Fear is evermore present as we face the reality of the threat that a global virus brings. In today’s episode, Dr. Joan Borysenko, a leader in integrative medicine and New York Times best-selling author, introduces methods of dealing with an imminent threat and discovering interesting ways on how we can face it.

Join us and together we dive deep in understanding the reality of the world we now live in and learn how we can cope with the challenges it will bring towards mental health.

Show Notes:

• Borysenko’s early origins that led to her revolutionary studies in integrative medicine
• Making meaning out of a global pandemic
• Social Distancing: Its effects in our social lives today
• Facing a global threat and understanding how it affects human psyche
• Communicating with loved ones during difficult times
• Trauma in relation to COVID and breaking ground despite the threat
• How trauma can be a positive force in life
• The existential reality of life
• Being human: The experience of reality
• The purpose of life

To learn more about Dr. Joan Borysenko:

• https://www.joanborysenko.com/
• https://www.joanborysenko.com/higherpractice/
• https://www.facebook.com/joanborysenkocommunity
• https://twitter.com/jzborysenko

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How you can help others in a big way...

If you enjoy the Higher Practice Podcast, please leave a quick review on the Apple Podcast app. It makes a big difference in getting the word out to other people who will benefit from this podcast. Simply, click on the show on your podcast app>scroll down to the bottom of all the episodes>in the ratings and reviews section tap stars to rate>click write a review. Want more? For show notes and more information, visit https://psychiatryinstitute.com/podcast/

Sign up for our newsletter and to receive ongoing information for optimal mental health: email.psychiatryinstitute.com

If you’re a provider visit www.psychaitryinstitute.com

If you’re interested in patient care visit: www.psychiatrycenters.com

For provider education reach out to:  [email protected]

For patient care reach out to: [email protected]

Women face unique challenges in different stages in life; from puberty to adulthood. Sometimes, these challenges greatly impact the state of mental and physical health. 

We are joined by Dr. Sara Gottfried, a specialist in integrative, functional and precision medicine, to discuss the myriad of issues in health that women suffer. Dr. Gottfried shares her personal and professional experience and the underlying treatment possibilities that women can apply in their lives. Show notes:

• Early origins and interest leading to women’s health studies
• Misconceptions towards women’s health: an integrative approach
• Pregnancy and birth, a transcendent and unique experience of being a woman
• An alternative to medicalized birth 
• Stages in a woman’s life: a unique biology 
• An interesting vignette during COVID
• Puberty, a challenging phase in a woman’s life in the eyes of a parent 
• The impacts of social media 
• Understanding the relationship between trauma and female hormones
• Progesterone, a key to soothing trauma
• The significance of the endocrine system 
• Women’s empowerment in body, mind and spirit

To learn more about Dr. Sara Gottfried:

• https://www.saragottfriedmd.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/saragottfriedmd/

*** How you can help others in a big way...If you enjoy the Higher Practice Podcast, please leave a quick review on the Apple Podcast app. It makes a big difference in getting the word out to other people who will benefit from this podcast. Simply, click on the show on your podcast app>scroll down to the bottom of all the episodes>in the ratings and reviews section tap stars to rate>click write a review. Still want more?For show notes and more information, visit https://psychiatryinstitute.com/podcast/

Sign up for our newsletter and to receive ongoing information for optimal mental health: email.psychiatryinstitute.com

If you’re a provider visit www.psychaitryinstitute.com

If you’re interested in patient care visit: www.psychiatrycenters.com

For provider education reach out to:  [email protected]

For patient care reach out to: [email protected]

 

Years ago, trauma was defined more by external events rather than the responses human beings have to those events. Psychological trauma can happen to anyone when they perceive a situation as a threat and are unable to complete a satisfactory fight, flight or freeze response.

The nervous system is designed to keep us psychological intact when we perceive we cannot keep ourselves safe in a situation. However, if we do not address the way in which our nervous and memory system categorized the event, the aftermath can be quite devastating.  

In this episode you’ll learn about:

• The origins of Somatic Experiencing from the founder
• Why Somatic Experiencing works so well with trauma
• The basics of how trauma gets trapped in the body
• The simple protocols that go a long way
• The spiritual implications of trauma
• The relationship between presence, dissociation and trauma
• Trans-generational trauma
• MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
• Where trauma work is headed

Visit www.higherpractice.com/podcast to get the show notes and to learn more about Keith Kurlander.

When searching for a clinician, most people will rely on the internet. Keeping that in mind, it is important that your website is easy to navigate and up to date with the best practices. Keith dives into some useful tricks to having a successful website that not only gets your authentic self across but also keeps clients coming in the door.

Every detail going into your website will have an effect on your viewers’ opinions, so understanding the anatomy of a therapist’s website is a key to success. Improving your website can be as easy as paying attention to your ‘about’ page, focusing on your specialty pages, or polishing your home page so you standout amongst others.  

 

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How to prepare for the 'fall bump'
• Importance behind your website
• Why you should keep your website up-to-date with best practices
• Navigation items for therapist websites
• How specialty pages can help your skills shine
• How to avoid losing potential clients
• Approaches to your 'about' page
• Anatomy of the 'home' page

Visit www.higherpractice.com/podcast to get the show notes and to learn more about Keith Kurlander.

Mr. Rogers teaches us many beautiful lessons: that you are special the way you are, that we must respect the inner experience of a child, and that children ask very big questions if we are willing to listen. He had a capacity to delve into the inner life of a child and how much their world can enrich the lives of everyone. But that wasn’t the only side of Mr. Rogers.

When looking at clients’ symptoms, integrative psychiatrists often take a distinct approach by looking at the entire body and its individual systems as a possible culprit of root causes to psychiatric symptoms. Acknowledging what is happening in the body can open numerous doors to what is going on for your client's mental health. In this episode, Keith notes how the conventional western medical paradigm of psychiatric diagnosis falls short in certain areas and the power of having just a little knowledge of root causes in the body for mental health conditions.

Keith explains what an integrative assessment could look like and the things to look out for that are often missed. He gives examples of places clinicians could focus on; for example gut health, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and fungus or mold issues. Looking for the basic signs of issues in the body can radically improve treatment outcomes and also make your practice more lively.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• An integrative assessment approach
• Various roles of the clinician
• How the body breaks down when the mind breaks down
• Removing the stigma behind mental illness
• Identifying basic root causes in the body that relate to mental illness
• The role of supplements and vitamin and mineral deficiencies

Visit www.higherpractice.com/podcast to get the show notes and to learn more about Keith Kurlander.

Life is a rollercoaster of ups and downs; so as a clinician, it can be difficult to decipher whether your client is legitimately “better” following treatment, or if they are just temporarily happy. In this podcast, Keith dives into what it really means to be “better,” and what that looks like through a clinician’s eyes.

It is important to set treatment objectives with your client based on symptom reduction, but it is also equally important to imagine with your client what they are truly capable of. When asking your client what they are hoping to get out of treatment, remember to challenge your clients to think bigger, and dig deeper. When that is achieved, the purpose of therapy can move out of a model of illness and into a model of wellness.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• What it means to really be "better"
• How to make use of your treatment objectives
• Challenging clients to think in bigger ways
• Helping clients reach optimal places within themselves
• The many purposes of therapy
• Importance of addressing root causes of mental illness
• Benefits of thinking from your clients' viewpoint

Visit www.higherpractice.com/podcast to get the show notes and to learn more about Keith Kurlander.

In this podcast, Dr. Will Van Derveer, founder and Medical Director of the Integrative Psychiatric Healing Center, shares his knowledge about Ketamine and its clinical uses in a psychiatric context. Ketamine has a long history in medicine, however, it is only recently that its healing benefits for treatment-resistant psychiatric patients are being discovered. When correctly used, it has been found to literally create breakthroughs for people with treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, suicidality, and OCD.

Dr. Van Derveer explains the history and psychopharmacology of this medicine, and how it’s being administered in a clinical setting. He elaborates on what it’s like for a patient to under this treatment, how psychotherapy comes into play, an exploration into how it dissolves the ego defenses, and the deeper revelations a patient can have during the process.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why ketamine works on treatment resistant patients
• How ketamine is administered
• Current research on ketamine
• The ego and how it is impacted by ketamine assisted psychotherapy
• The benefits from ketamine assisted psychotherapy
• Why psychotherapy is so important in conjunction with Ketamine usage
• What can really happen in a single session

Visit www.higherpractice.com/podcast to get the show notes and to learn more about Dr. Will Van Derveer.

Children generally rest in a state of relaxation, joy and play, with bouts of discomfort and pain. With this said, childhood is a mixture of magic and suffering. If a child’s process is not properly honored, mentored and helped through the magic and suffering can become extremely polarized for years to come.

We often assume that suffering is directly correlated to a person or event in the present, when in reality the root likely stems from our most early years of life. Keith explores the mind of the child and how mental accomplishments and struggles follow you into adulthood and what impact that has on your life. With this said, it’s safe to say that, most likely, what you’ve been struggling with, you’ve always been struggling with.

 

In this episode you’ll learn:

• About the mind of the child
• Linking struggle in space and time
• Potential origins of a client’s mental pain
• Core fears and the difference in children and adults
• Looking at experiences through a child's lens
• Inner child work
• Holes in development structure

Visit www.higherpractice.com/podcast to get the show notes and to learn more about Keith Kurlander.

It is common to come across clients who resist treatment even though they keep seeking out therapy services.  Resistance to change is both an important strategy for maintaining familiarity, as well as a roadblock to making necessary shifts. Keith explores certain coaching techniques, particularly the study of values and cognitive and behavioral applications as a way to help clients move beyond treatment resistance and into a state of transformation.

Typically, clients who fight change feel as though they are disconnected from their purpose. This is evident in the fact that purpose grounds people into a direction for their life where they will embrace both difficulties and rewards along the way to achieving it. Once we can help clients bridge that gap into their deepest purpose, things become more clear and they tend to become more adaptable and fluid in their lives. With this this in mind Keith will share a number of other coaching tools on how to inspire resistant clients to get off the couch and go after what they want in the world.have an easier time inspiring your treatment-resistant clients’ into a place of clarity and hope.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The importance of understanding your client’s value structure
• What a conscious connection to values lead to
• The significance of knowing your purpose
• How to reawaken your client’s drive
• A vision board system to help your client map out their goals
• How to use inspiration as a way to coach your client out of a resistant mindset
• When the rubber meets the road

Visit www.higherpractice.com/podcast to get the show notes and to learn more about Keith Kurlander.