Rooted and Rising

What happens when something that looks like love slowly becomes control, fear, isolation, or harm?

In this deeply personal episode of Rooted & Rising with Dr. Carmela Maxell, Dr. Carmela Maxell sits down with author, entrepreneur, advocate, and domestic violence survivor Rita J. Cartwright for an honest conversation about the warning signs of unhealthy relationships, the many forms abuse can take, and what it means to rebuild your life after trauma.

Together, they explore jealousy, insecurity, emotional and financial abuse, coercive control, self-worth, boundaries, faith, community, healing, and the complicated reasons people may stay in relationships that are hurting them. Rita also shares her own story of surviving domestic violence and how her experiences ultimately shaped her work supporting other survivors.

This episode is not about blame. It is about recognition, compassion, survival, and the reminder that love should never require you to disappear.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or interpersonal violence, please seek support from trusted professionals, local resources, or emergency services when needed.

Stay rooted in who you are, and keep rising into who you’re becoming.

Sunday night has a way of turning into a full mental rehearsal for the week ahead.

The calendar. The meetings. The school drop-offs. The appointments. The errands. The lunches. The things you promised you would remember. The things you already know you are probably going to forget.

And somewhere in the middle of preparing for everyone and everything else, it becomes very easy to forget yourself.

In this episode of Rooted & Rising, Dr. Carmela Maxell talks about the invisible load many of us carry into a new week and the pressure to keep showing up, saying yes, making it work, and squeezing just one more thing into an already full schedule.

This conversation is about more than time management. It is about boundaries, capacity, guilt, and learning to recognize that being capable of doing something does not always mean you have the capacity to take it on.

Sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is say no.

Sometimes rest needs to make it onto the calendar too.

And sometimes, while you are remembering the lunch, the charger, the keys, the appointment, and everybody else’s needs, you need the reminder that your limits matter too.

A gentle, funny, and relatable reflection for anyone who has ever looked at their week and thought, Who the hell agreed to all of this?

🎙️ Rooted & Rising with Dr. Carmela Maxell

Stay rooted in who you are, and keep rising into who you’re becoming.

There was a time when tomorrow felt distant. Like there would always be enough time to figure things out later.

Lately, though, the future can feel uncomfortably close.

In this Midnight Reflection of Rooted & Rising, Dr. Carmela Maxell explores the quiet fear that comes from living with constant uncertainty: rising costs, job instability, the safety of our children, rapidly changing technology, substances and risks that are harder to see, and the exhaustion of trying to prepare for everything at once. 

She also asks an important question: what if some of our distress is not evidence that we are failing to cope, but a very human response to environments that are genuinely difficult to live inside? Therapy, mindfulness, boundaries, and coping skills matter, but they cannot make rent cheaper, guarantee a job, or make the future predictable. 

This episode moves through parenthood, safety, anxiety, financial pressure, invisible systems, and the impossible desire to guarantee that the people we love will be okay. It ultimately returns to the difference between preparation and fear, and to the possibility of staying present even when certainty is unavailable. 

Because fear does not make the future more predictable. It just makes us live there early. 

A reflection for anyone who has been doing everything they are “supposed” to do and still finds themselves wondering why they do not feel safe, settled, or okay.

Maybe you do not need to solve every possible tomorrow tonight.

Maybe here has to be enough. 

🌙 Midnight Reflection: I Miss When the Future Felt Far Away
🎙️ Rooted & Rising with Dr. Carmela Maxell

Stay rooted in who you are, and keep rising into who you’re becoming.

What happens when something changes your life—but Tuesday is still Tuesday?

The emails keep coming. The bills are still due. People still need things from you. And somehow, while part of you is trying to understand what just happened, the rest of the world keeps moving.

In this deeply personal Sunday Seed, Dr. Carmela Maxell reflects on navigating pain while life refuses to pause—and the complicated reality of experiencing heartbreak and joy at the same time.

She explores the difference between functioning and healing, what it means to actually practice the grace we so easily offer other people, and the quiet ways we begin finding ourselves again after something has changed us.

Because healing isn’t always the moment the pain disappears.

Sometimes, it’s the moment your life becomes large enough to hold something besides the pain.

And sometimes rising isn’t a triumphant comeback.

Sometimes it’s simply realizing:

I’m still here.

🌱 Sunday Seeds of Thought — Rooted & Rising with Dr. Carmela Maxell

Aging With Dignity: Mental Health, Autonomy & the People Our Systems Overlook

Airing September 1, 2026

What does it really mean to care for people as they age—not simply keeping them safe, but protecting their dignity, autonomy, identity, and right to continue directing their own lives?

In this episode of Rooted & Rising, Dr. Carmela Maxell sits down with Alison Laird Craig, Program Manager of the Elder Education Institute at Sound Generations, for an important conversation about aging, mental health, and the ways older adults are too often overlooked in healthcare, behavioral health, and social service systems.

Together, they explore ageism and its impact on mental health, the growing need for professionals trained to work with older adults, decision-making capacity and the difference between protection and unnecessary loss of autonomy, and the unique challenges faced by older adults experiencing homelessness, incarceration and re-entry, poverty, disability, serious mental illness, and other forms of marginalization.

The conversation also examines an especially important distinction: making a poor decision is not the same as lacking the capacity to make decisions. Preserving dignity and civil rights must remain central to how families, clinicians, and systems support people throughout the aging process.

At the heart of this episode is a simple but powerful reminder: aging does not erase personhood. Older adults carry entire lifetimes of relationships, culture, loss, resilience, accomplishments, mistakes, identities, and stories. Good care should ask more than, “How do we keep this person safe?” It should also ask, “How do we help this person continue to live with dignity, autonomy, connection, and meaning?”

Resources & Upcoming Trainings

Elder Education Institute at Sound Generations
The Elder Education Institute provides continuing education and professional development focused on the mental health, autonomy, and unique needs of older adults.
https://soundgenerations.org/eldereducationinstitute/

Strategies of Support for Unhoused Older Adults
This workshop focuses on the unique challenges facing unhoused older adults and practical strategies for providing more effective, responsive, and dignity-centered support.
https://soundgenerations.org/strategies-of-support-for-unhoused-older-adults-with-jams-stuivenga-lswaic-gmhs/

It’s Complicated: How to Best Support Older Adult Clients Leaving the Carceral System
This workshop examines the complex realities facing older adults transitioning from incarceration back into the community, including mental health, housing, reintegration, and systemic barriers. Dr. Carmela Maxell will also be presenting as part of this workshop.
https://soundgenerations.org/its-complicated-how-to-best-support-older-adult-clients-leaving-the-carceral-system-with-lena-campagna-phd-angela-murolo-phd-and-special-guests/

Stay rooted in who you are, and keep rising into who you’re becoming.