The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

AI Ethics Codes for Therapists: What CAMFT, APA, NASW, and AAMFT Now Require How the CAMFT, APA, NASW, and AAMFT ethics codes now regulate AI in therapy: a CE podcourse on competence, informed consent, data privacy, bias, and human accountability. Curt Widhalm, LMFT, and Katie Vernoy, LMFT, walk through the recent artificial intelligence updates to the major mental health ethics codes. Centering o...

Supporting Conversion Therapy Survivors After Chiles v. Salazar: SOGIECE, Clinical Care, and Community Response - An Interview with Samuel Nieves Samuel Nieves of the Conversion Therapy Survivor Network on supporting conversion therapy survivors, recognizing SOGIECE, and clinical care after Chiles v. Salazar. Curt and Katie welcome back Samuel Nieves, a conversion therapy survivor and board member...

Should Conversion Therapy Be Protected Speech? What Chiles v. Salazar Means for Conversion Therapy Bans and the Future of the Profession In Chiles v. Salazar, the Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 that a therapist's talk therapy is protected speech, putting state conversion therapy bans at risk. Curt Widhalm, LMFT, and Katie Vernoy, LMFT break down what the March 31, 2026 decision actually says, what it...

Good Enough, Safe Enough: Affirming LGBTQ+ Clients When You're Not a Specialist Affirming LGBTQ+ clients when you are not a specialist: Curt Widhalm, LMFT, and Katie Vernoy, LMFT on being a good enough, safe enough therapist when you cannot refer out. Curt and Katie take on a question therapists often avoid: what do you do when an LGBTQ+ client needs care, you are not a specialist, and referring o...

Allyship Is Awkward: How Therapists Can Keep Showing Up Anyway What if the awkwardness of ally work is not a sign you are doing it wrong, but the actual work? Curt Widhalm, LMFT, and Katie Vernoy, LMFT explore what it looks like to do ally work as a therapist when you hold majority identities the people around you do not share. They move across three zones where this shows up: with clients in the...

The Seven Stages of Queer Love: Therapy with Queer Couples, Queer Sex, and the Developmental Model - An Interview with Tom Bruett, LMFT Tom Bruett, LMFT on the seven stages of queer relationship development, the Developmental Model, queer couples therapy, and queer sex. Curt and Katie talk with Tom Bruett, LMFT, founder of the Queer Relationship Institute, about what therapists most often get wron...

Modern Therapist's Consumer Guide: Paubox. HIPAA Compliant Email, Secure Communication, and Practice Privacy. An Interview with Hoala Greevy, Founder and CEO of Paubox Curt and Katie talk with Hoala Greevy, Founder and CEO of Paubox, about what HIPAA compliant email actually requires, where standard Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Business Associate Agreements leave gaps, and why most secure-po...

Before You Refer to the Hospital: De-Escalation, Safety Planning, and Wraparound Care for Teens in Crisis When a suicidal teen is in crisis, is the hospital really the safest call? What outpatient therapists need to know. Curt Widhalm, LMFT, leads this episode from his work running a comprehensive DBT private practice in Los Angeles that specializes in higher-acuity adolescent cases, including tee...

Inside the Troubled Teen Industry: Wilderness Therapy, Residential Treatment, and the Harm Done to Kids – An Interview with Chelsea Maldonado and Dr. Will Dobud Dr. Will Dobud and survivor advocate Chelsea Maldonado on wilderness therapy, residential treatment, institutional abuse, and what therapists need to know to support troubled teen industry survivors.  Curt and Katie talk with Dr. Will Dobu...

Why Therapists Stop Working with Kids and What It Takes to Stay: Sustainability, Boundaries, and Pivots for the Long Haul Curt Widhalm, LMFT, and Katie Vernoy, LMFT push back on the field's quiet stereotype that working with kids is the "starter home" of private practice, the place clinicians put in time before graduating to a cardigan and a wing-back chair. Working with kids and teens is not entr...

When Good Moms Feel Bad: Supporting Mothers in Therapy with IFS and the Mom Parts Method – An Interview with Jessica Tomich Sorci, LMFT Jessica Tomich Sorci, LMFT, creator of the Mom Parts Method, on IFS, maternal mental health, mom shame, and why "bad mom" parts are protectors, not problems. Curt and Katie talk with Jessica Tomich Sorci, LMFT about what therapists often miss when working with mot...

Why Fixing Teens Doesn’t Work and What Actually Helps Youth Mental Health: An Interview with Dr. Will Dobud Curt and Katie talk with Dr. Will Dobud about what therapists often get wrong when working with teens, why adolescent behavior is so often overpathologized, and how connection, play, risk, and mastery can better support youth mental health. They also explore the so-called youth mental health...

The Burden of Potential: Therapy for Gifted Adults Navigating Burnout, Identity, and 2e Considerations Gifted adults do not usually come to therapy naming giftedness as the issue. More often, they present with burnout, anxiety, depression, underperformance, identity confusion, relationship strain, or existential distress. In this continuing education episode, Katie Vernoy and Curt Widhalm explore...

How Therapists Can Help Clients With IBS, Chronic Nausea, and Gut-Brain Disorders: An Interview with Dr. Ali Navidi, PsyD Curt and Katie talk with Dr. Ali Navidi, PsyD about disorders of gut-brain interaction, including IBS, chronic nausea, and other GI conditions that therapists may see more often than they realize. They explore how the gut-brain axis works, which clients may be more likely to st...

What Therapists Need to Know About Neurodivergent Clients and Families: An Interview with David Smith, LCSW Curt and Katie talk with David Smith about neurodiversity-affirming therapy, autism, ADHD, PDA, family systems, and burnout for neurodivergent therapists. David shares both clinical expertise and lived experience as an autistic therapist, offering practical guidance for working more effectiv...

How Clients Experience Therapy: From First Inquiry to the Waiting Room: An Interview with Michael Ashford Curt and Katie talk with Michael Ashford about how clients experience therapy before the clinical work even begins. They explore what therapists can learn from customer service, communication, and marketing to create a smoother, more supportive experience from first inquiry through intake, onb...

Adapting EMDR for Neurodivergent Clients: Parts Work, Attunement, and Affirming Trauma Therapy, An Interview with Cathy Hanville and Christine MacInnis Curt and Katie talk with Cathy Hanville and Christine MacInnis about how to adapt EMDR for autistic and ADHD clients with more flexibility, safety, and affirming care. They explore why standard protocols can miss important client needs, how parts w...

When Clients Reject Your Diagnosis: How to Handle Pushback Without Losing the Therapeutic Alliance What do you do when your client doesn’t agree with your diagnosis? Whether it’s a parent resisting an autism or ADHD diagnosis, a client attached to a different label, or someone overwhelmed by what a diagnosis means for their identity, these conversations can feel high-stakes. In this episode, Curt...

The Lasting Harm of Conversion Therapy: An Interview with Samuel Nieves This interview was recorded in November 2025 in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling in Chiles v. Salazar and released afterward. Rather than focusing on the legal details of the decision, Curt and Katie talk with Samuel Nieves about the harms of conversion therapy, how change efforts can be disguised as therapy, and what...

The Private Practice Pivot: How Therapists Are Adapting to Platforms, Agency Work, and the Changing Therapy Economy Are therapists leaving private practice - or simply adapting to a changing mental health economy? Curt Widhalm, LMFT, and Katie Vernoy, LMFT discuss a growing shift across the profession as therapists pivot between private practice, agency jobs, group practices, and therapy platforms...

Is Independent Private Practice Sustainable? Data on Caseloads, Insurance & Income Is independent private practice still financially sustainable? Curt and Katie sit down with Lindsay Oberleitner, PhD, Director of Clinical Strategy at SimplePractice, to examine national data on caseload trends, insurance participation, income realities, and therapist burnout. Drawing from Lindsay's research at Simp...

Why You’re Exhausted in Private Practice: The Hidden Work Behind the Client Hour Exhausted in private practice - even with a “manageable” caseload? Seeing 20-25 clients a week does not mean you’re working 20-25 hours. Every client hour includes hidden administrative work, financial decisions, emotional labor, and CEO-level responsibility. In this host-led episode, Curt and Katie break down why pri...

Burnout Recovery in a Failing System – An Interview with Shaina Siber, LCSW Therapists are navigating hiring freezes, wage stagnation, insurance instability, identity-level threats, and mounting systemic uncertainty — all while supporting clients experiencing the same instability. What happens when burnout isn’t just about workload, but about working inside a system that feels like it’s failing? C...

Should Texas Therapists Stop Treating Kids? Texas SB14, Gender-Affirming Care, and the Risks for Therapists In this episode of the Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy discuss a new interpretation of Texas SB14 that may place therapists at risk for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth. They explore how a recent opinion from the Texas Attorney General could bro...

The Licensing Racket: Therapist Licensing, Discipline, and Access to Care – An Interview with Rebecca Haw Allensworth Who does licensing protect - the public or the profession? Curt and Katie talk with Rebecca Haw Allensworth, law professor and author of The Licensing Racket, about how professional licensing boards actually function, and what that means for therapists, discipline, and access to ca...