In today’s episode of the Beats and Balance Podcast, host Tinora Locke- Terrefe sits down with Lyssa Bastet — a queer mother, poet, spiritualist, and community organizer — for a deeply moving conversation about mental health, generational trauma, and the power of emotional vulnerability.

Lyssa shares her journey growing up in Atlantic City, navigating homelessness, institutionalization, and mental health challenges, and how those lived experiences shaped her path toward healing and spiritual practice. Together, they explore the realities of surviving social service systems, the long shadow of generational trauma, and what it takes to interrupt cycles of harm for ourselves and future generations.

This episode is a powerful reflection on storytelling as medicine, vulnerability as strength, and healing a ...