Held Together: How Sharing Our Stories Heals Us with Dr Rebecca Thompson

So many of the hardest moments in a woman’s life happen quietly, privately, and without anyone ever knowing. What if sharing those truths could bring us closer and help us heal?

In this emotional and honest episode, Dr. Rebecca Thompson joins us to explore the invisible struggles women carry and why telling our stories matters more than ever. Her debut book Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love weaves her personal journey with the experiences of twenty one women to reveal what really happens in the spaces between joy, grief, identity and family.


Episode Takeaways
How Held Together reveals the hidden struggles of family life, motherhood and identity
Why humility and curiosity make us more compassionate with ourselves and each other
What it means to live through uncertainty and allow space for emotions that cannot be resolved quickly
Why we cannot hack our way into healing and why healing requires time and honesty
How shared stories reduce perfectionism and strengthen community
The meaningful threads that connect women’s experiences even when the details look different

About Our Guest
Rebecca N. Thompson, MD, is a family medicine and public health physician from Portland, Oregon, who specializes in women’s and children’s health—and the author of Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love. In this innovative new book, Dr. Thompson intertwines her personal story of life-threatening pregnancy complications with the stories of twenty-one of her patients, friends, and medical colleagues. Through profoundly honest and emotionally raw accounts, Held Together creates a space for connection, offering comfort and awareness to anyone touched by their own or others’ challenges in building or sustaining families—and celebrating the resilience of women as they navigate the complexities of motherhood, family dynamics, and health and healing across generations. At its heart, Held Together finds strength in imperfection and aims to expand the understanding of motherhood’s true diversity, while advocating for empathy, inclusion, and improved support for all families.

Connect with Dr Rebecca Thompson
Please visit Dr. Thompson's website, where you can explore in-person gathering opportunities and recorded media, find reviews and endorsements, read the full introduction and other excerpts from Held Together, and get in touch if you'd like to talk about ideas for collaboration:
www.rebeccanthompson.com

Purchase a copy of Held Together with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit Postpartum Support International and their work in maternal and family mental health:
From Bookshop.org
From Amazon

-Purchase a signed copy of Held Together for shipping anywhere in the US (please specify SIGNED on checkout page notes): From indie bookstore Annie Bloom's - https://annieblooms.com/book/97800633...

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👩‍⚕️ About the Host
Dr. Amna Shabbir, MD, NBC-HWC, CPC is a dual board-certified physician and TEDx speaker with advanced training in Integrative Well-being, Performance and Leadership Development. She speaks, coaches and consults on perfectionism, sustainable success and the well-being of high achievers.

Connect with Dr. Shabbir
📸 Instagram:   / dr.amnashabbir  
💼 LinkedIn:   / amna-shabbir-md  
🌍 Book Her to Speak: https://www.dramnashabbir.com/Speaking
🌐 No-Cost Application to Join The Unmasking Perfectionism Community: https://unmaskingperfectionism.com/
📹 Watch Dr. Shabbir's TEDx Talk
Perfectionism Has A Solution - It is Not What You Think:    • Perfectionism has a solution - It's not wh...  

❌ Disclaimer
This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical or therapeutic advice. The views expressed are personal and do not reflect those of any employer or institution.

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⚠️ Content Note
This episode includes discussion of pregnancy loss, miscarriages and other mental health themes.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Dr. Rebecca Thompson
02:04 The Essence of 'Held Together'
07:32 The Courage to Share Personal Stories
09:53 Navigating Unfixable Pain
16:30 Common Threads in Women's Stories
29:01 Closing Reflections and Call to Action
33:03 YouTube Outro - Solocasts.mp4