Cricket Leigh (Alexander) is a voice actress, who is best known for voicing Mai in Avatar: The Last Airbender. She is also a Licensed Master Clinical Social Worker (LMSW) for individuals, couples & families. She works with all ages on a variety of issues including anxiety, mood disorders, family conflict, trauma, PTSD and personal growth. 

Cricket joins Shayna and Kathy to talk about all of these things, and her innovative new adventure merging her knowledge of mental health and her beloved character, Mai. She calls it Mindbender Therapy and you can check it out here on Patreon.

Credits and Citations

Check out Cricket here and get links to all of her socials and projects.

Cricket has been loving Metal Lords and Righteous Gemstones. She has also been LOVING the book, Alice the Cat that deals with the death of a pet, cancer, humor and mental health.

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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Abby Gangelhoff is a mental health therapist, podcaster (catch her on Book Baddies), and dancer. She joins Shayna and Kathy to talk about mental health and dance. From dancing in your kitchen, to competitive dancing, to conscious dancing, to teaching dance, to being a dance mom- we've got you covered. You may also learn some surprising information about Shayna and our favorite editor, Ryan. 

Credits and Citations

Millman, LSM,  Terhune, DB,  Hunter, ECM,  Orgs, G.  Towards a neurocognitive approach to dance movement therapy for mental health: A systematic review. Clin Psychol Psychother.  2021; 28: 24– 38.  https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2490

Dwarika MS, Haraldsen HM. Mental health in dance: A scoping review. Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 23;14:1090645. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1090645. PMID: 36968742; PMCID: PMC10035338. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10035338/

Tao D, Gao Y, Cole A, Baker JS, Gu Y, Supriya R, Tong TK, Hu Q, Awan-Scully R. The Physiological and Psychological Benefits of Dance and its Effects on Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review. Front Physiol. 2022 Jun 13;13:925958. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.925958. PMID: 35770195; PMCID: PMC9234256. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9234256/

Free moving dance has healing benefits for people with mental health concerns 

Behind the Curtain- Ballet Dancers and Mental Health 

 4 Keys to Conscious Dance by Amara Pagano

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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We are back after a brief break!! Today Shayna and Kathy talk about signs and symbols. What function do they have? How do they relate to mental health? How do they come up in pop culture? We discuss the origin of our logo and the difference between a Caduceus and the Rod of Asclepius and which one REALLY relates to healthcare. You will also discover which one of us is team snake and which one is team butterfly.

Credits and Sources

Rod of Asclepius Wiki

The Psychology of Shapes- Understanding the best shapes for commercial design

Symbols in Psychology

Iconic Symbols and their meaning

Iconic Disney objects

Hidden meaning in world famous logos

10 Symbols in Star Wars you need to recognize

Mandalorian Symbol Mythosaur

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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Shayna and Kathy are so excited to talk about their speciality today- child and adolescent mental health. They discuss the concepts behind integrating play and art into therapy with children and how it isn't just fun and games- real healing takes place.  If you have children, if you know children... even if you ever were a child- you will get something out of this episode.

Credits

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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May the 4th be with you! In honor of Star Wars week, we are talking about the original trilogy. Shayna and Kathy are joined by Shayna's mom, Cindy, and Kathy's husband, Matt- both of whom watched A New Hope in the theater way back in 1977. We talk about what a game changer the movies were at the time, why they resonate with so many people, and how our lives have been impacted. We cover things like A Hero with a Thousand Faces, how important Princess Leia was for girls and women, and why villains are so cool.

 Credits

Kathy talked about a painting she recreated with her daughter. You should check out the painting as well as other art by Catherine Moore here- Tea & Canvas

Post discussing Star Wars and Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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Taylor Swift is a force- and there is a reason she is breaking records and selling out stadiums. She is a gifted songwriter who taps into some universal human emotions. Shayna (who is Taylor neutral) and Kathy (a recent Swifty) and joined by two long time Swifties, to chat abut mental health and Taylor Swift. Our return guest, Melody Granzow, is a licensed clinical social worker, certified yoga instructor, and college professor. Kayla Newman works in a mental health clinic, is a single mom, and is a huge swifty. Fresh off going to the Eras tour, we cover a lot of topics including; depression, adolescence, eating disorders, and feminism.

Credits

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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In this episode, Shayna and Kathy talk about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) from both sides of the couch.

Pop culture and social media is rife with misinformation about OCD, and minimization of the debilitating nature of the disorder. Not only that, a lot of mental health therapists don't even understand the disorder, thinking it is about being a "neat freak germophobe".

Shayna and Kathy talk about their own OCD diagnoses, their respective journeys to understanding their symptoms, and in learning to manage them. They go over the DSM5 diagnostic criteria, differential diagnosing and discuss some of the most common types of OCD (such as fear of contamination, ordering/symmetry, fear of harm, and religious related thoughts/fears) . Kathy discusses perinatal/postpartum OCD, which is way more common an issue than is known. They discuss treatment options, and, of course, how it is portrayed in pop culture.

Credits and sources

American Psychiatric Association information page on OCD

Celebrities who have talked about their OCD

Infosheet about Postpartum and Perinatal OCD

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com
Editing by Ryan Merrill-   https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor
Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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***Spoiler warning for season/part 1 of The Last of Us tv show and video game. Trigger warning for violence and fungus.

 Two mental health therapists, Shayna and Kathy, are joined by their nerdy editor, Ryan, to finish talking about the first season of The Last of Us. If you haven't already, listen to episode 28- talking about the first half of the season.

 Joel and Ellie continue to captivate us and break our hearts. Our discussions go into trauma, panic attacks and grief. We also talk about some differences in how children express grief versus how adults expect them to react. 

 Credits

 Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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On our first episode about Dungeons and Dragons (episode 13), Shayna was helping Kathy create her character in preparation for joining her first campaign.

Now, we are joined by our friend, and fellow therapist, Olivia to talk more about the game in general, what we like about it, how it relates to mental health, and also check in on how our campaign is going.

Citations and Credits

Recent research- How youth can build social and emotional skills with table-top role-playing games

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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**Spoiler alert for episodes 1-5 of The Last of Us. 

 Shayna and Kathy are joined by their favorite nerdy editor, Ryan, to talk about the first half of the series, The Last of Us. Ryan brings his perspective of how the tv adaptation is compared to the video game. We delve into how Joel's trauma impacts how he interacts with the world, and of course talk all about Bill and Frank and their beautiful relationship. Kathy also goes into the very real information from the CDC and US Department of Defense about planning for a zombie apocalypse. 

 Credits:

From the CDC website- Preparedness 101; Zombie Pandemic 

The US Department of Defense Strategic Command CONPLAN8888 AKA Counter-Zombie Dominance

Artwork by Matthew Gwaltney- https://www.bdbumblebee.com

Editing by Ryan Merrill-  https://www.instagram.com/the_nerdyeditor

Intro Music is "Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)-Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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