Free Association The Podcast

Today, we are not your hosts. The podcast will be hosted by 2 of our listeners, guests, and friends, Michael and Kaira. They share with you their first times in therapy. Hopefully, if you're on the fence, the vulnerability and insight of our guests will help push you to invest in your mental health. If you want to be a part of this, email your story of being a client in therapy to [email protected], share on Google-Drive, DM us on insta, or submit via this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemdUchsAVeoou8Ysx5Xn3VhiFgngj9MDWyP87FSgDNXPDbgw/viewform?usp=sf_link.

No, not that one. We tell you about our first times as clients in therapy. If you would like to share your first time for this series, send a 10-20 minutes recording to freeassociationthepodcast.com. We want to take out the stigma and put in some confidence. Even if it wasn't a Cinderella moment--every experience means something.

Happy (indefinite) Quarantine Episode 3. Between the two of us, we are living nearly every stage of a love life: break up, dating, and moving in together. All of this plus a global pandemic has been...interesting. Whether you're feeling lucky or unlucky in love, we hope this episode can give you some perspective. The grass isn't always greener, we all have complicated emotions, and we want you to let those feels fly free along with ours. Hang in there!

Seriously though, you better be home. This week's episode was a listener request! We talk all things telehealth: different programs you can use as well as experience providing it. These are tough times, but we can still laugh and feel thankful for what we provide. Hear what's keeping us sane, and email [email protected] for requests!

This week we dive into mental health in animals. Our fuzzy (sometimes scaly, sometimes feathery) friends are more complex than some of us believe. While Lacey rants, Haley reasons. This is part 1 of our Quarantine series. Keep yours and your pets' mental health in mind during this rough and weird time!

Our first Michael is here to share his story! We talk therapy methods, our experiences as children with mental health issues, and kicking our dad in the balls (seriously...sorry, dad). Michael shares his history learning about mental health and learning about himself, and we are so lucky he was willing to share!

Yeah, you know me (us.) Today, we take a deep dive into one of the most well-known therapy practices: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (or, CBT). We talk to you about people making sense of their thoughts, sometimes while making minimal sense ourselves. There are many ways CBT can be an amazing therapeutic technique--and ways it can be difficult to grasp. We hope this episode makes this piece of therapy jargon more accessible to you!

The alternative title: Don't Feed Your Cats Taco Seasoning (srsly). This week we are talking about body image and the long, difficult, and exhausting road to reach body positivity. Haley shares her profound, mindful, and incredibly relatable story of how she learned to appreciate her body. Lacey tells about her insecurities and REALLY TRIES to be nice to her childhood self. If you're having one of those days where the body you live in doesn't seem worth it, let us assure you that it is.

Spoiler alert: Haley never finds her memes. We are ringing in 2020 by drinking ourselves silly with champagne, laughing a whole lot, and answering our friends' and listeners' questions. Thank you to everyone who submitted! We hope you survive our tangents and get to laugh along with us. Plus, we play MASH. What's not to love?

Here it is...the track we thought would never be released. It's our first remotely-recorded episode, and if we do say so ourselves (minus the few glitches here and there), we did a damn good job. Finances can be stressful all the time, but especially during the holiday season. Listen as we talk about how it affects suicide rates, family culture, and our own mental health. Make sure to submit your questions for our end-of-the-year episode where we'll drunkenly answer anything you ask! Email [email protected].