Episode Details

In this solo episode, Kate goes deep into a part of recovery that rarely gets named — but quietly shapes everything: religious wounding, self-trust, and soul work.

For years, Kate approached recovery through neuroscience alone — partly out of rebellion against rigid dogma and hierarchical systems that taught her she was broken, powerless, or unable to trust herself. But over time, both her own healing and her work with hundreds of women revealed something deeper:

Many women aren’t just healing from alcohol.

They’re healing from self-abandonment.

From spiritual disconnection.

From being taught not to trust themselves.

This episode explores the powerful overlap between:

1. Religious conditioning
2. Patriarchal structures
3. Recovery dogma
4. Nervous system dysregulation
5. Shame, perfectionism, and people-pleasing

Kate shares how discovering feminist theology — particularly the work of Meggan Watterson — helped repair deep spiritual and identity-level wounds. Through this lens, God is not an external authority or judging figure, but what Watterson calls “the Good” — love, wisdom, presence — something we are already connected to, not something we must earn.

You’ll also hear Kate reflect on the reclamation of Mary Magdalene as a teacher, mystic, and leader rather than the distorted trope of a “fallen woman,” and how reconnecting with the divine feminine strengthened her confidence, softened her nervous system, and deepened her self-trust.

At the heart of this episode is a redefinition of soul work — not as religion, but as:

The practice of learning how to listen to your own inner knowing

Rebuilding trust in yourself after years of override

Connecting with love rather than fear

Coming home to yourself

Kate also unpacks how healing requires both science and soul, including:

1. How the brain rewires after alcohol
2. Why emotions feel louder in early sobriety
3. How stress, habit loops, and nervous system dysregulation drive behavior
4. Why willpower burns people out
5. Why lasting change comes from safety + repetition
6. Why healing must also include grief, identity work, emotional honesty, and self-trust

This episode is for anyone who has ever wondered:

1. Why they struggle to trust themselves
2. Why traditional recovery spaces felt shaming or disempowering
3. Why spirituality felt wounding instead of supportive
4. Whether you can believe in neuroscience, intuition, feminism, and God all at once