As Season 10 draws to a close, it's a time for heartfelt reflection and storytelling that will leave you both inspired and introspective.
You'll be moved by the tales of growth from those who make a living by listening, like Courtney Romanowski, whose transition from guest to guest host embodies the beauty of mental health counseling and expressive arts therapy. She can be reached on her website here.
You will hear from Eric Knox who discussed firefighters and mental health.
Pavel Ythjall describes his strength when tragedy struck during the holidays with his new bride. His book can be found on Amazon.
Michele Lareau-Alves wants to talk about sex and she can be reached on Psychology Today.
Is attachment issues affecting your life? Marc Sholes discusses that and his website can be found at Marcsholeslcsw.com.
A regular on the show, Stephanie Simpson, discusses the importance of good coaching and good coaching training. She can be found here.
The fearless leader of the PsychCraft Network, Gordon Brewer discusses spirituality and podcasting. He can be found here.
Bill Dwinnells is my business partner in Gambit Counseling. He has many years of experience in the crisis world.
Susan Roggendorf is a sister from another mother and had has a great podcast called F*ck The Rules.
Lane Kennedy and Tamar Medford are the amazing hosts of Laughing Without Liquor, a podcast for sobriety, focused on women.
Andrew Kang and Dennis Sweeney are part of our Mental Men group, returning guests for sure, who talk about mentoring, treatment, and mental health,
Chris McDonald is the host of The Holistic Counseling Podcast, part of the PsychCraft Network. We talk holistic treatment.
Maegan Visconti talks about dance therapy and mental health treatment. She can be reached at A New Leaf Counseling.
Gina Moffa is a grief author and good friend of the show. She is truly amazing and her website is ginamoffa.com.
Finally but certainly not least, Jenny Helms, LCSW is by far my favorite social media publisher, but she is so much more more than that. She is also a great business owner and has the largest independent office of therapists in Kansas. They are called Somawichita.com
As Season 10 draws to a close, it's a time for heartfelt reflection and storytelling that will leave you both inspired and introspective.
You'll be moved by the tales of growth from those who make a living by listening, like Courtney Romanowski, whose transition from guest to guest host embodies the beauty of mental health counseling and expressive arts therapy. She can be reached on her website here.
You will hear from Eric Knox who discussed firefighters and mental health.
Pavel Ythjall describes his strength when tragedy struck during the holidays with his new bride. His book can be found on Amazon.
Michele Lareau-Alves wants to talk about sex and she can be reached on Psychology Today.
Is attachment issues affecting your life? Marc Sholes discusses that and his website can be found at Marcsholeslcsw.com.
A regular on the show, Stephanie Simpson, discusses the importance of good coaching and good coaching training. She can be found here.
The fearless leader of the PsychCraft Network, Gordon Brewer discusses spirituality and podcasting. He can be found here.
Bill Dwinnells is my business partner in Gambit Counseling. He has many years of experience in the crisis world.
Susan Roggendorf is a sister from another mother and had has a great podcast called F*ck The Rules.
Lane Kennedy and Tamar Medford are the amazing hosts of Laughing Without Liquor, a podcast for sobriety, focused on women.
Andrew Kang and Dennis Sweeney are part of our Mental Men group, returning guests for sure, who talk about mentoring, treatment, and mental health,
Chris McDonald is the host of The Holistic Counseling Podcast, part of the PsychCraft Network. We talk holistic treatment.
Maegan Visconti talks about dance therapy and mental health treatment. She can be reached at A New Leaf Counseling.
Gina Moffa is a grief author and good friend of the show. She is truly amazing and her website is ginamoffa.com.
Finally but certainly not least, Jenny Helms, LCSW is by far my favorite social media publisher, but she is so much more more than that. She is also a great business owner and has the largest independent office of therapists in Kansas. They are called Somawichita.com
Hi and welcome to Finding your Way Through Therapy. The goal of this podcast is to demystify therapy, what can happen in therapy and the wide array of conversations you can have in and about therapy Through personal experiences. Guests will talk about therapy, their experiences with it and how psychology and therapy are present in many places in their lives, with lots of authenticity and a touch of humor. Here is your host, steve Bisson.
Speaker 2:Merci, bonne fin de nuit. Thank you and happy end of the year. This is episode 132, end of season 10, end of 2023 for me for the episode for Finding your Way Through Therapy. If you see me struggle a little bit, so you are catching me about 10 days. I'm recording this, 10 days post-surgery, still healing. So if you see me struggle, or my words for this episode, that's what's going on. Episode 131 was with Gina Mofa. I hope you enjoyed it. This is one of my favorite episodes. It was my favorite episode of the year and we'll hear from Gina later on.
Speaker 2:But for episode 132, I'm doing a little bit of a change of last year. The last year, what I did is I did the 12 days of Christmas, which ended up being like 15 days of Christmas or something like that, but I decided this year to do something a little different. So I contacted all my guests from this year and say, hey, if you want to leave a message, leave a message. If you don't, that's okay. Nothing wrong with that. And I'm looking through my notes here. So if you hear the ruffling of the papers, I got 16 responses 17 in fact and I'll explain one of them as we go along. So what we're going to do is we're going to hear I'm going to give you a little bit of an intro and then you're going to hear from my guests who left the message and then, hopefully, you can go and look at those episodes. I try to put them in order. If they are not appearing in order, that's fine. Hey, you know what, no one's perfect right. So I'm going to start off with someone who became my guest host this year, someone who is very near and dear to my heart, one of my best friends, someone who I love and adore.
Speaker 2:Her name is Courtney Romanowski. You've heard her before on episodes last year and then this year on episode 88, the first episode of the 100 episode week, as well as episode 126, with her starting her new hosting jobs with Finding your Way Through Therapy. She's been on so many times and she's not only a colleague, she's a dance therapist. She was president of the New England chapter for a while. She is just an amazing human being, like. One of the things that I could say is that Courtney is someone I got to know. I supervised her, as she mentioned, I think, on episode 88, maybe when we worked together at a nonprofit last. That's got to be like seven years ago, eight years ago at least, and we remain friends, and Courtney is someone who has so much. She's very intuitive. Courtney is someone who is also very real, which is, as you probably have figured out from this podcast, something very important to me. So here's Courtney's message, and I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 3:As a guest on your podcast. I can't emphasize enough just how incredibly comfortable and energized I felt. It's really so much more than I had ever expected to, which in turn resulted in me approaching you, steve, with the possibility of guest hosting something I never ever would have imagined I would do or even want to do, and so being on your podcast has really factored into my journey as a practitioner and as an advocate for mental health counseling and expressive arts therapy and really as a human being. Your support and belief in me warms my heart and helps me believe in myself a little bit more too, and so my hope from my turn as a guest host. My hope is that folks are becoming more interested in and open to expressive arts therapy and can find a place in their own journey for creativity and curiosity. Thanks, steve.
Speaker 2:Our next guest that I'm going to talk about is Eric Knox. Eric Knox is a firefighter in Massachusetts. Eric Knox showed up on episode 89 with Jay Ball and Caitlin Dehe and it was a great episode. Eric is someone we needed convincing. He was a firefighter that I've known for a while, very, very interesting fellow who talks about his experience in the fire service and some of the difficulties that you face, whether it's in the community as a firefighter, your own personal stuff at home and things like that. And I think is what's important when I've, what I've always tried to do with my work with first responders is to humanize it. As you know, it's not all trauma, it's not all about that, and Eric really talks about the other difficulties and other stuff that happens at the fire station and hopefully you know like when he talks with Jay it's always interesting because he Jay's police, caitlin's a treater and Eric's a firefighter and I think that brings a bunch of up. So if you go back to episode 89, go listen to that was really good.
Speaker 2:So here is Eric Knox's message and the third guest that left the message, which which was from. They're not even in order when they left, the message really tried to be an order of the episodes. They showed up and when Mark Scholes is someone who showed up in episode 91, we discussed a lot of things around attachment and how it works and different types of attachment styles, how that impacts the treatment that we do and the mental health stuff. So it was very, very interesting to hear from Mark. He does psychotherapy.
Speaker 2:He's part of psychoanalytic, a psychoanalytic background, and for those of you who know is like if I told you, if you told me like I don't know, 15 years ago, that psychoanalytic stuff would show up in my work today, which it does a lot more out of, say, you're crazy. And psychoanalytic treatment lost a lot of favor for a long time and it's back in favor, so to speak. People really have been attracted to it and Mark talks about it in a very elegant way in episode 91. And I really did enjoy talking to Mark. So Mark left me a message and here it is.
Speaker 5:Hey, steve, it's Mark Scholes. I just wanted to thank you for having me on your podcast. It was a great experience for me. I thought that your questions helped solidify my thinking. Your facial expressions as I was talking kept me grounded and let me know that I was on the right track, and I'm just very grateful that you have a podcast talking about psychotherapy, which is has become very popular, and, of course, mental health is at the forefront of our culture at the moment. God knows we need it and I think it helps answer people's questions. It helps them dip their foot in the water, and I just can't thank you enough for having me on your show. I'd love to do it again sometime and you're a terrific interviewer. So happy new year and to a healthy and happy new year and peace in the world. All the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know it's gonna sound like I do a lot of favoritism, right, so you're gonna hear this from a few people. But Michelle Owes is someone who was on my episode, in episode 95, and you know, if you really want to say, want to really think about it, we want to go back and listen to it. We talk about sex, baby. Actually, we talk a lot about sex relationships, the complexities, how we bring it up in therapy and so on and so forth. But she works in my office. We've worked together for a nonprofit for many, many years. We went to the same church for a while.
Speaker 2:I also consider Michelle someone who we always had very dynamic conversations about different things we still do. As I record this, like I said, I'm post-surgery. We had our little holiday get-together and I just love Michelle's point of view, truly enjoy Michelle as a human being, but also as a therapist who, you know sex is something that people don't like to talk about and yet it's part of everyone's lives, right, in the relationship in particular. Maybe you have a sexless marriage, but that is also talking about sex, right, because if you have a sexless marriage, that means you got to have that conversation. But anyway, michelle was on episode 95, so go listen to that and hear his or her message.
Speaker 6:Hi, michelle LaRoels here from episode 95. I just want to say that Steve's podcast Finding your Way Through Therapy is an amazing journey through the world of therapy and also a way to get to know the therapists that serve as guides and also receive guidance from fabulous peers like Steve Besson. I really appreciated the opportunity to tell my story and share my passion about the work I do and I hope to drop in again to talk about relationships and intimacy. Happy New Year everyone.
Speaker 2:Now this message. You know someone that I was introduced by Lisa Mustard, who was also on the show this year, but Pavel Yityal was on my show and episode 97, after finding love, he came from Sweden. He was a photographer. Then you met the woman of his life and around the holidays and it's interesting, I'm recording this during the holidays. This will come out. During the holidays he got into a life-altering accident with her and she got paralyzed and this was just heartbreaking and he talks about that journey.
Speaker 2:He wrote a book about true love and suffering, which is very good. If you want to go and check it out. It's available at many, many places and there's also a documentary called the Moment of Impact and you can figure out what that means and it's a very good documentary. It's on Amazon if you want to go check it out. But from the bottom of my heart, pavel is someone who stayed in touch, who continues to stay in touch with me and you know I hear the evolution of his beautiful wife, his evolution in his life and just a genuine human being, which is sometimes hard to find and when someone goes through so much, sometimes they change right and it's not always for the better. And he became. I don't know who he was before, but he's become quickly one of my favorite people to just talk to and lift my spirits, and we write each other once in a while. So Pavel left me a message and here it is, so I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 7:Hi, Steve, this is Pavel. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a guest on your podcast. I truly believe that we helped some people. I know I helped myself and I know you helped me. I wish and I really hope that you continue doing your fantastic podcasts. You are, you're honest, you're real and you care, and I see that you want to help people. Keep hustling, keep grinding, All right brother.
Speaker 2:Again, I'm going to talk about someone here that left me a message, which someone I got to know last year a little bit, but really a lot this year, and he's a. He created the Cycraft Network. He invited me to the Cycraft Network Again. Shout out to Lisa Mustard, who put the bug in his ear and he has two podcasts the practice of therapy, which I was on this year, if you want to go check that out. And he has a kindness and compassion podcast also. That's available. He was on episode 98 and he was the most downloaded this year.
Speaker 2:Gordon Brewer, you know you toss around the word great human being. It's interesting. I said you know you just heard Pavel Gordon's, another great human being. There's things that you know I can tell you. I'm going to tell you what you know, what we talked about in the podcast and that's great.
Speaker 2:But I got to know Gordon on a personal level and it's just, you know, one of the best human beings I've met. I truly, truly believe that and ironically, went to a conference and he met my first supervisor, my internship, also a friend. She became a friend now and she knew me from before my. Before she was my supervisor and they actually said nice things about me, so I don't know if I should be giving them some money or what have you. But Beth Ann Schacht is her name and Gordon Brewer said you know, they had a great time. They, they, they like they, they felt that. You know, they talked about me. They were very nice to me afterwards, privately and again, this is private conversation, so I'm just going to say they were nice.
Speaker 2:But, gordon, you know, on episode 98, we talked about different things, including his podcast. We talked about therapy and how it impacts people, and his own therapy and how that's impacted his life. We talked about spirituality, which is really cool because we're going to talk about another site, craft network fellow very soon. But here is Gordon's message.
Speaker 8:Hey folks, it's Gordon Brewer from the practice of therapy podcast and also the site craft network. Congratulations to Steve for another great year with his podcast. Steve Bison I've learned, I've gotten to know over this past year and he is the real deal, and I've really glad to get to know him and his topics on finding your way through therapy are just top notch and that he gets deep and he talks about stuff that is real and meaningful, and so I'm so glad that Steve has had another great year of podcasting and I'm really glad he's part of the site craft network. Thanks, steve, for the work you do and for just being who you are, and looking forward to another great year of podcasting with Steve Bison and finding your way through therapy podcast.
Speaker 2:Now here's someone that you know I have. It's one of those people like that I consider like a regular, a friend of the show. She came to me via Courtney Romanowski and Stephanie Simpson is someone that I've had on three times, including twice this year for episode 88 and then for one for the 100 episode the official one, the real one and she's just been a very like we. She's curious. She's so curious we.
Speaker 2:In everything that she does, you know I see her hard work as a coach. I see her work as an expressive therapy person. I seen her work with kids. She talks about all these things very, very eloquently. She enjoys her work as a coach and she makes sure that you know like if you ever have a question about coaching, her discussions on the podcast tells you exactly where to go and get good coaching, training and I absolutely adore Stephanie. She talks about workplace and meditation Also. We even did a little PDF that's still available on my website, on her website, on Courtney Romanowski's website. But Stephanie, someone like you know it's if she wasn't so far, she works out in New York City. Stephanie's another person that I just genuinely probably would hang out with just because she's so fascinated and fun to be with, but here is Stephanie Simpson's message.
Speaker 9:Hi, my name is Stephanie Simpson and I have been a guest on Steve's podcast a few times over the last like year and a half, I think and it's always a privilege and a pleasure to be on this podcast. I would say that, like all three of the ones I've done have been very different. I did a solo episode and then I did one with other practitioners as well, one time with a practitioner I knew and one time with a practitioner I didn't know. And every time I am a guest, I leave feeling more energized, feeling inspired and feeling supported.
Speaker 9:One of my favorite things about being on the podcast is that Steve creates a really safe space to not only share about what the work you do, but also to go deeper in who you are as a person and how therapy and therapeutic practices have helped you in your journey.
Speaker 9:I also really appreciate his honesty and his vulnerability and transparency and curiosity. He asks amazing questions and it's always just a lot of fun. I think every time we've had an episode together, it's always been like, wow, we could talk for two more hours. But we should probably stop this now so that people continue to still listen. And I would say something to think about if you were ever to be a guest on the podcast, is to come with an open mind, an open heart and know that you're going to be taken care of and that his audience and listeners are also there to hear from you and learn from you and are cheering you on and rooting for you as well. It's such a wonderful space that he has created for both the guests and the listeners, and something that is much needed in this world.
Speaker 2:Now let's pull out some of my favorite people. Again, it's going to be a colleague, more than a colleague. We're now business partners. We created Gambit Counseling six months ago. We're still on the working stages. We wanted to be a lot more far advanced than we are now, but I guarantee you that when you hear about Gambit Counseling, you're going to have not only two guys who run it, but we want staff and clients to be treated equally, in the sense that I want staff to stay forever, just like Bill does, and Bill Dujnaz also believes that we treat everyone equally.
Speaker 2:He was on episode one of the 100 episode week, I believe. He was on with Courtney and they hadn't met and it's kind of nice that they actually like each other now, right, so he was the first responder himself. He was a EMT for a while. He's worked in crisis work for over 20 years. He's changed recently his job and just an all around nice guy. You know, it's interesting. We've started talking about stoicism recently, and recently in the last few months, and I guess I can describe Bill Dujnaz as someone who is my business partner and a stoic. But here's his message.
Speaker 10:Hi, this is Bill Dujnaz. I wanted to say what a great time I had working with Steve on his podcast. He always has a remarkable way of making his guests feel very comfortable, which really helps with the recording sessions, making the guests a lot less self conscious and feeling a lot freer to speak their minds. So I would like to thank Steve for that and advise everybody to give a listen to the podcast. Thanks, have a good night. Bye.
Speaker 2:All right now, fuck the rules, and what I mean by that is this Fuck the rules means Susan Roganow. Uh, susan was on the 100 episode week this year. She was on a couple of times the year before. I've been on her podcast very Fuck the rules a couple of times. Probably will be on a couple of times again next year. She refers to me a certain way, so I'm going to refer to her the same exact way. She's a sister from another mother.
Speaker 2:Susan works out at Iowa and she is someone who does a lot of crisis work, but probably one of the most real people I've ever met, and she is herself. She doesn't apologize, she loves her tacos. That's what she said that a girl needs to eat, and I always think it's funny when she says that. But Susan is also someone who, if I needed, if I needed any advice, susan would be the first person to give it to me. Susan is the first person to reach out to me if, uh, anything's going on and she wants me to be part of it. We've we've done a few projects together that I really don't want to share right now, but eventually we'll be sharing. But Susan is someone that I truly can't wait to be on her podcast again. I want to have her back on. Uh, we gotta figure out the right way to do it again. But you know, maybe we can talk about being brothers and sisters from different mothers, but anyway, uh, susan's a great therapist, a great human being, and hear his, her note.
Speaker 11:Hey y'all, it's Susan Rogendorf. You may also know me as Susan the sweary therapist being on steve b songs. Finding new ways to therapy can be a wild ride with a messed up gps. You know where you're headed, but the adventure isn't getting there. I've been a guest for several episodes with steve. The most recent was about two weeks after my 56th birthday earlier this year. It was the 100th episode on may 17th 2023. I wish I could say my laser folks mind Recall that immediately, but my name pause brain is a bastard, so I had to look it up.
Speaker 11:What I do remember is chatting with my co-guest, stephanie Simpson, and we basically took over steve's episode and ran off on our own. It was a glorious experience and I appreciate that. Steve was willing to trust us just to go and he interjected here and there I don't remember what, but mostly it was about steve and I just chatting with one another. Each time I've been on steve's program, it's probably one of the best times I've had during that week. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that steve doesn't care if I drop the f bomb all over the place. I'm just being my genuine self and I also like that it's an anti-vs, as I am, and discussing some really hard topics, it's hard to pin down Any one thing. I think people should take away from my episode or hell any of steve's episodes. There's just so much presented in a vast array of perspectives.
Speaker 11:I suppose if I was to narrow it down, I would hope listeners come away with how passionate steve and his guests are about education For therapists as well as clients. It's a two-way street. We should be as informed as our clients are. But he also talks to folks who don't have clients or patients, and I think their voices and their experiences are just as important for people here as well.
Speaker 11:You know we all can't know all the things. There's just not enough time in the day, month of year to do that. But the podcast gives an opportunity for a lot of voices, experiences and backgrounds to be able to connect to others, those persons listening who may feel that maybe they're alone and what they're going through. It's hard being human and to find out through podcasts that they're not the only ones. Well, I guess there it is. Steve is just trying to connect people through his podcast and I'm damned pleased to be asked to be a part of that effort. I think it's well worth people's time to drop in and listen to any of the episodes he has. Of course, I think mine are just as fun as the other ones are too.
Speaker 2:In the world of therapy, the power of connection and understanding is undeniable. That's where the peer network steps in, offering a bridge of support that complements your clinical expertise. Imagine a service where certified peer support specialists, through telehealth, extend your reach, offering clients continuous, compassionate care. This is what the peer network provides. Our peer support specialists are not just trained, they're experienced. They've walked through the path of recovery and resilience. They speak the language of empathy and understanding essential and mental health and addictive recovery journeys. As a clinician, your goal is to see your clients thrive. The peer network enhances this journey, offering a layer of support that's accessible, reliable and deeply human. Join us in this mission of comprehensive care. Incorporate the peer network into your practice today and witness the transformative power of peer support in mental health. Visit thepeernetworkcom. Together, let's create a world where everyone feels supported, understood and connected.
Speaker 2:So when you have a podcast, sometimes people reach out to you. You don't reach out to them. They say hey, look, I hear you have a podcast. I want to be on it, and I can't remember exactly how that happened, but I was connected to a wonderful human being called Lane Kennedy and Tamar Medford, and I'll share about Tamar because she left a message. Well, anyway, let me finish this about. Lane Lane is someone who just was. She was out in California, tamar is actually in Vancouver and when we started talking, we, when we pre-interview, tamar and I had a good time making fun of Canadians, because she's from Vancouver, vancouver Canucks fan and I'm a Montreal Canadians fan. And then she asked about how to pronounce my last name, so I think she left that in the message. I'm pretty sure she did, actually, but they have a.
Speaker 2:They have a podcast now called Laughing Without Liquor, which is truly amazing. I listen to it regularly. It really empowers people. Genuine person, family person, discusses sobriety in a realistic and fun way, which is not usually a big combo, right, but they definitely do it in that way and that's why I truly enjoy being listening to their podcast. I enjoy being on their podcast, and that was episode 103. But yes, you can, tamar. The funny part is Tamar was recorded something, but she sent it to me. It was blank and she can't find it and we can't figure it out. So I promised that Tamar Medford left me a message too, but here is Lane Kennedy's message.
Speaker 12:Okay, Steve, he made me laugh. He's so great. Made me laugh for his name. Did I tell you my name? My name is Lane Kennedy. I was on a show with my best friend, Tamar Medford. We had a great time. If you're looking for help and support, Steve is a rock star. He has a heart of gold. Steve bison yeah, listen to the show. It's well worth your time. His guests are great and, more importantly, it's his message. He's really committed to supporting people and finding their way. All right, listen up. You can find out more about Tamar and I over at laughingwithoutlickercom and listen to our show as well. We're here for you.
Speaker 2:Next up is Andrew Kang. Andrew Kang is a former lawyer turned therapist. It's interesting. I've had like two or three guests like that and I know a few other people. So I don't know what it is to become a lawyer and then you're like I don't know, I'd be a therapist. Seems like a change of career. That's interesting. We never really addressed that. But future episodes of mental men Maybe we can do that.
Speaker 2:Andrew and I became good friends and we golf a lot. Now we golf a little more often than I golf more in this year with Andrew and the mental men than I have in probably five years, and shout out to Pat for the new golf clubs that you'll probably hear from in the next episode. Anyway, I also joke around because Andrew is a little older to me and I can't believe I'm the baby in that group. But you know, thanks to him we bring the average down and, yes, this is not a shot at our friends. They're friends. So that's how men do this. Most appreciative thing I have about Andrew is that, no matter what, he's a calm presence, and I would say that about all the mental men because they, you know, they know when to even me out. So they were on. Andrew was on episode 108, 122. We're going to setting it up probably for January or February to be on again, but here is Andrew's message.
Speaker 13:Hey, steve Andy Kang here with a message about being on your podcast. Thanks so much for having me on. It's an honor to be part of the mental men and to throw my two cents in wherever I can. I love the way your podcast addresses therapy and lays it out as simply as possible for people. It's really accessible, and I've enjoyed getting to know you better in the process as well. Keep up the great work. I hope to be on again soon. All right, that's a plug for myself. I'll talk to you later. Bye.
Speaker 2:Next up is okay. So this is a person I consider a mentor. This is a person who now considers me a colleague. I don't think our mentorship will ever change, but he really helped me for my first day in the field, basically when I worked in the internship and a nonprofit out in Framingham, and once I got my masters he helped mentor me in my job in a nonprofit for many, many years. And when I went into private practice, lo and behold, his office was right across from mine in the hall. So we work in the same building.
Speaker 2:It's hard to see him as a friend because obviously such a nice guy and I love Dennis he's so much calmer than I am I'm an animated guy, right and Dennis is so calm, appreciative, thoughtful, original and his perspective is always from a therapeutic perspective that I've probably have forgotten and he probably knows more in his little finger about therapy than I've known all my life and he really brings that up. He was on the mental man with Andrew and Pat and Robert Churny on episode 108 and 122. And he's going to be on again. Like I said January, february, like I said about Andrew, he's going to be on. But here is Dennis's message.
Speaker 14:Hi, Steve, it's Dennis Sweeney. Sorry it took me so long, but just calling this is the easiest way for me to leave you a message about the podcast. So thanks for giving me the opportunity, giving us the opportunity to be able to meet. I'm always grateful for an opportunity to both listen and to share thoughts with thoughtful people, and I guess what I'd like people to hear the most is that I believe that recovery is about respecting our health, recognizing and correcting our distortions and then working to heal our woundedness. So hopefully that will help and again, Steve, thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Next step is another person that's part of the psychcraft network and her name is Chris McDonald. Chris hosts the Holistic Counseling Podcast and if you want to go listen to that, I would encourage you to go listen to it. It's very good. You know, she brings up something about spirituality every time we speak. That really makes me think, because if you know me, you've listened to this podcast. I identify as someone who practices Buddhist principles, but I so much enjoy spirituality and, yes, I do have rocks and but I also have a lot of Buddhist, a lot of Christian, jewish, hindu, muslim, different things that I that in my office you know you can't see in here, it's my office out in Holliston, but you know Chris and I had so much fun talking about these things. She made it so approachable to talk about spirituality and we had such a good time and I think that that's the important part is like spirituality gets to be so people really get intimidated by it and Chris just takes away all that intimidation and makes it so much fun. But here is her message.
Speaker 15:Hey, steve, it's Chris McDonald from the Holistic Counseling Podcast. I want to say that I so enjoyed being a guest on your podcast. I feel like you have this really welcoming, warm, inviting presence and I love all that you're putting out in the world and just being that guide for people seeking to learn more about therapy and letting them know about all the awesome modalities that are out there, and I appreciate you interviewing me about holistic modalities. I think that really can open up for a lot of people that therapy doesn't always have to be a one size fits all, and it just seems like you're a very hopeful person too, very positive. But I want to say thanks again for having me and I wish you much success with everything you're doing.
Speaker 2:Boy, it looks like I have everyone on my in my office. I think Everyone made it on my show this year. Next up is Megan Viscounti, or Garvey. That's the one that's an episode 112. I think it still says Garvey. I should probably go change that.
Speaker 2:But I met her through Courtney Romanowski. Courtney is like my person, basically, who gets me to meet all these great people, and when we met she was looking for an office space and now she's been in my office space for about over a year. We got to know each other not only through this interview because we don't get to talk at the office, right but more importantly, we got to talk to each other at the office, which is really cool and I find her so fun to talk to, easy to talk to. She's very quick-witted, she's very this is not that again, obviously that's not a saying about anybody else but with Megan, what I you know it's it's something that I really like. I know sometimes I can be so smart ass. She's smart ass is me right back and I love it and I really, really appreciate that.
Speaker 2:On episode 112 we talked about being in a private practice, the fears that come with that being in therapy, how therapy can look. Talked about dance therapy, dance movement therapy, all the great stuff. So Megan is someone that I truly Will hopefully have back on, but I think that Courtney might steal her from me. So, anyway, here's Megan's message.
Speaker 16:Hi, this is Megan Visconti from episode 112, unbailing the dance of emotions. It was such a pleasure to be on finding your way through therapy podcast this year and it really pushed me out of my comfort zone, this being my first podcast experience. Knowing that it was my first time being on a podcast, steve was awesome to work with before, during and after recording. We could definitely laugh about the notable shift in my comfortability levels about 15 minutes into the episode and Haven't gotten through it while enjoying it. I would definitely be on a podcast again. My biggest takeaway from this experience and from listening to the other episodes of the podcast is that it is so important to be yourself, speak about your experience within the world of mental health and to support others in the field or similar fields. I am so excited to continue to listen and see where the next season of finding your way through therapy goes.
Speaker 2:You know I talked about her at the beginning of this episode, actually because she was my favorite episode of the year. And when people Asked me how do I choose my favorite episode of the year, it's really hard to tell, but ultimately it's like which one do I think about right away. And it's not that the other ones weren't good. I mean, like I had a great interview with Sarah cloud, or I truly enjoyed my reverse episode with Lisa mustard. But Gina mofa is someone that I I was looking so much forward to. We I use shoes writing a book. I know she was gonna be publishing it soon and we wanted to time it so that it was out during you know when does she's trying to promote it? And that was for episode 113. And if you go back, if you go right now, go to To Amazon, barnes Nobles, if you want to go to more like of the independent places, even better.
Speaker 2:But moving on, this mean letting go. It's an amazing book. She's just one of my favorite conversations. We lose sight of time. We lose sight of, like, what's going on with just chitchat, chitchat, and I'm like, oh my god, it goes by so fast. She's really engaging. She is very thoughtful, she is very smart.
Speaker 2:Go listen to the birds in the window story If you want to go to episode last week or episode 113, you know you you'll. If you've already listened to it, you'll laugh if you haven't go listen to it, cuz it's kind of funny, you know, and sometimes people come on with books and I'm not saying that about anyone who came on with a book before her, but with Gina I've get it like I've. I've told my clients and you know, read this book. It's highly recommended, and my clients have not only read it, said it was helpful. Moving on doesn't mean letting go. They've said that they've given it, like I have at least three people that I've recommended it. They gave it to other people or told them to go buy it. It's just a great read. Talking about grief is so such a thing that I enjoy. Yet it's not easy and me and Gina can talk about it for hours. I obviously talk more about trauma, but she's just an amazing human being. Gina left me a wonderful message and here it is.
Speaker 17:Hi everyone. This is Gina Mafa and I am so excited to talk a little bit about my dear friend, steve. I just have to say it's really hard to talk about Steve and his podcast without smiling and Just feeling such warmth in my heart. This is a human of the highest caliber, integrity and goodness and Authenticity like so few have. I was honored and privileged enough to be a guest twice and I just have to say, you know, every time not only do I Feel so surprised by what I say, but I'm surprised that Steve can somehow Lore out of all of us just such a Really such a deep truth that sometimes we don't even know that we feel that way and that just goes to show Not just but and I Amazing friend or podcast host he is, but also what a great there, a custom human. I can speak from personal experience that Steve is the real deal in every sense of the word a true, kind, sensitive, gentle, but badass, protective, wonderful human. And I just know that my own life, personally and professionally, so much better because of him.
Speaker 17:What I love about the podcast itself is that it is, for clients and therapists alike, right. A client can come to the podcast and learn about different types of therapy or a different kind of therapist fit that maybe they didn't think of before and Maybe have the permission to leave a therapy relationship that doesn't really quite Feel good or right or anything like that, and so I think it could be really really valuable for so many and Also for therapists to be real. I think I am probably the most comfortable and honest, to the point where I Forget that I'm on a podcast and I think I'm just talking to my friend Steve, and so that is a gift that very, very few people have, especially when hosting a podcast is is allowing people to feel so comfortable and so at home and so at ease that their truth comes out, that their beauty comes out or that Fears come out and they feel safe enough to share it. You know, therapists are human too, and I think it can be really hard For a lot of people, both on the internet and in our own life, and yet I think that you know kind of understanding that our therapists are also like us, have also Struggled or have overcome or conquered something can be really inspiring and also remind us that human beings can heal and not only can we have to be, so we can be really, really happy and we can be really happy and we can be really happy and we can be really happy.
Speaker 17:Human beings can heal, and not only can human beings heal, but they could use that healing to help other people, and that is the gift. So I just want to thank you, steve, for your goodness, your sense of humor, your friendship, your camaraderie, your support. You are a true gift to this world, and I know I speak for so many people when I say a deep and abiding Thank you for all that you are and all that you bring. I'm deeply honored to know you.
Speaker 2:Finally, but certainly not the least, is Jenny Helms is the next one and the last one that we're gonna talk about. She was on episode 121. So I tried to do them all in order, but Jenny Helms, when she was on it, was so, so fun because she you know, I you heard by watching her on social media. You'll hear the story if you go listen to it, and she was also Someone who was them. I think it was the most downloaded or fit yeah, it was the most downloaded episode in season 10.
Speaker 2:She's very engaging in person also, which is really good, and she talks in a very frank way. She talks about her development of her career and all that, and I can't wait to have her back on. We're gonna do that probably in the next month or two, but if you go see her social media Instagram tick, tock good stuff. She talks about boundaries, she talks about relationships. She talks about a lot of different things, but Jenny was someone I ended up also losing sight of time. We we read out of time because of things we both had to do, so hopefully the next one will be a little longer and here is her message.
Speaker 18:Hi, steve, it's Jenny Helms. I just wanted to leave you a message and share that I really really enjoyed being on your show and talking with you about Therapy and how there's a lot of misconceptions out there about therapy the importance of doing both the cognitive work, that's, more surface level, and then also digging in deeper and how we do what we would call or I guess what we were talking about is deeper therapy with our Nervous system and other layers of the brain and trauma and all of that good stuff. Trying to think, if there is one big takeaway from the podcast we had, I think it's just that I would encourage folks to try on therapists for size and to have different experiences with different therapists, because it can be interesting to see the differences and Oftentimes we don't know the differences unless we have, you know, experienced it, done some of that deeper work or tried different modalities with different types of therapists, and I would encourage folks to try folks on for size and to see what different therapists there are out there. If you're feeling stuck in therapy or even just if you're exploring that and seeing who you feel a deeper connection with or that really kind of helps you resonate and have these aha moments to go and don't yeah, don't feel like us therapists are going to be offended by the fact that you are doing the work of Looking out, working with different types of folks throughout your therapy journey. So I would encourage that, especially if you've not had successful experiences with therapy.
Speaker 18:There are so many different types of therapists out there and modalities and it took me about four therapists to find the one that I first really truly connected with, so I just wanted to encourage folks to Keep keep going. If you haven't found it yet, keep keep going. I hope you have an awesome holiday and, again, I was so happy to be on your podcast. You are very easy to connect with, very insightful. I can tell that you have this experience and just Essence of being able to sit with people and keep it real, which I personally appreciate. I felt very comfortable talking with you and I can see how Clients connect with you and they connect with your realness. So thanks again for having me on and I hope you have an awesome holiday.
Speaker 2:Well, that's it. By 2023, by season 10, and welcome to season 11 soon enough. For the next episode will be the season 11 premiere and it's gonna be with dr Hayden Duggan, who started on site in Massachusetts. On site is for first responders and it's a treatment facility that's been influenced by all his work, and Hayden is gonna be talking about going to different calls, including 9-11, including the Worcester cold storage fire and, and, among other things, and he and I talked so much I think we're gonna separate in two episodes. So for the next episode, let's get part one of the conversation with dr Hayden Duggan. I wish everyone a safe and wonderful new year 2024 and let's talk soon.
Speaker 1:Please like, subscribe and follow this podcast on your favorite platform. A glowing review is always helpful and, as a reminder, this podcast is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only. If you're struggling with a mental health or substance abuse issue, please reach out to a professional counselor for consultation. If you are in a mental health crisis, call 988 for assistance. This number is available in the United States.