Who Are You, Really? This Month We're Talking About Identity.

After months of sitting with trauma, grief, and shame — it's time to ask the question underneath all of it: who are you when you strip away everything you were told to be?

June on Healing Is My Hobby is all about identity.

And I want to start with a question that might make you pause.

Who are you?

Not the version of you that shows up for everyone else. Not the labels you've been carrying since childhood. Not the roles you've adapted into because it felt safer than being fully yourself.

Who are you — really?

That's what we're exploring this month. After March (trauma), April (grief), and May (shame and self-worth), identity felt like the natural next stop. Because here's what I've noticed — both in my clinical work and in my own life: when you start doing the real work of healing, you look up one day and realize that some of what you thought was you... wasn't really you at all.

And that can feel disorienting. But I want you to hear this: that's not a crisis. That's actually the beginning of something really important.

Episode 1: Your Identity Was Never Just Yours (Expert Insight)

We open the month by going back to the root. Where does identity actually come from?

In this episode, I break down the clinical and psychological framework behind identity formation — what we inherit, what we adapt, and what we internalize from our earliest environments. We talk about attachment, family systems, cultural messaging, and the way that the roles we took on as children have a way of quietly running the show in adulthood.

This one is foundational. If you've ever caught yourself wondering why you keep showing up the same way even when you don't want to — this episode gives you the lens to understand it.

Episode 2: The Role Inventory (Therapy Is My Cardio)

This is our guided activity episode, and it's one of my favorites this month.

I walk you through a structured Role Inventory — a practice designed to help you audit the labels and roles you're currently carrying. Not to tear them down, but to get honest about which ones actually fit, which ones you chose, and which ones were handed to you a long time ago and just... never returned.

You'll walk away with a real, usable tool. Something you can come back to — especially during seasons of transition, stress, or identity confusion.

This is the episode to share with a friend who's in a season of "I don't know who I am anymore." Because that feeling has a name, and there's a way through it.

Episode 3: Auditing Your Labels (Healing Lab)

The Healing Lab is where we get experimental — and this month's experiment is deceptively simple.

For seven days, I invite you to notice every fixed label you use to describe yourself. Out loud or in your head. And then ask one question: is this actually true, or is this who I learned to be?

We pull from narrative therapy and the research on self-story — the idea that the stories we repeat about ourselves, over and over, literally become the self we inhabit. That's a powerful thing. It means the labels aren't permanent. It means a rewrite is possible.

This isn't about dramatic reinvention. It's about getting a little more honest, and a little more spacious, than the story you've been telling.

Episode 4: Identity Disruption and the Path to Integration (This Might Be a Trauma Response)

We close the month with something that I think a lot of people need to hear but don't often talk about.

Sometimes what feels like an identity crisis is actually a trauma response. Identity disruption — that sense of "I don't know who I am," depersonalization, the feeling of going through the motions of your life without really being in it — these experiences have clinical roots. And they deserve a real explanation.

In this episode, I walk through what identity disruption actually looks like, what causes it, and how to tell the difference between identity collapse and identity evolution. Because those two things can feel identical from the inside — but they're very different, and knowing which one you're in changes everything.

We also talk about integration: what it means to put the pieces back together in a way that actually reflects who you're becoming, not just who you used to be.

A Note From Jessica

Identity work is some of the most tender work there is.

It asks you to question things that feel very certain — labels that have been with you so long you forgot they were ever a choice. It can feel destabilizing at first. That's normal. That's part of the process.

But on the other side of that disorientation is something really valuable: a self that you actually recognize. A self you chose.

That's what healing makes room for. Not just recovering from what happened to you — but discovering who you are when you're not just surviving it anymore.

I'll see you in the episodes.

— Jessica

New episodes drop every week this month. Subscribe so you don't miss one.

Want to go deeper? Sign up for the newsletter — Notes From The Healing Journey — at healingismyhobby.com.

Follow along on Instagram @healingismyhobby and YouTube @healingismyhobby.

Interested in working with Jessica clinically? Visit jessicacolarcolcsw.com or follow @jessicacolarcolcsw on Instagram.

Keywords & Search Terms: identity healing, identity crisis therapy, who am I, narrative therapy, role inventory, identity disruption, trauma response identity, self-concept, adapted roles, fixed labels, IFS parts work, identity formation, healing podcast, mental health podcast for women, LCSW podcast, emotional healing, self-awareness, integration after trauma, identity work, Jessica Colarco LCSW