Growing Up With Schizophrenia: Medicinal Forgiveness, Healing Trauma & The Big Silence | Karena Dawn

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In this episode of The Art of Being Well, I sit down with my friend Karena Dawn for one of the most heartfelt and profoundly human conversations we’ve had on this podcast. Karena opens up about growing up with a mother who lived with paranoid schizophrenia, the instability and fear that shaped her childhood, and the decade of darkness that followed - marked by depression, drug misuse, and feeling disconnected from herself and her future.

She shares the moment that became her turning point: a clinic doctor who prescribed sunshine and yoga instead of medication. From there, movement, therapy, journaling, and meaningful community slowly helped her rebuild her identity and reclaim her life.

We also talk about the powerful role vulnerability played in her healing, the forgiveness she cultivated toward both of her parents, and the final years she cared for her mother through illness and decline. Karena’s story is a testament to resilience, compassion, and the ability to rewrite the narrative you inherited.

We also discuss the evolution of Tone It Up, why she ultimately bought back the company, and her mental health nonprofit, The Big Silence Foundation. This episode is an important reminder that healing is nonlinear - and that telling the truth about your story can be one of the most transformative things you ever do.

A few of my favorite things we cover in this episode: 

• Karena’s childhood navigating a mother with paranoid schizophrenia and repeated missing-person episodes
• The decade of darkness: depression, drug misuse, escape behaviors, and teenage suicidality
• The turning point: a clinic doctor prescribing sunshine and yoga instead of medication, sparking her healing
• How running, triathlon training, and movement rebuilt her confidence and identity
• Rebuilding spirituality after trauma and returning to a sense of connection and meaning
• The healing power of vulnerability, journaling, and storytelling
• Karena’s path to founding Tone It Up and how she rebuilt it after private equity challenges
• Caring for her mother during the final five years of her life and the role of diet, environment, and support
• Isolation, mental illness, forgiveness, and what she learned about compassion
• The Big Silence Foundation and its mission to destigmatize mental health and provide access to therapy

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Happy listening and we hope you learned a little bit more on the art of being well!

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In Health,

Dr. Will Cole