Best Adamyoung Podcasts (2026)

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173 I Am Badass: Loss, A Woman's Cycle, and Hope 43:01

Play Pause

7M ago43:01

43:01

Stephanie Duncan Smith joins me today to talk about her book, "Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway." Topics covered include: Stephanie's pregnancy losses, how she learned to think differently about her period (and her entire cycle), the importance of listening to our bodies, Stephanie's struggle with…

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172 Spiritual and Religious Trauma with Dr. Hillary McBride 39:36

8M ago39:36

39:36

Dr. Hillary McBride talks about her new book titled, Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing. Topics covered include: our deep human need to belong, the inherent goodness of your heart (despite what you may have been told), how healing should not be defined as "something going away," and the importance of witnessing you…

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171 Your Sexuality and Your Story: Linking Past to Present 33:26

9M ago33:26

33:26

I am joined today by author Jay Stringer to talk about sexual stuckness/difficulties/struggles. Healthy sexuality is deeply tied to the degree to which we have made sense of our story in our family of origin. Sadly, so few of us have ever been asked to connect the dots between our past life story and the sexual difficulties we face in the present. …

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170 Make Sense of Your Story: Dan Allender Interviews Adam 46:09

10M ago46:09

46:09

Today's episode is different. Dan Allender takes over the podcast to interview me about my new book titled, Make Sense of Your Story: Why Engaging Your Past with Kindness Changes Everything. Topics covered include: how to respond when we fail those we love, how the book launch re-enacts core dynamics in my life, how to listen to the story your body…

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169 How to Experience the Kind Presence of God with John Eldredge 41:35

11M ago41:35

41:35

John Eldredge returns to the podcast to talk about his newest book titled, "Experience Jesus. Really." Topics covered include: how to live as an ordinary mystic (someone who experiences the sweet presence of God on a regular basis), why you don't need to understand something to experience it and benefit from it, the importance of turning toward Jes…

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168 Longing for Delight and Honoring Anger 40:36

12M ago40:36

40:36

I am joined today by my friend Gail Stucker who is a trauma-informed story coach. Gail generously shares a story about herself as an 8th grader. Topics we cover: taking your story seriously when you don't believe you have any "capital T" trauma, longing for the delight of your parents, blessing your desire for delight as a good thing even though th…

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167 StoryWork: What It Is and Why It Matters with Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel 31:50

12M ago31:50

31:50

You have a story and that story matters. Your story in your family of origin significantly affects the way you think, feel, and act in the world today. This is why Dan Allender says, "It is time to listen to your story." What if healing begins by listening to your story? By reflecting on the experiences in your growing up years, you can better unde…

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166 Why Your Marriage Feels The Way It Does 42:04

1y ago42:04

42:04

I am joined today by Dr. Dan Allender and Dr. Steve Call to talk about the complexities of marriage relationships. Dan and Steve recently co-authored a book titled, "The Deep-Rooted Marriage: Cultivating Intimacy, Healing, and Delight." If you are committed to the growth of yourself and your spouse, marriage will be hard. Today, Dan and Steve talk …

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165 A Concise Explanation of Avoidant and Ambivalent Attachment 29:22

1y ago29:22

29:22

I dive into a detailed explanation of avoidant and ambivalent attachment. I explain why and how a child develops each of these insecure attachment styles. I then outline how you are supposed to know in adulthood if you have an avoidant or ambivalent attachment style. Your attachment style (secure, avoidant, or ambivalent) profoundly affects how you…

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164 Engaging Your Cultural/Collective Story 32:24

1y ago32:24

32:24

The fundamental premise of story work is that your past story is affecting your present life. This is just as true for your collective story as it is for your individual story. Your present day to day life is deeply affected by the past story of the collective to which you belong. The story of America bears great glory and great sin, just like the …

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163 Implicit Memory: What It Is and Why It Matters 25:18

1y ago25:18

25:18

Memory is the way in which a past experience affects how the mind will function in the present. There are two layers of memory: explicit and implicit. There are two key attributes of implicit memory that are critical to understand. First, implicit memories are created whether you are paying attention or not. In other words, when you were a child, y…

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162 Triangulation: What It Is and Why It Matters 40:09

1y ago40:09

40:09

Triangulation occurs when a parent requires a child to function as an emotional adult by meeting the parent's adult needs and wants. Were you required to give, give, give to your parent, or was your parent continually giving, giving, giving emotionally to you? In a healthy parent-child relationship, there is plenty of connection—but the parent neve…

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161 Exploring Your Sexual Story With Curiosity and Kindness 35:54

1+ y ago35:54

35:54

Sexuality is an emotionally charged topic. Period. But when you are talking about sexuality for people with a history of trauma, you are stepping into terrain where angels fear to tread. However, if God intends for you to experience overflowing sexual pleasure and lavish sexual freedom, then exploring your sexual story is more than worth it. Human …

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160 The Weight of Religious and Spiritual Expectations with Reid Zeller 40:32

1+ y ago40:32

40:32

I am joined today by therapist and friend Reid Zeller who shares a story about egging cars when he was 16. Behind every story is a backstory. The backstory includes the nature of the environment we grew up in. When religious or spiritual expectations are placed on the shoulders of a child, pressure builds within that child. And when that pressure i…

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159 Revisiting the Big Six: What You Needed from Your Parents 41:34

1+ y ago41:34

41:34

When you were a child, you were deeply dependent on your primary caretakers. This means that the development of your brain was contingent upon the level of care and kindness in your family environment. Today I identify the six things you needed from your parents, and give examples of each. The "Big Six" things you needed from your parents include (…

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158 The Critical Relationship Between Attachment and Affect Regulation 30:05

1+ y ago30:05

30:05

If you have difficulty regulating your emotion, there is a reason for that! No one comes out of the womb with the ability to regulate their affect. The way you develop the neurobiological structures to regulate your own emotions is by having your affect interactively regulated by another. This is the main gift that a primary caregiver gives to a ch…

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157 What If My Story Isn't That Bad? Why We All Tend to Minimize Our Wounds 29:24

1+ y ago29:24

29:24

This episode is for people who experience emotional pain but feel like "nothing that bad happened to me growing up. I had a pretty good childhood." As it says in Jeremiah 6, it is very common to dress our wounds as though they are not serious. One way we tend to minimize our wounds is by comparing our story to someone else who "had it worse." Anoth…

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156 Five Objections to Engaging Your Story: A Response 40:35

1+ y ago40:35

40:35

When I began exploring my story, five objections kept coming up for me. These objections kept me stuck. In today's episode, I respond to each of the five objections. Objection 1: I should focus on the present and the future, not "dwell on the past." Objection 2: Looking at my story is self-indulgent, introspective navel gazing; I should be focused …

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155 Why Engaging Your Story Heals Your Brain 39:34

1+ y ago39:34

39:34

My invitation to you today is simple: to take your story seriously. Engaging your story is the single most important thing you can do to experience healing. When I say "your story," I'm talking more about the individual scenes than the overarching narrative of your life. Your stories—particularly your stories of heartache or harm—have shaped your b…

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154 What Grief Is, How It Heals, and the Pain of Loneliness with J.S. Park 45:35

1+ y ago45:35

45:35

In "As Long As You Need," author J.S. Park writes that "Grief is not about letting go, but about letting in." Letting in sorrow, letting in anger, and especially letting in other people who can be WITH us in our pain. This episode is about all kinds of grief—not merely the grief of losing a loved one. One of Joon Park's main points is that we often…

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153 How Your Past Story Affects Your Present Sexuality with Jay Stringer 50:28

2y ago50:28

50:28

I am joined today by author Jay Stringer to talk about sexual stuckness/difficulties/pain. Healthy sexuality is deeply tied to the degree to which we have made sense of our story in our family of origin. Sadly, so few of us have ever been asked to connect the dots between our past life story and the sexual difficulties we face in the present. Today…

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152 Learning To Live Inside Your Body with Dr. Hillary McBride 39:22

2y ago39:22

39:22

I am joined today by Dr. Hillary McBride to discuss excerpts from her new book titled, "Practices for Embodied Living." Topics covered include: how to feel your feelings, being alive in your body (eroticism), and the story of your relationship to your sensuality and sexuality. Finally, I ask Hillary about her beautiful claim that we often find the …

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151 What To Do With Desire and Dread with Mike Boland 41:02

2y ago41:02

41:02

Pastor and counselor Mike Boland shares a story from when he was 15 years old. It's a story about the interplay of longing for connection and, at the same time, dreading what will be required of him in return. We talk about grooming, and the war of ambivalence that rages in one's body in the midst of abuse. You can find out more about Mike's work a…

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150 Trauma Heals By Connecting With Others 35:12

2y ago35:12

35:12

The opposite of trauma is not "no trauma;" the opposite of trauma is connection. To be human is to be wounded. However, wounds heal naturally when the environment is right… and the right environment for healing is the empathic presence of another person. God made our brains and nervous systems to need one another. This is particularly true when it …

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149 Why Listening To Your Body Leads To Healing Part 2 30:25

2y ago30:25

30:25

Today I focus on two important ways that your body tells you things. The first is through your affect. Whenever your affect becomes dysregulated, your body is letting you know valuable information about your present environment… and about your past story. Dysregulation makes implicit memory known. And the second way that your body communicates with…

Adamyoung Podcasts

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The Place We Find Ourselves

Adam Young | LCSW, MDiv

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173 I Am Badass: Loss, A Woman's Cycle, and Hope 43:01

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172 Spiritual and Religious Trauma with Dr. Hillary McBride 39:36

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171 Your Sexuality and Your Story: Linking Past to Present 33:26

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170 Make Sense of Your Story: Dan Allender Interviews Adam 46:09

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169 How to Experience the Kind Presence of God with John Eldredge 41:35

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168 Longing for Delight and Honoring Anger 40:36

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167 StoryWork: What It Is and Why It Matters with Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel 31:50

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166 Why Your Marriage Feels The Way It Does 42:04

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165 A Concise Explanation of Avoidant and Ambivalent Attachment 29:22

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164 Engaging Your Cultural/Collective Story 32:24

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163 Implicit Memory: What It Is and Why It Matters 25:18

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162 Triangulation: What It Is and Why It Matters 40:09

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161 Exploring Your Sexual Story With Curiosity and Kindness 35:54

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160 The Weight of Religious and Spiritual Expectations with Reid Zeller 40:32

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159 Revisiting the Big Six: What You Needed from Your Parents 41:34

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158 The Critical Relationship Between Attachment and Affect Regulation 30:05

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157 What If My Story Isn't That Bad? Why We All Tend to Minimize Our Wounds 29:24

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156 Five Objections to Engaging Your Story: A Response 40:35

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155 Why Engaging Your Story Heals Your Brain 39:34

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154 What Grief Is, How It Heals, and the Pain of Loneliness with J.S. Park 45:35

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153 How Your Past Story Affects Your Present Sexuality with Jay Stringer 50:28

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152 Learning To Live Inside Your Body with Dr. Hillary McBride 39:22

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151 What To Do With Desire and Dread with Mike Boland 41:02

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150 Trauma Heals By Connecting With Others 35:12

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149 Why Listening To Your Body Leads To Healing Part 2 30:25