Motherhood, Therapy & Not Losing Yourself with Carissa

In this deeply candid episode of Ducking Realitea, Siobhan sits down with therapist-in-training and soon-to-be mom Carissa Kerwin for a conversation that moves effortlessly between laughter, frustration, and profound insight. From navigating long-distance love and career pivots to surviving pregnancy hormones that no one warned her about, Carissa shares what it really looks like when life stacks all the transitions at once.

Carissa opens up about her journey from special education teacher to licensed therapist, and how working with emotionally overwhelmed teens revealed her true calling: helping people regulate emotions, unpack trauma, and feel less alone in their mess. The conversation dives headfirst into childhood wounds, therapy myths, people-pleasing, and why you don’t actually have to “rehash everything” to heal.

Together, Siobhan and Carissa unpack the realities of pregnancy and postpartum mental health, how isolating it can feel, how little research exists for women’s emotional experiences, and why needing support doesn’t make you weak. They also explore relationships, emotional labor, adoption, social media’s impact on body image, and the power of simply being listened to instead of “fixed.”

It’s honest, validating, and refreshingly unpolished, exactly the kind of conversation we need more of.