Ep 100: Celebrating 100 Episodes: Insights from Things You Learn in Therapy

Celebrate our 100th episode of "Things You Learn in Therapy" and discover the profound insights from experts like Maureen Clancy on the nervous system and Liz Polinsky's advice for enhancing relationships through monthly meetings. We reflect on impactful discussions with Michelle Benyo about navigating grief, Tara Egan's strategies for coping with divorce, and Danielle Peters and Lindsay Webster's enlightening talks on ADHD. Plus, don’t miss Dr. Michael Alcee's valuable perspectives on OCD and Kelly Savery's fascinating take on the connection between humans and nature.

This special milestone episode emphasizes the power of community engagement. Clinicians and parents, we want to hear from you—share the topics you're curious about by reaching out via beth@makewordsmatterforgood.com. Relive some of the most memorable moments of our podcast journey by exploring past episodes that captured your interest. We conclude with heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support and encourage you to stay safe and well. Join us in this reflective celebration of learning and growth!

This podcast is meant to be a resource for the general public, as well as fellow therapists/psychologists. It is NOT meant to replace the meaningful work of individual or family therapy. Please seek professional help in your area if you are struggling. #breakthestigma #makewordsmatter #thingsyoulearnintherapy #thingsyoulearnintherapypodcast
 
 Feel free to share your thoughts at www.makewordsmatterforgood.com or email me at Beth@makewordsmatterforgood.com

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:12

Hello listener, welcome back. I'm your host, dr Beth Trammell, and this is Things you Learn in Therapy, and this is the 100th episode, which I'm actually kind of in shock and awe about. It doesn't feel like it's been 100 episodes, but I thought today it might be kind of a fun thing to take a little walk down memory lane and look at some of the episodes from the very beginning a couple of years ago and share a few things on my favorite episodes. And actually I have so many favorite episodes because I am really really grateful and honestly honored that I get to do this work. I get to interview so many amazing people and so, yeah, I'm just excited about it and continuing to do the work to share information with listeners like you, and so I'd actually invite you to share your favorite episode. Feel free to email me, beth, at makewordsmatterforgoodcom. Would love to hear your favorite episode and I'll share a little bit about kind of this walk down memory lane with you all right now. So, as I look back at the very, very first episode with Maureen Clancy, who has been just such a joy to get to know, I actually am going to be recording another episode with her very shortly, so that will be posted in the fall here, but her take and, honestly, just her presence around talking about how the nervous system impacts us and bringing that information to a really tangible way to understand it in our daily life, was just incredible, and so she was my very first podcast and I'm just so grateful for her and her expertise.

Speaker 0: 2:01

Liz Polinsky came on and talked about couples and the monthly meeting, and I actually really love this and I think to put in practice this idea of a monthly meeting actually really touches to some of the work of John and Julie Gottman also, who I also kind of share. Anytime I'm talking about couples work, just this idea of connection and really making targeted times to connect with your partner. I think the monthly meeting was such a great tip and tool for people to use. Michelle Benyo came on and talked about grief, in particular, grief of your own child, of your own child and it was a really let's see heartfelt, just really as such a powerful story that she shared in such a vulnerable way but then also shared this framework around grief and I think anyone who's experienced grief, even if it wasn't your own child, may relate to some of the things that she shared. My colleague and friend, tara Egan from North Carolina, came on and actually I just recorded another episode with her. She specializes in divorce and so that topic whether you have been through a divorce or your life has been touched by divorce I just think was such a strong, yeah, just such an important conversation to have, and I remember walking away from that conversation feeling like I had some tips that even like for family or friends or other people who maybe have experienced divorce, I could share with them.

Speaker 0: 3:41

We talked about early, early in season one. I talked with Kristen Taprell from Australia and she does beautiful work around dreams with kids, but also a lot of meditation and breathing with kids. I loved her. I actually bought her little cards that have kind of breathing techniques etched into them. They're these little wooden cards. You can find them on her website. She's called the Therapist Parent and I just love anything that's really tangible for our kids and getting them to breathe through sort of things that are hard for them. I just think that's learning to breathe at any age I just think is so powerful.

Speaker 0: 4:30

So I've had a few episodes on ADHD. Danielle Peters came on and Lindsay Webster was with me to talk about ADHD. I think those episodes were just so important because I think this topic of ADHD is something we're starting to talk more about but perhaps still trying to fight some misinformation that's out there. Dr Michael Alcey has been with me several times talking about New Year's resolutions and then his specialty, ocd, so learning more about that. Paula Klein came my dear friend and former kind of colleague in private practice and she just has so much depth around meaning making and how we see the world and how we make sense of things that are so hard. I remember that episode with her and feeling like she was just so deep and so wonderful to kind of sit and listen to and then I finally got to a point at the very end that I was like, wow, this is why I struggle with these big questions around suffering and loss and injustice and really trying to make meaning in how hard that is. So I really always loved kind of listening back to that episode with Paula. Sierra Dater has also come on talking about really practical applications of different mental health struggles for kids and teens anxiety, depression, suicide. She does wise girl workshops where she's really invested in helping kids understand how they can work through symptoms that they might be experiencing, and so I love every part of that.

Speaker 0: 6:26

My friend, kaylee Wolkin, who also has her own website and practice in Michigan, focuses on career work and how your career impacts and is sort of integrated to your mental health and mental wellness. I think it's always good for us to realize that our jobs, our careers, are such a big part of our daily life, but we don't have to be defined by the work that we do or the career that we have, and so I always love kind of seeing her work on social media and the things that she's putting out. Kelly Savory came on to talk about how humans are like trees, and if you listen to that episode or if you haven't, I'd encourage you to listen to it where she focuses on the interconnectedness of all of us and I just I love nature, I love trees, and so connecting with her on her philosophy around that I just think was really amazing. Let's see, I also loved my time with Nicole McNellis, who always has a great framework for us to really reconceptualize things that are going on for us, and you won't want to miss her episode that I just recorded. It'll be how this phenomena of anger, rage, stress, particularly in moms, and all that kind of goes with that. So tune in for that.

Speaker 0: 8:04

Dr Akua Buatan came on a couple of times. I loved her whole spirit every time she was on but talked about embracing change and how do we tolerate that as humans, how does that impact us and how do we make kind of the most of those sorts of yeah, those sorts of experiences? Let's see who else Megan McCutcheon and her work around prenatal and perinatal motherhood, specifically on common disorders or symptoms around motherhood and that prenatal phase. She had so much wisdom and even new information for me as a clinician who's been working for a while, but not necessarily focusing or specializing in the prenatal or perinatal phase Just all the research and all the new things that we're learning about that and how we can do that better or just have better realization of what's happening for us during that time and for the therapists who are listening.

Speaker 0: 9:13

I always love connecting with Michelle Manning. We actually are scheduling another session as well where she came on and talked about self-disclosure and safe and effective use of self, which I think is critical for any new or even veteran therapist to just be kind of continually reminded of those things. My former student, sunny Allen, who I just love connecting with answers. Our question am I doing therapy right? I think I've encountered clients who are sort of worried is this what I'm supposed to be doing or how is this supposed to go? I think there's this I don't know what to call it just sort of this mystery around therapy, and it's actually part of why I wanted to do this podcast at all. But I love that we had kind of a candid conversation about that really common question that people often have around therapy.

Speaker 0: 10:12

Liana Purges came on a couple of different times, one to talk about her work with kids and her website, fuzzy Socks Therapy, which I just love and think is great, but then also shared her own personal story about alcoholism in her family and how that impacted her and how it might impact other people. I'll tell you, one of the most powerful episodes was my time with Victoria Rodriguez around self-care, and it has been something that I think about frequently, where I think about that my physical comfort shouldn't be a luxury, that I don't always have to just eat the leftovers of everyone, I don't always have to just kind of suffer in discomfort. I can state my needs to the people who are around me. I could definitely do that. Nicole Leloya came on and talked about all things money from both the client and therapist perspective. She works with therapists, has started the Therapist Entrepreneur Facebook group which I'm a part of, and it's how I met a lot of my guests on the show. I just loved having kind of a candid conversation around money, because I don't think we talk about that very much.

Speaker 0: 11:36

My friend and former classmate from doc school, dr Jerry Novak, came on a couple of times talking about friendship and anything related to anything. Mental health is always going to be our jam and our time together, which I think was really great. Kendall Tyson, who is just an amazing therapist who has been traveling the world, which I also love, but came on a couple of times to talk about imposter syndrome and really reframed imposter syndrome for me and then the second time she came on talked about achieve-mophobia and how it might actually be self-sabotage that is holding some of us back. I am so grateful for Laurel Robert-Smith who came on to talk about the differences and similarities in the LGBTQ plus couples work that she does and brought light to so many things for us to really think about to be better allies to our friends in the LGBTQ plus community. I always love my time with my friend Leslie Bolser and Core Essential Values each month, where we talk about a specific word that can be applied in in our kind of everyday lives and how Core Essentials does a great job in really breaking that down and creating a structure around that.

Speaker 0: 13:13

Jessica Vandermeer came on and talked about trauma and brain spotting and I remember thinking this is life-changing and I brought her episode to many of my students who were interested in trauma and doing trauma work and brain spotting in particular. My great friend Sarah Conley came on talked about single motherhood by choice. It was a very personal episode where she shared some of the things around how single motherhood is perceived by other people and ways that she has worked through. Some of those things gave some ideas for people who may also choose that specifically for themselves. Let's see who else Coming back to. Oh, my friend who we're working on an article together to expand the literature on play. Dr Colleen Martinez came to talk about play therapy, child directed play, how we can really engage the work of play in the therapy room, but also helping parents learn the importance of play. Also, my friend Beth from Days with Gray on Instagram. She has amazing, amazing tips for parents, particularly of young kids. So if your kid is less than six, I'd encourage you to follow Beth on Days with Gray on Instagram. She just is amazing.

Speaker 0: 14:54

Let's see keeping recess in schools. I'm always a proponent of keeping recess in schools. My friend, nick Lee, came and talked about suffering with me and that was both a challenging and enlightening conversation. I was grateful for that. And my also friend in this community, dr Tim Hess, came to talk about college counseling centers and the work that goes into doing university counseling center work. Well, I think it's something that we don't necessarily think as much about. That transition from high school to college and how hard that is. So, thinking about how we can be a better support to people, to our young people, during that time, I think is, yeah, just really important as parents, as clinicians, to recognize that any of those transitions are going to be really tough. Yeah, I am so excited. I know I probably left some people out.

Speaker 0: 16:02

Every episode for me has been just such a joy to be able to be a part of and to give you a little heads up of what's coming. I have already done about 10 interviews for the fall and I am so excited to share with you what is coming, talking about, talking about. I already shared that paternal rage, also with more work around OCD and how OCD can be a superpower. I'm going to do some work around confrontation and neurodiversity. I also have some solo episodes around just how we can continue to use each of these pieces of every episode in our everyday lives, and so I'm just grateful for you as the listener.

Speaker 0: 16:53

As always, if there are topics that you are interested in hearing more about or learning more about, whether you're a clinician or you're a parent, I would welcome hearing from you. Again. My email address is beth at makewordsmatterforgoodcom. I hope that this episode gave you a little walk down memory lane, and if there are any episodes that sounded interesting to you, I would encourage you just to scroll a little further down the list on your podcast player and you'll be able to find them there. Thanks for listening, stay safe and stay well.