Dottie’s story is proof that it’s never too late to heal. In this powerful episode of Not That Girl Anymore, she shares how therapy helped her break free from childhood trauma, perfectionism, and the cycle of narcissistic abuse. Through somatic healing, inner child work, and learning to set boundaries, she rebuilt her self-worth and reclaimed her life. If you’ve ever felt invisible, stuck, or afraid to be alone — this conversation will remind you that healing is possible, and you are worth it. 💛

#TraumaHealing #TherapyJourney #NarcissisticAbuseRecovery #InnerChildHealing #SomaticTherapy #SelfWorth #NotThatGirlAnymorePodcast #HealingJourney

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Dawn Bouillion: Hey, friends, welcome back to not that girl anymore. I'm your host. Dawn Bouillon, a trauma, therapist and coach, and the founder of embrace your brave.

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Dawn Bouillion: and we've got a familiar voice with us today.

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Dawn Bouillion: Dottie is back.

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Dawn Bouillion: if you will remember. Dottie was the one asking me questions the other day and helping me share my story.

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Dawn Bouillion: But today it's her turn. She's the one sitting in the chair. So I'm so honored to have her with us today, sharing some of her story with us.

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Dawn Bouillion: and Dottie will be joining me at. Embrace your brave as a certified, integrative, somatic practitioner.

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Dawn Bouillion: and she's been walking through her own healing journey with so much courage and so much depth and so much speed, is what I'll say.

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Dawn Bouillion: and I'm so excited about all that she's bringing to this work and to this community. So you are going to love hearing from her

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Dawn Bouillion: so, Dottie, welcome! I'm so glad you're here.

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Dottie Griffin: Thank you for having me back to be here.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh, man! So let's let's dive in.

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Dawn Bouillion: So my 1st question, Dottie, can you give us a snapshot

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Dawn Bouillion: of what life looked like before

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Dawn Bouillion: you came to therapy or started your healing process.

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Dottie Griffin: Wow! Yes. That's a huge question.

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Dottie Griffin: My life before therapy was. I mean, I was just broken.

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Dottie Griffin: I was completely broken inside, and I couldn't tell if

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Dottie Griffin: I didn't know I was broken, or if I knew I was broken, and was just afraid, or didn't have the language

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Dottie Griffin: to say it, or to admit it.

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Dottie Griffin: you know. So I found myself in such a deep, dark whole that

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Dottie Griffin: I couldn't. I couldn't find a way out. It was it was like.

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Dottie Griffin: so have you ever seen the movie groundhog day with Bill Murray.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah, I have seen that.

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Dottie Griffin: That's what it felt like. It felt like I was living groundhog day the same day, over and over and over, and I would get up each morning and put my happy face on, and go do all the things I had to do each particular day.

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Dottie Griffin: and just doing what other people expected me to do. It was like I was checking off boxes. I wasn't really

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Dottie Griffin: living life, I mean, I was really just people pleasing my way through life, and.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh, cool!

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, you know.

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Dawn Bouillion: Just like on like an autopilot kinda.

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Dottie Griffin: I was on auto I was on a hamster wheel.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: It's just running on that hamster wheel and getting nowhere.

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Dottie Griffin: So, and I ended up just

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Dottie Griffin: on the brink of turning 60 and really

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Dottie Griffin: just realizing like I don't. I don't know who I am.

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Dawn Bouillion: Wow!

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Dottie Griffin: I don't know what I like, you know. And

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Dottie Griffin: it was, I think, just getting to the point where

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Dottie Griffin: I couldn't do it on my own anymore, you know, and

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Dottie Griffin: I just knew that I had to reach out for help.

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Dawn Bouillion: Okay.

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Dawn Bouillion: wow! You're so brave to to do that, too. So that's actually my next question, like, what was it that actually made you finally take that leap and and ask for help.

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Dottie Griffin: You know, I think it was

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Dottie Griffin: It was really just starting to understand that

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Dottie Griffin: what I was going through was so much bigger than than myself, you know, and

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Dottie Griffin: I had become such a a chronic planner.

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Dottie Griffin: I had planned my whole life like I would plan my weeks out, my weekends out. I did. I had such a fear of being alone. You know, and a a fear of abandonment and rejection. And.

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Dottie Griffin: Brooke, you can have to edit this.

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Dawn Bouillion: I have on my thing that your daughter.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, you know, I I kind of missed, missed something I wanted to say on the 1st question, so I was trying to put it in there.

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Dawn Bouillion: Okay.

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Dottie Griffin: So shoot. Just ask me to. Huh! I don't know.

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Dawn Bouillion: You want to go back to the 1st question.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, I'll start it over again.

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Dottie Griffin: Or do we start the whole thing over again? I'm sorry doing this.

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Dawn Bouillion: It's okay.

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Dottie Griffin: You'll just have to say that whole beginning again.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh, you want me to say the whole thing over.

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Dottie Griffin: Well, unless I guess Brooke can edit all of this out.

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Dottie Griffin: and then we'll just say we start. Yeah, she can edit it all out your part was good, so just ask me the 1st question.

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Dawn Bouillion: Okay. So, Dottie, let's let's begin. Can you give us a snapshot of what life looked like before you sought your healing or your therapy?

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Dottie Griffin: Wow! That that is such a huge question.

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Dottie Griffin: you know, before I began therapy.

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Dottie Griffin: I I just felt broken like I was broken inside, and I didn't know if

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Dottie Griffin: I I didn't know if I knew I was broken, and was just too afraid to admit it, or if I didn't know that I was broken. I mean, it was just this, such a disconnect from myself.

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Dawn Bouillion: That.

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Dottie Griffin: You know I felt so very much alone.

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Dawn Bouillion: I'm.

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Dottie Griffin: So I felt really invisible, you know. And so have you ever seen the movie groundhog's day?

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Dawn Bouillion: I have seen that. Yes.

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Dottie Griffin: So that's what it felt like. It felt like I was

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Dottie Griffin: living the same day over and over again, and really not not

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Dottie Griffin: seeing any results. You know I would. I would get up every morning I would put my happy face on, and I would go off

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Dottie Griffin: and and go through my day.

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Dawn Bouillion: Like a like a performance kind of thing like.

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Dawn Bouillion: okay, same thing all over again.

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Dottie Griffin: Form. Let's let's be what everybody wanted me to be. Let's say what everybody wanted me to say. You know, I I just kind of was people pleasing my way through life, and I felt like I was on this hamster wheel. I was running and getting nowhere, and

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Dottie Griffin: you know I I was a chronic planner because I was so afraid of of feeling alone. I was so afraid of feeling abandonment that I would plan my days and my weeks and my weekends out just to make sure I wasn't alone.

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Dottie Griffin: And you know, I realized that this came from my childhood.

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Dottie Griffin: you know, because as a child. I felt so rejected and abandoned, and

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Dottie Griffin: I grew up in a home where you use the word performance. That's exactly what it was, you know, performance in our household equaled love.

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Dottie Griffin: you know. If I was, if I was

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Dottie Griffin: good enough, if I obeyed, and I did everything that I was supposed to do, and I made good grades.

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Dottie Griffin: Then that was love.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh, wow, yeah, okay, so it is all about performing and just looking

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Dawn Bouillion: looking good looking, doing the right thing.

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Dottie Griffin: Yes, you know my mom she was. She was such a a complicated woman, and

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Dottie Griffin: you know she she battled her own middle mental illnesses. But she had such this need for control, and she wanted to control all my life and my siblings lives.

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Dottie Griffin: And you know our our household revolved around her moods.

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Dottie Griffin: So we were always trying to keep mama happy and.

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Dawn Bouillion: Okay.

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Dottie Griffin: If mama was happy, then everybody was happy. But if mama wasn't happy then the household was really

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Dottie Griffin: kind of chaotic.

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Dawn Bouillion: Okay, and the way to keep mama happy was performing well.

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Dottie Griffin: Performing. Well, that's right. We all learn to present this polished version. Versions of ourselves.

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Dawn Bouillion: You know that.

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Dottie Griffin: What I did. So as I grew up

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Dottie Griffin: I continued to do that. I continued to live behind

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Dottie Griffin: the facade, you know, so cause I had to look perfect, and I had to be perfect, and

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Dottie Griffin: you know I had. I felt like I had to perform, to feel valued.

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Dawn Bouillion: Wow!

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Dottie Griffin: To feel, seen, you know, to feel, heard, and.

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Dawn Bouillion: I'm I'm feeling like the pressure of that, just even as you're talking, you know, like as a little girl just like

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Dawn Bouillion: we gotta make sure. You know that mom's okay, so that we can not have things blow up around here. You know.

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Dottie Griffin: Right. We were always trying to keep things. No conflict, you know.

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Dottie Griffin: We we didn't for me. I didn't ask questions. If I did ask a question. The answer was always do as I say, or because I said so. You know, there was no real answer to the question, so I just grew up like, well.

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Dottie Griffin: just listen to everything my mom says, and you know it's all right. It must be all right. She's my mom.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh, wow!

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Dottie Griffin: You know.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah, that sounds really confusing. And lonely.

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Dottie Griffin: Super, super, confusing, super lonely, and

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Dottie Griffin: I just, you know, as a child, began disconnecting from myself, and just my whole life

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Dottie Griffin: was lived pretty much in disconnect.

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Dottie Griffin: because I had no idea who I was or what I wanted, or you know what I liked.

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Dawn Bouillion: In her.

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Dottie Griffin: Household like we. We weren't allowed, or

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Dottie Griffin: to like feel any negative emotions.

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Dottie Griffin: All of that was suppressed, because, you know, that wasn't perfect.

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Dottie Griffin: you know. So we just. And and if if

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Dottie Griffin: if we expressed any kind of what would be considered a negative emotion, we would met with you know. Suck that up, or rub some dirt on it, or, you know, stop crying, or I'll give you something to cry about. So growing up with all of those conditionings I brought that into my childhood.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah, yeah, you brought that into your adulthood.

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Dottie Griffin: That's right. I brought it into my adulthood.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: And you know, as an adult, I had no time for self-care. I didn't know what that was.

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Dottie Griffin: I was exhausted. I was unfulfilled.

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Dottie Griffin: So really, before therapy, I wasn't living my life. I was really just managing it.

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Dawn Bouillion: Okay, yeah, wow, and that seems like that makes sense in your story. So what

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Dawn Bouillion: like was there something that got you into therapy, or got your ass on the couch. That's what I usually say.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, there there was, you know, there was. There was definitely a breaking point. Just.

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Dottie Griffin: I just felt like a lot of my relationships. Friendships weren't really serving me. I felt like

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Dottie Griffin: they were one sided, you know, and that I was putting in most of the effort.

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Dawn Bouillion: And not receiving.

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Dottie Griffin: Any effort back. And I had a fallen out with a really good friend.

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Dottie Griffin: and I thought, you know, the the issue was something very simple, and would be something that we could talk about and get over. But

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Dottie Griffin: whatever you know the the thing was, it triggered her in a way that she didn't even want to engage in the relationship anymore. And for me, being a people pleaser.

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Dottie Griffin: I had to fix this like I'm.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: Things, and nothing I could do with everything I did or said made it worse.

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Dottie Griffin: and you know it. That kind of

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Dottie Griffin: was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. But you know it was a lot of that, and just not feeling

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Dottie Griffin: fulfilled in relationships, I was completely exhausted from

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Dottie Griffin: over planning. I didn't know how to say no. I said yes to everything, you know, even though my body was telling me you too tired, or you should stay home, or I would still go.

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Dottie Griffin: and

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Dottie Griffin: you know, after this incident it I just knew I knew something was wrong. I knew something was broken. And I I do want to say, though you know the the friend, she's very beautiful person, and we have since reconciled so. But.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: That was.

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Dawn Bouillion: Have you thanked her for getting you on the couch.

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Dottie Griffin: We've talked about it. We've talked about how you know. This incident really helped both of us.

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Dawn Bouillion: That's great. Yeah. Start our own healing journeys.

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Dottie Griffin: My daughter, really, who is like Mom. You know, there's something going on with you.

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Dottie Griffin: Did not.

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Dottie Griffin: You're not getting yourself out of it, she said. I think you you may need to seek professional help, and I was like, Wait, what like.

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Dawn Bouillion: Because.

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Dottie Griffin: What like a therapist like. I'm not crazy, girl.

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Dawn Bouillion: I'm not.

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Dottie Griffin: But.

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Dawn Bouillion: Way to go. Daughter, yeah, he was concern about you.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, she did. She did. And so you know, I just. I made the appointment, and

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Dottie Griffin: oh, that was the 1st brave step I took, girl.

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Dawn Bouillion: I feel like I remember some of that that 1st day. What

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Dawn Bouillion: What was that 1st day like showing up to the office.

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Dottie Griffin: Who well like

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Dottie Griffin: it, took so much just booking the appointment, you know, and then, after I booked it, I'd have some good days, and I would be like, I'm gonna cancel this. I don't. I don't need therapy. And then the.

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Dawn Bouillion: I'm good.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, it would. It would really be bad. I'm like, no, I better keep this appointment.

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Dottie Griffin: you know. So I kind of went back and forth. With that, and then even sitting

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Dottie Griffin: in the lobby waiting to get called back up. My! I was like, it's not too late to run, Dot, you can run.

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Dottie Griffin: But I knew I knew deep down inside that that I needed to stay

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Dottie Griffin: so, and you know you called me back.

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Dottie Griffin: and when I went into your office. The 1st thing I saw was this sign that said, you matter?

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Dottie Griffin: That kind of, you know started putting me at ease.

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Dottie Griffin: Okay.

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Dottie Griffin: I was so nervous. I mean, I'm gonna be vulnerable, you know, and I didn't know what to say.

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Dottie Griffin: I know I was a blubbering idiot.

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Dottie Griffin: and really, you know, I was fearing like judgment like you were. Gonna judge me like you. You're stupid. Why, why are you so nervous?

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Dottie Griffin: Okay, it's probably every client. But.

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Dawn Bouillion: This is a judgment, free zone. You're you're okay here.

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Dottie Griffin: And

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Dottie Griffin: but you know I didn't feel that judgment. I didn't feel like I was in a clinical office, and

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Dottie Griffin: I was met with compassion.

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Dottie Griffin: You know you weren't trying to fix me.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm.

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Dottie Griffin: And you know that 1st therapy session you just held space for me, and

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Dottie Griffin: that's something I had never really experienced before.

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Dawn Bouillion: You know, because you were just holding that space for me, and just giving me time to express myself.

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Dottie Griffin: That's I felt seen, and I felt heard, and I felt like I mattered, you know, and and not for what I could do like I wasn't performing for you. I had no no pony in that show.

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Dawn Bouillion: Bye.

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Dottie Griffin: So

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Dottie Griffin: you know it. I felt like I mattered, and just simply by being myself. And that alone was super powerful.

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Dottie Griffin: Wow, yeah, that's so awesome. And you just reminded me, you know.

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Dawn Bouillion: The the bravery it takes to ask for help, and to actually show up

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Dawn Bouillion: and and sit on the couch and open yourself up.

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Dawn Bouillion: you know, and I'm I'm still just so proud of you. For taking that, you know. Really brave.

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Dottie Griffin: Great.

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Dawn Bouillion: Step. It's hard, it's really hard. And you know.

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Dawn Bouillion: Some people never take it, Dottie, and

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Dawn Bouillion: and you know, especially at your age. I just want you to know, like.

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Dawn Bouillion: how proud I am of you, and what an inspiration you are that

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Dawn Bouillion: it's never! It's never too late to take your life back. You know.

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Dottie Griffin: Thank you. Yes, thank you.

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Dawn Bouillion: So

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Dawn Bouillion: What surprised you? I guess the most about your therapy experience.

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Dottie Griffin: Well, you know, I I really went into therapy expecting just to get some coping skills, you know. Maybe give me some exercises to help me

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Dottie Griffin: manage life better, you know. And

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Dottie Griffin: I I was so convinced that I'd only need 3 sessions. It was 3.

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Dottie Griffin: That was the magic number. I was gonna only need 3.

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Dawn Bouillion: Okay.

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Dottie Griffin: And I was gonna be fine. I was gonna have everything I needed, and I was just gonna be able to go out and and, you know, be a normal person in life.

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Dawn Bouillion: And just check those 3 3 boxes.

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Dottie Griffin: 3 boxes, you know, and I would be fine, but.

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Dawn Bouillion: No.

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Dottie Griffin: After the 3rd session.

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Dottie Griffin: Honestly, my life exploded.

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Dawn Bouillion: Nice.

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Dottie Griffin: Thank you. Yeah, thank you for that.

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Dottie Griffin: So you know

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Dottie Griffin: I kind of. I kind of like to think of it like this. So you have this garden, and in your garden. You have planted some flowers, and some bushes, and some shrubs, and some trees. Well, that whole garden exploded, and everything.

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Dottie Griffin: All the flowers and trees and bushes were just all laying on the ground.

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Dottie Griffin: And I was tasked with picking up each flower in each bush and each each tree.

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Dottie Griffin: and analyzing it and deciding whether it's something I wanted to plant back.

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Dawn Bouillion: Wow!

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Dottie Griffin: That's what it felt like putting my life back together was replanting the garden, but replanning, replanting it

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Dottie Griffin: in a way that honored me.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm.

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Dottie Griffin: And in a way that yes, in a way that

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Dottie Griffin: it it honored what I liked, what I wanted. You know what I wanted out of life. I was finally, and after after analyzing each piece, I was

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Dottie Griffin: beginning to feel again.

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Dottie Griffin: you know, and I was I was beginning to name how I felt. You know you, you one of the 1st exercises we did when I when I

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Dottie Griffin: when I was in therapy, was you handed me this feelings wheel.

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Dottie Griffin: because, you know, I hate. I have a love, hate relationship with the feelings. Wheel, but it's a it's a colorful wheel, and it has. I don't know 70 plus emotions on it, and you handed me the the feelings wheel, and you said.

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Dottie Griffin: Tell me how you're feeling.

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Dawn Bouillion: Right now.

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Dottie Griffin: Yep, and I wanted to just be like you, the crazy one girl cause 75 feet.

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Dawn Bouillion: No, no, no pressure not over.

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Dottie Griffin: Like I don't know, but I saw, you know there was overwhelmed on it twice, so you know I had to. I was performing a little@firstst

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Dottie Griffin: That's how I feel, you know. But as I'm as I'm putting my garden back together, I'm I'm really being able to feel like is this this thing in my life? Is this person in my life serving me.

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Dottie Griffin: or or isn't? If it's not, it doesn't get replanted, you know. And that's kind of how I started

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Dottie Griffin: putting putting the puzzle pieces back together.

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Dawn Bouillion: Daddy, I have to say you were like one of my favorite clients, cause you came with your notebook.

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Dawn Bouillion: and you you had all your notes, and and you were just like a a freaking sponge that was just like.

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Dawn Bouillion: Wait, you know, you were just like wanting to understand so much about yourself, and like

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Dawn Bouillion: connecting collecting those dots so we could connect those dots for you. But you were just like drinking it in. It's like the ideal client that, like genuinely wants to apply what you're learning to your life because you're you're so tired of living

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Dawn Bouillion: that other way, you know.

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Dottie Griffin: Exactly right.

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Dottie Griffin: That's exactly right, you know. And

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Dottie Griffin: I knew, like I said, I knew it was

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Dottie Griffin: something I was gonna have to go through, and I was determined to get to the other side whatever that took. And

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Dottie Griffin: you know there are just parts of my story. I can remember telling you something that I had never told anyone before. Maybe my daughter, she might have been the only one I had told before.

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Dottie Griffin: And you know it's it was really a coping mechanism that I I think, is probably pretty rare.

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Dottie Griffin: And I was, I'm like, I'm gonna tell her this because I just need to get this, you know, off my shoulders. And I was expecting you.

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Dottie Griffin: you know, to tell me. Yeah, girl, you really need to be institutionalized, you know. That's pretty strange, and.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm.

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Dottie Griffin: You know I was bracing myself for you to confirm my worst fear.

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Dawn Bouillion: Really.

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Dottie Griffin: It was.

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Dottie Griffin: You know, I really needed psychiatry or something like that. But you instead, you said.

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Dottie Griffin: Wow, that's beautiful. And I was like, okay.

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Dottie Griffin: beautiful. And he said, yes, he said, you know, that's your story, Dot, and you make sense in that story. And

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Dottie Griffin: I started realizing I could have a story, and I don't have to be ashamed of it, you know, because my story was all about survival.

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Dottie Griffin: It's how am I going to survive

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Dottie Griffin: all of these negative thoughts, thought patterns all of this conditioning that I had grown up with, you know, and I chose this

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Dottie Griffin: this mechanism.

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Dottie Griffin: I chose this coping mechanism, and.

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Dawn Bouillion: Alright!

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Dottie Griffin: Normalized it for me like you're not. This is. This is how you survived, you know, and what a beautiful way to survive. And then that kind of took the shame out of it like. I don't have to be ashamed of this, you know.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: So, man it was. It was so many things, and just putting my, my, my good.

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Dawn Bouillion: Like just to speak to that like, if you

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Dawn Bouillion: you think about how brave that little girl was to survive.

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Dawn Bouillion: Know, like, I'm so thankful that she did whatever it took

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Dawn Bouillion: to survive, and how brilliant it is to figure that out. So yeah.

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Dawn Bouillion: it's what it's what you had to do to survive.

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Dottie Griffin: Yes, that's what I had to do. And

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Dottie Griffin: you know, as I started feeling, I started feeling all of these emotions.

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Dottie Griffin: I learned that they were all good emotions, there were really

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Dottie Griffin: there were no bad ones, you know. You grow up thinking there's bad emotions, you know, anger and jealousy and frustration and sadness, and those are are negative or bad. But you know what I learned is that they're all

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Dottie Griffin: messengers. They're all trying to tell me something. They're all trying to tell me, girl, this part of your life is on fire.

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Dottie Griffin: Let's let's find a way to put this fire out.

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Dawn Bouillion: Instead.

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Dottie Griffin: You know we learned to suppress that. So

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Dottie Griffin: now I I sit with my emotions, I partner with them, and I let them tell me what what they need to tell me.

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Dottie Griffin: So yeah.

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Dawn Bouillion: Awesome.

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Dottie Griffin: Put in that garden. Hmm.

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Dawn Bouillion: It sounds like, I mean, I just hear the language that you use. It just sounds like you.

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Dawn Bouillion: you know, you've really grasped what your journey has been and what you've done like. You're kind of putting language to

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Dawn Bouillion: your healing process in just a beautiful way. It's it's cool to see that.

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Dottie Griffin: Yep, I found the words. So now the garden is, you know, is back together. And it's beautiful.

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Dawn Bouillion: Aw, I love that.

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Dawn Bouillion: So what would you say?

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Dawn Bouillion: How has it changed your relationships?

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Dottie Griffin: Well,

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Dottie Griffin: So bit by bit, going through therapy, that mask I was wearing. It began to fall, you know, and

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Dottie Griffin: I really began to discover

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Dottie Griffin: who I was, underneath all of the conditioning, you know, underneath all of what I was told I should be, and and those things, and I started

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Dottie Griffin: understanding what I liked and what I valued.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm.

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Dottie Griffin: And really, you know, I stopped making myself small.

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Dottie Griffin: And just agreeing with everyone, just, you know, to keep the peace.

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Dawn Bouillion: Right.

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Dottie Griffin: Started honoring my own truth and.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm.

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Dottie Griffin: You know it. It's it's not easy. None of it was easy.

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Dottie Griffin: I began having some very real hard conversations with people, you know. And

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Dottie Griffin: I stopped chasing relationships, and I stopped clinging to people especially that weren't mutual, where the relationship wasn't mutual.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: And and I started letting people meet me where I was.

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Dottie Griffin: And when they couldn't or wouldn't.

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Dottie Griffin: I stopped making that my fault.

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Dawn Bouillion: Wow!

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, nice. Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: Huge.

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Dottie Griffin: Is that it myself? For everything, you know. If something it must be, I must have done something wrong.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm! Wow!

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah.

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Dawn Bouillion: Were there any like moments that just kind of stand out to you when you think about your healing process? Was there anything that just kind of

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Dawn Bouillion: was like a breakthrough moment for you.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, I guess the one that stands out the most would be.

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Dottie Griffin: We did a a art session which is accelerated, resolution, accelerated resolution therapy. I'm saying, Yeah, right?

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Dottie Griffin: And that's when you introduced me to the idea, the idea of the inner child and doing inner child work. It's a lot of

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Dottie Griffin: my issues.

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Dottie Griffin: I I no, I won't say a lot. I'll say all of my issues stemmed

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Dottie Griffin: from childhood, you know. And yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: And I think we don't. We don't realize how much our upbringings affect who we become. And you know how we interact with the world.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah, yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, as.

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Dawn Bouillion: And and the the whole the whole purpose of art therapy

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Dawn Bouillion: is reconnecting with your little girl.

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Dawn Bouillion: Right, reconnecting with her, rescuing her, and then reparenting her, and

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Dawn Bouillion: rescripting some of those memories that you have, and bringing her home.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah. And and that's exactly what we did. And you know, through the process

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Dottie Griffin: we went back to my childhood home, and what I found there was my little probably I'd say 8 or 9 year old self.

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Dawn Bouillion: No.

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Dottie Griffin: Sitting in her bedroom, just frozen in time.

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Dottie Griffin: still waiting, you know, for that.

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Dottie Griffin: for that love, and still waiting to be seen, and still waiting to be valued, and still waiting to be supported.

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Dottie Griffin: She was still there, you know, and

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Dottie Griffin: through the process I was able to hug her

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Dottie Griffin: and validate her, and and to tell her how proud I was of her, and how how much of a cool kid she was, and how.

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Dawn Bouillion: Of mine.

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Dottie Griffin: She was, you know, and how loving she was, and

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Dottie Griffin: talented she was, you know. I was able to tell her that.

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Dawn Bouillion: Wow! That is powerful. Down.

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Dottie Griffin: Oh, so beautiful.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, you know, just even thinking about it right now. Kind of.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh, it makes me.

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Dottie Griffin: Makes me tear up.

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Dawn Bouillion: You know, because.

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Dottie Griffin: She.

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Dottie Griffin: She was just just really wanting to be seen, and it'd be hurt.

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Dawn Bouillion: That's right to be seen and heard by you.

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Dottie Griffin: Yes, yes, and it was such a beautiful moment, because I was able to to tell her all of.

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Dottie Griffin: And you know, during the the session we asked her, What do you want? What do you want? Little Dot? And little Dot wanted to leave the home. She wanted to finally leave the bedroom, and finally leave the childhood home and.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm.

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Dottie Griffin: I I remember, like taking her hand, but in real life I had clinched my my fist so tight because I was holding her hand so tight because we were

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Dottie Griffin: finally gonna walk out of of the childhood home and just leave all of that behind, you know. And

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Dottie Griffin: it was it was both terrifying, and one of the most liberating moments.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh, wow!

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Dottie Griffin: You know, and

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Dottie Griffin: that moment like broke something in me because I had been so stuck in those old survival patterns, and I just felt like I had began making peace with my past.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm.

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Dottie Griffin: And you know I I just began honoring all the little dots along the way, you know.

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Dottie Griffin: Oh, I love that

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Dottie Griffin: to.to Dot, and we we got to bring them all home. So that was really a breakthrough moment for me was meeting her and just loving on her.

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Dawn Bouillion: Wow, Daddy, that is so special. And

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Dawn Bouillion: I mean, I'm telling you, when I do this this type of work with people.

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Dawn Bouillion: it it almost feels like a miracle like right in front of my eyes, like when I see people reconnect with their little girl, and, like, you know, when I have you hug them, and the tears just start like streaming down your face. It's just like this most

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Dawn Bouillion: powerful, beautiful, magical moment.

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Dawn Bouillion: And the the cool thing about that is like

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Dawn Bouillion: you're together forever now, right? You bring her with you, and she has you, and you have her, and and as you heal that little girl you're healing you like now today in the present.

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Dawn Bouillion: And so we're not walking around

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Dawn Bouillion: fragmented, you know, but we're more whole

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Dawn Bouillion: and and leading your life and leading her with you wherever you go. It's so cool I love it.

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Dottie Griffin: Yes, beautiful. It's beautiful. Moment, definitely a breakthrough moment for me.

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Dawn Bouillion: Wow. Oh, man, it's so cool to hear you share that story. So

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Dawn Bouillion: you know the name of our podcast. Is not that girl anymore. So when you hear that

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Dawn Bouillion: like, what does that mean to you?

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Dottie Griffin: Hmm!

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Dottie Griffin: Well, I mean honestly, through this process I found the greatest gift of all, and I found myself.

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Dottie Griffin: So you know that girl.

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Dottie Griffin: I'm no longer trying to earn love.

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Dottie Griffin: and I I no longer get my value from what other people think of me.

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Dawn Bouillion: Okay. Now.

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Dottie Griffin: I can show up fully and unapologetically.

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Dottie Griffin: And you know, I'm not managing my relationships

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Dottie Griffin: anymore, you know. So I'm not that girl anymore.

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Dawn Bouillion: I know you preached, I think, aren't you? They're preaching.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, you know, I'm no longer afraid of being alone.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh!

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Dottie Griffin: In fact, I enjoy solitude now I enjoy just I enjoy the stillness.

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Dottie Griffin: So peaceful because I'm okay with me.

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Dottie Griffin: You know I love me now, so I can sit with myself and not

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Dottie Griffin: I don't have to avoid myself anymore. That girl anymore.

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Dawn Bouillion: I love that that's so cool.

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Dawn Bouillion: So, Daddy, I can tell you've just like had a transformation. And I've I mean I witnessed that. But just hearing you talk about it just reminds me

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Dawn Bouillion: again. And so I'm just curious, like, what is it that you wish other people knew

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Dawn Bouillion: about therapy or about healing?

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Dottie Griffin: Well, first, st I want people to know that therapy is for everyone. You know, we kind of think that therapy is just. For really the mentally ill, or you know.

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Dawn Bouillion: 1st time.

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Dottie Griffin: Of really deep depression and and those types of things. But really it's for everyone. And.

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Dottie Griffin: you know, going through and making the transformation. I'm an advocacy for it, you know it. It would do

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Dottie Griffin: just about anyone.

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Dottie Griffin: It would do them some good. But you know what

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Dottie Griffin: any anybody to who feels that they're alone, or that they're invisible.

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Dottie Griffin: They're stuck in life are stuck in a life that's not serving them.

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Dottie Griffin: That there is healing from that, you know. And it's possible, but it's not easy. I don't want people to think it's easy, because this was not.

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Dottie Griffin: you know.

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Dawn Bouillion: Gotta be gotta be brave. Huh?

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Dottie Griffin: Gotta be brave, you know, wasn't happy. Happy joy, joy all the time. But with each step and with each growth there was such a freedom and liberation, that is, is.

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Dottie Griffin: it's unexplainable, really.

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Dawn Bouillion: And it's worth it right?

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Dottie Griffin: It was so worth it, you know. I

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Dottie Griffin: I mean I I'm a different person. I feel like a different person. People on the outside probably see me. The same

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Dottie Griffin: inside is completely different now. I will say there's a lot of friends and coworkers who are like, you know, I like the new dot.

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Dawn Bouillion: Some who don't like the new dot, but.

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Dottie Griffin: You know you gotta take them all. But.

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Dawn Bouillion: What what matters is, if if you like, the new dot right, if you love.

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Dottie Griffin: A new dot.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah.

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Dottie Griffin: I love the new dot because the new.is living her own life.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm.

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Dottie Griffin: You know she's taken the PIN back.

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Dottie Griffin: and she's writing her own story. Now

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Dottie Griffin: I love that. I love that analogy.

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Dawn Bouillion: Taking that PIN back, baby.

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Dawn Bouillion: And we're not thinking small, we thinking big right.

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Dottie Griffin: That's right. That's right.

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Dawn Bouillion: So. You know. And one of the things

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Dawn Bouillion: I love about the process, too, is like we're not just trying to heal like healing is just the beginning. We want to thrive. We want to dream. We want to like, you know.

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Dawn Bouillion: actually like, live this thing

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Dawn Bouillion: And so I think that's 1 of the coolest things is like to see how quickly you have

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Dawn Bouillion: putting your brave on and and jumped into like fun. Exciting

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Dawn Bouillion: thing. So what what I'm curious about right now is, what are you excited about in your life right now?

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Dottie Griffin: Well, I'm definitely excited about coming on board with embrace your brave as an integrative somatic practitioner.

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Dottie Griffin: you know, and working with you, creating.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yes.

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Dottie Griffin: And yeah.

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Dawn Bouillion: And and okay, can you tell us a little bit more like, explain to us what that is, cause I'm excited about it, too.

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Dottie Griffin: Well, I guess the simple explanation would be, you know.

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Dottie Griffin: all aspects of our being of ourself, our physical, our emotional, our spiritual, and our souls. They're all deeply interconnected.

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Dottie Griffin: What affects one affects them all. So you know, we kind of grow up thinking that they're separate

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Dottie Griffin: separate things, but really they all work in conjunction with each other.

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Dawn Bouillion: One.

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Dottie Griffin: The goal as a somatic practitioner is to help people notice

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Dottie Griffin: or help them discover, like what their physical responses are

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Dottie Griffin: inside of their body, because that that's what somatic means. Body. So what's you know? What's their physical responses to like outside

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Dottie Griffin: negative negativity or or trauma, or something that they may have experienced. So

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Dottie Griffin: when they can pinpoint where it is in their body, we can help them

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Dottie Griffin: release that anxiety, the tension, whatever it is they're feeling. We can help them release that from the body. And when you release that from the body, you help all your systems, you help your spiritual, your physical, your emotional systems when you can release all of all of the negative emotions and that kind of stuff. So I mean, that's it in a nutshell. I mean, it's it's a huge thing. But.

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Dawn Bouillion: Yeah, you know what's so cool, Daddy is. I've I've always wanted to bring that aspect into what

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Dawn Bouillion: when I'm helping people heal, I want them to heal like holistically, you know, I want them to heal and reconnecting to your body as part of that healing. And so I'm so excited about what you're going to bring to that experience for for people, and I love seeing your excitement about that.

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Dawn Bouillion: I mean, it is so cool, Dottie, to just see

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Dawn Bouillion: your life transformed. And to know, like now, we're we're stepping into like the fun part. You know the part where we just get to. We get to choose what we want, this to look like, we get to create the life that we want to live and like

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Dawn Bouillion: with that that freedom and that joy and that hope, and like.

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Dawn Bouillion: It's so exciting to watch you fly and and soar.

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Dawn Bouillion: and it's super exciting that we get to do some of that together.

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Dottie Griffin: Yeah, yes, yeah. And you know, I just.

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Dottie Griffin: I just want, you know, to thank you. And all of the the therapists and coaches who hold space.

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Dawn Bouillion: Hmm! You know.

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Dottie Griffin: For people just like me to heal. I mean, I have such a respect for you and and this profession. Yeah, you know, in in my own transformation. It's just.

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Dawn Bouillion: I just want.

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Dottie Griffin: Other people who who are stuck.

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Dottie Griffin: who, you know, feel like they're on the hamster wheel.

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Dottie Griffin: I want them to get the same

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Dottie Griffin: healing that I got, you know, and that's 1 of the reasons why I

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Dottie Griffin: I became a somatic practitioner, and you know, plan on doing other modalities as well, but yeah, it's like you can't have to give it away.

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Dawn Bouillion: It's not.

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Dottie Griffin: A wonderful feeling, such liberation! I have to give it away so.

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Dawn Bouillion: Oh, I love that.

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Dottie Griffin: Thank you. Thank you.

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Dawn Bouillion: Thank you. And I can so relate to that. Yeah, when you experience it, you're like, I want everyone to experience this. I want everyone to heal because you believe that they can. You know it's like, if I can heal, then you can heal baby like.

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Dawn Bouillion: and you're worth it, you know.

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Dawn Bouillion: So thank you so much, Daddy, for sharing your story with us today. You're just reminding us again like that. Healing is possible, and it's sacred like just to hear you talk about your story with just the

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Dawn Bouillion: the gentleness that you do like the sacred work of reconnecting to yourself. You're just reminding me that afresh. So so thank you for that. And that reminder to

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Dawn Bouillion: all of our people out there that are wondering can they heal?

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Dawn Bouillion: And it's like a resounding. Yes, you can, and you're worth it, and you're worth whatever it takes

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Dawn Bouillion: for you to heal. So

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Dawn Bouillion: thank you guys so much for being with us today. And, Dottie, thanks again for sharing your story with us. And

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Dawn Bouillion: remember your story matters. Your voice matters, your dreams matter, you matter.

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Dawn Bouillion: and you're not that girl anymore.