Lindsay Joy Taylor Reflects on the Trauma of Losing Her Mom as a Baby

I had such a great discussion with Lindsay Joy Taylor for this episode. Lindsay Joy lost her mom when she was just a baby. This was recorded prior to the global pandemic that we’re currently in, and I’m going to share it with you today because grief still goes on, and widowed parenting still has to happen, even in the midst of this crisis. I will continue to share ‘regular’ episodes each Wednesday, and in between I’ll share special, shorter episodes specific to parenting and grief in during the time of this coronavirus. Please be on the lookout for both.

Some topics Lindsay Joy and I discuss include:

• Losing her mother, her primary attachment figure, when she was just 13 months old;

• Having multiple caregivers in her young life after that point;

• Becoming an ‘easy baby’ and ‘easy kid,’ and people not realizing how much she was struggling;

• Being diagnosed with Complex PTSD 30 years later;

• Beginning to struggle and developing a ‘fight or flight’ response in her college years;

• Coming to realize that therapy was essential, even after an initial bad experience with it;

• Switching to a trauma-informed therapist;

• Doing body-based work in addition to talk therapy; and

• How memories of playing in her mom’s jewelery box as a child contributed to her business creating remembrance and memorial jewelery.

I hope you enjoy my discussion with Lindsay Joy Taylor.

Links & resources for this episode

• The Joyful Jewelry Box

• Healing Trauma, by Peter Levine

More links for listeners

• Download: Kids & Grief: What You Need to Know

• Article: I’m a Widowed Mom: Here Are My 3 Tips for COVID-19 Widows

• Book: Widowed Parents Unite: 52 Tips to Get Through the First Year, from One Widowed Parent to Another

Thank you sponsors & partners:

Help Texts - Grief support text messaging service. Tips and support delivered all year long, personalized based on your loss. Listeners get $10 off: https://helptexts.com/jennylisk

BetterHelp - Talk with a licensed, professional therapist online. Get 10% off your first month: betterhelp.com/widowedparent

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