Developing Meaning

Send us Fan Mail This episode is a companion audio diary to my interview with Ted Riskin, recorded while participating in one of his five-day Internal Family Systems (IFS) ketamine-assisted group retreats in Asheville, North Carolina. Over the course of the retreat, I recorded stream-of-consciousness reflections into my iPhone each day as I moved through group process, ketamine journeys, hikes in...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I sit down with Ted Riskin — social worker, IFS expert, and pioneer of group ketamine retreats — after spending a week at his beautiful home in Asheville, North Carolina participating in one of his experiences. From his unusual path as a computer programmer living in an Ashram to becoming one of the leading voices in ketamine-assisted IFS group therapy, we explore...

Send us Fan Mail Note: This conversation with Dr. Patricia Gerbarg was recorded in August 2025. In this episode, we explore how breathing patterns reshape the emotional brain, restore a sense of safety, and allow meaning to return to daily life with Dr. Patricia Gerbarg , co-creator of the Breath-Body-Mind program. From her personal development as a healer to co-creating a global healing community...

Send us Fan Mail In this New Year’s episode, I explore the very real consequences of last year’s Past Year Review. Most notably, I decided to retire from a beloved community mental health clinic and launch Park West Integrative Psychiatry — sparked by a desire for creativity, continued learning, and a growing belief in integrative trauma-informed approaches such as EMDR, Internal Family Systems, k...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year!  It's time to do a meaning inventory in order to set intentions for 2026.  Toward that end I am re-posting my meaning inventory from last year.  Our next episode will delve into how these unfolded and are leading to major career changes. This episode invites listeners to engage in a meaningful past year review, turning away from traditional resolutions toward...

Send us Fan Mail Mike Mandel is a world-leading hypnotist with over 50 years of professional experience. He's performed nearly 5,000 stage shows, trained over 10,000 students at his Toronto hypnosis academy, and co-hosts the Brain Software podcast. Our conversation bridges hypnosis, Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, pain management, and meaning-making—showing how different healing tradit...

Send us Fan Mail Joanne Twombly, LCSW and author of Trauma Informed Internal Family Systems , has been treating complex trauma and dissociative disorders for over 30 years. In this conversation, she explores how right-brain modalities such as EMDR, hypnosis, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) can sometimes heal what words cannot. We also discuss the evolution of dissociative disorder diagnoses, the...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you combine military experience, personal recovery, cutting-edge trauma therapies, and the healing power of nature? Beau Laviolette's remarkable journey answers this question through a story of transformation and purpose. From the sugar cane fields of Louisiana to the Marine Corps and back again, Beau's path wasn't straightforward. After military s...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I take you inside my experience of learning Internal Family Systems therapy while simultaneously navigating prostate cancer surgery and recovery during the fall and winter of 2023-24. Through audio diary entries recorded over three months, you'll hear my real-time reflections as I move through an intensive experiential training that forced me to find and conf...

Send us Fan Mail Margaret Conley, LCSW, Minister, and IFS Assistant Trainer, joins me to explore how trauma is passed down through families, culture, and society —and how we can heal. Drawing from her own powerful story, Margaret explains the Internal Family Systems (IFS) concept of legacy burdens and how she helps clients release inherited patterns related to race, religion, gender, and family hi...

Send us Fan Mail Can you imagine learning at 35 that you were adopted?  In this episode Ridghaus, my friend and Level I IFS Program Assistant, shares how this discovery transformed his sense of identity and led him to advocate for adoptee rights and communities. We also explore the profound loss of his 18-year-old son and how he has grieved. Through our conversation, Ridghaus reflects on the &quot...

Send us Fan Mail This episode invites listeners to engage in a meaningful past year review, turning away from traditional resolutions toward a more insightful approach to personal growth. By exploring the themes of beginner's mind, questioning assumptions, and the importance of consilience, Dr. Dirk Winter provides a framework for navigating mental health and self-discovery in 2025. • Dissect...

Send us Fan Mail The Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level I training is an experiential group learning process that teaches us how to identify and heal traumatized parts of ourselves and others.  In October 2023 I began this training after having recently received a prostate cancer diagnosis.  This episode begins a multi - part series in which I introduce you to fascinating healers I met during my...

Send us Fan Mail Internal Family Systems therapy (IFS) is a type of therapy that views the normal human mind as an internal family of inner conscious beings.  In this episode we unpack the key IFS concepts of 'Exiles,' 'Firefighters,' and the 'Self,' offering insights into how our childhood experiences shape our inner dynamics and how we can harmonize our mental orche...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Bliss Lewis is a child and adult psychiatrist, expert in integrative and alternative treatments, and creator of Mind Body 7, one of the most innovative and successful group psychotherapy practices in New York.  She learned natural healing approaches as a child in in Russia and Poland, then combined these interests with modern Western medical training at Harvard, Columbia and N...

Send us Fan Mail Please enjoy this guided six minute coherent breathing exercise led by Dr. RIchard Brown, co-creator of Breath Body Mind. This is a spontaneous demonstration taken out of our longer Episode 12 Interview in order for you to be able to chose the right time and place to do this exercise. For more information on Dr. Brown's approaches to breathing listen to our full lenght episod...

Send us Fan Mail For thousands of years  breathing has been used to heal trauma, optimize health, and build connection.  Dr. Richard Brown has spent his life mastering these techniques, and is also an expert in integrative psychiatry, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia.  He has co-authored over 100 scientific articles, chapters, and award winning books on applying these techniques t...

Send us Fan Mail Deb Dana is a master healer, teacher,  author, and the creator of a unique polyvagal-informed approach to therapy that is based on The Polyvagal Theory of Dr. Stephen Porges. In this episode you will learn about the neuroscience of human connection, and how our autonomic nervous system is composed of three distinct internal states that determine how we feel and how we create meani...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. April Minjarez is the only therapist I know who is both experienced at healing infant trauma and an end of life doula.  She is also an expert in multiple trauma healing modalities including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and an amazing mentor, teacher, and healer. In this episode you will hear how a terrifying experience with gangs in middle school inspir...

Send us Fan Mail When Richard Brockman was seven years old his mother died by suicide.  He went on to become an expert in trauma and suicide, and is now a Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia, Psychoanalyst, Playwright, Author and my mentor and friend.   He recently published his memoir, Life After Death: Surviving Suicide, which tells his story of loss and healing from both a first person and a ne...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I discuss how a year end review can help us prioritize and plan for the year ahead.  I review what I have learned from this podcast so far and look ahead toward upcoming episodes and topics in 2024. Produced by Dirk Winter and Violet Chernoff Theme Music by The Thrashing Skumz

Send us Fan Mail "The more efficient a force is, the more silent and the more subtle it is. Love is the subtlest force in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi (quote lifted from Bruce's bio page) How can you know what type of therapy is most likely to be helpful when the number of psychotherapies is vast and growing ?   One way is to learn from Bruce Hersey, who has 30 + years of clinical e...

Send us Fan Mail Join me as I share an audio diary of my first encounter with Ketamine, which is a legal psychedelic medication  that can treat depression, trauma and more.  Set  in the serene Menla retreat center of the Catskill Mountains, this episode describes my participation in a week-long  training program designed to teach mental health clinicians how to utilize the healing power of Ketamin...

Send us Fan Mail What would make a successful Columbia Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst fly across the country to write a story about a one-legged wrestling superstar?  What does it mean to be Neurotic, and how can we recognize and change repetitive self-defeating patterns?   In this episode we explore unconscious motivations with my friend, colleague and former supervisor, Dr. David Merrill.  Dr. M...

Send us Fan Mail Are you curious about psychedelic retreats? Join us for an insider’s perspective with Justin Townsend, CEO of MycoMeditations, the oldest and largest psilocybin mushroom therapeutic retreat center in Jamaica. We discuss the process of safety screening, and the potential of using psychedelics to overcome trauma, ease depression, and reconnect with our authentic selves.    Justin sh...