Break The Chains, Find Your Flame

Rolando and Steve talk about Men's Mental Health and Wellbeing

The Rev. Tim Schenck serves as rector of the Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist in Hingham, Massachusetts, on Boston’s South Shore. He is the author of five books full of humor and faith, including, most recently, Holy Grounds: The Surprising Connection Between Coffee and Faith— From Dancing Goats to Satan’s Drink (Fortress Press). When not tending to his parish, drinking single-origin coffee, desperately seeking material for his syndicated “In Good Faith” column, or blogging at clergyconfidential.com, Tim is likely hanging out with his family that includes his wife, Bryna, two young adult sons, Benedict and Zachary, and two rescue dogs, Cooper and Daisy Duke. Follow him on Twitter @FatherTim.

Link to Holy Grounds: https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Grounds-Surprising-Connection-between/dp/1506448232

Link to my Twitter account @FatherTim: https://twitter.com/FatherTim

Link to St. John's in Hingham: https://www.stjohns-hingham.org

Link to Lent Madness: www.lentmadness.org

Jo-Ann Venezia Phillips is a Clinical Social Worker and Psychotherapist currently running a private practice in Medway Massachusetts. Jo-Ann’s interests fall heavily on the somatic and depth psychologies, mindfulness, meditation, and the emerging field of relational neuroscience. Educated in social work at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at Salam State University, she believes in a holistic view of the self, looking at a person from a bio-psych-social- and spiritual perspective.

Jo-Ann’s approach integrates developmental, psychoanalytic, and relational psychologies incorporating contemplative, meditative and mindfulness-based approaches to her practice. Over the last 20 years Jo-Ann has trained and practiced in a variety of settings and modalities, primarily with adults and adolescents focusing on the exploration and understanding of the human experience. Jo-Ann has extensive experience, education and training in addiction recovery and trauma. She specializes in working with high-risk behaviors, anxiety, stress, depression, issues with relationships and coping challenges. Her strengths are in teaching adaptive coping skills, exploring underlying causes and identifying and implementing solutions. She has an integrative approach using the theoretical frameworks of Internal Family Systems, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness- Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing and EMDR. In the last several years she has focused on Trauma and Post Traumatic Growth. Using the relational field, Jo-Ann invites her clients to enter into the therapeutic relationship with the spirit of collaboration, exploration and compassion. Grounded in the understanding that a strong therapeutic relationship is vital to the healing and transformation process, Jo-Ann uses play, humor, compassion and warmth to foster a deep connection with those she works with.

Lacey McClure is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in the state of Massachusetts.  She has worked with diverse populations across the lifespan in the greater Boston area.  She spent the majority of her early career working in community mental health in leadership roles and as a therapist.  She owns and operates a private practice where she specializes in treating Eating Disorders that she started in 2018.  At the end of 2020, Lacey left her position as Director of Behavioral Health at Steward Health Care to travel the country on a yearlong road trip while working full time with private practice clients virtually.

Marvin is a Holyoke resident, teacher, musician, and dharma practitioner.

A suicide prevention and social justice educator, Ysabel Garcia founded Estoy Aqui, an initiative that focuses on the sociocultural factors contributing to suicide risk in Latino/Latinx and Black communities via training, dialogue, and outreach. Garcia’s experience as a first-generation Dominican immigrant, as well as her lived experience as a former psychiatric patient, has influenced her work to dismantle the myths and sanism surrounding mental health and suicide. Garcia regularly collaborates with the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the United Suicide Survivors International Council. Additionally, she often advocates for community care alternatives and peer support methods as viable resources for mental health support. Specifically, her outreach program, La Cultura Sana, offers skills-based dialogues addressing suicide and mental health to key figures in the Latino/x and Black community that provide emotional support as part of their day-to-day work or social roles.

Lastly, Garcia serves as a Western Massachusetts Training Consortium board member, Hampden County Health Improvement Plan Behavioral Health Domain member, Suicide Prevention Resource Center Lived Experience Advisory Committee member, and Springfield Youth Mental Health Coalition member. She works in Nipmuc and Pocumtuc Land, known as Western Massachusetts, and holds a master’s degree in public health.

Dr. Pandit is a Licensed psychologist in Connecticut and New York, currently working with patients in skilled nursing, subacute rehab, and assisted living facilities engaging patients in individual psychotherapy, as well as psychological and cognitive assessments. She earned her doctorate degree in Counseling Psychology from Springfield College in Massachusetts in 2016. She completed my post-doctoral fellowship at the Pace University, Westchester Campus, Counseling and Personal Development Center in 2017; and completed her pre-doctoral internship at the SUNY Oneonta Counseling Center in 2016. Dr Pandit's prior experiences have included college counseling, community mental health, in-home behavioral management, and outpatient hospital settings. She is extremely passionate about the intersectionality of mental health and diversity and inclusion.

Whitney Dodds is the founder of Wellness for the Culture, a mental health practice in Springfield, MA. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as well as a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from American International College. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Connecticut and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Massachusetts.

Whitney is passionate about the well-being of people. Her approach is tailor-made to encourage engagement, within communities, all the while dismantling the cultural stigma that hinders black and brown people from receiving treatment.

Check out the work she is doing, and her amazing blog at:

https://wellnessfortheculture.com/

Dr Barr has nearly a decade of experience as a therapist and is fortunate to have trained with many brilliant and respected clinicians. His PhD is in Counseling Psychology, from University of Louisville, where he received in-depth academic and clinical training on mental health, psychosocial development, the process of psychotherapy, and more; and engaged in research on a variety of aspects of psychology and human experience. He completed three additional years of advanced clinical training as a health service psychologist and psychotherapist at Cambridge Health Alliance under the auspices of Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry. He opened his private consulting practice in 2020 and his private psychotherapy practice in 2021.

Check out his services and more about his background at:

https://www.drsebastianbarr.com/