The Whole Therapist

Are you listening to your body? Do you know when you need rest? What narratives are you holding about who you are or your worth when you rest? Abby and Kellee explore the lack of internalization that many of us have around rest.  Topics Touched on: Coffee and Chat: Friend or Foe? Exploring Our Own Attachment Sh*t In The Therapy room: https://wholetherapistinstitute.com/store/  Follow us: https://w...

We only exist and have a beginning because of cooperation. Abby and Kellee reflect on the readings, podcasts, and trainings they have done over the last year and how they all discuss survival being dependent on cooperation. They stress the importance of creating community in our field, and how we each must surround ourselves with support as we support others. Topics Touched on: Suzanne Simard: htt...

How do we maintain connection even in the midst of being fired? Abby and Kellee spend time talking about how important it is to become even more relational when we therapists are in the midst of being fired. They explore the many ways therapists can spiral into negative self-talk and shame when they are fired by a client. Self-reflection is brought in, and they talk about our therapist part, our h...

“My client said they wanted to do deep trauma work, and then they never returned.” Does this sound like an experience you’ve had? Abby and Kellee discuss modalities and interventions like: EMDR, parts work, expressive therapies, etc. and how to use these to titrate work with clients who want to process trauma. Even when clients push for fast and intense work Abby and Kellee discuss therapists’ res...

Abby and Kellee have the pleasure of interviewing Bridgette Black, licensed esthetician, and celebrity/professional makeup artist. Listeners will feel the authenticity and warmth come through their speakers in this episode with Bridgette as she explores many of the layers that come with being an entrepreneur. While Bridgette does not identify as a healer or therapist it is clear in this episode, s...

Are you an in-home therapist, school-based therapist, a therapist in a correctional facility, or a therapist with your own office space? Abby and Kellee attempt to explore all the spaces a therapist practices in, and then discuss how the energy you bring into this space impacts clients. They discuss things from coffee mugs to couches that are brought into our work with clients, and how these objec...

What percentage do you think you are talking in sessions with clients? Abby and Kellee explore how important and needed silence is for our clients. Abby and Kellee touch on the difference between being silent and present versus being silent and disconnected. They also give tips to help therapists practice using silence in sessions as well as phrases to use with clients so clients don’t feel droppe...

Topics Touched on: Abby and Kellee touch on reflective functioning and why this is so important for us to assess and support our clients around, but also why it is imperative for us as therapists to have the capacity to do so as well. They share two reflective functioning interventions during the episode, and how and why to utilize it with clients. Abby and Kellee discuss therapists not being able...

Abby and Kellee explore how they have each evolved and transitioned between theoretical orientations. They discuss how shame can show up when we find a new orientation that brings deeper healing than we have previously provided. Abby and Kellee use IPNB to bring in compassion as they normalize this experience around growing up the field. They conclude that no matter the orientation you use as long...

Abby and Kellee explore relationships in the therapy room, drawing inspiration from an unlikely pair in the documentary "My Octopus Teacher". They use the film to reflect on the many parallels of the client-therapist relationship: the struggle with our own agenda, when to take charge, when to sit back, how we all truly have everything within us to heal, and most importantly, how relation...

When tragedy strikes in a therapist’s own community the ability to be present and hold space for others is an understandable challenge. Abby and Kellee explore their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences related to the recent tragedy in their community at the Boulder King Soopers Grocery Store. They highlight that safety can feel lost with each mass shooting, and explore how to find safety again...

How does holding onto the concept of BOTH/AND help us during this global pandemic? For many therapists their caseloads are overflowing as the mental health crisis in the United States unfolds. With overflowing caseloads brings: abundance AND loss, privilege AND exclusion, Resources AND Scarcity. Abby and Kellee explore the many areas of where BOTH/AND show up in the therapist work. If our psycholo...

We hold stories of goodbyes long before we are Earth-side. Goodbyes are very much a part of the therapeutic relationship. Abby and Kellee touch on how goodbyes show up in the therapy space and how goodbyes have shown up in their personal lives. If our bodies hold stories from long ago around goodbyes, are we aware of how these stories are carried into our therapeutic work with clients? Abby and Ke...

Abby and Kellee introduce their first guest of the podcast! Norina Asante who is a first-generation Ghanaian-American. Norina gives the listener(s) her lived experience around being a therapist of color in the mental health field, particularly during 2020, and also shares some more personal stories around being a woman of color. Norina describes for the listener(s) what support has been most heali...

Abby and Kellee are back for season 2! There is a bit of a reunion feel to this first episode of season 2. Abby and Kellee fill in the gaps of what they have been up to since taking a break after season 1. They start touching on the topic of transitions and explore this idea that we cannot return to “what was;” We transform in transitions.  Topics Touched on: Michael Hamm: https://www.integrativeb...

Kellee and Abby come back for an encore in Season 1! They explore the layers of the upcoming holidays, winter moving in, and the pandemic worsening. In this episode they are curious about the mystical powers the cold may have, the need for preparation in a winter season, and the life that is actually present when something appears dead. Stay tuned for the end of this episode as there are some spec...

Abby and Kellee take listeners on an exciting scientific journey exploring the idea that are genes are not stagnant and unchanging. They spend time helping the listener understand what a gene is, and how epigenetics is related to our genes. They explore conditions that are created in the environment that lead our genes to be expressed or not expressed like: mental health, obesity. physical ailment...

Under healthy conditions implicit and explicit memory are happening at the same time. Abby and Kellee define these terms and identify where these types of memory live within the brain. Several examples are given about each type of memory, and how trauma can impact our implicit and explicit memory.  Topics Touched On: Dr. Dan Siegel -  https://www.attachment-and-trauma-treatment-centre-for-healing....

Abby and Kellee explore the struggle of holding space for clients while being sure to hold space for ourselves outside the therapy room. How do we come home at the end of the day and still be able to show up for ourselves and our families? During a time when many therapists are holding higher caseloads and holding higher stress in their own lives Abby and Kellee offer strategies and ideas to use i...

Abby and Kellee start by briefly summarizing The Power of Discord and discuss how this book inspired them to put out this episode around meaning making. Abby and Kellee explore how meaning making is intertwined in all we do and marvel at meaning making beginning at a molecular level. They use this episode to share more vulnerable parts of themselves to help the listener connect to this idea of mea...

We are 7 days from Election Day! In this two part episode series Abby and Kellee move right into where they left off from Part 1 of Political Stress in Therapy Room. Coming from a nervous system perspective Abby and Kellee further explore why naming political stress out loud in the therapy room helps create safety, gives opportunity for rupture, and ultimately bringing repair and thus a deeper con...

Election day is just 2 WEEKS away! Clients, therapists, and humans collectively are ALL feeling it. Join Abby and Kellee as they discuss political stress: what it is, why we in the field need to care, and how our responses to election-induced stress and political attitudes influence the nervous system. Topics Touched on: Dr Dan Siegel re: River of Mental Wellness: https://www.drdansiegel.com/ Dr S...

Is awkwardness actually just another level of vulnerability with your client? If you can get past it have entered into another level of relationship?  Abby and Kellee explore the feeling of being awkward, and get curious about when it happens. Is it happening in relationship with another? They discuss dancing with clients in the awkwardness, and wondering out loud about this feeling being connecte...

How do we use our breath to create a narrative in our body to let us know we are safe and in turn offer our clients a feeling of safety? Abby and Kellee explore the experience of breathing with a mask on while doing therapy. They become curious about the messages mouth-breathing sends to our bodies, and why our body may be in a state of activation because of this. Abby and Kellee touch on how this...

Abby and Kellee start exploring the healing powers of EMDR. Is it the bilateral stimulation that creates healing? They move to talking about other approaches like Emotion Focused Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Where does healing begin with these approaches. How do we begin creating healing when we’ve just learned these standardized approaches and struggle to stay authentic and present d...