11. How Art Transforms Trauma: Cancer Survivor's Guide to Rewire Your Brain with Nerissa Balland

In this episode, Steve sits down with artist Nerissa Balland, who also happens to be his niece, for one of the most honest and tender conversations you'll hear on this podcast.

Nerissa opens up about her path from being a kid who loved to create, to working in the corporate art world, to receiving a cancer diagnosis while pregnant that changed everything. She talks about how for years, survival and achievement drove her choices and how illness forced her to slow down and finally ask deeper questions about who she was and what mattered.

It's a conversation about courage, presence, and the messy, beautiful work of turning suffering into meaning and it leaves you with this: you don't need to be fixed to be whole. Broken crayons still color.

She explains:

⬛ Creativity often begins as survival and becomes healing when intention changes.

⬛ Cancer and illness can radically disrupt identity and open new psychological and spiritual pathways.

⬛ The stories we tell ourselves are not always true and can be rewritten.

⬛ Intuition is quiet and must be cultivated through stillness and self trust.

⬛ Healing starts with the relationship you have with yourself.

⬛ Art can regulate the nervous system and support transformation without diagnosis.

⬛ Spirituality does not require certainty, only curiosity and engagement.

⬛ Trauma responses are adaptations, not character flaws.

⬛ You do not need to be fixed to be whole.

⬛ Broken crayons still color.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Nerissa's Journey

01:31 The Power of Art in Healing

07:17 Navigating Life Changes and Identity

15:01 The Cancer Diagnosis: A Turning Point

23:49 Spirituality and Personal Growth

30:21 Listening to Intuition and Self-Discovery

44:19 The Role of Spirituality in Healing

56:33 Understanding Relationships and Self-Expectations

57:30 The Journey of Self-Discovery

01:00:39 Navigating Relationships and Healing

01:03:00 The Importance of Silence and Self-Reflection

01:05:06 Transforming Trauma into Art

01:09:07 The Ongoing Nature of Healing

01:12:42 Finding Balance in Life and Art

01:15:32 The Power of Personal Stories in Art

01:18:14 Creating Art as a Healing Process

About Steve

Steve is a longtime entrepreneur and former finance professional who built significant external success while carrying the hidden impact of severe childhood trauma and addiction. Through years of deep healing work including somatic therapies, psychedelic assisted processes, and brain based interventions, he experienced a profound internal shift that reoriented his life toward service, storytelling, and mental health.

Through The Neuro’s Journey, Steve shares his ongoing process and amplifies voices exploring honest, evidence informed, and heart led transformation.

Follow Steve:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneurosjourney/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theneurosjourney

About Nerissa

Nerissa Balland is a visual artist, therapeutic arts practitioner, and two-time cancer survivor whose mixed-media works range from intimate to large-scale. As a visual storyteller, she draws on spiritual symbols, patterns, and natural elements to explore universal themes of self-love, acceptance, and protection. Nerissa holds an MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute, a BA in Studio Art from the University of Maryland, and studied Digital Design at the University of Copenhagen. 

Follow Nerissa:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerissaballandart

Website: https://www.nerissaballand.com