Entrepreneur Brent Franson shares his journey overcoming addiction and emphasizes self-compassion in personal growth. Topics include addiction dynamics, rehab experience, self-compassion, balancing structure with self-kindness, importance of mindfulness, and building consistency in new habits.

My guest this week is Dr. Mitch Abblett. Mitch and I talked about how we can move through anxiety and stress by what he calls “owning the moment.” We explored what that means, how to do it, and maybe most important of all, how to remember to do it. The process itself is really simple—we just bring our attention to the present and let things be as they are. But as I’m sure you know, that’s much easier said than done. Mitch has some really helpful ways to practice more of this style of being in the moment. It involves something he calls “momentology,” which you’ll hear him explain. I really enjoyed this conversation, and toward the end Mitch led me through a short guided exercise that you can follow along with, too. I’m guessing you’ll like it as much as I did. Topics we got into included: What it means to be “mindful” Owning the moment Letting go of a fixation on stories and beliefs The value of coming into the moment when feeling stressed or anxious Using the breath to slow down and create space Engaged acceptance of not having control or possession of our kids How to help ourselves remember to come back to the present and release control The limitations of “hacks” to practice mindful presence The toxic anticipation of “nexting” Finding a resonance between ourselves and our experience, akin to jazz music How to commit to a consistent embrace of the moment Whether formal mindfulness practices are essential for developing a present focus A meditative practice based on the acronym “OWN” The present backlash against mindfulness and meditation Mitch Abblett, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, author, consultant and national/international speaker. His latest book is for parents, educators and helping professionals – Prizeworthy: How to Meaningfully Connect, Build Character, and Unlock the Potential of Every Child. His other publications include: The Five Hurdles to Happiness and the Mindful Path to Overcoming Them The Self-Compassion Deck, Growing Mindful , and other mindfulness-related card decks Helping Your Angry Teen From Anger to Action Train Your Mind Like a Ninja The Unwinding Anxiety Deck (with Dr. Judson Brewer) Mitch’s work has appeared in numerous online and print media such as Psychology Today, Mindful Magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek, Tricycle Magazine, and USA Today. His frequent blog posts regarding mindfulness applications in family and relationships can be found in Mindful Magazine’s companion website Mindful.org as well as on Psychology Today. A clinician in the Boston area for over 20 years, he brings a wealth of clinical, administrative and leadership experience from various settings (hospitals, outpatient clinics, residential facilities and therapeutic schools) to his practice and consulting. For 11 years he served as the Clinical Director of the Manville School at Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston – a Harvard Medical School-affiliated therapeutic school program for children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral and learning difficulties. He has also served as the Executive Director of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. Mitch lives with his wife and two children in Newton, Massachusetts.

My guests this week are Drs. Kelly Yanek and Michel Kinderman. I was truly excited to learn more about their dual therapist model where they see each client together—two therapists with a single client. They described how this approach keeps them interested and engaged at work, and makes them look forward to Monday mornings. I think you’ll find this conversation as fascinating as I did. Topics we discussed included: Kelly and Michele’s unique Dual Therapist Model (DTM) of psychotherapy What led my guests to the DTM Burning out as a therapist The advantages of the DTM Having a real-time witness to the best and hardest moments in therapy The finances of doing therapy with two therapists The very different experience of having another therapist in the room The rewarding aspects of practicing with a fellow clinician Important considerations when choosing a co-therapist The continual work of being open and honest with one’s dual therapy partner Navigating the complex relational dynamics in DTM My own interest in a dual therapist approach How to get started in the DTM Kelly and Michele’s DTM training program Michele Kinderman, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and co-founder of Wellness Outside the Box. For nearly two decades, she’s been successfully treating children and adults struggling with trauma, depression, anxiety, relationship conflict, parenting issues, and the stresses of everyday life. Michele combines the more traditional therapies (cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, insight oriented therapy) with music, movement, and nature to assist clients in building their strengths and achieving their goals. She also loves animals and offers Pet Therapy. To maintain balance and serenity in her own life, she enjoys hiking, rock climbing, skateboarding, dancing, and spending time with her husband, two sons, and the family dog Zippy. Kelly Yanek, PsyD, is a nationally certified School Psychologist and the other founder of Wellness Outside the Box. Kelly has had a love for the outdoors since she was a little girl climbing trees and exploring nature, and she’s been incorporating this passion for nature and adventure into her work since her career began. In addition to her certification as a school psychologist, Kelly has specialized training in adventure-based counseling and the technical skills of high and low ropes/adventure courses. She’s also a certified yoga instructor. She takes great pride in the progress and success of her clients, and looks forward to helping you. In her free time, you can find Kelly traveling, enjoying the beach, practicing yoga, running, cycling or swimming, and most of all, spending time with her family and friends. Discover more about Kelly and Michelle and the Dual Therapist Model by visiting their website.

Psychologist and author Dr. Jill Stoddard discusses imposter syndrome, its causes, and how to deal with it. She emphasizes the importance of psychological flexibility and acceptance, rather than trying to force thoughts and feelings to change. Imposterism tends to occur in domains that matter, and more success doesn't solve it. The chapter also explores the consequences of taking on too much and the struggle to ask for help.

I’m all alone for this episode. This week I wanted to talk with you about finding the courage you need to take a bold step forward in your life. It could be anything, from continuing your education to changing jobs or starting to date. Anxiety and uncertainty often hold us back when we know we need to make an important change. But they don’t have to. There are effective ways to move through our hesitation so that nothing stops us from living the life we know is calling us. I hope you get a lot out of this episode. It’s based on the first session of a new course I created called Forward: Finding Courage to Take a Bold Step. The course offers 5 audio sessions that include mindfulness exercises to help you find your center, manage your mindset, and act with awareness and intention. The practices you’ll discover in Forward will help you retrain your thoughts, roll with difficult emotions, and work with whatever life brings you. Each session includes an invitation to practice the things you’ve learned, so you can move from insight to action. The sessions are designed to teach you effective skills without taking a lot of time or energy. They’re audio-based, so you can listen without needing to look at a screen. I’ll be monitoring the Comments section so I can respond to your questions. I’d love to see you there!  

This week I'm continuing my series with Dr. Joel Minden, and we discussed a fun and interesting topic: psychotherapists in popular media, including film, TV, and comic strips. We explored what these depictions get right, the challenges of presenting therapy accurately, and why therapists so often are portrayed as buffoons. Specific topics we touched on included: Common therapist tropes in movies and TV shows The movie Mumford Richard Dreyfuss as Leo Marvin in the 1991 film What About Bob? The accelerated pace of change in dramatized versions of therapy Therapists pushing their patients to “go deeper” and explore painful parts of their lives The TV show Shrinking The “psychiatrist” Lucy Van Pelt in the Peanuts comic strip Robin Williams’s portrayal of therapist Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting Steve Carrell as therapist Alan Strauss in The Patient Jennifer Melfi (played by Lorraine Bracco) on The Sopranos Gabriel Byrne as therapist Paul Weston on In Treatment The iconic tissue pass in therapy The potentially big impact of small interventions in therapy, and in life Harry Stack Sullivan’s Interpersonal Theory and Psychotherapy (affiliate link) The movie Suture and psychogenic amnesia Larry David’s therapist on Curb Your Enthusiasm The power dynamics of chairs in therapy office Joel Minden, PhD, is a clinical psychologist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety and related disorders. He is the author of Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss (affiliate link), founder of the Chico Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, diplomate of The Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies, and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Chico. Find Joel online at his website, follow him on Twitter, and read his blog on Psychology Today.

This week I'm continuing my series with Dr. Joel Minden, and there's no one I'd rather talk with about how to handle worry. Joel is a true expert on this topic. He offers a compassionate, realistic, and effective set of tools for worrying less so you can redirect your energy toward living well. Specific topics we touched on included: Anxiety vs. worry The implicit goal of anxiety The similarities between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) Intolerance of uncertainty Worry as a learned behavior that is reinforced (rewarded), making it more likely to continue Finding alternatives to replace worry The sense of helplessness that can lead to depression Whether worry can ever be productive The value of writing down one’s worries Possible signatures of unproductive worry Shifting attention to what we can control rather than focusing on the uncontrollable The downsides of distraction as a way to deal with anxiety and worry Accepting uncertainty when the outcome would be truly bad Being more specific about one’s worst-case fears Unhelpful distraction vs. more helpful and productive engagement with life Allowing anxiety to “come along for the ride” The role of meditation in dealing with worries Joel’s use of CBT techniques for dealing with his own worry and anxiety Joel Minden, PhD, is a clinical psychologist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety and related disorders. He is the author of Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss (affiliate link), founder of the Chico Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, diplomate of The Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies, and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Chico. Find Joel online at his website, follow him on Twitter, and read his blog on Psychology Today.

This week I’m continuing my series with Dr. Joel Minden. This time we discussed how much can be accomplished in a single psychotherapy session. Joel and I explored single-session interventions, one-session treatments for phobias, and sudden gains. Topics we touched on included: Goals for the first therapy session The hope that often follows a first session One as the modal number of therapy sessions Shorter treatment protocols, including single session interventions (SSIs) The work of Dr. Jessica Schleider and her colleagues 2017 meta-analysis 2017 review 2022 randomized clinical trial The value of helping clients develop flexible responses to emotions and strategies for behavioral change The importance of clinical significance, in addition to statistical significance How to interpret an effect One-Session Treatment for phobias, developed by Öst, and the big effect of exposure on anxiety Sudden gains in the course of psychotherapy treatment The interplay between behavioral and cognitive change The advantages of single-session interventions, including scalability Joel Minden, PhD, is a clinical psychologist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety and related disorders. He is the author of Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss (affiliate link), founder of the Chico Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, diplomate of The Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies, and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Chico. Find Joel online at his website, follow him on Twitter, and read his blog on Psychology Today.

My guest once again this week is Dr. Joel Minden. This time we discussed psychotherapy, drawing on the years that each of us has been a therapist. Good therapy has the power to improve thinking patterns, relationships, habits, and even personality, so we explored the unique aspects of the therapy relationship that facilitate these changes. This conversation is the second in a series of several episodes with Joel, with more to come. Topics we touched on included: A Washington Post piece that inspired our discussion, “Why I Fired My Therapists” by Foster Kamer Whether it’s productive to “call out” clients in therapy The problem of always being told one is right as a therapy client Trying to match therapists to clients The dialectic of supporting and challenging in therapy Possible developmental shifts across one’s career as a therapist My experience with a supervisor who berated my client Whether there’s a place for telling clients what they need or ought to do Addressing unhelpful patterns of reinforcement Why telling people what to do generally doesn't work Creating different dynamics in therapy from what people tend to experience elsewhere The uniqueness of the therapy relationship among all other relationships The value in just talking through an issue in order to arrive at a solution The actual self vs. idealized self The risk in being one’s authentic self Joel Minden, PhD, is a clinical psychologist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety and related disorders. He is the author of Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss, founder of the Chico Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, diplomate of The Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies, and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Chico. Find Joel online at his website, follow him on Twitter, and read his blog on Psychology Today.

Dr. Joel Minden interviews Seth Gillahan about Mindful Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. They discuss the limitations of traditional CBT, the shift in perspective that comes with mindfulness, self-compassion for difficult emotions, the role of honesty in relationships, and the importance of self-compassion and compassion for others.