Healing childhood trauma does not always look the way we are told it should, and my guest Anna Runkle learned that the hard way. She grew up in a Berkeley commune surrounded by chaos and neglect, lost most of her family to drugs and alcohol, and spent years in talk therapy that left her shaking in her car after every session. Then, on the darkest night of her life, a young woman she barely knew showed her a simple practice of writing down her fears and resentments and asking God to remove them, and she woke up the next morning at peace. Anna is best known as the Crappy Childhood Fairy, and her YouTube channel, courses, and books have reached more than a million people looking for practical tools to heal dysregulation and the effects of early trauma. In this conversation she shares how she rebuilt her life, found her faith, and met the husband she prayed for, and why she is now in federal court with the California Board of Psychology over her right to keep teaching. If this conversation speaks to you, tell me in the comments what stayed with you, and subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

In this episode we talk about complex PTSD and nervous system dysregulation, why retelling a traumatic story over and over does not always help it heal, and how naming the fear underneath every resentment can bring real relief. We also look at childhood trauma recovery through prayer, rest, and community, the link between early trauma and physical illness, structured dating for women with abandonment wounds, and what one session of EMDR did for her. Anna is not a therapist, and she is clear that her work is not against therapy. It is one more path to healing from trauma that has helped many people feel better in their everyday lives.

Find more from Anna:
Free Daily Practice Course: https://courses.crappychildhoodfairy.com/daily-practice
Website: https://crappychildhoodfairy.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrappyChildhoodFairy
Re-Regulated: https://bit.ly/3yqaena
Connectability: https://bit.ly/4dTK9xz
Substack: https://substack.com/@annarunkle

Connect with me:
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Chapters:
00:00 - Welcome Anna Runkle, the Crappy Childhood Fairy
02:17 - Growing Up in a Berkeley Commune
05:04 - Teaching Herself How to Be a Person
07:34 - Why Talk Therapy Harmed Her
10:48 - Walking Herself to Church at 11
15:16 - Three Deaths and an Assault in One Year
19:29 - The Night She Learned the Daily Practice
26:00 - A Vision and a Job to Do
27:57 - Finding a Higher Power in Al-Anon
30:00 - When Life Fell Apart Again
32:26 - I'm Resentful Because I Have Fear
35:26 - Surrender and a List of Non Negotiables
37:55 - Structured Dating
41:08 - Abandonment Melange
42:40 - Pairing Every Resentment With a Fear
46:21 - Childhood Trauma and Physical Illness
47:51 - 14 Surgeries and a Body That Couldn't Heal
51:22 - When Therapy Overrode Her Intuition
53:28 - How She Finally Quit Smoking
56:06 - Healing Comes in Layers
57:59 - The Daily Practice and the 12 Steps
1:01:27 - Why Twice a Day
1:03:22 - The Book That Explained Her Dysregulation
1:06:10 - Why She Doesn't Use the Inner Child Idea
1:09:56 - Why Shame Has a Purpose
1:11:09 - The EMDR Session That Stopped the Looping
1:14:31 - How Crappy Childhood Fairy Took Off
1:15:38 - Where to Start With the Daily Practice
1:18:55 - A Letter From the California Board of Psychology
1:24:29 - Suing the State in Federal Court
1:29:54 - Standing Up for the Right to Help Each Other
1:34:26 - Closing Thoughts