Discover the transformative power of nurturing both mind and body as Stefanie Armstrong, a respected mental health therapist and health coach, joins us to unravel the complex tapestry of parenting within the foster care and adoption. Together, we explore the profound ways in which wellness practices can anchor parents amidst the turbulent waters of raising children with traumatic histories. Stefanie reveals how prioritizing self-care isn't a luxury, but a necessity for those seeking to create a stable and loving environment for these vulnerable young souls. Our discussion underscores the essential role of nutrition and self-awareness, providing a beacon of hope and strategy for those navigating this noble journey.
Feel the strength of solidarity as we shed light on the critical role a supportive community plays in the lives of foster and adoptive parents. Gone are the days of facing adversity in isolation; we share the importance of forging connections that uplift and empower through the toughest of times. Parenting a child affected by trauma is not a path you should walk alone, and we're here to tell you how finding your tribe can transform both your experience and the healing process of your child. From integrating parents into therapy sessions to cherishing the shared experiences that only a community can provide, we lay out the blueprint for a network of support that's robust and ready to rally when you need it most.
Cap off your listening experience with a conversation on the art of patience and healthy habit formation. Stefanie and I break down the journey to wellness into bite-sized, achievable milestones, focusing on the beauty of self-compassion and the acknowledgment of every small victory. By shaping a balanced lifestyle tailored to your unique needs, we emphasize the importance of celebrating progress without comparison, nurturing your nervous system, and cultivating sustainable practices that foster long-term well-being. This episode is your invitation to embrace patience and joy in your great work, fortified by the understanding that true health is a personal and incremental triumph.
Discover the transformative power of nurturing both mind and body as Stefanie Armstrong, a respected mental health therapist and health coach, joins us to unravel the complex tapestry of parenting within the foster care and adoption. Together, we explore the profound ways in which wellness practices can anchor parents amidst the turbulent waters of raising children with traumatic histories. Stefanie reveals how prioritizing self-care isn't a luxury, but a necessity for those seeking to create a stable and loving environment for these vulnerable young souls. Our discussion underscores the essential role of nutrition and self-awareness, providing a beacon of hope and strategy for those navigating this noble journey.
Feel the strength of solidarity as we shed light on the critical role a supportive community plays in the lives of foster and adoptive parents. Gone are the days of facing adversity in isolation; we share the importance of forging connections that uplift and empower through the toughest of times. Parenting a child affected by trauma is not a path you should walk alone, and we're here to tell you how finding your tribe can transform both your experience and the healing process of your child. From integrating parents into therapy sessions to cherishing the shared experiences that only a community can provide, we lay out the blueprint for a network of support that's robust and ready to rally when you need it most.
Cap off your listening experience with a conversation on the art of patience and healthy habit formation. Stefanie and I break down the journey to wellness into bite-sized, achievable milestones, focusing on the beauty of self-compassion and the acknowledgment of every small victory. By shaping a balanced lifestyle tailored to your unique needs, we emphasize the importance of celebrating progress without comparison, nurturing your nervous system, and cultivating sustainable practices that foster long-term well-being. This episode is your invitation to embrace patience and joy in your great work, fortified by the understanding that true health is a personal and incremental triumph.
Welcome to the Foster Parent Well podcast, where we have real candid, faith-filled conversations about all things foster care, adoption and trauma. I'm your host, nicole T Barlow. I'm a certified parent trainer, a certified health coach and an adoptive parent myself. This is a space where you can find support so that you can care for your kids with a steadfast faith, endurance and joy. I want you to foster parent well, so let's jump in. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1:
In this episode, we're going to be talking about how physical health and mental health are linked together, especially for us as parents in the foster care and adoption systems. We're going to be talking about how to put wellness practices in place in order to be the best parents that we can be. Today, I'm talking to my friend, stephanie Armstrong. Stephanie is a licensed mental health practitioner. She is co-owner of the Cord, where science meets connection. She's also a certified EMDR therapist and a consultant, and recently Stephanie got certified as a health and wellness coach that partners with the Faster Way. That's where I met Stephanie. I myself am a certified health coach that partners with the Faster Way, and we both saw that we have such a passion for foster parents and adoptive parents to understand the benefits of physical wellness as we parent in hard situations. So welcome to the podcast, stephanie. I'm excited to have you here. Tell us a little bit more about the work that you do day to day.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, hi Nicole, thank you so much for having me. I'm just so blessed to be here. So I am a mental health therapist, so I have a private practice here in Omaha, nebraska. However, with my colleague, kathy Schweitzer, we own and run. It's called the Cord, where science meets connection, so we really focus on kiddos and families from the foster care system who have adopted children from the foster care system, or even international adoption. We actually have a protocol that we have created that supports parents and families as a whole. So that's what our practice does and that's what I do.
Speaker 1:
That's amazing. And now you've also gotten into the health coaching side of things.
Speaker 2:
Yes, yes always been so curious about how is the nutrition of this family affecting how they are thriving or not thriving right, and this has always been something that I don't know as a mental health practitioner. There's so many things you can focus on that it seemed like nutrition was something that I just shouldn't be talking about. However, over time, I realized that that really is what I needed to be talking about first and foremost, not just for the kids, but for the moms and the dads and everyone the caregivers supporting these kiddos. If they're coming from an empty bucket, it's very difficult for them to be able to co-regulate and connect and parent this child that comes to them with so much right, so much depth and so much past.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So as foster and adoptive parents, we know that trauma impacts our kids. Talk about how the trauma impacts us as parents as well. You know you're talking about working with these kids and working with the parents and you're seeing the need to focus on the parent's nutrition, the parent's physical needs, right. So how does the trauma impact us as parents?
Speaker 2:
There's a couple layers to this, in my opinion. So there's the trauma that the child has experienced and how that affects the parents, and then there's the trauma that the parents have experienced, maybe in their own lives, that plays into it, and then there's also the trauma as a whole. You know, you think about the foster care system or you know just adoption in general. It is a very tumultuous process and there's so much more that goes into it. It's not just, it's very complex. And I think about let's pretend a parent hasn't had any trauma. Let's just pretend a parent comes in to parent this child and their point of view is you know, I really haven't had a lot of hard things happen in my life. Why, why am I so triggered all the time? Why is this so hard?
Speaker 2:
And I will say to parents actually you come in with a parenting program, you were parented, and so we come into parenting and we want to parent like we were parented. And I think about my own parenting. I was taught, you know, little girls should be seen and not heard, and so if I'm going to parent that way, that's going to get in my way as a parent, and so I've had to switch that around and in our practice we actually have two pieces. We have the family therapy piece and then we have another therapist that supports the trauma piece. But the family therapy piece what they're doing is they're really attuning and supporting the parent, Because we know that if parents you know, if mama doesn't get taken care of, does it's kind of that thing right.
Speaker 2:
So if we're not attuned and connecting and loving on parents, then it's going to be very difficult for them to to pass that on right, to do that to their child. So we have a saying here you know, as a therapist, or if I attuning to myself, and then if I'm attuning to myself, then I'm able to co-regulate and attune to the parent. And then guess what the parent can do? Yep, right, exactly, that's that's exactly.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's super important, and I do. I don't. I think a lot of times we don't think about our own trauma as parents, like the trauma that maybe we have experienced coming into play. I know for me I worked through a lot of my childhood trauma and had processed through it and was at a healing place. But then when you're parenting kids who have experienced trauma, all of a sudden it can touch in some spots that you thought maybe were healed and maybe they're not as healed as you thought they were right. Trauma doesn't ever really go away, and so it can really pinpoint some of those places that, even though if we've done the work to process it ourselves, it can still be a trigger for us with our kids. So I'm glad that you brought that up.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's funny because parents will come in and say that They'll say, gosh, I've worked through all of my trauma, I've done the things. And for us to be able to connect with them and say, well, yes, you absolutely have to be able to connect with them and say, well, yes, you absolutely have. But now your child's trauma is traumatizing many times to you. You think about just knowing your child's story and the images that that brings up in our own minds. That in itself is so heavy, because I love this child. I love this child and to imagine the things that this child has gone through, yeah, I mean, it's, it's pretty, it's big, it's big.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, that's hard. Well, how does the trauma impact our physical and mental health? How does the stress right of parenting kids from trauma? How does it impact our physical and mental health as parents?
Speaker 2:
Well, I mean, I actually made a list. And I started making the list and I was like, wow, that's long. We know that it can keep us up at night, right. We know that it tends to inflame our bodies. It tends to allow us many times to not have the time, right, we're so invested in what's going on that we don't have the time to care for ourselves.
Speaker 2:
And so, when it comes to our mental health, and so when it comes to our mental health, our minds tend to be so consumed with what is going on with the child that we forget about, maybe, our own thinking, right? Our own self-reflective capacity, and therefore we kind of get lost on the phone, right, yes? Or scrolling, or get lost in Netflix, and so we start to kind of avoid life or avoid things. So addiction can play a part, I do think too. When it comes to physical health, what happens is we tend to go to all of those quick things right, I don't have time to fill in the blank and so we don't spend that time nurturing and caring for ourselves in. Just take, for instance, nutrition. And so if I'm eating nutrition that's not feeding my mind and my body, then I am not going to have the fuel to do the things that I do every day, and so I talk with parents about taking walks.
Speaker 1:
That's been a game changer for me really Going into the bathroom and shutting the door for a minute.
Speaker 2:
I mean there are so many simple things, but yeah, I mean just getting your face in the sun and I know we've made. I think life has become very complicated but there is a lot of overcomplication, on purpose, I believe, and I want to. My main goal is to just simplify and uncomplicate what has really been made complicated and made what has really been made complicated and made, you know, not so simple, Because parenting is very complex. So why make nutrition and drinking some water and going for a walk complex, right?
Speaker 1:
I know those are basic things that we know. I mean we know we need and we know our kids need it. Like foster and adoptive parents are probably better trained on nutrition. They're better trained on hydration. They're better trained on physical movement and the need for physical movement because we know how it impacts our kids. We just don't tend to apply those things to ourselves. It's like we think we're immune to the trauma or the stress or whatever or those physical impacts. We're not usually looking at ourselves for those things, but we know them in our minds. We know what we should be doing.
Speaker 2:
Well, and I think too, it's in the knowing. We can know it all day long, but it's in the practice of it and we do need. The words that come to me are like we need a plan and we need a posse. No-transcript, the magic can happen, but again, it is in the practice, it's in the movement of it, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:
Yes, in my health coaching business I put both of those things in practice, where I give people a plan and I give them a community of people that are going through the same thing at the same time. So tell me, how important is it that parents are proactive in their health Like? What difference do you see that make in a parent's ability to parent well?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I will tell you I was thinking a little bit about this the families that I have worked with. So I've been doing this a long time, pretty much, since I've been working with children and families since 2000. So I'm like Whoa, I'm kind of old, I mean I think about 24 years. I'm like goodness. But the families that I've worked with that really are able to put into action the mental health piece, to put into action the mental health piece, the physical piece and then the spiritual piece. I reflected back on all the families I've worked with and the families that are able to heal over time are the ones that are really investing in those three areas, really investing in those three areas. And I have.
Speaker 2:
Actually, I wish I could go back in time and do a little research, but I will tell you that that has made it, because you know mirroring neurons. You know, nicole, about mirroring neurons and how those neurons actually affect the other person. Those neurons actually affect the other person, the person sitting in front of us, and if our mirroring neurons aren't, you know, admitting this, this calm presence that's going to, that's going to come out in the relationships, and we spend a lot of time talking with parents about mirroring neurons and attunement right and co-regulation, and so if I am not regulated inside, it's super difficult for me to co-regulate my child. And that's really where I think the spiritual component, the mental health component and the physical component come in, because then I'm more able to co-regulate if I'm more regulated.
Speaker 1:
Well, and if we're not intentional about regulating our own bodies and we don't have the tools, the proactive tools that we need in our physical health and our mental health and our spiritual health to be able to do that, then our neurons are actually mirroring our kids' chaos right Like we get sucked in into being in attunement with them versus them being able to attune to our stability and our calm, so that mirroring goes both ways. And if we're not intentional about being able to study and regulate ourselves, then our bodies are naturally going to mirror the chaos that our kids feel in those moments.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely, and I think that that is so important. I'm so glad you brought that up, because we, we tend to just take it one way right. But when we know that this, this kiddo, is in the process of healing, and if my, if I am able to attune to the kiddo, that in itself is providing the healing, because that kiddo can't just do it on his own right or her own, and and they're going to give that off, no matter what I talk about, that's right, I'm like that, that's all coming in. So how can we meet that? You know, with a little, with a little bit of a little bit of peace, a little bit of sound.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, yeah, yeah, and, and I think I think it's sound. So, yeah, yeah, yeah, and, and I think I think it's a lot of that preparation happens beforehand Like it doesn't, it can't happen in the moment. We have to really be preparing our bodies and our minds and our souls for those moments beforehand. Yes, absolutely. So what are some of your top tips to help parents care for their physical, mental, spiritual health?
Speaker 2:
Well, I think one of the main things that I talk with parents about from the very beginning is you know who is who is in your posse.
Speaker 2:
Who do you have that you are? Do you have that you are that actually shares the same foundational principles that you are sharing, and I mean that's why I love Faster Way, that's why, being a nutrition coach, I am able to have this, this plan that shares with people an easy way. Right, you can just hit play, the food is all there. You know, and this isn't like a commercial for Pastor Way, but what I'm saying is that when I talk with parents right off the bat, it's who can you, who do you have in your community that supports you from a place where, when you're parenting your child, that person isn't questioning it over and over again. Right, that person isn't telling you you're doing it wrong because that it's lonely sometimes to to parent a child who has come to you with with such pain. And so my first, my first question is always who are you surrounding yourself with, who's in your posse, and do those people have the same values as you do of time about getting their own support that way, and where are they finding themselves filled up spiritually. Who do you have in your corner that way? And then I think it's super important. We really like to make sure that these kiddos and families are wrapped around, and we'll sometimes connect them all together. I have this mom, right, and this mom is feeling very lonely, so do you mind if we share numbers? And so we give them a lot of that support too.
Speaker 2:
I think the one thing that I find is it's very easy to isolate. Yes, when, yes, when you're embarrassed or you're feeling down and you're feeling ashamed, you isolate. And when you isolate, then you stop doing the things that care for you the walking, the movement, the nutrition, the water, all those things and then it just deepens the sadness that you're experiencing and then things get really sad. And so that's another thing I tell parents all the time is do not isolate. And if I see you isolating, I am going to text you, I will reach out to you. If you miss a couple sessions, I will ask what's going on, I'll set an appointment to come in and just connect with you, because you know parents really and sometimes they hate to hear this, but you're like the most important part, yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah Well, I mean because a therapist like we want to be able to take our child to a therapist and have them fix it.
Speaker 1:
I know, Right, I do and heal it, but really the majority of our child's healing is going to come aside from God, but the majority of our child's healing is going to come from their day-to-day interactions with us. Learning to trust us, learning to attach to us, learning how to be in relationship with us, is going to bring a lot more healing than any therapist is going to do, and so you know we have to make sure that we're in the right spot to do that, and it can feel very lonely.
Speaker 1:
I think for a couple of reasons. I think one, people don't understand how we parent a lot of times because it's so different. I think, like you were saying, we do isolate because sometimes we take behaviors of our child or whatever on ourselves as our own success or failure and so if we feel like we're failing a lot of times we'll pull back because we don't want people to see our failure. But also, I think a lot of times if you don't have good community of other foster and adoptive parents, people are not going to understand your world. Right, like when, when I, if I tell somebody, if I tell a friend or a family member about things we're experiencing, about things we've seen, about what's going on in our household, right, people's faces go blank because it's so foreign to them. You know, like they don't understand. Most people do not understand poop being smeared on the walls or you know death threats being written on your walls, like they don't understand Under the bed.
Speaker 2:
Food insecurities Right.
Speaker 1:
Yes, we're eating so much that they're throwing up Like they don't understand all of those things. The general public does not understand that and they don't know how to respond to you, and so people shut down. That's right, and that can feel very isolating, and so I wholeheartedly agree that we need a posse, we need a community of other people who have experience in the same things that we're experiencing, so that we feel validated, we feel seen, we feel heard and we can feel supported because people aren't going to shut down automatically.
Speaker 2:
Right, and I also think Nicole it's about and this word isn't a popular one but then, as a parent, you don't feel crazy. Yes, and I know that when I work with moms and dads who come in, they'll be like, oh, you understand that. I'm like, oh, I understand that behavior Absolutely. And they'll say, gosh, I felt like maybe it was me, or I felt crazy that I can't get my child to shower and it's so easy for other families and I'm like, no, I understand that, that is something from their trauma and I do understand how hard that is. You know that you, you're taking your child somewhere and you can't get your child to get in the shower. You know, I mean, that's just one thing and you listed some others, but I think they can. You know, families can feel like it must be them, it must be me as a mom and it's like no, no, no, yes, it isn't you, it really is.
Speaker 2:
It is the pain, right, it's the pain and we're going to get through this, we're going to work on this, we're going to, I'm going to support you. So I know that I don't mean to say crazy, but I do think moms come in and they feel that way, you know, and to have someone say, oh, girl, girl, I got you, I okay, yes, Especially a therapist.
Speaker 2:
And I think I want to say one more thing, nicole, that I love. What you said is in our work here um, we also train therapists is in our work here. We also train therapists. We don't believe in working with the child all by his or herself in some sort of vacuum, so we don't have families come drop their kiddo off and then see it in an hour. We want to work with the whole family, because that is, you know, that's where attachment takes place. Is is within the family. It's not me, I'm not. I mean, I'm glad that the family likes me, but I want them to succeed outside of my office space.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and and I feel like it's, it's nice that you're you have that perspective. I think it's a challenge to find therapists that do have that perspective and, um, I mean, it's one of the things I know I look at for my kids and finding a trauma-informed therapist is finding somebody that's going to include me in that process. I know I think trauma-informed is a very big buzzword, I agree. Now I feel like therapists. Every therapist says they're trauma-informed, but then I go into some of these places and they're not trauma-informed in the way that I feel like they should be.
Speaker 1:
One of the best therapists that we had was very meticulous about making sure that she showed agreement with me and that she supported everything that I said or I did, and if she disagreed with something I was doing or the way I was doing, she made sure to tell me by myself and not in front of my child, because she knew that one of the most important things that she could do was to teach my child to trust me. But I feel like so many therapists are trying to be that support instead of trying to point the child to the parent to be that support. To point the child to the parent to be that support. I don't care. If a therapist tells me hey, I would do this differently. Hey, you need to look at this differently. Hey, you need to be doing this thing differently. I am perfectly okay with that. But that's very different than saying that to the child themselves. It's not validating the child. What it's doing is it's messing up that attachment which is the one?
Speaker 1:
thing that that child needs right is to increase that attachment. So I love that you really see and understand parents and where they're coming from. And as parents we can feel crazy sometimes we can, and it is a very vulnerable place to step in and to allow somebody else to see those places where we feel a little crazy.
Speaker 2:
And I think sometimes, Nicole, it is also maybe the first time that a parent has been in a therapy session. Some parents have never been in therapy therapy session. Yeah, you know some some parents have never been in therapy before, so they really don't even know what this is all about. And I think it really is a responsibility of therapists who work with foster kiddos and kiddo and adoptive kiddos that that we understand. I think, the foundation of that, these parents are starting from scratch. Sometimes, you know, I've never done this before, I don't know what this is supposed to look like. And it is to build the trust between the parents and the child, not necessarily between me and the kid. You know I need the kiddo to trust me some.
Speaker 1:
Yes, absolutely yes, yes.
Speaker 2:
But that really is the main, the main focus, and I I believe that there's fear, and when we can attune to the fear of the parents and the confusion of the parents, I mean really some pretty cool things happen, right yeah, and I do believe that confusion and fear can be healed. Honestly, this is going to sound silly, but it sounds so simple. With some proper nutrition, some movement outdoors, some time for yourself, some meditation, some prayer, right, yeah, just just time. And when you're doing that, you can reduce this amount of fear and confusion and be more open. Right, and when you're more open, you can then be more of a healer for your kiddo. But it's when we're closed that it can get scary for us and for our kiddos.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, absolutely. Well. What are the implications of parents not caring for their health in regards to caring for their kids, like, have you seen cases where parents don't do the work for themselves, and how do you see that impacts their ability to parent?
Speaker 2:
it's more fun to think about the other side. Yeah, yeah sure, my brain just went over. It's like um.
Speaker 2:
I think I want to talk for a minute about self reflective capacity, and it is important that those, those parents who really aren't able to look within themselves and say, what can I do for myself and am I enough to take care of it's those parents who are unable to do that, where I see things just they just don't go well and we're dealing with little humans here, so we don't know for sure, right, how things are going to play out. But having done this for this long, it's pretty clear that when, when we have these families who are just in it and they're doing it and you know they're, they're taking care of all of those foundational things they do tend I won't say tend they end up doing better. Yeah, sure, but those that are unable to look inside themselves and say, gosh, I love myself enough to take care of myself in this way, it just isn't. It's kind of scary sometimes. I mean I I don't want to get into storytelling right now, but yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. It's the opposite of what we've been talking.
Speaker 1:
Sure, sure, yep, I mean it, it it is, it is always better. I think we are always better parents when we are well cared for, and I think things are always going to be better all the way around when we are starting from a foundation of being well cared for. Um so well, what are some ways that foster and adoptive parents need to care for their health, their physical health, their mental health, their spiritual health, a little differently? Um well, because it it sometimes it looks, needs to look different for us, just because of the stress that we're under.
Speaker 2:
I think the first thing is to be be patient, that you you may not be able to get in the seven days of workouts. That's the lady up the street right, you see her running, you know, you see her out doing all the things and you're like, oh well, I've only gotten in, you know, like one workout this week. Well, yeah, but you got in one. You got in one workout.
Speaker 2:
Girl you're winning, and I think that it starts with let's not compare ourselves. That's good. Compare ourselves to really anyone. And I say to moms all the time, and dads too are you 1% better today than you were yesterday? Yeah, so, did you get your face in the sun this morning for five minutes? All right, I'm proud of you, yeah, and did you get in maybe that 30 minute, you know little lifting session? And you got your arms in today, right, okay?
Speaker 2:
So, first off, it's let's be gentle, but let's also have some priorities, because true things can be true at the same time. I can be gentle on myself, but I can also have a goal for the week, and maybe my goal for the week is to carry around my water bottle right week, and maybe my goal for the week is to carry around my water bottle right. Whatever this thing is, these water things, all the new rage Did I carry that around all week? And I always tell moms have a straw, it's way easier, way easier, right, did I do that this week, okay. So what are we going to do next week? What are we going to add? Okay, so we're going to add that maybe you have at least a hundred grams of protein? Okay, well, we're going to incorporate that.
Speaker 2:
Okay, winning, well, but you know, for three of the days I didn't. It's okay, it's fine, but for how many days did you? You see, we and I think that's another important piece is at our space and in my practice and in my coaching practice, we're focusing on the wins. Yeah, and we always that's. The other piece is how can I help you focus on what you did? Well, because you know what. We could talk all day long about everything that's going wrong. We really could, because there's a lot to talk about. Yeah, but what did you do?
Speaker 2:
Well, and then the third week, all right, well, let's incorporate maybe some 10-minute walks. You know, three days a week, okay, and so you're just building on that. Because your time is different. Your days look week, okay, and so you're just building on that. Because your time is different, your days look different. Your bedtimes look different, your wake times with your child look very different. Yes, like dinner times look different, come on Right, and it's like let's be gentle with that and understanding that. And then let's add in some things and not kill yourself with 60 minutes on the treadmill to your autonomic nervous system because it's already in a mobilized state. It's already in, you know, a fight flight state and if I am going in and I'm doing some hard charging cardio, that that just naturally keeps me in that state. So let let's get you kind of down on, you know, down here a little bit into more calm connection and then add in something slowly, so your nervous system is in a place to meet those challenges during the day. You know, with more of a connected state. Yeah, Patience.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I love, I love that. I think a lot of times we want to go all in right and we're like on everything, I'm going to do it, I'm going to do all the things. I'm going to run seven miles and do all the things. I'm not a runner, so I would never say that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, me neither. I've gotten up to three miles. And then I was like, okay, I'm done.
Speaker 1:
All right, listen, I can walk for a very long time, but running is not my jam. But I think a lot of times we want to go hard. If we're going to work on our health, let's do this and we throw it all in, but because our bodies are already overstressed, you know, it does. It can actually cause more harm, more harm. So true, yeah, stephanie, it has been so great having you here today. Tell people where they can find you.
Speaker 2:
You can find. So I am on Instagram at SteffiJo Strong with underscore wholeness. I decided wholeness because I really believe that we have to be aware of our whole person. It's not just about one thing, it's about the whole of us. And then also I am on Facebook SteffiJoArmstrong Um. And then also I am on Facebook, um, steffi Jo Armstrong, and then um, it's. Thecordcocom is where you can find our practice.
Speaker 1:
I will put all of Stephanie's information and how to connect with her in the show notes and if you're interested in looking into a self-care plan or working with a wellness coach, I have a six-week coaching group that starts on Monday, april 22nd. I will put the link for that in the show notes as well. As we wrap up today, I wanted to share a verse that Stephanie shared with me this week. It is Nehemiah 6.3. I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Let that be a charge for all of us this week. You are doing a great work. Let's make sure that we are doing everything we can to be able to keep doing it and doing it well.
Speaker 1:
Let me pray for us, dear Heavenly Father. You have created us for this work. You made us to do hard things. Holy Spirit, strengthen us so that we can continue to invest in our kids and invest in our family. Help us to care for ourselves well. Help us to realize the gift that our bodies are. Lord, you have created and given us our bodies so that we could go into the world and give you glory. Lord, help us to steward this gift that you have given us. Help us to steward it well and care for it, so that we can continue doing the work that we do with endurance and joy. We love you. We trust you.