What does it look like to go from planning your own death to standing in your light — and then losing a child — and still choosing hope?

Malisa Hepner is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, author, and podcast host who has lived every layer of what she now teaches. In this conversation, she shares her journey from a childhood shaped by profound adversity, through her own mental health crisis, to the unimaginable loss of her 18-year-old son Jake — and how the tools she'd spent two years building are what's carrying her through.

We talk about:

• Why trauma creates separation between you and your true self
• The three-step framework that changed everything: Quiet the Noise → Connect to Self → Embody the Light
• Why shame is the real noise in your head — and how to turn it down
• What grief actually lo ...