Conversations With a Wounded Healer

Many of us know what it feels like to navigate a middle space. Folks who are gender-fluid come to mind. But I'm also thinking of those who balance a privileged identity with their relationship to a traditionally oppressed group. Or anyone whose ethnicity is not commonly associated with the culture in which they grew up.

How do we express this complicated identity in terms that others might understand or empathize with? Nora Alwah, founder of n'betweener©, a global platform and space of belonging, helps folks voice their truth and transform the pain of being an n'betweener into revolutionary joy.

GUEST BIO

Nora Alwah (she/her) - Coach. Therapist. TEDx speaker. Writer. Community-builder. Nora Alwah is the founder of n'betweener®, a global platform and space of belonging for those who don't fit the mold—often misunderstood, frequently overlooked, and always n'between. Through n'betweener®, she helps outliers feel seen, come home to themselves, and step into their purpose.

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Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

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There's an obvious throughline that runs from productive feedback to authentic relationships. And vice versa.

Rebecca Slusher, LPCP, is the owner of Balanced Life Counseling in Chicago. She understands that managing the group's needs for connection, empathy, and equitable conflict resolution, while navigating the daily realities of doing business, is a work in progress — and that's okay!

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Rebecca Slusher (she/her) is the owner of Balanced Life Counseling and has been in practice for 15 years in the Logan Square community. The practice specializes in working with both individuals and relationships in the LGBTQ+ community. Their clients are often struggling with mood and have a history of traumatic experiences.

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Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

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Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

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Welcome to Part 2 of my catch-up with Annie Schuessler Zam. If you haven't already, I recommend starting with Part 1: A Continuum of Connection: Parent-Child Relationships, Caregiving, and Self-Healing. I consider Annie as a case study in remaining open to possibility. She embodies a fearlessness that we all possess but often shy away from activating. Courageousness is scary, after all.

Annie Schuessler Zam (she/they) is a therapist turned healer and the host of the Rebel Therapist™ podcast. She helps people who are estranged from a parent or caregiver who want to heal trauma and live their most beautiful lives.

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Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

Get Support! Earn CEs!

• Care in Chaos: https://tinyurl.com/CareInChaosRec

• Bridging Heart and Practice: https://tinyurl.com/TheSarahsOnlineSupe

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

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Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

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Shout out to all the folks who continue to show up for themselves. Lending physical and emotional support to others is easy. Extending that same amount of empathy and reliability to ourselves? Ugh, no. That's why many of us abandon our healing work just as things start to challenge us. But the muck is where we need to be if we have any hope of growing into a true expression of self.

Annie Schuessler Zam, a therapist-turned-healer and host of the Rebel Therapist™ podcast, personifies the life-long practice of showing up for oneself. So, when she asked if she could return to the show to discuss her recent healing experiences, I was all in! Our conversation recalls the quintessential premise of this show: that sharing stories of personal healing is integral and transformational to the changes we hope to make in the professional realm and beyond.

Annie Schuessler Zam (she/they) is a therapist turned healer and the host of the Rebel Therapist podcast. She helps people who are estranged from a parent or caregiver who want to heal trauma and live their most beautiful lives.

Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

Get Support! Earn CEs!

• Care in Chaos: https://tinyurl.com/CareInChaosRec

• Bridging Heart and Practice: https://tinyurl.com/TheSarahsOnlineSupe

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

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The solution to all (okay, most) of the challenges facing group practices is embedded, quite cleverly, in the name. Owner, admin, or therapist, your individual participation informs the altruistic and financial goals of the entire practice.

And also… Groups are powered by people––real, live humans with individual expectations, convictions, experiences, and traumas.

Samantha Perry, LCSW, encourages folks on both sides of the "old school/new school" divide to get comfortable with transparency and vulnerability. She also recommends committing to intrapersonal healing work, especially around our faulty strategies for addressing shame (excessive caretaking, aversion to feedback, etc) or how those strategies sabotage the work environments we're trying to create!

Samantha Perry (she/her) is an LCSW, working at LifePath Therapy Associates in Chicago as the Coordinator of Group Therapy and Training. She is a certified NARM therapist, and loves supporting folks who want to build their capacity for connecting to themselves and others, create a new relationship to their body, or develop freedom and flexibility around their experiences of shame. She specializes in working with folks healing from religious and complex trauma. When she's not learning or working, you can find her quilting, dancing, or writing, where she is learning to embrace her own perfectionist parts.

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Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

Get Support! Earn CEs!

• Care in Chaos: https://tinyurl.com/CareInChaosRec

• Bridging Heart and Practice: https://tinyurl.com/TheSarahsOnlineSupe

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

I hate to break it to you, but friendships require effort. Actually, I'm happy to pass that info on!

Part Two of the conversation between Mishara D. Winston and Christina Michelle Watkins delves into the realities of authentic connection––notably, how we take responsibility for our attachment styles and our roles in a healthy rift-and-repair process. That's "the work."

If you haven't already done so, check out Part One. You'll not only learn why I opted to play audience member instead of host for this pair of episodes, but also why I consider these humans to be such a beautiful representation of radical healing in partnership rather than isolation.

Mishara D. Winston is a strategic mental wellness consultant, coach, and pleasure-based therapist with over 18 years in the field. She helps communities design healing experiences rooted in play, sensory connection, and self-compassion. Her work blends body-honesty, ancestral wisdom, and a deep belief in collective healing.

Christina Michelle Watkins is a Black, queer, neuroexpansive mystic artist and therapist who weaves story, spirit, and care into all she does. As a writer, performer, Tarot reader, and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she supports individuals, groups, and communities in building connection, navigating transition, and imagining new ways of being. She finds joy in thunderstorms, dancing, and talking about popsicles for entirely too long.

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Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

Get Support! Earn CEs!

• Care in Chaos: https://tinyurl.com/CareInChaosRec

• Bridging Heart and Practice: https://tinyurl.com/TheSarahsOnlineSupe

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

What does it mean to be a good friend? If you're struggling to answer, my next question might help you find the words. How do we learn the skills to maintain genuine, deeply nourishing friendships?

For this special episode, I've enlisted a pair of exceptional role models: Mishara D. Winston and Christina Michelle Watkins, two visionary healers and storytellers in conversation—without me. It's an opportunity to learn from a truly special friendship.

Tune into Part II for even more intentionality and inspiration.

Mishara D. Winston is a strategic mental wellness consultant, coach, and pleasure-based therapist with over 18 years in the field. She helps communities design healing experiences rooted in play, sensory connection, and self-compassion. Her work blends body-honesty, ancestral wisdom, and a deep belief in collective healing.

Christina Michelle Watkins is a Black, queer, neuroexpansive mystic artist and therapist who weaves story, spirit, and care into all she does. As a writer, performer, Tarot reader, and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she supports individuals, groups, and communities in building connection, navigating transition, and imagining new ways of being. She finds joy in thunderstorms, dancing, and talking about popsicles for entirely too long.

***

Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

Get Support! Earn CEs!

• Care in Chaos: https://tinyurl.com/CareInChaosRec

• Bridging Heart and Practice: https://tinyurl.com/TheSarahsOnlineSupe

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

Good people create great group practices. Eventually. I tacked that adverb on the end not to undermine anyone's ability to craft cultures of transparency and inclusivity, but to acknowledge that the whole shebang requires constant work.

Amy Zajakowski Uhll, LCPC, founder and director of Chicago Center for Integration and Healing (CCIH), is an excellent example of an accomplished leader and eternal learner, the latter contributing so much heart to the former. Amy and I discuss her 30-year career evolution from nervous newbie to seasoned practice owner. We also explore her strategies for cultivating harmony and opportunity at CCIH, as well as her commitment to community building and healing.

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Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

Get Support! Earn CEs!

• Care in Chaos: https://tinyurl.com/CareInChaosRec

• Bridging Heart and Practice: https://tinyurl.com/TheSarahsOnlineSupe

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

***

About Our Guest:

Amy Zajakowski Uhll, LCPC, is the founder and director of the Chicago Center for Integration and Healing. For more than 30 years, Amy has been committed to exploring the harm caused by traumatic experiences. She helps individuals discover their own unique journey toward healing and supports other therapists in their work with trauma.

If Simon Mont wants to get into a conversation about ego, idols, and the mystical process of birthing new realities, who am I to discourage him? "Whatever you're ultimately concerned with is, definitionally, your God," he begins. "God comes from the German: that which you invoke. It's what you're invoking in every moment."

Thus begins the second half of my wide-ranging chat with Simon, a lifelong learner doing his best to remember and respect the sacredness of the world and help others do the same.

GUEST BIO

Simon Mont is a life long learner, doing his best to remember and respect the sacredness of the world, and help others do the same. When he's not helping to keep the movement moving by supporting organizations to bridge the gap between values, vision, and impact with Harmonize Consulting, you can find writing poetry, making music, building furniture, or playing whatever sport someone invites him to.

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Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

Get Support! Earn CEs!

• Care in Chaos: https://tinyurl.com/CareInChaosRec
• Bridging Heart and Practice: https://tinyurl.com/TheSarahsOnlineSupe

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

Now, I can't promise that a chat with Simon Mont will soothe away the complexities of our current socio-political environment. But, it can reconnect us to the big feelings and deep thoughts that we often abandoned in favor of surviving these "unprecedented times."

Simon is co-founder of Harmonize, the consulting firm that helps groups bridge the gap between values, vision, and impact. "I help people solve problems," says Simon matter-of-factly.

GUEST BIO

Simon Mont is a lifelong learner, doing his best to remember and respect the sacredness of the world, and help others do the same. When he's not helping to keep the movement moving by supporting organizations to bridge the gap between values, vision, and impact with Harmonize Consulting, you can find him writing poetry, making music, building furniture, or playing whatever sport someone invites him to.

***

Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.

Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on "have a coupon" and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!

Get Support! Earn CEs!

• Care in Chaos: https://tinyurl.com/CareInChaosRec
• Bridging Heart and Practice: https://tinyurl.com/TheSarahsOnlineSupe

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy