Unapologetic Series: Therapy Talks

Can't believe we're already here! Welcome to the season 3 finale of USTT and we thank you so much for listening and riding with us in our 3rd season. We are so very appreciative of our listeners and we hope that you enjoy this episode. We hope you have a safe and happy holiday season.

We love talking about relationships here at USTT, so we are back with another relationship topic! Today we are talking about maintaining and even rebuilding a connection when you have been in a long term relationship. Maintaining a connection can be tough and all relationships can have rough patches, so this session is all about how to move through those tough times and create an even stronger connection. Enjoy, and stay tuned for next week's season finale!

Hey everyone! **Trigger Warning** This session we are talking about depression so if this is a sensitive topic for you, exercise self care and skip this session. Depresion in young adults can look different so in this episode we talk about what it can look like in the hopes of helping you recognize signs in yourself or in someone you love. We hope you enjoy and see ya'll next week!

Happy Wednesday! This week we are talking about vulnerability within relationships. Vulnerability is such an important component in romantic, familial, and platonic relationships. Vulnerability can be tough and definitely something that takes practice to get more comfortable with! In this session we get vulnerable and talk about areas where we struggle with vulnerability and how we've worked through it, which we hope can be helpful for all of you on your journey to being more vulnerable. Enjoy and we will see ya'll in our next session!

Hey everyone! We are back with another episode of USTT. On today's episode we are talking about the importance of self forgiveness and giving yourself grace. This episode is important especially during the holidays because we can easily get so focused on giving to others and neglect ourselves. Take this episode as a reminder to be kind to yourself and make sure you are giving yourself some grace!

Hey ya'll! This week we are touching on the hot topic of cohabitation and the unapologetic ladies are split! Some of us are pro living with a partner prior to marriage and others are strongly against it (or at least not until after an engagement). In this session we explore both sides of the argument and things get a little spicy, but having discussions on differences happens in all relationships, so we encourage you to have the same discussion in your own relationships. What side of this argument are you on??? Thanks for listening and we'll see ya'll next week!

Hey Unapologetic People!! This week's topic is a tough one for sure and always a debated topic-Infidelity in a Relationship. As psychotherapists who often work with couples, infidelity is a common issue couples come into therapy with. We discuss our individual approaches when infidelity is occurring or has previously occurred in a relationship. We talk through the importance of honesty, forgiveness, and communication when moving through infidelity. It is so important for both partners to do the work! We hope this episode is helpful in moving through your own experiences or even allows you to reflect on how you have dealt with infidelity in the past. Stay tuned for our next drop next Wednesday and don't forget to follow us on all socials @ustherapytalks.

Hi everyone! We are back with another session of USTT. With all of the sessions that we have released about relationships, talking about breakups just makes sense. Breakups can be super challenging and it's a topic that we all can relate to. We get into what the healing process can look like during a breakup and how it can be similar to the grieving process. Self-care is also important along the healing journey and therapy can be a great way to kickoff your new self care routine if you are recently getting out of a relationship. Make sure to share this session with friends or family who may need some comfort and support during this time! Make sure to follow us on all social media platforms @ustherapytalks and make sure you are subscribed to us wherever you listen to podcasts!

Hey everyone! We are back with episode 3 of season 3 of USTT. This week we're discussing the importance of creating and maintaining a good work-life balance. In our society there can be so much pressure to "do it all" or "keep grinding" and that is simply not realistic nor healthy for us physically and mentally. In this episode we talk about burnout, self-advocacy at work, and provide some tips if you need some help making sure that you are taking care of yourself, even with a busy schedule!  Dont forget to follow on all socials @ustherapytalks

Hey ya'll! In this session we are talking all being being single! As 20-somethings there are pressures to be in a relationship which can make those who are single feel like they are missing out, jealous, or even doubt themselves. We dive into the topic of how to embrace being single in a variety of ways- whether you're ready to start dating around, want to get back into another relationship, or just want to happy with being with yourself...this episode is for you! Make sure to follow and interact with us on all of our social media! @ustherapytalks

The unapologetic ladies are back with our season 3 premiere! We hope you all are as excited as we are! As masters level and associate level therapists, we get asked about the therapy process often. In this session we talk about how we know, as therapists, when therapy is working for our clients such as increasing the client's level of self awareness and accountability. We also talk about how progress can look like from the client's point of view. Therapy is a unique and special process, so we hope that we can provide some insight to help you along in your therapy journey. Thanks for listening! ✨

Hey Unapologetic People! We are back with a quick check-in before we officially drop our season 3 premiere This Wednesday at Midnight. We know you've all been curious about what we've been up to, so we give some updates to get you ready for our AMAZING new season. Thanks for listening and we can't wait to continue the Unapologetic conversations!✨✨

As season 2 comes to an end we wanted to dive deep into the topic of communication. As psychotherapists, communication is one of the primary topics individuals, couples, and families come in needing help with. In this session, we talk about what healthy and unhealthy communication can look like and how each of us look at communication in our own relationships as minority women. We hope you have enjoyed, laughed, and learned with us on this season of The Unapologetic Series: Therapy Talks. Thank you for listening, stay unapologetic, and we'll see ya'll in season 3!!!!! ✨

There has always been so much trauma inflicted upon black and other minority communities. In recent years, particularly with media and social media, it seems as though we are constantly witnessing racial trauma. Consistently hearing about and seeing trauma in our everyday lives can add to the generational trauma of minorities and significantly impact our mental health. In this session we discuss how we each are personally dealing with and coping with the recent racial traumas in our society as minority women. We give some insight on how important it is to know your triggers and how crucial it can be to limit your media consumption during these hard times. You are not alone, please take care of yourselves and find safe spaces to talk openly about how all of this trauma may be impacting you. Stay tuned for our season 2 finale next week and as always-stay unapologetic.✨ Note: This session was recorded prior to the final verdict of the Derek Chauvin Trial for the Murder of George Floyd.

This week's session is all about trust. What happens when trust is broken? Can it be rebuilt? The unapologetic ladies talk about what trust means to each one of us and what it takes to rebuild it in all types of relationships and to even ask the question-is it worth it? It's so important to identify what your boundaries are when it comes to trust and how to make sure you are able to identify and work through any trust issues you have in order to move forward and have happy and healthy relationships. We hope this session inspires you to do some self reflection and have some unapologetic conversations of your own! ✨

Dating in this day and age can be a lil rough let's be real! In this session we're talking about what healthy dating looks like. Whether you are newly dating or in a relationship it's important that you are engaging in the process in a way that works for you and making sure you are communicating your needs and creating space for your partner to do so as well. Expectations, boundaries, and figuring out what you want when you're dating can sometimes result in some anxiety, but we got you! We hope you take away some gems and apply them to your own dating life. ✨

We've spent a lot of time discussing our own therapeutic and professional perspectives of what Individual Therapy is like, but what about Couples & Relationship Therapy? After all, we are therapist's trained in Marriage & Family Therapy! During this session we explore common things to expect in Couples Therapy in terms of what a therapist might expect of their client's, things that are addressed and explored in therapy, as well as common issues partners might come to therapy for including the breakdown of communication issues, types of abuse, infidelity, life transitions, uncovering unhealthy cycles and patterns within the relationship, etc. We also take the time to explain how Relationship Therapy isn't only for couples, but that it can be a place for any type of relationship including a friendship, family, or roommates and how it can be just as important for the relationship.

In this week's session we're talking emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is defined as the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions. We know expressing emotions can be difficult for some, and we talk about our own personal experiences in dealing with expressing our emotions. Emotional intelligence is an important skill for us to learn for ourselves and for our relationships. We hope you enjoy and start having your own unapologetic conversations on how you can increase your emotional intelligence! ✨

In this session the Unapologetic ladies discuss Self of the Therapist, which is how therapists recognize and deal with triggers when they come up in the therapy room with clients. Triggers can range from similar past traumas or just dealing with the same issues our clients are! Therapists are human too, so it's important to recognize when something comes up for us and how to make sure we are taking care of ourselves! That leads us into a conversation about the importance of self-care and how burnout can be all too real! Enjoy! ✨

"Forgive and Forget" is a common phrase we often hear, but what does that really mean? What are we necessarily forgiving and what are we forgetting? During this session, we get to unpack the interesting and very relatable topic of Forgiveness. We have all been in a situation where we were hurt by someone else close to us and we've either had to make the tough decision to forgive the person to help release the hurt and resentment we've been holding onto, or to continue moving forward without it. In this session, you will hear us explain our own meaning of Forgiveness and what it looks like, and open up about our own tough experiences with Forgiveness and what it did for us. We also get the chance to explain the many benefits of Forgiveness work, what it looks like in therapy, and the stages of it to help break down the actual process.

Hey guys! We're back with our second episode of season 2! This session is all about how we've been dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic over the last year, both professionally and personally. As new therapists, we talk about our experiences and challenges with doing tele-therapy and connecting with clients. We also discuss how we've been dealing with being millennials in Atlanta during a pandemic! Get ready for some laughs and some real talk. Enjoy!

Hey guys!!! Did you miss us? (We know you did) The time has finally come and the Unapologetic Ladies are back for season 2 and we couldn't be more excited! This week we're doing Relationships Part 2 because there is always so much to chat about when it comes to dating as Millennials. We share our opinions on situationships, ghosting, social media, and more! We hope you enjoy this session and stay tuned every Wednesday for new releases. Cheers to season 2!

Hey Unapologetic People! We're back for our season 1 finale! In this final session for the season we're talking about gender roles and we have a special guest, Khari Siebie @kookinwitkhari. Khari offers us some insight on the male perspective when it comes to gender roles and mental health. We also get into our own personal experiences with gender roles in relationships as well as the historical impacts and ideas of what the future of relationship roles may look like. We hope you enjoy the session, thank you for listening and we'll see you next season!! ✨

"Check yourself before you wreck yourself!" Today's session we discuss the importance of holding oneself accountable. It's so easy to be critical of  others, but have we done the necessary work to examine ourselves as well? And what does it mean to take responsibility for our words, actions and behaviors? These are just some of many important questions we delve into deeper that help us explore the benefits of personal accountability and the influence it has on our personal AND social relationships. Not sure if you're keeping yourself in check? Tune in and explore with us! 

Today's session we talk about multiracial & interracial relationships and the differences that come with dating someone of another race. We discuss our personal experiences dating outside of our race and the challenges that came with it. The impact of race in our society can directly impact relationships and we talk about how to communicate through these challenges.

Have you ever noticed how much of an impact the relationship you had growing up with your parent's has on you now as an adult? Or how any trauma that might have occurred in your past affects your interactions with others or in your relationships? That's because it does! During this session, we explore the different Attachment Styles of the Attachment Theory, a theory that breaks down the impact of the relationship between a child and their caregiver while also discussing how childhood trauma affects the way you act as an individual and the way you interact in your every day relationships. During this session we discuss the importance of discussing attachment as clinicians, how to define trauma, and we even get personal exploring our own childhood trauma or significant incidents that occurred in the past that impacted us. Later on we unpack the different attachment styles and define the symptoms of each, as well as discussing how to handle relationships with others who have endured any sort of childhood trauma. 

In this session we're going in deep and talking about self-esteem and our first experiences with self-esteem issues. We also touch on how our self-esteem journeys have evolved over the years and where we are at now. This leads us into an insightful conversation around colorism and culture. In communities of color, colorism has a major impact on self-esteem and confidence due to the historical and societal contexts. We hope you enjoy this unapologetic conversation and it inspires you to reflect on your own journey with self-esteem.

On this episode, we discuss the importance of boundaries, the different types of boundaries, and how they can be implemented and maintained in your daily lives.

Graduating from school, moving to a new state, breakups, new relationships, a new job, losing a job, or death of a loved one. These are only a few of the many life transitions that we've had to deal with at some point in our lives. Dealing with life transitions is one of the main reasons why people might begin therapy due to the fact that the attempt to navigate the many things that come along with managing these new transitions, including anxiety, uncertainty, or grief, can bring on a lot of added stress. With therapy being a great resource to help client's learn to cope with many life transitions, we wanted to create a space where we could be transparent about some of our own difficult transitions that we've dealt with throughout our lives. During this session, we explore some of our biggest transitions that we've experienced including beginning college, sexuality, relocation, divorce, and adulthood. We also share our own opinions on whether or not we believe if people can actually "do well" with change. Throughout majority of the session, we also explain how change is the foundation of all major life transitions and one of the main reasons why they can be so challenging to navigate.  We talk through our own perspectives of how we see change and how we deal with client's who might be resistant to change, as well as looking back on our first real memories of change and how we dealt with it.  Be sure to listen to the whole session, as you'll hear us list 5 Helpful Tips to help you deal with your own life transitions as we continue navigating this tricky thing called life. 

So...Let's Talk about Sex, shall we? What does sex mean to you? Are sex and intimacy one in the same? Why is sex such a "taboo" topic for some? Lucky for you, we address all of that and then some in this session! With sex being all over media now in songs, videos, commercials, and television shows, we attempt to explore as a group why sex can still be a difficulty topic of conversation inside and outside of a relationship. During this session, we each define our own meaning of sex and what it consists of. We also talk about what conversations look like in the therapy room talking about sex with client's and what it takes to have what we like to call a "sex positive relationship",  which includes healthy communication about sex, discussion about possible traumas, as well as needs and wants and boundaries. We also introduce a popular sex therapy intervention called a "sex genogram" that helps collect important sexual history with couples during sessions. During this session, we get a chance to reveal some interesting sex statistics and we also get into the difference between sex and intimacy, explore the meaning of intimacy, and what our individual sex and intimacy "ingredients" are. The 5 Love Languages come up in conversation when discussing intimacy, while briefly discussing why intimacy is a common missing component with couples in therapy. Lastly, we touch on the topic of casual sex and why  some on social the media think it may not be for everyone. We as a group know sex can be a difficult topic for some to discuss, but we invite you to sit back, relax, and get into these fun, yet important topics of discussion. 

*Cue Beyonce's 'Friends' and the theme song to 'Girlfriends'*. Before we were podcastmates, we were friends first. Our relationship with each other and our mutual bond over mental health is ultimately what fueled the idea to create this podcast, so this week's session is dedicated to relationships, specifically friendships. During this session we discuss our early childhood relationships and how we learned about friendships and partnerships. We also discuss the interesting topic of why it seems as though there are more expectations held for friends versus partners. And even though we're a group of friends, or the "clique" as we're better known as, we each explore our different views on friendships discussing what they look like and our own expectations surrounding communication and other important components of a friendship. During this session we also debate if there is a difference between partnerships and friendships and the importance of setting expectations for friendships. Towards the end of the session, you'll also hear us discuss our own perspectives of each other's roles in our friend group and how we each contribute to the relationship. Friendships and relationships play a major role in mental health so you'll be hearing us discuss many different types of relationships moving forward on this journey. 

*Disclaimer-this session topic is important and needs to heard, however it can also be triggering for you and it can bring up a vast amount of emotions while you listen*. The name of this session is titled 'Black Lives Matter' simply because they do. However, the reality is that we recorded this session shortly after the unjust murder of George Floyd and here we are months later witnessing Breonna Taylor not receive justice for her unjust murder, and STILL crying out to the world that Black Lives Matter. During this session we explore our own individual thoughts and feelings after hearing the devastating news about George Floyd, as well as discuss our own personal thoughts and reactions towards the looting and protesting that occurred in the city of Atlanta. We also take some time to explain the definition of Systemic Racism and how it plays out in our society, as well as talking through how what we might be living in the time of a Revolution. In this session we also introduce a common intervention in therapy called the 'Feelings Wheel' developed by Dr. Gloria Wilcox as we use it to help identify our underlying emotions, as well as explain Racial Trauma and how we can work towards having conversations about how it affects our mental health with our families. As therapists, as Black and Minority Women, and advocates of social justice, it was our duty to create a space to have these conversations with each other to ensure that our mental health is intact. As you listen, be aware that we are still living through racism and that we cannot progress if we stop having these important conversations and helping others to check their privilege, or use it to create change. Let's continue fighting and using our voices for justice. Black Lives Matter. Black Women's Lives Matter. Black Trans Lives Matter. 

This week's session is all about body image and the impact it has on our mental and physical health. We felt like this was a super relatable and appropriate topic to discuss especially considering all of the conversations discussing what society sees as the "ideal" look.  We open up about our own insecurities with our body, past and present, how much body image has changed over the years with social media and cultural differences, and even how the quarantine negatively impacted some of our thoughts about our body. We also dive into what we think about common gender differences regarding body image, as well as what it's like being a minority female in a world with societal expectations and how they influence our thoughts and ideas. The goal of this session is to help you be unapologetic about your authentic body type in the hope that society's expectations won't have an impact on how you feel about yourself and your body. 

Hey Guys! Here is the first official episode of the Unapologetic Series: Therapy Talks. What better way to introduce our podcast other than to talk about therapy! During this session, we discuss our own perspectives of the meaning of therapy as practicing clinicians, from our own experiences of therapy in the past, and how society currently views it. We also take the time to discuss the common stereotypes of therapy and the stigmas around it, specifically in the Black community. We also get a chance to discuss some ideas on how we can break the stigma and work towards normalizing mental health and seeking therapy for self-improvement and for overall well-being. 

Welcome to the Unapologetic Series: Therapy Talks Podcast! We are a podcast comprised of six minority, student and master's level, millennial therapists who love having authentic, UNAPOLOGETIC conversations. Listen to this intake session to learn more about our individual goals for this podcast, how we met, and a brief overview of some of the topics we'll be touching on.