Friends with (therapy) Benefits

You ever have a thought so unhinged that you immediately wonder what the hell is wrong with you?

Maybe you've thought about quitting your job, disappearing for a weekend without telling anyone, or wished everyone you love would just leave you alone for five minutes.

And then comes the guilt. Because what kind of person thinks that?!

Well, a human one.

In this week's Monday Mini, we're getting into the REAL scaries. Not ghosts, haunted houses, or things that go bump in the night. I'm talking about the thoughts we have but would probably never say out loud.

The petty thoughts. The uncomfortable ones. The ones that make us wonder what they say about who we are.

We're talking about why two things can be true at once, how shame gets attached to perfectly human experiences, and why having a thought doesn't mean you believe it, want it, or plan to act on it.

And in Therapist Mode, we're breaking down the difference between thoughts, feelings, intentions, and behaviors. Because a thought isn't a confession, and not everything your brain produces deserves a full psychological investigation.

Something to take with you this week:

The next time you have a thought that makes you uncomfortable, instead of immediately judging yourself for it, get curious. Is this something that needs your attention, or is your brain just doing brain things?

And listen, we're taking this conversation over to Instagram this week. Come peep my Stories, because I'm giving you a chance to share some of those unhinged thoughts we usually keep to ourselves.

Anonymously, of course. 👀

Keep the conversation going! 💬

The conversation doesn't end when the episode does. Come hang out with me for more mental health conversations, personal reflections, and the occasional unhinged thought.

📸 Instagram: @elizabethmaecarr

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elizabethmaecarr

🎙️ Listen to Friends with (therapy) benefits on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

📝 Read along on Substack for more conversations about mental health, relationships, and figuring ourselves out along the way.

Friends with (therapy) benefits is hosted by Elizabeth Carr, LPC — a licensed professional counselor having honest, relatable, and occasionally hilarious conversations about mental health and the messy business of being human.

New Monday Minis every Monday, plus full-length episodes twice a month.

This podcast is intended for education and conversation and is not a substitute for individualized mental health care.

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can love your family and still want everyone to leave you alone.

You can be grateful for the life you've built and still wonder if something needs to change.

You can be the person everyone depends on and secretly wish, just once, that somebody else would figure it out.

And you know what? None of those things automatically make you selfish, ungrateful, or a bad person.

In this episode of Friends with (therapy) benefits, we're talking about the things we think but don't always say out loud. Especially when we've spent so much of our lives being the responsible one, the accommodating one, the person who knows what everyone else needs.

Because somewhere between taking care of everybody else and keeping everything moving, it's easy to lose track of what you actually want.

And sometimes, when those uncomfortable thoughts finally show up, we feel guilty before we've even had a chance to understand them.

🎙️ In this episode:

• Why recognizing your own needs can feel harder than recognizing everyone else's
• The uncomfortable thoughts we have about our relationships, responsibilities, and everyday lives
• How people-pleasing and overfunctioning can disconnect us from what we really want
• Why two seemingly contradictory feelings can both be true
• The difference between having a thought, feeling something, and actually wanting to act on it
• How to start listening to yourself without immediately judging what comes up

We're making room for a little more honesty, a little less guilt, and the possibility that wanting something different doesn't mean you don't appreciate what you already have.

Because you can love your life and still need something from it that you're not getting.

Let's keep the conversation going.

Follow Elizabeth on Instagram and TikTok for more conversations about mental health, relationships, boundaries, burnout, and all the things we're usually thinking but not saying.

And if this episode sounds like somebody you know, send it their way.

Friends with (therapy) benefits — Real Life. Real Feelings. A Little Therapy.

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is it harder to figure out what you need, or to actually give yourself what you need?

I asked this question in an Instagram poll, and the responses got me thinking about something we don't talk about nearly enough: all the little ways we compromise our own needs without even realizing we're doing it.

In this week's Monday Mini, we're talking about what happens when you're so used to considering everyone else's feelings, preferences, and expectations that you lose track of your own.

The quiet compromises. The guilt that comes with choosing yourself. The resentment that sneaks in when you've been saying yes to everyone but yourself. And why another self-care routine isn't always the answer.

Because sometimes the hardest part isn't finding time for yourself. It's figuring out what you actually want or need when you've spent so much of your life making sure everyone else is okay.

And listen, I'm not pretending I've mastered this either.

Something to take with you this week:

What do I actually need right now?

You don't have to justify the answer, make a plan, or do anything about it immediately. Just start by being willing to acknowledge it.

🎙️ Friends with (therapy) benefits is hosted by Elizabeth Carr, LPC, a licensed therapist having honest, relatable, and occasionally unhinged conversations about mental health, relationships, and figuring ourselves out along the way.

New Monday Minis every Monday, plus full-length episodes twice a month.

Come hang out with me on Instagram, where we keep these conversations going throughout the week.

Keep the conversation going! 💬

We're not done talking when the episode ends. Come hang out with me on social media for more mental health conversations, behind-the-scenes moments, and the occasional unhinged thought.

📸 Instagram: @elizabethmaecarr

🎵 TikTok:@elizabethmaecarr

▶️ YouTube: @Friendswiththerapybenefits

📝 Substack: @Friendswiththerapybenefits

A little reminder: This podcast is for education and conversation, not a substitute for individualized mental health care.

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes taking a break is exactly what we need. Other times, what we're calling "rest" might actually be a way of avoiding something we don't quite feel ready to deal with.

In the very first Monday Mini of Friends with (therapy) Benefits, we're talking about the difference between intentional rest and emotional avoidance, why avoidance isn't necessarily a bad thing, and how to recognize when your downtime isn't actually helping you recharge.

Because sometimes you need a nap. And sometimes you need to figure out what you're trying not to think about.

We'll get into:

• The difference between rest and avoidance
• Why avoidance can actually serve a purpose
• What intentional hibernation looks like
• How to recognize your own patterns without immediately criticizing yourself

Take this with you: The next time you feel like checking out, get curious about what you need. Rest? Space? Or a little attention to something you've been putting off?

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is hosted by Elizabeth Carr, a Licensed Professional Counselor who believes mental health conversations should feel a lot more like conversations and a lot less like lectures.

New Monday Minis every Monday, alongside our longer episodes. No perfect coping skills required.

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if healing doesn’t always happen on a therapist’s couch?

In this episode of Friends with (Therapy) Benefits, Elizabeth sits down with therapist-turned-stand-up-comedian Matthew Sharpe, LPC to talk about humor as medicine and what happens when the things we usually process privately become material for a room full of strangers.

They talk about Matthew’s journey into stand-up, the vulnerability of getting on stage, using humor to make sense of difficult experiences, and why laughter can create the kind of connection we don’t always associate with “therapy.”

Because healing can look like crying in your car. It can look like sitting across from a therapist with a tissue box. And sometimes? It can look like standing under a spotlight, telling a joke about the thing that used to hurt.

This conversation is about expanding our definition of what healing looks like and remembering that sometimes laughing about it isn’t avoiding the hard stuff.

Sometimes, the laughter is part of the healing.

🎙️ Friends with (Therapy) Benefits explores mental health, relationships, self-care, and the messy reality of being a human—with a therapist who is also very much still figuring some shit out.

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when the person who usually knows what to do…doesn’t?

In this deeply personal solo episode of Friends with (therapy) benefits, Elizabeth shares the story of an abnormal Pap smear during the height of COVID-19 that led to a diagnosis of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia Grade 2 (CIN 2), painful testing, multiple procedures, and some of the most frightening moments of her life.

But this isn’t really an episode about a cervix.

It’s about health anxiety, medical self-advocacy, women’s healthcare, and learning to trust your own voice when everyone around you seems to know more than you do.

Elizabeth reflects on being told not to worry when she was terrified, undergoing a painful colposcopy without anesthesia, walking into a hospital alone during COVID, and realizing how difficult it is to advocate for yourself when you’re scared, overwhelmed, and don’t even know which questions you’re supposed to ask.

She also explores the belief she carried for years: the doctor knows best, so what do I know?

The lesson wasn’t to stop trusting doctors or experts. It was learning that their expertise doesn’t require you to abandon your own.

Sometimes advocating for yourself means asking another question. Saying something hurts. Asking for more information. Getting another opinion. Or simply believing yourself when something doesn’t feel right.

Because no matter how many experts are in the room, you are still the expert on your own life.

🎙️ In this episode: CIN 2 and abnormal Pap smears, health anxiety, women’s health, colposcopy and cervical procedures, medical self-advocacy, trusting yourself, finding your voice, and what it means to become an active participant in your own care.

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some friendships don't just survive change—they grow because of it.

In this Therapist Mode episode, Elizabeth is joined by her best friend of 25 years, Greg Wright, for one of the most personal conversations of the season.

Together, they look back on two decades of friendship, from high school heartbreaks (and Cherry Garcia ice cream) to adulthood, healing, and the many versions of themselves they've witnessed along the way. They talk about what happens when you stop people-pleasing, why some relationships deepen while others fall away, the importance of conflict and repair, and how personal growth changes the people you keep around you.

Greg also shares what it's really like to be friends with a therapist...including his uncanny ability to catch Elizabeth using her "fake therapist voice."

This episode is funny, honest, reflective, and a reminder that some of the greatest gifts in life are the people who know every version of you... and keep choosing to stay.

In this episode:

• The story behind the Therapist Mode series and the name Friends with (therapy) benefits

• Why healing changes relationships

• What 25 years of friendship can teach us about conflict, repair, and trust

• The evolution of identity, boundaries, and choosing yourself

• Mental wellness, self-discovery, and the people who help us become who we're meant to be

Connect with Elizabeth:

📸 Instagram &TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

✍️ Weekly essays: elizabethmaecarr.substack.com

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love if you'd follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who's been there through every version of you.

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Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a therapist and a life coach sit down together and ask, "So... what's actually the difference?"

In this episode of Friends with Therapy Benefits, I sit down with Thomas for an honest conversation about therapy, life coaching, personal growth, and the sometimes blurry lines between them. We talk about what each approach does well, where they overlap, where they don't, and how to know what kind of support might be right for you.

If you've ever found yourself wondering, "Do I need therapy, coaching, both, or neither?" this episode is for you.

We also get into something bigger: learning to trust yourself when you're in the middle of change. Because sometimes the hardest question isn't what everyone else thinks you should do—it's figuring out what you need right now.

In this episode:

• Therapy vs. life coaching: what's the difference?

• Common misconceptions about both professions

• When coaching can help—and when therapy may be the better fit

• The challenge of making decisions when you're still figuring things out

• What growth actually looks like in real life

As always, we're not pretending to have it all figured out over here. We're just willing to talk about it honestly.

Connect with Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabethmaecarr

TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

Substack: @friendswiththerapybenefits

If you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, and share it with someone who's trying to figure out their next step too.

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s been over a year since the last season of Friends with (Therapy) Benefits… and a lot has changed.

In this Season 2 opener, I’m not coming back with a polished “here’s what I learned” recap. I’m coming back in the middle of it.

If you’ve ever felt stuck between who you used to be and not quite knowing who you’re becoming… this episode is for you.

I share what happened after a major life shift, why I stopped recording, and what it’s actually felt like to lose a sense of identity, self-trust, and clarity—even as a therapist. We get into the pressure of being the “strong one,” the oldest daughter dynamic, and what happens when the version of you that always held everything together… stops working.

This episode also introduces a new segment, “With Love, an Oldest Daughter,” where I share real-time insights from therapy that are probably not just about me.

If you’re navigating burnout, anxiety, overthinking, people-pleasing, or a life transition that doesn’t have a clear answer yet—you’re not alone in it.

Follow along for more real-time thoughts, overthinking, and the messy middle: Instagram, TikTok & Substack

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the Season 1 finale of Friends with (Therapy) Benefits, we’re getting up close and personal with the fear of being authentic—the messy, vulnerable kind that makes your heart race and your palms sweat. Why is it so hard to be real with people? And why is vulnerability the very thing we need to feel truly connected?

Elizabeth reflects on her own journey of unmasking, sharing the raw truth that hit her like a Mack truck: just because she’s a therapist doesn’t mean she’s automatically good at this stuff. From childhood conditioning to generational hustle culture, she unpacks the layers that keep us disconnected from ourselves and others.

Plus, Elizabeth opens up about how this podcast started as little love notes to herself, a way to track her growth and, hopefully, help others along the way. You’ll also get practical tips on how to start identifying who you really are, embracing your needs, and letting people actually see you—imperfections and all.

And as we say goodbye to Season 1, there’s a heartfelt thank you to everyone who’s listened, reached out, and joined this community.

Season 2 is coming summer 2025, with more special guests, banter with Gregory, and—fingers crossed—some of your stories.

Follow Elizabeth on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube

Let's keep the conversation going. Have a question, a situation you're trying to work through, or something you'd love a therapist's perspective on? Send it my way! Your question might inspire an upcoming episode of Friends with (therapy) Benefits.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @elizabethmaecarr

For more reflections on mental health, self-care, and figuring life out as we go, read my Substack:

https://elizabethmaecarr.substack.com/

New 15-minute minisodes every Monday morning, plus a full-length episode each month.

Friends with (therapy) Benefits is for education and reflection, not a replacement for individualized mental health treatment. Please avoid including identifying or sensitive personal information in listener submissions.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.