Adult Child cover art

Adult Child

Adult Child

By: Andrea Ashley
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Adult Child dives deep into the lasting effects of growing up in dysfunctional families—unpacking complex and relational trauma, codependency, toxic shame, and addiction patterns with raw vulnerability and unapologetic authenticity.

Hosted by Andrea Ashley, a recovering shitshow with 17 years sober, each episode shares unfiltered insights, expert conversations, and practical tools to heal your nervous system and break free from the cycles that hold you back.

Whether you’re an adult child of alcoholics or from a dysfunctional family, navigating toxic relationships, or healing your inner child, this is your no-BS space for healing. New episodes every Wednesday & Saturday.

And damn the join The Shitshow Healing Community for live support groups and connection with fellow cycle breakers.

© 2021 Adult Child Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Relationships Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 237 - Stopping The War Within: Understanding Your Patterns Through Parts w/ Britt Frank

    237 - Stopping The War Within: Understanding Your Patterns Through Parts w/ Britt Frank
    Jul 1 2026

    Everything you hate about yourself starts making sense the moment you realize you're not one person - you're a whole system trying to survive.

    Britt Frank is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in trauma, trained in Internal Family Systems and Somatic Experiencing. She's the author of The Science of Stuck and Align Your Mind, which translate complex trauma and parts work into language people actually understand. Britt grew up in a covertly dysfunctional family, later found herself in a cult, survived addiction and domestic violence, and came out the other side not healed, but functional. In this episode, she shares how recognizing your multiplicity -the different parts of you all trying to protect you in their own ways - becomes the key to actually changing patterns that have haunted you.

    ✨ What this episode explores:

    ▪️ Your Shadow Parts — How the parts you exiled to survive become the gifts you can't access in adulthood.

    ▪️ When Belonging Becomes a Trap — Why the unmet need to belong draws you into high-control systems like cults or abusive partners.

    ▪️ Your Inner Critic as a Scared Kid — That relentless voice in your head isn’t always bully, but a frightened part just trying to keeping you small.

    ▪️ Parts Work for Treating Addiction — Understanding what your addiction protects you from works where logic, love, and willpower have all failed.

    ▪️ Functional, Not Fixed — Why the goal is not to be healed or whole, but to understand your system well enough so you can exist within it peacefully.

    -----------------------

    ⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community

    6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection

    👉 theshitshow.mn.co


    🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATION

    Get the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops.

    ➡️ Join here


    💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD

    ☕ Buy Me a Coffee – help Andrea (and her cats) eat

    🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch


    💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREA

    Instagram → @adultchildpod

    TikTok → @adultchildpod

    YouTube → @adultchildpod



    Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Shitshow Saturday #211 - Why Asking For Help is Hard

    Shitshow Saturday #211 - Why Asking For Help is Hard
    Jun 27 2026

    ⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community

    6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection

    👉 theshitshow.mn.co


    🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATION

    Get the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops.

    ➡️ Join here


    💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD

    ☕ Buy Me a Coffee – help Andrea (and her cats) eat

    🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch


    💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREA

    Instagram → @adultchildpod

    TikTok → @adultchildpod

    YouTube → @adultchildpod




    Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
    Show More Show Less
    38 mins
  • 236 - The ADHD Nervous System: Rewiring What Your Body Needs to Actually Function w/ Kristen Carder

    236 - The ADHD Nervous System: Rewiring What Your Body Needs to Actually Function w/ Kristen Carder
    Jun 24 2026
    The thing you've been medicating is the same thing your parents shamed you for.Kristen Carder is the host of the I Have ADHD podcast and a dually certified coach who's back on the pod today to take the ADHD and complex PTSD connection deeper — through the lens of your nervous system and what it actually needs to function. She talks openly about how medication wasn't fixing her, it was translating what her body had been trying to tell her all along, and how the shame she inherited about her own wiring became the hardest part to undo. This conversation is about what happens when you stop fighting how you're built and start designing a life that actually works with your nervous system instead of against it.✨ What this episode explores:▪️ What Medication Actually Does (And What It Doesn't) — Why medication isn't fixing you; it's translating what your nervous system's been trying to tell you all along, and why that distinction changes everything.▪️ Why You Regulate Differently Than They Do — How ADHD nervous systems need completely different things to reach calm than what every productivity expert and well-meaning friend has told you to try.▪️ The Performance Cost of Living in a Neurotypical World — Why masking your brain's actual operating system to fit someone else's expectations exhausts you faster than the ADHD itself.▪️ How ADHD and Complex PTSD Show Up Identically in Relationships — Why the way ADHD impacts intimacy, trust, and connection mirrors relational trauma responses so closely that somatic healing works for both.▪️ Why Forcing Focus Is Just Another Form of Self-Abandonment — How the constant battle to be "normal" recreates the same disconnection from yourself that traumatized nervous systems are already surviving.Pre-order Kristen's upcoming book, You're Not in Trouble, coming October 2026.-----------------------🎧 If this episode resonated, you might also love:Ep 110 | Childhood Trauma & ADHD w/ Kristen CarderEp 170 | The Intersection of Trauma, ADHD and Toxic Family Dynamics w/ Kristen Carder— — —⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection👉 theshitshow.mn.co🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATIONGet the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops.➡️ Join here💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD☕ Buy Me a Coffee – help Andrea (and her cats) eat🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREAInstagram → @adultchildpodTikTok → @adultchildpodYouTube → @adultchildpodAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 4 mins
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