s really messy and filled with a bit of kitten noise!Laura and I are two peas in a pod. We’ve only been toget...
012: Disrupting Shame Around Our Imperfections, Sexting, and Having Her Bottom Teeth Pulled at a Men’s Shelter with Ashley Beaudin
November 29, 2017 09:00 - 36 minutes - 25.4 MBOpening up to others is one of the hardest things to do. When we do practice vulnerability, what happens is an authentic connection with another human being that is wonderfully sweet. But...knowing the rewards of honesty is still not enough sometimes for us to break the ice. It’s helpful when there is someone else to pave the way and that’s one of the many reasons why I love Ashley Beaudin.I reached out to Ashley early on in the formation of this podcast, and I’ve been excited to have her on ...
011: Dreaming for a Living, Unrelenting Grief, and Defining Relationships on Your Own Terms with Dyana Valentine
November 22, 2017 09:00 - 51 minutes - 35.5 MBDyana Valentine is a positively f a s c i n a t i n g human being. I mean...this lady DREAMS for a living AND she's just a really really kind + generous person (she sent me a thank you card before I had a chance to send her a thank you for being a Going There guest).We spend some time talking about how she dreams for people but then we dive deep into Dyana's immense grief over the death of her father. As we were talking I found myself feeling jealous of Dyana's relationship with her dad. I m...
010: Healing from Binge Eating, the Worthiness Wound, and Defining the Word “Broken” with Thais Sky
November 15, 2017 09:00 - 52 minutes - 36.1 MBHealing work is hard. And exhausting. And oh so worth it. You've heard me say that before and now today's guest, Thais Sky, is saying it as well.As women, we are strong and powerful creatures made even more powerful when tackling the tough wounds and I feel like no one understands that better than Thais.Thais is a straight-talking truthteller and I found myself nodding along vigorously as Thais dives right into healing traumas and the worthiness wound and even helps me redefine the word "brok...
009: Feeling Extremes, Losing Her Dad, and Feeling Abandoned with Sally Hope
November 08, 2017 12:00 - 40 minutes - 28 MBToday, I sat down with Sally Hope, a Life Coach, spiritual guide, and overall rock-n-roll superstar.Sally is no stranger to pain nor does she shy away from the hard subjects (which is why I love her so damn much). Sally’s story is multilayered and complex, and from the layers, she has built for herself a business and a passion for helping others through pain. Through her coaching, writing, and online teaching, Sally gives us a glimpse into our darker sides, while also equipping us to make it ...
008: Radical Inconvenience, Hating Being a Mother, and Difficult Childhoods with Emelia Symington Fedy
November 01, 2017 11:00 - 49 minutes - 34.3 MBLife is hard. Welcome back to the safest place for life to be hard. On this podcast, I want to dare to discuss topics that are a little taboo or a bit uncomfortable. The payoff? Light! When we enter the darkness, light shines through brighter than before. That is why I am so happy to have Emelia Symington Fedy here with me today. Emelia dives headfirst into the difficult stuff of life because she believes in the hope and healing that comes forth when we do. I am delighted to share her story. ...
007: Me Riffing on Loneliness and My Podcast Journey Thus Far
October 25, 2017 11:00 - 9 minutes - 6.88 MBToday's solo riff is around loneliness. Every single goddamn time I talk about loneliness, I hear, "me too...me too...me too...thank you for talking about the taboo.".And it kills me because loneliness is such a silent killer and WE ALL KNOW IT.If we know it then why are so many of us lonely?Why? Because being an adult can be hard. Making friends as an adult can be even harder. Putting yourself out there for rejection? Um...friendship is just one more opportunity for someone to hurt or rejec...
006: Growing Up with a Borderline Personality Parent and Finding Healing Through the Meisner Technique with Marie Poulin
October 18, 2017 12:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBBecoming comfortable and confident in who you are is not just about who you are today. Sometimes, it takes us looking into the hard parts of our past to see how it has shaped us. My guest this week is Marie Poulin, a designer and digital strategist who tends to focus on helping other people reach their full potential. Once Marie began to turn that personal development onto herself, she discovered a key to her past that changed everything. Growing up with a parent suffering from Borderline Per...
005: How Her Family Celebrated Her Mother - KNOWING She was Going to Die Soon and the Pearls Jesse Received with Jesse Kahat
October 11, 2017 12:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MBWhen tragedy strikes, your world shifts. Everything you thought was unimportant before has taken on a new shape and color. Certain parts of your world come into sharp focus, and we cling to what we know and what we remember to help us recover and heal. There is no grief like losing a loved one, but despite that loss, we can still honor their memory and treasure their wisdom. My guest today is Jesse Kahat, who two years ago lost her Mother to a battle with terminal cancer. After receiving the...
004: Weight, How Much She Didn't Know She Needed Her Mother's Apology, and Putting The Diet Industry Out Of Business with Rita Chand
October 04, 2017 08:00 - 50 minutes - 34.5 MBIn the pursuit of physical health, we often neglect to work out our confidence muscles. Have you ever found yourself frustrated with the numbers on the scale, and asked, “Why can’t I just be happy?” Where are the warmth and the self-love that all of these “healthy” people seem to radiate? Have you ever stopped a moment to wonder if there is pain behind the smile? How lucky we are, then, to have a person like Rita Chand here on this earth. I’ve never met anyone who exudes warmth, kindness, and...
003: Her Mother's Addiction, Death, and Influences on Her Art with Shelley Rezai
September 26, 2017 12:30 - 37 minutes - 26 MBOftentimes, people have trouble letting out the pain they have inside so they learn to channel the emotions into other ways..sometimes healthy and other times not so healthy. Thankfully, my friend Shelley decided to channel her pain into something almost other-worldly.Shelley Rezai is an amazing painter who lets grief flow from her fingertips to paint exquisite artwork that makes you feel...really, truly feel.Peaceful, tranquil, a healing deep breath...In this episode, Shelley and I explore t...
002: Her Father's Suicide, Intimacy, and Feeling Unlovable with Natalie Vartanian
September 26, 2017 12:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBToday's conversation features the extra(and I do mean extra)ordinary Natalie Vartanian. Natalie is an experienced speaker, life coach and writer about relationships, intimacy, and sex and I knew we'd have no problems going deep fast. Plus? She's sexy as hell...amiright?!Natalie opens up about her father's suicide and lifelong impacts including struggling with intimacy and feeling unlovable. She goes deep and raw - opening up about her heartbreaks and fears, and shares her own unique way of he...
001: Isolating, Not Having Children, and the Sadness Behind the Smile with Kerrie Blazek
September 26, 2017 11:30 - 43 minutes - 29.8 MBKerrie Blazek is a dear sweet and super courageous soul sister of mine and I just KNEW she needed to be my first guest and thankfully, she said YES!We’ve had very different journeys in life but we share similar stories around emotional traumas in our childhood and the lifelong effects (good and not so good) including our tendency to isolate, the sadness behind the smile, bouts of melancholy, and struggles with confidence.And as always, we talk about the silver linings. And laugh. A lot.LISTEN...
I'm Going There...With Myself First
September 26, 2017 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.54 MBIn this very first episode, very first season of Going There with Jen Vertanen, I'm telling you about all the things I could tell you about my journey like my emotionally abusive childhood and subsequent lifelong traumas, promiscuity, becoming a mom when I didn't want to be a mom, loneliness, depression, and so on and so on.But I don't. I save these stories for later because Going There isn't just about me..it's about all of us. It's about sharing our stories to help heal us all. It's about n...
Season 1 WELCOME!!!
September 10, 2017 03:19 - 1 minute - 835 KBMentor, emotional sidekick, and all around awkward gal Jen Vertanen has spent the last gazillion years feeling alone and fairly depressed. It wasn't until she started addressing her own healing (from an emotionally abusive childhood) that she discovered others who said 'Me too' and Jen decided to stop being a miserable cow and help others tell their own stories around healing, silver linings, and finding the joy amidst the pain. In Season 1 of Going There, Jen will be talking with folks who'...