
The Trauma Therapist
The Trauma Therapist | Podcast is a podcast about the human spirit.Join Guy Macpherson, PhD at thetraumatherapistproject.com as he interviews thought-leaders in the fields of trauma, mindfulness, addiction and yoga and we learn about the journeys of these passionate mental health therapists who dedicate their lives to helping those who've been impacted by trauma.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.
Latest episodes

Jan 19, 2023 • 34min
Episode 692: Leading By Example with Mike Gaskell
Dr. Michael Gaskell is a veteran principal in New Jersey and currently the Principal at Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick.Michael has been actively writing about highly relevant solutions to problems in educational leadership since 2018. His new book, Radical Principals: A Blueprint for Long-Term Equity and Stability at School focuses on disrupting trauma and inequity in learners and is a guidebook for K-12 leaders looking for creative ways, beyond the status quo, to support and nurture school communities in the wake of unprecedented obstacles.His second book, Leading Schools Through Trauma was published in September of 2021 with Routledge’s imprint, Eye on Education, after his first book published last fall, Microstrategy Magic.In This Episode:Michael on TwitterMichael on LinkedInMichael on InstagramMichael's emailDeep Work. Cal Newport.---What's new with The Trauma Therapist Project!The Trauma 5: gold nuggets from my 600+ interviewsThe Therapists Teach Workshop: a workshop for therapists who want to create their first online course.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Jan 16, 2023 • 37min
Episode 691: Moving Parts with Ilyse Kennedy
Ilyse is a therapist, group practice owner, and author, who offers trauma informed therapy for children, teens, and adults in South Austin, TX.Ilyse attributes her passion for this work to her very first therapist. Each time she stepped into her office, Ilyse says, she felt fully seen and delighted in. She didn’t offer tools or interventions. She didn’t try to change or cure me. I don’t remember what we talked about, but I can still feel how her eyes lit up when I entered her office.That is how I hope to make folks feel when they step into my own office I am also a mother, partner, daughter, sister, friend, neurodivergent, writer, dog mother, Bravo historian, music lover, East Coaster by birth, West Coaster by heart, and Austinite by location.In This EpisodeIlyse’s websiteIlyse on Instagram---What's new with The Trauma Therapist Project!The Trauma 5: gold nuggets from my 600+ interviewsThe Therapists Teach Workshop: a workshop for therapists who want to create their first online course.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Jan 12, 2023 • 32min
Episode 690: Soulwork, Trauma and Liberation with Dr. Elisa Hallerman
Dr. Hallerman holds a master’s and doctorate from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Depth Psychology and Somatic Studies, focusing on neuroscience and trauma. She is also a drug and alcohol counselor and certified in yogic science for addictive behavior and a member of the Institute for Functional Medicine. Finally, Dr. Hallerman serves as a visiting professor for film and media arts at Chapman University, where she melds the art of agenting in Hollywood with balance, passion, meaning, and purpose. Soulbriety: A Plan to Heal Your Trauma, Overcome Addiction, and Reconnect with Your Soul Hardcover – December 6, 2022"In this vividly written, page-turner of a memoir, Dr. Elisha Hallerman depicts how neither drugs not glittering Hollywood glamor could satisfy her spirit's longing for true freedom. With unsparing honesty, she chronicles her own soul's journey hom to itself from the depths of trauma and addiction, now enabling her to guide many others on their own path to liberation." Gabor Mate M.D author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture In This EpisodeDr. Hallerman’s websiteDr. Hallerman on FacebookSoulbrietyDr. Hallerman on Instagram---What's new with The Trauma Therapist Project!The Trauma 5: gold nuggets from my 600+ interviewsThe Therapists Teach Workshop: a workshop for therapists who want to create their first online course.---What’s new with The Trauma Therapist Project!The Trauma 5: gold nuggets from my 700+ interviewsThe Trauma Therapist Newsletter: a monthly resource of information and inspiration dedicated to trauma therapists.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Jan 9, 2023 • 33min
Episode 689: Your Dissociative Mind & Navigating Daily Life with Dr. Jamie Marich
Dr. Jamie Marich (she/they) describes herself as a facilitator of transformative experiences. She is the founder of The Institute for Creative Mindfulness. A clinical trauma specialist, expressive artist, writer, yogini, performer, short filmmaker, Reiki master, TEDx speaker, and recovery advocate, she unites all of these elements in her mission to inspire healing in others. She began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Hercegovina from 2000-2003, primarily teaching English and music while freelancing with other projects. Jamie travels internationally, teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, and yoga while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Northeast Ohio. Jamie is the author of numerous books on trauma recovery and healing, with many more projects in the works. Marich is the founder of The Institute for Creative Mindfulness.In This EpisodeDr. Jamie’s websiteRedefinertherapy.comDissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Daily Life----What’s new with The Trauma Therapist Project!The Trauma 5: gold nuggets from my 700+ interviewsThe Trauma Therapist Newsletter: a monthly resource of information and inspiration dedicated to trauma therapists.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Jan 5, 2023 • 25min
Episode 688: Discovering Open Authenticity with Guy Macpherson, PhD
Do you want to be seen?I would guess--yes!We all do.And in order to truly see someone we have to get out of our own way.It’s not about all the great things we know. (Though they can sometimes help.)It’s not about all the great workshops we’ve been to. (Thought they can sometimes help.)It’s about being with the person in front of you.And this beingness requires an allowance of who we are.It doesn’t mean hiding our inadequacies or faults or lack of knowledge.No. Rather, it means understanding that all of those things--and yes, as well as what we call our incredibleness--contributes to the amazing person we are and that’s all we have to be.I, personally don’t think this is easy.It is a journey.Being with the person in front of us means being willing to take in what they are going through.And being willing and able to hear what they are saying without having all of the thoughts racing around in our heads about ways in which we can help or heal or fix or cure.This can be challenging because it can often feel like we’re not doing something to help.Yet a big part of helping is simply this ability to be with, without having the need to do.I think as humans we all want to be seen.I think we need to be seen.This is why I’m creating a group to encourage us along the way.This is what Open Authenticity is all about.If this sounds interesting to you and if you’re ready then I invite you to join us.We begin in February.To stay up to date about Open Authenticity please click here.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Jan 2, 2023 • 34min
Episode 687: It Wasn't Your Fault with Donna Jenson & Reena Bernards
Reena Bernards, LCMFT, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Maryland and Washington D.C. She is certified as an Emotionally Focused Therapist and works with individuals, couples, and families using a trauma-informed and attachment lens. She also works as an inter-group dialogue consultant and trainer. See her website. Donna Jenson is Founder and Director of Time To Tell – with a mission to spark stories from lives affected by incest and sexual abuse to be told and heard. Donna wrote and performs her one-woman play, What She Knows: One Woman’s Way Through Incest to Joy, which is based on her own experience of surviving incest. She leads writing/mindfulness workshops for survivors interested in finding their voice and using it. She has performed her play and led workshops at correctional facilities, colleges, police departments, conferences for mental health professionals and sexual assault advocates, community organizations, and facilities with people in need of healing. Her book, Healing My Life from Incest to Joy, is a memoir of the choices she made and experiences she had that helped her heal from her childhood trauma. For more information, go to www.timetotell.org.In This EpisodeReena’s websiteDonna’s websiteBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Dec 29, 2022 • 29min
Episode 686: Grief & Post-Traumatic Growth with Krista St-Germain
Krista St-Germain is a Master Certified Life Coach, Post-Traumatic Growth and grief expert, widow, mom and host of The Widowed Mom Podcast. When her husband was killed by a drunk driver in 2016, Krista’s life was completely and unexpectedly flipped upside down. After therapy helped her uncurl from the fetal position, Krista discovered Life Coaching, Post Traumatic Growth and learned the tools she needed to move forward and create a future she could get excited about. Now she coaches and teaches other widows so they can love life again, too. Krista has been featured online and in print in Psychology Today, Medium, Thrive Global, Bustle, Psych Central and Parents Magazine and on select podcasts such as The SelfWork Podcast, Seek The Joy, Life Check Yourself and You Need A Budget to name a few. Links: Instagram | Facebook | Widowed Moms Podcast | MediaInThis EpisodeKrista’s WebsiteKrista’s podcast: The Widowed Mom podcastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Dec 26, 2022 • 31min
Episode 685: Unpacking Race, Class, Gender & Trauma with Silvia Dutchevici
Silvia M. Dutchevici, MA, LCSW is the Critical Therapy Institute (CTI) founder and president.With more than 20 years of experience in social services and a passion for psychotherapy, Dutchevici (pronounced “doot-KAY-vitch”) created CTI when she perceived the need to expand psychoanalytic praxis to reflect how race, class, gender, and religion intersect with psychological conflicts. Silvia has an intensive background in psychoanalytic theory and trauma, with a particular focus on torture.However, after seeing that traditional psychoanalysis was not able to adequately transform and heal her patients, she embarked on an extended period of research and training. Drawing on liberation psychology and critical pedagogy scholarship and combining them with her real-life experience as a practicing psychotherapist, she founded CTI in 2012; it focuses on teaching, research, and the application of critical therapy in advisory, consulting, and educational services.Unlike traditional therapists, critical therapists work from the premise that the personal is political. To be more effective, psychotherapy must therefore interrogate the patient’s as well as the therapist’s worldview. Engaging in power analysis, critical therapists explore deeply how power affects the patient’s and therapist’s identities as well as their relationship with one another. CTI offers a four-year training program for psychotherapists, as well as workshops on various clinical issues.In This EpisodeCritical Therapy InstituteSilvia’s book: Critical Therapy: Power And Liberation in Psychotherapy.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/TRAUMA and get on your way to being your best self.The Trauma Membership is coming. A monthly subscription offering you gold nuggets from 600+ interviews. Get access to each of my 3 online courses. The Master Class Video Series. And a subscription to The Trauma Therapist Newsletter. Learn more here: http://thetraumamembership.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Dec 22, 2022 • 37min
Episode 684: You. Are. Not. Alone. with Kelley Gunter
Kelly is a survivor, an emotional warrior, connoisseur of comfort food, and the author of You Have Such a Pretty Face. Her painful journey to find peace and self-worth began with a 243-pound weight loss that included many dark moments of despair that eventually brought her to her knees. Broken and devastated in the aftermath of her own self-destruction, her fractured faith screamed out that somehow, she still had a faint pulse and her shattered heart was, in fact, still beating.Following a lengthy career in social services, Kelly began writing full time. Her first book, You Have Such a Pretty Face, is a memoir detailing the emotional journey of being obese and the surprising changes brought on by her 243-pound weight loss following bariatric surgery, as well as the emotional factors that contributed to her initial weight gain. In This EpisodeKelly’s websiteKelly’s booksThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/TRAUMA and get on your way to being your best self.The Trauma Membership is coming. A monthly subscription offering you gold nuggets from 600+ interviews. Get access to each of my 3 online courses. The Master Class Video Series. And a subscription to The Trauma Therapist Newsletter. Learn more here: http://thetraumamembership.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.

Dec 22, 2022 • 36min
Episode 683: I'm Grateful For My PTSD with Jason Anderson
Jason served 20 years in the RCMP and medically retired in 2021 after recovering from PTSD stemming from his policing career. He transitioned to a career as a social worker/psychotherapist in Brantford, Ontario, where he works with public safety personnel and the general public in working through their traumas. He is also currently volunteering with a county/town CISM team as mental health support. In 2019, Jason assisted in the establishment and functioned as the main facilitator of a peer support group for public safety personnel and military. In This Episode Balanced Thoughts CounselingThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/TRAUMA and get on your way to being your best self.The Trauma Membership is coming. A monthly subscription offering you gold nuggets from 600+ interviews. Get access to each of my 3 online courses. The Master Class Video Series. And a subscription to The Trauma Therapist Newsletter. Learn more here: http://thetraumamembership.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-trauma-therapist--5739761/support.