"Black Girls make pain look lit."

Zoe Flowers

"Love Is A Battlefield"

-Pat Benatar

Welcome to Come to the Brink. I’m Zoë Flowers.

This season is called The Disruptors.

These are conversations with people who refuse to accept the way things have always been — especially when those ways are harming the very people they claim to serve.

Because disruption, in this space, isn’t just about calling things out. It’s about telling the truth. It’s about shifting culture. It’s about choosing people over systems that were never designed to hold us.

And today’s guest has been doing that work for a long time.

Arlene is a nationally recognized speaker, trainer, facilitator, and thought leader with over 25 years of experience in the domestic and sexual violence movement.

Website: www.toorelinstitutue.org

Email: avassell@toorelinstitute.org

Things I am currently working on...

Upcoming In-person Training (May 13-14 / Washington D.C.)

Stewarding the Work: A People First, Purpose Always Facilitator Intensive

www.toorelinstitute.org/events

New Book Release

People First, Purpose Always: A Practical Guide for Building Healthy and Thriving Teams

Available via Amazon and the TooREL Institute On-line Store

The wellness industry has become big buisness. So much of what we see in modern wellness is performative. We are in a situation where wellness practioners are operating at lower capacity and clients often feel they have to look well even if they don't feeling well. Caress Fitch believes every part of nature rests deeply, and need to do the same. She's also dedicated to having 3 belly laughs a day and taking recess breaks.

Caress Fitch is a trauma-aware, systems-informed wellness strategist and the founder of Mindful Passions International — a practice rooted in embodied autonomy, harm reduction, and sustainable change for people navigating complex life transitions.

Her work draws on nervous system regulation, ancestral health, and client-led pacing to support people in building lives that are not just functional — but actually livable.

Today’s guest disrupts the boundaries between the physical and spiritual worlds, between humans and animals, between grief and connection.

Kimmie Haliburda is a psychic intuitive, medium, animal communicator, and energy healing practitioner based in Knoxville, Tennessee. She offers a range of readings, including Akashic Records, and teaches classes on candle magic, animal communication, and developing intuitive abilities.

She has also been deeply involved in animal rescue for over seventeen years, fostering special needs dogs and supporting animals and their humans through some of the most difficult transitions.

Kimmie also holds a Master’s in Sociology with a concentration in Political Economy and Globalization, and she brings a thoughtful awareness to her work — including a commitment to not appropriating cultural practices.

Kimmie’s work disrupts the idea that grief is only human, that communication ends with death, and that

Lindsay Braynen, The Bahama Mama Of Burlesque, is a card-reader, star-gazer, and self-described Magical Girl High Priestess.

We had a wide-ranging conversation about finding the divine outside rigid systems, colonization, Obeah, Hoodoo, her view of pop culture as living myth, and, of course, Burlesque.

https://androsiawilde.com

https://linktr.ee/androsiawilde

Lindsay Braynen, The Bahama Mama Of Burlesque, is a card-reader, star-gazer, and self-described Magical Girl High Priestess.

We had a wide-ranging conversation about finding the divine outside rigid systems, colonization, Obeah, Hoodoo, her view of pop culture as living myth, and, of course, Burlesque.

https://androsiawilde.com

https://linktr.ee/androsiawilde

I was very excited about our conversation. Not only because we are both survivors of childhood sexual abuse, but also because we know how important the church is for communities...especially in communities of color and especially for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

Veronica Thompson, LCSW, is a trauma therapist, a committed Christian, and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. She has dedicated more than twenty years to helping children, teens, and families navigate and overcome the trauma of sexual abuse. In her writing and clinical work, Veronica explores the intersection of the Christian faith with the best clinical psychotherapy practices.

Veronica earned her Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University (New York, NY) and minored in law. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from

Southern Connecticut State University (New Haven, CT).

Website: http://veronicathompson.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veronicathompsonlcsw/

Movement and Chakra Healer Shanda is back! This time around, she is sharing her experiences with Mardi Gras. I aIso asked her to give us a reading for this Fire Horse Year, and we got answers. The ancestors came through and gave us a spiritual lashing, I mean, a lesson. lol. https://www.domangotraining.com