We’re continuing our Smart Girl Summer Series this week with Kasey Van Norman! Remember, Smart Girl Summer is a series featuring some of my most brilliant friends sharing behind-the-scenes stories that you won’t hear anywhere else.  Kasey is a bestselling author, counselor, cancer survivor, and Bible teacher. But I invited her on the show to talk about hard things. Kasey has a passion for trauma therapy, and I wanted her to share her perspective on trauma, faith, what God means to her, and how nothing is wasted in our lives This episode is not meant for young kids, as we cover some difficult topics, but my sincere hope is that our conversation will touch your heart. More on Kasey: She has 20 years of experience as a mental health therapist and has traveled the country encouraging others with God’s Word for 10 years. She loves connecting with women through retreats and events and is a plenary speaker for the Extraordinary Women Conferences and the American Association of Christian Counselors. Listen in to learn more about: The winding path that led Kasey to her role as a trauma therapist and what we all need to know about trauma What God needs from us before He sends us into sit with someone and hold their story Generational trauma, and the important steps we can take to process and prevent it. Favorite quotes: Trauma really is an experience that you had in your life that at that moment, was so far outside of your emotional wheelhouse, of what you knew to be true that it so radically shifted the internal landscape of your brain, your mapping, the way your pathways moved and it wrote itself in and created this threat response. A 5 year old speaks to safety, 15 year old determines “Who can I trust” and 25 year old says,  based on those 2 messages and core beliefs “This is who I am going to let myself be intimate with.” You can be in the Church serving, in leadership, a full blown believer going to heaven when you die and still be in complete bondage. That’s the work of trauma- it is accessing those old pieces of us that are still very present and allowing them to speak. The Bible is not waiting on me to change , the Bible is not waiting on something to be true, it is a book that is true no matter who I am. Links to great things we discussed: Kasey Van Norman - Website  Love on the Spectrum - Netflix show  Top Gun: Maverick (2022)  Green Goddess Glow Oil - Milani Cosmetics Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)  Dune Movie  Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV Mini Series 2022)  Lenny Kravitz- Mama said album The Pet ID Jingle Free Peace of Mind Dog Tag - Amazon.com Join the Confident Motherhood Community here. Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! :) xo, Alli