In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Scott Reall, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant speak with Sarah Ruccio Huffman, the Healing Arts Coordinator at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center. Sarah has worked as a clinical chaplain and an expressive therapist in a variety of environments, and she discusses the value of therapy. She shares the pivotal moment that inspired her to help other people learn how to live fully in an ordinary life. She also talks about her experience with Restore Small Groups and the direct correlation between her expressive therapy groups and Restore Small Groups.

“It’s so impressive that you are able to get to that point to realize like I do need help. I do need to talk about these things. And then when you do normalize helping yourself, how that in turn helps others that are watching your story unfold.” -Anna [10:04]

“The underlying message there is that asking for help is a sign of weakness, and so I have learned along the way that asking for help is a sign of strength.” -Sarah [10:42]

“Spirituality assists and supports an expansion of our identity.” -Seth [20:59]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[00:50] This week’s guest, Sarah

[01:52] Becoming an expressive therapist

[06:16] A pivotal moment

[11:06] The value of art therapy

[13:51] Current therapy trends

[21:33] Helping military veterans

[27:30] Her experience with Restore Small Groups

[32:12] Primary issues in therapy community

[35:45] The Journey to Freedom process

[41:24] Listen to yourself and respond

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant speak with Tamara Lankford about her experience with Restore Small Groups. Tamara shares what inspired her to sign up, how she overcame her shyness that led her to open up and be vulnerable and why she would recommend others to join a small group.

“Being in a group, it’s like working out with friends instead of trying to convince yourself to work out on your own everyday. It’s something that pushed me. It committed me to being there once a week. But the people, the environment, everything definitely allowed me to relax and open up.” -Tamara [05:32]

“We need more people that are growing and healthy and willing to be made uncomfortable so that they can become the fullest versions of themselves.” -Anna [07:58]

“Man, I love that analogy of helping you move on down the river, because I do think, continually that, like we tend to get stuck on either side of the river, and we’re not flowing in our life.” -Seth [09:59]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[00:42] This week’s guest, Tamara

[02:13] How she came to Restore Small Groups

[04:10] Week 1 vs Week 8

[08:09] Moving though the river

[10:15] The communal experience

[13:03] Rapid fire questions

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Scott Reall, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant talk about the concept of authenticity. Through their personal experiences, they discuss the practice of letting go who we think we’re supposed to be so that we can embrace who we are. To do this, they explore the key components of authenticity: self-awareness, honesty, consistency, vulnerability, self-acceptance and autonomy.

“To me, authenticity is the heart of self-awareness.” -Scott [02:06]

“I think that you understand your limitations and you embrace that, but you also understand your strengths. You understand what you bring to the table.” -Anna [19:03]

“It can be so, so difficult to be authentic when we’re afraid of what other people think, when we’re afraid of what can happen if we were to actually disclose parts of ourselves.” -Seth [53:12]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:00] Intro

[01:09] Defining authenticity & why it’s important

[07:12] Being who I am, not who I’m supposed to be

[13:05] Feeling free to be myself

[16:05] Self-awareness and honesty

[21:36] Consistency and vulnerability

[27:06] Self-acceptance and autonomy

[30:05] Personal examples of authenticity

[40:39] Values of authenticity

[43:15] Inauthenticity & struggling to be authentic

[56:22] Ways to practice authenticity

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Scott Reall, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant discuss the fourth chapter in Scott’s book, Journey to a New Beginning after Loss: Freedom from the Pain of Grief and Disappointment, about depression and sadness. They discuss the grief stages through personal examples and how to distinguish between feeling depressed from feeling sad.

“But you’re not going to get from depression to acceptance unless you really start to feel and process those sad feelings.” -Anna [06:56]

“What I have found that’s really profound for me is that there’s a shame attached to our depression, which makes us even more isolated with what we’re struggling with.” -Scott [28:56]

“There were just so many moments of uncontrollable emotion that was kind of having its way with me, and so, I just remember realizing I had to let it have its way with me.” -Seth [42:07]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[00:27] Last live music experience

[02:20] Depression and sadness

[08:49] More specific definitions

[12:12] Depression as a form of self-suppression

[16:55] Feeling depressed vs living with depression

[19:15] Characteristics of depression

[22:21] Defining sadness

[30:01] Living from a false self

[32:17] More personal examples

[43:56] Practical thoughts to move through sadness

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

Scott Reall’s Books:

Journey to Freedom: Your Start to a Lifetime of Hope, Health, and Healing

Journey to a New Beginning after Loss: Freedom from the Pain of Grief and Disappointment

Journey to Living with Courage: Freedom from Fear

Journey to Healthy Living: Freedom from Body Image and Food Issues

Journey to a Life of Significance: Freedom from Low Self-Esteem

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant speak with Beth Joseph about her experience with Restore Small Groups. Beth shares how her first small group made her feel seen, which allowed her to be the fullest version of herself. She also discusses how this inspires her to return and participate in multiple groups.

“From week one to week eight, I feel like those people, even to this day–I don’t know, a year and a half later since we had that first group–like they know me better than people who have known me for 10 years.” -Beth [10:08]

“I remember you walking in that first day and just being a little frazzled and late and being brave to just walk into a room of people, and then to come back again, just slowly let your story unfold with these people. Man, what a gift. What a gift.” -Anna [10:49]

“That is some of the magic of the process. We create this safe environment where you can name the painful parts of your life, the struggles, the issues, and you’re still accepted like you’re alluded to earlier. You’re still ok in the eyes of everyone. There’s non-judgement that fills the room.” -Seth [19:16]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[00:54] This week’s guest, Beth

[04:28] What drew Beth to join a Restore Small Group

[06:05] Her experience with Restore

[11:10] The contrast between Week 1 and Week 8

[21:28] What Beth uncovered about herself

[26:27] A pitch for Restore Small Group

[28:00] Rapid fire questions

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant speak with Rianne McCulloch about her experience with Restore Small Groups. Rianne shares how small groups taught her to be vulnerable to help her move forward in her process as well as help a group of strangers become friends during the eight week program.

“And I think that’s one of the big things that I learned from Week 1 to Week 8 was you get out of it what you put into it.” -Rianne [04:06]

“There’s a lot of different things that happen within those eight weeks. You go from–like you mentioned–stranger to an interesting community real quick, because of the vulnerability that the experience lends itself to.” -Seth [05:09]

“There’s something about that year nine at the end of the decade that really propels you into a new direction.” -Anna [07:11]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[00:55] This week’s guest, Rianne

[01:53] Why join a Restore Small Group

[03:12] Her experience in a small group

[09:09] Why she recommends Restore

[11:18] Rapid fire questions

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Scott Reall, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant have a conversation about intrinsic hope. Hope is dynamic and a powerful force that is essential in the human experience. The three hosts discuss this feeling as it relates to growth and change and how it can help keep us forward. They share what hope means to them and how to practical ways to cultivate it.

“One of the ways that I think I view hope is it’s the ground that I stand on that is unchanging, no matter what the weather is.” -Seth [12:51]

“We can’t obviously control what is happening externally, but the ways that we experience what is happening externally has everything to do with our mental framework, whether we are looking at it from a growth mindset or a fixed mindset.” -Anna [25:29]

“To me, the greatest motivator in all of life is hope.” -Scott [38:11]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[00:21] How hopeful are you feeling?

[04:21] What does hope mean to you?

[13:04] How threatening it can be to hope

[19:00] Qualities of hope

[25:59] Link between hope and trust

[32:03] Hope and identity

[39:16] Growth and transformation

[43:45] How to cultivate hope

[56:17] The Welcoming Prayer

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Scott Reall, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant speak with Janele Nelson, Mission Director at YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties. Scott and Janele have known each other for almost 20 years after her job sent her to Restore Small Groups in Nashville. Janele discusses her work at the YMCA and how the organization continues to provide a great place to help people reach their full potential during this time of divisiveness. She also talks about her experience with Small Groups and its impact.

“Staff development isn’t just professional. I mean, staff in the Y, you can’t give away what you don’t have. So if you’re there to actually help people in spirit, mind, body and you’re suffering,  and no one’s paying attention to yours, that’s not good. It doesn’t work.” -Janele [09:21]

“I think everybody does struggle with a human condition and it looks different and unique for all of us.” -Anna [12:50]

“‘Cause I see you as a worldwide leader. Always have.” -Scott [22:55]

“We like to say, ‘What we do is solitaire work that can’t be done alone,’ and we do need to transcend moving from me to we.” -Seth [26:25]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[00:23] This week’s guest, Janele

[04:31] YMCA’s current work worldwide

[08:13] Janele’s role as Mission Director

[13:18] Primary issues in her community

[18:11] The value of Restore Small Groups

[22:27] Janele’s mission and purpose in life

[27:02] Restore’s impact in non-Christian environment

[30:53] What’s on Janele’s heart to share

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Scott Reall, Seth Abram and Anna Bryant talk about the bargaining stage of grief. This stage is a refusal to accept a reality from a loss, but goes beyond denial as it’s trying to create an alternative reality mentally. The three hosts discuss how this stage can show up and give practical tips on how to work through it.

“It’s like I can’t heal an emotional wound with knowledge.” -Scott [07:13]

“I think that’s one of the hardest reasons why loss is so difficult because there’s not a way to make sense of it.” -Seth [10:48]

“Seth, I think that’s such a beautiful reminder just that people don’t need answers so much as they need presence.” -Anna [20:03]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[01:07] Reflect on a loss in your life

[02:30] Writing the chapter on bargaining

[07:22] Unresolved grief

[09:25] What is bargaining

[13:10] How religion can interfere with grief

[17:54] People don’t always need answers, just presence

[21:43] Complete the grief

[27:56] Blaming ourselves

[30:53] Working through the bargaining stage

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

Scott Reall’s Books:

Journey to Freedom: Your Start to a Lifetime of Hope, Health, and Healing

Journey to a New Beginning after Loss: Freedom from the Pain of Grief and Disappointment

Journey to Living with Courage: Freedom from Fear

Journey to Healthy Living: Freedom from Body Image and Food Issues

Journey to a Life of Significance: Freedom from Low Self-Esteem

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, Seth Abram speaks with Taylor Grice of Nashville about her experience with Restore Small Groups. Taylor shares what she uncovered about herself as she unpacked her story in the eight-week program. As she started to see pieces of herself in others, she developed special bonds with the peer group, and she describes how the community helped her move forward with some growth in her life.

“There is something that happens in a group as you get deeper and deeper, and you’re sharing more and more vulnerable things about yourself, where you start to–at least for me–I started to see pieces of my story in others, and it gave me the space to share.” -Taylor [07:02]

“When somebody else shares something about themselves, it unlocks something in me that I didn't have access to before until you name that about your story.” -Seth [09:11]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[01:22] This week’s guest, Taylor

[03:25] Joining Restore Small Groups

[04:59] Walking to the first group with strangers

[10:46] What she discovered sharing her story

[14:46] A group of strangers become friends

[18:16] One of the most formational thing

[19:57] Lighting round

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org