The Quiet As Kept Podcast With Shawnti B.
Join host Shawnti Boswell, Master Certified Mental Health Coach, author the best-selling book, "Quiet As Kept", and journaling enthusiast, as she introduces The Quiet as Kept Podcast. In this first episode, Shawnti shares her personal journey of overcoming severe depression and anxiety, discusses the purpose of the podcast, and sets the stage for what’s to come.
This podcast is a safe space to unpack the conversations we, especially in the African American community, were told to avoid. From mental health and generational trauma to self-love and journaling for healing, Shawnti keeps it real, relatable, and rooted in the belief that healing is possible for everyone.
Whether you’re navigating your mental health journey, looking for balance as a professional, or just ready to start thriving, this podcast is for you. Grab your journal and tune in for honest conversations, actionable tips, and guided prompts that will help you rewrite your story.
Episodes
80 episodes
S2:E1 THE AUDACITY OF A HEALING WOMAN
In this Women’s History Month episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge unpacks the hidden emotional cost of being the “strong woman.” If you’ve ever been praised for holding it together while quietly falling apart, this epi...
S2:EP2 Healing Isn’t Pretty: The Rage Women Were Never Allowed to Feel
Healing Isn’t Pretty: The Rage Women Were Never Allowed to FeelIn this Women’s History Month episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge explores the anger women were taught to suppress and how that suppressed ra...
S2:EP3 Mother Wounds, Silent Grief & Becoming the Woman You Needed
In this Women’s History Month episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge explores one of the quietest and most complicated forms of grief women carry — the mother wound.What happens when the person who was suppo...
EP4: High-Functioning but Highly Unhealed
High-Functioning but Highly UnhealedIn this episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge explores the emotional reality many high-achieving women face — appearing successful on the outside while quietly carrying e...
S2:EP5- Emotional Spring Cleaning: You Keep Calling It Strength… But It’s Emotional Hoarding
You’ve been holding it together for everybody… but who’s holding space for you?In this episode, we’re unpacking what it really looks like to carry unprocessed emotions, unresolved pain, and old survival habits that no longer serve you. J...
S2:E6- Emotional Spring Cleaning: It’s Not Them… It’s the Pattern: Why You Keep Attracting the Same Energy
You keep saying it’s different this time… but it keeps ending the same way.Different person. Same outcome. Same feelings. Same frustration.In this episode, we’re breaking down the emotional patterns you keep repeating in your rela...
S2:E7- Emotional Spring Cleaning: You’re Not Confused… You’re Avoiding It: The Truth You Keep Running From
Let’s be honest… you already know.You know what hurt you. You know what didn’t sit right. You know what you should’ve walked away from.But instead of facing it… you stayed busy, distracted, and “focused on other ...
S2:E8- EMOTIONAL SPRING CLEANING-Let It Go for Real This Time: Closure, Release, and Choosing Yourself
You’ve acknowledged it. You’ve faced it. Now it’s time to release it.In this final episode of the Emotional Spring Cleaning series, we’re talking about what it actually means to let go—for real. Not just saying “I’m don...
S2:EP9 You Say You’re Fine… But Your Body Knows You’re Not
Everybody keeps saying they’re “fine.” But anxiety is loud. Burnout is real. And functioning doesn’t mean you’re okay.In this episode, I’m breaking down what mental health actually looks like when you’re the one everybody depend...
S2:EP10 The Pressure to Be a Good Mother Will Break You If You Let It
Motherhood is praised publicly… and suffered through privately.In this episode, Shawnti Refuge gets real about the emotional weight of being “a good mother” and how unrealistic expectations, silent pressure, and unprocessed trauma can sl...
S2:EP 11 You Can Love Your Mother and Still Need to Heal From Her
Not every mother-daughter relationship feels safe, and that’s a truth many people struggle to say out loud.In this episode, Shawnti Refuge unpacks the complexity of loving your mother while still needing healing, boundaries, or distance....
S2:EP12 Healing Ain’t Pretty… But Staying Stuck Ain’t Cute Either
Healing isn’t aesthetic. It’s uncomfortable, messy, emotional, and deeply personal.In this episode, Shawnti Refuge closes out Mental Health Awareness Month with a raw conversation about what healing actually requires: accountability, hon...
S2:EP13-The Mental Load Nobody Sees
Everyone can see when you're physically tired.What they don't see is the mental load you're carrying every single day.The appointments. The deadlines. The worries. The emotional labor. The constant responsibility of being the one ...
S2:E14 The Truth About Emotional Exhaustion
You slept.You took a day off.You tried to rest.So why are you still tired?Because not all exhaustion is physical.Sometimes your body isn't asking for sleep. It's asking for relief.In this episode of
S2:EP15 Peace Feels Foreign When Chaos Feels Familiar
Have you ever prayed for peace... and then felt uncomfortable when you finally got it?Have you ever found yourself questioning healthy relationships, overthinking good situations, or creating problems where there weren't any?You m...
BONUS: What Is Self-Sabotage and Why Do You Keep Doing It?
Have you ever felt like you’re running in circles? Like no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to get ahead? You start something, but somehow, you always end up back where you started—frustrated, exhausted, and wondering why the hell you ca...
BONUS: The Lies You Tell Yourself: Identifying Negative Self-Talk
Your thoughts shape your reality. If you’ve been telling yourself you’re not good enough, smart enough, or worthy enough—you’ll start believing it. But what if I told you that your inner critic has been LYING to you? In today’s session, we’re b...
FEB26-EP4: I’m Not Reinventing Myself. I’m Returning.
Birthdays often come with pressure—to be further along, more healed, or completely reinvented. But healing doesn’t work on deadlines.In this episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge reflects on birthday month energy,...
FEB26- EP3: Self-Abandonment Isn’t a Personality Trait
Self-abandonment often gets mislabeled as being “too nice,” “too accommodating,” or “just the way you are”—but it’s actually a learned survival response.In this episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge explores how s...
FEB26-2Self-Trust After You’ve Been Let Down (By Others and Yourself)
Rebuilding self-trust after burnout, betrayal, or self-abandonment can feel overwhelming—especially when survival mode taught you to doubt your own instincts.In this episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge explores ...
FEB26-1-Who Am I When I’m Not Performing?
Who are you when you’re not performing for survival, approval, or productivity?In this episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge explores how performance becomes a survival strategy—and why slowing down can fee...
2026 EP7: Better Me Is Quieter. Clearer. Unavailable.
The healed version of you doesn’t argue—she moves differently. In the final episode of the New Year, Better Me series, Shawnti reflects on peace, detachment, clarity, and choosing yourself without explanation. This is about integration, not rei...
The Truth About Estrangement That Oprah Missed.
Oprah opened the door to a powerful conversation about estrangement — but there’s a whole side of this experience that didn’t get covered. The grief, the guilt, the identity shift… the part where mothers are hurting too.Estrange...
Mental Health Monday: The Mental Health Impact of the Government Shutdown
In this powerful episode of The Quiet As Kept Podcast, Shawnti Refuge dives into the emotional and psychological impact of the ongoing government shutdown — not from a political lens, but a deeply human one.When the government s...
Episode 1: Breaking the Silence: Why We Don’t Talk About Mental Health
Generational trauma is the baggage we didn’t pack but still carry. In this episode, Shawnti explores how trauma gets passed down through families, its impact on mental health, and how we can start breaking the cycle. She shares personal stories...