Grab your fave beverage because my guest Courtney Wells, PhD, and I are about to spill the kombucha on taking down the patriarchy.  Courtney is many things, including a licensed clinical psychologist and executive director at Pivot Psychological Services in Chicago, and tamer of two Pekinese. Additionally, they’re simply an amazing human with profound insights into dismantling the systemic oppression that leads to self-doubt and wayward searches for validation. Courtney’s path towards genuine self-expression informs their approach to trauma work offers a model for societal healing as well as the creation of non-hierarchical, inclusive systems in therapy and beyond.  Courtney ascribes to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT. “Destroying the patriarchy is part of ACT therapy where you take on the patriarchy, and then you destroy it,” Courtney laughs. Tongue-in-cheek aside, they credit ACT with undermining establishment principles like grind culture or the “right way” of doing and being. The right way of white supremacy, they point out, “is generally where somebody else benefits from all of your work. You get a little bit, but somebody else benefits greatly from all that you do.”  Courtney says that patriarchal forces crush our will under fear of retribution and ostracization, pushing us to favor avoidance at all costs to keep the gears running full steam ahead. ACT can be complicated and requires commitment (as its name implies). The model is “about staying in it with someone long enough to also see what the feeling is that’s there or what the internal experience is that’s there.” Regardless of model, healing is an evolutionary process, and the more expansive our collective recovery, the stronger our resistance to patriarchal influences. GUEST BIO Dr. Courtney Wells received their BS in Psychology at John Carroll University, their MA in Community Counseling at John Carroll University, and their PhD in Counseling Psychology at Texas Woman’s University. They completed their predoctoral internship at the Dallas Veteran’s Affairs and their postdoctoral fellowship at the Jesse Brown Veteran’s Affairs, specializing in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, chronic pain, and substance use. Courtney was also the creator and Director of the Trauma Program at one of the largest Partial Hospitalization and Outpatient Programs in Chicago. Courtney is a prolific reader of mystery novels and a tamer of two Pekingese. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

Conversations with a Wounded Healer

173 - Courtney Wells - Destroying the Patriarchy and Non-Hierarchical Trauma Healing

Sarah Santacroce isn’t a therapist. She’s an author, podcaster, and successful marketing specialist who helps folks heal from the hustle and still earn a decent living. Through her humane-focused approach, she’s created a global movement that encourages people to bring more empathy and kindness to business and marketing.  Sarah knows what she’s talking about because she, too, used all the same stale sales and social strategies––and burned out of her thriving, high-stress marketing job. She’s since reevaluated her definition of success and challenged the popular seven Ps of marketing model. Sarah traded its static circles and created a more integrated and intuitive mandala version. If you think that marketing isn’t my usual line of chat, you’re right but also…the personal and professional are always connected. What could be more genuinely healing to our global psyche than a rebuke of the push! grow! results! mentality that capitalism has heaped on generations of would-be humane business owners and freelancers? Sarah’s approach gives us the permission to market differently. But, experience has taught her that the answers her clients seek can’t come from the same step-by-step formats that marketeers peddle. “For a lot of clients, it actually comes back to doing the groundwork,” she says.  Sounds a lot like therapy. And, as with therapy, truly authentic marketing can only come about when we commit to doing our own work.  GUEST BIO Sarah Santacroce - Over a decade of running a successful LinkedIn Consulting business inspired a yearning in Sarah to create a global movement that encourages people to bring more empathy and kindness to business & marketing. As a ‘Hippie turned Business Coach’, Sarah has written two books, hosts the Humane Marketing podcast and works with heart-centered entrepreneurs to question their assumptions when it comes to marketing & give them permission to market their business their way, the gentle way! Sarah shares a fresh perspective and doesn’t shy away from calling things out that no longer work for many of us when it comes to the current marketing model. Her clients sometimes refer to her as ‘the female Seth Godin’. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

172 - Sarah Santacroce - Humane Marketing

Emily Morris is my friend, fellow NARM practitioner, and colleague in the therapy world. For anyone who’s deep into that gray area of life––that nagging “middling” feeling of half-living, the push/pull of a sham existence––this story of sobriety and identity will resonate with you. Her trajectory from weekend partier to sober-curious to four years sober affirms that life needn’t fall apart in spectacular fashion before someone ditches alcohol for good. Getting sober often prompts other life changes. For Emily, that meant giving up weed and pursuing NARM therapy for her own healing. The process brought Emily back to her body to the point that she was fully able to realize her lifetime of compulsory heterosexuality, the disconnect she unconsciously engaged in by denying the vital, fundamental parts of herself to the point that she didn't even know she was gay! Since coming out, Emily has broken off a hetero engagement, moved to Nashville with a woman, broken off that relationship, and learned to set boundaries with family members who struggle with the positive growth she’s enjoying. Emily’s well and truly left the middling ground in favor of a full-on, high-level expression of her most sacred self.   GUEST BIO Emily Morris is a licensed therapist and mental health coach based in Nashville, TN. Emily specializes in complex trauma, relationship issues, addiction recovery, and anxiety. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

171 - Emily Morris - Recovery, Sobriety, Sexuality, and Developmental Trauma

Do you ever meet someone whose spirit surrounds your own with warmth and light and knowing? Yeah...Ebony Rutko is that spirit in human form. A clinical social worker with her practice in Canada, Ebony applies her advanced clinical training in NeuroAffective Relational Model™ (NARM) to help adults address issues with attachment, relational and developmental traumas.  If you’re new around here and have no idea what NARM is, Ebony’s heart-centered introduction to the model provides some high-vibe insight. If you’re a fan from way back, you know I love talking all things NARM. Ebony’s ongoing exploration of healing herself using NARM is a reminder that when we as therapists do our internal work, we build foundations strong enough to provide support for others. Ebony delivers straightforward observations about our search for connection and our desire to let go of the protective strategies that no longer serve us. We get in deep for a pithy episode: NARM, psychedelics, expansive universal truths. If you’re at all curious about post-traumatic healing, unconditional love, or using ayahuasca/plant medicines in supportive practice, there’s some beautiful abundance here, as Ebony likes to say, about the sacred processes we engage with to heal ourselves and help our clients. GUEST BIO Ebony Rutko is a white, queer, cis-female clinical social worker located in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. She owns a private practice and provides in-person and remote therapy to adults using the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM). Ebony believes in the power of connection, and that true healing happens as we cultivate a greater capacity to hold ourselves with presence and curiosity.  For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast   HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

170 - Ebony Rutko - Presence, Listening and Deep Curiosity Using NARM For Yourself and Clients

Spoiler Alert: The Cranky Therapist is not at all cranky. At least, this is the conclusion I came to after our chat. Instead, Jess Sprengle, the meme queen behind a catchy social persona, manages her private practice as well as her popular profiles and keeps herself grounded, in part, because she does her own work.  It’s important to highlight for folks that as therapists, we get something out of the therapy and that's part of what motivates us to choose this profession. That said, there’s an opposite side of the coin: workaholism.  While empathy is critical in what we do, we can push that resource to its limits, adding more clients to our roster when we just don’t have the time, space, or capacity to do so. Jess credits social media, specifically her IG and TikTok accounts, for providing a new outlet through which she can bond. Yes, followers can and do base assumptions about Jess’ private life/profession/looks, you name it. She appreciates the privilege of her visibility while also admitting that those assumptions hurt. That’s where the lessons she’s learned from her own healing journey keep her from spiraling. “I didn't create the account to have followers. I created the account because I wanted to do something particular, which I do feel like I'm doing.”  GUEST BIO Jess Sprengle owns and operates a private practice in Austin, TX specializing in the care and treatment of adolescents, young adults, adults, and families impacted by eating disorders, disordered eating, body image disturbances, and adjacent issues. She is a champion of freedom, justice, and liberation for all people and all bodies and practices from an intersectional, social justice-aligned lens. Jess considers herself to be a “radically genuine” therapist and seeks to embody authenticity and “humanness” with clients. She brings this to the social media world through her instagram account, @thecrankytherapist, and Twitter, @JessSprengleLPC. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

169 - Jess Sprengle - The Cranky Therapist on Social Media, Workaholism, and Recovery

Melody Li has built a practice around getting smashy--and I am here for it! This Hong Kong-born, diasporic settler is a queer therapist of Color, mental health liberation activist, and all around badass. Their work focuses on liberating communities long neglected or, worse, harmed outright by whiteness in therapeutic spaces. What I find so magical about Melody is that they knew what they wanted but couldn’t find it in the current therapeutic structure so they created it themself. For the community, by the community. Boom. Melody, lays the groundwork for our exploration of decolonization, internalized biases, and land-back movements. If you’re new to any of these topics (even if you’re not), Melody’s personal and professional insights will guide your continued un-doctrination. This conversation is wall-to-wall mic drop moments, y’all, as well as an unveiling of Melody’s latest initiative. If you’re anything like me (which, duh, you’re listening so of course we’re like-minds), you’ll walk away from this convo inspired af, wondering why we’re still applying words like “history” across all narratives, and ready to get smashy within your own limiting environments. GUEST CONTACT INFO & BIO Melody Li is a colony-born migrant and diasporic settler on Turtle Island. They are a queer therapist of Color, mental health liberation activist and keynote speaker. They founded Inclusive Therapists: a mental health directory and community that celebrates and centers people with marginalized identities (especially QTBIPOC). Melody offers collective care and education focusing on decolonizing mental health and healing racialized trauma. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

168 - Melody Li - Inclusive Therapists, Decolonization, Internalized Biases, and Land-Back Movements

Cédric Lebigre, an NLP practitioner, hypnotist, and musician living and working in France, scores his truth bombs with beats. If you’re binaural beat curious, fascinated by music and science, or want to cultivate a better understanding of what Shamanism is (and isn’t), welcome to a conversation with its own soundtrack. I’ve been listening to Cédric’s work via Insight Timer for a while now. There’s a science as to why this “brainwave entertainment” makes my mind happy: it’s feel-good music, elevated. He employs specific structures in his compositions, creating patterns that allow listeners to settle in deep enough that they experience a trance-like state (been there!). Binaural beats are potent allies in reducing gamma waves (faster) and increasing alpha waves (slower), but you don’t have to geek out on the science behind the sounds to benefit. Some of Cédric’s music has a Shamanistic quality (think rhythmic drumming) thanks to his training in that sacred space. He’s quick to rebuff anyone who burdens him with that title, or that of a healer. The language and cultural differences of being French add an interesting dimension to the healer/wounded healer questions. No spoilers! Instead, I’ll say that, ultimately, we heal ourselves; It's not about what is done to us. That's a significant shift within me lately, recognizing that nothing outside of me will do the work; I have to do it internally. Of course, a binaural beat soundtrack helps make lighter work of all that healing. EXCLUSIVE OFFER Like what you hear? CWH listeners get 30% off the purchase of Cedric’s music on Bandcamp with code headheart2021. GUEST CONTACT BIO Cédric Lebigre is an NLP practitioner, hypnotist, and founder of Alpha8Origin. Initially trained as an engineer, Cédric has been working for 10 years in different companies before an unexpected encounter with an urban shaman. After this life-changing episode he developed a passion for consciousness’ explorations and words’ magic. Fascinated by sounds since childhood he decided to merge these practices by creating mind-altering music, specifically designed to enhance meditative experiences and assist human beings in their own evolution.  For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

167 - Cédric Lebigre - From Shamanic Experience to Hypnosis, NLP, and Binaural Beats

Grief, especially for those experiencing the death of a parent who may have neglected, abused, ignored, or invalidated them, is complex and contradictory. Margo Jacquot, PsyD, agrees. We flip the script on standard responses to loss, explore the gifts and grind associated with addressing our wounds as therapists and discover a mutual fascination for a particular taxicab medium. For those whose childhoods were marked by difficult dynamics or unsafe experiences, there’s a lot to unpack after the death of that parent. Emotions like anger, rage, and relief are as valid (if not more so) than the tidier, expected responses like grief and sadness.  Healing early developmental wounds is a lifelong process. As a child, Margo’s misattunement expressed itself physically in the form of stomach cramps. Her mother sent her to a therapist and those three sessions, brief as they were, changed the course of Margo’s life. Today, she provides others with the same opportunity to feel heard and safely explore resolutions to their challenges. GUEST BIO Dr. Margo Jacquot is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. She is a national lecturer on trauma recovery, behavioral issues, LGBTQ issues, and working with couples. Dr. Jacquot is the founder and Chief Care Officer of The Juniper Center, one of the largest woman-owned counseling and therapy practices across Chicagoland, with over 40 clinicians at 5 locations and via telehealth. Margo also has a new Podcast - Mental Health Business Mentor. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

166 - Dr. Margo Jacquot - Healing Childhood Misattunement and the Complexity of Grieving a Parent’s Death

What happens when two ENFJs come together for a light chat? An illuminating conversation about a life lived in the margins, creating spaces for genuine bodily autonomy, and engaging in revolutionary acts within the confines of the current therapeutic system.  Rahim Thawer, MSW RSW, is a queer Muslim social worker, psychotherapist, consultant, clinical supervisor, sessional lecturer and writer living, working, and organizing in Canada. He’s especially interested in supporting communities or agencies that serve LGBTQ folks and people affected by HIV, groups that often overlap with newcomers to Canada.  Rahim is a natural at welcoming others and appreciating the right everyone has to express their individuality. Much of Rahim’s work, whether that’s in session with clients or alone at his laptop, working on multiple books simultaneously, is dedicated to exploring and centering experiences currently deemed outside the norm.  His desire to lend language to support those experiences extends beyond LGBTQIA+ issues to the complexities surrounding suicidality as it relates to chronic or terminal illness, to people's needs, and how to center their decision-making power around their bodies and their fate. His insight reminds me that if we were all to tune into these frequencies for ourselves - specifically instances where we might have considered suicide - we would be able to hold so much more space for others.  GUEST BIO Rahim Thawer MSW, RSW is a queer Muslim social worker, psychotherapist, consultant, clinical supervisor, sessional lecturer and writer. He is interested in the intersection of mental health and systemic oppression as well as innovation in queer men's relationships. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

165 - Rahim Thawer - Affirming Marginal Experiences and Advocating From Within the System

"Trauma" exists in many forms. Sara Moskowitz, LCSW, SEP, can trace some of her wounding back generations through the Jewish experience. Beyond that, much of the ongoing personal healing to which she's committed stems from a thoroughly modern - and complex - family dynamic. Donor-conceived humans - those individuals conceived using a third party to supply the sperm, egg (or combination), or embryo - often have additional existential baggage to unpack, especially if the donor in question is anonymous. Sara experienced a lifetime of unsubstantiated inklings that something was amiss. She didn't uncover the truth until her late 20s. Sara's story is an excellent example of failure in the environment, not a failure in the parent. Her journey also speaks to the importance of therapists doing the work on themselves. That's something of a manifesto around here. How can we expect to meet our clients where they are, accompany them on this journey, and provide them with the tools they need to heal if we're not exactly sure how these tools work? Just when you think you've heard every variation of trauma - boom! - someone like Sara comes along to remind us how rich the human experience is.  GUEST BIO Sara Moskowitz, LCSW, SEP is a Chicago-based psychotherapist, mother and artist. She specializes in developmental trauma and anxiety, and guides clients to gain access to the wisdom contained within their bodies. Sara is certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and holds Master's degrees in both social work and education. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

164 - Sara Moskowitz - Donor-conceived Trauma and Healing Sacred Roots

“You can speak your truth, and you can be honest, and you don't always need to defend what you did or what you said or how you are. You can just say it.” ~Brenna Guinan All of my favorite things conspired to make this chat with fellow therapist and host of Real Fckn Talk Brenna Guinan MHC-LP, CRC a must-listen (IMHO): Instagram friendship;  Some witchy topics; and NARM™.  That last entry is particularly significant because yours truly leads an impromptu NARM(ish) session on the show for the first time!  Our conversation expanded to include a brief but revealing look at how NARM sessions work. She got to experience firsthand how the process interrupts the old stories we tell ourselves and those we tell others. There’s a self-professed stubbornness about Brenna to which I think many can relate. She splits her time between licensed mental health counseling and rehabilitation counseling. For those who’ve not heard of rehabilitation counseling before, Brenna describes it as advocating for people (in her case, students) with disabilities so that they’re set up for adulthood - whether they choose to go to college, trade school, or enter the workforce.  All this professional level-headedness at twenty-seven and a podcast, too? Yes. This is the part where I get to plug my appearance on Brenna’s show while also telling you that Real Fckn Talk is where guests are invited to go there. GUEST BIO Brenna Guinan is a mental health counselor, certified rehabilitation counselor, and the host of REAL FCKN TALK podcast. As a therapist, Brenna is passionate about normalizing discussions about mental health. For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast   HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

163 - Brenna Guinan - Breaking Down Walls, De-stigmatizing Mental Health, and Having Open Conversations

“Healers have to be so close to the wound...in order to actually heal it.” ~Dr. LaNail Plummer Dr. LaNail Plummer, founder and CEO of Onyx Therapy Group, has designed her life around healing her communities. The build process hasn’t been easy. As a Black, bisexual woman, she’s navigated multiple structural impediments. But the racism, homophobia, and religious rigidity that forced her to the margins unwittingly pushed her into her power: to create safe spaces for folks in the LGBTQ+ community.  It’s impossible to speak with a DC-based practitioner - especially one whose professional focus and personal identity align with marginalized folks - and not ask about their welfare as it relates to the insurrection on January 6th. Once again, LaNail’s deep desire to be in community with her people took over. Amid the assault, she offered vital transparent support - something I continually advocate for on both sides of the therapy relationship.  “We're just going to live this experience together,” she told her clients. “I am not going to 100% be your expert in this moment. What we're going to do is have a shared human experience, and we are going to both learn and heal and process together.”  *** Dr. LaNail R. Plummer is the CEO & Founder of Onyx Therapy Group - a DC-based mental health organization dedicated to providing mental health services for individuals and organizations in marginalized groups such as Black and Brown communities and the LGBTQ+. As a leading professional in the mental health field, Dr. LaNail R. Plummer is committed to improving the lifestyles of others through the aspects of mental health and character development. A United States Military Veteran and the CEO of Onyx Therapy Group -- an organization she founded in 2013 -- Dr. Plummer has over 15 years of experience working with a multitude of clients and specializing in the care of young women; the Black community; and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Grounded in the values of integrity and awareness, Dr. Plummer believes that emotional, spiritual, and cultural healing is attainable for all.   For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast   HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW   ***   Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

162 - Dr. LaNail Plummer - Creating Safe Space for Intersectional Marginalized Communities

“It doesn't matter what your purpose is; it could be a doctor or a dog mom. Doesn't matter. But you're not gonna do it wholeheartedly if you're obsessing about the size of your thighs.” ~Alexa Silvaggio Chocolate and ketamine.  Yes, that would be a fantastic title for a double album! Instead, they’re the ingredients for a vibe-altering conversation with wellness entrepreneur and chocolatier Alexa Silvaggio. As CEO of Savage Chocolates, she helps people cultivate an experience of pleasure and presence through chocolate.  Alexa believes in pleasure done well, pleasure done mindfully. “I don't have any interest in consuming something that leaves me feeling worse than when I started,” she says. That goes as much for people and experiences as it does food.  Alexa’s affinity for pleasure - so often treated as a dirty word and frivolous pursuit in Western culture - was born out of the years she spent restricting herself into an eating disorder. Alexa began internalizing both the conspicuous and covert messages about body shape and size at a young age, essentially disappearing in an attempt to become more valuable. The loop of self-hatred played in Alexa’s head nonstop throughout college until her sister finally helped her hit stop.  There’s a spiritual quality with which Alexa talks about starvation - of the body, of the soul. Likewise, the practices and methods she’s leaned on along her healing journey. Y’all, I had such a soul-satisfying visit with Alexa that we didn’t even get to the healer/wounded healer questions! And I don’t even care because, instead, we unraveled several threads at once, including my decision to begin ketamine treatments, the death of Alexa’s beloved mother, and the myriad paths that reconnect us to our source.  Listeners, use promo code PAUSEBREATHESAVOR25 for 25% off Savage Chocolate! *** Alexa Silvaggio is a wellness entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. She is a yoga instructor, writer, podcast host, retreat leader, and CEO of Savage Chocolates, a mindfulness chocolate brand. She encourages you to cultivate a more loving relationship with your body and self through all she teaches. She would love to connect with you!  For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, May 7, 2021 - Trauma from the Individual to the Collective by Rayell Grayson, LCPC, CADC and Sarah Buino, LCSW, RDDP, CADC, CDWF Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

161 - Alexa Silvaggio - Chocolate, Pleasure, and Loving Your Whole Self

“A lot of the things that we have gone through have taught us a lot of lessons -- have made us stronger in certain ways.” ~Dr. Funnies Heads up: This episode with Dr. Funnies features some conversation around still-birth. If such discussions trigger you in any way, please take care should you choose to listen. From professional gaslighting and personal tragedy to hilarious memes and triumph of the spirit,  this episode covers the entire spectrum of human emotion. If you’ve listened to Conversations With A Wounded Healer for any length of time (say, one episode), you know my love for Instagram is next-level. It’s where I socialize with listeners and where I meet all of my new best friends, including today’s guest, Dr. Funnies.  Dr. Funnies is the brilliant brain behind Mental Health Funnies, the Instagram account she started in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown here in the US. Regardless of which side of the therapist/client relationship you occupy, the memes at Mental Health Funnies will make you snort out loud.  Dr. Funnies has a knack for distilling everyday absurdities into a single frame while displaying complete empathy for her audience as well as herself. Dr. Funnies’s journey from stellar student at a historically Black college to roadblocked post-grad intern to autonomous practitioner is harrowing at times, made so by the racism and white supremacy embedded in the very marrow of this country. A true wounded healer, she knew that one day, her experiences would serve to help others. Whether one-on-one with clients or by the thousands through her memes, Dr. Funnies is absolutely right about that. *** Dr. Funnies. I am a mental health therapist trying my best to help heal others! I have been in the field for over 17yrs. I believe laughter can sometimes be the best medicine! For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, May 7, 2021 - Trauma from the Individual to the Collective by Rayell Grayson, LCPC, CADC and Sarah Buino, LCSW, RDDP, CADC, CDWF Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

160 - Dr. Funnies - Mental Health One Meme at a Time

“It has to be your flag [...]. So, being able to do that internal work and say, ‘Oh, what is it that I want to be? What is it that I want to look like? And how do I want to present myself?’ and letting that be okay, keeping your flag the one that's flying rather than trying to be somebody else, no matter what it is.” ~Brian Thompson In the right hands, financial planning is a healing art. Wait, don’t tune out! I go cross-eyed, too, thinking about indexes and funds and allocations! Just hang with me a sec. I promise you’ll fall in love with my amazing guest Brian Thompson, tax attorney, certified financial planner™, registered life planner™, Forbes features writer, and podcaster. He’s also a super friend and my Al-Anon pal.  Brian occupies many intersections and all of them inform his approach to socially responsible investing (or ESG). You’ll leave here wiser and psyched about putting your values before your returns. I anticipate some whining. ‘But Sarah, if I put my values before my returns, I won’t have anything to live on!’ Y’all, that’s just capitalism’s vice-like grip. It’s time to integrate conversations about what we want to do with our money into our healing practices.  And I’m over here just trying to imagine a world where all financial planners show up the way Brian does. What a wonderful world that would be. *** Brian E. Thompson. As both a tax attorney and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, Brian provides comprehensive financial planning to LGBTQ entrepreneurs who run mission-driven businesses. Entrepreneurs hold a special place in his heart. He spent a decade defending them against the IRS as a tax attorney and has become one himself as an advisor.   For full show notes, resources, and links to connect with our guest, visit: http://www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast   HEY THERAPISTS... You’re invited to Head/Heart Conversations, our webinar series designed for psychotherapists who want to invite their inner healer to the forefront of both work life and personal life. In this four-part series, we will invite participants to learn about themselves as well as enhance their clinical skills. Details & Registration: http://tinyurl.com/hhconvos Promo Code for $20 off: podcast Friday, May 7, 2021 - Trauma from the Individual to the Collective by Rayell Grayson, LCPC, CADC and Sarah Buino, LCSW, RDDP, CADC, CDWF Friday, September 17, 2021 - Body Language by Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT Friday, November 19, 2021 - Queering our Conversations by Benji Marton, LCSW   *** Conversations with a Wounded Healer is a proud member of @mhnrnetwork. Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places... Website: www.headhearttherapy.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoundedHealr/ https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartTherapy/ Instagram: @headhearttherapy Twitter: @WoundedHealr @HeadHeart_Chi

159 - Brian Thompson - Socially Responsible Investing as a Healing Art

Who’s a wounded healer? It’s any one of us who works in a caring profession and is bravely doing their own work, while helping others. My goal is to share the parallel journey we as healers walk along with our clients and how we attend to our own humanity while caring for others. My podcast is about conversations and community building, what we can learn from each other, and how we can help heal each other. We’re cultivating a space where we celebrate vulnerability, authenticity and “showing up.” It’s a place to meet people I think will inspire you, help you heal and grow – and who you can relate to at the same time. I’m inspired by C.G. Jung’s “wounded healer” concept, where the healer’s own hurt that gives the measure of his own power to heal. Another one of my heroes, Brene Brown, puts it best: “Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy and gratitude into our lives.” Together, I hope this marriage of vulnerability and professionalism will inspire and entertain you...enjoy!

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Conversations with a Wounded Healer

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