Psych Up Live

In this episode Dr. Kristin Neff, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on self-compassion, draws upon her personal introduction to self-compassion, her years of pioneering research, and her book Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, to offer listeners an understanding of this powerful but often misunderstood and overlooked resource. In an interesting and useable way she defines self-compassion and compares it with self- pity and self-esteem. She demonstrates the power of self-compassion to enhance self-knowledge and motivation and describes and exemplifies its use of self-kindness, human connection and mindfulness to offset self-criticism and the trap of self-loathing. To hear Kristin Neff, is to receive an insider’s understanding of a powerful resource for coping, healing and growing in every day life. Self- Compassion is within our grasp.

We are in a time of extraordinary loss of loved ones. Worldwide, more than a million people have died from Covid-19. Countless others have died of other causes. With extraordinary loss of loved ones there is extraordinary grief. In this episode, Dr. Joanne Cacciatore helps us understand and handle our grief. Drawing upon her new book, Grieving is Loving: Compassionate Words for Bearing the Unbearable, Dr. Cacciatore invites us to consider grief as something that can’t be ignored, rushed or diagnosed away as it is the natural reflection of the love we feel for the loss of a loved one. She invites us to recognize that we don’t work to reduce the grief, we own it and increase our capacity to cope. We embrace the here and now, we muster the courage to join with others who can be with us in the dark and we recognize that grief and happiness are not incompatible. Drawing upon extraordinary quotes, stories and reflections, Dr. Cacciatore offers us a path to grieving, loving and living.

Regardless, of gender, age, or political persuasion, we all fall for fake news. Not You? Listen in as MIT trained science writer, Matthew Hutson, discusses how and why we are all increasingly susceptible to believing misinformation. Drawing upon his recent article in Psychology Today, “How Memory Became Weaponized,” Matthew Hutson discusses the flaws of human memory, our evolutionary tendency to believe what we see, and the attack on our memories with algorithms used by marketers, trolls, or anyone with an agenda they want believed. He discusses the many ways that our memories are assaulted by factors like the speed of information dissemination, the purposeful mixing of fake news with real news, or the repetition of false headlines or images which capitalize on our tendency to believe what we see and remember what we believe. Importantly, he shares strategies to “fend off fakery.” Frightening and fascinating. Listen in.

In this episode, Abby Rodman psychotherapist and author draws upon her own experience with divorce, her clinical experience and the responses of hundreds of women to a survey on divorce, to share what we rarely hear about divorce. Abby Rodman shares the insider story. She shares the fears, blame, hardship, parental worry and ultimate growth that is possible whether a divorce comes after two or twenty years, and whether it comes by choice, betrayal or mutual despair. As described in her book, Without This Ring, Abby Rodman does not advocate for divorce: but when there is no choice, she advocates for women to know they are not alone, to believe in themselves and to identify the feelings and dynamics that can be addressed with help on many levels. She will not be speaking about finding someone new. She will be speaking about the power of first finding you. Everyone will benefit from this show.

Whether addressing campus sexual violence or other forms of power-based violence like partner abuse, bullying, stalking, etc. the national and internationally used program, Green Dot, etc. moves us from awareness to action. In this episode, Jessey Lyons, Associate Director of Green Dot turns our attention to reducing campus sexual violence. She recognizes that “It is not that people don’t care—they don’t know what to do.” Accordingly, she discusses training, tools and strategies that we can use on or off campus to make prevention and intervention possible. She is joined by college senior, Juliette Verrengia who shares her insights and experience as part of the team that has implemented The Green Dot at Connecticut College. We are aware. Now we need action.

In this show, our guest Boaz Feldman will be calling in from Geneva Switzerland with great interest in connecting to our listeners. Much as the title suggests, Boaz Feldman’s passion is the integration of knowledge from many sources for personal growth, humanitarian outreach, clinical training and intervention across borders. He will speak about his experience as a Buddhist Monk and what contemplative practice brings to humanitarian work and clinical work. He will discuss his development of NeuroSystemics which recognizes the integration of body-mind regulation, healthy relational attachment and embodied community processes. He will consider the role of compassion training for couples, reasons and remedies for unrecognized burnout, self-development through selfless service and his integration of many of these dimensions in the Care Training Program he offers. Listen in. It will be a special experience.

Nationally and Internationally people are exposed to violence and public health challenges on a daily basis.. In this show, experts Dr. Sherry Hamby and Dr. Victoria Banyard draw upon their new book, Strength Prevention for Violence and Public Health Problems, to reconsider strategies of strength building and prevention from unexpected perspectives. As Professors and recognized researchers who have dedicated their careers to the study of violence, traumatization, victimization, resilience, and prevention, they look closely and share examples of why some attempts to motivate young people backfire and why approaches that offer strength building, succeed. They will consider the difference and overlap of resilience and prevention and discuss the value of building a Prevention Portfolio Model to address violence. They discuss new and unexpected methods of prevention including gamification, nudges, and looking beyond the specific problem to broader infrastructure and personal choices. You will be informed and motivated to reconsider interventions.

There is no end to the reality of traumatic events suffered world-wide, be they man-made atrocity or natural disaster. What about the children caught in the midst of such suffering? That is the focus of today's show. Our guest is Jonathan E. Wilson who will be calling in from Tokyo to describe OperationSafe , a worldwide program he created with his wife, psychologist Rie Wilson in 2008. The program has proven to prevent mental health concerns and foster resilience in children in the aftermath community-wide trauma. Jonathan will be discussing the rationale, principles and program components of OperationSafe which has been used across 158 camps in five countries in the aftermath of disasters from 20o8 to the present. Importantly he will be sharing his recent experience of offering this important intervention in a program with refugee children from the Ukraine. You will be informed and inspired by Jonathan Wilson and the way he offers the gifts of safety, calm, efficacy, connection and hope to children and their communities. Listen in.

Few of us have been spared relationships with emotional predators – The neighbor who wanted to share everything only to spread rumors; the boss who praised your work, asked for late hours and then promoted someone else; the fiancé who had a lover at college; the coach you trusted who made inappropriate advances. In this show, psychotherapist, mediator, custody evaluator and retired attorney, Steven Wolhandler, JD,MA,LPC draws upon his years of dealing with emotional predators and protecting their victims to pass on to us important insights and strategies. Referencing his book, Protecting Yourself from Emotional Predators: Neutralize the Users, Abusers and Manipulators Hidden Among Us, he defines the qualities and behaviors of the Emotional Predator and offers 5 important and effective steps for protecting ourselves. His discussion is as valuable a guide to knowing and empowering ourselves as to disempowering predators.

In the first 185 days of 2022 there have been 11 mass shootings per week. When does this stop? How can we make a difference? Our guest is Sara Rogerson, a professor at Albany Law School, the Vice President of Niskayuna School Board in Upstate New York and the aunt and mother in a family whose own members were victims of a school shooting and threats. Sara Rogerson will be discussing how her personal and professional experiences influence her to support and utilize the recent gun control bill and initiate school and community programs to curb gun violence. In the first section of this show she clarifies and discusses the beginning gun reform steps outlined in the recent bipartisan Gun Law. She clarifies and exemplifies (SEL) Social, Emotional Learning programs and references research that underscores the importance of SEL in making a school or community safer from bullying, stalking, racism, verbal violence and physical violence-all factors in the history of many school shooters. We are faced everyday with alarming headlines of one more shooting. It is worth listening to strategies for change.