Podcasts about survival guide

How to Be Accessible Beyond the Sliding Scale An interview with Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, LMSW, about how therapy can be accessible (and not just financially). Curt and Katie chat with Lindsay about capitalism versus money exchange, the social enterprise model, and how therapists can make a good living without feeling like greedy capitalists. We also explore the many different types of accessibility and the importance of setting your fees based on your needs and values rather than as a mechanism to single-handedly fix the broken system or to meet an artificial money goal.     It's time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age. Interview with Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, LMSW, Mind Money Balance Lindsay Bryan-Podvin (she/her) is a biracial financial therapist, speaker, and author of the book "The Financial Anxiety Solution." In her therapy practice, Mind Money Balance, she uses shame-free financial therapy to help people get their minds and money in balance. She's expanded her services to help private practice therapists with their money mindset, sustainable pricing, and authentic marketing so they can include financial self-care in their work. She lives with her partner and their dog on the traditional land of the Fox, Peoria, Potawatomi, and Anishinabewaki peoples also known as Michigan. In this episode we talk about: How therapy can be more accessible (and not just monetarily) The money “shit” that gets in the way of us thinking about other options for accessibility Decreasing stigma and the notion that therapy is by and for white folks Are we making our practices accessible for all sorts of folks? ADA compliance, supporting neurodivergent and disabled folks Cultural competence, the ability to apply that in sessions with clients who are different than us Being embedded in our communities Taking therapy out of the shadows The challenges in getting out and having a larger voice How accessibility is intertwined with therapist visibility How to become part of your community in effective and impactful ways Financial ways to make your practice more accessible beyond sliding scale Social Enterprise Model: intersection of what you do well, what values you stand for, and what can you get paid well to do Feeling like a greedy capitalist What it means to be paid well How to think about setting your fees Fee-setting based on what you need to survive and thrive (not capitalist principles) The problem with “know your worth” The big cognitive shift required to move from community mental health pricing and work-life balance, fees Tying money to quality of life, not specific monetary goals Getting to “enough” not more and more Capitalism versus money exchange The wealth of knowledge we have as therapists (and how therapists take it for granted and/or devalue it) Sharing your knowledge as a mechanism of accessibility to your whole community To practice self-care, you have to be able to afford it Our Generous Sponsor: Trauma Therapist Network Trauma is highly prevalent in mental health client populations and people are looking for therapists with specialized training and experience in trauma, but they often don't know where to start. If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There are so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan, LCSW-C created Trauma Therapist Network.  Trauma Therapist Network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work and what they specialize in, so potential clients can find them. Trauma Therapist Network therapist profiles include the types of trauma specialized in, populations served and therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them.  The Network is more than a directory, though. It's a community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect, consult and network with colleagues around the country. Join our growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code:  MTSG20 at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com.   Resources mentioned: We've pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance! www.mindmoneybalance.com https://www.instagram.com/mindmoneybalance/ Lindsay's podcast: Mind Money Balance   Relevant Episodes: Lindsay's previous podcast episode: Financial Therapy Katie Read: Therapists Shaming Therapists Negotiating Sliding Scale Making Access More Affordable Asking for Money Reimagining Therapy Reimagined   Connect with us! Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group  Our consultation services: The Fifty-Minute Hour Who we are: Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and CSUN, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, former CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also a former President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com A Quick Note: Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We're working on it. Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren't trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don't want to, but hey.   Stay in Touch: www.mtsgpodcast.com www.therapyreimagined.com Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapist's Group https://www.facebook.com/therapyreimagined/ https://twitter.com/therapymovement https://www.instagram.com/therapyreimagined/   Credits: Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/ Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/   Transcript (Autogenerated)   Curt Widhalm  00:00 This episode is sponsored by trauma therapist network.   Katie Vernoy  00:04 Trauma therapist network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work, and what they specialize in so potential clients can find them. Visit traumatherapistnetwork.com to learn more,   Curt Widhalm  00:27 listen at the end of the episode for more about the trauma therapist network.   Announcer  00:31 You're listening to the Modern Therapist's Survival Guide, where therapists live, breed and practice as human beings to support you as a whole person and a therapist. Here are your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy.   Curt Widhalm  00:47 Welcome back modern therapists. This is the modern therapist Survival Guide. I'm Curt Widhalm, with Katie Vernoy. And this is the podcast for therapists about things that we do things that we don't do things that maybe we should do. And both Katie and our guests today are looking at me like, where is this going? And honestly, this is just one of those rambling intros that we have. So rather than making this more awkward, we're joined once again by Lindsey Bryan Podvin. She's been a guest to the show before spoken at therapy reimagined with us, talking to us about money and ways that we could be looking at it for our practice. So thank you for joining us again.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  01:35 Oh, yeah, I'm really happy to be here. This is my favorite thing to chat about, and to be in community with you guys. Again, it's fun.   Katie Vernoy  01:43 Oh, we're so glad to have you back. And we'll definitely link to your previous episode in our show notes. But for folks who haven't heard from you for a while, or for our new listeners, tell us who you are and what you're putting out into the world.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  01:57 Yeah, so as Curt mentioned, my name is Lindsay Bryan-Podvin. I'm a social worker, and financial therapist, and I have kind of two arms of what I'm putting out there into the world, I have my clinical arm, and then I have my consulting arm. So in my clinical world, I'm doing financial therapy, which is helping clients with the emotional and psychological side of money, which spoiler alert is all of it, I think. And then, on the consulting side, I know you all know that therapists have money, shit, and we have a lot of hang ups about it. And so in my consulting arm, I help mostly other therapists, though, over the past year, I'll say that other kind of helping professionals have woven their way in, whether it's dietitians, acupuncturist, Reiki healers, because I think a lot of us get similar messaging about what money is and what it isn't. And so I help them work on their emotional and psychological relationship with money so they can have sustainable and profitable businesses. And I do, like outside of the the hands on work, or the zoom work, I suppose I have a podcast and Instagram, a pretty active blog and an email list that keeps me using my creative side of my brain.   Katie Vernoy  03:13 Nice. I love it.   Curt Widhalm  03:15 One of the big discussions that's been in the social justice aspects of our field, especially for private practitioners, and admittedly also here on our show, is talking about things like accessibility and being able to make our services go beyond just those top paying cash pay clients. Can you walk us through kind of what you hear in these discussions about accessibility for practices, and especially as it relates to some of these monetary issues?   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  03:50 Yeah, I think as therapists we get really stuck on accessibility being only a monetary issue. So we think about solving for that problem by sliding our scale or by offering pro bono spaces. But we forget about all the other ways in which we can and should be accessible if that works in alignment with us. So as I think you guys were talking with Katie read about like the the the money talk that comes up on therapists forums and how there's so much guilt and shame and, and judgment about what people do or don't do, whether they do or don't take insurance, whether they do or don't slide their scale, but that's where most of us get stuck. And there are so many things beyond sliding our scale and the fee that we charge that can bring about accessibility for our practices and in our communities.   Katie Vernoy  04:45 What are some of the things that we can think about beyond sliding scale because I think I get stuck there as well with and maybe this is just our focus is that we're so focused on the monetary aspects and our own money shit as you described it, and We aren't thinking about what else isn't making us accessible.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  05:03 Yeah, I think taking a few steps back before a client even finds our website or finds us on a therapist directory, really thinking about how can we make our field more accessible by talking about what is therapy, I think in a lot of communities, we still have these stigmas that therapy is buy in for white people. And it's done on a couch with, you know, a person who's got reinforced elbows and they're smoking a pipe, right? You know, like, we have that imagery. And if we are not talking to our communities about what therapy is and who it is for, and how it can be helpful by not just talking about what it is, but also the stigma reduction, we don't even get people landing on our websites or knocking on our, you know, figurative door, right. So being in our communities and talking about what it is and who it's for, and how it can be helpful. And also talking about just the ins and outs of therapy, that it is confidential. I think in a lot of communities, there's a fear that if I go to a therapist, then you know, my mom's cousins going to find out about it, or that my employer will be told about it, or that my partner will be told about it. So I think there's some education that has to happen on the backend before people even get to our doors. And then in terms of other measures of accessibility outside of this scale. Let's get really granular on on what is accessibility? Do our clients see themselves reflected in the way that we practice therapy? Can clients who have disabilities, either neurodiversity or physical limitations, do they have actual access to our offices? Are they ADA compliant? Do we offer you know, nowadays, so many of us offer basically zoom therapy? Which makes it so much more accessible? Are we operating on bus routes and public transportation? Is there easy parking, like the literal accessibility piece? And then the cultural competency piece? Can they speak my language? If I don't speak English? Do I have somebody sitting across from me in the therapy room? Who gets what I'm talking about? When we talk about cultural competence? Not just thinking about, you know, whether or not you took a class on Southeast Asian Studies. But what does that mean? And how does that show up in our spaces, and being embedded in our community beyond just like, hiding in this little bubble, where we're kind of shrouded in mystery, I think, taking therapy out of the shadows and making it more commonplace in our communities, like we are healers in our communities. And we shouldn't be hiding behind the walls of like mystery what when there are community events, I would love to see more therapists out and they're out and about, as sponsors, as networkers and things like that, like, we also have to take ourselves out of the shadow. So there's, there's a lot of different ways we can talk about accessibility.   Curt Widhalm  07:59 So I love what you're saying, I completely agree with getting out there. There's some some stumbling steps that can happen in putting ourselves out there, because so much of our history is in being shrouded to the, you know, the shadows. And sometimes the responses that I hear from clinicians is, oh, that person went out and was talking about this, but didn't represent themselves. Well, it isn't representing the field. Well, do you have any advice as far as taking some of these steps? You know, look at you, and all of the things that you post in your newsletters and social media and this kind of stuff, money seems to be kind of like a fairly neutral ground as far as being able to talk about relationships with money. For those who are looking to maybe take some other steps as far as making this accessibility happen, that might be around more unique issues to communities. Do you have any suggestions on how people might find the confidence to be able to make those steps?   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  09:03 Yeah, I really like this question. Because I think that accessibility and visibility are are intertwined. And visibility isn't just social media. So let's say you do want to be more accessible in your community and you do want to be more visible in your community, but you're talking about something that is more sensitive, like you know, sexual trauma, then yeah, maybe going on in doing an Instagram live about it isn't probably the most appropriate way because you don't know who's on the other side of it, you really can't create a container of people to make sure that it's safer or at least safer. So maybe in that instance, it's going to, you know, a high school and pulling a you know, having a group of 30 kids that you are talking to about this in like a speaking engagement setting or maybe it is going to the healthcare system and sitting down and talking to the medical social workers about what you know, or to the nurse midwives about what you know, right there. Different ways to get out and become a part of the community that don't involve these kind of one way one sided communication methods. Does that make sense?   Katie Vernoy  10:11 It does, I think this idea of making the whole profession more accessible to folks and all folks, and not just the kind of historical white people and the, the, the patches and the pipes. I think that to me is, it's really, really important. And I think it also is only a first step. Because when they get to our door is there still is I think, you know, financial accessibility concerns for a lot of folks. And so are there financial ways to be accessible that don't involve involves sliding your scale?   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  10:48 Yeah, of course. So, undoubtedly, money is a real accessibility issue. I'm not just saying like, Oh, you know, just get out there. That's it sounds it? All. Right, exactly. Exactly. An email newsletter is not going to fix accessibility. But as you guys have also talked about on this podcast, it's not the responsibility of an individual therapist, to fix the broken medical system salute here. And at the same time, there are more creative ways to provide services to people in your community that are might be easier on their pocketbooks. So group therapy is also a really great option, because you as the clinician are still generating the revenue that you need to, and the people on the other side are usually paying you less dollars per session. Insurance, I know there's a big again, it's not your job to accept insurance if they don't reimburse you well, but accepting insurance is a measure of accessibility. And even if you aren't accepting insurance, helping your clients out, walking them through what a super bill is, you know, spending a little bit of time in session, making sure that they know what that means and how to actually get it done. That, to me is incredibly helpful. So providing a bit of space in the in the session to talk through how you can do that, particularly if they have anxiety, or they've got some ADHD, you know, they might need a little extra hand holding to get those things done. There are depending on your licensing board, I've seen some people do sponsored therapy spot. So it's a little bit different than a pro bono. It's Think of it like a scholarship for therapy. So the way that I've seen this work is for clients who pay a full fee, you essentially tell them look by you paying a full fee, a portion of your fee goes towards sponsoring somebody who would not be able to afford therapy with me. So you're still getting income, but you're also having the clients who are able to pay your fee, kind of some buy in that they are also kind of helping out other people in the community. So those are some different ways to be accessible, that don't involve sliding your scale doesn't mean you have to do all or any of them. It's just different ways to think about it.   Curt Widhalm  13:04 On of the things that you talked about in your presentation at the therapy reimagined conference, this social enterprise.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  13:12 Yes.   Curt Widhalm  13:14 Can you tell us more about that, what it means for people who maybe didn't attend the conference and what the social enterprise model is and how this might fit in for therapists?   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  13:24 Yeah, I think so many therapists struggle with this idea of charging for services because we've internalized so many things about what money is or what it isn't. And the social enterprise model essentially says, look, there are three things to provide something that you can feel good about doing. And also know that you are being compensated fairly for it. And it exists at the intersection of these three things. One, what do you do well, what values do you stand for? And what can you be paid? Well to do, and as therapists I think, if we can think about ourselves at the intersection of that, of existing, and I do this really well, these are in alignment with my values, this type of therapeutic intervention is in alignment with my values, and I can be paid well to do that. You know, that you are contributing to the greater good of the community by making sure that you're not just wringing out your clients for the most dollars you can get right? I think so many of us think that if I charge money, then I'm a greedy capitalist, but it's also about am I being compensated for the skills that I offer and the transformations that I'm able to help facilitate in a meaningful way?   Katie Vernoy  14:41 I know that there are a lot of different perspectives on how you decide how much money to wring out of your client. And, and and you mentioned the episode with Katie Read and we've had other conversations as well, just about the shoulds. And you know, how I should set my fees and those types of things. Yeah, and to me, it feels like there's so much nuance. It's it's a wide open space, there's a lot of shit. So people feel like it's not wide open, but I feel like it really is. What advice do you have on on setting those fees? Because when we're in that space where I can be paid well for it, it's aligned with my values, and I can do it well, like, it can be hard to figure out like, and what does being paid? Well mean, that I can feel good about?   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  15:30 Yeah. And I think that's such a good question. Because this idea of what does it mean to be paid? Well, is so skewed in our field, my first job, I was making $32,000, you know, with a master's degree, and I don't think that's an unfamiliar number or salary for people to hear. And so when a lot of people go into private practice, they hold themselves to that standard, oh, well, I was making 40k or 50k. I think that's a reasonable salary. I think that's what I'll try to make. So we haven't thought beyond what do we actually need to survive and thrive. And that's where doing things in alignment with your values can be really beneficial. So when it comes to fi setting, you're not just thinking about what are you charging your clients? You're also thinking about? Does that fee sustain me and allow me to practice financial self care? Which means Can I take care of my financial needs? Yes, but do Am I also able to support my mental, my emotional and my spiritual self. With that? I know, I was, I was loving your episode on burnout. And I love the modeling that the two of you did by saying, Look, we're going to hit pause on the therapy reimagine conference, we also have to build in time off and time for restoration, there is a study that says we need, I think, oh, shoot, I'm going to botch it. Now. I think it's eight or 10 consecutive days off in a row to actually unplug from work. So making sure that you have that built in to your time off. So making sure it covers your time off making sure it covers your health insurance. Unfortunately, we live in a society where your healthcare is tied with your employment. So when you're self employed, you have to make sure that you can cover your health insurance, you have to also make sure that you're thinking about your future self in traditional employment, we often have access to retirement plans or programs. And when we move into entrepreneurship, we are our own 401k or four, three B plan. So we have to make sure that all of those things are taken into account. And we don't want to be overworking ourselves. When we show up exhausted and burnt out and watching the clock, we are not being good clinicians we just aren't. And just taking stock of our own energy, my full pre pandemic was 18, I could comfortably see 18 clients a week that felt like a good fit for me, I wasn't burnt out, I wasn't presenting my clients, I had downtime to get the things done, I needed to do and I charged accordingly. Now, my max is 12. I have found that doing zoom therapy. While there are so many advantages of it, like I genuinely really like it, I find that literally the physicality of sitting still and staring at my screen and just what really watching so much harder for nuances through the screen takes so much more energy out of me and I can no longer comfortably and competently feel like I'm a good practitioner when I'm seeing 18 clients when I've had to scale that back to 12. And then what do I have to do to make up for that income? So that was a long answer of saying it depends. You have to figure out what money you need to be bringing in and you need to make sure that you're not just thinking about comparing it to what you use to earn an agency job because you were likely being underpaid there.   Katie Vernoy  18:47 It's hard not to feel like a greedy capitalist. With that it means you have to charge a premium fee mostly   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  18:56 Yeah, yeah.   Curt Widhalm  18:59 Give me advice for people making that jump to those premium price because I'm sure that there's a lot of our listeners who might be considering leaving an agency job and being like, you know, I know you know my session value in this agency and this aligns maybe with my values but in going out and charging somebody three four or five times that fee in order to meet my money goals seems like it has a lot of opportunity to bring up some that imposter syndrome and really being able to balance that for those individuals you have any guidance on what to really look at hopefully beyond just kind of know your worth.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  19:43 Yeah. Oh my god. Thank you for saying that because also the Know your worth thing. That's a trope I used to find myself repeating. And then a friend of mine who's a behavioral economist, she shared with me Jaquette Timmons and she's goes Lindsay You have to stop saying that because we as humans We don't have a worth. So instead, she invited me to reframe it as charged the value of what your services are worth to give yourself a little bit of psychic distance there between like, I'm worth $300. Now it's like no, the value of my services are worth $300 an hour. So anyway, tangent aside, how can you come into charging fees for your services, I think there is a pendulum swing that I see happen when people try to get out of the mentality of sliding their scale as low as possible to charging premium fees. And so they go from being in spaces where being a good therapist means charging very little into spaces that are like, You need to be a six, seven figure business owner, and you need to be charging premium fees, which can be as we know, a big jump cognitively. And so I always invite people to come back to your values, your lifestyle needs, your unique financial goals. And I'm not about bashing the people who are saying, Oh, you need to make six figures or seven figures. My practice does generate six figures. But I don't think that is a magical goalposts where all your problems are suddenly solved. I think this chase this money charge, the premium fees, you have to work more can backfire. In that it forces us to work more meaning when you have that mentality of I have to work harder, I have to chase this x figure goal or this premium fee number. What happens often is you get into this space where I'll just use myself for an example that that 12 clients Oh, I saw 12 clients a week, I made enough money to hit my goals. I started to cultivate work life balance. But now what if I saw twice as many people, I could make twice as much money? What could I do it twice as much money. And then all of a sudden you forget about why you did it in the first place. So coming back to how much do I need? How much do I desire and is the money that I'm charging, allowing me to do things in alignment with my values, let's say family is like the most important value to me. And I want my 10 consecutive days off in a row with my family. And I want to go somewhere where I don't have to worry about you know, finding activities for us to do or cooking a bunch of food, I want to make sure that I have enough money to pay for that Airbnb to pay for takeout and that Airbnb is conveniently located to a lot of like outdoor activities. That's a goal that I can kind of reverse engineer my way. And to me, it's also modeling for your clients, you don't necessarily have to say to your client, like, Oh, my financial goal was this, this and this, and I was able to achieve it. But you're also modeling for your clients the importance of taking time off of adhering to your boundaries and practicing self care. So again, that's a tangent of an answer. But I guess the long and short of it is as you move towards charging premium fees come back to like, what your WHY IS, and when you feel that anxiety to work more and charge more and go harder, you actually may already have enough.   Katie Vernoy  23:02 I like that I think the piece that resonates for me is this, the letting go of I must get to this number, I must make more money. And I think for me, there's also this big push of like we must leverage we must, we must continue to grow and expand. And I think there's a point at which we have enough I mean, there, there may still be challenges that we need to do. But there's this, this freedom and not having to constantly grow and, and make my business bigger and make my business more successful. Like there's each person has to decide where they land or where they land for a time and you know, different seasons of what I need and what I want and what's most important to me, but it feels like it and this is kind of circling back to the the social enterprise model and kind of this idea of capitalism versus money exchange and, you know, clarifying all of that, but but it seems like when it's completely tied to values, what you're positing is that feels better than just making money for money's sake. And so, so tell us a little bit more about this. Because to me, I feel like I'm just starting to grasp the idea I was I was too caught up in the greedy capitalism, to understand kind of what what we were what we were starting to talk about with a social enterprise model.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  24:24 Yeah. So to bounce off of this idea of what is the difference between capitalism and money exchange? I think it's important to note that capitalism is a is a political economic system that we we know the dangers of right it is propped up by the unpaid and underpaid labor. So the person or people who are in charge, get the greatest amount of profit available. And as such, as we kind of touched on earlier, it's a system where we give all the praise to the people who Make a lot of money because they must have worked hard and simultaneously shamed the people who didn't make a lot of money because they must have not been hard workers. And we've we bought into that idea as a society so much so that you know, at the time that we're recording this, if you're on Twitter right now, you can see people rallying around Elon Musk saying like, yeah, he shouldn't have to pay taxes, he worked really hard. So we've got all these people saying, like, yeah, we save the billionaires instead of let's make sure we have a safety net that people can't fall through for the greater good of our society. So that's capitalism. And there's a lot of problems with it. And even if you disagree with it, unfortunately, we live in that society. Yeah. And money exchange, on the other hand has been around since the dawn of time, whether it was literal dollars or coins, there has always been an exchange of things for other things, or things or other services. And when we think about small business owners, which is most private practice owners, if we can think about ourselves as kind of the community farmstand, it helps to shift that mentality. So for example, if I go down to the farmers market, and I purchased a half a dozen eggs, I'm helping to support sustainable agriculture in my community, I get to know the person who grew my crew, my eggs, I don't think we're growing eggs, but you don't I mean, maybe if you're vegan, actually, you're growing your eggs. So you're growing your eggs substitutes? Got it? So we want to think about as therapists, how can we kind of fit into that model, where what we do in charging for services, and helping people in our community is a win win. Because when we have a healthier person in our community, because we are helping them with their mental health, what is that ripple effect on the community? And how can that be beneficial?   Curt Widhalm  26:57 It sounds like, you know, this is what a lot of practitioners do by going out into the community and sharing even some of the things that you were talking about at the top of the episode of just going and talking about mental health and about their practices and doing some, I guess, pro bono work and in the way of psychoeducation, or community education that helps to make that Win Win happen.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  27:25 Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's so so powerful. I think when we are in our spaces where we're surrounded by other mental health, folks, we forget what the baseline is of mental health knowledge. Oh, yeah, forget, just like what a wealth of information we have, like the other day, I did a presentation for non mental health care providers about what financial anxiety is, and tips to cope with it right. And for anybody in the therapy field, they'd be like, that's like, entry level CBT, maybe if you're lucky. But for this group of people, it wasn't that they don't, it's just we forget how much knowledge we have, and how valuable explaining some basics of how our minds and bodies and thoughts are connected, can be a huge value for other people in our community. So just don't take what your knowledge is for granted. Get out of your academic kind of echo chambers and go talk to people who aren't in the mental health care field. And that is really where you can offer a lot of wisdom and value in your community.   Curt Widhalm  28:33 So once again, echoing stop hanging out with therapists.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  28:41 That might be a theme. Yeah.   Katie Vernoy  28:44 Maybe it's stopped just hanging out with therapists   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  28:47 That's a good reframe  Katie   Katie Vernoy  28:49 I know, I just it's really hard. I know, for me, and we've all spoken for therapists, we've all kind of done that thing. And I'm sure, just from the way you described it, Lindsay, you've got the thing. Like, that was a really nice reminder. And like, it is so dismissive. When a therapist comes up and says that to you, you're like, Yeah, but why did you need that reminder? You know, so I think it's that piece of when you start talking to folks who are not therapists, you recognize this is really important information. And it's not going to be discarded as Oh, I already knew that because it is this new piece that's coming in, that then allows, and this is, I guess, going to do accessibility thing. It allows this information to be disseminated more widely widely. It's something where they then are able to implement it, and maybe some people wouldn't need therapy if this information are readily available and was there first and so I think I'm putting the pieces together, Lindsay, I'm starting to see but it's it's really sharing the knowledge. It's making sure that you're available and that you've set up a fee system that makes sense for the folks that you're Working with but it's, it's this additional piece of you know, maybe you get creative and you do sponsorships or I mean there's people that have whole mechanisms for nonprofits to donate for, for scholarships for therapy. So I, there's, there's so much creativity that doesn't require an individual to slide their scale to an unsustainable fee. But this notion of just be accessible for all with all of these other pieces, I think is is hard to do. If you're not making enough money to survive, and you're seeing 40 clients a week,   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  30:33 Ding ding ding that is exactly it. We cannot care for other people in our community when we don't take care of ourselves. And it's, you know, we hammer on this message as therapists but we forget that in order to practice self care, we need to be able to fucking afford it. Like we just do.   Katie Vernoy  30:48 Yeah, exactly.   Curt Widhalm  30:52 And it's not just kind of the big luxurious, affording things like yeah, you know, that eight to 10 days, go and do a vacation if that's your jam, but it's also being able to afford the consistent little things of and you know, it's going home at a decent time of night. It's being you know, not spending your your off hours catching up on notes, or it's having all of the other systems and everything else that we've talked about on this podcast of being able to have the convenience of being able to afford shutting off at each and every day.   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  31:30 Yeah, absolutely in in those are the things that we know, make. The biggest difference is that consistency and that predictability, that predictability that you can power down the predictability that you can pay your bills that helps to give us that mental space to rest and to be safe.   Katie Vernoy  31:51 Where can people find you?   Lindsay Bryan-Podvin  31:53 My website is called Mind money balance. It's the same name as my practice. My podcast is of the same name. My Instagram handle is of the same name so people can find me on any of those places.   Curt Widhalm  32:08 And we'll include links to Lindsay's stuff in our show notes. You can find those over at MCSG podcast calm and also follow us on our social media and join our Facebook group, the modern therapist group. And until next time, I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy And Lindsey Bryan-Podvin.   Katie Vernoy  32:26 Thanks again to our sponsor, trauma therapist network.   Curt Widhalm  32:30 If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you can know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There's so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan LCSW WC created trauma therapist network. Trauma therapist network therapist profiles include the types of traumas specialized in population served therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them. Network is more than a directory though it's a community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect, consults, and network with colleagues around the country.   Katie Vernoy  33:07 Join the growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code MTSG 20 at traumatherapistnetwork.com Once again that's capital MTS G the number 20 at Trauma therapist network.com   Announcer  33:23 Thank you for listening to the modern therapist Survival Guide. Learn more about who we are and what we do at mtsgpodcast.com. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter. And please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any of our episodes.

Dr. Angela DeRosa, bestselling author of the book, How Your Doctor Is Slowly Killing You: A Woman's Health Survival Guide. She  is a dynamic professional on a mission to change the face of women's health and wellness. She has more than 25 years of experience in the medical field, both on the pharmaceutical side and in clinical practice, and is an internationally recognized authority on women's hormonal health. Dr. DeRosa understands the range of health issues women face and is enthusiastic about educating patients on the realities of menopause and the risk factors of hormonal health imbalances.  In this episode; Early menopause Life without hormones and how that can feel What doctors are taught in med school about hormone replacement and menopause Why the majority of med docs are spreading the word hormones are dangerous Why saying menopause is not Female versus male and what they get erectile drugs we get labelled as crazy. Biased treatment Why there is no male birth control The myth of estrogen replacement dangers Why we as women need testosterone The role of testosterone in blood sugar What the FDA is trying to do with compounded hormones Restorative medicine for women The importance of testing follicular stimulating hormone Why the body should be treated for missing hormones Why menopause is worse now then ever before in history How hormones can help with the menopause weight gain When to replace hormones and more! Home » Dr. Hot Flash Hormone Replacement Therapy Specialist (drhotflash.com) Start your membership to the OnTrack group coaching program to help you balance your hormones and lose weight.   Take the Hormone Quiz and find out what is stopping you from losing weight.  Karen Martel, Certified Hormone Specialist & Transformational Nutrition Coach and weight loss expert.  Visit https://karenmartel.com/  Karen's Facebook Karen's Instagram        

From travel, to family, fitness, food, and shopping, Shaun gives you a run down on how to survive dealing with this crazy weekend. Listen in for:Tips on not feeling guilty about what to eat during the holidayWays to balance all things outAnxiety associated with traveling for the holidays and visiting family Post thanks giving food remorse - even if you indulged it doesn't need to carry through till January! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is dedicated to answering all of your questions and giving you all of the advice you'll need to survive Thanksgiving dinner with your conservative brother-in-law Bob and Aunt Qanon Karen. Last week, Mike solicited your questions that you know you'll be dealing with from your right-wing family members. From climate change to vaccines to BLM to dozens of other common questions, Mike is joined by Rumble Executive Producer Basel Hamdan to prepare you for a peaceful, healthy and happy Thanksgiving dinner. -------------------------- The Moore Store Check out The Moore Store where you can buy hats, shirts, hoodies, mugs and stickers – and a portion of proceeds will go to progressive groups and organizations fighting to teach the arts and civics in public schools. Saturday, December 11th is the last day to order for guaranteed USPS First Class Delivery by December 24th. https://store.michaelmoore.com/ -------------------------- Music in the episode: "Thanksgiving Prayer" - Johnny Cash https://youtu.be/egIB7tYW80M "Thank U" - Alanis Morissette https://youtu.be/OOgpT5rEKIU "Thank You" - Dido https://youtu.be/1TO48Cnl66w -------------------------- Sign-up for Michael Moore's FREE email list at: MichaelMoore.com A full transcript of this episode can be found here: https://rumble.media/category/podcast/transcripts/ From Amazon Studios: "Val" Check out the outstanding documentary film about one of the great actors of our time Val Kilmer https://www.amazonstudiosguilds.com/titles/val/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rumble-with-michael-moore/message

The holiday season is here, and James wants you to be ready! In this week's episode, James gives you all the tools you need to approach conflict and difference in conversations with an open mind and an open heart. To learn more about The Rich Life Book + Coaching, visit www.LivingARichLife.com.  This podcast is brought to you by Wealthquest. Learn more at www.wqcorp.com

You can, and will, grow stronger from this my friend. If you surrender. So here are some things to keep in mind to that end. What follows is my Self-Care Survival Guide for the Holidays! I've listed ten essentials that can help anyone get through the most stressful of holidays. Think of this as your pep talk to staying more calm, more grounded. Because, yes, you DO have permission to simplify! My Top Ten Survival Tips: Keep an eye on your needs. Take time for you. Even if it means you have to get up before your kids.  Don't feel you have to say yes to every invitation Take care of your body Take time to connect with the people you love Take time to walk away from the people you love Do not buy into the ‘perfect Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah' myth Don't go out on a financial limb ASK FOR HELP Take time to give a little … and enjoy the season May this help you take time and space for…YOU! Happy holidays to one and all! RESOURCES The Joy of Letting Go Julie Yogaressa's 20 Minute More Yoga Nidra on Spotify Kashi Ananda's Online Yoga (my favorite!) MORE ABOUT SUZANNE Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has appeared in SELF, O, More, Fitness, New Woman and The New York Times, Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal. She is the author of multiple self-help titles including How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) and the upcoming book, The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). Suzanne also hosts the Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast where she interviews leading self-care authorities and shares her own ideas.

Lisa is joined by Abbe Greenberg and Maggie Sarachek, the Anxiety Sisters and authors of the book The Anxiety Sisters' Survival Guide: How You Can Become More Hopeful, Connected, and Happy.Book Description: Got anxiety? Join the club. More specifically, join the Anxiety Sisterhood. Abs and Mags, aka the Anxiety Sisters, have spent the past thirty years figuring out how to outsmart their anxiety-ridden brains, and the last five years sharing what they've learned with a growing online community of like-minded sufferers who are looking for ways to cope better every day. Whether you're looking to better understand and manage panic, worry, grief, stress, or phobias, or just want to pause the endless spin cycle in your head, you'll find real-world, research-based techniques, exercises, and insights—without the clinical, confusing, one-size-fits-all approach that isn't so helpful when your mind is racing, your triggers are in overdrive, and you just want to get back to feeling normal . . . ish. Most of all, this is a handbook for fighting Shrinking World Syndrome—that isolating, lonely feeling that comes from letting your anxiety run the show. The stories and suggestions in this book will remind you that you're not alone. You don't have to eliminate anxiety from your life in order to feel okay . . . and, yes, even happy. 

In this week’s episode You want more revenue? Paul’s got 3 ideas for you Also this week, do you obsess over the right things? Making your clients’ lives easier is something worth sweating over. Paul explains what it could mean for your MSP Plus, can you tell your prospects good stories about tech, rather than the dry facts? This week’s guest describes the benefits of becoming a great story teller All that on this week’s show, plus your chance to win a copy of one of the best video editors – Camtasia Featured guest Thank you to the inspirational storyteller Roger E Jones for joining Paul to talk about how to turn difficult sales conversations into effective stories. Roger E Jones is the expert tech firms go to, to become master storytellers to accelerate sales growth, differentiate themselves in their market and inspire investors.  His passion is working with smaller growth-focused firms to help them secure their growth ambitions. A former tech CMO, Roger works worldwide. Connect with Roger on LinkedIn. Show notes Out every Tuesday on your favourite podcast platform Presented by Paul Green, an MSP marketing expert In discussing great customer service, Paul mentioned Episode 88 in which he talked to  Jamie Warner from Invarosoft Producer James Lett told you about the chance to win the latest copy of Camtasia thanks to Techsmith Thank you to Greg Jones from Datto for recommending the book the MSP’s Survival Guide to Co-Managed IT Services by Bob Coppedge In the next show on November 30th Paul will be joined by Phylip Morgan from Pax8 talking about how to sell cyber security without using fear, uncertainty, and doubt Got a question from the show? Email Paul directly: hello@paulgreensmspmarketing.com Episode transcription Voiceover: Fresh every Tuesday for MSPs around th

New Way In The Wilderness (Wilderness Survival Guide - Part 4) Nov 20th-21st, 2021 - Pastor Kerry Shook LET GO OF ALL YOU HAVE TAKE HOLD OF ALL GOD HAS Scriptures: Isaiah 43:18-19, Exodus 3:9-14, Exodus 4:10, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Proverbs 19:21, Exodus 4:2-3, Exodus 4:4b, Proverbs 3:9-10, Exodus 19:1-5 Topics: Trust, Wilderness Survival Guide

This week's Addicted to Fitness provides tools and tips on how you can maintain your health & fitness around Thanksgiving. Nick and Shannon describe activities you should perform before, during, and after the holiday to minimize any of its detrimental effects on your health. Let us know how you did with your Pre-Holiday Season ATF Fitness Challenge (follow @ettampa on IG) by leaving a rating & review in Apple Podcasts. Like & Follow the Addicted to Fitness Podcast Facebook page (Facebook.com/addictedtofitnesspodcast). Follow Nick & Elemental Training Tampa on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ElementalTampa) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/ettampa/) for free workout & fitness ideas

Peer Support Specialists An interview with Kemisha Fields, MSW, Amparo Ostojic, MPA, and Jeff Kashou, LMFT on what peer support specialists are and the value they bring to treatment teams, as well as the challenges and best practices in implementing these roles into clinical programs. Curt and Katie talk with Kemisha and Amparo about their experiences in these positions, exploring how their lived experiences created the successful integration of a more holistic approach to support clients. We also talked with Jeff about his journey in implementing one of these programs from scratch.   It's time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age. Interview with Kemisha Fields, MSW, Amparo Ostojic, MPA, and Jeff Kashou, LMFT Kemisha Fields, MSW: Kemisha Fields was born and raised in South Los Angeles, CA. As a former foster youth, she has taken a professional interest in the commitment to serving the needs of children and families as a Children's Social Worker working in Dependency Investigations. She has studied many modalities to bring healing to those in need. Kemisha is a life, long learner inspired by the abundance of opportunities available to enrich the lives of the people she serves. She earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from the University of Phoenix. She received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Southern California. Currently, Kemisha is a Doctoral Student of Business Administration with an emphasis in organizational leadership. She has extensive experience working with children, families, and individuals as an agent of support and guidance. Kemisha has a strong background in case management for an array of populations inclusive to at-risk youth, individuals with intellectual disabilities, commercially sexual exploited children, victims of trauma, and families within the dependency system. As a lead Dependency Investigator with Los Angeles County Child and Family Services, she has direct practice with assessing for child abuse and neglect in hostile environments. Kemisha works directly with County Counsel to investigate and sustain infractions of the Child Welfare and Institutions Codes. Jeff Kashou, LMFT: Jeff Kashou, LMFT is a manager of clinical product and service design for a mental health tech company that provides telemedicine to those with serious mental illness. Previously, he ran a county mental health program where he helped develop the role fo peers for adolescent programs county-wide and collaborated with peers to create management practices to support their professional development. In this position, Jeff developed a practice guideline for the utilization of peers in behavioral health settings for the County of Orange. Jeff has also served on the Board of Directors for the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, where he helped lead the association to support the field of Marriage and Family Therapy and those with mental health issues. He consults as experts in mental health for television productions, to ensure the accurate and helpful portrayal of mental illness and treatment in the media. Most recently, Jeff and his wife Sheila wrote a children's book, The Proudest Color, that helps children of color cope with racism that will be on shelves this Fall. Amparo Ostojic, MPA: Amparo Ostojic is a mental health advocate with personal lived experience. After working for the federal government for ten years, she decided to pursue her passion in working as an advocate to help promote recovery in mental health.  She has worked as a peer specialist for a mental health clinic as well as volunteered leading peer support groups. Amparo has a close connection with the Latino Community and feels it is her duty to do everything possible to prevent and reduce the suffering of individuals living with a mental health condition. Amparo created a Spanish speaking support group in East Los Angeles to offer free peer support to members of her community. Amparo has a bachelor's in business administration and a Master of Public administration. Amparo is a certified personal medicine coach and is working on becoming a National Certified Peer Specialist (NCPS). In this episode we talk about: What a peer support specialist is, how they work What peers can uniquely bring The hiring process, qualifications, and what that means for individuals seeking these jobs The difference in perspective that peer and parent partners can bring to treatment teams The importance of lived experience Comparing holistic versus medical model treatment The medical model and the recovery model complement each other The importance of advocacy for individuals (with the support of the peer support specialist) How peer support specialists are best integrated into treatment teams and programs The potential problems when the peer support specialist role is not understood How someone can become a Peer Support Specialist Certification and standardization of the peer support specialist role SB803 – CA certification for Peer Support Specialists Legislation Ideal training for these professionals How best to collaborate with a peer support specialist What it is like to implement one of these programs The challenges of hiring a peer support specialist Exploring whether there are systems in place to support peer support specialists with their unique needs The recommendation for a tool kit and a consultant to support programs in implementing best practices The Recovery Model and peer support specialists in practice Multidisciplinary teams may have pre-existing bias and prejudice against folks with lived experience, the role of stigma in the interactions The shift that happens when peers become part of the team (specifically related to gallows humor and the separation of “patients” and “providers”) Demonstrating the value of this role and the use of the recovery model Prevention and Early Intervention How to be successful with peer support programs and the benefits at many different levels Our Generous Sponsor: Trauma Therapist Network Trauma is highly prevalent in mental health client populations and people are looking for therapists with specialized training and experience in trauma, but they often don't know where to start. If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There are so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan, LCSW-C created Trauma Therapist Network.  Trauma Therapist Network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work and what they specialize in, so potential clients can find them. Trauma Therapist Network therapist profiles include the types of trauma specialized in, populations served and therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them.  The Network is more than a directory, though. It's a community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect, consult and network with colleagues around the country. Join our growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code:  MTSG20 at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com.   Resources mentioned: We've pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance! RAND Report: How to Transform the US Mental Health System Los Angeles Times Op-Ed: Our mental health laws are failing Wise U Training for Peers Advocacy through Cal Voices ACCESS Program SB-803 National Certified Peer Specialist NCPS Excellent guides and toolkits on how to integrate peers in clinics: Association of Home Social Rehabilitation Agencies Meaningful Roles for Peer Providers in Integrated Healthcare Toolkit Philadelphia Peer Support Tool Kit   Relevant Episodes: Fixing Mental Healthcare in America Serious Mental Illness and Homelessness Psychiatric Crises in the Emergency Room Advocacy in the Wake of Looming Mental Healthcare Work Force Shortages   Connect with us! Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group  Our consultation services: The Fifty-Minute Hour Who we are: Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and CSUN, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, former CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also a former President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com A Quick Note: Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We're working on it. Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren't trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don't want to, but hey.   Stay in Touch: www.mtsgpodcast.com www.therapyreimagined.com Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapist's Group https://www.facebook.com/therapyreimagined/ https://twitter.com/therapymovement https://www.instagram.com/therapyreimagined/   Credits: Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/ Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/   Transcript (Autogenerated)   Curt Widhalm  00:00 This episode is sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network.   Katie Vernoy  00:04 Trauma therapist network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work, and what they specialize in so potential clients can find them. Visit traumatherapistnetwork.com To learn more,   Curt Widhalm  00:27 listen at the end of the episode for more about the trauma therapist network.   Announcer  00:31 You're listening to the Modern Therapist Survival Guide, where therapists live, breathe and practice as human beings to support you as a whole person and a therapist. Here are your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy.   Curt Widhalm  00:47 Welcome back modern therapists. This is the modern therapist Survival Guide. I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy. And this is part four of our special series of fixing mental health care in America. And today, we are shining a spotlight on peer support specialists and the role that they have in our behavioral health care system. And a lot of the advantages that these kinds of roles bring in, as well as some of the difficulties of getting peer support implemented despite a lot of very positive evidence in their role in treating mental and emotional disorders that happen in our world.   Katie Vernoy  01:27 I'm really excited about this particular episode, we've got two sections. The first one is we're joined by two folks who've worked in the peer support specialist role who are both still in social work and in advocacy. First off, we've got Kemisha Fields, who's a Master of Social Work who is was actually somebody I worked with, and she did a great job in one of the programs I was running. And then also person I was introduced to by one of our amazing friends of the show on Amparo Ostojic, who is an MPA and also someone who works in advocacy specifically about peer support specialists. So I'm really, really looking forward for all of you to listen to that and learn about what that role is. And we recognized also and I, I had a little bit of this, but Jeff Kashou LMFT is someone who has in the past actually implemented one of these programs, and he was able to talk with us about what it was like as a director, putting those things together. So take a listen.   Kemisha Fields  02:30 So my name is Kemisha Fields. I enter social services call for like 17 years ago, I took a entry level position at a homeless shelter. So that was my entry into social services. And from there, I've just kind of progress and work my way up. And I've worked with different populations. So I've worked with the homeless population. I've worked with individuals who are struggling with substance abuse. I worked in recidivism. I've worked in community mental health, and now I'm working in the child welfare system.   Amparo Ostojic  03:10 So my name is Amparo Ostojic. And I've been in mental health advocacy and peer support. For the last four years, I have worked to increase awareness about mental health, especially in the Latino community. And I worked as a peer support specialist for a mental health clinic for about seven months, I currently still do advocacy in the mental health space. And I work with individuals that want to know more about how to live, a quote unquote, normal life, even with my severe mental health condition.   Curt Widhalm  03:50 A lot of mental health clinicians, they may have heard of a peer specialist. I have found that a lot of my travels and talks in therapist communities that many people don't know what a peer specialist does, can you help us understand what a peer specialist does what their role is in the bigger part of the treatment systems.   Amparo Ostojic  04:13 So a peer specialist is basically a role model of positive recovery behaviors. So it's meant to give hope to someone living with a mental health condition and help them not feel as alone in this recovery process. So, in essence, a pure specialist will share their personal lived experience of mental health and oftentimes offer examples of what it's like to deal with a condition. And you know, what they've done to get better, such as tips or a really useful tool is, for example, the living successfully plan or the wrap plans, where you go over with a client what it is like to be in a healthy space, what it's like to see warning signs, and when it's time to call your psychiatrist or go to the hospital. So kind of teach them about themselves and guide them in their self determination of managing their their health condition.   Katie Vernoy  05:17 So you're really talking about from a place of your own experience and knowledge helping someone to plan for themselves,   Amparo Ostojic  05:26 right. And a lot of it is teaching them to self advocate for themselves, and put themselves in the driver's seat of their health condition. So for example, a lot of times, it's kind of directed from the top as if the psychiatrist or therapist is telling them what to do, or kind of teaching them what they should do. Whereas if your specialist is on the same level, and there's no sort of hierarchy of who knows more, there's a relationship of learning from each other, and really sharing what it's like to live through this. I was given the example where it's like, Is it someone that you want to work with, like someone that's like a biologist that knows about like the forest or something or someone that lives in the forest, because that personal lived experience is really key to understanding things that someone else that hasn't experienced them wouldn't really know, or perhaps hasn't dealt with.   Curt Widhalm  06:26 When you started in this, you started as a parent partner, how was that process of getting hired?   Kemisha Fields  06:34 So the qualification for a peer partner or parent partner would be a life experience in one of the systems of DCFS, Department of Children and Family Services, probation, and I believe education, like do individual education plan. And so my entry into being a parent partner was through my son's IEP, Individual Education Plan. And, you know, it just kind of happened by chance, a friend of mine recommended me for the position and I follow through with it, the interview process, or the application process, they I was asked what my qualification to being a parent partner, so I did have to disclose some important information regarding my own experiences with my son. And we just, I remember asking, like, anybody could have kind of said, like, oh, yeah, I have this child that has a special needs, like, how did they confirm that information? So I was looking for them to kind of want some sort of documentation from me, and they didn't. And so, at the time, the executive director says, usually confirmed based on the series of questions they asked me during the interview about different programs that may have been introduced to, to my son, which I found quite interesting, like, Okay,   Katie Vernoy  08:07 how was it for you to disclose personal things to get a job, because that seems like that would be a pretty vulnerable way to enter into a position.   Kemisha Fields  08:19 Very much so and because it's the opposite of what we've always been told, typically, in interviewing process, you don't share too much personal information, just your professional history. So it was a little different. But I always been transparent with my struggles with my son. So it was it was just a little different in I didn't know this person, but it was okay. I you know, I feel comfortable through the process. And I didn't, it was okay for me to, you know, share my experiences. Being a parent of a special needs child.   Curt Widhalm  09:01 I have to imagine, and this is prior to being hired in this position. Did you have somebody serving in that kind of a role for you, somebody that you relied on while you were going through your child's IEP process and all of the struggles that that usually entails?   Kemisha Fields  09:19 That is... I love that question. I absolutely love that question and Yes, but very informal. So I did not have a formal being like, Whoa, this is your parent partner, and she or he's going to help you through this process. What I have was professionals who kind of just stepped up I had one of the very first school psychologists who helped me through the process of my son's assessment, what to look for what questions that I should ask and she helped me not on a professional level but a personal level. She kind of walked me through that process. So I was grateful for that. So I've had a lot of support with my son, just from individuals who cared enough to show me what this looks like and what questions I should be asking. So I appreciate that.   Curt Widhalm  10:20 I have to imagine that working with the mental health systems, the people in those roles, there has to be some difficulties in getting integrated into the more professional sides of the organizations, what kinds of challenges to peer specialists end up having, trying to help clients be able to advocate for themselves and fit into this professional system as well.   Amparo Ostojic  10:45 The professionals, such a psychiatrist, therapist, they usually operate from the medical model, which is very top down, like I mentioned, and it kind of has this perspective that I no more in teaching the patient how to, you know, work with medications, or live with this condition, where as peer specialists work from the recovery model, that look at everything, the main four points are home, community health, and purpose, that's really important, like your reason to get up in the morning, right? That sometimes the recovery model is not taking us seriously, it's a more kind of holistic approach, looking at the person. And in the medical model, you're looking at the condition like it's a problem to be solved. And I'm looking at the person as the whole and how their whole life could be better. So my focus may be different than a psychiatrist, their focus may be to reduce the symptoms, and let's say get rid of hearing voices, things like that, or as my role is really to make that person as a whole better. So for example, I usually medications is a big thing must take medications, or as my role may not necessarily say that I typically never tell the client, you know, don't take medications, but I really allow the client to the side that and some other parts of the medical team may not like that. But also, my role may not be taken as seriously because, for example, in my experience working with a mental health clinic, they worked with people that were homeless, and I would say extreme cases. So as someone with bipolar disorder, they kind of put me in this category that, you know, I probably couldn't offer as much. And my perspective wasn't as valuable. So it was really hard. Working with therapists or psychiatrist that saw me as someone that was in the space of like, part of the problem. I don't know how to describe it. But it was really hard, because at the beginning, I definitely felt like I wasn't taking seriously. And it took a while to gain trust, and get there super for me clients. And those were one of the challenges,   Curt Widhalm  13:01 I have to imagine some of the providers are like, you're just completely undermining all of the treatment by using trust, none of this professional experience that we've learned. How did those conversations go? Because it seems like so much of a treatment plan would be developed from, you know, the scientific and medical model sorts of approaches. And then for somebody to come in with lived experience to be able to be like, maybe the medication thing is something that you want to talk to your doctor about.   Amparo Ostojic  13:33 Well, I take medication, and there was five years that I didn't from when I was 20 to 26. And I was fine. I think, you know, I used to run marathons, I was super fit. And there was a time that I didn't think I needed medication. But then having more episodes, I realized that it does benefit me. So I never really tell a client, don't take medication. But I'm not as I guess pushy into that they may need I needed something to happen for me to sort of learn my lesson and realize, you know, it's it's easier, my life is a little easier with medication. And that may not be the case for everybody. So I definitely don't think they see it as me undermining them. But the recovery model and the medical model are supposed to complement each other. And I think that's the hesitation at the beginning. There's no better treatment or a they say they're supposed to complement each other and offer a level of understanding and acceptance and validation that sometimes the professionals can't offer because they haven't lived through that. So for the most part, I'm never, you know, moving them away from medication or therapy and validating their experience but perhaps they may tell me, you know, I didn't like my psychiatrist. And this is what happened. And I will be honest and say I've had psychiatrist that didn't work with me and didn't work for me. And I had to find a different one. Or I had to advocate for myself and say, you know, this side effect is, is not working for me, you know, maybe this is working, like, the symptoms are, you know, improving. But, you know, it's, it's making me sleepy, and then I can't get to work on time, things that are important that sometimes I think clients are afraid to say, because, you know, like, the main symptom that they're after is maybe under control. But other aspects of your life have completely lost balance now.   Katie Vernoy  15:42 Yeah, I think for me, and I was that person at one point. So   Kemisha Fields  15:46 You were!   Katie Vernoy  15:48 But I think the thing that felt very powerful when I entered into that program, and saw how it was set up was that the team had set up this structure to make sure that each member at the table was heard that each person was allowed to share ideas. I had been in other programs where folks were subjected to that hierarchy, where the therapist or the psychiatrist got the most air time, they're the ones that were making the decisions. And to me, I think, whether it was making sure that the parent partners were supervised by the director, and or really having a culture of, we are all here supporting the family. And we all equally bring important things to the table, I think it was really effective. I think we just get worried because I did see even with programs that were and maybe it was because it was intense now that I'm thinking about it, because like less intense programs, sometimes folks were using either parent partners or bachelor level providers to do like, copying and filing. And it's like, no, no, these are mental health providers, these are people who are at the table. And so to me, I think when when people are able to integrate into the team, it can be really good.   Kemisha Fields  17:05 My personality type wouldn't have allow for that, if I'm honest. Like no. And I think when you come in and you kind of demand a level of respect, you get that level of respect. So I've never had a problem, I think, in my whole career of value, my experience as a parent partner, it laid the foundation for so much of the work that I do now. So I'm still connected to a lot of those colleagues, who at the time were clinicians and I, at that time, I wasn't even I had not completed my undergrad studies yet. And we're like the best of friends. So my experience as a parent partner is one that is really great. And had you know, a lot of good things have come out of that for me,   Curt Widhalm  17:59 I want to change the conversation here a little bit to talking about how people can become peer specialists and what the certification process is like. And I understand that that's quite different in many different parts of the country.   Amparo Ostojic  18:15 Yeah, and even within California, each county has different guidelines. So first of all, California just passed SB 803, which is going to allow pure support specialists to have a certification, which will hopefully increase the use of peer specialists in mental health clinics. So 48 states now have peer certification, including California. And the, the principles are pretty much the same. But how a peer support is used in different parts of a state or country is going to vary. So it's difficult if someone moves to another state or another county, and they try to use the same principles. It may not work as effectively. And it's basically it's not standardized right now. So it's hard for someone working in that field to have many options of going to different places, and even like a client that's moving from another county and experiencing pure services in a different way.   Katie Vernoy  19:26 So if someone were to want to jump into this, where it sounds like it's starting to become more regulated, there's certification in 48 states, that's great. What does it look like? How does someone become a peer support specialist?   Amparo Ostojic  19:39 There's a few organizations that are considered certified to train for peer support. And, for example, the training that I took was an 11 day course, where, you know, like 40 hours a week, and you learn the principles of peer support. And then To become a certified peer specialist, you need 3000 hours of supervised work or volunteer experience providing direct peer support. And you need a letter of recommendation from a professional and from supervisor that has overseen your peer support. And then there's an exam that you would take and pass. And that's how you would become national certified peer specialist. And on top of that, like I said, California is still in the process of creating their peer support guidelines. So in addition to that, you know, whatever guidelines that they'll come up with will be the California guidelines for certification in California,   Curt Widhalm  20:45 a lot of research gives you more credit than being a middleman, that when we look at outcomes for treatments, when we look at treatment, we see that peer counselors, we see that parent partners are more effective towards client outcomes than even just working directly with licensed professionals. And a lot of it is due to a lot of the problems that therapists just kind of face and being approachable themselves for the mental health system themselves that there is a down to earth Ness that having that lived experience really does embody that, yes, you can get through this. And I've got some experience to be able to say that not only do I actually demonstrate that I know what you're going through, but that you can get through it, there's a way through this, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. How do you think that peer partners, peer counselors can be trained should be trained to best exemplify that part of treatment,   Kemisha Fields  21:51 I would say they should be trained the same way that any other team members trained in I know, from a clinical perspective, there's a different type of training that comes into play. But for our child and family team specialists that you know, we have trainings, usually agencies are sending you out to different trainings, and I I believe that parent partners should be a part of those trainings, if they are not already a part of those trainings. And that should and will help them in their role as a parent partner with the life experience on top of that,   Katie Vernoy  22:32 how can therapists psychiatrists, other people in mental health clinics, support peer specialists?   Amparo Ostojic  22:38 one of the most important parts is understanding and learning to see how we can be used. I think, once you collaborate with a peer specialist, and notice the different perspective that they offer, I think both psychiatrists and peers, and mental health professionals, other mental health professionals can learn from each other. And I really appreciated that with one of the psychiatrist that he like, I could see that he really learned from me, and that gave me a lot of confidence. And I learned a lot from him. And it didn't feel like a top down relationship. And it really felt like he valued my perspective as a professional. And that helped a lot because basically just have faith in in something even if you don't understand how it works. You want to try and see how you can work with this person and encourage them to do actual peer support. If at first you don't know what to do as far as how to work with them. There's really good guides. There's one that I really recommend, that is put out by Castro. And they are basically recovery organization. And they have it's called the meaningful roles for providers in an integrative healthcare. And they really break down the different positions that peer specialists could do the different roles so like a peer navigator peer advocate, wellbeing coach is sometimes what they call it. And it really spells out things that a peer specialists can do. And it helps both the pure and the professional because they will say, you know, they could serve as a bridge between the community based organization, they could help clients in enrolling with health insurance programs, they it really spells out things that a client can do with a pure specialist, and that helps both the pier and the clinic.   Katie Vernoy  24:53 How about letting us know a little bit about if someone's interested in this I think from many different angles I wanting to advocate for better utilization of peer support specialists within mental health programs advocating for swift implementation of SB 803. For California, you know, or even this advocacy for individuals who are navigating mental health concerns themselves or with their family members, and how they can advocate like, it seems like there's a lot of lot of potential calls to action for our listeners here. What resources would you recommend that they look into, and we'll put all of those in our show notes.   Amparo Ostojic  25:33 So definitely the I would guess, I guess, I would say, one of my favorite organizations that I worked with for the past two and a half years is Cal voices. And they have different programs, the advocacy space, is access. So access stands for advancing client and community empowerment through sustainable solutions. So they're kind of a systems change perspective. And they have really great e learning toolkits that give you tools on how you would advocate for yourself and for systems change within your community. One of the great resources that Cal voices has is their Ys program, which stands for workforce integration, support and education. And they have what they call the YZ University. And it's created by peers, it's taught by peers. And this is where I got my training for becoming a peer support specialist. And they basically provide a lot of support in what a peer does. And like they have wise Wednesdays, where they provide information about something related to peer support and learning about how to, you know, either be a peer specialist or work with a peer specialist. And that's everyone's they. And so, it's a great program, because like I said, it's peers that are teaching and creating the curriculum. And I think that's just wonderful because receiving that information for someone with the lived experience is very powerful.   Curt Widhalm  27:21 Switching gears here and talking about the implementation of peer support specialists, here's our interview with Jeff Kashou. We are joined by Jeff Kashou, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He's a former Service chief who oversaw collaborative behavioral health program in Orange County, and had opportunities to oversee the implementations of peer counselors into some of the programs.   Jeff Kashou  27:51 Yeah, well, first off, thank you for having me on. And I'm very much appreciated that you guys have this podcast and give the opportunity for topics like this to be covered.   Katie Vernoy  27:59 The thing that I find very interesting about these roles that I know you and I both have hired these roles, but people have to claim lived experience in order to get these roles. And so it's it's a very interesting line to walk. There's there's very interesting things there. But what do you see as the difficulties that are associated with hiring peer counselors?   Jeff Kashou  28:20 Yeah, so I think, very specifically, what makes the role unique and special also makes it kind of a unique challenge in the interviewing process? How do you ask about one's lived experience as a direct, you know, in theory qualification to have that job is what makes it a unique role to a to an organization or an agency. So I would, you know, really encourage anybody who is looking to start a peer program to bring on a consultant who can really help you think the process all the way through and how to have those conversations without inadvertently walking into equal opportunity ramifications or accidently discriminating against someone while also being very mindful that you're bringing into the room into the interview room and process someone's vulnerabilities. And so being able to manage that very tactfully and professionally, while also ensuring that this person, you know, feels comfortable to share that as well. That's your first introduction to somebody and they're interviewing you in that, that process and they want to ensure that your program has really thought through how they're going to be not just added to their system of care, but how your entire system of care embraces and is made better by having peers on board. Oftentimes peers are looked at as very client facing but really in the best situations for them are those for the entire service model is made better by their presence.   Curt Widhalm  29:48 A lot of the talk that we've had on this show about how programs barely take care of their mental health professionals within the work systems. Is there any management that is actually being put towards looking after peer counselors in this way without infantilizing them. I mean, if we're not doing this with the brunt of the behavioral health health workforce, are there other implementation problems when it comes to ensuring this kind of stuff or incorporating them into treatment teams,   Jeff Kashou  30:19 when I created a practice guidelines of like best practices for the entire Orange County systems, and not just County, but the entire behavioral health system for how to conduct supervision with peers, I leaned very heavily on a toolkit that I found from the city of Philadelphia, that there Department of Behavioral Health and intellectual disability services put together on how to create a peer support system, from the first moment you decide you want to all the way through to supervising them to managing disciplinary things to supporting their growth. And looking at it even from you know, how is the entire system set up to support them, even the interactions that they have within the multidisciplinary team, you know, they face an additional layer of potentially of scrutiny or challenges by constantly having to explain who they are, why they have any authority to work with patients or clients. So there's, there's added stress to the question or the systems in place to actually take care of them. You know, I would really look at that toolkit that the city of Philadelphia put together as sort of a way to evaluate if your system is there, I'd say, it's certainly lacking just to be completely blunt, the county that I worked for, from the children's behavioral health side was not equipped at the time to take them on effectively. And it required a lot of having to build the plane while you fly it, which I think for some roles, it's okay. I think for peers, it can add additional stress. And it means, you know, workplace ambiguity is stressful enough. But when it comes to all the other challenges of integrating them and supporting them and explaining their role, and giving them the right training, and so on, and so on. There's just another level that needs to be thought all the way through.   Curt Widhalm  32:11 How are pure counselors implemented into treatment teams, and how are their voices in actual practice, kind of placed into the role where there's a bunch of other potential licensed professionals across a wide variety of interdisciplinary systems?   Jeff Kashou  32:30 Yeah, so I can speak to my experience, and then also kind of broadly to and the research that I've done on the topic. So it's often implemented as a top down approach, it's, you know, people in leadership, saying, we're gonna add this program to our larger organization, without ever really embracing maybe the full scope of what it means to engage in a recovery service model, which is really antithetical to the principles of the peer program, you know, which is meeting people where they're at. So a system of care, really understanding from the bottom up what's happening on the ground level, that's really where the entire program began with. But the ways that they're being implemented, we have that additive approach that systems of care will take. And from a very top down perspective, oftentimes, systems need a way to recoup revenue by bringing on this workforce and, you know, supporting the work that they do. And so when it comes to Medicaid, for example, it's involving them in the billing system. So it requires choosing a diagnosis for the person from the list that the other providers have diagnosed the individual with, which is sometimes very new and a bit challenging. I think, sometimes for peers who don't want to necessarily see someone as a diagnosis. But you know, our current system of billing practices and documentation practices requires that also, multidisciplinary teams really don't know about peers, and can have a lot of prejudice as they go in. So systems need to really be thoughtful and do a self assessment before they decide to bring on this very important role, you know, on are this system set up? Or what are the prejudices or preconceived notions that other providers on the team have of people that come in with lived experience? Right, you know, oftentimes, we have that sort of gallows humor as providers when we talk about our patients or whatever. But, you know, now you have to be very mindful of that, not just because you don't want to upset somebody, but due to having that internal shift of like, you know, I actually really maybe need to check myself when it comes to that, and why I engaged in something like that in the first place. So really thinking about decreasing the stigma and helping the rest of the team even before peers come on, understand what it is that they do, the value that they add, and how they're going to be just as important of a member of a treatment team. So really leading with the why through this process. They're often brought a board you know without much structure I Which, you know, leads to them being assigned a lot of admin tasks as well. One of the things that I learned a lot when working with pure forums was that peers are often assigned, you know, a lot of filing tasks or, you know, paperwork kind of tasks, because the program wasn't really trained or made to be aware of what appear is going to do. And so managers will get, you know, assigned X amount of peers and hire them on but not really know what to do or may not have the bandwidth to train them and think through that whole job requirement. Similarly, what I experienced was, sadly, even partway through the interview process, we found out that we were actually interviewing for peers, but the program was set up, they had to find a job title or job classification that they could fit these folks within, so that we can hire them in a timely manner. And so when we were hiring mental health workers were actually supposed to be hiring peers. And so we found out midway, that we were hiring peers, which meant as managers, then we had to shift and reevaluate what we were doing which we put a lot of emphasis and fervor and figuring out and making it a smooth process as much as we could. But it was by no means ideal. And the cohort that we hired, certainly struggled with a lot of the ambiguity and sometimes just having to sit around and wait while we figured things out for them.   Katie Vernoy  36:16 You've mentioned a couple of times the the money element of it, that oftentimes these are folks who are hired to do an important service that isn't always reimbursable. And it makes me think about the value. And this speaks to the prejudice as well. But it makes me think of the value that people hold for this role. You know, they're not generating revenue, typically, or not generating a lot of revenue. They're not seen as experts, although they're oftentimes more expert than the folks in the room that are doing the treatment planning. And so what are the ways that you have found whether it's best practices or what you were able to accomplish in your program, of integrating these folks more successfully into, you know, kind of explaining the role? Like, why is it so important? What is the value of this? Because I feel like, and maybe you've already said this, and maybe this isn't needed, but it does feel like there's a case for this role. There's an importance to this role. And I just feel like maybe we need to be more direct and saying it, I don't know.   Jeff Kashou  37:25 So yeah, so there's really two directions to think of when it comes to how do you demonstrate the value, there's two those who would be, you know, deciding to bring on this role, which would be those key stakeholders. And then you also have the provider teams as well. And then I guess, there might even be a third group, which are the patients or clientele that you would be serving. So when it comes to demonstrating the value, I think the message needs to be pretty clear all the way through, which is when you're working with, you know, with individuals with serious mental illness, or those with CO occurring disorders, some of these more serious conditions, we know we preach about prevention and early intervention. And this is the rule that really helps with that. And this is the rule that allows us to make that big shift towards a recovery model, and not just pay lip service to saying that, you know, we meet our patients where they're at, and, you know, we want to, you know, improve the quality of their lives and help them reach their full potential. Now, that's, you know, a bit more idealistic and trying to sell it maybe to those that population level into the stakeholder level, but to the provider team, it's also a matter of, you know, recognizing that they will complement the services that, say, a therapist or psychologist or psychiatrist provides as well. And so it's more of like a meshing of gears versus like, people running off into separate directions, you know, where we know that metod here, it's a very important thing. Medications is a very important aspect of treatment. And if individuals, you know, go to their psychiatrist and they prescribe them an antidepressant, we oftentimes know that adherence drops off very quickly, either because the person has some sort of side effects, or because they start to feel better, and they decide they don't want to take the medication anymore. What you know, for multitude of reasons, here, the peer can actually meet with that person, you know, right after they meet with a psychiatrist, or maybe even be in the room with them when they meet with a psychiatrist. And help them ask the questions that are there might be uncomfortable asking, or ensure that they're asking the questions they didn't think to ask, creating that plan afterwards with them for how they're going to fill the prescription, how they're going to, you know, lay out their medications for the week, how they're going to make sure they maintain their motivation to take it or communicate changes that they need with their medications. When it comes to treatment adherence, you know, we assign individuals journaling to do for example, but I don't know about you guys and how often we assign tasks to to patients to do in between sessions, it's extremely hit or miss. And then you end up spending your next session processing, why they didn't do it when you'd rather be processing what they did. And so it's not to say it's 100%. But a specialist can really help with complementing services in those ways. I think ideally, we know that there's attrition, oftentimes with this population. So here's how we keep people engaged in care. I think the other thing is we think about completing goals or completing treatment plans. But that's not really the case. Again, it's not like that broken leg where your leg gets mended, and you don't have to really do anything afterwards, you have to maintain those gains for the long term to allow you then to get to those next levels of functioning, or satisfaction or fulfillment, whatever they might be. And that's where the period specialists can help somebody in the sort of aftercare discharge planning or even long, long term support through their maintenance of their goals.   Katie Vernoy  40:56 I think another element for the treatment team, and this is something where, you know, we had the conversation with Kemisha about this, but they're also an expert on the lived experience. I mean, obviously, each person's experience is different. But there's so much that I think my treatment teams anyway, we're learning from our peers, because they just hadn't been in the situation themselves. And so I think there's, there's also incorporating in that way, like here is another member of the team who has really valuable and valid feedback that you need provider. Because I think it's I think it's hard, I think it's hard to understand this. And I think that we've hidden behind a hierarchy that clearly doesn't work, we need to have, we need to have a whole bunch of human beings working on this on a level playing field.   Jeff Kashou  41:47 Yeah, I'm really glad you brought that point up, Katie, I remember, and you guys probably had to do this in your grad programs as well, where we were assigned the task of attending a 12 step meeting to understand what the recovery community is like. And we can see what these you know, non therapeutic support systems are like, and it's a way to get that experience. But we were only assigned that at one point in time, and there is so much value that appear can add in terms of to use your your point expertise in these areas, you know, the approach, I think a lot of us take in the recovery systems, you know, I will get asked oftentimes, you know, well, are you in recovery yourself? And I think as a therapist, you make your own call in terms of self disclosure. And I would say the while I can tell you yes or no, it's more important for you to tell me what your experience is like, rather than me telling you all about what your experience is like. But I think there's a way we can sort of fast track that by having peer specialists add that level of detail to us upfront so that we're not always taxing individuals to have to educate us each and every time if that's not something that supports their care in the short term.   Katie Vernoy  42:52 Exactly.   Curt Widhalm  42:54 There seems to be a lot of mixed evidence on the effectiveness of pure counselor type programs, with the United States in particular lagging behind a lot of other countries when it comes to the implementation of this, some of which is highlighted by some of the funding stuff that you're talking about within things like Medicaid, and we even see some of this going on and private insurance type programs where this stuff can't be implemented. What do you see is the difference between a successful incorporation of pure counsellors versus the ones that kind of fizzle out,   Jeff Kashou  43:32 it's going about it with a systematic approach. And that's I'd really emphasize either, you know, utilizing one of those toolkits, like I mentioned, the city of Philadelphia created, which is extremely comprehensive, and very much focused on the existing org and not necessarily on what peers need to be doing. But I think in the absence of that, it's really identifying just like with any big change that you want to make for a business, it's identifying, you know, what, you know, doing your SWOT analysis, and then looking at what is your measure? What's your success metric going to be? And how will you know you got there and then be flexible, to iterate and improve upon things as you move forward? Again, to that authenticity point, it's just like how we work with our, you know, our clientele, it's, you know, we don't expect perfect, but, you know, let's talk about what didn't go well, and let's improve upon it, we need to be able to do that authentically, as well. I think, unfortunately, in healthcare, and especially behavioral health care systems, where we're kind of the afterthought in terms of funding and attention and resources, you know, we just have always learned to make do and stay the course. And then on top of it, you have folks in power, who don't necessarily understand what we do, and they just kind of keep adding more and more stipulations and regulations and so on. And so it's also a matter of like, can you cut through some of that maybe sometimes even through the side door, like in California, we have our mhsaa funding that peer programs are oftentimes Funded there, which is very nice, and that they don't have to be capturing revenue through Medi Cal. This is through funding that has less requirements to it. But it's also pushing back and saying, do they really need to do this level of documentation? You know, so I do think it's a matter of like, thinking things through from bottom to top, like doing that assessment and really assessing yourself like, can we take this on, and being very brutally honest with yourself as a system of care, it's an exciting program, it's an exciting idea. It's one that can bring a lot of benefit. But you have to really understand what it is that you're bringing on. There's other companies that I've worked for that have said, you know, hey, we're, you know, one day down the line, we'll have peers and that way our current clientele can engage and give back, it'll be kind of a lower level service line. I think if you're thinking about it from that perspective, only, and really seeing the dollar signs as part of that image. It's not to say that, you know, money isn't the driver here, but it can't be that upfront. Otherwise, what you're doing is you're commoditizing, a service provider who is designed really to add value simply by them being there and engaging with clientele in that way, without necessarily generating dollars by increasing retention by increasing engagement in services. We know outcomes improve, when systems can demonstrate improve outcomes. Oftentimes, they're the ones that get the next grant are the ones that get the renewed contract, sometimes even a larger contract. So it's really, you know, credenza question in a short way. It's, it's all about approaching it systematically. And not just Yeah, that sounds really exciting. Let's do this.   Katie Vernoy  46:43 I think it has to be baked in, it can't be like, let's add this on to the program. It's almost like you have to build it from the ground up, to have these truly integrated into whatever the treatment program is.   Jeff Kashou  46:56 Yeah, there's kind of three different approaches that that Philadelphia tool toolbox outlines, just like that additive approach that I discussed, there's that selective approach. And then it's really taking on the one that has the greatest level of success is what's called a transformative approach, which a lot of systems are understandably nervous to take on. But to make a program successful, you have to be willing to transform things, sometimes top to bottom to make it work.   Katie Vernoy  47:21 Yeah, it's interesting, because the the program that I had, it was, it was baked in, it was like, my agency decided to do a wraparound program. And at the time, it was called an FSP. Program. And so as, you know, maybe you move clinicians into it, but it was like, here is how you do it. And it was baked in. So it wasn't like, Oh, you're already doing services, let's add this on. Functionally, maybe it looked that way. Because we had clients who then you know, like, followed their therapist, and then got these other services added on. But the program itself was well defined by LA County. And so there was discrete roles, there was training that was required. And like, especially with wraparound, there was like, a week long training where you, everybody went, and there were people from all different roles, and you went when you just first started and all the managers had to go to, so I had to go to it as well. And we would sit there for a full week and interact with other people in our same roles or in the in the peer or the you know, the all the different specialists roles. And so to me, it was, it didn't feel as chaotic because it was like it was completely structured. And it was baked in.   Jeff Kashou  48:31 Yeah, and a wraparound program is oftentimes very much set up for that, you know, they traditionally will have either bachelor's level providers as PSCs, or personal service coordinators, which truthfully appear would be phenomenal at which it sounds like that was the role that you had at your program. And because   Katie Vernoy  48:47 No we had we had bachelor's level folks, we had peers, we had a facilitator, and we had a therapist, so there was four or five people on the team.   Jeff Kashou  48:56 That's a tremendous program. You know, and we're the approach, you know, you've probably experienced this as well, the approach of a wraparound program is like whatever it takes, you know, this is a child, an individual, a family in such a challenging situation that we have to throw everything at this person that they need, and and some to get them to the, you know, to a better place.   Katie Vernoy  49:17 Yeah, yeah. I think it just is a good way to think about it as if you actually create a program from the ground up that includes these roles. I think that is stronger. I'm really glad that we're that we did this episode that we're talking about this related to our fixing mental health care in America. I know that it was mentioned in the RAND report, but I also recognize that one of the elements of this is it has been viewed. I think we did this in one of our more recent advocacy and workforce episodes as a way that we take away work from licensed credentialed mental health professionals and I really see this as an important adjunct a positive step forward. And I think we were able to really see that in the conversations that we had with our three guests today.   Curt Widhalm  50:08 And I mentioned a couple of times in the show, both this episode and recently about how little using supporting roles, like peer support specialists is actually taught as part of therapists education.   Katie Vernoy  50:22 Yeah.   Curt Widhalm  50:23 And there's a lot of emphasis on therapists education that's on what we as individuals can do to help with clients, but don't help us to look at the overall workforce system. And I'm echoing your happiness of this episode. And being able to amplify that really good. Mental, behavioral, emotional health treatments, takes a village. And it does take people from a lot of different viewpoints to really help create healing. And especially those people who have that lived experience and have a really great way of helping to help our clients interact with the system to be able to navigate it in ways that makes sense for them. So continuing to emphasize this will be part of our ongoing role in bringing mental health advocacy to the world. And we encourage you to do so as well.   Katie Vernoy  51:24 And for folks who were really interested in this, there are a lot of links in the shownotes that will help you with some of the some of these concepts, we've got the the guides and those things both onpattro and Jeff sent stuff over that are very helpful for folks who either want to be a peer support specialist or who want to implement those programs. So definitely feel free to reach out to us if can't find it on our show notes. But those things are just the really amazing resources that we were able to put down there.   Curt Widhalm  51:55 You can find those show notes over at MCSG podcast.com. And check out our social media out give us a like or a follow and schrinner Facebook group modern therapist group to further these discussions. And until next time, I'm Kurt Wilhelm with Katie Vernoy.   Katie Vernoy  52:11 Thanks again to our sponsor, trauma therapist network.   Curt Widhalm  52:15 If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There's so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan LCSW WC created trauma therapist network. Trauma therapist network therapist profiles include the types of traumas specialized in population served therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them. Network is more than a directory though its community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect consults, and network with colleagues around the country.   Katie Vernoy  52:52 Join the growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code Mt. SG 20 at Trauma therapist network.com Once again that's capital MTS G the number 20 at Trauma therapist network.com   Announcer  53:09 Thank you for listening to the Modern Therapist Survival Guide. Learn more about who we are and what we do at MTSGpodcast.com. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter. And please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any of our episodes.

Today I'm talking about times that I have regressed in my recovery and Intuitive Eating practice, and how to respond accordingly when you hit a speed bump in recovery. I'm also dishing on Thanksgiving and all sorts of tricks to get OUT OF YOUR DAMN HEAD over the holidays and actually enjoy it. I respond to listener questions and give you a dose of anti-diet to handle Turkey Day like a champ.Follow Emily @lubination on InstagramFollow RIP Diets @ripdiets on InstagramEmail Emily at ripdiets@gmail.comJOIN THE RIP DIETS DISCORD CHAT: https://discord.gg/a8nEfxZWEYCHECK OUT MY PATREON FOR MORE CONTENT at Patreon.com/ripdiets

On this week's episode, we have the opportunity to interview Dr. Mona Amin of the PedsDocTalk Podcast! Dr. Amin is a Board Certified General Pediatrician and NICU mama herself, as well as the founder and educator of the organization PedsDocTalk. Through her platform and private practice her goal is to provide relatable and easy-to-digest educate the modern parent regarding the health and wellness of their child.Throughout the episode, we talk about:Dr. Mona's personal pregnancy, delivery, and NICU journey with her son What it was like to experience an emergency delivery and NICU journey as a medical providerHow to trust our guts and make the right decisions we are able to for our children and our personal healthHow can we be the best advocate for our children both in and out of the NICUWe hope that this episode empowers you to advocate for your children alongside your medical team and remind you that NICU mama, your voice matters. You can do this!To get connected with Dr. Mona Amin:Instagram | Website | The New Mom's Survival Giude | The PedsDocTalk Podcast | YoutubeDr. Mona Amin is a Board Certified General Pediatrician and mother. She has been featured on Parents.com, Romper, CondeNast Traveler, VeryWell Family, NBC News, and was named one of Insider's Top Pediatricians to follow on social media for 2020. She works in private practice and her passions include: early childhood development, focusing on the impact of healthy sleep, a healthy relationship with food, and healthy coping skills in the first five years of a child's life. On her Instagram account (@pedsdoctalk), her podcast (The Pedsdoctalk Podcast), and YouTube channel (Pedsdoctalk TV), she shares educational information on parent's most common concerns (i.e. fevers, rashes, viruses, behavioral issues, etc.) including current events. Through her brand Pedsdoctalk, her goal is to provide relatable and easy-to-digest education for the modern parent regarding the health and wellness of their child.She recently launched The New Mom's Survival Guide, the first online digital e-course created by a Pediatrician and mom to guide you and your baby through their first year of life. With how-to-videos and motivational content, she educates and empowers new moms to make the best decisions for their babies.To get connected with DNM: Website | Private Facebook Group | InstagramThis podcast episode is not an attempt to practice medicine or provide medical advice. All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis or treatment.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/dearnicumama)

We're bringing it back! Back 4 years ago on EPISODE 8, we gave you guys the ultimate SURVIVAL GUIDE to THANKSGIVING! We know how rough it is to deal with family so we are giving you the ultimate movie list to help tame them or watch while hiding from them! Check it out! Do you miss our Post-Show Easter Egg content? Want the show without ad's? Trying to get your ears plugged into episodes of Rob's Podcast Network? You can get all that AND MORE EXCLUSIVE CONTENT on our Patron! https://www.Patron.com/SlasherRadio #SupportIndieHorror You can check out our articles AND listen to the show (as well as keep up to date with all giveaways) at SlasherRadio.com, contact the show via email Hosts@SlasherRadio.com and leave a voicemail which will be played on the show by calling 917-397-KILL (5455) or on Twitter: @SlasherRadio @Cat_Voleur @RadioRob123 @MikeysDead https://www.Twitch.tv/SlasherRadio VERY special thanks and a BIG part of our show are all of our Patrons who support us but ESPECIALLY our 3 TIER CLOVER & GOT THE HOSE patrons who are officially SLASHER FAMILY: EyeRChris - @EyeRChris Ghost - @gh0styj Special THANKS to John Brennan for our news segment & transition music tracks! You can check out him and his work at: Every week on The Last Drive-in With Joe Bob Briggs on Twitter @badtechno http://badtechno.com/ Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/slasherradio See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to another episode of the Grief Survival Guide miniseries. This week we go on a deep dive with Jessimae, fresh off of her weekend with Tony Robbins, to discuss the truth about our bullsh*t belief systems, how we handle depression, and shares her experience from the Unleash The Power Within ™️ event in Palm Beach, Florida.Don't forget to email your answers to the question: "Where do we go when we die?" : JessimaePelusoComedy@gmail.comFor all things Tony:www.TonyRobbins.com

Working with your spouse can be absolutely ego destroying at best. At worst, it can ruin your business and your relationship. Ready to learn from a couple who succeeded? In this episode, I chat with Sarah Casebier and Brad Casebier, Owner and President, respectively, at Radiant Plumbing & Air Conditioning, a company they built from scratch that now brings in $50M in revenue. Here are some topics we highlight in the conversation: - Sarah's shift from an ER labor and delivery nurse to GM of Radiant - Brad's fear that he wouldn't have a role in a service company - Concurrent business coaching and life coaching - Candid struggles in co-leading a business - Incorporating private equity into the business partnership Check out these additional resources: - The Survival Guide to Working with Your Spouse by Brad Casebier - Making Sense of Men by Alison Armstrong - Loving What Is by Byron Katie - Plumbing and Mechanical - The Mike Dillard Show - Ellen Rohr: Your Job is Hard, Keep Your Financials Simple If you want to hear more stories from the trades, subscribe to Toolbox for the Trades onApple Podcasts,Spotify, orhere. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for Toolbox for the Trades in your favorite podcast player.

A Faith that Thrives in the Face of Adversity (Wilderness Survival Guide - Part 3) Nov 13th - 14th , 2021 - Pastor Kerry Shook   Wisdom Thrives in the Face of Adversity Hold On To God's Promises Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, 2 Kings 3:6-8, Proverbs 1:32, Proverbs 1:7, Isaiah 40:21-24, 2 Kings 3:9-12, Isaiah 44:21-22, 2 Kings 3:11b – 12, 2 Kings 3:15, 2 Kings 3:16-17, Isaiah 55:8-9, 2 Kings 3:18 Topics: Survival, Blessed, Adversity

The holidays are here, and you're gearing up to spend time with family and friends. But the challenge is, the work doesn't stop. If anything, it's ramping up for that year-end push. How can you get your work done and spend time with the people around you when your space is overrun and your rhythms are thrown off track, without getting stressed out or rude in the process? In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and Blake discuss four actions you can take to work from home during the holiday season and remain at your best. Whether you're hosting people, or you're a traveling guest, you can remain focused and productive when you approach your days with intentionality.In this episode, you'll discover—How defining your work hours sets you up for quality family time laterWhy anticipating your guests's needs leads to less workday interruptionsThe benefit of actually leaving the house during work hoursThe power of setting your Daily Big 3 to reduce the undercurrent of stressSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Many people aren't sure what to expect when getting sober or entering into Recovery, even with some research. The first days of sobriety are full of challenges and opportunities to strengthen recovery. Getting an idea of what it's like can help you or your loved one navigate this time more successfully.

Is Your Practice Ready for Paid Digital Marketing? An interview with John Sanders, owner of RevKey, about Google and Social Media Ads. Curt and Katie talk with John about the importance of a solid website, effective sales process, and metrics when considering paid digital advertising. We also explore what to expect when you create Google or Facebook Ads. We also talk about why you may want to outsource this and the financial risks for getting this marketing wrong.    It's time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age. Interview with John Sanders, RevKey John is an expert in paid search, specifically, Google Ads (which used to be called Google AdWords). He holds a BBA and MBA, and he has put this education to work in a variety of positions in the marketing field, including inside sales, purchasing, E-Commerce, and marketing management. Once he found Google Ads, John was hooked. He enjoys helping businesses generate leads through Google Ads that will help their companies grow, and he has partnered with businesses in a range of professions, including medical offices, B2B companies, and national product brands. John can help your business achieve its full potential. In this episode we talk about: Google Ads and other digital advertising (social media for example) The mistakes folks make in purchasing digital ads, typical pitfalls Specific to Google Search Ads: why not to use smart or dynamic ads Keywords and negative keywords The importance of tracking your results and what results you're looking for The difference between social media and Google ads What a good ad looks like and what page it goes to What's needed on a website before starting Google Ads (sufficient, relevant content and pages) Service pages and the specificity of the search How social media ads work (e.g., Facebook and Instagram) Building an audience within social media to target with your ads The value of an ideal client or niche when using social media ads Social media is more of a branding exercise than Google Ads Facebook has a lot of specific rules for advertising What return on investment you should expect, the goal of placing ads How to assess what is not working Looking through the full sales cycle to determine where to improve efforts (including answering your phone) The technical savvy that is needed to run and assess these ads The usefulness of Google analytics Determining DIY versus hiring out advertising How to outsource paid digital advertising How to determine the average value of a client Advantage of paid digital advertising versus Search Engine Optimization (SEO) The potential to lose money if this is done wrong The benefit if it is set up properly Setting up a multitier marketing plan including Google Ads and SEO Our Generous Sponsor: Trauma Therapist Network Trauma is highly prevalent in mental health client populations and people are looking for therapists with specialized training and experience in trauma, but they often don't know where to start. If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There are so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan, LCSW-C created Trauma Therapist Network.  Trauma Therapist Network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work and what they specialize in, so potential clients can find them. Trauma Therapist Network therapist profiles include the types of trauma specialized in, populations served and therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them.  The Network is more than a directory, though. It's a community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect, consult and network with colleagues around the country. Join our growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code:  MTSG20 at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com.   Resources mentioned: We've pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance! RevKey.com   Relevant Episodes: Bad Marketing Decisions The Brand Called You Creating Relevant Ads Hostage Marketing SEO Guide for Therapists Marketing with Empathy Clinical Marketing Branding for Your Ideal Client Connect with us! Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group  Our consultation services: The Fifty-Minute Hour Who we are: Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and CSUN, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, former CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also a former President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com A Quick Note: Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We're working on it. Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren't trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don't want to, but hey.   Stay in Touch: www.mtsgpodcast.com www.therapyreimagined.com Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapist's Group https://www.facebook.com/therapyreimagined/ https://twitter.com/therapymovement https://www.instagram.com/therapyreimagined/   Credits: Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/ Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/   Transcript (Autogenerated)   Curt Widhalm  00:00 This episode is sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network.   Katie Vernoy  00:04 Trauma therapist network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work, and what they specialize in so potential clients can find them. Visit trauma therapist network.com To learn more, listen at the end of the episode for more about the trauma therapist network.   Announcer  00:31 You're listening to the Modern Therapist's Survival Guide, where therapists live, breed and practice as human beings to support you as a whole person and a therapist. Here are your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy.   Katie Vernoy  00:47 Welcome back modern therapists This is the modern therapist Survival Guide. I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy. And this is the podcast about all things that therapists face. Sometimes their business stuff, and today's episode is diving into the world of online digital advertising. Any of us who are working through the pandemic have our small businesses, needing to find ways to potentially reach new clients that we haven't had to in the past. I know for people like me, I've built my practice largely on in person networking and some of those relationships. But it's as I get asked by some of the listeners of like, I'm ready to start a practice now. How do I develop a practice like yours? And I say, I don't know, because we're not allowed to beat people during the pandemic. I don't know, maybe like find some Google ads or some Facebook ads. They're like, Well, what works for you. And I'm like, talk to our guest today. John Sanders from RevKey, this is something that he's going to be able to speak on way better than I am. John, thank you for joining us today.   John Sanders  01:54 Thanks for having me.   Katie Vernoy  01:56 We're excited to have you here I was so I don't know what the right word pleased. I'll just say pleased, I was so pleased when you reached out to connect related to the conference, actually, and I'm so excited that you're one of our conference sponsors. Thank you so much for your support. But just in talking with you and about RevKey and what your mission is, I am really excited to have you to talk with our audience about this area that I think a lot of folks just don't know anything about and can be a real great way for people to market their practices. So we'll dive right in with the question we ask all of our guests, which is who are you and what are you putting out to the world.   John Sanders  02:34 So I'm John Sanders. I'm the owner of RevKey. And I focus on Google ads for mental health professionals, probably 90% of my revenue is generated by therapists and counselors who are looking to increase the size their practice, and get new clients either for themselves or for therapists who are working for them. I started doing this I, I kind of got into this a little bit of a natural way, my wife opened her testing psychology practice. And so I started running Google ads for her while I was also running Google ads during the day doing a day job at a marketing agency. And over time, helping her started helping a couple of her friends. And then 2018, it just became my entire job. And I quit my marketing agency job. And I opened rev key and I haven't looked back since.   Katie Vernoy  03:28 Nice, I like it. There's a lot of mistakes to be made in buying digital ads, rather than going networking to a small community where people might be able to get to your physical office or that kind of stuff. Now you're potentially advertising to the whole world. What kind of mistakes do you see people making when they're first moving into some of these online ads that if we can save them a few dollars here and there to be able to be more effective with them? What kind of mistakes do you see that people could avoid?   John Sanders  04:02 Sure. So with Google ads, some of the most common mistakes are setting up what's called a smart advertising campaign where Google really does most of the work for you. But it really doesn't have a lot of options in terms of customizing different ads, and trying to avoid clicks that you don't necessarily want. So if you're going to use Google ads, and when we're talking about Google ads, we're talking very specifically about Google search ads. And those are the advertisements that appear on Google after somebody searches something, make sure you're using the full version of Google ads and not not a smart ad. I'm not a big fan of their dynamic ads that just scan your website, you can end up with all sorts of weird traffic based off of that. We want to be able to go and specifically say these are the keywords that we want to target and then we want to be able to look at the search terms what people are actually searching to come to your website, a couple of other things that that I commonly see when people come to me who are running their own Google ads is not having any what are called negative keywords. And those are words that you put into Google and say, if this word appears in the search, do not show my ad. And probably the most common one that I see is massage. So I'll see a bunch of people will say therapy near me, and they'll get a bunch of searches for massage therapy near me, which is what we absolutely don't want. And then probably the final thing is not really having a good way of tracking your results, not really knowing how many people are calling you, because your ads not knowing how many people are filling out forms. And so you don't really know if Google ads is working for you if you don't do those things. So all of a sudden, Google ads just becomes you know, a charge on your credit card every month that you're just not sure if you're getting anything out of it. So that measurement piece is super important.   Katie Vernoy  06:00 So there's different types of ads that I know that you work on. I know you do Google ads, but you also do social media ads. And to me, it seems like most of these platforms are cost per click or cost for per view, or the more people are responding to clicking into seeing your ad, the more you're going to pay. And so it seems like there's some nuance there that would be important for people to understand what they should use, which one is better for their practice that kind of stuff. So talk to us a little bit about. And maybe this is way too big of a question. But as far as like, what does a good Google Ad look like? Why should someone think about Google ads? And then also looking at the the social media ads, and when that is potentially the right choice, the better choice a good addition? You know, it's kind of like, what are we talking about here, when we're saying digital marketing, online, paid ads?   John Sanders  06:54 Well, let's start with social media ads. In this case, they are a very different animal from Google search ads in that if somebody searches you on Google, they are at least somewhat through their buying journey already to use a little marketing speak, they have already decided that they need a therapist, and so they type in something like therapist near me or counseling near me. And then you know, we want to show them an ad that really deals with what they're looking at. So for example, if somebody types in anxiety treatment near me, or anxiety treatment in their city, I want to show them an ad that talks very specifically about anxiety, I don't want a generalist ad, I don't want something that includes something about couples counseling, or anything that's not related to anxiety, I want then them to click onto my ad. And I want to take them to a page on a website that talks very specifically about anxiety treatment, I don't want to take them to a page that is a bullet point of services, or a homepage that has a whole bunch of other things that they're not looking for, I want to take them to a page specifically about anxiety. And ultimately, the goal is for them to either call you fill out a form or go to, you know, some sort of scheduling link. And that's really the process when you advertise on Google that you should think about as every time you're putting in a keyword thinking, What page is this going to? And how is this going to be successful. And that's really kind of how you should write your ads. And also be thinking about your website. You know, one of the things that we had talked about previously is that before you start Google ads, really getting a good website going is very key and having what we would call service pages, where you have a page very specifically for all of the specialties that that you do, instead of having that page of just bullet points, because that's not going to engage customers. Also, Google's constantly judging our ads. And they're not going to really see that as a high quality landing page. And so your ads are going to get judged by Google for that. So it's really good to have those pages in place before you start advertising both from a Google standpoint, and also from a potential user standpoint as well.   Katie Vernoy  09:12 Yeach you don't want to pay for something and send them to a website that then talks them out of working with you.   John Sanders  09:18 Right, or just doesn't have any information. And yeah, and I know that it's really easy to fall into that trap is, you know, if you're just starting out, you go on WordPress, and you put together your first website, to not include enough content out there. But really the it's it is very key to make sure that you have that content before you start trying to advertise,   Katie Vernoy  09:41 you know, you talked about kind of being a certain way through the the buying process or the or whatever when they're searching on Google for a therapist, but when we're looking at Facebook ads or Instagram ads or any of the social ads, like how do those work and what are those best use for   John Sanders  09:59 So Facebook and Instagram ads are both run out of the same platform. And the way that you target customers is by creating what's called an audience. And this is a combination of behaviors and demographics and interest that people have. So you can say, show my ads to people who have job titles similar to therapist or something along those lines. And you can put in several different ones. You can also do it based off of behavior have they come to your website before that is what's called remarketing, although that's going to get a little more difficult in the next year as kind of that cookie based remarketing that a lot of people have heard about is going to start to go away. So you can target people based off of their age based off of their location based off of particular interest they might have. And so it's really good to use social media ads, when you have a very specific idea of who your audience is, in terms of those demographics. If you're more of a general therapy practice, you're you're going on a little bit of a fishing expedition, because you're going to write kind of a general ad towards a general audience. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. But we can't measure it in a lot of the same ways as a Google search ad where they're already so far through the buying process, you could end up showing ads to people who don't think they need a therapist, or I've never even thought about getting a therapist. And so then it's much more of a multistage situation where you're trying to get them to come to your website, and then maybe you serve them some remarketing ads, or you send them an email or something along those lines. And so I really kind of warn people that when you're doing social media ads to not necessarily hold them to a the same standard as Google, but also to think about a little more as an exercise in branding than what I would call direct conversion.   Katie Vernoy  11:57 You're saying that direct conversion be more likely if they have a product or a book or or some sort of like an event like something that's very specific, that's going to be a better social media ad than, hey, do you happen to be ready for therapy right in this moment, and I've targeted you appropriately.   John Sanders  12:17 Right, exactly. And also, with social media ads, you have to be very careful about the wording you use. For instance, you know, if you try to use the word, you in a Facebook ad, your ad could get disapproved, because you're trying to talk directly to the customer, which Facebook does not like, and Facebook has a number of rules around, you know, the wording and usage it within within your ads, and probably more rules than Google has on that front.   Katie Vernoy  12:48 What makes a successful campaign, you're talking about getting better results here. How do you interpret whether or not what you're doing is successful?   John Sanders  12:55 You know, when we talk about it within Google ads, if we are getting 100 clicks for a customer, I want to see how many of those actually turned into phone calls, leads scheduled clicks. And look at that in terms of our percentage, generally, I want that percentage to be at least 5%. So if 100 people click on your ads, I want at least five of them to do something. And then we also have to look at how much you're spending for each of those leads. And then ultimately, the most important thing is, are those leads turning into customers and revenue for you. If you get into a situation where you're spending $500 a month on Google ads, you want to make sure that you are getting a good return for for that $500 ad spend. And that's where kind of tracking get with you know, your assistant to make sure that those people that are clicking on your ads are actually turning into clients is super important.   Katie Vernoy  13:54 When you're finding that people are not hitting like that 5% What do you see as often kind of contributing to that? Or what kinds of steps do you look at to evaluate where things aren't converting?   John Sanders  14:06 Sure. I think it depends on the, you know, where people are kind of dropping off in the process. You know, for instance, if you know, somebody comes to me, and shows me their Google Ads account, and they're saying, I'm not really getting anything off of this. And I find that you know, less than 1% of people are actually clicking on their ads, that's usually an indication that you have an ad problem, or your ads are being served on search terms that we don't want to go back to the massage therapy example. If you're advertising anxiety therapy and somebody types in massage therapy near me, your ads never kind of get clicked on. So that's that's one of the first things to to look at. If people are then you know if people are actually clicking on your ads that are relatively recent, right, which I would define as about at least two to 3% of the time. I know they're getting to your website. Are they spending enough time on your website? If you find find that your average time on your website is from people from your ads is 30 seconds, they're not spending very long on your website, and they're not seeing a particular bit of content that that they are looking for, kind of the measure that I have for that is I want to make sure people are spending at least 60 seconds on your website. And to go back to the previous example of the service page that just has bullet points. If you're running ads to that, typically people are going to look at that and go, and then they're going to click off under 30 seconds, and you're not going to end up converting that client.   Katie Vernoy  15:37 There's a lot of stuff you're talking about that sounds pretty technical, which is, you know, kind of monitoring the click rate monitoring, you know, and kind of what percentage are people clicking and what percentage of people are actually getting to the website, and how long they're spending on the website? That seems like a lot to first figure out how you can actually get that information. And then also a lot to try to sort through like for DIY errs Is it obvious if you're able to get a little bit technically savvy, how to get that data, so you can even look at it.   John Sanders  16:14 Google Ads has a lot of different menus in it. And so that can, especially if you don't know what you're looking for, can be a little difficult. In a lot of cases, you're having to pull information from another program called Google Analytics, which even if you're not running Google ads, you should definitely have Google Analytics installed on your website. So you can see how many clicks overall, you're getting, how long people are spending on your website, getting information about about those individual pages,   Katie Vernoy  16:42 it seems like people need to have at least some some knowledge and have installed at least Google Analytics to be able to see some of this data.   John Sanders  16:51 Right. And that's one of the first things that as a common mistake that when people will come to me and they're they've maybe they've been running their own Google ads, that they haven't installed Google Analytics, or they haven't put on those negative keywords that we've talked about. Or you don't really have any of that measurement, which is not necessarily obvious in Google ads. And in a lot of cases, you have to involve things like Google Analytics, or even third party programs, if you're looking to track some calls,   Katie Vernoy  17:18 as far as some of the time investment to figure this kind of stuff out. And I'm guessing the monetary mistakes to try some of these things out, see what's effective or not, is this worth a clinicians time to invest this kind of stuff? Or is this kind of one of those things where the best advice is, have people who are good at this pay for their services and let them do their thing, we don't want them treating suicidal clients, we want them to refer to us therapists is this honestly, just something where it's a better use of clinicians time to hire out these kinds of services,   John Sanders  17:58 I would say for the most part, this is something you want to hire out. Much like I hire out graphics design or accounting, I don't like to do accounting. That's why I have an accountant. And I could spend my time and try to figure all of this out. But I probably wouldn't end up doing that good of a job on it. As somebody who professionally does it day in and day out. That's not to say you can't I've had some very technically minded therapist, especially a couple of them that, you know, maybe used to work in it. And this is their their second job, those guys have been able to understand it fairly well. But for the most part, I would say most of the people who try this themselves, they fall into some of these traps that we've talked about. And they potentially end up wasting a lot of money on Google, that doesn't really lead to any clients.   Katie Vernoy  18:47 Yeah, I think to me, the financial downside of doing this wrong can be pretty high, especially if you set it and forget it. And to me, I feel like this is something that I cannot emphasize enough that if you can get it right. I mean, this is a way to have marketing just happening in the background all the time. And this is kind of what therapists desire, like I don't have to do anything and I get clients. And so it's interesting because I think a lot of people are worried to invest. How would somebody identify a good return on investment for outsourcing Google ads, outsourcing potentially other paid online marketing? And and kind of what that would look like? Like, let's just say a solo practitioner who's wanting to start or grow their caseload like, what should they expect as far as being able to get something like this set up? And then what would that return look like?   John Sanders  19:46 I think to answer that question, you have to start with, what the average value of your client is, what you're charging, how many sessions you're keeping them. And if you can, look at that. data you can figure out, well, I charge, let's say, $100 an hour, people tend to stay with me 20 to 30 sessions. So we have each customer being approximately worth two to $3,000. And then you have to think about how much would you be willing to pay for one of those customers. And so, you know, we go back to what we talked about earlier, where let's say you're spending $500 on Google a month, if you can get one client out of that, who's two to $3,000. In revenue, that's a pretty good when and if you get any more than that, it's enormous. If you can be getting four to $6,000, of revenue off of $500, in advertising spent. And you also do have to kind of keep in mind, especially if you're, if you're doing therapy, you have to kind of think about that long term return on investment of what that client is worth, you know, over their lifetime to you, as opposed to on a month to month basis. I think that that's a mistake that that some people make, they'll say, Well, you know, in month X, I'm only gonna make x on this. But you have to not necessarily think about month one, you have to be thinking about months 2345 and six,   Katie Vernoy  21:11 how long does it take to reasonably expect a return on is that it I hear clinicians who are like, Oh, I'm hitting a slowdown portion of my schedule, you know, summertime slowdown or something like that, now's the time that I should be investing in Google ads, are they going to see the kind of quick turnaround to fill up their practice with this kind of an investment? Or is this something that needs to be planned out even more ahead of time on something like this,   John Sanders  21:37 the advantage that Google ads and digital advertising in general has over I would say search engine optimization is that it is something that you can do, and get on the first page. Like if you're a solo practitioner, who's just gotten started, if you try to organically grow on Google, that can take six months to a year, for you to really start getting some clicks off of that the advantage Google Ads has is you go tell Google can show these ads for these particular keywords. And you can get on to that first page, really, really quickly. And really kind of that first 30 days for me is is the period of where I'm figuring out in a specific market, you know how much I'm going to pay for each of those clicks. And that's gonna vary greatly, depending on the market, and what you are trying to advertise. If you're trying to do couples therapy in New York, be prepared to pay eight to $10 per click. If you're trying to do general therapy out in a suburb, you might, you know, only pay three to $5 that click. And that is very much based off of who else is there who is trying to advertise? To get an idea of that what you need to be bidding on those keywords? And then also looking at those results. Are you are you seeing the results? Are people staying on your pages long enough? Are they calling YOU ARE THEY filling out your forms, and that's where you start to to make adjustments, and then over time, you will figure out, you know, I need to change the content on this page, or I need to not advertise in a specific neighborhood that maybe is too far from your practice. And that's kind of the optimization process. And then also looking at, and I would say that this is probably the most important thing for the DIY audience out there is to look at the search terms that are causing your ads to appear. And if most of them are good, you're probably going to do really well. But if you see a bunch of nonsensical therapies, and I see all sorts of different types of therapies that come up that we want to add to the negative keyword list, if you're spending a lot of money on things that aren't relevant to your business, it's going to be very hard for you to succeed with Google ads.   Katie Vernoy  23:53 One of the things that I'm hearing and correct me if I'm wrong is that there's the initial optimization process of making sure that your ad was reading properly, has the right keywords, has good negative keywords. And then it's driving traffic to a page that actually closes the business, so to speak, and gets people to sign up for consults or call the practice or whatever, and to become clients. So there's, there's a part that truly needs to be the therapist or the therapist with a marketing specialist on making sure the webpage that you're driving traffic to is going to convert and going to be targeting the right people. And then also potentially really looking at what is your intake process look like? What is your call look like? You know, do you have? Like, can you get all the way through the sales cycle, so to speak, but once you get that set up, once you have an optimized ad, you have your page is on fire. You you close the call, and you're getting clients, it almost feels like it could be a spigot that your turn off and on with Google ads, because you'll you know, I assume that there's going to be a job So with algorithms and that kind of stuff, so there's still a little bit of tweaking after that. But to me, it seems like once it's set up, then that process of the summer slowdown that Kurt's talking about would be like, Okay, well, we just need to in about two weeks before we want to get some more clients, we just turn on the Google ads. Am I Am I oversimplifying that too much.   John Sanders  25:19 I think it depends on the practice. I think if you're a solo practitioner, I think that that can definitely be the case, I have larger clients who, if they've got 10 therapists, and all of them get full, they go out and hire two more. And then so those Google Ads kind of continue on going. Or for more of your midsize practice that, you know, is four or five people and they hire a new therapist who is specialized in couples, then it's okay. For these couple of months, let's go ahead and run ads for couples and marriage and relationships and really focus on those pieces. So I think that that really depends on the size of the practice. But I think that you are right, in that for smaller practices, you can do that it's probably the number one reason I lose customers is because they get fault, which is a it's a high class problem to have. But it's still a problem.   Katie Vernoy  26:12 So you need more clients   John Sanders  26:14 Well and one of the things I'm also working on right now is is doing a search engine optimization product, because that is the sort of long term planning, and is also another complicated subject of being able to help build practices over the over the long term, like I said, that can take six to nine months for Google to really start recognizing your website with when they crawl it and saying that this is a high quality website and should appear higher up in the search results.   Katie Vernoy  26:42 I think that ends up being a good plan where you start with Google ads, and in the background, you're building the SEO. So it seems like it's a natural partnership, for sure.   John Sanders  26:50 Right   Katie Vernoy  26:51 What kind of tips do you have, you know, spending the last moments here of the podcast here of how those two things fit together? I mean, you're talking about outsourcing this, but for clinicians who are trying to picture okay, I've got the ads, what needs to go on to the website in order to keep people there who are engaged, do I just like, put a video that takes 45 seconds to load so that way, they're going to stay for a minute,   John Sanders  27:18 Google won't like that at all.   Katie Vernoy  27:21 And if the video doesn't load, I'm off that page in 10 seconds.   John Sanders  27:25 Absolutely. Google. And Google knows that. I mean, one of the things that when Google's judging a landing pages, not only is it judging, you know, the content, but it also like if you have images or videos that roll out really slow, Google is not going to show your ads as high up in terms of you know, some of the other things a writer I regularly work with, you know, recommends that you have, you know, four to 500 words on that page. Not only does that give Google enough keywords to grab a hold of and say okay, that this is high quality for an anxiety search. But also, it allows people who are actually looking at it to go yes, this is this is what I'm feeling this is, you know, this is what's happening with me, and to kind of get them nodding their head, and then you know, hopefully, getting them to take that next step of contacting you somehow.   Katie Vernoy  28:16 I think it's something where the hard truth for folks that want to get clients quickly, because I think I've definitely had consulting clients that are like, should I do Google ads, and I was like, let's look at your website first. And I think the hard truth is, sometimes there is quite a bit of work that needs to happen before you really can take this into, into your marketing strategy. Because if you're spending money to send them to a website, that does not reflect who your ideal clients are, does not connect with your ideal clients, and does not show you in the best light. It's it's just throwing money in a hole, and it's not actually getting you results. And it can be very discouraging. And so there may be some work to do ahead of time to get prepared for the calls to get prepared for the web traffic. But once you actually have that in place, it sounds like Google Ads can be a way that you can really, pretty quickly start building a caseload and the return on investment can be very high, especially if you if you have a fee and a length of treatment, typical length of treatment that makes each client worth 1000s of dollars. And you know, even if you're only getting one client a month, you know, that still ends up being a nice return on investment. And usually I'm hearing people get more than that. Do you have a sense of like, if you've got a really good, optimized ad, like you know, and a reasonable spend, you know, how many people are typically getting, how many clients people are typically getting?   John Sanders  29:48 Well, let's you know, take that 100 Click example. And you know, we talked about 5% Earlier, let's double that. Let's say let's say you're doing really well and you get you get 10 people who contact you, then it gets down to that, that that close process that that we talked about earlier, are you are you answering your phone is a common thing that I'll end up talking to clients about who I'll notice off of my call tracking software, they're not answering their phone, and they're getting a bunch of voicemail messages. But if you can take those 10 leads, and you know, you can turn six of those into clients, you know, all of a sudden, your your return on investment, if you're spending $500, you know, you could be looking at several $1,000, and potential long term revenue. That's huge. And, um, it is very hard to find a way to do that anywhere else. You had mentioned the work that goes up front, very often, when people contact me, they'll say, Hey, I'd like to run Google ads. And you know, I really have to tell them, Okay, go work with a content writer, go work with, you know, web designer, let's let's get your website in a good place before we try to run those ads. Because otherwise, I'm going to start running ads, you're not going to get the results and you're just going to get mad at me. And that's just no fun. I, I'd much rather do all of that upfront and delay working with a client for three months. And this happens on a fairly regular basis where I'll refer people out and then they come back three months later and say, okay, my website's ready. Let's go ahead and run those ads.   Katie Vernoy  31:14 Yeah. And I would add, make sure that you have a conversation with someone if your close rate isn't what you'd like it to be if you get a lot of calls, and nobody becomes clients. There's other folks to talk to about that as well.   John Sanders  31:26 And I think Google ads, especially once you put some of those tracking metrics on there, that makes it very obvious very quickly. For instance, I have some larger practices who will go through those call logs, and they will, you know, really scrutinize those and you know, potentially say, you know, why aren't these these people closing? If you're seeing a closed rate of only 30%? You know, you have to start asking those questions about what's going on with the intake process that's causing that drop off?   Katie Vernoy  31:54 Where can people find out more about you and your services.   John Sanders  31:57 Sure, if you want to know more about me and what I'm about, go to redsky.com, that's revkey.com. And feel free to fill out that form on the website. And I will get back with you really quickly because because this is what I preach to people all day. So you've you've got to follow up on those leads. So and then, you know, typically what I do is, you know, start with a conversation where we talk about their practice and how many people they have and you know what specialties they they want to run for. And then put together a proposal and send it over to him and hopefully start working with them.   Curt Widhalm  32:35 And we'll include links to that in our show notes. You can find those at MTSG podcast.com. And until next time I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy and John Sanders.   Katie Vernoy  32:46 Thanks again to our sponsor, trauma therapist network.   Curt Widhalm  32:49   If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you can know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There's so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan LCSW WC created trauma therapist network. Trauma therapist network therapist profiles include the types of traumas specialized in population served therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them. Network is more than a directory though its community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect consults, and network with colleagues around the country.   Katie Vernoy  33:26 Join the growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code MTSG20 at Trauma therapist network.com Once again that's capital MTSG the number 20 at Trauma therapist network.com   Announcer  33:43 Thank you for listening to the Modern Therapist Survival Guide. Learn more about who we are and what we do at MTSGpodcast.com. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter. And please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any of our episodes.  

Action Plan: https://jimharshawjr.com/ACTION Free Clarity Call: https://jimharshawjr.com/APPLY   How do you survive the holidays? What are the things that put you in the best position to have a great experience through the holiday season? Do you have a love-hate relationship with the holidays? Maybe you love getting together with people... but not really EVERYone? Maybe you love the food and the booze… but not how they make you feel once the party's over? Or maybe you love the time off… but it makes you drift away from your goals—  health, relationships, finances, and all— and it pushes you off track physically and mentally? In this episode, we're going to reveal the Ultimate Holiday Survival Guide to keep you on track so that you can truly enjoy the holidays and rise above the challenges and stress that come with the festivities. Listen now and don't forget to take notes so you'll enjoy a fun but regret-free holiday with this specific and easy-to-follow plan! If you don't have time to listen to the entire episode or if you hear something that you like but don't have time to write it down, be sure to grab your free copy of the Action Plan from this episode— as well as get access to action plans from EVERY episode— at http://www.JimHarshawJr.com/Action. 

Author Noah Charney discusses his book The Devil in the Gallery: How Scandal, Shock and Rivalry Shaped the Art World. https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Gallery-Scandal-Rivalry-Shaped-ebook/dp/B08YWQZTBD/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Devil+in+the+Gallery%3A+How+Scandal%2C+Shock+and+Rivalry+Shaped+the+Art+World&qid=1636743032&sr=8-1 Author Website: www.noahcharney.com Association for Research into Crimes against Art, a non-profit research group on issues in art crime www.artcrimeresearch.org Making It: The Artist's Survival Guide: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097D6RK2J/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i5

In this heartfelt conversation, Mary interviews Aija Mayrock, a writer and spoken word poet whose work will send chills down your spine and tears down your cheeks (the good kind!). Aija shares with us... how she published her first book at 19 years old tips for becoming a writer or pursuing your creative passion what the writing process can look like and where to draw inspiration from Plus, Aija opens up about her experience with bullying and tools that have helped her heal. Aija Mayrock is a bestselling author, poet, and performer. She started writing her first book “The Survival Guide to Bullying” when she was 16 years old, after having been bullied for many years. She self published her book before it was acquired by Scholastic and published around the world. Aija has spoken to over four million people nationwide on bullying and mental health. Aija also joined the ABC and Disney Channel “Choose Kindness” campaign alongside of Hailee Steinfeld and Alessia Cara. Recently, Aija released a poetry book called Dear Girl which is about the journey from girlhood to womanhood as well as a love letter to the sisterhood. You can read a sample and get your own copy of Dear Girl here: https://www.aijamayrock.com/deargirl Follow Aija on Instagram: @aijamayrock And if you enjoyed this episode, screenshot it and share it on social media! Make sure to tag @maryspodcast and @aijamayrock

This week Charlie's giving you a sneak peak at his upcoming book "The Midwest Survival Guide." If you like what you heard, pre-order it here: https://m.lndg.page/wM30f0

A Faith that Thrives in the Face of Adversity (Wilderness Survival Guide - Part 2) Nov 6th - 7th , 2021 - Pastor Kerry Shook   Blessed in the Test Thrives in the Face of Adversity Hold On To God's Promises Scriptures: Isaiah 43:18-19, Isaiah 43:19b, Psalm 106:21, 25, Isaiah 40:3-5, Psalms 9:1, Isaiah 40:31 Topics: Survival, Blessed, Adversity

This week the pod gang are getting ready to table at Thought Bubble Comic Festival 2021! In doing so, they put a shout out for advice, hints and tips for anyone going to the fest and here is the results in all their glory. The advice is relevant for any comic convention so whether you visit or table at a show in the future, check this out. From safety, card readers, new books to buy and great indie comics to check out Great stuff to check out this week - Thought Bubble Festival, Covid 19 Policy, Weird Work Volume 2, Accident Man, Comrade Kill, Blame, John Aye, John Tucker, Murder Volume Two, Johnny Ryans Porn Basket Click here to buy comics from the creators of the Awesome Comics Podcast! Let us know what you think! Email: Awesome Comics Talk Check out the folks who sponsor this lil show - the mighty folks at Comichaus! If you love our Intro/Outro music, then check out the brilliant Chad Fifer and more of his musical badassery at www.chadfifer.bandcamp.com

Dr. Rebecca Hershberg is a clinical psychologist who specializes in early childhood social-emotional development and mental health, She is the founder of Little House Calls Psychological Services and author of Tantrum Survival Guide. She has been featured in NYT, Parents.com, TODAY PARENTS, Washington Post and so much more. I love it when you have a conversation and there are practical tips you can take from it. This is one of those conversations. If you are a parent you will be encouraged about the research surrounding the magic 30%, and how ruptures in your relationships with your kids are not the end of the world but actually serve as an important aspect of being able to demonstrate how to repair and restore connection...Website:https://littlehousecalls.comInsta:Little House CallsFB:Little House CallsI would love it if you left a review for the show! Simply write, either your favorite episode or the top insights that you have gained.Write a reviewIf you're interested in joining the SPI Pro community for an amazing group of entrepreneurs to help grow your business, check out the link below...SPI Pro Community

Conspiracy Theories in Your Office Curt and Katie chat about clients who bring conspiracy theories into therapy. We talk about differentiating between psychosis and believing in conspiracy theories, the characteristics of folks who may be likely to subscribe to these theories, and the importance of the relationship in working with these folks. We also look at steps we would like professional organizations to take to support clinicians. It's time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age. In this episode we talk about: How to handle when clients bring conspiracy theories into your office Distinguishing between delusions, shared psychosis, and conspiracy theories Reality testing, obsessive research, and other factors that may distinguish between psychosis and conspiracy theory The impact of internet research and social media algorithms The characteristics of folks who are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories How fear of uncertainty, lack of trust can play into this dynamic Societal impacts like advertising certainty The different responsibility that therapists have when someone brings in a conspiracy theory Hesitation in addressing these theories both in the room and at the professional org level The continuum of engagement with conspiracy theories (from “entertainment” to going down the rabbit hole) The level of investment in the theory, groups forming around these theories, and cults The risk factors and legal/ethical responsibilities related to harm Allen Lipscomb's BRUH modality (Bonding Recognition Understanding and Healing) The problem with direct challenging The importance of identifying is it a conspiracy theory or is someone actually out to get you, especially with clients who are in traditionally marginalized communities Building trust within the relationship through deep understanding of the client's experiences Societal measures that can help (like deplatforming leaders of the theories) Starting from compassion and curiosity; managing reactions Exploring the nuance of challenging irrational fears versus conspiracy theories Seeking common ground and identifying impacts The call to action to professional organizations for guidance and taking a stance (and the understanding of why they balk at doing so) Our Generous Sponsor: Trauma Therapist Network Trauma is highly prevalent in mental health client populations and people are looking for therapists with specialized training and experience in trauma, but they often don't know where to start. If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There are so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan, LCSW-C created Trauma Therapist Network.  Trauma Therapist Network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work and what they specialize in, so potential clients can find them. Trauma Therapist Network therapist profiles include the types of trauma specialized in, populations served and therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them.  The Network is more than a directory, though. It's a community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect, consult and network with colleagues around the country. Join our growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code:  MTSG20 at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. Resources mentioned: We've pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance! The Mind of a Conspiracy Theorist in Psych Today Mashable Article: What happens when people talk to their therapists about conspiracy theories? It's tricky   Relevant Episodes: Political Reactionism and the War on Science (interview with Dr. Tereza Capelos) White Terrorism and Therapy Mass Shooters and Mental Illness   Connect with us! Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group  Our consultation services: The Fifty-Minute Hour Who we are: Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and CSUN, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, former CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also a former President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com A Quick Note: Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We're working on it. Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren't trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don't want to, but hey. Stay in Touch: www.mtsgpodcast.com www.therapyreimagined.com Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapist's Group https://www.facebook.com/therapyreimagined/ https://twitter.com/therapymovement https://www.instagram.com/therapyreimagined/   Credits: Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/ Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/   Transcript (Autogenerated) Curt Widhalm  00:00 This episode is sponsored by trauma therapist network.   Katie Vernoy  00:04 Trauma therapist network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work, and what they specialize in so potential clients can find them. Visit trauma therapist network.com To learn more,   Curt Widhalm  00:27 Listen at the end of the episode for more about the trauma therapist network.   Announcer  00:31 You're listening to the modern therapist Survival Guide, where therapists live, breathe and practice as human beings to support you as a whole person and a therapist. Here are your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy.   Curt Widhalm  00:47 Welcome back modern therapists, this is the modern therapist Survival Guide. I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy. And this is the podcast about all things therapy related for therapists the things that we do the things that we face with clients, and literally everything else. Even the things that you don't know that are out there, we are today talking about conspiracy theories. And are we are we actually treading into a conspiracy theory podcast here, like, I'm just now realizing that, but what to do, how to handle when clients are bringing conspiracy theories into the office. Now, as we're looking at this episodes, we don't want to necessarily speak to any particular conspiracy theories that are out there. So we're just going to use a philan conspiracy theory as an example throughout this episode. So the theory that we're working with today is that the company is behind seeded grapes are all just a money laundering front because no one buys seated grapes on purpose.   Katie Vernoy  02:02 I think that's a great one. Okay.   Curt Widhalm  02:04 We're gonna work with that. So do you have clients who were talking conspiracy theories? Bringing in seeded grapes into your sessions?   Katie Vernoy  02:17 Not currently. Actually. I had some folks previously pretty recently, but I think the thing I want to distinguish first, because I think that there are conspiracy theories, and then there's also delusions, shared psychosis and and other types of psych psychotic symptoms. And so because I've had clients that have psychotic symptoms and believe that the world is out to get them, but how do we differentiate conspiracy theory believers from folks who have psychosis? Because for me, I feel like psychosis has other elements to it, that potentially lead to that diagnosis versus someone who doesn't have a mental health condition, but has beliefs that are along the lines of conspiracy theory, how do you make that distinction?   Curt Widhalm  03:08 The profession has not really defined clearly the difference between the two other than we know that they're different. So if you're asking me, there's   Katie Vernoy  03:20 I just did ask you. Yeah, and I was just doing.   Curt Widhalm  03:25 So if you're asking me, it's a focus on ideas, it's more of the approach to the ideas than it is necessarily about the ideas themselves. That when I've worked with clients who have presented with delusions or with psychosis, or something else, there's a certain level of reality testing that we go through that those clients response to, that does not show the obsessiveness into the research of whatever YouTube videos are out there or spending the amount of time going into them. They're not alienating themselves away from friends and family in the way that conspiracy theorists tend to do. And as I see with some of the clients and some of the people who who consults with me, it's more of the actions around what the beliefs are that pushes something into kind of that conspiracy theorist territory. This is evidenced by some of the clients who might be sending me several YouTube links from somebody who got their doctorates off of, you know, some website someplace who's posting 30 minute videos about seeded grape industry and several of them and talking about how their family members will stop talking to them because of their beliefs. So, to me, it's more of the qualitative actions around how they approach it as opposed to necessarily the content of what they're bringing in.   Katie Vernoy  05:10 I agree, I think there's, with the clients that I've had with psychotic symptoms, they seem to just believe and know it to be true. There isn't that research level. I agree with that. I think there's also an element of, in fact, they see proof to the contrary, and fold it in to the delusion or the hallucination that they're experiencing, and it stays in this realm, that's very different. I do think that folks with psychosis can alienate the people around them. And I think, in fact, do they, you know, I've had clients where they believe that you're part of the conspiracy against them, and, and then either decide to meet with you anyway or not, I've had, you know, different folks who argue with, you know, the voices in their head, you know, to try to not do therapy or whatever, or believe family members are part of these larger things and alienate themselves. So I think it's, it's kind of like we know it when we see it. Right. You know, whereas conspiracy theories, sometimes it's perfectly reasonable and rational folks that have kind of gone down this social media rabbit hole, where, you know, basically all of the the algorithms are, are designed to give them more and more information about the seeded grape industry that were as someone with more of a kind of a standalone psychosis or delusion, doesn't have that it's more that they are building things. And this means this, which means this, which means this and it's it's their own logic versus something that they're finding within more established means that that they believe they're doing the correct research, but they've actually gone down these these rabbit holes.   Curt Widhalm  06:53 There's Psychology Today article that is the mind of a conspiracy theorist. This was part of their November 2020. Magazine. We'll link to this in our show notes, you can find those over at MTS g podcast.com. But this article talks about particular personality traits that are more likely to lead to people believing in conspiracy theories. And those things include things like low levels of trust, increase needs for closure, feelings of powerlessness, low self esteem, paranoid thinking, and a need to feel unique. And that these are rather stable personality traits that conspiracy theorists hold across their lifetime. And guides us into probably the crux of this episode, which is, what do we do with this, when these kinds of clients come into our office, when they talk with us about the things going on the coded messages that they might be receiving or spending inordinate amounts of time on the internet with that, it does help to look at the combination of these personality traits as part of how you might want to look at guiding your response.   Katie Vernoy  08:19 And as you were talking about the types of folks I just want to touch on that first, is it when you were talking about the traits it just reminded me of the conversation that we had with Dr. Tereza Capelos on treating political reactionism. And I think that there's there may be some some ties between kind of political extremism and belief in conspiracy theories, if there's some overlap in those those things. So I just wanted to comment on that. I will link to that podcast episode in the show notes as well. But it seems like there could be a perfect storm around this.   Curt Widhalm  08:56 Sure. It makes sense when you've got a low level of trust and the need for closure. Yeah, that if you're not trusting the information that is being presented, and you have that drive for needing things to be in nice, neat little boxes, that that sets up that profile of people who are always going to want just that little bit more, not believing that everything has been quite stated yet. And that leads to the opportunity to start filling in boxes that may not actually be there or partial boxes that kind of exists and haven't. And we've really seen this play out in kind of real time over the last couple of years where people in response to the scientific methods of round the COVID 19 pandemic. Don't follow along the scientific paths. have real time science, which is, oh, we've got an idea. We've tested this, this idea doesn't work, or this idea only partially works. Yeah. And the belief that either that is not factual or that it's absolutely factual and why are they keep looking? They must not be telling us something that is widely prevalent at this point.   Katie Vernoy  10:25 Sure. And I think that there when when we look at a lack of trust, there's societal efforts towards us feeling very decided. Very sure. In what what steps we must take, I mean, the marketing does that this is the answer to your problem purchase this thing. And it's the answer to your problem. And you know, the quick fixes and all those things, the setting with uncertainty, or the setting with, you know, kind of partially conflicting messages or those types of things is not something that we are really encouraged to do by a lot of the content we consume. So it makes sense that there are going to be during times of uncertainty that we want the security of a conspiracy theory, because it feels so definite, and it feels like you know, more than someone else, and it feels like you have the true answers, and so that you're safe, even if all the people around you are not. I think for me, the the part that becomes really hard is that there are if someone brings it into a therapy session, there's this, though, there's a different responsibility that we have, as therapists, let me say it that way, like as a therapist, we have a different responsibility to our clients, then a family member or a family member can just be like, yeah, that's crazy, dude, like, stop it. Whereas with us, as a therapist, there's, there's a responsibility to take care of this client. And there's a responsibility to sustain the therapeutic relationship, there's a responsibility to do and work in service of the client. And so to me, I think the the difficulty becomes, at what point do you push hard back on a conspiracy theory that's very harmful to a client? And at what point do you enter the world of the client and, and help them to kind of process what they're experiencing? I mean, I know we're gonna go into a few different articles that talk about how therapists are managing it. But one of the things and a I think it was a Mashable article that you sent over to be heard that the first paragraph was like, APA doesn't want to actually come on record with how to address conspiracy theories,   Curt Widhalm  12:44 why not? What are they hiding?   Katie Vernoy  12:48 Because they don't want to piss off people that maybe support them, right? And potentially, they don't want to stand up against what a lot of people are saying as conservative rhetoric as conspiracy theory. And we're clearly not saying that we're talking about seeded grapes. But I think that there's that element of, there's some shying away of talking about how do we actually handle this.   Curt Widhalm  13:11 And I think a lot of our tendencies are, this is uncomfortable, we don't want to piss off people. And so therefore, we're just going to smile politely to our clients, and then just return back to whatever's already in their treatment plan. Yeah. But there probably is times to push back on this. Because going back to the Psychology Today article, they point to Timothy McVeigh, the person behind the 1995, Oklahoma City bombing, as having violent fantasies that started out in conspiracy thinking, and, well, those level of things are rare. You did bring up our episode with trees capitalist as far as Yeah, that extremism can form some of the roots in this and it might lead to lower levels of vandalism and harm people destroying seated grapes, because right within this, you probably have a responsibility as a therapist to not just brush things off is his centric sort of hobby thinking. I've seen some literature around that there's kind of three groups of people when it comes to conspiracy theory type stuff is there's those who don't believe in anything that's kind of not scientific at all. There's the people who look at conspiracy theory type stuff with no kind of an entertainment value sort of thing. And then there's the people with the other extreme end who are alienating friends and family. They're staying up late into the night They're missing work because they're not caring for themselves. And it's a continuum. And some of the people who start in some of that entertainment sort of area, start going down the rabbit hole, and potentially do slide into some of this more extreme ideology and rhetoric. And especially with things like the internet, you mentioned the algorithms earlier of ending up in echo chambers, where they're only hearing people from the same viewpoints that end up developing them even further down the rabbit hole.   Katie Vernoy  15:37 And I think when there is that investment, in a conspiracy theory, or a range a, a family of conspiracy theories, and there is a group that forms around it, I think what can happen is that the investment is so high in it being true because of whatever it provides to them. But I think there There can also be an element of others, helping each other to overcome any objections from family members. From other things. I did a little bit of reading around cults and different things like that. And I think once you get a group of conspiracy theorists, I don't know when it becomes a cult, but I think it's something where some of those mechanisms of really getting into someone's head whether it's these algorithms or people and and really creating a space that allows them to disregard everything else in their life and just continue to support this conspiracy theory. I think that becomes more obviously, a mental health issue and a primary mental health issue. I think when we're talking about when do we have to step forward, I think that that knowing how to work with colds and knowing how to help someone, you know, whether it's deprogramming or whatever you want to call it, I think that that's a that's another conversation. That's not what we're talking about today. But when someone is starting to do things that are harmful to themselves to others to property, I mean, at some at certain points, even just as a therapist, we're mandated to take action to make sure that people are not causing harm. But I think the the nuance that that I think you're looking for and I think what we want to talk about today are folks who have these low, low, low level conspiracy theories that they believe in, that could rise to the level of violence or destruction of property, and how we intervene, where we don't alienate our clients. So that they start they keep going down the rabbit hole, but we're not with them, and we can't then take some of those protective action for them and for the people around them.   Curt Widhalm  17:46 One of the biggest signs is people who believe in one conspiracy theory are susceptible to believing in more and part of this is just in social expansion that says you start diving into some ideas that people that you would be conversing with in those areas would also be bringing in other conspiracy ideas. You know, not only is it seeded grapes but now it's seeded watermelons like why did those exist still What didn't we get that figured out? Like   Katie Vernoy  18:23 yeah, I think we've started a whole new conspiracy theory around seeded seeded fruit I'm sure that we can you know if you have the the biological knowledge of why we still have these seated grapes and seeded watermelons, please send us an email at curt@therapyreimagined.com   Curt Widhalm  18:42 only if these are videos by doctors and poorly lit rooms. At least half an hour in length. But in working with these, going to this Mashable article they interviewed Dr. Alan Lipscomb, he is a social worker who has worked a lot with black men grappling with trauma and grief and noticed with many of his clients that conspiracy theories became a reoccurring theme in their sessions really related to things like race related microaggressions that even started with things like the clients talking about, like the Tuskegee experiments, where the government purposely infected black people with syphilis and seeing the effects of these kinds of treatments,   Katie Vernoy  19:43 which is not a conspiracy, which is not - it's true,   Curt Widhalm  19:46 which is true.   Katie Vernoy  19:48 Yes.   Curt Widhalm  19:49 But this helps to push some of the mistrust of the government things   Katie Vernoy  19:55 of course,   Curt Widhalm  19:56 Which not going to blame it Anybody coming from this community with stuff like this in the history of having a healthy mistrust of government? Sure. And even in the response here, I love the acronym for Dr. Lips comms approach to this. It's called the bra approach. Now, I'm cynical enough that this could also be just like, bra, honestly. But this actually is an acronym that stands for bonding, recognition, understanding and healing. And even in the way that we're introducing his work with his particular population, comes with a place of understanding, yeah, I see where these people are coming from I, I agree that some of these interpretations are going to be natural responses. And it takes building trust with these clients, to help them work through some of the mistrust issues. And that includes working on the trust in the therapeutic relationship. Some of my clients who are coming in and talking about the money laundering that goes with CDB grapes right now will continuously kind of still test me with some of the things that they're talking about, Oh, you must not believe in seeded grapes at all that, you know, I hear you, I've, I've seen some seeded grapes before, like, these are things that you're not going to get anywhere with these kinds of clients by directly challenging them with your own beliefs. Otherwise, you're going to be, you know, seen as in on the conspiracy yourself.   Katie Vernoy  21:45 Yeah. Yeah, I guess the thing that I want to point out because I think with the the example, in the Mashable article, I think, the the other element of the conspiracy theories were, you know, kind of based in the reality of the medical harm against the black community, folks were believing that there were other things happening during the COVID 19 pandemic and with vaccines. So, to me, I think, the difficulty in sorting out, is it a conspiracy theory? Or are people actually out to get you -  I think that part is really important, especially in marginalized communities. I think starting from a place of this as a conspiracy theory, can be very harmful. And so and you may not know that it's a conspiracy theory until you actually have a chance to sit with them and understand and so my thought process is, when you actually take the time to understand someone's perspective, understand the oppression that they're feeling, understand the fears that they have, and trying to sort out how is this impacting you? What evidence can you get for and against, and I think there's a there's an issue with going too much into the evidence with someone that's truly in the in thrall to a conspiracy theory, I think that there has to be a space that it may not be a conspiracy theory, it may be that they're actually being oppressed and marginalized and or people are out to get them. And so I guess I just wanted to comment on that. But I think that there's a need I agree a need for trust within the relationship so that you can truly understand the experience and understand where it's, it's going from my reality to a conspiracy theory.   Curt Widhalm  23:30 Part of what the COVID 19 pandemic has done is it's forced people away from being around people with differing viewpoints in their jobs in public. And therefore they are spending more time online with people who are sharing the same beliefs that you know that algorithm stuff that Katie was referring to earlier. Part of getting into the trusting relationship with your clients, also serves a very long term goal of helping to provide a space for them to think critically about different viewpoints and even potentially, opening up to not hearing from some of the heads of some of the theories that are being driven. We've seen this, we've seen evidence of this being successful with things like the D platforming of people like Alex Jones, that when their messages are no longer allowed on places like Twitter or Facebook or this kind of stuff. The people who have followed them, their rhetoric also becomes less extreme when it comes to some of these conspiracy theories. So keeping in mind that this is a slow and deliberate building of trust with clients means that you really have to watch your own reactions and sessions. You can't be rolling your eyes, you can't be necessarily avoiding conversations about these kinds of things. But having compassion for the starting place of where these clients are coming from, so that way, when they are ready or willing to take that next step with you, that you are seen as a trusted figure in their lives,   Katie Vernoy  25:24 how would you differentiate addressing a conspiracy theory with a client versus addressing a a fear that is gone to a slightly irrational place?   Curt Widhalm  25:38 I don't know that I would approach them much differently. That, at least as far as how I'm hearing, what you're saying, with some of the instances that have come up in my practice, is, in my general response, you know, I'll provide some curious space for Oh, I haven't heard about that, that does come from maybe a more neutral place that allows for me to be a curious thinker of Well, I wonder about, fill in the blank, you know, I wonder about, you know, seated oranges. So those things still exist. Or, you know, something that might be a curious challenge to it that does invite looking at things from from different viewpoints as team members that you would also do with clients who do present with irrational fears, irrational beliefs. Yeah. You know, Never have we ever, you know, just confronted a client in session, been, like, hey, that that irrational fear you have? How about just thinking about it differently? Like, if that was the way things worked, our grad school training would be a lot shorter, but it doesn't work that way. So it was   Katie Vernoy  26:57 it, there isn't Rational Emotive therapy? Isn't that kind of like, that's irrational? Like, isn't that isn't that actually a tried and true therapy.   Curt Widhalm  27:07 I love that Aaron Beck can just yell at clients that they're wrong and that, but it, but even even within REBT, there's the trust in this is somebody you know, you're not just yelling, that's your rational in the first session. You're not just there arguing with clients. And part of this is really understanding that you might get 45-50 minutes out of a week with a client, and they're spending eight hours a day online listening to Joe Rogan or   Katie Vernoy  27:43 the seeded grape industry.   Curt Widhalm  27:45 Yeah.   Katie Vernoy  27:47 I think the thing that I'm I'm sensing from the way that you work as well as this is the way that I work is that there is a connection with the client that then allows for some exploration of what's going on. I think this is another distinguisher, between conspiracy theory versus kind of an irrational fear within a normal kind of anxiety presentation is, is that folks who are anxious think that their anxiety is too high for what they're experiencing. And it seems like folks who with a conspiracy theory feel like they're not afraid enough that this is super dangerous. And so I think, really trying to sort through where someone sits there and being able to honor what is occurring, I think is really important. I think the that part that can get very confusing, I think, you know, and this has happened with me with some of my conspiracy focused psychosis that I've seen, but also I think, with folks who are just very intelligent people that believe things that have been put forward as conspiracy theories, I think what ends up happening is, is I try to connect with the pieces that feel like they are, I don't know what the right word is common ground maybe, and trying to understand the impact of of what they believe on how they behave on their relationships, trying to sort through it from that angle. I think it becomes challenging when there's just such an interweaving of reality and conspiracy theory where you can't just you can't yell at them. It's irrational because it's not completely irrational. There's it's so nuanced and there's so many little pieces that the conversation has to be very rich. And so it goes back to that element of it really has to come from a very strong relationship. And and we need to be able to stay in relationship and and the more we push back, the less light someone in our in our office is going to be able to hang with us if they've really invested in the conspiracy theory.   Curt Widhalm  29:55 This Mashable article has interviewed Dr. Ziv Cohen, the founder and medical director of principal psychiatry in New York City. And Dr. Cohen really calls out that the professional organizations do need to be more involved in providing some guidance in this area. And I can understand why the professional organizations are not. That's because many therapists probably also believe in some conspiracy theories.   Katie Vernoy  30:30 Okay, here we go, here's where we're gonna get all of the feedback on the episode.   Curt Widhalm  30:34 Well, and as a professional organization, we know that their first job duty is to make sure that the continuance of the professional organization exists. And if they are alienating their members, that is potentially a drop in membership, and therefore, they don't want to alienate members. So, even being able to wade into this, Dr. Cohen calls for the professional organizations to take more of a stance and guidance, you know, at least use something like, you know, seated grape industry, as an example, we don't need to necessarily go out and address things. But we do need to work on training clinicians on how to recognize when it does progress from seated grapes to harm and potentially identifying those who are most vulnerable to be acting out violently. And it is a continuum and a slippery slope. So call your professional organizations tell them your thoughts on seated grapes. Don't put any context into it, but make seated grapes happen.   Katie Vernoy  31:52 So I want to actually push back on one of the things that you said, as a profession. Is it not important for us to comment on conspiracy theories that are psychologically harmful to the populace?   Curt Widhalm  32:07 Absolutely, we should.   Katie Vernoy  32:09 Okay, so why would you then say that professional organizations shouldn't address that, but should address how therapists   Curt Widhalm  32:16 I'm saying, cuz I'm, I'm picturing the heads of these organizations and what their response is the pearl clutching that they will have in looking at their membership, and giving them an out to be able to walk the line in between what they should be saying and how they can package it nicely to actually start presenting this information.   Katie Vernoy  32:40 So you're trying to get to a place where they would actually do something versus actually commenting on what they really should be doing.   Curt Widhalm  32:47 Exactly, yes. So   Katie Vernoy  32:49 alright, that's fair. Yeah.   Curt Widhalm  32:51 Check out our show notes at MPs G podcast, join our Facebook group, the veteran therapist group, follow us on our social media and continue to drink the modern therapist Kool Aid. And until next time, I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy.   Katie Vernoy  33:07 Thanks again to our sponsor, trauma therapist network.   Curt Widhalm  33:11 If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you can know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There's so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan LCSW WC created trauma therapist network. Trauma therapist network therapist profiles include the types of traumas specialized in population served therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them. Network is more than a directory though it's community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect consults, and network with colleagues around the country.   Katie Vernoy  33:47 Join the growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code Mt. SG 20 at Trauma therapist network.com Once again that's capital MTS G the number 20 at Trauma therapist network.com   Announcer  34:04 Thank you for listening to the modern therapist Survival Guide. Learn more about who we are and what we do at MTS g podcast.com. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter. And please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any of our episodes.   Curt Widhalm  35:49 If you're still listening, the code is 62 160 1600  

In this episode, Michelle is joined by Kate Anthony, a certified divorce coach who helps women deal with the difficulties of divorce with children.  In this candid conversation, the duo uncovers myths about relationship separation and lends advice for parenting through divorce.     When we can keep our children at the "center" instead of the middle of divorce we help our kids process the messiness of separation, custody and visitation. It isn't easy to make a decision around ending your marriage especially with children, but we can emerge on the other side with love, connectedness and a family that still feels like a family. It might look different and be arranged in a new way but connection can remain regardless.     Kate brings her experience with helping women navigate this trying time to help others find peace around this process and trying experience.       Are you ready to change your family dynamic through connective parenting? Work with me one on one and together we'll hone in on the sources of discontent and chaos, and find solutions that are specific to your family's needs. It doesn't matter if you are married or single if you parent alone or you want to do this with your parenting partner. To sign up for my One-on-One Private Parenting Sessions, click here to start now and change your parenting reality! -- Enjoy today's episode? Please share this episode with a friend and subscribe to the show to get notified on the latest episodes. Support this podcast through my partnership with Hand in Hand Parenting. Find useful parenting material and the Booklets I discuss in the show? Click Here. Are you a coach, or online course creator? Have an email list you communicate with often? Do you have a website? Kajabi can be your home for all of these and so much more Click here and explore all Kajabi has to offer while supporting the Peace and Parenting Podcast with no extra cost to you.    Follow Peace and Parenting Instagram @peaceandparenting Facebook @peaceandparentingla LinkedIn @Michelle Kenney M.Ed Peace and Parenting Facebook Group Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts

Eliza and financial expert Elana talk dinero and style! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Jane Goodall DBE is an ethologist and environmentalist. From infancy she was fascinated by animal behavior, and in 1957 at 23 years old, she met the famous paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey while she was visiting a friend in Kenya. Impressed by her passion for animals, he offered her the chance to be the first person to study chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, in the wild. And so three years later Jane traveled from England to what is now Tanzania and, equipped with only a notebook, binoculars, and determination to succeed, ventured into the then unknown world of wild chimpanzees. Jane Goodall's research at Gombe National Park has given us an in-depth understanding of chimpanzee behavior. The research continues, but in 1986, realizing the threat to chimpanzees throughout Africa, Jane traveled to six study sites. She learned first-hand not only about the problems facing chimpanzees, but also about those facing so many Africans living in poverty. She realized that only by helping local communities find ways of making a living without destroying the environment could chimpanzees be saved. Since then Jane has traveled the world raising awareness and learning about the threats we all face today, especially climate change and loss of biodiversity. The author of many books for adults and children and featured in countless documentaries and articles, Jane has reached millions around the world with her lectures, podcasts and writings. She was appointed as a UN Messenger of Peace, is a Dame of the British Empire, and has received countless honors from around the world. Douglas Abrams is the New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the first book in the Global Icons Series. Douglas is also the founder and president of Idea Architects, a literary agency and media development company helping visionaries to create a wiser, healthier, and more just world. He lives in Santa Cruz, California. Bios copied from The Book of Hope PDF supplement (Audible) The Jane Goodall Hopecast: https://janegoodall.ca/the-hopecast-jane-goodalls-podcast/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58603636-the-book-of-hope Connect with Audiobook Reviews in 5: · Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audiobook_reviews_podcast/ · Twitter: @janna_ca · Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AudiobookReviewsInFiveMinutes · Anchor: https://anchor.fm/audiobookreviews · Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/ · Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam Audio production by Graham Stephenson Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions Rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Anchor, Breaker, Google, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, and Spotify

Working with your family can be tricky...especially when it's your spouse. Brad Casebier, President of Radiant Plumbing & Air Conditioning joins To The Point to explain how he and his wife Sarah used their relationship to grow a 50 million-dollar powerhouse in Austin, TX. We talk about Brad's new book, Survival Guide to Working With Your Spouse and go through his journey from plumber to running an incredibly successful business with his wife!

Entrepreneurial businesses acknowledge and understand the inevitability of boom-bust cycles in the Fed-manipulated economy. But they refuse to be defeated or even deterred. They find the profitable pathway through both the boom and the bust. Murray Sabrin has compiled a guide in his latest book, Navigating The Boom/Bust Cycle, An Entrepreneur's Survival Guide (Mises.org/E4B_142_Book). Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights So long as we have central banking, entrepreneurs will experience boom-bust cycles. They adapt to this reality. Entrepreneurship is, in its essence, focused on the generation of new value, producing betterment, growth, and improvement. While customer preferences and the nature of competitive offerings may change, and conditions such as pricing and contracts may vary, entrepreneurs work towards continuous enhancement of markets. Their efforts are thwarted by governments, who can't leave markets alone to function smoothly, and especially to central banks who aim overtly at manipulating markets through artificial credit creation. Austrian entrepreneurs are acutely conscious of this problem, since they understand Austrian business cycle theory. But they must nevertheless adapt to the boom-bust problems the central bankers bring about. The first tool of adaptiveness is the recognition that there is the private economy and the public economy are different and separate. Some economists talk of a mixed economy, but, as Mises pointed out, such middle-of-the-road thinking is socialist. The public economy is where the government trades, including trading in money, debt, and credit manipulation, and in the regulations that governments use as their management tool. Entrepreneurs seek to establish a private economy where the government does not trade. The most important part of the market where the government is absent is the creation of customer value, especially in the form of innovation. Governments destroy value and deny innovation. When entrepreneurs can operate in the light of value generation, leaving governments in the dark, there's room for profitable operations. Entrepreneurs can further protect their safe haven with good anticipatory timing of the boom-bust cycle. There are signals that help. Murray Sabrin's book provides a long list of websites and links where relevant data is published that can help entrepreneurs watch the trend that might signal the timing of the boom-bust cycle. The first signal is the so-called inversion yield curve, when short term interest rates start to elevate, and even get to higher levels than longer term rates. This is unnatural, implying that there is greater uncertainty in the short term than the long term. It can only happen when markets are fearful of the short-term consequences of government policies and interventions, even though they are confident of entrepreneurially-induced growth and improvement in the long run. As a rule of thumb, according to Murray, the beginning of a recession can be anticipated roughly one year from the inversion of the yield curve. Of course, other factors can intervene, such as the government's idiotic shutting down of businesses over the fake COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs should pay attention to the yield curve signal. They can monitor it at Mises.org/E4B_142_Fred. [[{"fid":"126773","view_mode":"image_with_caption","fields":{"format":"image_with_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Inverted Yield Curce","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"image_with_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Inverted Yield Curce","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"The Inverted Yield Curce","style":"height: 433px; width: 528px;","class":"media-element file-image-with-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"1"}}]] Another signal for entrepreneurs to monitor in the overall economy is the unemployment rate. This rate declines during the boom, and actually starts declining as the recession is ending or a few months afterwards. There are variations in the pattern by industry, which Murray describes in detail in the book. He provides a list of 12 St. Louis Fed employment data series to monitor, covering sectors such as manufacturing, durable consumer goods, finance and insurance, and construction. He offers many more signals — such as homebuilder stock prices — to monitor boom-bust timing. There is plenty of data for the savvy entrepreneur. Strengthening value effectiveness and value security beats managing for efficiency. The economics profession has been guilty of misguiding entrepreneurs with its focus on efficiency, i.e., managing for fewer inputs per unit of output, and eliminating “waste”. It can cause fragility, impede value generation, and slow down innovation and responsiveness to change. One example is the management of supply chains. Managing them for maximum efficiency can also make them insecure, if, for example, there are no ready supplier replacements when one slips up. We are experiencing the impacts of supply chain fragility right now in the US. It's for reasons extraneous to regular business operations, but the effects serve to highlight the need to keep supply chains secure under attack from government interventions. Entrepreneurial businesses that develop the strongest possible upstream supplier relationships and cultivate a richly connected value network may be able to perform better when boom-bust hits the supply chain. Entrepreneurs fight the Fed on inflation. The Federal Reserve insists on maintaining its 2 percent inflation target, which is economically destructive in many ways (see "Why the Fed's 2 Percent Inflation Standard Is So Bad" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/E4B_142_Article). Entrepreneurs pursue deflation, always aiming to deliver better quality at lower prices. Why? Because it's what customers want, and entrepreneurs are in business to serve customer needs. Entrepreneurs bring abundance. The Federal Reserve, taking the position that higher prices are good for the economy, promotes scarcity. Entrepreneurs make their workforce a strong resource, rather than a source of cost-cutting in economic downturns. The purveyors of so-called efficient management traditionally see the workforce as a cost, and urges entrepreneurs to cut costs by firing people in economic downturns. Entrepreneurs focus on effectiveness instead, and see their workforce as a resource and a source of ideas and initiatives for improvement and adaptation in all environments. A motivated frontline workforce is closest to customers and can bring back information, ideas, and new initiatives to make the business more responsive to customer needs and more capable of delivering desired customer experiences. This is the case whatever the state of the Fed-manipulated economic cycle. Growth entrepreneurs think expansively at all times. Entrepreneurs create new value for customers, and they don't call a halt to their pursuit of value just because of the macro-economic data that's being reported in the mainstream media. They understand that customer preferences, or the order of those preferences, may well change in a boom or a bust time, and they maintain their vigilance in monitoring and responding to these changes. These are the signals to which they respond, not the economic headlines. Entrepreneurs look for the opportunity to introduce new goods and services at all times, and not just at the “right” moments in the economic cycle. They're always looking for new ways to deliver more value. Perhaps, in a downturn, there's a greater call for service and repairs on existing equipment than for buying new equipment. Entrepreneurs can adjust and recombine their assets to provide more repair work and thus make up for lost sales revenue. Entrepreneurs are great cash flow managers, and tend to keep cash on hand or available for those times when this level of money can be utilized for expansion. One potential application in this book is the acquisition of assets from other businesses in a downturn, when business operators who are less savvy run out of cash and offer assets for sale at low cost. Murray calls this “picking up the pieces”. There may also be the opportunity to expand geographically into new regions. There's always growth somewhere. In sum, the answer to the boom-bust cycle is value agility. In the 4Vs business model on the Economics For Business platform, the fourth phase of the value cycle is value agility. We use this term to indicate the speed of responsiveness that successful entrepreneurs exhibit in response to customer feedback. Murray Sabrin uses the same term in his book, and defines it as “a process where entrepreneurs... adapt and adjust to continue to meet consumers' perceptions of value your business delivers” (p. 111). He asks, “do entrepreneurs stick it out when the economy is in a slump or wave the white flag and close the doors?” Mastering value agility means never being faced with that agonizing decision. Additional Resources Purchase Navigating The Boom/Bust Cycle, An Entrepreneur's Survival Guide at Mises.org/E4B_142_Book. Use promo code BOOM20 for 20% off. See a preview of Murray Sabrin's book at Mises.org/E4B_142_Preview (PDF). "The 4Vs Business Model" (Video): Mises.org/E4B_142_Video The Economics For Business platform: Econ4Business.com "Why the Fed's 2 Percent Inflation Standard Is So Bad" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/E4B_142_Article 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity (Chart): Mises.org/E4B_142_Fred

Entrepreneurial businesses acknowledge and understand the inevitability of boom-bust cycles in the Fed-manipulated economy. But they refuse to be defeated or even deterred. They find the profitable pathway through both the boom and the bust. Murray Sabrin has compiled a guide in his latest book, Navigating The Boom/Bust Cycle, An Entrepreneur's Survival Guide (Mises.org/E4B_142_Book). Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights So long as we have central banking, entrepreneurs will experience boom-bust cycles. They adapt to this reality. Entrepreneurship is, in its essence, focused on the generation of new value, producing betterment, growth, and improvement. While customer preferences and the nature of competitive offerings may change, and conditions such as pricing and contracts may vary, entrepreneurs work towards continuous enhancement of markets. Their efforts are thwarted by governments, who can't leave markets alone to function smoothly, and especially to central banks who aim overtly at manipulating markets through artificial credit creation. Austrian entrepreneurs are acutely conscious of this problem, since they understand Austrian business cycle theory. But they must nevertheless adapt to the boom-bust problems the central bankers bring about. The first tool of adaptiveness is the recognition that there is the private economy and the public economy are different and separate. Some economists talk of a mixed economy, but, as Mises pointed out, such middle-of-the-road thinking is socialist. The public economy is where the government trades, including trading in money, debt, and credit manipulation, and in the regulations that governments use as their management tool. Entrepreneurs seek to establish a private economy where the government does not trade. The most important part of the market where the government is absent is the creation of customer value, especially in the form of innovation. Governments destroy value and deny innovation. When entrepreneurs can operate in the light of value generation, leaving governments in the dark, there's room for profitable operations. Entrepreneurs can further protect their safe haven with good anticipatory timing of the boom-bust cycle. There are signals that help. Murray Sabrin's book provides a long list of websites and links where relevant data is published that can help entrepreneurs watch the trend that might signal the timing of the boom-bust cycle. The first signal is the so-called inversion yield curve, when short term interest rates start to elevate, and even get to higher levels than longer term rates. This is unnatural, implying that there is greater uncertainty in the short term than the long term. It can only happen when markets are fearful of the short-term consequences of government policies and interventions, even though they are confident of entrepreneurially-induced growth and improvement in the long run. As a rule of thumb, according to Murray, the beginning of a recession can be anticipated roughly one year from the inversion of the yield curve. Of course, other factors can intervene, such as the government's idiotic shutting down of businesses over the fake COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs should pay attention to the yield curve signal. They can monitor it at Mises.org/E4B_142_Fred. 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This rate declines during the boom, and actually starts declining as the recession is ending or a few months afterwards. There are variations in the pattern by industry, which Murray describes in detail in the book. He provides a list of 12 St. Louis Fed employment data series to monitor, covering sectors such as manufacturing, durable consumer goods, finance and insurance, and construction. He offers many more signals — such as homebuilder stock prices — to monitor boom-bust timing. There is plenty of data for the savvy entrepreneur. Strengthening value effectiveness and value security beats managing for efficiency. The economics profession has been guilty of misguiding entrepreneurs with its focus on efficiency, i.e., managing for fewer inputs per unit of output, and eliminating “waste”. It can cause fragility, impede value generation, and slow down innovation and responsiveness to change. One example is the management of supply chains. Managing them for maximum efficiency can also make them insecure, if, for example, there are no ready supplier replacements when one slips up. We are experiencing the impacts of supply chain fragility right now in the US. It's for reasons extraneous to regular business operations, but the effects serve to highlight the need to keep supply chains secure under attack from government interventions. Entrepreneurial businesses that develop the strongest possible upstream supplier relationships and cultivate a richly connected value network may be able to perform better when boom-bust hits the supply chain. Entrepreneurs fight the Fed on inflation. The Federal Reserve insists on maintaining its 2 percent inflation target, which is economically destructive in many ways (see "Why the Fed's 2 Percent Inflation Standard Is So Bad" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/E4B_142_Article). Entrepreneurs pursue deflation, always aiming to deliver better quality at lower prices. Why? Because it's what customers want, and entrepreneurs are in business to serve customer needs. Entrepreneurs bring abundance. The Federal Reserve, taking the position that higher prices are good for the economy, promotes scarcity. Entrepreneurs make their workforce a strong resource, rather than a source of cost-cutting in economic downturns. The purveyors of so-called efficient management traditionally see the workforce as a cost, and urges entrepreneurs to cut costs by firing people in economic downturns. Entrepreneurs focus on effectiveness instead, and see their workforce as a resource and a source of ideas and initiatives for improvement and adaptation in all environments. A motivated frontline workforce is closest to customers and can bring back information, ideas, and new initiatives to make the business more responsive to customer needs and more capable of delivering desired customer experiences. This is the case whatever the state of the Fed-manipulated economic cycle. Growth entrepreneurs think expansively at all times. Entrepreneurs create new value for customers, and they don't call a halt to their pursuit of value just because of the macro-economic data that's being reported in the mainstream media. They understand that customer preferences, or the order of those preferences, may well change in a boom or a bust time, and they maintain their vigilance in monitoring and responding to these changes. These are the signals to which they respond, not the economic headlines. Entrepreneurs look for the opportunity to introduce new goods and services at all times, and not just at the “right” moments in the economic cycle. They're always looking for new ways to deliver more value. Perhaps, in a downturn, there's a greater call for service and repairs on existing equipment than for buying new equipment. Entrepreneurs can adjust and recombine their assets to provide more repair work and thus make up for lost sales revenue. Entrepreneurs are great cash flow managers, and tend to keep cash on hand or available for those times when this level of money can be utilized for expansion. One potential application in this book is the acquisition of assets from other businesses in a downturn, when business operators who are less savvy run out of cash and offer assets for sale at low cost. Murray calls this “picking up the pieces”. There may also be the opportunity to expand geographically into new regions. There's always growth somewhere. In sum, the answer to the boom-bust cycle is value agility. In the 4Vs business model on the Economics For Business platform, the fourth phase of the value cycle is value agility. We use this term to indicate the speed of responsiveness that successful entrepreneurs exhibit in response to customer feedback. Murray Sabrin uses the same term in his book, and defines it as “a process where entrepreneurs... adapt and adjust to continue to meet consumers' perceptions of value your business delivers” (p. 111). He asks, “do entrepreneurs stick it out when the economy is in a slump or wave the white flag and close the doors?” Mastering value agility means never being faced with that agonizing decision. Additional Resources Purchase Navigating The Boom/Bust Cycle, An Entrepreneur's Survival Guide at Mises.org/E4B_142_Book. Use promo code BOOM20 for 20% off. See a preview of Murray Sabrin's book at Mises.org/E4B_142_Preview (PDF). "The 4Vs Business Model" (Video): Mises.org/E4B_142_Video The Economics For Business platform: Econ4Business.com "Why the Fed's 2 Percent Inflation Standard Is So Bad" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/E4B_142_Article 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity (Chart): Mises.org/E4B_142_Fred

A Faith that Thrives in the Face of Adversity (Wilderness Survival Guide - Part 1) Oct 30th - 31st, 2021 - Pastor Kerry Shook   Blessed in the Test Thrives in the Face of Adversity Hold On To God's Promises Scriptures: Exodus 15:22-27, Exodus 16:8b, James 1:2-4, Exodus 15:25b, Exodus 15:26 Topics: Survival, Blessed, Adversity

In today's episode, Mike and I discuss how he survived the great Texas snowstorm of 2020 The post 245 – Apocalypse Survival Guide and Prepper Plan with Mike Dillard appeared first on Early To Rise.

This week Brandon and I sit down and discuss navigating the holidays. It can be hard to stay on track with a lot of obstacles and temptations but we have 10 tips that will help you! It's the season of giving so give yourself a chance! Enjoy and post your recommendations and questions below! Connect with PietPiet's InstagramPharos InstagramPharos Mountain Lodge InstagramWebsiteWelcome to the Pharos Fit Podcast. Please make sure you subscribe wherever you are listening to this show and if you loved this show please leave us a 5-star review in the iTunes store. It is the currency of podcasts and it really goes along in helping us grow our show and impart our values for anyone who wants to live every day reaching for their absolute best self.If you are in Los Angeles swing by our gym at 1316 Glendale Blvd in Echo Park.Check out our website here for class times and follow us on Instagram for more fitness-related content See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Therapists Shaming Therapists An interview with Katie Read about therapists shaming each other when they raise their fees or start playing bigger. Curt and Katie talk with Katie about the puritanical culture within the therapist community that leads to group think, public shaming, and milquetoast messaging to mitigate their fear that anything different will be attacked. We look at reasons behind this (jealousy, guilt, shame, and moralism) as well as what therapists can do to step outside of this culture to create more success.   It's time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age. Interview with Katie Read, LMFT, Six Figure Flagship Katie takes lessons from her nearly-20 successful years in the field to help clinicians grow...then OUTgrow...their practices. Immediately upon licensure, Katie was made Director of a large Transitional Aged Youth program in Oakland, CA. Later, she was recruited to Direct one of Sacramento's largest Wraparound Programs, and from there she moved into the role of Director of Clinical Supervision, personally supervising 40+ interns towards licensure. Concurrently, Katie had private practices in multiple cities, taught graduate psychology students, and wrote and created therapist training materials. Katie is also a special needs mom and loves helping other moms tune into their own intuition and lead their best-possible lives by taking the sometimes-scary leap into following what's best for them, deep down. She is the creator of: The Clinician to Coach® Academy, The Clini-Coach® Certification, and the Six-Figure Flagship™ Program. She's a little bit obsessed with helping therapists get profitable doing the creative, out-of-the-box, authentic work you're called to do! In this episode we talk about: How therapists are treating each other The concept of trolling, piling on, shame The Article in the Atlantic – New Puritans – and the concept of the illiberal left How identity plays a role and the group dynamics within therapist Facebook groups The shaming related to increasing your fees Katie Read's origin story as an on the street social work The value placed on sacrifice and avoiding guilt for the difference in privilege when working with clients who are impoverished Socially-prescribed perfectionism, self-imposed perfectionism The fine line about what is acceptable to charge or make as a therapist Cancel culture and the lack of allowance for errors Echo chambers, factions, and exclusion The fear of dissenting opinions The low context of the internet paired with the high context nature of a therapist's job Milquetoast messaging to avoid getting attacked Dialing down authenticity to fit into what is acceptable Challenging our financial mindset Cultural and societal factors that frame us as cheap labor The seeming requirement for therapists to suffer in order to understand our clients The reality of therapists as business owners Therapist guilt for “earning money” Feminized professions and the expectation of doing things out the goodness of our hearts Rapidly changing social rules versus entrenchment in what has been How this identity shift is spilling over into real life Jealousy, guilt, and shame, and moralism The best therapists have the worst impostor syndrome How to navigate when you're a therapist going against the grain The importance of every therapist doing their own money mindset work Our Generous Sponsor: Trauma Therapist Network Trauma is highly prevalent in mental health client populations and people are looking for therapists with specialized training and experience in trauma, but they often don't know where to start. If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There are so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan, LCSW-C created Trauma Therapist Network.  Trauma Therapist Network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work and what they specialize in, so potential clients can find them. Trauma Therapist Network therapist profiles include the types of trauma specialized in, populations served and therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them.  The Network is more than a directory, though. It's a community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect, consult and network with colleagues around the country. Join our growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code:  MTSG20 at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com.   Resources mentioned: We've pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance! Katie Read's program: Six Figure Flagship Article in the Atlantic – The New Puritans by Anne Applebaum   Relevant Episodes: Therapist Haters and Trolls Advocacy in the Wake of Looming Mental Healthcare Workforce Shortages In it for the Money? Overcoming Your Poverty Mindset (with Tiffany McLain) Not Your Typical Psychotherapist (with Ernesto Segismundo) How to Overcome Impostor Syndrome to leave your Agency Job (with Patrick Casale)   Connect with us! Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group  Our consultation services: The Fifty-Minute Hour Who we are: Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and CSUN, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, former CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also a former President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com A Quick Note: Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We're working on it. Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren't trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don't want to, but hey.   Stay in Touch: www.mtsgpodcast.com www.therapyreimagined.com Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapist's Group https://www.facebook.com/therapyreimagined/ https://twitter.com/therapymovement https://www.instagram.com/therapyreimagined/   Credits: Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/ Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/   Transcript (Autogenerated) Curt Widhalm  00:00 This episode is sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network.   Katie Vernoy  00:04 Trauma therapist network is a new resource for anyone who wants to learn about trauma and how it shows up in our lives. This new site has articles, resources and podcasts for learning about trauma and its effects, as well as a directory exclusively for trauma therapists to let people know how they work, and what they specialize in so potential clients can find them. Visit trauma therapist network.com To learn more,   Curt Widhalm  00:27 Listen at the end of the episode for more about the trauma therapist network.   Announcer  00:31 You're listening to the modern therapist Survival Guide, where therapists live, breed and practice as human beings to support you as a whole person and a therapist. Here are your hosts, Kurt Wilhelm and Katie Vernoy.   Curt Widhalm  00:47 Welcome back modern therapists, this is modern therapist Survival Guide. I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy. BLEEP you! This is the podcast where we talk about all things therapists, therapy related, therapist communities. And we are talking about the ways that we treat each other and a lot of this happens in the online groups. You know who you are. And   Katie Read  01:20 But do they?   Curt Widhalm  01:22 I think they do. Well, helping us here in this conversation today coming back to the show. Our good friend Katie Read. So before we before we start shaming the shamers.   Katie Vernoy  01:37 For shame!   Curt Widhalm  01:39 Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you're bringing into the world.   Katie Read  01:44 Hi, I'm Katie Read. Thank you for having me back. I missed you guys. We haven't been around here for a while.   Katie Vernoy  01:50 I know!   Katie Read  01:51 Good to be back. Although I did get to see you in person at the conference recently, which was amazing. So anyway, you can find me over at six figure flagship dot com. I do. One of the things that plenty of therapists like to shame, which is encouraging therapists who are creative who had that little spark that maybe someday they want to outgrow the therapist office, I... whispering under my hand here, I help them do that. Lest all the shamers jumped out at us. That's what I do. But I have like you been very active in therapists groups over the last couple years, and been often just shocked by the level of shaming that can happen in these groups. And it's so funny, I don't know about you guys. I've told this to other people, non therapists, like neighbors, friends just being like, Yeah, it's amazing. Those groups, people are astounded to hear that therapists would shame one another like it would never occur to them that therapists would be because they think of us all as being nice and wonderful and accepting and loving and caring and empathic, and all of these things. And I know we all three have had conversations in the background, like why does that fall apart on the internet, and I really do think it's just on the internet. It's not in person. It's just on the internet, but on the internet and therapists group. So not that I have any grand answers for this. But I'm super interested in this conversation today.   Katie Vernoy  03:18 We've talked about this in some ways before, and we'll link to those episodes in the show notes that we've got a therapist, haters and trolls. And there's a couple others, I'll look at them when I'm getting ready to put this together. But to me, I think the biggest thing that I see that that has always been shocking to me is the the piling on, that happens at someone put something out there, it becomes given that that is wrong and bad. And somebody has an opinion that this is wrong and bad. And then there's the defenders, but then there are the piler on-ers, is that is that a word? The people that then cosign on this negative information. And then all of a sudden, it's like the snowball effect. And there's like, hundreds of comments, and you are horrible and all of this stuff. And I think that there is an element of this that I think we do want to call people out when they're doing things that are harmful. I think the the criteria for what is harmful sometimes feels a little bit wiggly to me   Curt Widhalm  04:26 I kind of started looking at this more from just kind of a an academic approach. And what sparked this, for me was an article in The Atlantic called the new Puritans by Anne Applebaum. And it's an incredible article, we'll link to it in the show notes. But it starts to talk about the illiberal left, which many therapists politically identify in kind of this political compass of the left side. And what happens in echo chambers like there pice groups is that it becomes many people coming with a desire for positive social change and social mores are changing that. We've seen this happen not only in society, but in our field over the last 20 years. But what happens seemingly is, we're developing this this collective identity in these groups that becomes part of our own identities and seeing other people acting even slightly different than how we would act ends up becoming almost there's harm to our own self identity that needs to be processed and spoken out against when it comes to things like, hey, I want to raise my fees on my clients by $5 per session.   Katie Read  05:51 I find this one absolutely fascinating because I, I don't think I've ever seen a post go by in a group where a therapist has said, Hey, I'm thinking about raising my fees, and have not gotten at least some very heavy negativity thrown their way. Which is so fascinating to me. Because if you step back and you look at any career on Earth, we assume about every human being in the world, that you will always be on a quest to kind of step up to the next level in your career step up to the next level in your income. This is understood if anyone tells you they've gotten a raise, they've gotten a promotion, you say congrats, that's great. When therapists who are self employed, who have only themselves to answer to they are their own bosses, and when they say it's time for my yearly raise, and I have earned my yearly raise this year, and they attempt to give it to themselves, what do the therapist communities often do? Jump in with really crazy stuff really crazy? Oh, I don't know, I didn't get into this career to make money. I couldn't imagine putting my clients under that kind of strange, just really, really deeply shaming words coming at them. And I find it fascinating. You know, and I'm not exactly sure where it comes from. But it's interesting, because in prepping for this podcast, I was thinking about my early days as an intern and, and I do wonder, probably, at least for me, this was part of it. I spent many years even before I went to grad school, I was doing social work type roles in very, very, very impoverished areas. And then during grad school, I was working with foster kids. And then after grad school, I was an on the street social worker in inner city, Oakland, with teenagers and young adults, most of whom were homeless, or they were sex workers or drug addicts, gang members, like Oh, terrible, really difficult lives, right, like really terrible life situations. And I was dead broke, that job paid next to nothing, it was an internship job. And in a way, coming home to my crappy apartment, where people got mugged right outside in broad daylight and eating my ramen noodles, because that was all I could afford. I didn't have to feel so guilty going into work the next day, because my life was certainly better than my clients lives were at that time. But it was still rough, like things were still rough at my end. And I wonder if I remember at the time, I would say to people, I would say, this is the hardest work you can imagine doing. But if you can do it, you just have to do it. Because these people just need the help. And they need the support. And they need people on the street. And I had this very grand idea of what it was to be an on the street social worker doing that kind of work, and, and staying poor for it. And oh, it took me a long, long time to realize that I had to put the air mask on myself first, you know, like on the plane, like it took me a very long time to come to that change. But I wonder if some part of that for a lot of us does start because I think many of us do start in those types of jobs, those types of internships where you're seeing such poverty, you're seeing such difficult lives and you do feel a guilt around that.   Curt Widhalm  08:57 Even in your story here. Part of what I'm hearing is you lead that off with this is unique to therapists. So you're already framing this as part of therapist identity means that you have to do these certain things. Look at the shame that we put on people who go straight from grad school into private practice, like they are bypassing part of that identity. And, you know, the echoes of the criticisms is, well, that's such a privileged place to come from that you didn't have to go through this with all of these other clients. And a big part of that is in this identity becomes this thing called socially prescribed perfectionism that you must do this because what you're doing reflects on me and in combination with socially prescribed perfectionism comes this self imposed perfectionism that I must act this way. Yeah. And if other people whose identities reflects on the same way as mine And that's not how I see myself doing, I have to deal with that internal conflict, and it's much easier to tear you down than it is for me to wrestle with. All right, you do you and I'll do me and we'll both potentially help out the people that we're best suited to help out with.   Katie Read  10:19 That's so interesting. And it's so true. And I wonder. So like, I'm thinking about the people who I did know from grad school who came from different backgrounds who did go straight into private practice and whatnot. And you do wonder, do they feel any of that guilt? Do they carry any of that with them? Does that bounce off of them that they're like, what I was doing exactly what you just said, Curt, like what I was meant to do, I was helping the people I was meant to help. This is where I'm well suited. It's just interesting.   Katie Vernoy  10:45 And it's, it's something where this idea of perfectionism what what resonated for me was this, it's very thinly defined. And not only have I heard the, the negative backlash around charging a high fee, and and I don't know, necessarily that I've seen a lot of the negative feedback with I'm raising my fee by $5 Next year, but it's anybody that has a premium fee gets roasted. And anyone that talks about charging very little or being on insurance panels, also gets roasted, because you're undervaluing the profession, you're, you're making it harder for me to make money. And so there's this really fine line of what's acceptable,   Katie Read  11:27 Acceptable, huh.   Katie Vernoy  11:28 And so this this perfectionism around, I can't, I can't make too much, but I also can't charge too little. It just it feels very crazy making. And I think this, this notion of we're trying to validate our own identity through making everyone else be like us, or like, what the collective has decided is okay, feels kind of scary.   Curt Widhalm  11:57 And the extension of this goes beyond just, you know, the parent comments in some of these, these groups, that there becomes almost this effort to cancel people across multiple posts, that there seems to be so little room for error, and especially in late, like I said, social mores changing of, you know, a lot of the things that I see is, you know, not doing the emotional work or not doing the education work for other therapists who are potentially asking questions around things like critical race theory and involving, you know, wonderment about communities that they might not have experience with that. While there is validity on both sides is I've seen some of this extension go across, you know, bringing up these kinds of arguments across separate posts across separate days, weeks, even months, that his efforts towards this cancel culture esque type thing that serves to only make this problem even worse, by creating even stronger echo chambers of we're only going to listen to people who think exactly like us. And what ends up happening is we get these factions of, you know, well, here's the group of like minded people who sit over here. And here's the group of like minded people who sit over here, and here's the people who are okay with microwaving fish in the office, and they're okay in their own corner. But then it just makes it to where it's uninviting for anybody to have any kind of a dissenting opinion. Because and this is particular to the internet groups that you brought up. Here at the beginning, Katie, internet culture is very, very low context. And therapists are very, very high context people. This is a sociological phenomenon, that high context is understanding people where they're coming from, you know, we spend years studying how to get the high context of our clients. And we're used to communicating with people in this very, very high context sort of way. And then you get like one paragraph on a Facebook post to be able to try and explain something to somebody else. And it's just this very, really low context like fast moving group of people who kind of opt in and opt out but aren't consistently there. That makes it really enticing to pick on well, you're missing all of these high context things that just it's critical, and it's something that because of internet culture, therapists aren't used to having to receive information in that low context sort of way in embracing how we communicate online. Mind. In other words, we think that we're really smart in some areas of our life, and therefore all areas of our life should be really smart. But the internet is not that place.   Katie Read  15:11 And the internet dumbs us down. Well, it's interesting. And a moment ago, I just lost my train of thought you had said something a moment ago that   Curt Widhalm  15:18 I do that to people.   Katie Vernoy  15:20 Just keep talking, it's   Katie Read  15:22 10 minutes back. There was something I just lost it   Katie Vernoy  15:27 Well, keep thinking because I had something you know, a few minutes back when you were talking about your, your experience as kind of an on the on the streets, social worker and having to overcome that self imposed identity around if I am not so privileged, I don't feel guilty going to work. How did you work to overcome that? Because I think we're looking at being shamed for it. And and you did it within that culture, like I know, that I would imagine you have probably been shamed for for what you do, as you know, a six figure flagship even having that is so money title. So right, having the right so and so actually, how do you how have you gotten through it, I guess.   Katie Read  16:12 Yeah. And I can tell my story, but it's interesting, because you just reminded me of what Curt had said that I had wanted to comment on. Because it's all related. You had to Curt the end. And even Katie had said previously, there's this very narrow band of what kind of therapists are willing to accept as appropriate. And because the echo chambers are loud, and because the pile on culture is intense, within therapists groups, what happens is people are terrified to speak. And so we end up with very very milquetoast messaging. That doesn't challenge that doesn't potentially disagree, we end up with people who only want a message in ways that they will not be attacked for because as we all know, it's very painful and scary. If someone's coming at you online, some stranger online and other people are piling on and everyone would love to avoid ever having that situation. So we dial down what is true, what is authentic, what is important, we dial it down into what we hope will fit this narrow little brass band of appropriateness. And it's interesting like us, for me, it took me years and years. I mean, I eventually went from we eventually moved my husband and I to a different town, I opened up a small private practice. And it's funny, I was one of those therapists, and I was in California, where therapy rates are high. But I was the person where I was charging $90 an hour. And I was the person who set it like this, when a new client came in or called me and said, What's your fee? I went? Well, it's 90. But I can slide I can slide. What do you need, I mean, I can do whatever you need, I can really I get whatever you need, whatever you need, like that was me all the time. Because again, I was still carrying this guilt, about even charging that much and feeling like well, I couldn't even afford to go see me for therapy. So how can I think somebody else's, I was very much in my clients pockets. And what was really interesting was, I had been in this office for a while, you know, I rented my time other people came in and out. And there were several interns in the office, all supervised by this one supervisor. And I was speaking with one of the interns when we were crossing paths one day, and at this point, I had been a licensed therapist. For years, I had worked my way through community mental health up to being a program director, I had taught grad school, I had done all these things. And I was still charging this low rate because of my own internal money issues. And this intern, I don't know how we got on the subject. But she said, Oh, yeah, our supervisor now she was still in grad school. There's a person in her first year of grad school, an intern seeing clients. And she said, Well, our supervisor won't let us start any lower than 125 as our hourly rate, we're not allowed to slide under that they were private pay 125 for the interns. And my mind was blown. That here I was with years of experience behind me years of training behind me. And I it really in that moment hit me I was like I am doing this wrong. I am absolutely doing this wrong. And I need to start working on this. And some of it was working on my money mindset, honestly, for me, doing what I eventually did and wanting to outgrow the office that was motivated by different things like we moved states and then I wasn't licensed for a year while I went through the licensure process in a new state. So my path out of the office and outgrowing the office was sort of organic. It wasn't a pre plan type of thing. It just happened that I moved into coaching and ended up loving it. But within the coaching world, you really really get challenged very quickly on your financial mindset. And you really actually learn very quickly that the norm in the rest of the world is if you bring great value into someone's life, you are well paid for it. And we therapists continually underestimate the great, great, transformative, wildly important value that we bring into people lives. And whether you choose to continue to do it in the context of therapy or to write a book, or to go on a speaking tour to do any of the number of things that therapists can go out in the world, and do, we do by virtue of our passion, our education, all of these things, we bring great value we bring about great transformation in people's lives, and in most of the rest of the world, that would be naturally richly rewarded. But because of sort of the culture, and I honestly think part of it is just the culture of how government even is set up that we need to be able to have cheap labor to go out and work with the people who need help the most. And so many of us, like we said, started off in community mental health in some form, or in schools, which are very underfunded just, we start off as sort of cheap labor. And it's hard to get out of that mindset that we should always remain just cheap labor, or that what we do is not that highly valued in society where, of course, I don't know about you, I remember, every therapist I've had, and I remember them dearly. And they were hugely impactful at those times in my life, and every one of your clients and everybody out there listening. It's the exact same way, you're hugely impactful.   Curt Widhalm  21:14 You know, as I'm listening to this, and going back to that piece by Anne Applebaum, she makes mention of The Scarlet Letter as kind of this this parallel of what's going on with the liberal left. And the thing about this is one of that one of the major themes from the scarlet letter is the the priest who impregnates Hester, I'm forgetting his name right offhand. But he is seen as more virtuous because his sermons have so much empathy, from his own sins that there's almost this parallel what's going on with the groups here that we're seeing of like, we have suffered this injustice. And therefore we're better at what we do in relating to our clients, because we've done this. And especially when it comes to things like privilege and fees in this kind of stuff. It's like, you're, you're not able to relate to your clients as well. Because you haven't done this suffering, and you haven't done this, and therefore, you must suffer in order to be able to be a better therapist.   Katie Read  22:21 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's so interesting, isn't it. And so as some of that just coming down, is that just back to that therapist skills, we were talking just today, I had my meeting with my folks in my clinic coach, six figure flagship, and we were talking, there's one therapist, she's putting an unbelievable amount of work into an event that she's producing just probably hundreds of hours of her labor is going into this work. It's a passion project. She's so excited about it. And she came to the group and she said, I'm donating all the proceeds to charity. And I was like,   Katie Vernoy  22:56 Oh, wow.   Katie Read  22:59 And so we really, we took it apart a lot, like we coach through it a lot in the group. And today in our meeting, and I was, like, you know, like part of this here is that we are also business owners. And when you put in hundreds of hours of unpaid labor on something, you actually need to retain at least the majority of your profits, so that you can reinvest them into your own business, so that you can stay afloat, have savings of money for like all the things that we need to do. But really, to me, what I was hearing was therapist skill was I don't want it to look to anyone, like I'm trying to actually make any money. I want it to look like out of the goodness of my heart, I'm putting on this big event for all my fellow therapists to learn and grow. But God forbid someone think I might earn money from doing this. Yeah. And so it's just it was fascinating, because I don't think there's any other profession, where they would even consider for a minute giving every single bit of all this labor, all this unpaid labor straight to charity, without a second thought, maybe with many second thoughts, but feeling like this is what I should do.   Katie Vernoy  24:05 Yeah, yeah, I just I think about teachers, I think about oftentimes nurses, part of it is kind of feminized professions do have this this impact where the majority of the folks in those professions are non male. And so there is an expectation, this is something we should be doing out of the goodness of our hearts. And it seems very mercenary if we would ask for money for it. You know, there are, you know, during the pandemic, these poor teachers, were finally getting recognition for what they actually do for folks' kids. But as soon as you know, even even well into the pandemic I started to get because I work with some teachers. I was started hearing that people were complaining that the teachers weren't doing enough and we're paying their salaries and why aren't they doing enough? And it's like, whoa, you know, or if they go on strike that is just heartless. So it's heartless. And it's kind of like would you work for the salary that they work for? And then we've seen the same with the Kaiser therapists. That was one of the things that happened. We see the same with nurses.   Curt Widhalm  25:11 I mean, our episode, recently where we talked about, you know, let's just throw more Subway sandwiches at therapists,   Katie Vernoy  25:19 workforce shortage at episode that we just put up.   Curt Widhalm  25:21 Yeah, it's just it's throwing more Subway sandwiches at therapists because, you know, how dare you ask for money. And part of this is as a field that our median age is higher than many other fields. And that anytime that we have a field that has rapidly changing social rules to it, it makes it to where, especially with fields that are older, like ours, the entrenchment becomes a lot more rigid. And so I think that that's contributing to part of this, too, is that there's, there's this almost cultural battle that we're facing within our field that is leading to a new identity. And if we're honest about it, we contribute to that a lot here in the podcast, we do call out things that we don't like, including calling out other therapists calling out other therapists. So we do encourage you to let us know your thoughts and feelings on this publicly in any of the therapist groups. But this happens, systemically it happens individually as well. And, you know, I do see this happening outside of the therapist groups, and actually it is spilling over into in real life as well. To hearing this, you know, from some of the practices, hiring people, where I think rightfully, employees entering into the workforce are asking for living wages. And it is a power balance shifts that is leading to things like some of the workforce shortages that we talked about in the other episode.   Katie Read  27:14 Let me ask you, Curt, because as you were talking about sort of the field being a little bit older, in terms of median age and whatnot, I wonder, and I'm curious, just either of your thoughts on this. Do you feel like so let's say you are out there, whatever age you are, really, but you're a therapist, you've kind of become acclimated to the 50k a year therapist average median income, you've kind of surrendered yourself to the fact that you have a very hard job that you can't talk to anyone about, that you are bound by ethics and confidentiality, that you don't get to come home and vent about your day, you have to keep a lot of things bottled up. And at the same time, you know, you're probably worried every month, if you have a $400 car bill this month, it's gonna throw you over the edge, you're not going to have a cushion for that. And then you go into a therapist group, and you see somebody who says, I charge 200 an hour in my area, and I'm doing great and everything's fine. Do you think part of this backlash is just that feeling of threat, that you can't do that or that you haven't chosen that or that you haven't gone to do whatever it is you need to do internally, whatever that sort of money work is that you need to do to actually start charging closer to your worth as an experienced person in the field?   Curt Widhalm  28:30 Absolutely. 100% think that a lot of where we socially prescribe other therapists to be comes from our own anecdotal histories. And our inability is to deal with our own crap when it comes to our relationships to money, our relationships to our professional identities, that and, you know, this even happens in things that I see like in law ethics workshops, that I teach that it's not even just about money thing, but just how much we distance ourselves from other people who make mistakes. You know, if somebody's name shows up in the spider pages, the disciplinary actions, how quickly are to just like, unfriend them or take them off of our LinkedIn connections? Even if it's something that might points closer to us, you know, you see this and things like people who admit to not being caught up on their notes and just kind of the furthering away, you know, these are ethical and legal responsibilities that we have in our profession. And as compassionate people we tend to have very little compassion for the other people in our profession. When they don't do the same kinds of steps that we think that we should be doing or have been doing all along ourselves.   Katie Vernoy  29:52 You're really saying jealousy, guilt and shame.   Curt Widhalm  29:54 Yes!   Katie Vernoy  29:56 Because I think of like the especially I think with the environment around you, Katie, which is like the six figure flagship, it's people outgrowing the office, it's that kind of notion of very successful, you know, I'm going to make a lot of money, I'm going to, I'm going to live a life. And and you don't argue that that comes easily. I saw your post on kind of hustle seasons. And so I appreciate that. But I think that there's this notion that you can work really hard, create something that's more sustainable and make a lot of money. And I think there's a jealousy there, either of the energy that you personally have. I know I'm jealous of your energy. And then there's also the success that people have, I think there's a jealousy there. And so then it's that kind of like, well, I didn't want it anyway, like that. That's wrong, because I don't think I can get it. I'm jealous that you have it. And so I don't really want it. And this, there's all of these moral reasons and moralizing around why I don't want it. I think what you're talking about Curt is kind of this guilt and shame over, I've been doing things wrong. I can't do that, because it goes against these self imposed values and morals that I've put around being a hard worker, that is one of the people and I am not going to I'm not in this for the money. And I'm doing this because it's so valuable. And even thinking about money is so mercenary and wrong. And so there's that guilt and shame of wanting more, but feeling like it goes against either the collective morals or the personal morals. And so to me, it's like if we think about guilt, shame, and jealousy, I mean, the fact that there is so many of those emotions that come out in these public shreddings, in these social media groups or on pages or whatever, like it just it seems strange to me, that therapist would would have those in such huge, huge, impactful ways.   Katie Read  31:54 It's interesting, too, because I was just putting together a workshop where we talked about how typically the best therapists tend to have the worst imposter syndrome. And I think imposter syndrome falls into what you're talking about, and the fact that because we all tend to be pretty intellectual, pretty academic, you know, even those of us who are super heart led, we all still have like our little academic streak. And I think that we all walk around with this belief that if I am not the top researcher in a particular field, I have nothing to say it's very black and white. If I am not the absolute most published person in this particular theory, I should just sit down and shut up, I know nothing, as opposed to being able to see all the gradients, being able to see all of the expertise that everyone has and that you can bring in that could benefit so many more people. If you were brave enough to kind of fight your own imposter syndrome. Stand up, talk about what you know, help even more people that way.   Katie Vernoy  32:55 Yeah.   Katie Read  32:56 But we get very caught in that. Because this will not win a Pulitzer, I might as well not even write it. I might as well not even try it. And I just want what's the point? What's   Katie Vernoy  33:06 and and how dare you, other person that is doing this? How dare you do that? Because I've decided, even though I may have more knowledge than you   Katie Read  33:17 Yes,   Katie Vernoy  33:17 that I'm not good enough to speak on it. So how dare you!   Katie Read  33:20 How dare you? Exactly. Oh, isn't that so true. And I do think this is what we see play out in therapists groups. And I do think it's terribly sad, because at the end of the day, to me, I always think the lay public are the only losers here. Because when you choose to not speak out, when you choose to not share what you know, when you choose to not be open and vulnerable, and who you are, and say, I know I might not be the world renowned expert on XYZ. But let me tell you a little bit about what I do know, because you might think it's interesting. And I think the thing a lot of therapists don't realize because we're sort of taught to write dissertation style for everything is that the average person doesn't want that. They do want the little tidbit. They do want the little micro snippet that you pulled from an interesting article you read that you couldn't get out of your mind yesterday, share that that's what they want to because it'll get into their head too and it'll help them in their life just like it helps you they don't need your full scope dissertation on anything.   Katie Vernoy  34:19 Yeah.   Curt Widhalm  34:20 So is the answer and stop hanging out with other therapists?   Katie Read  34:29 I don't know let's vote should we go around and vote? I you know it's interesting though, you I definitely think it's something that we talk about in our group is that we talked about how when you even when I when I first started doing the most basic stuff, offering like copywriting for therapists offering basic marketing for therapists in this tiny little way like putting a post on Facebook Hey, need help with your copywriting? You know, these tiny little ways? I had rude people I had predicted people I know going well that's never gonna go anywhere. What are you even doing? Why are you doing that? And so I just want all my students like any time, you are going against the grain a little bit breaking the mold a little bit of what it means to be a helping professional, because what I believe at the end of the day is what you call it doesn't matter as much as what you're actually doing. Are you out there helping people in some form? Is your internal calling to be out there helping people in some form? Great, are you doing it? If you are, and if you feel good and authentic, and you know that you are living out your calling that you are truly helping people in some form? Does it matter if you call it therapy today, and maybe tomorrow, it's consulting, and you have consulting clients, and maybe the next day you build an online course where you help people and maybe you go speak at a school the next day, doesn't matter what form it's in, that you're helping people as long as you are authentically helping people what you were called to do, does the name matter? So you can hang out with a therapist like that. Kurt,   Katie Vernoy  36:00 I hear you saying that hanging out with therapists who have that broader perspective that aren't so tied into the Puritan culture is probably helpful for folks that are really coming, that are pushing against the grain in some way. And and I really resonate with that, because I think that's, that's why we found each other and   Katie Read  36:18 That's what you've done   Katie Vernoy  36:22 We've been trying, you know, we don't we don't avoid the purity culture, we just try to push back against it. But I think it's, it's something where when you're really trying to step out and help people in a bigger way, it is, it is important that you find the right people to spend time with because you can get tamped down by purity culture,   Katie Read  36:40 You can. Well, and I should say this, like for a lot of us, I know for me, when I was I think it is important for therapists to do money work on ourselves, go read the self help books, go, you know, sign up with Tiffany...   Curt Widhalm  36:53 GO DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!   Katie Read  36:58 I think it's important to do that. And I think it's important to hang out with people who get it and have done it. And I think for all of us to, there is a way that you can feel good about what you charge and feel good about what you give back. And that that is going to be different for everyone, whether it's that you do a couple free or cheap sessions every single week, or you give a certain amount to charity every year, like whatever that looks like for you. You can still set this up in a way where you're not going to feel like a greedy bastard, for earning a good living where you still know that you are I mean, for me, when I started outgrowing the office, honestly, my entire motivation was security. My husband worked at a large multinational corporation that was doing layoffs, rolling layoffs every single month. And every single month, it felt like we were going to be any minute we were going to be homeless because he was going to get laid off. And that was the bread and butter of the family. And what then and all I really wanted was some security. And so that drove me and I was like I said we had moved states. And so I didn't have a license in my new state. I couldn't just go open a therapy office, it drove me to get creative and do something else. But I think when your motivation comes from that, like there's, I don't know, a lot of therapists who are like, I'm gonna go get rich so that I can have seven maaser body it's like, it's just not who we are, you know, like, that's just not what we're doing here.   Katie Vernoy  38:16 Well, we do have to end here, but but I think we also if there is a therapist that wants to get ready to get seven Montserrado for months, seven months. Go for it do. So before we close up, where can people find you?   Katie Read  38:30 Six Figure flagship.com is the main program that we run right now it's an application only program for mental health therapists who do want to outgrow the office, that is the best place to find me. And otherwise, I'll just be kind of hanging out with you guys.   Katie Vernoy  38:44 I love it. Always again, it   Curt Widhalm  38:47 We will include a link to Katie's websites in our show notes. You can find those over at MTS g podcast.com. And follow us on our social media join our Facebook groups modern therapists group and   Katie Read  39:01 Or we will shame you.    Curt Widhalm  39:03 we actually have a really good group that seems to   Katie Read  39:08 No I said we will shame them for not joining it, we find them.   Curt Widhalm  39:14 Some we will post those links and until next time, I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy And Katie Read.   Katie Vernoy  39:20 Thanks again to our sponsor, Trauma Therapist Network.   Curt Widhalm  39:24 If you've ever looked for a trauma therapist, you can know it can be hard to discern who knows what and whether or not they're the right fit for you. There's so many types of trauma and so many different ways to heal. That's why Laura Reagan LCSW WC created trauma therapist network. Trauma therapist network therapist profiles include the types of trauma specialized in population served therapy methods used, making it easier for potential clients to find the right therapist who can help them. Network is more than a directory though it's a community. All members are invited to attend community meetings to connect consults and network with colleagues around the country.   Katie Vernoy  40:01 Join the growing community of trauma therapists and get 20% off your first month using the promo code MTSG20. At trauma therapist network.com Once again that's capital MTSG, the number 20 at Trauma therapist network.com   Announcer  40:17 Thank you for listening to the modern therapist Survival Guide. Learn more about who we are and what we do at MTS g podcast.com. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter. And please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any of our episodes.

***Experimental Episode*** So as you know we've been playing around with some different formats over the last year that differ from our typical 'life story' styled interviews — and today's episode is probably our weirdest and wonderful-est one yet. The idea was to catch up with Wim Hof Instructor, Health & Wellness expert, recent podcaster and now three-time Best Of Belfaster Scott Riley to talk about the things we do to keep ourselves physically and mentally well during winter. What ended up happening was a two-hour conversation about the self, Moses and the burning bush, wisdom teeth, hygge, inner soul jars and healthy forms of suffering. Without a doubt, this episode isn't for everything, but if you enjoy listening to two mates grapple with the impossible parts of life together then this one might be exactly what the doctor ordered. Thanks so much as always and I look forward to catching you again on Monday for our regularly scheduled program. — Matt

Scott Behson is a professor of management and Silberman Global Faculty Fellow at Fairleigh Dickinson University where he is an award winning researcher and teacher. He is published in academic journals as well as in the popular press. He is the author of The Working Dad's Survival Guide and most recently The Whole-Person Workplace: Building Better Workplaces Through Work-Life, Wellness and Employee Support.In this episode, Stew talks with Scott about insights for action from his new book on how to garner employer support for all employees, and for working parents in particular, in the new world created by the pandemic's jolt. Scott describes what he's learned about what employees want these days, he offers advice for job seekers in the current labor market, and he suggests some practical ideas for how managers can build a better workplace and improve business results. Here then is an invitation for you, a challenge, after you've had a chance to listen to this episode: What can you now envision about your work or career that you couldn't see prior to the pandemic? Share your reactions to this episode and suggestions for future shows with Stew by writing to him at friedman@wharton.upenn.edu or via LinkedIn. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We discuss their new book The Anxiety Sisters' Survival Guide, how they became Anxiety Sisters, living with anxiety in today's world, the questions they are most frequently asked, how they want to provide a comprehensive understanding of what anxiety is, and much more. Abbe's recommended reads are: The Guncle by Steven Rowley Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford Maggie's recommended reads are: Dinner at the Center of the Earth by Nathan Englander What We Talk a bout When We Talk about Anne Frank by Nathan Englander Support the podcast by becoming a Page Turner on Patreon.  Other ways to support the podcast can be found here.   Thanks to Maggie Garza of HTX Real Estate Group for sponsoring this episode. The Anxiety Sisters' Survival Guide can be purchased at the Conversations from a Page Bookshop storefront.        Connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to another episode of the Grief Survival Guide miniseries. This week we welcome guest, comedian, Nicole Aimee Schreiber, to discuss Parkinson's Disease, humor and healing, and how to ride the "grief train."Don't forget to email your answers to the question: "Where do we go when we die?" : JessimaePelusoComedy@gmail.comFor all things Nicole:http://www.nicoleaimee.com

Advocacy in the Wake of Looming Mental Healthcare Workforce Shortages Curt and Katie chat about the looming (and current) mental health workforce shortages. We talk about the exodus of mental health providers, legislation and proposed bills that seek to address these shortages, and what modern therapists can do to advocate for the needed changes. We also talk about inadequate or harmful strategies (like cheering, scholarships, and subway sandwiches) that are often implemented by agencies and legislatures. We provide individual and collective calls to action.   It's time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age. In this episode we talk about: Recent data that shows that there will be huge workforce shortages in coming years The difficulty for folks in accessing mental health services in all sectors The reasons that mental health workers are leaving the profession High caseloads, higher acuity Systemic burnout, jaded supervisors The inadequate “support” of mental health workers with subway sandwiches, cheering heroes Legislation that has gone through to support healthcare workers in receiving mental health Legislation that funds hiring more workers Bills addressing scholarships to increase folks going to school for mental health The problem with scholarship bills versus loan forgiveness bills Bills working to decrease wait times for those seeking services Creating and filling in mental health treatment needs with paraprofessionals, peer counselors Navigating funding and worker shortages with new treatment planning The challenge in “steeling our hearts” to make choices in how we work and who we work for Both individual and systemic action that we can take to address these issues A request for the National Guard to come in and staff residential treatment centers The importance of taking action now to get involved in legislative advocacy   Our Generous Sponsor: Turning Point Turning Point is a financial planning firm that's focused exclusively on serving mental health professionals. They'll help you navigate all the important elements of your personal finances, like budgeting, investing, selecting retirement plans, managing student loan debt and evaluating big purchases, like your first home. And because they specialize in serving therapists in private practice, they'll help you navigate the finances of your practice, as well. They'll help you navigate bookkeeping, analyze the financial implications of changes like hiring clinicians or diversifying your income sources. They'll even help you consider strategies like the S-Corp tax election. Visit turningpointHQ.com to learn more and enter the promo code Modern Therapist for 30% off their Quick Start Coaching package. Resources mentioned: We've pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance! Mercer Report on Major Shortages of Healthcare Workers Senate Passes Legislation on Mental Health for Health Care Professionals Rand Report on Transforming the US Mental Healthcare System CA Bill would decrease wait times for mental health services Opinion: Exodus of mental health workers needs state response Send legislative bills to curt@therapyreimagined.com to get ideas on advocacy and responses.   Relevant Episodes: Why Therapists Quit Why Therapists Quit Part 2 The Return of Why Therapists Quit Bilingual Supervision The Burnout System Gaslighting Therapists Waiving Goodbye to Telehealth Progress Kaiser Permanente Strikes Episodes: Modern Therapists Strike Back Special Episode: Striking for the Future of Mental Healthcare   Connect with us! Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group  Our consultation services: The Fifty-Minute Hour Who we are: Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and CSUN, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, former CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also a former President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com A Quick Note: Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We're working on it. Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren't trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don't want to, but hey.   Stay in Touch: www.mtsgpodcast.com www.therapyreimagined.com Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapist's Group https://www.facebook.com/therapyreimagined/ https://twitter.com/therapymovement https://www.instagram.com/therapyreimagined/   Credits: Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/ Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/   Transcript (Autogenerated)   Curt Widhalm  00:00 This episode of modern therapist Survival Guide is brought to you by turning point   Katie Vernoy  00:03 Turning Point financial life planning helps therapists confidently navigate every aspect of their financial life from practice financials and personal budgeting to investing Tax Management and student loans. Visit Turning Point hq.com. To learn more and enter the promo code modern therapist for 30% off their quickstart coaching package.   Curt Widhalm  00:24 Listen at the end of the episode for more information.   Announcer  00:27 You're listening to the modern therapist Survival Guide where therapists live, breathe and practice as human beings to support you as a whole person and a therapist. Here are your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy.   Curt Widhalm  00:43 Welcome back modern therapists. This is the modern therapist Survival Guide. I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy. And this is the podcast for therapists that looks at uncomfortable things in our profession. And this is another one of those episodes that does that. And we are talking about the already developed but looming and worsening mental health workforce shortage across America. And this actually, some of the stuff that we're going to talk about today also has impact worldwide. So for our international listeners as well, we're gonna talk about YouTube. But there's been this little thing called COVID-19 pandemic. And those of us in the know, before the pandemic knew that Mental Health Access was not great in pretty much all parts of the world. And we follow along workforce issues and work with our legislature and the US government on some access issues in our advocacy efforts, and continue to have an interest in continue to provide advocacy on this. And as we're looking at the next few years, it's going to get worse, that we are seeing a exodus of workers from the mental health workforce, we are seeing a lot of reports from research organizations, we can talk about some things out of research group called Mercer and their reports that things are looking bad in the next five years as far as mental health workers that there is a exodus of workers here, Katie and I have talked before about how hard it is to become even eligible for some of these positions. And it's going to get a whole lot worse,   Katie Vernoy  02:54 paired with what people were, colloquially calling a mental health pandemic. You know, the second, the second wave of pandemic is a mental health pandemic. And I think, for me, I'm actually seeing this in my own practice, I open for new clients, and I'm getting calls from folks who can't find someone who takes their insurance, who are not getting calls back. I mean, there are already issues with folks being able to access mental health treatment when they want it. And we've also got this worker Exodus. And I think the the broad strokes of this, I think, are that there are, at least locally, you know, for me, I don't know that many people that take insurance, you know, many people have gotten off insurance panels, I'm getting off insurance panels because of the, what they pay. And I think it's something where people want to use their insurance, people also, at times need higher levels of care. And those beds are not there. I was reading an article out of Colorado where there there are folks who are staying in I think solitary confinement because they can't get into mental health facilities when they've been determined that that's the appropriate type of incarceration. Not that that's kind of what we're talking about today. But but there are so few mental health workers across the breadth and depth of our field, that people are not getting the services that they need. And there are big impacts on our community. So this is already happening. But it's it's something where we are also leaving the profession, and that's pretty terrifying.   Curt Widhalm  04:34 And we've been talking about this for a while we had a episode earlier this year on why therapists quit. We had several follow up episodes to it. But in looking at the trends, and I'm looking at the Mercer report here, we are looking at some major mental health shortage of workers. The Mercer report talks About that they're expecting 400,000 mental health workers will leave the occupation entirely over the next five years. And that's going to be leaving mostly public mental health employers with a shortage of 510,000 spots us nationwide. Getting into the reasons why we've covered in a number of other episodes, super high case loads, you know, large case loads, the very quick return to business as normal in a lot of situations. And this is echoed, really largely at the time of this recording I'm seeing early reports of this is really impacting places like college counseling centers that are a month into the new year to two months into the new academic year by the time that this episode drops, and are seeing increases from last year's already increased rates of seeking services by over 20% year over year. So they are facing increased calls for services with a drop in available workers to come in and provide services. The experience of these workers is also that the crises that are coming in are bigger and more severe than they have been in the past. So we're getting this perfect storm of more need higher need and fewer people to do it. And most people in our profession, as caregivers tends to want to help out but it does lead to just this really systemic burnout problem. That is easier for a lot of people to go and not work in this profession. Because it is just so taxing at this point.   Katie Vernoy  06:57 Yeah, I think it's something where, when I've had in the past, short staffing, you know, whether I was a mental health provider or, or a supervisor or manager, what we by and large do is take more cases, do more work, just try to keep going, you know, everybody needs us. We can't say no, it's it's really hard. It's all of those things. I was thinking I was picturing Adriana, you know, when she came and talked on our episode around the same thing happening for bilingual clinicians. But just this idea of I can't say no, they need us and so that this these gigantic case loads that are both systemically problematic, but also personally problematic because there's just no way to keep that pace up. And so folks burn out and leave really early. But even if they make it through I mean, we've we've had this this conversation and the burnout machine and you know, so we won't go too far into this but it's just it's such a bad situation where not only are the clinicians, overworked burned out, usually not getting paid much more because oftentimes the cuts happen there. And their supervisors and managers have broken away from the day to day grind of seeing huge case loads, but are jaded and not necessarily the support that those clinicians need. And so they might as well have left the profession.   Curt Widhalm  08:24 And we specifically talked about this in our gaslighting therapists episode did at the beginning of the pandemic and there's a part of me that really likes having been right but there's also a part of me that is like, we knew this was coming and and so frustrated just in this was so predictable that yeah, this is just Ah,   Katie Vernoy  09:00 yeah,   Curt Widhalm  09:02 Calm down.   Katie Vernoy  09:06 Oh, go ahead.   Curt Widhalm  09:07 But this is where we haven't changed the way that we take care of the workers. I mean, maybe what we've changed is given them a second subway sandwich party each month and   Katie Vernoy  09:19 Or like cheering WOO HOOO! way to go thank you heroes   Curt Widhalm  09:23 some sort of banner that that promotes You are a hero. But But I mean, it's it's stuff like this and it's stuff like, okay, we are seeing some of this response in legislation. There's a bill was passed by both houses of the US government. Moving on, will link to it in the show notes, but as a bill written by Senator Tim Kaine to promote and look into interventions for preventing burnout. in mental health and healthcare workers, and this is widely celebrated is Alright, we're going to be getting to the problem of why so many people are leaving the profession, how can we address this to keep people in. And these funding bills are continuing to miss the point in looking at this bill, my first response was, oh, we're gonna blame the individual mental health practitioners and the healthcare workers. The bill is literally about promoting mental health care and looking for ways to promote resiliency. And I know that the $30 million that is being spent to investigate this is going to result in do more yoga and have thought about therapy. As mental health workers, we know that we need to go to therapy, it's not dealing with all of the access issues, it's not dealing with all of the giant caseload issues. It's not being able to have good workplace practices. It's no set Principal Skinner meme of like, is it that's the problem? No, it's the workers. They're misinformed, that is just going to continue to reinforce this as a problem. And my big bold prediction is that in a couple of years, they're gonna say, well, we spent $30 million on it, and it didn't fix anything. So we probably don't need to invest in mental health workforce issues for a while. Hmm.   Katie Vernoy  11:33 Yeah, I think one of my I'm going to put this on my to do list right now is figuring out if that does go through, is there a way for mental health providers to actually get on task forces and those types of things? Because I think there's, there are possibilities, if there's money going toward it, it has not been decided current, let me be a little Pollyanna for a second and then decided that's not been decided. And maybe if our modern therapists across the country, go and try to get into these committees and at these tables and talk about what you were just saying, as well as different payment structures, and just like, just drop the RAND report right in front of them and say,   Curt Widhalm  12:11 That's just it! They're paying for more investigations to end up with things that are already in existence?   Katie Vernoy  12:20 Yeah, well, alright,   Curt Widhalm  12:23 we'll have a call to action about what we can do with that next step with the way that grant money is going with Health and Human Services. Maybe not today, follow us on our social media, and we'll figure it out, we'll figure out exactly who needs to be called on that. Now, some of these other bills that I'm seeing, they do provide for money for hiring more workers, General Manager, those are good.   Katie Vernoy  12:49 Yeah, let's hire more workers, give them some money, give them give them money and and autonomy, that's probably not happening, but give them give them money.   Curt Widhalm  12:58 Now, there's other bills to address behavioral healthcare work shortages. This also goes to other health care workers. They have their own podcast. We're talking about behavioral healthcare workers here. There are other bills that are addressed towards scholarships for improving access in particularly like rural areas. But with telehealth, I'm seeing a lot of these just in general, like let's get more people into school to be licensed for these positions. And these, in my opinion, are generally misguided and bad bills.   Katie Vernoy  13:33 And scholarships are bad   Curt Widhalm  13:35 Scholarships don't address the problem and actually may end up increasing the problem.   Katie Vernoy  13:43 Because why did they increase the problems? My friend this is, it seems like a lot of a lot of people I know they got these scholarships, and to help them get through.   Curt Widhalm  13:53 scholarship money tends to increase the overall cost of tuition and expenses that universities charge free money that's available for universities to take in, the more that it raises the cost for all students who don't get the scholarships. Because if the tuition can go up, because it's being covered by somebody else, this actually then ends up creating barriers for people who maybe, you know, not qualifying for the scholarships, still not able to pay for school, they end up taking out large loans. Now, what I'm saying is, this scholarship bills should be directed towards loan forgiveness, as opposed to paying for tuition, same dollar amounts. But if you are aware of anything, start talking with your legislators about how this money actually can impact the workforce as opposed to just filling some University's endowment fund a little bit more or being able to get three Subway sandwiches in student appreciation. We're just going to have an economy of Subway sandwiches. That's that's the way we're talking about this.   Katie Vernoy  15:10 So so we can try to increase the workforce by either hiring people somehow making education cost less. There's there's another bill that I saw, and I think there's one in California right now. But there's a lot of them, I think, across the country that I'm sure are happening, but it's working to decrease wait times for clients, patients seeking services. And on the face of it, this is potentially bad, because then there's a legislative, potentially legal responsibility for mental health providers to take more clients more quickly. However, this is the part that I think is really interesting. And this is where I think there's a challenge for us. If insurance panels cannot keep clinicians in their in their roles, and cannot keep up with these wait times. I'm wondering what happens if we don't jump to this action here? Am I getting into cartel territory?   Curt Widhalm  16:14 No, I don't think you are, because on one   Katie Vernoy  16:17 The Cardigan Cartel is taking this on!   Curt Widhalm  16:21 On one hand, the history of a lot of these insurance companies is whatever fines that they end up paying, are going to be probably cheaper than what they would have paid out in services anyway. And we've talked about this and things like the the episodes on the Kaiser Permanente strikes in the past, but these are billion dollar companies. fines to them are just, you know, shifting some numbers over from profit margins. It doesn't. These things, these bills like this are really well intended, but they don't address workforce shortages either. Yeah, and potentially even gives some of these insurance companies the opportunities for having a defense of, there's no workers for us to actually hire to shorten these labor times. which then leads to what has also traditionally happened in the workforce, which is that, well, this seems like a great time for mental health professionals too heavy, really good impact on legislation. Traditionally, worker shortages have been addressed by creating or filling in with more paraprofessionals. Now that if the really high barrier to entry positions are going to need a longer pipeline, it's being able to provide things like peer counseling services, peer support specialists, and, well, those are good, it's not something that addresses the specific problems that we're facing as licensees or for our pre licensed listeners on the pathway to being licensed. All the more reason for you to be involved with advocacy to address the specific issues. But my, you know, not Pollyanna, like, Debbie Downer piece of this hair is in unless you really take action right now, in all of the free time. And with all of that not burnt out energy that you have. History suggests that without really good action on this, we're not going to get the very needed changes that we've identified 1015 years ago, that have all come to a head here and will likely come to a head at some other position again, in the future. We need the action now to continue to call legislators to be involved in the bill writing process. So that way, it can be better. Otherwise, it's going to be filled in by paraprofessionals. And continuing to just replicate the same problems that we're seeing in our workforce system.   Katie Vernoy  19:10 There's there's a few things that you're saying that i i agree with, but I also think that they don't have all the pieces to it. And so speaking to my experience with some of these public mental health contracts and those types of things, when there is a financial shortage, so they're the funding goes away, because you know, and around near and around 2008, when, you know, the great recession began, there was a lot of funding that went away for mental health services. And so there were really creative ways that folks added some of these positions. So there was paraprofessionals case managers, there was different types of codes that could be used at or slightly lower rates. And there was also this huge push for evidence based practices to you know, kind of create these different funding streams and kind of pull money from here and There. And what I really saw is that there was this combination of how do we make this cost less? And how do we take care of people with a lower cost. And with, you know, there wasn't a workforce shortage at that time, I don't think I feel like there's always a little bit of a workforce shortage and public mental health. But that's a whole other conversation. But it's one of those things where there was, there wasn't money to pay people. And so they did create these positions. But since that time, and I think this, this is accounted for in the RAND report, as well, there's been a real efficacy seen with these multidisciplinary teams. So I don't want to say like, hey, let's get out and make sure that we get to keep all the work, because I don't know that that's necessarily what we need to do, I think we need to make sure that the work that we're doing, suits our expertise and suits, what is needed. But I think, at that time, there was creativity that was both kind of mercenary, as well as actually improving mental health care. So I don't think it's black or white, like, Hey, this is just because of a workforce shortage that we need to bring in people who have different qualifications. I also think, and this is very much aligned in what you were saying that there is a tendency to make do because it's not a nameless, faceless mental health problem. It's this client and that client and this group in that group. And I think, when we are looking to make a difference right now, I think there's looking at how do I steal my heart against wanting to solve this systemic problem myself. And that is both in how we how we run our practices, but it also can be in where we get employment, when a when an agency gets a contract. So they get let's say, they get a $500,000 contract, to provide services, if they cannot fulfill it, they they lose the money. And so for public mental health providers, they actually need to say stay staffed. And we can actually make a difference in who gets to keep their money by making sure we're very diligent in where we go to get employed, and where we stay employed and where we do the work. And so there there's there is I feel like there is an element of us choosing whether or not large app companies gets our employment, whether there's, you know, public mental health organizations that don't that do shady work, whether they get our employment, you know, like, we do have a value there beyond like insurance companies and their gigantic war chests being able to fight against some of these things. So maybe that was all over the place. But I think it's something where I don't want to say like, Hey, we can only do legislation, because unless we have power in and how we choose to do our work. I think there's not going to be change anyway.   Curt Widhalm  23:19 You're talking about individual issues here. While there's also such big systemic issues that do need the focus, and well, I think that there's a lot of individual efforts that we can make in our own practices, that it almost just kind of ignores the problem. I'm looking at an opinion piece in the Oregonian from September. And this was penned by Heather Jeffries, Executive Director of the Oregon Council on behavioral health. Cheryl Ramirez, Executive Director of the Association of Oregon mental health programs, and rice bowl and director of the Oregon Alliance. And their public call includes some things that very much speak to this kind of stuff, increasing funding to recruit and retain staff, reducing administrative burden. Those things are great, providing cash supports for organizations struggling with the financial impacts of increased costs and insufficient revenue. Fantastic. Publicly recognize and appreciate the workforce, throw more Subway sandwiches at them, maybe misses the point. Yeah, but the one that stands out to me is that they are asking the National Guard to be deployed to staff residential facilities. Hmm. We are in such a crisis, that the heads of behavioral workforce associations are coming together and saying we need people who Have nothing as far as training to be called in by the government to come and provide staffing here. And I point all of this out because we feel an individual responsibility to take some of these steps ourselves. There is only so much that each one of us can do that really needs to be able to address this, especially as a lot of these legislative waivers are ending and not, you know, being progressed things like, you know, telehealth supervision waivers that are, you know, going to be gone at the end of October in California where Katie and I practice but in this lurch where we talked about this in our in our most recent episode with Ben Caldwell is due to the legislative process, there is going to be systemic barriers, that rather than expanding some of this energy more for us to help the one or two or five more people on our caseload that we can take on to have a greater impact, spend those one or two or five hours where this can actually impact 1000s of people in a much better way. Even if it means looking more for long term changes in short term changes right now,   Katie Vernoy  26:32 I want to do a yes, and because I think it is hard, and we'll do some of the legwork here. This is what we've been talking about with not focusing in on a conference this year, we will do some legwork. And we will try to help have some specific guidance on how we make some impacts here on legislation, policy, that kind of stuff. But I think we also need to be very conscious about the choices we make collectively and individually on where we get hired where we do our work, what we charge, because if there is a path to status quo, the legislative efforts won't go through. Right. And so we have to push back against the status quo of poor insurance reimbursements ridiculous, or bureaucratic burdens on organizations, like we need to push back on those things, individually and collectively, or it doesn't matter how many of us go in, there's, you know, we're a small workforce, kind of an in comparison to some of these gigantic, you know, other types of organ, you know, profession. So, all of us just saying, like, I'm going to take two or three fewer clients and going and fighting on the hill is not going to necessarily be sufficient, I think we need to do both.   Curt Widhalm  27:56 We do need to do both, right? It's, it's like the gaslighting episode where it's like, this is stuff that is predictable that legislative changes are gonna be five, six years from now, where it's like we, we told you, so stop, stop complaining about stuff five or six years from now, because the call for action is right now. Legislators know that mental health needs to be addressed. What they don't know is what needs to be addressed in mental health. And that's where that call to action is. And I know in some of my early online conversations, when I point these things out, the response is, well, this is at least addressing the short term thing that's good enough. And right now, having been involved in advocacy for as long as we have addressing good enough for right now does not change the problems that are going to be way bigger five years from now. And I agree. And this is really where it's giving up some of our short term action that, you know, still may not be kind of our perfect sort of answers to everything. I mean, we do have several more decades of podcasts that we need to make. But we do need to actually address some of our problems in in our systemic part of our profession, and get this stuff off the ground. We have been doing some of the legwork on we will organize some of this stuff. We encourage you to start looking at what bills are going to be written in your respective jurisdictions. Send them to us send them to me, curt@therapyreimagined.com, c u r t at therapy reimagined.com. I'll give you at least you know some ideas of things to start talking with your legislators about and if your legislators aren't reading Mental Health stuff be calling their offices and saying, what are you doing to address mental health stuff in our profession, in our state in our in our country? Because the stuff that is being written is really what   Katie Vernoy  30:15 Subway Sandwiches   Curt Widhalm  30:16 it's Subway sandwiches. So thank you for giving me something so we don't have it explicit on this episode.   Katie Vernoy  30:25 I think we're in agreement, I think both of us just have a different take on it and and what can be done more readily. You are very adept at the advocacy at the legislative level. And I think that is something where we need to, we all need to get better at it. And we need to be at some of these tables, we need to be talking to our legislators. I 100% agree. I think if we are working for places who are exploiting us, at the same time, we are undermining our efforts. So that's all I'm saying.   Curt Widhalm  30:55 Okay, I agree with that.   Katie Vernoy  30:58 Overall, you know, kind of summarize in the call to action is really assess where you are in this in this time, in this really pivotal time. For our profession, are you working in a way that supports you and the work that you want to do? Have you created bandwidth so at the same time, you can advocate and make changes at the larger scale so that you're both supporting yourself standing by your principles and how you are going to work and pushing for larger systemic change.   Curt Widhalm  31:42 Be in touch with us, follow our social media. Take those Subway sandwiches and tell your supervisors where to put them. And until next time, I'm Curt Widhalm with Katie Vernoy.   Katie Vernoy  31:55 Thanks again to our sponsor Turning Point   Curt Widhalm  31:58 we wanted to tell you a little bit more about our sponsor turning points. Turning Points is a financial planning firm that's focused exclusively on serving mental health professionals to help you navigate all the important elements of your personal finances like budgeting, investing, selecting retirement plans, managing student loan debts and evaluating big purchases, like your first home. And because they specialize in serving therapists and private practice, so help you navigate the finances of your practice as well. They'll help you navigate bookkeeping, analyze the financial implications of changes like hiring clinicians or diversifying your income sources. They'll even help you consider strategies like S corp tax collection,   Katie Vernoy  32:35 And for listeners of MTSG you'll receive 30% off the price of their quickstart coaching intensive just enter promo code modern therapist when signing up. And don't forget to visit TurningPointhq.com to download your free finance quickstart guide for therapists.   Announcer  32:52 Thank you for listening to the modern therapist Survival Guide. Learn more about who we are and what we do at mtsgpodcast.com. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter. And please don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any of our episodes.    

Youth Pastor Cam Lazier joins Carrie Robaina on this episode to chat about teenagers. Carrie asked him to come up with three things a youth pastor wants parents of teens to know. There's a bonus tip you'll want to stick around for as well as a lightning round of questions Carrie's social media followers want to know about teens. Pastor Cam's Resources Axis Culture Translator - https://axis.org/culture-translator/   The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults by Frances E. Jensen    Raising Passionate Jesus Followers by Phil and Diane Comer    SERMON: How to Disciple your Kids and Teens  https://subspla.sh/dbdm7dz Recommended reading from She Walks In Truth www.carrierobaina.com/shop  Episode Gear: Microphone and Gear Used To Record This Episode  http://carrierobaina.com/podcastgear Connect with Carrie on Social Media: instagram.com/carrierobaina  facebook.com/carrierobaina  

เนื่องจากองค์การอนามัยโลก (World Health Organization) คาดการณ์จำนวนผู้สูงอายุที่มีอายุ 65 ปีขึ้นไปในปี 2050 ว่าจะเพิ่มเป็น 2 พันล้านคนทั่วโลก และประเทศไทยเองก็กำลังก้าวสู่สังคมผู้สูงวัยเต็มรูปแบบ The 100 Years Survival Guide เอพิโสดนี้จึงพาสำรวจ สถานการณ์ผู้สูงอายุทั่วโลกกับผู้เชี่ยวชาญระดับโลกกับ Dr. Anna Ballon, Vice President จาก Baycrest Global Solutions ประเทศแคนนาดา ร่วมกับ ดร.สฤกกา พงษ์สุวรรณ ผู้อำนวยการฝ่ายบูรณาการงานวิจัยเพื่อการเผยแพร่ ศูนย์วิจัยและนวัตกรรมเพื่อความยั่งยืน (RISC by MQDC) เพื่อที่จะชวนทุกคนเตรียมความพร้อมสู่ความเป็นอยู่ที่ดีในอนาคต และก้าวสู่วัย 50 ขึ้นไป ได้อย่างมีความสุข สนใจรายละเอียดเพิ่มเติม คลิก www.MQDC.com #MQDCforallwellbeing #The100YearsSurvivalGuide

Do you plan your vacations months in advance? You should. On this episode, Josh and Sam discuss key ways to get the most out of your vacation. You can prepare for your vacation to minimize interruptions and maximize family time. Episode Sponsor: This summer, Southwestern Seminary announced a new name and vision for their undergraduate college. Scarborough College is now Texas Baptist College! TBC exists to glorify God by providing trustworthy Christian higher education for more faithful Kingdom service. Wherever God calls you, you can get the Christ-centered, Scripture-driven, and student-focused education you need at Texas Baptist College. Visit texasbaptist.com to learn more.

Welcome back to another installment of our Grief Survival Guide miniseries. This week we welcome guest, comedian and brain surgery survivor, Kyle Grooms, to discuss having a near fatal seizure, the different levels of grief, and the impact brain surgery had on his career and life as a father.Don't forget to email your answers to the question: "Where do we go when we die?" : JessimaePelusoComedy@gmail.comOrder Kyle's comedy special Brain Humor:https://www.amazon.com/Kyle-Grooms-Brain-Humor/dp/B088GP2D11

Today's episode is the second part of a three-part series on how to scale and grow your wholesaling business to 7 figures with Chris Craddock. He will be sharing more ways to scale up your wholesaling business. Chris talks about the power of negotiating the correct way to utilize it. Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan are among the great politicians and American leaders who negotiated with strength and empathy. The same goes with your wholesaling business, knowing how to do it right yields favorable results. Understanding the needs of your customer and figuring out how to meet them is the most important part of salesmanship. He will also discuss the value of knowing how to close the deal. It takes time to master these skills and Chris believes that the resources and books he shared will help develop and hone your skills as a salesperson. He believes that this episode will help you excel even more in your profession. Always invest in mastery classes to upskill and have the opportunity to gain meaningful connections with people in this industry. RESOURCES: REI Revive Program Zig Ziglar's Ultimate Library How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss What Every Body Is Saying by Joe Navarro The Closer's Survival Guide by Grant Cardone

Today we're breaking down cuffing season, how social media and the pandemic have changed the dating game, how to combat loneliness and more with the host of Seeing Other People podcast, Ilana Dunn! Ilana has had such an interesting career journey from working in the music industry, to becoming the face of Hinge, to now helping people feel less alone in their own dating problems on her podcast and personal brand. She shares her tricks of the trade with us, how she met her boyfriend, what she's learned about dating from all the different stories she's heard from people on her podcast, and SO much more. We had such a blast sitting down with her and chatting about all things dating heading into the fall and winter cuffing season, and we hope you have just as much fun listening! Ilana's podcast: https://www.seeingotherpeoplepodcast.com Follow her on instagram: @seeingotherpeople @ilana.dunn @fingerscrossedpod @kristeevetter @sierramichellegreen --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fingers-crossed8/message