Therapy Chat

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits a previous interview with Sharon Martin, LCSW on perfectionism. We often don't even realize that we're holding ourselves to impossibly high expectations. This issue especially comes up around the holidays when we tend to put pressure on ourselves to create a perfect experience that is more of a fantasy than reality.  Sharon Martin, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in codependency recovery with an online practice serving California residents. For the past 20 years, she’s been helping perfectionists and people-pleasers overcome self-doubt and shame, embrace their imperfections, learn to set boundaries, and reclaim their self-worth. Sharon writes the blog Conquering Codependency for Psychology Today and is the author of The CBT Workbook for Perfectionism and The Better Boundaries Workbook. Resources Sharon's website: https://www.livewellwithsharonmartin.com/ If you're a therapist specializing in trauma, join the Trauma Therapist Network while Founding Member pricing is still available and lock in the lowest price!  Clients with trauma are looking for the specialized services you offer. Sign up at: https://traumatherapistnetwork.com/therapist-submission-form/ Thank you to this week's sponsors! Thank you to Sunset Lake CBD for sponsoring this week's episode! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farmworkers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits a previous interview with Sharon Martin, LCSW on the dynamics of dysfunctional families. While we are in the thick of the holiday season, this episode will resonate for many of us. Identifying what healthy family dynamics look like can be very helpful since we all grow up thinking the way our family does things is "the way it is" even if it really didn't work well for us. Combined with the information Sharon shared in her interview last week, this week's episode will be helpful for getting through the holidays.  Sharon Martin, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in codependency recovery with an online practice serving California residents. For the past 20 years, she’s been helping perfectionists and people-pleasers overcome self-doubt and shame, embrace their imperfections, learn to set boundaries, and reclaim their self-worth. Sharon writes the blog Conquering Codependency for Psychology Today and is the author of The CBT Workbook for Perfectionism and The Better Boundaries Workbook. Resources Sharon's website: https://www.livewellwithsharonmartin.com/ If you're a therapist specializing in trauma, join the Trauma Therapist Network while Founding Member pricing is still available and lock in the lowest price!  Clients with trauma are looking for the specialized services you offer. Sign up at: https://traumatherapistnetwork.com/therapist-submission-form/ Thank you to this week's sponsors! Thank you to Sunset Lake CBD for sponsoring this week's episode! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farmworkers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week's episode is timely as the holiday season is in full swing. In today's episode, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C interviews returning guest Sharon Martin, LCSW about setting boundaries.  Sharon Martin, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in codependency recovery with an online practice serving California residents. For the past 20 years, she’s been helping perfectionists and people-pleasers overcome self-doubt and shame, embrace their imperfections, learn to set boundaries, and reclaim their self-worth. Sharon writes the blog Conquering Codependency for Psychology Today and is the author of The CBT Workbook for Perfectionism and The Better Boundaries Workbook. Resources Sharon's website: https://www.livewellwithsharonmartin.com/ Thank you to this week's sponsors! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farm workers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Help us make Trauma Therapist Network the best resource it can be! Send a message about resources you think should be included in the Trauma Therapist Network Site using the form on this page. Looking for a trauma therapist or are you a trauma therapist wanting to join the network? Check it out at: www.traumatherapistnetwork.com! Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts are also found on the site. Follow Therapy Chat on Instagram Follow Trauma Chat on Instagram Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

NOTE: This episode is not medical advice. If you have questions about COVID, consult your doctor. Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week host Laura Reagan welcomes returning guest Kyle Davies back to the show. Laura and Kyle discuss their experiences recovering from COVID and some of the long term symptoms of fatigue and brain fog that they and others they know have experienced. Kyle shares his perspective on COVID and how he has used similar techniques to those he practices with people who have chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses to help reduce such symptoms.  Kyle's bio: I spent 5 years at 2 universities studying academic psychology. When I left I trained and volunteered as a telephone counsellor for a helpline for carers of sufferers of dementia and got a real taste of the discomforts life can bring. But my real passion to understand and reduce human suffering stemmed from my own struggles with anxiety, depression, and other symptoms. During my late teens and early twenties, I was plagued with bouts of intense anxiety and depression which impacted my education, career, relationships and social life. I tried a variety of therapies; some helped a little, some were totally pointless. As I moved into my mid-twenties, my symptoms began to recede. I was intrigued and keen to understand what exactly it was that I had done that had contributed to my ‘recovery’ at that time. I’d been playing with breathing and getting out of my overly active mind, but there was more to it than that. At the time I was working as a psychologist in management consulting, so I decided to train in a variety of therapeutic modalities and opened my first therapy clinic in 1999. In the early 2000s I began working in partnership with a medical doctor and we pioneered a new mind-body approach for working with symptoms of chronic fatigue and pain and other medically unexplained symptoms. Working with hundreds of clients, reading, researching, and continuing to observe my own experience, helped me to gain real insights into how we construct our reality, and what really causes suffering and symptoms. I began to see that human beings are designed to flow. We are self-healing and self-correcting, our default setting is to thrive. When we experience symptoms and syndromes, or are struggling in some way, something is blocking our flow, there are obstacles in the way, the energy valve is partially closed. Peeling away the layers to reveal our authentic core facilitates a return to wellness, vitality and peace of mind. Life is and ebb and flow, with lessons and challenges. My struggles and strifes didn’t abandon me in my early twenties and as I got better at understanding the nature of experience, I could see in my own life that the layers and obstacles related to control, self-worth, resistance, sense of self, and, at a very deep level, how I saw myself in relation to the world around me. In most cases we see life as happening to us, we are victims of circumstance. Walking the path of energy-flow helps to open us to the realisation that life is flowing through us, we are life. As we do this the obstacles fall away and we begin to experience more of who we really are. My approach is to walk a path with my clients, maybe staying just one step ahead, applying the principles and practices together, on an experiential and ultimately transformational journey. I help my clients understand how their minds work. This goes beyond simple tools and techniques. As we begin to have a different perspective on who we are, we can shed who we are not. We can then break free from from the cage, the mental matrix with all the limiting beliefs, stories, narratives and conditioning that keep us shacked, operating in a limited version of ourselves. The aim is to help you experience all of you. To experience mental clarity, peace of mind and live with a real sense of personal freedom. Listen to Kyle's past Therapy Chat interviews here: Episode 230 Episode 161 Episode 115 Episode 110 Visit Kyle's website: https://energyflowcoaching.com/ Thank you to this week's sponsors! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farm workers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Help us make Trauma Therapist Network the best resource it can be! Send a message about resources you think should be included in the Trauma Therapist Network Site using the form on this page. Looking for a trauma therapist or are you a trauma therapist wanting to join the network? Check it out at: www.traumatherapistnetwork.com! Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts are also found on the site. Follow Therapy Chat on Instagram Follow Trauma Chat on Instagram Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C interviews Erika Shershun, LMFT, a somatic trauma therapist in California who specializes in working with survivors of sexual trauma. In this episode you'll hear Erika, who is trained in EMDR and Somatic Experiencing, talk about the importance of embodiment - being present in our bodies - to the healing process and how sexual trauma can make it difficult to stay in our bodies. She discusses some of the common reactions to sexual trauma and explains how her book, Healing Sexual Trauma, offers daily practices for grounding, orienting, coming into safety and coming into presence. She even demonstrates an orienting practice she frequently uses with clients.   Guest's Bio:   Erika Shershun, LMFT is a somatic psychotherapist specializing in working with sexual trauma survivors. Her work is body based and trauma informed, incorporating neurobiology and EMDR to help ease and resolve symptoms. Passionate about getting the needed tools that eluded her for so long into the hands of all survivors, she wrote the Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook, released by New Harbinger in July, 2021. Drawing on the powerful mind-body techniques of somatic therapy, it’s a step-by-step guide to overcoming the physical and psychological effects of sexual trauma, increasing positive body awareness and restoring a sense of hope and vitality. Erika sees individual clients residing in California, and facilitates an ongoing weekly therapy group for female identified survivors at her practice in San Francisco (currently meeting remotely). A second specialization is working with artists, performers, and creatives. Erika welcomes and values diversity, including all races, sexualities, genders, body sizes, and abilities. Resources Find Erika's FREE e-book, The Many Ways to Ground, and purchase her workbook, The Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook, at: www.healingsexualtrauma.com.  Erika's therapy website is at: https://www.erikashershuntherapy.com/ Follow Erika on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikashershun  Thank you to this week's sponsors! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farm workers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Help us make Trauma Therapist Network the best resource it can be! Send a message about resources you think should be included in the Trauma Therapist Network Site using the form on this page. Looking for a trauma therapist or are you a trauma therapist wanting to join the network? Check it out at: www.traumatherapistnetwork.com! Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts are also found on the site. Follow Therapy Chat on Instagram Follow Trauma Chat on Instagram Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! In this week's episode host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C interviews Jana Glass, LPC about how she uses Brainspotting with her clients who have perinatal trauma.  Jana Glass is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Certified in Addictions, Perinatal Mental Health, Brainspotting, and Telemental Health. She founded her private practice, Supportive Solutions, LLC, to support people healing from trauma, recovering from substance abuse, and improving Perinatal Mental Health including support with fertility challenges, miscarriage, stillbirths, difficult births, and Pre and Postpartum Mood and Anxiety disorders. Jana is passionate about serving the Perinatal Mental Health Community due to her own challenges faced on her journey to parenthood. She found personal healing through Brainspotting and is energized when educating helping professionals and birthgivers about this transformative approach. Jana is a Brainspotting Specialty trainer who conducts the two day Connecting the Rainbow: Brainspotting to Heal Perinatal Trauma Training. She provides group and individual consultation to Clinicians while helping them navigate the path to Brainspotting Certification. Jana also moderates a Facebook group for professionals called "Brainspotting and Perinatal Mental Health" to support and guide clinicians working with this vital population. Resources Jana can be contacted at www.supportivesolutionsga.com. Thank you to this week's sponsors! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farm workers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Help us make Trauma Therapist Network the best resource it can be! Send a message about resources you think should be included in the Trauma Therapist Network Site using the form on this page. Looking for a trauma therapist or are you a trauma therapist wanting to join the network? Check it out at: www.traumatherapistnetwork.com! Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts are also found on the site. Follow Therapy Chat on Instagram Follow Trauma Chat on Instagram Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome to episode 303 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. This week's episode features two previous fascinating conversations with Amy Sugeno, LCSW, PLLC. Amy explains that Eco Therapy can take many forms, including animal-assisted (for example, canine and equine) therapies, wilderness therapies, walk and talk therapy, horticulture therapy and clinical eco-therapy in an office, as well as many other possibilities. She explains that this is a depth-oriented type of psychotherapy which can be very powerful. Amy describes how she conducts an eco-therapy session what to wear and what a client can expect overall. She and Laura discuss the power dynamics of the therapy relationship and how Eco Therapy can help create a balance. For the past 10 years, Amy has worked to help people heal from trauma. Most of her work has been with adults and teens affected by interpersonal violence and sexual abuse. Over the years, she has also worked with people struggling with suicidal thoughts, self-harming behaviors, eating disorders, homelessness, chronic mental illness, and substance abuse. Thank you to this episode's sponsor, TherapyNotes. Get a 2-month free trial of TherapyNotes by going to www.TherapyNotes.com and using the promo code TherapyChat.  Resources http://www.amysugenocounseling.com/ Thank you to this week's sponsors! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farm workers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Help us make Trauma Therapist Network the best resource it can be! Send a message about resources you think should be included in the Trauma Therapist Network Site using the form on this page. Looking for a trauma therapist or are you a trauma therapist wanting to join the network? Check it out at: www.traumatherapistnetwork.com! Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts are also found on the site. Follow Therapy Chat on Instagram Follow Trauma Chat on Instagram Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits her interview with Dr. Mona Delahooke, a child psychologist, blogger and author who is spreading the message that the behavioral approach to understanding children's behavior is missing two important pieces. In her book and her blog she shares how children's behavior reflects their internal experience and their attempts to get their needs met, including the primary need for safety and attachment and sensory needs.  Mona M. Delahooke, Ph.D. is a clinical child psychologist with a passion for supporting families and children. She has worked widely with multi- disciplinary teams in the area of developmental and emotional differences for over 20 years. She is a senior faculty member of the Profectum Foundation and is a trainer and consultant to schools, public/private agencies and parents. Her blog and award winning book, Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges explains a new neurodevelopmental approach to childhood challenges for therapists, parents and teachers. Resources Want to learn more about what Dr. Mona Delahooke's doing? Her website is here. Find Mona's book, Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges on Amazon here! I recommend this book to parents daily, it is awesome! Thank you to this week's sponsors! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farm workers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Help us make Trauma Therapist Network the best resource it can be! Send a message about resources you think should be included in the Trauma Therapist Network Site using the form on this page. Looking for a trauma therapist or are you a trauma therapist wanting to join the network? Check it out at: www.traumatherapistnetwork.com! Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts are also found on the site. Follow Therapy Chat on Instagram Follow Trauma Chat on Instagram Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week, in a replay episode, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C shares two past episodes from earlier this year. Laura interviewed infant and child therapy specialist Dr. Janet Courtney, who shares why she uses play therapy and expressive arts in her work with traumatized children and families. In part two she speaks about infant mental health and how she works with traumatized infants and their families. About this episode's guest: Janet A. Courtney, PhD, RPT-S is Founder of FirstPlay® Therapy (an infant play therapy model) and founder of the FirstPlayCafe blog. Dr. Courtney is author of, “Healing Child and Family Trauma through Expressive and Play Therapies: Art, Nature, Storytelling, Body and Mindfulness,” and author and Editor of the groundbreaking books, “Infant Play Therapy: Foundations, Models, Programs and Practice, “ and “Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy: An Ethical and Clinical Guide.”  She is a TEDx Speaker, a Registered Play Therapy Supervisor, and past chair of the Ethics and Practice committee for the Association of Play Therapy and past President of the Florida Association for Play Therapy. Since 1997 she was an Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work at Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida. Her research into practitioner experiences of training in touch and Developmental Play Therapy is published in the American Journal of Art Therapy and the International Journal of Play Therapy.    She offers a certification to practitioners in FirstPlay Therapy® and provides training to professionals in the Ethical and Clinical Competencies of Touch, Expressive Play Therapies, and nature-based Play Therapy. Dr. Courtney has created a unique form of therapeutic storytelling called, FirstPlay Kinesthetic Storytelling® that can be found in her children’s book, The Magic Rainbow.  Resources Website: www.FirstPlayTherapy.com and www.FirstPlaycafe.com Thank you to this week's sponsors! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farm workers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Help us make Trauma Therapist Network the best resource it can be! Send a message about resources you think should be included in the Trauma Therapist Network Site using the form on this page. Looking for a trauma therapist or are you a trauma therapist wanting to join the network? Check it out at: www.traumatherapistnetwork.com! Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts are also found on the site. Follow Therapy Chat on Instagram Follow Trauma Chat on Instagram Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week we are celebrating 300 episodes. Therapy Chat Podcast started six years ago in August, 2015. Since then the show has been downloaded - as of today, which is October 18, 2021 - 4,296,070 times. Host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C thanks everyone who has listened, whether this is your first time or you've listened from the start, and everyone in between. Today, to celebrate the 300th episode Laura shares some of the resources she recommends to people again and again. This list will be published on the Resources page of the Trauma Therapist Network site and will be updated as more resources are developed and as Laura learns about more resources that are out there. The information is organized into groupings based on whether the resource is focused on healing after trauma; training for therapists wanting to work with children and adults who have experienced trauma; and finding a therapist to help after experiencing trauma. Listener participation opportunity:  Share Your Favorite Resources in an audio message here! Or go to www.traumatherapistnetwork.com and use the help bottom at the lower right of the page to send a message telling us what your favorite resources are and why you love them. Thank you to this week's sponsors! Sunset Lake CBD is created on a small farm outside of Burlington, Vermont that is a producer for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  Sunset Lake CBD customers support regenerative agriculture that preserves the health of the land and creates meaningful employment in the community. Farm workers are paid a living wage, and employees own the majority of the company. Therapy Chat listeners, get 20% off your entire order of Sunset Lake CBD products using promo code CHAT at www.sunsetlakecbd.com.  Help us make Trauma Therapist Network the best resource it can be! Send a message about resources you think should be included in the Trauma Therapist Network Site using the form on this page. Looking for a trauma therapist or are you a trauma therapist wanting to join the network? Check it out at: www.traumatherapistnetwork.com! Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts are also found on the site. Follow Therapy Chat on Instagram Follow Trauma Chat on Instagram Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audioOur Sponsors:* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code CHAT for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands