This week, we dive into a recent research study that has absolutely rocked the mental health world. University College London has just released an article based on a multi-year research study in which they conclude THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT DEPRESSION IS CAUSED BY A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE. This is big news. We read the article together, and I break it down for you. It's time to start understanding depression and moving past this harmful, uncompassionate misinformation. The article: https:...
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr 1 min
This week we look at depression and anxiety from a different angle. We all struggle at some point with these things, but what if our expectations are off? What if we, by expecting our lives to be easy and happy, are setting ourselves up for disappointment and dismay? Most of grew up learning that if we were "good" people we'd have good lives. We are shocked and unprepared when life comes at us with its unfairness and harsh reality. In this week's podcast, we reset our expectations where they sho...
Jul 18, 2022•56 min
This week, I created the podcast based on an email recommendation from AnneMarie in Colorado. She wrote about her struggles with listening and a history of harsh communication that made it unsafe. This week, we unpack the fundamentals of being a good listener and what gets in our way. We look at listening as part of relationship instead of something we "should" do. It's a response born out of safety and respect. Once we understand our blocks to really listening to others, we can learn this all i...
Jul 11, 2022•47 min
In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing Tina Parol, a Nashville hit songwriter. Tina walks us through her joint journeys of making music and pursuing mental health. Tina is, in every essence of the word, an overcomer. Through difficult decisions, life circumstances, and trial and error, Tina learned that the strongest thing she can be is mentally healthy. In her own words, "When I moved to Nashville, I cared more about my music than I did my life. Now, I care more about my life than...
Jun 27, 2022•56 min
This week I tackle an important and difficult question: is the field of psychotherapy doing more harm than good? Are we, as therapists, actually helping people? Or is our field, our expensive, time-consuming field, doing harm? Are we giving people the tools they need to live their lives with joy and meaning, or are we merely kicking the can of emotional pain down the road? We have to ask these questions. We have to step back and assess whether or not therapy is worth it. I believe it is, but onl...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 3 min
No one escapes it. At some point, we have to deal with toxic people. Toxic people are those whose presence in our lives represents more harm than good. To be in relationship with these people means consistent and significant hardship. This week, we'll answer some important questions: how do I know if someone is toxic? What are the characteristics of a toxic person? How do I leave the relationship, if needed? What kind of boundaries do I need to set? Buy The Toolbox here! Support small business: ...
Jun 13, 2022•57 min
This week we explore the things we put off. We often tell ourselves, "It's too late for that," but it's almost never too late to transform your life into a life you love. It's almost never too late to move a relationship toward greater connection and facilitate healing. Our lives are works in progress, always reflecting our inner world. When we realize that it's never, ever too late to be who we want to be, to love who we want to love, or to grow in ways that are meaningful to us, a world of opp...
Jun 06, 2022•57 min
Victor Frankl famously wrote about his experience in the concentrations camps of the Holocaust. His book, "Man's Search for Meaning," is a harrowing and profound journey from the gates of Hell to finding meaning in the worst of humanity. This, he claims, is what redeems our struggles from the pointless suffering of mankind to a sacred event: the discovery of meaning. This week, we unpack this. What is it that causes us to live with meaning or without it and how can we be people who discover the ...
May 23, 2022•55 min
This week, we dive into what it really means to take care of ourselves, otherwise known as "self-care." We look at what it is (reconnection and restoration) and what it's not (selfishness and self-indulgence). The subject of "self-care" has become all the rage, but we're missing the point if we think it means giving ourselves momentary pleasure or indulging our whims. Self-care has the astounding power to reset us and prepare us for the work that life demands. This week, we talk about what it is...
May 16, 2022•1 hr
This week we explore the topic of shame: what it is and how to get ahead of it in our lives. Most of us believe shame to be solely a "bad" emotion, but we'll take a look at when shame is actually productive and when it's tearing us apart. We'll discuss the dysfunctional ways we cope with shame. Finally, we dive into how to understand our shame so it's not controlling us any more. Shame is a universal experience, but it doesn't have to have control over us. (Sorry about the delay in release this ...
May 09, 2022•47 min
Conflicts are inevitable, but so few of us know what to do when conflict arrives in our relationships. We avoid it. We panic and acquiesce. We take over out of fear. We people please. We just break down and scream and fight. This week, we look closely at the tools we need to make conflict work FOR us. This means we are gaining more insight and understanding about the person with whom we're in conflict. It doesn't need to be a bad word. We don't need to dread it. We just need to know what to do.....
May 02, 2022•49 min
This week, our guest is Dr. Brian Hooper. Brian is a licensed clinical pastoral therapist and an ordained Lutheran priest. Earlier in his life, in the process of coming out, Brian learned what it meant and what it costs to become the authentic self. His spirituality served as the bedrock of his growth toward the True Self, and in this episode, Brian expertly weaves his understanding of psychology with a deep, universal, and accessible understanding of the spiritual nature of all humans. Brian sh...
Apr 25, 2022•52 min
This week, we focus on the daily work we must do to keep our minds clear and grounded. Mental health doesn't just take place in therapy sessions and light bulb moments. It's a day-to-day focus of disciplining our minds to think thoughts that are congruent and supportive of our mental and emotional health. We discuss how to distinguish between what *feels* true and what *is* true. We look at false beliefs and negative thoughts and talk about how and when they originated. Then we talk through how ...
Apr 18, 2022•47 min
Our mind can justify anything, but the body never lies. This week's podcast focuses on the inherent wisdom of the body and why and how to listen to it. In the myriad of life decisions we all must make, the body is a safeguard. It warns us when danger is present - both emotional and relational - and our only job is to listen to it. Mental and emotional health is holistic; this means we incorporate the body's innate wisdom into our overview of health. This week's podcast focuses on the wisdom of t...
Apr 11, 2022•50 min
A diet is not a weight loss strategy. It's a word that describes what we take in - day by day - that either fuels us or drains us. The Emotional Diet is a list of the emotional needs you have to live an optimum, emotionally "healthy" life. From the need to be heard to our shared need for community to our deep need for validation, we all share the same emotional needs, in different amounts, at different times. This week, learn what needs you have and ask yourself: are these being met? You need vi...
Apr 04, 2022•55 min
In this episode I interview Angela Wittenberg. Angela is the founder and Executive Director of Hananiah House, a nonprofit that provides housing, support, care, guidance, and healing to women who have recently been released from prison. No stranger to prison work, Angela has been actively involved in a maximum security prison here in Nashville for many years. She's brought a 12-step meeting (ACOA) to the prison, taught anger management classes, and served as as volunteer chaplain. The community ...
Mar 28, 2022•56 min
How do we know when we're making progress? What are some markers of healing? Today we look at seven distinct ways you can know you're on the healing path. We know we're healing when 1. we stop comparing ourselves to others, 2. we stop beating ourselves up, 3. we bounce back more easily, 4. the victim narrative isn't attractive to us anymore, 5. our True Self is present in more areas of our lives, 6. we stop insisting on feeling no fear before we take a risk, and 7. we have in inward smile. The w...
Mar 21, 2022•51 min
This week, we take a deep dive into cultish ideologies and how subtly they can migrate into our belief systems. I'll unpack my own history with cults and the roles that dogma and fear play in our indoctrination into belief systems that can easily be identified as cultish. You don't have to follow a charismatic leader to a tropical forest and drink Kool-Aid to have cultish ideologies. All you need to do is believe that someone else has "the answer" to your pain and the solution to your fear....
Mar 14, 2022•57 min
Of all the troubling and trouble-making dynamics we encounter in relationship, this is the one that does the most harm. It's denial. Denial is the wall that stands between our issues and our growth. It's the narrative we tell ourselves when we can't face the truth. This week, we unpack what it is and how to come out of it.
Mar 07, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 51
In this month's interview, we explore how to create healing spaces with Brad Ramsey, a Nashville-based interior designer. Brad is known for the depth and richness of his design. His palates are calming, earthy, and soothing to the soul. But how does he create that? Brad takes us on his own journey of coming out, starting his own business, and finding his "voice" in the design world. We learn about the elements of space that make it a healing space. In everything he does, Brad serves as a mirror ...
Feb 28, 2022•55 min
When we think of abandonment, we imagine it means leaving something or someone physically. An abandoned house, an abandoned dog. It's something of value that no one's taking responsibility for. But abandonment doesn't have to mean a physical abandonment. Sometimes abandonment is as subtle as a quiet withdrawal. Abandonment is scorching when someone storms out on someone, but it can be just as devastating if we are left wondering what the truth is when someone withholds it from us. This week, we ...
Feb 21, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 49
We all want love and we want to love others. But sometimes the love we're giving isn't what is needed, wanted, or even liked. This week, we unpack how we love. And we ask ourselves some honest questions: Why do I love the way I do? Is it what others want? If not, how will I know?
Feb 14, 2022•48 min
This week, we dive into the process of transformation from pain to pleasurable outcome. What fills the middle? The process, yet this is the part of growth so many of us struggle with. The pain can be easy to identify. We want out of it. The outcome, when it comes, is sweet. But the process is where we meet ourselves: our strengths, our weaknesses, our desire, our perseverance, and everything inside us that wants to quit. If we can learn to trust the process and see it through, we have the power ...
Feb 07, 2022•52 min
Liz Sanfilippo joins us this week for a deep dive into holistic nutrition. She's a nutritional therapy practitioner (NTP), a holistic nutritional therapy master, a certified gluten-free practitioner, a member of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals. And did I mention she's also certified to teach yoga? Yeah. Liz is a healer. Listen this week for life-changing information, not just on how to nourish your body, but how to nourish and invigorate your relationship with your body. Liz ...
Jan 31, 2022•57 min
The first mirror is dated to around 4000 BC, and today our society is flooded with "selfies," images of the self. For thousands of years, humans have been obsessed with their own image. Our greatest artists - poets and painters - gave us works of art that centered around their faces, perspectives, desires, and flaws. We all seem to be looking at ourselves and then sharing what we see. So how do we form a relationship with ourselves that healthy? If the relationship with the self is foundational ...
Jan 24, 2022•52 min
Setting goals and pursuing growth is healthy and normal. We all need to be aware of our growth areas, and making a plan to address them and grow is part of being a dynamic human being. In this week's episode, I address two paths we can take: the Harsh Path and the Gentle Path. They may both direct us to the same goal, but the process and the experience are going to be a lot different. As we settle into a new year, let's step back and take a book at the "how" of growth, not just the "what." This ...
Jan 17, 2022•48 min
The source of our relational pain is not disagreement; it's disconnection. This week we dive into the dynamics of connection. We'll learn to improve how we communicate so that when we do, we are getting the connection we seek. We explore different ways we can communicate with greater efficiency and effectiveness. We are all trying to get connected and stay connected, but we need to know how. Share this with someone you feel connected to, or someone with whom you want to connect.
Jan 10, 2022•53 min
Happy New Year! This week we tackle how to bring what we want into our lives. How can we expand our minds and hearts to allow in that which will bring us further down the road of mental and emotional growth? Whether it's more beauty, more truth, more courage, more peace, more love, or more friendship, we have the power to expand our lives to allow it in. We need to know what we want, and we need to own our power. We can bring in what we want and we can leave what we don't want out. It's all abou...
Jan 03, 2022•46 min
This week, we explore our own energy and how we interact with others' energy. We need to learn if our relationships are a drain or a source of replenishment and renewal. This means we need to feel our feelings and come out of denial. Once we're committed to living in reality and not denying our feelings, we'll know which relationships are sucking the life out of us and which bring us back to life. We'll know where our boundaries need to be. Share this episode with someone who lifts you up!...
Dec 14, 2021•50 min
We hear a lot of talk about doing "the work," but what does that really mean? This week, we explore what it means to do our work inwardly and outwardly in our every day lives. Inner work requires patience, time, and self-examination. Outer work is the result of our inner work.
Dec 06, 2021•39 min
