Podcast
I'm Bipolar. Now What? Recovery, Stability, and Living Well.
Hosted by Louise Barnett · EN
I'm Bipolar. Now What? is the podcast for anyone living with bipolar disorder and wondering what comes next. Hosted by Louise Barnett, a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach and author of Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir, this show combines lived experience with practical tools for addiction, recovery, stability, and living well. Each week, you'll find honest conversations about bipolar disorder, medication, therapy, routines, relationships, sobriety, and building a life worth living. Recovery is possible. Stability is possible. Living well is possible.
34episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
117. Palliative Care: When the Outcome is Decided
Apr 1300:55:32Tap to summarizePalliative Care: When the Outcome Is Already DecidedWhat happens when healing is no longer the goal?In this episode, I sit down with Anne, a licensed psychotherapist and palliative care social worker, to explore the emotional and psychological realities of end-of-life care—where addiction, mental health, and dignity intersect in ways we rarely talk about.Through powerful real-life stories, we unpack what it means to support someone when the outcome is already known… when sobriety isn’t always possible… and when the focus shifts from fighting to acceptance.This conversation challenges everything we think we know about recovery, control, and what it means to truly care for someone.If you’ve ever struggled with letting go, with needing to “fix,” or with redefining what healing looks like—this episode will stay with you.Get in Touch with Anne:TikTok: AnnefrontlmftWebsite: www.annefront.comSubstack: Annefrontlmft.substack.com
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116. The Other Side of Bipolar: The war inside a “stable” mind
Mar 3000:23:59Tap to summarizeToday, on World Bipolar Awareness Day, Tainted Love: A Bipoplar Memoir has a cover.It captures something I don’t even fully have words for yet.Presale is live. 🤍100% of presale revenue is being donated to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)—and I’m personally matching it.Link to Amazonwww.louisebarnett.com March 30 is International Bipolar Awareness Day, a day dedicated to increasing understanding of a condition that is often misunderstood.When people think of bipolar disorder, they tend to imagine dramatic extremes—manic highs or devastating lows. But there is another side that people rarely talk about.In this episode, Louise reads a powerful excerpt from her memoir about the quieter, more complicated reality of living with bipolar while medicated and seemingly stable. Three years into treatment, standing beside the steadiest partner she has ever known, she finds herself confronting a difficult truth: sometimes the hardest battle isn’t surviving the storm—it’s learning how to live in the calm without destroying it.This episode explores the internal war many people with bipolar disorder experience, even when everything on the outside appears steady.
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115. Terry's Story: Breaking the Groundhog Day Loop
Mar 1600:49:39Tap to summarizeBreaking the Groundhog Day Loop with Terry | Walking SoberWhat if recovery begins with something as simple as showing up for yourself?In this episode, I’m joined by Terry, the founder of Walking Sober, a growing community built around the idea that healing doesn’t have to be complicated—it can start with putting one foot in front of the other.After seven years of sobriety, Terry began hosting Sunday morning walks along the downtown hike-and-bike trail in Austin, Texas. There’s no pressure, no fixing, and no lectures—just movement, conversation, and the quiet power of being alongside others who are choosing an alcohol-free life.Our conversation explores how drinking can quietly become a habit loop we barely notice—until one day we do. Terry shares how journaling helped him begin to see the patterns in his own life, the moment awareness cracked open, and why the movie Groundhog Day became a powerful metaphor for the cycle so many of us find ourselves living.We talk about the rebellion that can come with early sobriety, the influence of voices like Holly Whitaker and Laura McKowen, and the tipping point when you realize: whatever those people have in their lives, I want some of that too.Terry also reflects on childhood experiences, grief, therapy, and why recovery is often about much more than alcohol itself. Over time, he began to build a recovery practice that worked for him—one rooted in curiosity, movement, and learning how to get back up when life knocks you down.Because, as Terry says, the goal isn’t perfection.It’s practice.And one day, almost without noticing, you wake up and realize you’re free.In this episode we talk about:How habits form without our awarenessThe moment you start to see the pain in your own patternsWhy Groundhog Day is such a powerful recovery metaphorFinding inspiration from people a few steps aheadCreating space in your life for the good things to growWhy recovery is about more than just alcoholWhat “Keep Walking” really meansLace up your shoes and come walk with us.Get in touch with Terry: Website: WalkingSober.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@walkingsoberFacebook: facebook.com/walkingsoberclub
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Two Ways Out: Breaking the Silence Around Suicide | A Conversation with Laura
Mar 901:01:46Tap to summarizeLaura shares her lived experience with PTSD, dissociation, and suicidal thinking — and the moment she realized there were only two ways out.Today’s guest is Laura, founder of My Truth Memoir Writing Services, where she helps others tell their stories with honesty, compassion, and courage.But Laura’s work didn’t begin as a profession. It began as survival.After a tragic loss in childhood and years of silently carrying trauma, Laura was later diagnosed with PTSD and panic disorder — conditions that shaped her inner world while she continued to build a life on the outside. For more than twenty years, she worked as a special education teacher, raised three children, and did what so many people do: she kept going.Until she couldn’t anymore.In this deeply personal conversation, Laura shares the lived reality of dissociation, panic, generational trauma, and the moment she realized she believed there were only two ways out.Her memoir, Two Ways Out: A Memoir of Then and Now, was written to break the silence around suicide and normalize the conversations so many people are afraid to have.We talk about what it means to lose yourself — and how you begin to find your way back.This episode is about survival. About truth. And about choosing to stay.If you’ve ever struggled in silence or loved someone who has, this conversation will remind you that you are not alone.
Transcribe →114. The Day I Woke Up Behind Bars
Feb 2100:28:48Tap to summarizeMarch, 2015.Days after standing on the edge of an overpass, I woke up in a psychiatric hospital with no memory of how I got there — and no idea my life was about to change forever.In this episode, I share the story of my psychiatric hospitalization, the memories that resurfaced while I was there, and the moment a doctor finally gave a name to the chaos I had lived with for most of my life: Bipolar I disorder.This is the story of what it feels like to break — and what it feels like to finally be seen.If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re broken or why your mind feels like it’s working against you, this episode is for you.You are not alone. And you are not beyond help.
Transcribe →113. Cole's Story: Only OK to Be Gay If I Was High
Feb 901:14:38Tap to summarizeCole spent over two decades caught in eating disorders and substance addiction before finding lasting freedom. Today, he works in Customer Success and Brand Strategy, coaches competitive gymnastics, and serves as a CCAR-certified Recovery Professional. He’s also the founder of Life Unadulterated, a platform helping gay men use sobriety as leverage to build meaningful, fulfilling lives.In this episode, we explore how identity, shame, and addiction can become deeply intertwined — especially within queer communities. Cole opens up about childhood bullying, body image, chem sex, and the role substances played in allowing him to feel temporarily safe in his own skin.Rather than focusing on abstinence alone, this conversation centers on life design: how recovery becomes sustainable when you stop trying to escape your life and start intentionally creating one you actually want to stay present for.
Transcribe →112. The Day My Daughter Saved My Life
Jan 2600:36:48Tap to summarizeBefore I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I was living inside a mind I didn’t understand.This episode is my lived experience — the moment I stood at the edge, the spiral that led me there, and the tiny hand that pulled me back.In this deeply personal story, I share what undiagnosed bipolar disorder really looked like, how depression and mania intertwined, and how motherhood became the anchor that kept me here.This season is about lived experience. The real stories we don’t usually say out loud — stories of mental health, addiction, recovery, and survival.If you’ve ever felt lost inside your own mind, this episode is for you.
Transcribe →111. Diagnosis: Bipolar (Courtesy of my Ex)
Jan 1500:17:54Tap to summarizeDiagnosis: Bipolar, Courtesy of My ExWhat happens when an ex doesn’t just leave, but hands you a diagnosis on the way out?In this episode, I share the night my relationship ended with a stack of printed papers instead of a goodbye. What was framed as “help” was actually control, gaslighting, and a weaponized use of mental health language that would echo for years.This episode is about power, shame, and the dangerous line between concern and manipulation. It’s about how mental health terms can be used to silence, not support, and how surviving that moment became the first step toward understanding myself on my own terms.If you’ve ever been diagnosed by someone who hurt you, questioned your reality because someone else was so convincing, or wondered where “help” crossed into harm, this one’s for you.
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Completely Fine: 2026 Trailer
Jan 1500:01:00Tap to summarizeWelcome to The Unmasking Sobriety and Mental Health Podcast, where we are all “Completely Fine.”I’m your host, Louise Barnett—author of Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir and a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach.I live with Bipolar I and found sobriety in 2021. Since then, I’ve been trying to figure out this whole thing called life—honestly, imperfectly, and out loud.Join me for storytelling and candid conversations with people willing to go beyond the mask. Together, we explore mental health, sobriety, identity, and what it really means to survive.Because here, we’re learning that not being “completely fine” might actually be more than okay.
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110. Mean Girl Culture & Our Tween Daughters
Mar 31, 202500:40:24Tap to summarizeSummaryIn this conversation, Louise Barnett discusses the pervasive issue of bullying among tweens, particularly focusing on relational bullying and its long-lasting effects on mental health. She shares her personal experiences as a mother navigating her daughter's struggles with bullying, emphasizing the importance of understanding the different forms of bullying, recognizing the signs, and taking proactive steps to support children. The conversation highlights the need for open communication, empathy, and collaboration with schools to address bullying effectively.Keywords - bullying, mean girls, mental health, tweens, relational bullying, emotional scars, early intervention, parenting, empathy, kindnessTakeawaysNo child should come home from school crying due to bullying.Relational bullying is often overlooked but has severe impacts.Invisible bruises from emotional bullying can last a lifetime.Bullying can lead to long-term mental health issues, including anxiety and depression.It's crucial for parents to recognize the signs of bullying in their children.Schools often lack awareness of relational and cyberbullying.Open communication with children about their experiences is vital.Empathy and kindness should be modeled at home to combat bullying.Parents must engage with schools to ensure they understand bullying definitions.Resources like Dr. Becky Kennedy's work can provide valuable support for parents.Sound BitesChapters00:00 The Journey of Motherhood and Bullying Awareness03:10 Understanding Bullying: Definitions and Categories06:02 The Impact of Bullying on Mental Health09:11 The Long-Term Effects of Bullying12:10 Recognizing Relational Bullying in Tweens14:46 The Role of Adults in Addressing Bullying17:58 Personal Experience: A Mother's Story23:50 Strategies for Early Intervention and Support29:59 Promoting Empathy and Kindness in Children34:56 Resources and Final Thoughts
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