About Progress

Latest Episodes:

AP 126: Owning Positive Body Image || with Kristie Kemp and June Blackhurst of June Loop Swimwear Nov 16, 2018

Show notes

Body positivity AND swimwear? Yes, both!!

Mother-daughter duo Kristie Kemp and June Blackhurst weren't out to create a company when Kristie wanted to simply sew a swimsuit she felt confident in postpartum--but that's what happened!

What sets June Loop apart? Instead of buying into having a one-size-only model approach (like most swimwear companies) June Loop strives to show that ALL women belong in beautiful suits and to feel confident about their unique bodies.

From having "normal" ladies of all shapes and sizes model and do "try-ons" for their suits, to constantly delivering body positive messages, the ladies of June Loop have a mission to stand out in the fashion business. They deliver by guiding women to FEEL happy, stop worrying over their looks, and instead act fully present in their strong (swim)suit.

Show Notes

June Loop's website(use code "holiday30" to get 30% off from November 20-26th!)

June Loop's Instagramand Facebook

Join my Progress Program: SMALL-group GROWTH coaching for women (doors for acceptance are open next week, but you can apply now to reserve your slot for the group meeting time you want!)

My new Work in Progress T-shirt!!(Use code "PROGRESS" for $5)

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AP 125: Supporting Loved Ones through Faith Crises (+ Questions You Wanted Answered) || with Brad Packer Nov 14, 2018

Show notes

How would you respond to your spouse, friend, or sibling who express serious doubts about their faith?

Brad Packer--Monica's husband--is on the show today to share what this was like for him. He answers:

How he knew something was wrong.

What he felt about Monica's struggles.

How he supported her.

Why he sticks with his faith.

Additionally, Monica and Brad go through some Q&A submitted by the listeners, including how they are raising their children in the LDS faith, what resources have been helpful, what other issues are part of Monica's faith crises struggle, and more.

If you like the show please share it, subscribe, and leave a review!!

Show Notes

Prior posts on my faith: here, here, and here

All the Books that have helped me

Instagram, Facebook group, and websitementioned that were helpful resources and support

Join my Progress Program: SMALL-group GROWTH coaching for women

My new Work in Progress T-shirt!!(Use code "PROGRESS" for $5)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AP 124: Growing Spiritually in Periods of Darkness || with Paul Cardall Nov 14, 2018

Show notes

What if we changed the way we looked at doubts and times where we face great spiritual darkness? What if we decided instead that this WAS what faith is supposed to look like: a series of spiritual growing pains?

Paul Cardall faced a deep spiritual crisis after surviving a heart transplant. Instead of joy, he felt consumed by trying to live up to the great blessing that it was to live. Everything in his life fell a part, and he couldn't understand why God had let him live and not the friends and children with the same congenital heart problems he had.

Paul freely shares what faith looks like for him, how he's navigated his own series of darkness and questions, and what we can individually do to move through our own times of doubt and GROW!

If you like the show please share it, subscribe, and leave a review!!

Show Notes:

Paul's Website, new Christmas CD, and his recent Worth of Souls Project

Past episodes with Paul: hereand here

Progress Program!!! SMALL-group GROWTH coaching for women

Contact Monica for podcast consultingand Progress Coaching

Songs Credit: "Sweet Promise" and "Warm Lights" by Nicolai Heidlas

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AP 123: Navigating LDS Faith Crises: Why I've Struggled + Why I Stay Nov 07, 2018

Show notes

If I can experience a major faith crisis, anyone can.

Over the last 12+ years, I've been through an ongoing series of my own struggles with my faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Today's episode is an honest share of how this came about for me, what issues I have struggled with and why, what I've done about them, and why I ultimately chose to stick with my LDS faith for life.

Below in the show notes, I've included the past posts I've written on this topic if you'd like to read more about my experience. I've also included resources that have helped me tremendously.

If you know someone who struggles or who is in a leadership position, please share this with them. My hope is to peel back the shame that many who doubt suffer behind, to show leaders of my church how good and obedient members can still struggle with their faith, and how they can better love and help them through it.

Thank you for your support!

Show Notes

Prior posts on my faith: here, here, and here

LDS website and LDS articles on women giving blessings here and here

All the Books that have helped me

Lamb of God and Rob Gardner's website

Paul Cardall's website

Carol Lynn Pearson's website

Join my Progress Program: SMALL-group GROWTH coaching for women

My new Work in Progress T-shirt!! (Use code "PROGRESS" for $5)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AP 122: Parenting Exceptionally Challenging Children || with Wendy Bertagnole Oct 30, 2018

Show notes

Positive parenting is all the rage, and for good reason. But what if praising the good and ignoring the bad behavior isn't working for your spirited, willful child? What if another's special needs or incredible gifts demand a far more unique approach than what worked with other kids in your family?

Wendy Bertagnole loves to guide parents through these exceptional parenting moments--because she has had to navigate them herself with her own three children, each with their own challenges that had to be addressed differently.

On this episode, Wendy teaches to first ACCEPT your children and then move forward in better addressing what the ROOTS are to their unique needs and challenges.

Show Notes:

Wendy's Podcast Website, Instagram, Online Workshop for Parenting Kids with Sensory Need,, and Books

Progress Program!!! Doors for application are open for just two more days!

Contact Monica for podcast consulting and Progress CoachingSong Credit: "Sweet Promise" and "Warm Lights" by Nicolai Heidlas

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AP 121: Choosing Humor in Challenging Times || with Shaun and Nicole Johnson of @thejohnsonfiles Oct 24, 2018

Show notes

No matter how you crack it, life is plain hard. To endure it well, learn to laugh alongside the tears!

Shaun and Nicole Johnson have inspired thousands of people to find the silver lining in their struggles because they've done the same for themselves. Their Instagram pageis full of posts of lip synching and hilarious skits that have inspired so much fun and laughter.

But the greater purpose behind sharing them? Shaun and Nicole are seeking the humor through the trials they face as a married couple, including years of infertility, and they hope to inspire others to find that light for themselves, too.

Listen in to hear how CHOICE and OPENNESS have both been important threads to the Johnson's unity throughout their difficulties, and why humor has been a wonderful method to unifying them. Learn how they are just a normal couple doing their best (read: don't compare yourself or your marriage to them!), why you need to feel the hard emotions in order to move forward, and what this can look like for you.

Show Notes:

The Johnson's Instagramand Website

Progress Program!!! Doors for application are open for just another week!

Contact Monica for podcast consultingand Progress CoachingSong Credit: "Sweet Promise" and "Warm Lights" by Nicolai Heidlas

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AP 120: Finding Hope in YOUR Journey || with Heidi Tucker Oct 19, 2018

Show notes

"Life is noisy, and crazy, and disruptive."

Amen, sister!

So how can we find hints from our Creator that we aren't here alone amidst all the distractions? Especially when we are facing trials we never expected to?

Heidi Tucker was a brand new empty-nester looking for her place. After hitting a series of dead-ends and an early return of her missionary son, Heidi wondered how God was possibly involved in her life.

But the hope came. And it came in ways that took time and practice for Heidi to recognize.

Heidi is on the show to share how you can see the signs of God's involvement in your life--especially if you're someone like me who struggles to recognize that. If you have a hard time figuring out how to connect with your higher power and are in desperate need of hope, this episode is a MUST-LISTEN and will give you real steps to find it in your own life!

Show Notes:

Heidi's website and books: Finding Hope in the Journey, and Servie's Song

Progress Program!!! Doors for application are open for just a few more weeks

Contact Monica for podcast consultingand Progress CoachingSong Credit: "Sweet Promise" and "Warm Lights" by Nicolai Heidlas

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AP 119: Coping with Your Silent Struggles || with Erin Shepard of Yarrow Therapy (CORRECTED, FULL VERSION) Oct 17, 2018

Show notes

For many of us, we suffer in silence due to shame. For others, it's because our struggles are connected to someone else's choices that we can't publicly share. For all of us, there are still ways to cope better with the quiet trials we face.

Erin Shepard of Yarrow Therapyhas faced silent suffering in her own life due to chronic illness, and she often counsels people who do, too. In this episode, hear how to better cope with your trials, overcome shame where needed, and seek confidential guidance and support even when you can't have your trials be so publicly known. Erin also speaks to the importance of self-care, setting limits, giving yourself small things to aspire to, and establishing gratitude in place of bitterness.

Show Notes:

Erin's Website, Instagram, and Facebook

Last weeks' episodes with on How to Be Healthy for the Right Reasons,and our Do Something Highlight

Progress Program!!! Doors for application are open for just a few more weeks

Contact Monica for podcast consultingand Progress CoachingSong Credit: "Sweet Promise" and "Warm Lights" by Nicolai Heidlas

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AP 118: Do Something Highlight with Carina Heilner Oct 12, 2018

Show notes

Carina Heilner was held back by her intense perfectionism for decades: with eating disorders, a big-time running obsession, and a overall focus on her appearing and looking the part.

But she's a fighter and now talks back to the negative voices in her head that used to drive her. Carina learned that she needed to voice how a trauma from her childhood affected her view of herself, and that the best way she could show herself she mattered was by allowing more room for compassionate imperfection.

Now, Carina's way to move forward is learning that PROGRESS is the way to personal freedom, not perfection.

You can listen the interview below, or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Pocketcasts, Googleplay, or search for “About Progress” wherever you get your podcasts. If you like the show please share it, subscribe, and leave a review!!

Show Notes:

Progress Program!!! Doors for application are open for just a few more weeksContact Monica for podcast consulting and Progress Coaching

Song Credit: “Sweet Promise” and “Warm Lights” by Nicolai Heidlas

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AP 117: How to Be Healthier for the Right Reasons || with Charity Lighten Oct 10, 2018

Show notes

Accepting and loving yourself does not mean you stop trying where it counts. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

This is the same where your health is concerned.

There is a big difference between trying to get healthier due to aesthetics and self-loathing, vs. working on your health because you want to show yourself and your body a truer love.

Charity Lighten is a nutritionist who believes there is power behind loving yourself enough to make some changes when you need them. She encourages people to not define their worth by the scale or their pant size, but she also knows the importance of treating your body well.

Charity personally experienced the difference between being motivated by self-love vs. self-hatred and shares how that played out in her life, what her husband's cancer has taught her about what REALLY matters, and how she strives for improvement where it counts for her.

Listen in to hear how this can look for you, too!

Show Notes:

Charity's Instagram and Website; Silver Fern Brand's website and Instagram

Last week's episode on Mindfulness with Andy Proctor

Progress Program!!! Doors for application are open for just a few more weeks

Contact Monica for podcast consultingand Progress CoachingSong Credit: "Sweet Promise" and "Warm Lights" by Nicolai Heidlas

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices