Rooted and Resilient
An 8-week Shame Proof Parenting Transformational Experience
Parenting is a journey to yourself more than you ever imagined…
If you’re parenting a tween right now, you already know…
It’s a lot.
You want your child to thrive in a world that wasn’t built for them…
…and still find joy, softness, and room to breathe for yourself.
But you weren’t given a manual.
You were given shame.
Pressure.
Judgment.
This course helps you unlearn all of that…
…without guilt, and with tools that honor who you are.
What is Rooted & Resilient?
An 8-week course rooted in cultural expansion, liberation, and ancestral wisdom, Rooted & Resilient walks you through how to:
Parent with confidence and calm, without replicating what hurt you
Support your child’s emotional growth while honoring your culture
Break generational cycles with tools, not trauma
Reconnect with the parts of yourself that got lost along the way
What Can You Expect
You’ll spend about 2–2.5 hours a week learning, reflecting, and reconnecting.
Everything is recorded. Everything is flexible. We’re decolonizing how we unlearn patterns and relearn ourselves. This includes what’s expected of you in this course
The only thing that’s expected is that you bring your full self as you are when you start with the commitment to unlearning and relearning from a place of uncertainty, safety, and honoring your experiences.
You’re not expected to be perfect, just present.
Each week, there will be the following in the classroom:
90-minute weekly session (live, with a replay)
30–60 mins reflection & practice (at your pace)
Optional online community
Materials available for 1 year after the course ends
The Weekly Curriculum: A Brief Overview
Week 1 – Foundations of Shame Proof Parenting
Theme: Understanding shame, identity, and cultural narratives in parenting
Explore how shame functions in parenting, especially in Black families, and introduce a culturally grounded model that replaces blame with compassion and legacy-building.
Week 2 – Emotional Attunement & Empathy
Theme: Tools to connect, co-regulate, and emotionally support your tween
Learn how to recognize your tween’s emotions and your own responses. Practice co-regulation and develop an emotionally safe home culture through empathy and curiosity.
Week 3 – Family Patterns & Awareness
Theme: Breaking cycles by understanding your family story
Explore your own upbringing, cultural context, and intergenerational patterns. Understand how roles, trauma, and survival shape your parenting, and how to shift the narrative.
Week 4 – Needs, Boundaries & Communication
Theme: Meeting your needs and your tween’s with grace
Identify unmet needs and learn to set and honor boundaries with love, not fear. Build practical language for parenting conversations rooted in affirmation, not control.
Week 7 – Decolonizing Parenting Practices
Theme: Reclaiming ancestral wisdom and culturally affirming care
Challenge internalized norms about control, punishment, and performance. Restore connection with community-based, spiritual, and liberatory practices that support your family’s healing.
Week 5 – Confidence & Identity as a Parent
Theme: Reclaiming your voice, power, and parenting values
Rediscover your parenting identity outside of systems of shame and respectability. Anchor into confidence rooted in culture, history, and your tween’s best interest.
Week 8 – Integration & Legacy Building
Theme: Bringing it all together and sustaining change
Craft a personalized action plan that helps you stay rooted, flexible, and aligned beyond the course. Practice rituals of celebration, repair, and continued growth as a Shame Proof Parent.
Week 6 – Intersectionality in Parenting
Theme: Parenting through the lens of race, gender, neurodiversity & culture
Explore how your tween’s identity and your own shape the parenting experience. Learn to hold space for complexity and protect your tween’s whole self.
MEET YOUR Shame Proof Guide
Dr. Mercedes Samudio, LCSW
Afronerd, Mental Wellness Advocate, Media Consultan
Hey there, I’m Dr. Mercedes Samudio (she/her), a licensed clinical social worker, author, and the founder of Shame-Proof Parenting.
I’ve spent nearly two decades supporting individuals, families, and fellow clinicians in healing the emotional wounds that shame leaves behind. My work is rooted in the belief that we all deserve spaces where we can show up fully, without apology, without performance, and without shame.
As your guide in these courses, I bring a mix of clinical expertise (Family systems, multicultural counseling, EMDR, Brainspotting, trauma-informed practices), lived experience, and cultural intentionality. I was raised community, and I’ve also done the work to heal from trauma, spiritual harm, and intergenerational wounds. So, this isn’t just professional; it’s deeply personal.
I designed these courses to be more than just information - they’re transformation spaces. Whether you’re a parent, a therapist, a caregiver, or someone doing your own healing work, you’ll find tools here that are:
Culturally expansive
Trauma-informed
Emotionally honest
Rooted in liberation, not perfection
This is a place for learning and unlearning.
A space where your humanity is welcome.
Let’s grow together: shame-proof focused, identity-rooted, and fully you.