About the Author

Sonnie Hamner, PhD, LMFT, is a California licensed marriage and family therapist (#126357) who served more than forty years in ministry. Her work has included the homeless, the disenfranchised, couples, first responders, veterans, business leaders, and incarcerated populations. Across these very different lives, one truth appeared again and again: the wounded heart.

Beneath anxiety, anger, addiction, depression, control, and relational pain, there was often a deeper unseen wound carried quietly for years—the fire beneath the storm.

My Body, My Mind, and I: The Cost of Staying Loved grew from years of seeing that same hidden wound take many forms—and the conviction that healing begins when fear no longer holds authority.