From Both Sides Of The Couch: Self-Awareness, Psychology & Mindfulness for Women

Hey friends! Today, I am joined by Dr. April Tillery, a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, to explore the perimenopausal and menopausal phases in women. We discuss the symptoms that can arise during perimenopause, how healthcare providers rule out underlying conditions, and the range of treatment options available to support patients.

Join us as we unpack the controversial WHI study, which led to widespread misunderstanding around HRT, and take a closer look at how hormones can help support disease prevention. We also explore how HRT decisions are made based on estrogen levels, and Dr. Tillery walks us through the 12-week program they offer to help women navigate perimenopause symptoms.

This episode highlights why every patient is different and why a personalized, holistic approach to care is essential.

If you’ve been feeling confused, dismissed, or simply curious about what’s happening in your body during this stage of life, take a moment for yourself and join us on From Both Sides Of The Couch — HRT Explained: What Every Woman Should Know About Perimenopause & Menopause.

Enjoy this episode? Follow us on your favorite podcast platforms and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. April Tillery is a Board Certified OB/GYN and the Founder of Embrace The Change, LLC. She helps women—especially those with lifelong struggles with weight—finally get answers and lasting results. Through virtual, one-on-one coaching, she provides compassionate, evidence-based care that goes beyond willpower to address real metabolic and hormonal root causes. Together, you’ll create a plan that supports your body, your lifestyle, and your long-term wellness.

Connect with Dr. April Tillery:

Website: https://www.drapriltillery.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-tillery-63211076/ 

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#Perimenopause #Menopause #HormoneHealth

Have you ever had a moment where words simply couldn’t capture what you’re feeling?

In today’s episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch, we unpack how music can be a powerful tool for expressing and regulating our inner experiences—helping to soothe emotions and support our healing process.

Join me, Dr. Laurie Bruce, as we explore the two primary ways people use music, how self-soothing can become a form of self-validation, and how music can help us access and process misunderstood emotions, such as anger. I’ll also share songs I personally turn to depending on what I’m feeling, along with practical ways you can begin to soothe your own emotional world.

Instead of asking yourself, “What do I feel like listening to?” try asking, “What do I need right now?” When used intentionally, music can help regulate your nervous system and bring you back to a place of balance.

Listen to this week’s episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch: Feel, Release, Heal: The Emotional Power of Music

Enjoy this episode? Follow us on your favorite podcast platforms and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#MusicTherapy #EmotionalHealing #SelfRegulation

Hey friends! Have you ever been in a session where a client shares a conflict, and something about their story feels deeply familiar—as though it is touching a part of your own? In this episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch, we explore one of the most challenging aspects of therapy: how our unresolved experiences can shape the way we listen and respond to our clients, and the strategies that can help us gently bring our attention back to the client’s work.

Join me, Dr. Laurie Bruce, clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach, as we acknowledge that therapists carry their own struggles even as we hold space and compassion for others. We’ll explore what happens when our personal world intersects with our role as therapists, and how to recognize the warning signs that we may be feeling triggered.

A good therapy session requires the ability to discern what belongs to us and what belongs to our clients. Compassion is most effective when it is grounded in clarity.

Listen to this week’s episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch: When Empathy Becomes a Blind Spot: Understanding Therapist–Client Overlap

Enjoy this episode? Follow us on your favorite podcast platforms and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#TherapistLife #EmotionalAwareness #CompassionWithBoundaries 

As a therapist, have you ever spent the day being fully present and caring deeply—yet something about the work you did feels heavier than it used to?

In today’s episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch, we dive into why therapists and coaches often experience burnout, emotional exhaustion, and overload when emotional boundaries with clients are not clearly established—and when we fail to recognize how much of others’ pain our nervous system may be trying to carry.

Join me, Dr. Laurie Bruce, as we explore therapist burnout, emotional boundaries, nervous system co-regulation, and emotional contagion. We’ll also highlight the importance of presence while understanding emotional over-identification and empathic distress, and learning to recognize the subtle patterns that can leave us feeling depleted.

Yes, it is possible to sit with profound pain without absorbing it. Notice your nervous system, and allow yourself the space to reset.

Listen as I talk about Emotional Boundaries in the latest episode of the From Both Sides Of The Couch podcast.

Enjoy this episode? Follow us on your favorite podcast platforms and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#TherapistBurnout #MentalHealthProfessionals #EmotionalBoundaries

Used to trust yourself—but after painful or negative experiences, find that you no longer do?

In this episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch, we’re exploring practical steps to rebuild self-trust, along with the key variables that foster trust in others—and, most importantly, within ourselves.

Join me, Dr. Laurie Bruce, as we define what self-trust truly means and explore how trust is shaped by predictability, reliability, emotional safety, benevolent intent, competence, and perhaps the most powerful element of all—repair after rupture.

This is your reminder that self-trust is built when our nervous system learns safety and consistency through repeated lived experiences.

Listen to this week’s episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch: How to Trust Yourself Again: Psychologist Explains Self-Trust & Intuition

Enjoy this episode? Follow us on your favorite podcast platforms and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#SelfTrust #EmotionalSafety #NervousSystemHealing 

Hey friends!

Join me, Dr. Laurie Bruce, as we take a deeper look at Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Radically Open DBT, how early patterns and environment can reveal these temperaments, and the physical and emotional costs of living in undercontrol or overcontrol.

Neither style is right nor wrong. Both reflect the nervous system temperament we are born with. And strengthening our mindfulness skills can truly be a game-changer.

Know how to master your emotions, whether you’re overcontrolled or undercontrolled, here on the From Both Sides Of The Couch podcast.

Enjoy this episode? Follow us on your favorite podcast platforms and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#DBT #RadicallyOpenDBT #NervousSystemHealth 

Have you ever felt like you’re too much, too sensitive, too emotional, too flawed, or even too broken?

As we walk through how to notice and interrupt negative self-talk, understand how self-criticism can evolve into chronic shame, and learn practical ways to foster self-compassion that supports healing and emotional safety.

You are not your shame story. It can be acknowledged, understood, and rewritten. And remember, shame thrives in silence and secrecy, but healing begins when we bring it into the light.

Listen to this week’s episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch: The Shame Spiral: How to Stop Negative Self-Talk & Build Self-Compassion

Enjoy this episode? Follow us on your favorite podcast platforms and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#selfcompassion #healingfromshame #emotionalwellbeing 

Have you ever been in a situation where you try to calm down, but your thoughts just won’t slow down?

Join me, Dr. Laurie Bruce, as we unpack how the brain regulates, why so many people experience both ADHD and anxiety, and how understanding their connection can reduce shame, increase self-compassion, and support healthier coping.

An ADHD brain under stress is more vulnerable to anxiety. Over time, this shapes self-beliefs and keeps the nervous system in a state of hypervigilance. Calm doesn’t come from trying harder, but from responding with compassion.

Enjoy this episode? Follow us on your favorite podcast platforms and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#ADHDAwareness #AnxietySupport #NervousSystemRegulation

Have you ever trusted someone deeply, only to have them become the person who hurt you the most?

In this episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch, we’re diving into betrayal trauma — the kind that makes you question your self-worth, your memory, and even your own judgment. We unpack what betrayal trauma really is, why it cuts so deeply, and what healing actually looks like.

Join me, Dr. Laurie Bruce, clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach, as we explore the research behind betrayal trauma, how it lives in the nervous system, and why it creates cognitive dissonance and attachment injury. We’ll also talk through common symptoms of betrayal trauma, science-backed ways to rebuild self-trust, and the truth about forgiveness.

Listen to this week’s episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch: Betrayal Trauma: When Trust Breaks Your Nervous System & How Real Healing Begins.

Enjoy this episode? Follow us and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#BetrayalTrauma #NervousSystemRegulation #TraumaRecovery

Hey friends! Are you a nice person, or are you kind?

Join me, Dr. Laurie Bruce, as we talk honestly about why boundaries aren’t selfish or mean. They help regulate our nervous system and create a sense of safety, both for us and for others. When boundaries are unclear or missing, relationships often feel less secure rather than more loving.

The paradox is this: not holding boundaries doesn’t make relationships better; it actually makes them harder. Your worth doesn’t come from being needed. It comes from being whole.

Listen to this week’s episode of From Both Sides Of The Couch: Nice vs Kind: How Setting Boundaries Is An Act of Love.

Enjoy this episode? Follow us and leave a 5-star review!

Dr. Laurie Bruce is a clinical psychologist and mindfulness coach. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2000. Her expertise is in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is a treatment that combines both traditional cognitive and behavioral strategies with Eastern Mindfulness practices. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist and completed a year-long intensive training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. She’s passionate about the safe, legal, and ethical use of psychedelic medicines to help address trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders and for personal and spiritual development. 

Follow her socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555258666969 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauriebruce/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-bruce-psy-d-0201277/ 

Visit her website.

Website: https://www.drlauriebruce.com/ 

#EmotionalSafety #NervousSystemRegulation #HealthyRelationships