Needed to Hear That!

This week, Chaz and Chris start with Blues hockey, childhood memories, and parenting before stumbling into one of their most meaningful conversations yet. They explore the stories we tell ourselves, why comparison steals so much joy, and how the way we speak to ourselves often becomes the loudest voice in the room. From Charlie's love of video games to the curiosity we lose as adults, the disc...

In this episode of Needed to Hear That , Chris and Chaz unpack the ways comparison quietly shapes our lives—from social media and money to parenting, relationships, careers, and self-worth. Why do we assume everyone else has it figured out? Why do we look at other people's highlight reels and conclude we're somehow falling behind? The conversation explores how comparison can leave us feeli...

On this episode of Needed To Hear That , Chaz and Chris explore a question that sits at the heart of healing, recovery, faith, and human connection: What makes people feel safe enough to be vulnerable? Fresh off a trip to Denver, Chaz reflects on visiting a recovery community that helped shape the vision for Underground and sparked a conversation about consistency, belonging, and why some spaces i...

On this episode of Needed To Hear That , Chaz and Chris tackle a question that seems simple on the surface but gets more complicated the longer you sit with it: How do you know when you're doing too much? The conversation explores the tension between ambition and burnout, service and self-neglect, and why so many people feel simultaneously overwhelmed and convinced they aren't doing enough...

On this episode of Needed To Hear That, Chaz and Chris are joined by therapist, educator, and Learn to Live founder Matt Bauersachs for a conversation about mentorship, purpose, therapy, recovery, and the people who shape who we become. The conversation starts as a discussion about social work school and professional development and quickly turns into a deeper exploration of what it means to truly...

On this episode of Needed To Hear That, Chaz and Chris dive into grief, mortality, resilience, and the uncomfortable reality that literally anything can happen at any time. The conversation starts with the sudden death of NASCAR star Kyle Busch and evolves into something deeper: how humans try to make sense of tragedy, why sudden loss feels so destabilizing, and what happens when grief collides wi...

On this episode of Needed To Hear That, Chaz and Chris dive into the fear, guilt, and shame that can come with “starting over.” What begins as a conversation about meditation and mindfulness slowly unfolds into something much deeper — why people struggle to return to the things that once helped them feel whole. Using the concept of the “abstinence violation effect,” the conversation explores the a...

This week on Needed To Hear That, the conversation starts with wrestling conventions, anime communities, Buff Bagwell’s amputated leg, and Mick Foley nostalgia… before slowly unfolding into something much deeper: why so many of us feel stuck. Chris and Chaz unpack the pressure to constantly improve, achieve, evolve, and “figure it out” — and how comparison quietly steals our ability to recognize g...

On this episode of Needed To Hear That, Chaz and Chris start off talking about surviving a “bachelor week,” hockey goalies, meditation groups, and the chaos of bouncing between golf tournaments, OTB's, trivia nights. They eventually land in a much deeper conversation about codependency, boundaries, and why so many people struggle to let other people own their own emotions. They unpack what cod...

Title:What Actually Recharges You? Show Notes:On this episode of Needed to Hear That, Chaz and Pondoff start off dodging storms and talking about hail damage—but quickly land somewhere deeper: burnout, compassion fatigue, and the quiet question a lot of people don’t know how to answer...what actually helps you feel like yourself again? They unpack the difference between real self-care and the wate...

Today on Needed to Hear That, Chris and Chaz talk about spirituality, recovery, humility, and the parts of healing that can feel genuinely terrifying. After a trip to Asheville for the Addiction Professionals of North Carolina conference, the conversation moves from treatment work and the helpers who keep showing up, to the danger of building our own beliefs by tearing someone else’s down. They ta...

In this episode of Needed to Hear That, Chaz and Pondoff get into what it really means to take young people seriously. The conversation starts with trauma, recovery, and the power of hope, then moves into the emotional world of adolescents, where heartbreak, rejection, friendship, identity, and social pressure can feel absolutely massive...because to them, they are. Instead of brushing that off as...

In this episode, Chris and Chaz start with the very real aftermath of Chaz and Holly’s car accident, then turn that moment into something bigger: a conversation about why stories matter. They talk about family stories, the people who make us feel seen, the way self-compassion can change the stories we tell about ourselves, and why testimony, spirituality, and recovery all depend on honest human co...

Some commitments are loud, but the ones that change us most are often quiet. In this conversation, Chaz and Chris reflect on sobriety, grace, and the small daily choices that keep us pointed toward the life we want to live. What unfolds is a grounded look at how real change happens—not through perfection or speed, but through ordinary acts of returning, again and again, to what matters most. They...

In this episode of Needed to Hear That, Chaz and Chris get into a heavy but deeply helpful conversation about parenting fears, attachment, shame, secrecy, vulnerability, and the kind of consistency people need in order to feel safe. They start with the fear that can come with loving a child in a world where addiction and mental health struggles are real, and talk about what it means to be a steady...

In this episode of Needed to Hear That, Chris and Chaz talk about what therapy actually looks like, especially for people who have thought about reaching out but still feel unsure, intimidated, or not “bad enough” to ask for help. They get into why asking for help can feel so hard, what a healthy therapy process can look like, and how the right therapist helps you move carefully, not forcefully. C...

In this episode of Needed to Hear That , Chris Pondoff and Chaz Franke take a thoughtful, honest look at loneliness, not just as being alone, but as the painful feeling of being unseen, misunderstood, unrelatable, or cut off from real belonging. Chris and Chaz explore the courage it takes to stay open after being hurt, why belonging matters so deeply, and how safety in relationships can help peopl...

Grief Isn’t Linear: Ambiguous Loss, Overdose Stigma, and the Power of Small Steps Grief has a way of showing up everywhere—after a death, a breakup, a diagnosis, a job change, even in the quiet after a life you thought would look different. In this episode, Chaz and Chris sit with the reality that loss is woven into the human experience, and that so much of healing is learning to stop rushing the...

Shame, Grace & the Healing Power of Being Truly Heard | Authenticity, 12 Steps & Therapy There’s a quiet but powerful shift that happens when we move from shame to grace. In this episode, we unpack the difference between guilt and shame, why behavior change built on criticism rarely lasts, and how grace creates the safety necessary for real transformation. From body image and self-percepti...

Reckless Generosity, Grief, and the People Who Hold Us When We Fall Sponsored by McKelvey Insurance https://www.mckelveyins.com LightSource Psychotherapy https://findyourlightsource.com Episode Description What does it really mean to be generous without losing yourself in the process? In this episode, Chaz and Pondoff talk about reckless generosity, grief, vulnerability, mentorship, and the people...

Needed to Hear That — Episode 2: Change Is Hard Because It’s Human Hosted by Chaz Franke & Chris Pondoff In Episode 2 of Needed to Hear That , Chaz Franke and Chris Pondoff sit with one of the most universal—and uncomfortable—realities of being human: change . From addiction and recovery to mental health, relationships, careers, and grief, this conversation explores why change is so hard, why...

In this first episode of Needed to Hear That , Chaz Franke and Chris Pondoff introduce a new kind of conversation. Less about dramatic turning points, more about what it actually means to be human… grief, connection, therapy, and the quiet work of healing that happens in between the big moments. This show is a space to slow down, reflect, and talk honestly about the things most of us carry but don...