Episode notes
In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Courtney Vezina, psychotherapist, clinic owner, mom, and foster parent for a conversation about building a life and career in layers while navigating motherhood, foster care, and all of the unexpected transitions that come with both. Courtney shares her journey from studying psychology to becoming a psychotherapist, opening her own clinics, and eventually earning her doctorate all while raising young children.
We talk about the systems and structures that helped her hold all of these roles and the importance of knowing when to loosen the structure and give yourself permission to pivot. We also get into the realities of foster care, including attachment, transitions, grief, community and the experience of loving children who may not be staying forever. Courtney shares what it was like growing up as a biological child in a foster family and how that experience shaped the way she approaches fostering with her own family today.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Building a Career in Layers: Courtney shares how she continued adding new layers to her career while raising a family, rather than waiting for the “perfect” time to take the next step.
- Structure & Flexibility: How colour-coded calendars, nap windows, protected work blocks, and a whole lot of planning helped Courtney hold multiple roles — and why flexibility was just as important as structure.
- Parenting Through a Clinical Lens: What happens when your professional understanding of attachment, trauma, and emotional regulation comes home with you.
- When Knowing Changes How You Parent: The humbling experience of learning about attachment and trauma while simultaneously realizing you’re parenting actual human beings who are going to challenge every theory you’ve ever learned.
- Growing Up in Foster Care: Courtney gives us a glimpse into what foster care looked like from the perspective of the biological child in the family.
- Loving Children Who May Leave: The complicated reality of attachment, transition, grief, and allowing yourself to love deeply even when you don't know how long someone will be part of your family. - The Reality of Foster Care: Why foster care is so deeply needed and yet often misunderstood by those who have never experienced it firsthand.
- How We Can Help: Courtney talks about respite care, community support, and the many ways people can support foster families without necessarily becoming foster parents themselves.
- The Space Between Knowing & Being: We come back to the theme of the podcast and explore what it means to actually slow down, turn inward, and live what we already know.
- Learning to Rest: Why reaching the next milestone doesn't always mean it's time to immediately find the next thing to accomplish.
Whether you're building a career, raising a family, fostering, or simply trying to figure out how all of the different pieces of your life are supposed to fit together, this conversation is a beautiful reminder that there doesn't have to be one perfect way to do it.
Connect with Courtney: https://www.instagram.com/drcourtneyvezina
__________________________
Embodied Insight Podcast; Honest conversations exploring the space between knowing and being. Hosted by Tiara Brouse, Coach and founder of One Wise Body. This podcast blends practical insight with lived experience, and embodied wisdom to help you reconnect with yourself in a deeper, more meaningful way. Around here, we believe growth doesn't have to be perfect. We start messy, stay curious, and trust the process!
Follow us behind the scenes on Instagram @embodiedinsightpodcast https://www.instagram.com/embodiedinsightpodcast