Conversations With a Wounded Healer

"As we can release things that we're holding, we get to be more of ourselves and more of our own energy and more of our own essence and power. " ~Dr. Sonali Deepika Of all the excellent words spoken in this conversation between Dr. Sonali Deepika and I, the one that stands out is pretty simple: shift. As in shift the male-dominated, white-centric, evidence-based paradigm that currently governs our...

"It is my goal to own me, to own myself." ~Dr. Davia J. Crutchfield, Ph. D. If you measure life along a linear trajectory, then yeah, Dr. Davia J. Crutchfield, Ph. D., and I have known each other for about a minute. But when it comes to anti-racism and healing wounds caused by white supremacy? Oh…we're firing on a deeper, symbiotic wavelength! This is a chat between old friends who've just met. Fo...

"Let's get this very clear: therapists are humans; humans are human. And, therefore, we experience the same things as our clients." ~Bianca Hughes Perfectionism, professional pivots, and the privilege of creating space for healing. So many bases covered in this conversation with Bianca K. Hughes, LPC ! Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the cultural exchange insights - Bianca's a British ex-pat resi...

"Humor is how I handle the world." ~Jim Martin This one's for the pun lovers, the meme-generators, and...the meditation-curious. Jim Martin is all of these things and a potato. As founder of The Unusual Buddha, a multi-platform community that explores meditation, spirituality, and metaphysics through an irreverent, contemporary lens - and that lens often has a potato filter over it. Jim says the g...

"So, here's the thing: liberation work is about imagination." ~Shawna Murray-Browne What a treat this episode is (IMHO), and what a gift Shawna Murray-Browne is! That exclamation point is not hyperbole, as you'll soon hear. As founder and executive director of Kindred Community Healing, Shawna is a liberation-focused practitioner whose forward-thinking mental health care has the power to restore g...

"What's the point of getting better if everyone you know and love is still sick?" ~Mishara Winston Mishara Winston, LCSW, believes that healing is the byproduct of communal joy. A hundred episodes ago, this Black queer woman redefined for us what it meant to be an adventure therapist. Three years later, she's back to share her leveled-up vision. Mishara's one of my most favorite people and most fa...

"My relationship with power and control has evolved. One thing I am not afraid to say anymore is that I'm on a mission to get more power so I can redistribute it." ~Kim Young Let's get into some trouble, shall we? Good trouble. The kind that shifts paradigms, creates opportunities, and leaves plenty of room for rest. For that we're going to need a dope accomplice. Kim Young, aka Dope Black Social...

"Compassion and relationships create all opportunities." ~Dr. Nzinga Harrison Revolutions need revolutionaries. What's true for the social justice movement is true in the drive to create more equitable mental health opportunities; after all, these threads have been entwined throughout this country's history. Meet my new favorite person in the whole wide world, psychiatrist, podcast host, and amazi...

"I do want to help people build something big and awesome and impossible and that's of a very high value and that is client-centered." ~Annie Schuessler How much do I adore Annie Schuessler? Let me count the ways so you, too, can fall hard for this business coach who helps therapists make an impact beyond a traditional private practice.  She's also the host of two podcasts: Rebel Therapist™ and Li...

"I think as therapists, there is no such thing as true neutrality, right?...The importance is knowing and owning your bias so that we can prevent it from doing harm." ~Jessica Fern Polyamory. Well, now that I have your attention…let's get into it, shall we? Ohhh, y'all, this episode is meaty with material courtesy of the brilliant Jessica Fern , psychotherapist, coach, public speaker, relationship...

"It takes serious dedication to kind of chip away at rules and the contracts that we've picked up over our life that we didn't get to choose." ~Ryan Herrick Healer, humanitarian, and homebuilder Ryan Herrick wears many hats. But the topper that compliments every aspect of his life best is the one labeled musician . The ongoing pandemic has forced Ryan to explore alternate methods of delivering his...

"What would it look like if I stopped trying to contort myself to fit other people's ideas about how I should be?" ~Christina Watkins A new year...and breathe! Let's get into it. But first, we need to get honest at the micro and the macro. Who are we, personally and professionally? What do we want for ourselves and our careers? What are we no longer willing to tolerate in others or ourselves? What...

"Ultimately, I think for anybody who is struggling, just find that tiny bit of spark, that little bit of hope, and hold onto it." ~Natalie LeSueur There's no better way to end this ____(insert your fave adjective here)___ year than hanging with Natalie LeSueur and me for Part II of our conversation. If you've not yet listened to Part I , go back! Get acquainted with this luminous lady and then joi...

"I really feel like I not only deserve love, but I am love. I really am." ~Natalie LeSueur The brilliant, wise-hearted Natalie LeSueur of The Light Collective is many things: mother, breathwork teacher, intuitive… the list is extensive. Natalie's also a survivor of complex psychological and sexual trauma. I'm grateful for her honesty and willingness to share her multi-layered experience. To that e...

"Every time I've helped someone with their grief, my own grief diminishes" ~Mark Sanders My chat with Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, is more than just a conversation; it's a full-blown appreciation situation. If you're in the field of addiction in Chicago, you know Mark as an inspiring speaker and thoughtful mentor.  I envy those of you "meeting" him for the first time here, on the pod; Mark makes memo...

"In complicated grief, what happens is, you haven't just lost the person , you've lost your identity." ~Dr. Mark Rider Mark Rider, PhD, has developed a language for understanding the lyrical relationship between body and brain. "We learned how to use music improvisation to mirror a person's pain, to mirror a person's imagery of their cancer. And then we would change that music [so] it went in a he...

"I wish somebody would have told that to me: it's okay to struggle. We're supposed to struggle; we're humans. We're complicated; we're messy." ~Patricia Young One of my greatest joys in life is connecting with a fellow outcast and truth-teller. All the better if said person comes equipped with a nickname like Mad Lady-Balls. Patricia Young, LCSW, the person behind the stern, brass-plated moniker i...

"Happiness is not a room. Compassion is not a place. Mercy is not a state. It passes, like anger, like hunger, like horniness...These are all emotions, and you have to observe them." ~Rabbi Iggy Gurin Oh my, it's been a week, hasn't it?! The windows are open and fresh air is pouring in. While that big picture feels a whole lot brighter today, there's still hella personal work to do. For anyone cha...

"There's a lot going on for the election; we know that we are not dealing with business as usual. It's a huge turning point in the chart of the United States." ~Dawn Silver My past and future selves got together two weeks ago to record this episode addressing this singular moment in history. The election is technically over, all votes cast but possibly not counted; all tensions less inclined to bo...

"Post-traumatic growth is a privilege and…  we need some way to detail and describe [it] without glorifying or idealizing this idea of growth while still experiencing trauma" ~Cassie Walker Bookmark this episode as the one with the Dungeons and Dragons reference and a Porterhouse steak metaphor. Seriously. No other guest has their way with tangents - or the status quo - quite like my good friend C...

"We store so much stuff in our body. So, sometimes that's trauma, sometimes it's joy or whatever, and to be able to recognize, be aware and, like, feel what's happening and name it sounds like you're on your way to, you know, being connected to your body." ~Nicoletta Heidegger  Healing is what happens to you while you're busy recording a podcast. This is the second in a series of deeply personal c...

"There's definitely a deep, there's a deep fear of...annihilation isn't the right word but there's something about, like, going beyond the ego because it's unanchored, right? ~Sarah Buino "...as we move towards freedom, there's always madness… ~Livia Budrys  Radical transparency is overwhelming, messy, scary. It's also empowering. In a year marked by long-overdue exposure of the myriad illnesses a...

"This might be the last chance we have at saving our democracy." ~Jennifer Contarino  This year, the personal is political. In service to your emotional wellbeing and the health of our democracy, my guest Jennifer Conterino, Psy. D and I are going there. Yup, we're exposing the damaging effects that an egregiously dangerous personality has had on our collective psyche not to mention the will of a...

"It's a weird place to be when you're in the midst of your own work." ~Ashley Solomon First of all, you know I love getting to know new friends on air. Secondly, if you've listened to this show for a while (and why wouldn't you?!), you know I'm all in when the topic du jour is either NARM-adjacent or Enneagram-related. But when the conversation contains all the things? Oh, my!  Ashley Solomon, PSY...

"We have to be able to have these uncomfortable conversations and put in some uncomfortable strategies for people to move forward." ~Brandon Jones What, exactly, is intergenerational trauma? How does structural racism even work? For Brandon Jones, the answers are balled up in the same knot of his origins story. As a psychotherapist, a professor with dual Masters degrees, and a 2013 Bush Foundation...