We’re looking forward to introducing you to Dr. La-Shawnda Thompson. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Dr. La-Shawnda, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
I believe a lot of people are quietly struggling with what’s known as mama trauma the mother wound. It’s the pain that forms when a child doesn’t feel emotionally seen, protected, or nurtured by their mother in the way they needed.
Here’s what people don’t understand: it doesn’t always come from abuse or neglect. Sometimes it comes from a mother who was overwhelmed, unhealed, or doing the best she could with the wounds she was carrying. Many women grow up loving their mothers deeply while still carrying unanswered questions, unmet needs, and emotional gaps they never learned how to name.
So they minimize it. They tell themselves it wasn’t that bad. They keep going. But the wound doesn’t disappear it just goes underground. It shows up in relationships where you can’t fully trust. In the mirror when you struggle to see your worth. In boundaries you can’t set. And even in how you relate to God, wondering if He sees you the way your mother couldn’t.
The struggle most people never say out loud is this: You can honor your mother and still acknowledge that something in you is hurting.
Healing the mother wound isn’t about blaming your mother. It’s about truth. It’s about breaking cycles so the pain doesn’t get handed down again like a family heirloom nobody wanted. That’s the message behind Mama Trauma: Breaking the Cycle, Healing the Soul (February 28, 2026). It’s an invitation for women to stop carrying what was never theirs to hold and finally give themselves permission to heal.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is La-Shawnda Thompson, but most people know me as Dr. LT, The Transformation Specialist. I’m an author, board-certified mental health coach, speaker, and the founder of Women of Fire Ministries. At the core of everything I do is helping women heal emotionally, rediscover their identity in Christ, and live whole instead of just surviving.
My work is deeply personal because I’ve lived it. As a single mother and survivor of homelessness, I understand what it means to keep moving forward while carrying unspoken pain. I don’t teach from theory alone I blend faith, emotional wellness, and real life truth in a way that feels honest, safe, and relatable, especially for women who love God but still feel stuck on the inside.
I’m currently preparing to release my book, Mama Trauma: Breaking the Cycle, Healing the Soul (February 28, 2026), along with the companion Mama Trauma Soundtrack because some pain needs both words and worship to fully heal. My debut singles “My Shepherd Is Here” and “No More Hiding” are streaming now, and “Dear God, It’s Me Again” another single from the soundtrack is a raw prayer set to music. It gives language to the conversations many women have privately with God but rarely say out loud.
What makes my work unique is that it creates space for both faith and feelings. I believe healing doesn’t require pretending everything was okay. It requires truth, compassion, and the courage to break cycles for the next generation. My heart is to remind women that healing is possible, their story matters, and it’s never too late to become whole.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
The relationship that most shaped how I see myself was my relationship with my mother or rather, the absence of it.
I was raised by my father. Not having my mom around shaped everything how I searched for love in the wrong places and faces, how I learned to perform to feel seen, how I became strong out of necessity instead of nurture. For a long time, my identity was shaped more by what I needed to do to be accepted than by who I truly was.
That relationship didn’t just shape how I saw myself. It shaped how I loved, how I trusted, how I protected myself, and how I showed up in the world. It even shaped how I saw God wondering if He, too, would leave when I needed Him most.
Healing that lens changed everything.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I stopped hiding my pain when I realized it was already speaking for me loudly.
It was showing up in my choices, my exhaustion, my patterns, and the walls I didn’t even know I’d built. I had survived homelessness, single motherhood, rejection, and deep emotional wounds, but I was still trying to look strong instead of being whole. I was holding it together on the outside while falling apart on the inside.
The turning point came when I gave myself permission to tell the truth not just publicly, but privately with God and with myself. I stopped performing healing and started actually pursuing it. Once I stopped pretending I was okay, my pain stopped being a liability and became a source of clarity, compassion, and calling.
What once tried to break me now breaks chains for other women. That’s when pain becomes power when you stop letting it define you and start letting it refine you.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
One truth I stand by that makes people uncomfortable is this: Honoring your parents does not mean ignoring the harm that shaped you.
A lot of people especially in faith communities believe healing requires silence or spiritualizing pain away. I believe healing requires truth. You can love your parents, honor their sacrifices, acknowledge all they gave you, and still acknowledge that some wounds were passed down.
Healing does not mean dishonor. It’s responsibility. It’s choosing to break cycles instead of protecting them. It’s saying, “I love you, and I also love myself enough to stop carrying what you couldn’t heal.” and making a decision the cycle ends with me! That’s real freedom.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I am finally doing what I was born to do.
For years, I did what I wanted to do, I hustled, I performed, I built businesses, I grind trying to prove my worth. But God called me to surrender my timeline and do things His way. And honestly? His way required me to heal first.
Now my work is aligned with my assignment, not my ambition. I was born to help women heal, tell the truth about their pain, and reclaim their identity in Christ. Everything I do now the books, the music, the ministry flows from that clarity.
I am no longer performing purpose. I am living it. And there’s a freedom in that I’ve never felt before. CONNECT WITH DR. LT:
Women ready to begin their healing journey can connect with me at https://linktr.ee/Thehouseofbeauty
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