Sisters In Sobriety

Sonia sits down with Sean Dadashi, co-founder of Rosebud, an AI-guided journaling app built to deepen self-reflection, emotional awareness, and intentional healing. Together, they explore how journaling can move beyond venting and become a powerful tool for insight — helping you recognize emotional patterns, understand triggers, and reshape the internal narratives that shape sobriety and personal growth.

The conversation expands into the evolving role of AI in mental health and self-development. They discuss how guided prompts, voice journaling, emotional tagging, and pattern recognition can make reflection more accessible — especially for those intimidated by a blank page. At the same time, they examine the importance of keeping therapy, community, and real human connection at the center of healing, while using technology as a supportive tool rather than a replacement.

Sonia and Sean also walk through specific journaling practices, including Rose-Bud-Thorn reflections, somatic journaling, gratitude work, boundary-setting exercises, and intention setting. They explore how Rosebud can support therapy preparation, unsent letters, difficult conversations, and voice-based emotional processing.

Throughout the episode, they highlight how digital journaling can help expand emotional vocabulary, identify recurring behavioral patterns, and deepen therapeutic work between sessions.

On a more personal note, Sonia shares her love of pen-to-paper journaling — the colored pens, the bedside rituals — and reflects on what it means to shift from analog habits to digital tools in a way that enhances, rather than replaces, the reflective experience.

This is Sisters in Sobriety, the support community that helps women change their relationship with alcohol. Check out our substack for extra tips, tricks and resources.

Highlights
00:00 — Introduction to Sean Dadashi and the mission behind Rosebud
01:45 — Sean’s early relationship with journaling during family divorce
04:10 — Moving from handwritten journals to digital reflection
06:20 — Recognizing emotional and behavioral patterns over time
08:05 — The “blank page problem” and barriers to starting journaling
09:40 — How the “Go Deeper” function guides layered reflection
11:30 — AI summaries, emotional tagging, and weekly reports
13:05 — Metrics, character tracking, and narrative insights
14:10 — Naming emotions and therapist-informed AI design
15:20 — How Rosebud differs from generic chatbots
16:40 — AI memory and long-term pattern recognition
17:25 — Asking big-picture life questions through journal history
18:50 — Year-end reflection archetypes and narrative mapping
20:10 — AI personas: nurturing vs. direct reflection styles
21:05 — Preventing AI from replacing human connection
22:30 — Platform limits and ethical guardrails
24:00 — Crisis response and safety considerations
28:40 — Using journaling alongside therapy and coaching
31:10 — Preparing for therapy sessions through reflection insights
32:15 — Pen-and-paper vs. digital journaling debate
34:05 — Voice journaling and emotional expression
36:10 — Importing handwritten journals via photo transcription
38:15 — Rose-Bud-Thorn framework and evening reflections
40:20 — Somatic journaling and body-based awareness
41:10 — Letter writing, boundary setting, and hard conversations
43:00 — Facilitating real-life conversations using AI support
44:05 — Intention setting and future-self visualization
45:50 — Creating mantras and symbolic yearly totems
46:40 — Building sustainable daily reflection practices
47:30 — Closing thoughts and episode wrap-up

Rosebud https://my.rosebud.app/

SIS Links
💌 Sisters In Sobriety Substack – where the magic (and the mocktail recipes) happen
📬 Sisters In Sobriety Email
📸 Sisters In Sobriety Instagram
🌐 Kathleen’s Website Kathleen does not endorse any products mentioned in this podcast
📸 Kathleen’s Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Sonia sits down with TV personality, recovery advocate, and author Marci Hopkins to unpack the layered journey from trauma and addiction to emotional sobriety and self-trust. As the host of the award-winning talk show Wake Up with Marci and author of Chaos to Clarity, Marci brings both lived experience and professional insight to the conversation. Together, they explore healing, resilience, and what it really takes to rebuild a life after alcohol.

The discussion moves through the experiences that shaped Marci’s relationship with alcohol, from early childhood trauma and family addiction to high-functioning drinking in adulthood. Themes of generational cycles, emotional suppression, validation-seeking relationships, and the normalization of alcohol surface throughout the conversation. The episode also examines the slippery slope from social drinking to dependence, how denial shows up, and the internal bargaining that often delays change.

Marci shares how practices like affirmations, forgiveness work, boundary setting, and cognitive “interrupters” can begin to rewire negative thought patterns.

Marci walks through the defining moments that led to her final surrender — including the DUI that forced her to confront the reality of her drinking. She reflects on motherhood, marriage, career pressure, and the emotional reckoning that followed. The conversation closes on her path to advocacy, her commitment to breaking stigma, and how turning pain into purpose became central to her healing.

This is Sisters in Sobriety, the support community that helps women change their relationship with alcohol. Check out our substack for extra tips, tricks and resources.

Episode Highlights
00:01:00 – Marci’s introduction and recovery advocacy work
00:03:00 – Childhood trauma and the first experiences of abuse
00:05:00 – Living with her grandparents and early instability
00:08:00 – Abuse and lack of maternal protection
00:10:00 – Perfectionism and controlling the external image
00:12:00 – Teen drinking, validation, and blackout weekends
00:14:00 – Escaping home life through relationships
00:16:00 – Party culture, drugs, and early adulthood
00:17:00 – DUIs and hitting early warning signs
00:20:00 – Using appearance and relationships for power
00:23:00 – Career rise in television and media
00:25:00 – Motherhood, ambition, and mounting pressure
00:26:00 – Alcohol as “liquid courage” for auditions
00:27:00 – Hiding drinking and increasing dependence
00:28:00 – The failed attempt to moderate
00:29:00 – The day of her final drink
00:31:00 – DUI arrest and confrontation with reality
00:33:00 – Surrender and return to AA
00:38:00 – Emotional sobriety and healing trauma
00:55:00 – Breaking stigma and normalizing recovery conversations

Marci's Links
Instagram
YouTube

SIS Links
💌 Sisters In Sobriety Substack – where the magic (and the mocktail recipes) happen
📬 Sisters In Sobriety Email
📸 Sisters In Sobriety Instagram
🌐 Kathleen’s Website Kathleen does not endorse any products mentioned in this podcast
📸 Kathleen’s Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Sisters in Sobriety, Sonia is joined by Amber Trejo, a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified clinical trauma professional who specializes in complex childhood trauma and the family system. Amber is also a wife and mom of three on her own healing journey, and today she helps Sonia unpack how childhood wounds quietly shape adult life — and what it looks like to move from survival mode into safety, self-regulation, and connection.

Sonia and Amber explore the ways complex trauma can show up long after childhood — through hypervigilance, perfectionism, emotional shutdown, and repeating relationship patterns. They discuss why so many people struggle to even name what happened to them, especially when emotional neglect, invalidation, or silent treatment were normalized.

Amber shares a nervous-system-centered approach to healing, weaving in polyvagal theory, cues of safety versus danger, parts work, somatic grounding, and EMDR. The conversation touches on how trauma lives in both the brain and the body, and why healing requires more than simply intellectualizing the past — it’s about building real capacity for regulation, curiosity, and connection in the present.

In the personal story thread, Sonia opens up about having very few childhood memories, the fear of “making it up,” and the complicated ways trauma can surface later in adulthood, especially in relationships and family dynamics. Together, they connect trauma work to sobriety — exploring addiction as a form of nervous system coping, why white-knuckling often isn’t enough, and how early recovery sometimes means doing whatever it takes to get through the hardest moments with compassion.

This is Sisters in Sobriety, the support community that helps women change their relationship with alcohol. Check out our substack for extra tips, tricks and resources.

00:00 — Amber Trejo joins Sonia to discuss trauma healing
01:00 — Amber shares her own childhood trauma and path to therapy
03:00 — Trauma resurfacing through marriage and motherhood
04:00 — Complex trauma vs single-event PTSD
05:00 — Emotional neglect as an overlooked trauma wound
07:00 — Why complex trauma shows up most in relationships
08:00 — Sonia’s “grimy breaker” metaphor for trauma patterns
10:00 — Minimizing pain: “but it could be worse”
12:00 — Shame, invalidation, and not trusting emotions
14:00 — Perfectionism as a survival strategy
15:00 — Parts work and inner child healing
17:00 — Intellectualizing vs healing in the body
18:00 — Sonia on missing childhood memories
20:00 — “What if I’m making it up?” as a trauma hallmark
22:00 — Safety and resourcing before deeper trauma work
25:00 — Cues of danger, passive aggression, and hypervigilance
31:00 — Ventral vagal state: curiosity as a sign of safety
33:00 — Addiction as nervous system regulation
38:00 — Alcohol as relief before it becomes the problem
45:00 — Early sobriety: small realistic coping tools
49:00 — Creativity, aliveness, and building daily regulation practices

Amber's Links:
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/integrativetraumatherapist?igsh=MWpvdTI5emVyZzU4aA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Course for parents with trauma:
https://stan.store/Integrativetraumatherapist/p/-sjwt4r2x
Website:
https://www.theintegrativetraumatherapist.com/

SIS Links
💌 Sisters In Sobriety Substack – where the magic (and the mocktail recipes) happen
📬 Sisters In Sobriety Email
📸 Sisters In Sobriety Instagram
🌐 Kathleen’s Website Kathleen does not endorse any products mentioned in this podcast
📸 Kathleen’s Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sonia sits down with Dr. Maria Sophocles, an internationally respected gynecologist and leader in menopause and female sexual health, to explore what really happens to intimacy, desire, and connection in midlife. The conversation challenges the often-unspoken realities of perimenopause, menopause, and sexuality—offering women reassurance, clarity, and a sense of possibility in a season that is too often misunderstood.

Sonia and Dr. Sophocles open up a wide-ranging discussion about the cultural pressure women carry around sex, the emotional weight of obligation, and how expectations in long-term relationships can quietly create distance over time. They explore themes like libido changes, communication, pleasure, dating after divorce, and the ways women can begin rewriting outdated scripts around intimacy as bodies and hormones evolve.

Throughout the episode, Dr. Sophocles breaks down the physiology of menopause beyond hot flashes—touching on vaginal dryness, arousal shifts, clitoral health, and the role of estrogen deficiency in sexual function. She also clarifies common misconceptions around hormone therapy, explains why hormone testing often adds confusion, and shares evidence-based options including vaginal estrogen and newer treatments.

Alongside the medical insight, Sonia also reflects on the personal side of this conversation—what it means to move from performance toward connection, from silence toward honesty, and from shame toward self-trust. Dr. Sophocles offers compassionate language for couples navigating change, and gentle encouragement for women stepping into this chapter with curiosity instead of fear.

This is Sisters in Sobriety, the support community that helps women change their relationship with alcohol. Check out our substack for extra tips, tricks and resources.

00:01 — Introducing Dr. Maria Sophocles and her new book The Bedroom Gap
00:02 — Why menopause training is still missing in women’s healthcare
00:03 — The most overlooked symptom: sexual shame and silence
00:05 — What the “Bedroom Gap” really means in relationships
00:07 — How gender roles set couples up for disconnection
00:09 — Why sex education is still fear-based, not pleasure-based
00:11 — Dating after divorce in midlife: a whole new world
00:13 — Sonia opens up about “duty sex” and long-term marriage patterns
00:15 — Responsive desire: why arousal can come before libido
00:16 — The power of G-rated intimacy and skin-to-skin connection
00:18 — When a hug feels like pressure: navigating partner expectations
00:20 — How to communicate needs without triggering defensiveness
00:23 — Reframing lube, toys, and support as sex-positive tools
00:25 — Menopause changes in the brain, vulva, vagina, and clitoris
00:28 — Why vaginal estrogen is one of the most underused solutions
00:32 — Breast cancer survivors and the truth about local estrogen safety
00:33 — Other treatments: Intrarosa and Osphena
00:36 — Why hormone blood tests rarely give useful answers
00:41 — Fantasy, erotic content, and “bibliotherapy” for desire
00:45 — Dr. Sophocles’ hope: grace, permission, and rewriting the rules

Dr. Sophocles Link
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariasophoclesmd/
TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/maria_sophocles_what_happens_to_sex_in_midlife_a_look_at_the_bedroom_gap
The Bedroom Gap: https://www.amazon.com/Bedroom-Gap-Rewrite-Rules-Roles/dp/0306837404

SIS Links
💌 Sisters In Sobriety Substack – where the magic (and the mocktail recipes) happen
📬 Sisters In Sobriety Email
📸 Sisters In Sobriety Instagram
🌐 Kathleen’s Website Kathleen does not endorse any products mentioned in this podcast
📸 Kathleen’s Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sonia and Kathleen sit down with Melanie Gulde to explore what truly supportive, humane recovery can look like—especially for women. Melanie is the Co-Founder of the Divided Sky Foundation and Program Director of the Divided Sky Residential Recovery Program in Ludlow. With more than 25 years in the field, Melanie has dedicated her life to helping people rediscover their worth and build sustainable sobriety. Her work includes founding Divided Sky in partnership with Trey Anastasio — the co-founding guitarist and lead vocalist of the jam band Phish - and launching a Women’s Scholarship Fund to reduce barriers to treatment for women.

You'll hear what actually helps people stay sober, how emotional sobriety supports long-term healing, and how joy, music, nature, and community can reshape the recovery experience. The episode also explores women-specific challenges like stigma, childcare, financial barriers, vulnerability in mixed-gender treatment settings, and why communal, women-centered environments can significantly improve outcomes.

Melanie explains how concepts like emotional regulation, unmet expectations, family systems, accountability, and values-based recovery show up in real life, and how programs like Divided Sky integrate mindfulness, music therapy, spirituality, forest bathing, and peer support to support sustainable change.

The episode also weaves in Melanie’s personal story—from getting sober in 1995 to her early work in outpatient counseling and drug court to the pivotal relationship with Trey, which led to the creation of Divided Sky. Sonia and Kathleen guide listeners through Melanie’s reflections on mentorship, mistakes, growth, and the “aha” moments that shaped her philosophy: that people don’t need punishment to heal—they need dignity, safety, and belief in their own potential.

This is Sisters in Sobriety, the support community that helps women change their relationship with alcohol. Check out our Substack for extra tips, tricks, and resources.

Episode Highlights (Time-Stamped)
00:01 — Introducing Melanie Gould and the mission behind Divided Sky
00:02 — Growing up on Long Island and early influences on empathy and service
00:03 — Getting sober in 1995 and finding a calling in recovery work
00:04 — Early mentorship lessons and learning not to take relapse personally
00:06 — What drug court teaches that traditional clinical settings don’t
00:07 — Reframing “mandated treatment” and removing judgment from recovery
00:08 — Melanie’s first interactions with Trey Anastasio in drug court
00:09 — Fear, structure, and accountability in early recovery
00:11 — How a professional relationship evolved into collaboration and friendship
00:13 — Why Divided Sky was created to treat people as individuals
00:16 — What emotional sobriety really means and why it’s transformative
00:18 — Connecting emotional sobriety with the 12 Steps
00:21 — The role of music, joy, and creativity in recovery
00:24 — Joy-based recovery and the healing power of nature
00:26 — A day in the life at Divided Sky
00:28 — Community, volunteers, and connection as recovery tools
00:30 — Why the Women’s Scholarship Fund matters
00:33 — Why women recover differently and need women-centered spaces
00:35 — Changing family dynamics and their impact on recovery
00:38 — A message of hope for anyone afraid to ask for help

Divided Sky Foundation

SIS Links
💌 Sisters In Sobriety Substack – where the magic (and the mocktail recipes) happen
📬 Sisters In Sobriety Email
📸 Sisters In Sobriety Instagram
🌐 Kathleen’s Website Kathleen does not endorse any products mentioned in this podcast
📸 Kathleen’s Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.