Therapist Confidential

In this Therapist Confidential short, Travis Heath tackles one of the most common—and most loaded—questions clients ask at the start of therapy: “How long is this supposed to take?” Travis breaks down the tension between brief, structured, goal-oriented therapy and longer-term work that focuses on patterns across time—attachment, relationship dynamics, meaning, and identity. He also names the forc...

In this Therapist Confidential short, Travis Heath explores a simple but often-forgotten truth: your therapist is a person. Therapists walk into sessions with moods, histories, cultural identities, blind spots, and preferences—because we’re human. The goal isn’t to erase that humanity or pretend it isn’t there. The work is noticing it, metabolizing it, and staying responsive so it doesn’t quietly...

In this Therapist Confidential short, Travis Heath takes a playful (and affectionate) look at therapist language—the phrases that show up in sessions, supervision, and training rooms so often they’ve become a dialect. From “holding space” and “what I’m hearing you say is…” to “let’s sit with that” and “where do you feel that in your body,” Travis roasts the clichés many of us rely on—himself inclu...

In this solo episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath explores the internal conversations therapists have every day—but rarely say out loud. Beneath the public image of therapy as a space of clarity, certainty, and expertise lies a quieter reality shaped by judgment, doubt, ethical tension, and very real limits. Travis reflects on uncomfortable but human thoughts therapists hold: noticing j...

Travis Heath sits down with Dr. Tammie Lee Demler—board-certified psychiatric and geriatric pharmacist—for a wide-ranging conversation on psychopharmacology, stigma, loneliness, and what clinicians often miss when they talk about “meds.” From deprescribing and the realities of polypharmacy in older adults to the ethics of access and affordability, Dr. Demler offers a grounded, collaborative perspe...

In this solo episode, Travis Heath explores the fast-moving question on every therapist’s mind: what does AI mean for psychotherapy—right now? After a surprising personal encounter with a highly realistic “client bot,” Travis unpacks why AI no longer feels like a future thought experiment, but an active force reshaping mental health care. He walks through the most compelling possibilities (access,...

In this solo episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath reflects on what it means to speak the unspeakable in therapy. Drawing from years of clinical work and recent conversations in the aftermath of a polarizing act of political violence, Travis explores how people often experience feelings they are not given permission to have—relief, anger, shame, grief, and confusion—often all at once. He...

In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath speaks with psychologist and researcher Dr. Daryl Chow about what actually makes therapists effective. Drawing from decades of research on deliberate practice and feedback-informed treatment, Daryl challenges some of psychotherapy’s most comfortable assumptions—including the idea that experience alone leads to better outcomes. Together, they...

In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath speaks with international and multilingual psychotherapist Anastasia Piatakhina Gire about therapy across borders. Based in Paris and working with clients around the world, Anastasia specializes in working with displaced, expatriate, immigrant, and highly mobile populations. Together, they explore how language, culture, power, and history sha...

In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath sits down with psychologist, writer, and longtime Psychotherapy.net interviewer Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Rubin for a wide-ranging conversation on superheroes, popular culture, and psychotherapy. Larry reflects on his own origin story, his lifelong fascination with stories and objects, and how superheroes became a powerful metaphor in his work wit...

In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath speaks with Mary Jo Barrett, a pioneering family therapist whose career spans nearly five decades of work with family violence, incest, and complex trauma. Together they explore what trauma really means, how the word has evolved culturally, and why trauma is best understood as an interruption of development rather than a single event. Mary Jo...

In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis sits down with clinical psychologist and life coach Dr. Shahrzad Jalali to explore the ideas behind her book The Fire That Makes Us: Healing Through Curiosity, Compassion, and Integration. Drawing on her own story of profound loss and a traumatic car accident, as well as years of clinical work, Dr. Jalali talks about trauma as something that lives...

In this episode, Travis sits down with social worker, researcher, and author Dr. Will Dobud to explore the “troubled teen industry” and what it reveals about how we think about kids, treatment, and risk. Drawing from his new coauthored book Kids These Days, Will talks about involuntary residential programs, the financial and systemic forces that keep them going, and how many young people experienc...

In this episode, Travis talks with psychologist Tom Medlar, who has spent 43 years providing psychotherapy in nursing homes. They explore how these settings have changed, why they’re “very lively, even though they’re often dealing with death,” and what it means to do meaningful therapy with older adults and medically complex younger adults. Filled with vivid stories and nuanced reflections on loss...

In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis speaks with Dr. Marlene Williams of Texas Woman’s University about intergenerational trauma, ancestral wisdom, and what it really means to “break the cycle.” Together they explore how trauma is transmitted through families and culture—psychologically, relationally, and even genetically—and how healing can begin by reclaiming personal and collective...

In this special Therapist Confidential Takeover, the tables turn. Guest host Lisa Forbes interviews Travis Heath about his evolving relationship with AI in therapy, why he believes contradiction is essential to being human, and how therapists can subvert psychology’s dominant logics. From graffiti as therapy to hip-hop and basketball as guiding philosophies, this conversation explores what happens...

In Part 2 of his conversation with therapist and educator Liliana Baylon, Travis Heath goes deeper into what cultural humility looks like in real clinical moments. They talk about unlearning as a playful, accountability-driven practice; how and when self-disclosure can support client safety; and why not getting ahead of the client matters when facilitating acculturation groups with youth. Liliana...

Host Travis Heath sits down with therapist, mediator, and “cultural broker” Liliana Baylon for a candid conversation about migration, trauma, and care. Liliana shares her story of coming to the U.S. at 16, “pushing through” grief and survival, and becoming the advocate her family needed. She names what migrants are carrying now — “ongoing anxiety that is coming now to panic attacks” — and why “you...

Thomas Doherty, who has been at the forefront of climate psychology, joins Travis Heath to trace an unconventional path—from wilderness therapy and Greenpeace to the APA’s first Climate Change Task Force—and to map today’s “climate elephant.” They explore eco-anxiety as feeling, diagnosis, and social phenomenon; taking news breaks; the “upside down pyramid” of stress; a shifting “horizon...

Host Travis Heath goes solo to unpack the realities of private practice—what it takes to start, sustain, and stay grounded while doing it. He shares his own story of building a practice without a website or marketing budget, explores myths about “readiness,” talks money and ethics, and wrestles with the tension between authenticity and visibility. Whether you’re just beginning or re-evaluating you...

What does it mean to center neurodivergence as identity, not pathology? In this episode, Robert Jason Grant—founder of AutPlay Therapy—shares how therapists can use neurodiversity-affirming practices to make therapy a space of inclusion and acceptance. From “all-the-time goals” like self-worth, identity awareness, autonomy, and advocacy, to building better mental health outcomes for neurodivergent...

What happens when therapy feels like it’s going nowhere? In this solo episode, Travis Heath reflects on moments of stuckness in therapy — the vulnerability of not knowing, the solidarity that comes when we name it, and why sometimes feeling lost means the real work is just beginning.  Brought to you by Psychotherapy.net, the home of timeless and   timely   conversations in mental he...

“Humans need humans. We need relationships in order for us to survive in this world.” In this episode, play therapist Clair Mellenthin shares her attachment-centered approach to play therapy that fosters child-led, systemic healing. From maximizing safety and security to reframing play as an attachment need, Mellenthin shows how change happens when parents are invited into the playroom — becoming...

“When you express yourself non-verbally, it’s really different from when you try to put something into words. And so you discover things that you couldn’t have discovered any other way.” – Judy Rubin Judy Rubin didn’t just practice art therapy — she helped shape the field. In this intimate conversation, The Art Lady reflects on her naïve beginnings as a school teacher, her transformative work with...

In this second half of an expansive conversation, Sanni Paljakka and Tom Stone Carlson return to join Travis Heath for a deeper dive into narrative therapy's evolving landscape. Together, they confront the implications of labels, the erosion of lived experience, and the role of neoliberalism in shaping modern therapy. With equal parts compassion and provocation, the trio explores what it means to...