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Tag: Social Change

102 – Katie Vernoy and Curt Widhalm – The Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide

How do you show up when you’re a therapist (or therapist-in-training)? It’s this existential question that formed the foundation for The Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide, a podcast created by Katie Vernoy and Curt Widhalm. 

If you’ve ever struggled with the prevailing wisdom that therapists should exist in session only as blank slates, you’re not alone. “I was taught to be beige,” says Katie of her formative training. But the idea of working from an emotionless center didn’t sit well with her or Curt. So they built an online space in which practitioner authenticity, and all the challenges that came with that vulnerability, could be explored. 

As if the podcast wasn’t enough, Katie and Curt also created Therapy Reimagined: The Modern Therapist Conference, a yearly event celebrating diversity, innovation, and connection for the #moderntherapist IRL.

Of course, Curt and Katie serve up some healer and wounded healer realness and get into the thorny issue of continuing education hours. But Curt and Katie aren’t the types to rail against the CEU system or the country’s warped insurance model (ok maybe a little). Instead, they’ve joined forces to combat outdated traditions, educate new and not-so-new therapists alike, and build a better model for the future of mental health and welfare, 

This year’s Therapy Reimagined conference will be held on September 25-26,2020 in Universal City, CA. 

Special Thanks to Our Sponsor!

The Receptionist for iPad creates a seamless patient experience for your practice. Start your 14-day free trial at http://www.TheReceptionist.com/healer

For full show notes including resources discussed and our guests’ contact information, visit http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast.

Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork.

Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website:

www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/

https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/

Instagram: 

@headhearttherapy

Twitter:

@WoundedHealr

@HeadHeart_Chi

101 – Sarah Prager – Creating Safe Space

“Sometimes, we need permission to be as awesome as we are.” ~Sarah Prager

You know that old saying about strangers being friends you just haven’t met yet? This episode is exactly that. 

Sarah Prager LPC, LAC, is the clinical manager of co-occurring treatment at AllHealth Network Colorado as well as an EMDR practitioner and a Daring Way facilitator. So, that’s TWO Sarahs in conversation about codependency, empathy, shame and Brené Brown for the price of one show! 

But the best part is Sarah’s personal journey story. She came to this profession by accident! Sort of. The second-best part is that Sarah and Sarah became acquainted by accident. Sort of. 

“Now that I look back on my life, I realize I was always supposed to be doing this,” she says. “I’ve seen addiction and mental health everywhere from my childhood and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. It wasn’t an accident.” 

So how did she get here? Originally a musical theater major, Sarah’s post-graduation search for work led her to a summer camp for traumatized girls. And, just like that, the next chapter of her life was written: performing arts major ditches the drama for trauma. 

Now several degrees removed from her dreams of Broadway stardom, her focus is squarely on fostering an environment in which clients can follow their own unique paths toward healing. “I don’t take credit for people’s healing. But because I’m open to their healing, and I hold space for them to do that, I think it happens and it’s great. I love it. I feel it very deeply when someone else is healing their stuff.” Sarah’s honors her clients and her own wounded healer with a compassion that allows everyone’s authenticity to reign.

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors!

The Receptionist for iPad creates a seamless patient experience for your practice. Start your 14-day free trial at http://www.TheReceptionist.com/healer

Liberated Being is a private, online community that connects people who are on this path- of waking up and shifting their way of being- with the skillful guides that can help to make the journey more sane, kind, and clear.  Created by Brooke Thomas from Bliss+Grit – Membership is open through March 4, 2020. https://www.liberatedbeing.community/

For full show notes including resources discussed and how to reach Lauren, visit http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast.

Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website:

www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/

https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/

Instagram: 

@headhearttherapy

Twitter:

@WoundedHealr

@HeadHeart_Ch

100 – OG listeners Margaret and Rachel – Be On Your Own Journey

A flight attendant and a music teacher walk into a podcast… But not just any podcast, mind you. This is CWH’s 100th episode! To celebrate, OG listeners Rachel and Margaret join the show to get giggly and get deep. 

They bond over their favorite episode (10!), and turn the tables on Sarah with a few questions of their own. Tons of fun, loads of a-ha! moments, and a couple dozen swears (naturally). Plus, the scoop on how Charlie the pyrite skull became the show’s mascot.   

“You can be in service to others and still be on your own journey yourself,” That’s Margaret, a multitasking mother, musician, teacher, freelancer, and Patreon of this podcast, describing a CWH truth she’s come to rely on while pursuing her own degree in social work. “I had this illusion that people who are therapists and people who help others have to have all their shit together already before doing that. I always felt like, well, I don’t have my shit together so how can I help anybody else?” This podcast isn’t called Conversations With A Wounded Healer for nothing! 

 

For superfan and flight attendant Rachel, the emotional stakes of her day-job couldn’t be higher (pun intended). She’s paid to literally help passengers keep their sh*t together! Beyond that though, she credits CWH showing her how to just be after resurfacing from an emotionally raw 2019. “Listening to your podcast, it was the first time that I realized ‘Oh, no, like, therapists can be human beings and they can be flawed and complicated and that’s ok!’ That’s been the main part of my journey and realizing that I actually do want to go back to school to be a therapist.” Low life moments lead to higher lessons, everybody!

100 episodes in, this supportive community of wounded healers continues to grow and amaze with their insight and energy. Whether you’re starting out here or have listened forever, thank you!

Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork.

Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website:

www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/

https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/

Instagram: 

@headhearttherapy

Twitter:

@WoundedHealr

@HeadHeart_Chi

099 – Rachel Alexandria – The Enneagram Episode

There are thousands of online personality tests, all designed to help you uncover your type — or, at least provide an inventory of adjectives that probably, maybe, sort of describe you. The Enneagram is not a modern survey or sliding scale of attributes. Nor is it a superficial list of words. It’s a system with ancient roots based in sacred geometry. 

“To know the Enneagram,” says energy healer Rachel Alexandria, “is to have access to information about yourself that makes you feel like you’re not broken, you’re not wrong, and you’re not alone.” 

Rachel is a former psychotherapist who found herself dissatisfied with the limits inherent to office-bound therapy. She wanted to support her clients in the spaces between their visits: where they lived, how they worked, the projects they needed to complete. With the Enneagram’s personality model as her foundation, she created a healing practice dedicated to accessing energies and guiding clients through their radical transformations. “I work with people to mainly help them create what they’ve really been aching to build.” 

If you’re new to the Enneagram model, Rachel shares some common principles in the episode using herself and Sarah as examples (types 8 and 3, respectively). In addition to her Enneagram work, Rachel is an author and a practitioner of tapping therapy. The practice is yet another way she promotes healing and wellbeing without limits. “I really want people to suffer less, have better lives.”

Website:

www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/

https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/

Instagram: 

@headhearttherapy

Twitter:

@WoundedHealr

@HeadHeart_Chi

ST Podcast Ep. 37: V WARS with Jonathan Maberry

On this episode, Dr. Scarlet and Dustin have an insightful conversation with V Wars Creator and Executive Producer Jonathan Maberry. V Wars has spread like a virus and is one of the top ranked shows streaming now. This amazing show addresses powerful topics such as racism, prejudice, trauma, and choices. You don’t want to miss sinking your teeth into this powerful episode.

When Therapists Have Lived through Suicide Intensity — Deep Insights on Helping the Suicidal Person: Interview with Dr. Stacey Freedenthal

Do mental health providers’ own personal histories with suicide impact their interactions with and attitudes towards people experiencing suicide intensity? What happens when clinicians disclose their own suicide attempts to the public or to their clients? Does an “insider’s view” help a therapist to be more of an ally than an adversary? In this interview Dr. Stacey Freedenthal and I explore these questions as we have an in-depth conversation about her deep insights in helping the suicide person.

About Dr. Stacey Freedenthal
Stacey-Freendenthal B&W.png
Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW, is a tenured faculty member at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work where she teaches Suicide Assessment and Interventions, Assessment of Mental Health in Adults, Clinical Social Work Theory and Practice, and Social Justice Challenges in Mental Health Practice. She writes poignantly and powerfully about suicide. Her book, Helping the Suicidal Person: Tips and Techniques for Professionals, contains evidence-based instructions and advice for assessing risk, planning for safety and helping the suicidal person to build hope, coping skills and reasons for living. She has written more than 70 articles for her website SpeakingOfSuicide.com, a blog that has received over five million visitors since 2013.

Freedenthal started her journey working in the field of suicide prevention in 1994, when she volunteered at a suicide hotline. Subsequently, she earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Texas at Austin. She held clinical positions in psychiatric emergency settings before returning to school to earn a PhD in social work from Washington University in St. Louis. Before Freedenthal became a social worker, she worked as a journalist for The Dallas Morning News. for more information go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/48

Suicide and Culture — Arts, Religion and Social Justice: Interview with Dr. Erminia Colucci | Episode 44

In the United States our suicide rates are going up, but in much of the world, the suicide rates are going down. In this interview I speak with the world renowned Erminia Colucci to discuss the Anglo perspective of a highly medicalized perspective of suicide and contrast that with an understanding of suicide in a larger context. In her view, we must situate suicide prevention within a social, cultural and political context to be effective. She is part of a group of “Critical Suicidologists” who are challenging some of the “truths” we have accepted within the suicide prevention field. As an activist researcher she wants to engage with the community and helps us better to understand the root causes of inequality, oppression, violence and related conditions of human suffering.

Erminia and I have this conversation at the World Congress for Suicide Prevention in Derry, Ireland. We are sitting in an art studio in the Playhouse for this conversation, and explore a ‘different way’ to help people on their darkest day.

Take aways:
Suicide needs to be seen in a larger context within the cultures people belong to

We need to break the silence in some areas of understanding suicide like social justice

By exploring alternative methods that work for people, like the arts, faith, and others, we can make a difference to alleviate suffering and prevent suicide.

About Dr. Erminia Colucci
Erminia Colucci
Erminia Colucci is currently a senior lecturer at the Department of Psychology at Middlesex University London (UK), however she has lectured and conducted research all over the4 world including Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and in her home country of Italy. In 2015 she was awarded the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s award for innovative research among young researchers. The focus of her research is on on the cultural implications of suicide on mental health and suicide with a focus on low-middle income countries and immigrant and refugee populations. Her key interests are human rights and mental health, suicide and suicide prevention, domestic violence against women and children, child neglect/exploitation, spirituality and faith-based and spiritual/traditional healing, and first-hand stories of people with lived-experience of ‘mental illness’ and suicidal behavior. Erminia is passionate about using arts-based and visual methods, particularly photography and ethnographic film-documentary, in her research, teaching and advocacy activities. Erminia is the chair of the International Association for Suicide Prevention SIG in Culture and Suicidal Behaviour, Chair of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry SIG on Arts, Media and Mental Health and founder of Movie-ment (https://movie-ment.org) and Aperture, the first Asia-Pacific ethnographic documentary festival. For more information on this episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/44

078 – Hillary McBride – Midwife of the Mind and Heart

Hillary is a therapist, researcher, speaker and writer. She loves to help people grow, heal, change, and come into more fullness in themselves and their relationships. She is passionate about the well-being of all people, and wants to make psychology and academic research accessible to a wide variety of people. She is also the host of two podcasts: Other People’s Problems and The Liturgist Podcast and the author of two books: Mothers, Daughters, & Body Image and Embodiment and Eating Disorders.

Hillary and Sarah discuss therapy, interconnectedness, and the importance of taking care of self as well as feminism and racism. Hillary asks the important question of whether or not we are an agent in our own transformation.

Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website:

www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/

https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/

Instagram: 

@headhearttherapy

Twitter:

@WoundedHealr

@HeadHeart_Chi

077 – What I’m Reading

Sarah runs through a long list of books that have been instrumental in her emotional and spiritual development over the past year. From anti-racism to workaholism to spirituality, there’s a little something to interest everyone.

Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website:

www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/

https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/

Instagram: 

@headhearttherapy

Twitter:

@WoundedHealr

@HeadHeart_Chi

Suicide & The Workplace : Interview with Dr. Allison Milner | Episode 30

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Suicide & The Workplace — Globalization, Job Strain, and the Dark Side of the New Economy: Interview with Dr. Allison Milner | Episode 30
NOTE: This podcast will air on 2/26/19 at 10:00AM ET https://soundcloud.com/user-225414284-842732102
Overview
Too often when we talk about mental health promotion and suicide prevention in the workplace, the main message is about how to get workers who are suffering to counselors. Not enough attention is paid to the environmental aspects of the workplace that may be contributing to despair and what peers, managers and leadership can do to solve these problems. The research is clear — job strain is connected to suicide risk (Milner, et al, 2017). In particular certain types of job strain are related to suicide attempts and death:

Low control (limited decision-making)

High demand (pressure, workload)

Effort-reward imbalance (e.g., high pressure/expectations with little reward — income, respect or security)

Job insecurity

Bullying/harassment (Leach et al)

On this podcast I interview an international authority on workplace suicide and mental health research, Dr. Allison Milner. Join us as we explore some of the social determinants of suicide through a social justice lens in the world of work.

“Suicide prevention doesn’t just magically happen on the psychiatrist’s couch…It happens peer-to-peer. We need the day-to-day interactions to support mental health services and help resolve issues when they are smaller.”

About Dr. Allison Milner
Allison Milner
Dr. Allison Milner is a Deputy Director of the Disability and Health Unit, Melbourne School Population and Global Health, the University of Melbourne. Her current areas of research interests include the influence of gender, employment characteristics, quality of work, and occupation as determinants of mental health and suicide. Allison also focuses on specific employed groups that may be particularly likely to face disadvantage, such as blue-collar workers in the manufacturing and construction industry. Allison’s work ranges across a number of externally-funded etiologic and intervention projects. She works with key policy stakeholders to promote research on the link between work and mental health, and is the co-chair for an international panel of researchers aiming to promote workplace suicide prevention. She has been awarded the Victorian Health and Medical Research Fellowship for her work on gender, employment and mental health. In this work, she is progressing the concept of “gendered working environments” as a cause of health inequalities. For more information on this and every episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/30

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