~ PODCASTS & TELEVISION ~
PODCASTS
What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood — with host Amy Wilson
How do the paths we take to become parents shape our personal and professional lives? How can women become more empowered by sharing their stories of pregnancy complications and loss? What does it mean that Held Together is both a mirror and a window? It was so much fun to be a guest on this side of the microphone and to contribute to this Webby-honored podcast that I’ve been a fan of myself since its beginnings back when my own kids were little….
I Am One — the official podcast of Postpartum Support International, with hosts Dani Giddens, PMH-C, and Emily Jankowski, PMH-C
In this thoughtful and fun and slightly rambling conversion, we chat all about the lived experience of fertility and parenting challenges, how we know when we’re ready to release our most closely held stories into the world instead of holding them in, and why we’re all on our own timelines—even if we can’t always make sense of our experiences until we have the chance to look back on where we’ve come from. We also address such gripping topics as: Do you take your water flat or sparkling, flavored or unflavored? If you were time traveling, would you choose a DeLorean or some other vehicle? What is the best time of day to chop lettuce? And what lives in your earbuds right now (when you’re not listening to the I Am One podcast, of course)?
Read. Talk. Grow. — with host Denise Millstine, MD, and conversation partner Molly Krause, MD
How can we advocate for ourselves and support each other as we navigate the emotional and medical complexities of becoming mothers, especially as professional women? How do we seek and find community when our path to family is complicated? What factors should women and couples in medicine, and in other professions that require large time commitments during peak reproductive years, take into account when planning their families?
(COMING SOON!) Read. Talk. Grow. — with host Denise Millstine, MD, and in conversation with author Catherine Newman
Catherine is an absolutely fantastic (and fancy best-selling!) author who has written many of my favorite pieces about navigating messy family life, living with uncertainty, and trying to remember to laugh about the absurdity of simply being human. I’m so honored to have had the opportunity to serve as the medical expert for this episode in support of her beautiful new book, Wreck (HaperCollins, October 2025).
I’ll Meet You There — with host Paige Nolan
What’s so unique about the structure of Held Together, and how does this relate to the winding path that Dr. Thompson’s career has followed? Why is the difference between resilience and persistence important? What does intuition really mean, and how does it tie into the power of listening in medicine? What might be possible if we allow ourselves to break in the name of becoming something stronger?
Solving for Joy — with host Chrissie Ott, MD
What does it mean to be held together in the face of deep loss—and how does sharing our stories help us heal, both individually and collectively? How can vulnerability guide us through the messy middle in times of uncertainty? What is the link between grief and creativity, and how can grief and joy live side by side?
The Balanced Parent — with host Laura Froyen, PhD
How can we offer care to our loved ones and create meaningful connections while preserving boundaries and balance? What deliberate and creative steps can we take to support the people in our community who are constantly working to improve the lives of others? Why do some of us bury our hardest experiences deep down in our memories, while some of us share openly at every opportunity—and why do most of us end up doing each of these things in different contexts or in different seasons of life?
Imperfect Love — with host Carla Marie Manly, PhD
No one can be everything for anyone else—and creating our families through biology, choice, and intention can be the work of a lifetime. So sometimes, when life feels heavy or complicated or disappointing, when we fear for the future, when we find ourselves way off the paths we’d hoped to be following—we need to figure out how to forge a new path. Sometimes hope arrives in the form of doing the next right thing….
Modern Mommy Doc — with host Whitney Casares, MD
What happens when our lives veer far beyond what we expected, and how do we make sense instead out of what we actually experience? What does embracing imperfection mean—in our bodies, in our relationships, in our understanding of love? Is compromise a sign of openness and generosity or a resignation to self-erasure (or is it both and neither)? What kinds of hidden relationships weave through the stories of Held Together, and how do these connections invite us all into community?
The Podcast by KevinMD — with host Kevin Pho, MD
A conversation about living our fullest lives, even in the face of uncertainty, through an exploration of Olivia’s powerful story about Huntington’s disease and the impact of genetic testing over generations in her family. Please check out the KevinMD website to read an excerpt from Olivia’s chapter too….
Prescribing Possibility, inaugural episode! — with host Dympna Weil, MD
What’s it like to suddenly become a fertility medicine patient when you’re used to being the one offering healing, especially for doctors who provide prenatal and obstetrical care? How can stories offer hope to carry us through our bleakest moments? Why is there a poem about a bird in the opening pages of Held Together, and what does the word crepuscular have to do with it??
Mom and Mind — with host Dr. Katayune Kaeni, PsyD, PMH-C
How does sharing our truths inspire others to open up too, and how does this relate to the collaborative process that led to Held Together? What is imposter syndrome—and is there an antidote to it? Why is there such a powerful difference in thinking of ourselves as clinicians rather than providers?
The Kettle — with host Meagan Francis
What does it mean to experience family life in community? How do our perspectives on motherhood change as our families grow—and as we grow as parents too? How could our experiences of raising families change if we gave ourselves permission to share more honestly and openly about the struggles, the joys, and the impossible-to-define in-betweens?
Restorative Grief — with host Mandy Capehart
How do we learn to tell our stories as grievers, even while we’re still living through uncertainty? How can storytelling transform how we understand ourselves, our pasts, and the possibilities ahead of us? How can we preserve a sense of safety and protect ourselves as we undertake the most vulnerable parts of healing?
Voices of Your Village — with host Alyssa Blask Campbell, MEd
How does our family structure shape our identity—and what happens when we open up our definition of family to include so much more than biological connections? How do our expectations going into family building impact our experiences of complications when things don’t go as we’d hoped? Is it beneficial (or even possible??) to learn to hold our expectations more loosely? In the midst of all the heaviness that can come with these conversations, how can sharing our stories allow us to tap into a deep well of optimism?
Create Meaning in Medicine — with hosts Erin Hurley, MD, and Joanne Sotelo, MD
How do personal narratives allow vulnerability to serve as a bridge rather than a barrier? How can storytelling deepen trust in clinical medicine? What do our own personal experiences, even the unspoken ones, bring to the care and healing connections we’re able to offer our patients?
The IBCLC Mentor — with host Margaret Salty, MPH, IBCLC
What was the initial inspiration behind Held Together? How do our experiences on the patient side of the medical system shape the care we can offer to support others? How can healthcare professionals best embrace humility and curiosity?
Coffee Talk Online Gathering — with hosts Anne Gudger and Maria Gibson and including readings by fellow authors Asha Dore, Bob Macauley, Brad Snyder, and Karen Bonofiglio.
Grab a cozy beverage and join us for a diverse and powerful series of readings about family, grief, medicine, loss, and redemption, with just a little dash of magic….
Best of Both Worlds — with hosts Laura Vanderkam and Sarah Hart-Unger, MD
Why doesn’t knowledge protect us from vulnerability? Where do we find the courage to keep trying when family building isn’t following the timelines we’d hoped for? How can our challenges in parenthood influence our career paths, and what is it like to take a leap of faith in a profession that reminds you every day of the struggles you’re facing in your personal life?
Success Reimagined — with host Amna Shabbir, MD
What does it look like to write the chapters of our lives that we’re still learning to live? How can speaking our quietest moments aloud help others lift up their own voices too? Why is it actually freeing to realize that there are no shortcuts to healing—and to understand that doing the deep work is a privilege we find at the intersection of courage, compassion, curiosity, and humility?
The Sensitivity Doctor — with host Amelia Kelley, PhD
How do we move ahead when we find ourselves off the path we thought we were walking, with no maps or guides or companions to show us the way? And what if the uncharted terrain we’re facing now asks us to invert all our goals and expectations? Please join us to explore choice and change, to get a very human perspective on why women’s reproductive healthcare matters, and see why we share the conviction that true family can come in countless forms.
The Authentic Physician — with host Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA
What happens when a physician becomes the patient—and realizes medicine doesn’t always practice what it teaches? Please join us for a deeply honest conversation about pregnancy loss, trust in medicine, physician training, the human cost of a broken healthcare system, and why listening is a medical intervention.
Let’s Talk Memoir — with host Ronit Plank
A conversation about the evolution of Held Together that led to its unusual woven format, why lifting up the voices of the ordinary people in our community is a form of advocay, how we can portray others in our writing in the kindest way possible (even when relationships have come undone or caused us pain), and what it looks like to process our own stories as we craft our writing for a wider audience. Bonus recommendations for an eclectic group of books that have informed and inspired my work: How To Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth, Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum, and If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano.
The Light of Life — with host Naomi DeBello
What a pleasure it was to have this conversation with Naomi, a deeply gracious and endlessly curious young woman who has been through all sorts of medical trauma and come out stronger on the other side. In a strange small-worldness kind of way, our paths may have (almost??) crossed before: Naomi was born with a severe form of Ebstein’s anomaly, a congenital heart defect that affects the tricuspid valve and ventricles and disrupts blood flow and, as a toddler, underwent one of the life-saving surgeries she would receive to treat it at Stanford—just after I worked there as a trainee in the early 2000s. Talking with her reminded me of the many children I had the privilege of helping care for during rotations at Stanford and Packard, in the NICU and on the pediatric wards. And that made sitting down together for this unscripted conversation—not in hierarchical roles as physician and patient, but as two people connecting about what it means to navigate health and disease and complex medical systems—feel just a little bit magical….
Talks with Dr Shafer — with host Shafer Stedron, MD
Dr Shafer is a musician and a neurologist, and her thoughtful and unusual perspective really comes through in this wide-ranging exploration of parenthood, medicine, creativity, grief, and healing. We talk about the idea that we bring different selves to music and to books each time we return, consider how storytelling allows us to witness growth and change in ourselves and in others, celebrate the individual connections that create larger communities, and remind each other that books can be a sanctuary, even when we feel most alone in the world.
Authentic Parenting — with host Anna Seewald, MEd, MPsy
Please come along on this nuanced conversation all about motherhood beyond the highlight reel: How can we keep sight of the long view when the daily mess feels overwhelming? What is the crucial difference between pity and compassion? How do we navigate the tensions between privacy and disclosure in a world that rewards public confession? What does it mean to be held together when everything feels like it’s falling apart?
Rewrite the Mother Code — with host Gertrude Lyons, MA, EdD
This conversation is all about the wandering paths that make a little more sense when we look back on where we’ve come from, the ways that community is just another way to understand resources, why writing a book and becoming a parent are so often compared metaphorically, and what scuba diving has to teach us about embracing fear when we find ourselves in unfamiliar environments.
(COMING SOON!) How Do I Do This? — with host Ryanne Saucier
(COMING SOON!) The Dream — with host Jane Marie
(COMING SOON!) Coffee, Grief, and Gratitude — with hosts Anne Gudger and Maria Gibson
(COMING SOON!) Stellar Success — with host Tudor Francu, MD
(COMING SOON!) A Mind of Her Own — with host Jennifer Reid, MD
(COMING SOON!) Suffering to Sovereignty — with host Nan Nuessle, MD
(COMING SOON!) Love & Science — with host Erica Bove, MD
(COMING SOON!) Drinks in the Library — with host Gigi Howard
(COMING SOON!) All About Writing — with hosts Sara Dahmen and Ben Coles
(COMING SOON!) Knock Knock, Hi! — with the Glaucomfleckens (Will Flanary, MD, and Kristin Flanary)
TELEVISION & VIDEO
Family Action Network: In conversation with fellow physician-author Kimmery Martin, MD. Our reflections on the process and craft of narrative medicine, commonalities and contrasts in writing fiction versus nonfiction, and the nontraditional paths that brought us to where we are today, in both career and in family life.
Voices With Vigor: In conversation with fellow physician Susan J. Baumgaertel, MD, founder of myMDadvocate and MenopauseMenu and author of The Menopause Menu. An exploration of intersecting themes in our work, including community, family, and female wisdom.
Hello, Rose City! (KGW/NBC): Interview with host Lacey Evans. In celebration of Held Together’s April 2025 launch.
AM Northwest (KATU/ABC): Interview with host Helen Raptis. In celebration of Held Together’s April 2025 launch
Open To Hope: Interview with mother-daughter team Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley, founders of an international non-profit with the mission of helping people find hope after loss.