the Informed Simplicity podcast

"Most online schools, that are accredited, have a thousand people in their master's program getting online degrees, and so to then say that we don't do online therapy is kind of ludacris. And we don't teach how to do online therapy well, that's kinda ludacris as well." Adam Mathews was my first supervisor. As I was grinding away as an In-Home therapist I watched him transition smoothly from the wo...

 "It's not that we're doing nothing. It's that a lot of the things we're focusing on {don't} seem to map to outcomes." After talking with Alex I got the sense that if we weren't divided by an ocean we'd be good friends. Living in Lisbon, Portugal he does a little of everything, teaching, research, practice, etc. He first appeared on my radar after I stumbled upon his amazing youtube series for the...

"I'm not interested in psychotherapy as an enterprise. I'm interested in doing whatever it takes to engage people in helping people help themselves to lead healthier, more functional, happier lives."   Scott Miller is easily one of the most important and most underrated psychologist of our time. Listen to him speak for just a few minutes and it's clear why. He has a master of the research that is...

"How can we educate anybody when they have so much more going on outside of these 6.5 - 7 seven hours of school?" Denise Walker is one of the few therapist I've seen work. Her ability to connect with teenagers is something to behold. Because of this unique ability, and because of her years of experience working in client's homes, I decided to reach out to her. As you listen, pay special attention...

"That's all I'm trying to do in therapy, I'm trying to get the patient to teach me how he does things well, [rather] than me to teach him what his mistakes are." Eric Greenleaf, has plenty of awards. He's a Ph. D, the director of MHEIBA,  editor for the Erickson Foundation Newsletter, and first recipient of the Milton H. Erickson Award of Scientific Excellence for Writing in Hypnosis. However, in...

"[I call polyvagal theory] the science of feeling safe enough to fall in love with life and take the risk of living." I can't talk about therapy without talking about how important safety is. And I can't talk about safety without talking about polyvagal theory. And I can't talk about polyvagal theory without talking about two names, and one of those is Deb Dana. While others have outlined the step...

"Usually with trance you think close your eyes and go away. And that's a good thing to be able to do but I think we always should regard it as a special case. Really what people are needing is how to connect with others and how to participate in life in the present moment with all of who they are." Before there were therapist there were priest, mystics, magi and the like. Stephen Gilligan is a thr...

"The question I had was, well I could teach people how to cope better, I could teach people how to manage that arousal better, but could I actually turn down that arousal so they weren't having to deal with so damn much." Laurence Hirshberg is a brainach. You'll get two minutes into this conversation and his intelligence will simply smack you in the face. I love that. I love brilliant people. But...

  {No one is successful by themselves.} It takes a village. And I found my village and I'm super grateful because possibly the 100,000 people we've helped on the facebook group, that would have never have happened if it was just me. 2930 When I learned I was having a child one of my biggest fears was, "How am I going to handle everything when I'm exhausted?" Then, by chance, a friend recommended A...

If we had a new antidepressant that resulted in a 1/3 remission in just 12 weeks, with no side effects, except having more energy, sleeping better, having better bowel functions etcetera, it would be on the cover of Time magazine. But nobody knows about the nutrition research because the media won't cover it.  Bonnie Kaplan is a radical. She's a maverick who holds one of the best kept secrets in m...

"If you want to have a lot of clients you've got to make yourself a brand." We live in a world where therapists are expected to do more than merely see clients. We now must become a personal brand. Who better to learn from then the people are have mastered personal branding: Influencers.  In this episode Ryan and I sat down with influencer and therapy client, Kathryn Sneed. As a therapy client and...

"There's more than enough to go around. If you trust in that flow ... if you have an open hand, things can flow into that hand and things flow out of it. But if it's closed it's hard to flow in and it's hard to flow out." After talking with Noelle I came away inspired by her clarity and vision. She's committed to providing therapy in a way that's affordable to her clients as well as creating a bus...

 One of the things that’s important to remember is knowledge is not enough for people to change. Along the path of life we occasionally bump into exemplars- persons seen from a distance who inspire us by showing us what’s possible. For me, Dr Angela Bethea-Walsh is one of those persons; a highly skilled person of color with a full and diverse career. Because of that, my interview with her was prof...

“Our society does not respect attachment relationships that are neither family nor sexual and I think that’s a fundamental weakness and something that runs counter to what we know about ourselves as a species.” Lisa Diamond is one of the top researchers in the world on sexual fluidity, the capacity for a person’s sexual orientation to change over time. Talking with her was an acid trip. Every othe...

“When you watch your own tapes you’ve got to be so careful to not look for all your mistakes … how we learn is yeah, notice something you may have missed, but also make sure you catch the things you did right. ” Karyn Bristol For this episode I finally got to sit down and talk with Karyn Bristol. Besides being  one of the top EFT bloggers,  she’s also an EFT supervisor and founding member of the N...

My first guest on the podcast, and little-known wonder, was Katie Gudde. Practicing in the small (but growing) area of Northwest Arkansas, Katie Gudde is, in my humble opinion, one of those hidden Supershrinks, a wonder therapist who has grown her skills through practice and dedication and regularly helps people that stump other therapists. In this episode we talk about: Feeling like a failure and...

I stumbled upon Wesley Little’s blog  Becoming A Couples Therapist  a few months ago and was dumbstruck. Here was someone who spoke with both passion and precision about couples therapy. Not only was her blog offering specific, actionable steps in helping therapists work with couples, she also spoke with a simplicity that revealed a deep heart for couples in pain. Becoming a Therapist has been my...

Drs. Kershaw and Wade are, in my my opinion, pioneers of the field. Their approach to therapy which combines neurofeedback and hypnosis puts them on the forefront of innovative change work.  In this episode we talk about : How they taught me to ask the miracle question Jaak Pansepp’s emotional states The hidden common factor in therapy Alpha/Theta training and it’s connection to hypnosis How to kn...

Ryan and I recently had the pleasure of interviewing  Douglas Flemons . A wonderful therapist and a personal mentor we’ve been talking about hypnosis and change for some time now. A brief therapist in practice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Douglas specializes in hypnosis, sex, and suicide. In this episode  we talk about: How his approach is a mix of Gregory Bateson’s theory of mind and Daoism Why h...

“Neuroplasticity, which we talk a lot about, is in the frequency domain of the brain. We know it’s not in the chemical because we provide chemicals and they don’t create brain change. They create sedation.” My talk with Sebern Fisher  was phenomenal! What impressed me the most was her honesty. In her book and in the interview she was remarkably candid about her failure to help the most troubled of...