The Shadows We Cast
Welcome to The Shadows We Cast—a podcast about the legacies we inherit, the stories we carry, and the light we create in the process.
Hosted by mental health advocate, writer, and speaker Jenn St. John, this series opens the door to raw and real conversations about living through, loving through, and learning from mental health challenges.
In this short preview, Jenn shares what listeners can expect each week: deeply personal stories, journal readings, candid interviews with guests ranging from family members to public figures, and a commitment to unmasking mental health—one brave conversation at a time.
If you've ever felt like you were navigating the dark without a map, this podcast is here to say: you're not alone. Let’s talk about the shadows—and the adaptability that rises from them.
New episodes drop every Tuesday.
Host & Producer: Jenn St John
Editor: Andrew Schiller
Website: www.jennstjohn.ca
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Episodes
27 episodes
Embodied
In this episode of The Shadows We Cast, I sit down with Tychon Carter for a conversation about identity, self-trust, and what it really means to come back to yourself.Tychon shares his experience of growing up feeling misunderst...
Inheritance
Amanda Patrick joins me for a conversation about inheritance—what we’re given, what we absorb, and what we eventually have to decide to do with it.In this episode, Inheritance, Amanda shares the story of her childhood—mar...
Unstuck
In this episode of The Shadows We Cast, I sit down with Christina Orfanakos, MSW, RSW—Registered Social Worker and founder of Grace North Therapy—for a conversation about attachment, survival patterns, and what it really means t...
Known
Season 2 opens with a powerful conversation about connection, regulation, and breaking cycles.In this episode of The Shadows We Cast, Jennifer St. John sits down with clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and renowne...
Re-release: Gone
Some endings arrive slowly. Ours did not.In this final episode of Season 1, my sisters and I share the most personal part of our story—the goodbye. After years of surviving our mom’s untreated mental illness and addiction, and then findi...
Re-release: Rebuild
This week on The Shadows We Cast, my sisters, Kate and Teresa, and I return for Part 3 of our story — the chapter where things began to change. After years of boundaries, heartbreak, and distance, our mom started to seek real, consiste...
Re-release: Shift
In this final chapter of our second sister series, my sisters Kate, Teresa, and I reflect on the slow, complicated shift—the one that happened in our mother’s final years, and the one we had to make in ourselves to survive and heal.
Re-Release: Boundary
In this powerful follow-up to last week’s episode, we continue our sister series exploring early adulthood after growing up with a parent facing untreated mental illness and addiction. This chapter focuses on the emotional impact of setting bou...
Re-release: Tethered
This is the first of a three-part series exploring the messy, complicated years of early adulthood—when my sisters, Kate and Teresa, and I began to navigate the emotional weight of our mom’s mental illness and addiction in a new way.We w...
Re-release: Becoming
Ever wonder what it’s like to grow up desperate to escape, but terrified to leave the ones you love behind?In this episode, we talk about those late-teen years—when our mom’s drinking and untreated mental illness had taken over, and ...
Re-release: Survival
Survival: Sisterhood, Poverty, and the Moments That Shaped UsIn this second episode of The Shadows We Cast, I sit down again with my sisters, Kate and Teresa, to pick up where we left off—navigating the turbulence of grow...
Re-Release: ORIGIN STORY
In this deeply personal first episode of The Shadows We Cast, I sit down with my two sisters, Kate and Teresa, for a raw, revealing conversation about our early years—growing up with a mother whose mental illness shaped every corner of...
Gone
Some endings arrive slowly. Ours did not.In this final episode of Season 1, my sisters and I share the most personal part of our story—the goodbye. After years of surviving our mom’s untreated mental illness and addiction, and then findi...
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Rebuild
This week on The Shadows We Cast, my sisters, Kate and Teresa, and I return for Part 3 of our story — the chapter where things began to change. After years of boundaries, heartbreak, and distance, our mom started to seek real, consiste...
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Matrescence
What if becoming a mother wasn’t just a life event — but a radical transformation of self?This week on The Shadows We Cast, Jenn sits down with Jessie Harrold — doula, coach, author, and founder of Imaginalia — to explo...
Alive
CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes candid discussion of depression, burnout, and suicidal ideation. Please listen with care and prioritize your well-being.What does it mean to truly feel alive after you’ve nearly lost yourself...
Blueprint
What if the way you love, fight, avoid, or people-please wasn’t a personality flaw—but a survival blueprint?In this episode, I sit down with trauma-informed therapist Laura Fess, founder of
Shift
In this final chapter of our second sister series, my sisters Kate, Teresa, and I reflect on the slow, complicated shift—the one that happened in our mother’s final years, and the one we had to make in ourselves to survive and heal.
Boundary
In this powerful follow-up to last week’s episode, we continue our sister series exploring early adulthood after growing up with a parent facing untreated mental illness and addiction. This chapter focuses on the emotional impact of setting bou...
Tethered
This is the first of a three-part series exploring the messy, complicated years of early adulthood—when my sisters, Kate and Teresa, and I began to navigate the emotional weight of our mom’s mental illness and addiction in a new way.We w...
Support
Unmasking Mental Health: Real Support, Real Change with CMHA’s Liz GrummettIn this special Mental Health Week episode, Jenn sits down with Liz Grummett of CMHA Simcoe County to explore what it really means to unmask menta...
Voice
In this moving and deeply honest conversation, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau joins Jenn to talk about what it means to heal—individually, in our relationships, and across generations. With wisdom, warmth, and vulnerability, Sophie reflects on her own...
Seen
In this powerful and emotional episode, maternal mental health advocate Candice Thomas shares her raw journey through postpartum depression, suicidal ideation, and ultimately—hope. After nearly losing herself in the early days of motherhood, a ...
