Who or what is in the room with the therapist and the client when they meet for a session? Rhys and Aaron talk about family systems, internal systems, culture, context, burdens and baggage and all the things that accompany a person into a conversation. We talk about what the client brings…and what the counselor brings! We explore what it means to say, “You’ve never been alone in a room with a person.” Further we explore philosophical and spiritual traditions that inform us, ponder whether or not a person is comprised of just their thoughts and body, or if we are more complex than that. We push the severe limits of a strictly materialistic worldview when attempting this most sacred of endeavors that is being present with another human.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – newpatterncounseling.com

Aaron Kelsay – progresscounselingpdx.com

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

What’s the problem with pornography? In common vernacular, we often talk about “porn addiction.” Can people be addicted to porn like they are to alcohol and drugs, or is it strictly a religious hang-up? Could there actually be some neurological or sociological science that says it’s a bad idea?

Rhys talks with Trevor Windsor about the matter, about just what the problem is, and how Pure Desire is addressing it. Along the way, we also hash out some ideas for parents about how to talk to our kids about sex.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – newpatterncounseling.com

Trevor Winsor – [email protected], Pure Desire Podcast

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

How do you grieve someone who’s not really gone…but they are? What are the wounds and burdens and schema we carry the most deeply and that affect us the most profoundly?

Dr. Sophia Caudle is a licensed psychotherapist and writer who specializes in addictions, recovery, sexuality and grief. In today’s conversation, she introduces us to the concepts of Ambiguous and Original Grief. We also compare and contrast Internal Family Systems with Schema Therapy as we examine how, for a recovery process to be successful, the oldest and deepest stories need to be rewritten.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – newpatterncounseling.com

Sophia Caudle - https://bullcitypsychotherapy.com/

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

¡Hola! Today’s episode provides an in-depth look at Latinx communities living in the Pacific Northwest. We talk with license professional counselor Cesar Ramirez about his clinical work with Latinx clients, as well as his own experience of being a person of color in a primarily white culture. We talk about some major challenges facing Latinx individuals as they live through society and access counseling services. Along the way, we review some basic concepts in cultural humility and awareness. ¡Escuchanos ahora! Por favor. 😊

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – newpatterncounseling.com

Cesar Ramirez - [email protected]

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

What do you think or feel first when you hear the phrase, “Be a man,” or “Be manly?” Does this inspire you to greatness? Or does this drop a heavy burden on your soul?

Rhys, Jeremy, and Jacob got together one day to share stories about food and about growing up in male bodies. We talked about secular and Christian paradigms of masculinity, and some ideas that both the counseling clinic and the church could consider when guiding young boys into being young men.

Along the way we compared terms of “Toxic Masculinity” to the more approachable “Limiting Masculinity.” We talked about how we feel about our feelings, and about the stories we were once told that now we tell ourselves about what is meant by being a man.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – newpatterncounseling.com

Jeremy Jones – thinkingaboutthoughtscounseling.com

Jacob Schwartz – jacobrayschwartz.com(and on Instagram!)

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

I can make you believe what I want you to believe by angrily telling you how you’re wrong.

Right?

Wait…that’s not how people change?

In the midst of a very…interesting…couple of years of politics, societal shifts, crises, biases and very polarized opinions, Rhys Pasimio and Shea Layton got together one day to talk about how people come to believe what they believe. Turns out our beliefs and decisions are not quite as logical as we thought. Also turns out that when a person faces a perspective different from their core worldview, they experience Cognitive Dissonance, which can cause anxiety and defensiveness. And wouldn’t you know it, but people are more inclined to embrace cognitive dissonance(and the resulting cognitive complexity) when the person presenting the differing view is kind and empathetic.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – [email protected]

Shea Layton - https://thaddeusthought.com/

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

Other fun highlights and quotes from today’s episode…

“What’s really scary is that you will often find that knowing little makes it easier to fit everything you know into a coherent pattern.”

Cognitive Dissonance is when a person risks believing two contradictory things at a time. When a person becomes comfortable with what they believe, their research is more about seeking affirmation then asking if there is truth in any other view.

When we want to believe something, we ask CAN I believe it? THEN we look for supporting evidence. In contrast, without evidence, we ask MUST we believe it, and dismiss it as soon as we can.

“Familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth.”

The brain tags familiar things as good things(using dopamine!!)

“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices,” William James

All responsibility and no compassion produces broken and unhealthy people. But all compassion and no responsibility creates a different kind of dysfunction.

“Being against evil does not make one good.” Ernest Hemmingway

You can’t let the way a truth is abused cause you to turn from truth.. All that has happened then is you’ve accepted coercion into a lie.” - Shea

“Brainwashing begins where permission to question ends.” – Shea

We believe based on intuition, then analyze things to find evidence to confirm our intuition. Thus, science bows to bias.

A dog wags the tail out of happiness…you can’t make a dog happy by wagging, and you can’t change people’s minds by refuting their arguments.

“When people like you, the relationship keeps them from fearing your views nearly as much.” - Shea

Where do we humans go to find hope? Is it faith? Political revolution? A renewed ecosphere? A whole lot of enjoyed activities?

But what happens when all of these things are compromised? What happens when the list of problems and obstacles is so much longer than the list of resources?

One day, early in the Covid year, Rhys and Aaron were feeling discouraged and got together to figure out how to find hope, preserve their humanity, and forge ahead. They said things like,

“We all have a voice in speaking into this new humanity that we want to be now. The old way we related isn’t working anymore.”

“If there’s something we could fight for, I would hope it be that we could be open with each other and hear each other and move through the pain we’ve caused each other together.”

And in the end, they learned that hope life is hard, but it’s better when we can be together.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – [email protected]

Aaron Kelsay – [email protected]

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

Counselors, social workers, psychiatrists and other providers frequently have the opportunity(and dare we say, obligation) to collaborate with other individuals and systems that are important to our clients. One of the most notable for many, is their faith community. How should a counselor go about coordinating care with a person’s spiritual director?

Similarly, pastors, priests, and other spiritual directors frequently encounter mental health and behavioral challenges that seem to exceed their specific focus of soul care. How should a spiritual care provider go about coordinating care with a person’s mental health, behavioral, or psychiatric provider?

And just to complicate things even more, how does all this change when the client in question is a child or teenager?

Jared Bennett is a Protestant Youth Pastor. Rhys Pasimio is a clinical counselor. Together they explore some of the variables and considerations at play in attempting to work together to care for the whole person and the systems that surround them. They discuss their respective communities and why each should talk advantage of the resources offered by the other.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – [email protected]

Jared Bennett - youthpastor87 on Instagram and Facebook

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

“People are not problems. Problems are not things to be fixed, People are people to be loved.” - Michelle Jones

What can counselors and pastors learn from each other? What unique offerings and strengths does each have for a person on a healing journey? And when should they refer out to each other.

Michelle Jones is a pastor at Imago Dei church in Portland, Oregon. She and Rhys get personal and share stories of when they needed care and where they did or did not find it and what they have learned from those experiences that impacts how they now seek to serve others.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – [email protected]

Michelle Jones – [email protected]

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

Rhys Pasimio concludes his lecture series by discussing Addiction Interaction and Addictive Neuropathways. Individuals engage in different acting out behaviors for different reasons to achieve different effects, and when the behaviors and substances begin to be combined, there are nearly endless variations of pattern that follow!

Along the way, he re-emphasizes that the specific behavior is secondary to the reason the person does it. Furthermore, if we want to be a helpful presence for a person caught in addiction, we must be able to suspend our own judgments.

This episodes concludes a series of lectures delivered at a Masters in Counseling Program at a Protestant University in an Overview of Addictions class.

This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals:

Rhys Pasimio – [email protected]

Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks!

The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.