We’re back with another short, bonus episode for you! In today’s episode, Kristin and Angelina are diving back into the world of words to dissect how the practice of journaling has benefited them both in their mental health journey. Tune in for thoughts on: 

• How journaling aids processing and healing for Kristin and Angelina
• Ways that a perspective shift can release the pressure to perform on the page 
• Questions to ask before you take something from the private page and share it publicly 
• Why everyone is a writer and has permission to approach the page

Welcome to our very first guest episode! Today, Kristin is exploring who gets to need help with Sara Stanizai, a licensed marriage and family therapist and business coach who founded Prospect Therapy to create a queer- and trans-affirming practice that focuses specifically on serving first-generation American and immigrant communities.

Tune in to the episode for more on: 

• Sara’s personal experience with mental health and the signs that finally alerted her to needing help
• Why you can’t deep breathe your way out of oppression, plus how to build a resistance plan that actually works
• How compassion fatigue has been misused (and even weaponized), what it really is, and how to accurately name the exhaustion we feel navigating the world 

For more on Sara’s clinical and professional work, you can find her at www.prospecttherapy.com or on Instagram @prospecttherapy. You can also explore the compassion fatigue workshop she offers to help professionals navigate burnout and sift through Prospect Therapy’s team of licensed therapists who are currently accepting clients for both therapy and coaching.

The Just and Joyful podcast will release episodes featuring conversations with a variety of experts every other week. In the weeks in between our guest episodes, like this one, we’ll occasionally share shorter conversations to give you behind-the-scenes access to other exciting work going on or to invite you to participate in a gut check after heavy episodes. 

This week’s bonus episode features an exclusive look at Kristin’s brand new single, BLOOM, set to release on 3/13/26. Tune in to hear the story behind the song, get a peak at Kristin’s songwriting process, and hear a little sample from the actual song!

Welcome to the first episode of Just and Joyful w/ Kristin Carver Smith, a podcast created to provide an honest, nuanced look at mental health and all the ways it impacts our lives, work and play. 

In this episode, Kristin will be reading, for the very first time, the essay she wrote last year while processing a mental health emergency she survived in 2024. You’ll also get to hear Kristin’s heart for the podcast, what conversations we have planned for the season, and why it’s all happening now.

Follow Kristin and Just & Joyful on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/justandjoyfulofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/kristincarversmith

Hello and welcome to Just and Joyful with Kristin Carver Smith. I’m your host, Kristin or KCS as people often call me. You may know me as the CEO and founder of The New Fashioned Co or as someone who spent the last decade helping clients develop business strategies, communications plans and publicity campaigns that produced winning results.  

You may also have noticed that I’ve been away from the public for a while. Well, I’m ready not only to return but also to tell you about why I was gone. This return will look different from how I’ve shown up before; it will be an embodied and holistic return. Through Just and Joyful, I want to introduce you to my full self—all the other sides of me that were too often dimmed while I kept busy with starting and running my business. I want to introduce you to my artist self—the writer, singer and performer that have always been within me but haven’t gotten as much room to breathe. Most importantly, I want to introduce you to the human self who has both struggled and succeeded through it all. 

The journey of Just and Joyful will center largely on mental health—my mental health experience as well as the ones of others I bring on the show. We’ll cover everything from the basics of mental wellbeing to more niche topics like how mental health manifests itself in our style, guided by guests who are experts in their fields, including licensed and credentialed mental health practitioners.  

But before we begin, I want to make one thing clear. I am not creating this podcast with the intent of offering answers or solutions to any mental health struggle. Although experts will join our conversations, I’m not an expert—just a human like you with a story to share. My hope in sharing mine is that you’ll feel less alone in yours. Perhaps you’ll even be able to give yourself permission to get curious about it all. The only thing I do know for sure is that healing is possible. Let’s discover it together.