Have you ever been to therapy, and after one or two sessions decided that it wasn't for you?

Have you ever been disappointed with therapy, or left a therapist's office feeling worse than when you arrived?

Anyone who has gone to therapy long enough knows that it isn't always easy to find a good therapist. It can be overwhelming trying to find a therapist that feels like a "good fit". Sometimes it can take multiple sessions, multiple meetings and lots of online searches to find a therapist that we feel safe and comfortable with, and even then, how do we know that they are actually helping us to heal and grow? In this episode we dive into what a "good fit" looks like and feels like, what best practices in therapy are, and how the relationship dynamics within this unique setting are meant to serve the client's best interest.

Welcome back to the Love Makes You Podcast - Season 2! In this episode of the LMY Podcast, I had the great pleasure and privilege of interviewing my dear friend, Chelsey, who also happens to be a practicing therapist in Colorado, USA. Chelsey graduated in May 2023 with her Master's Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and she offers a unique perspective on the role that a therapist is meant to play in our mental health journey, and what the therapist/client relationship is meant to look like. Throughout our conversation we cover topics such as:

- best practices for therapists and what that looks like for the client

- different therapeutic methods, such as CBT, EMDR and other methods and their uses

- ADHD

- boundaries & professionalism

- self-disclosure, transference and counter transference

- somatic therapy

and more!

Recommended Reading:

- Boundaries by Henry Cloud & John Townsend

- The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

- Attached by Dr. Amir Levine & Rachel S.F. Heller

- The Body Keeps Score by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk

Happy Halloween, friends! This is a very powerful time of the year, with different people and traditions from all over the world celebrating the same thing- an opportunity to connect more deeply with our ancestors, guardian angels and spirit guides, as well as with our family members and loved ones that have passed from this world into the next. It is certainly a time to celebrate the mystical! And what better day to dive into all things magical and healing, than on the day when the veil between worlds is thinnest...?

I very much enjoyed talking all things witchy with my dear friend Bijou! She is a reiki witch and yoga teacher who holds rituals, performs energy healing, and works with clients to hold space for their healing process. She performs sound healing, leads yoga asana, chanting, meditation, and more! Her love of the spiritual knows no bounds as she tells us about all the different modalities she uses and traditions she draws from to make ritual and ceremony a central part of her life and offerings. She talks about how these alternative healing methods have helped change her life for the better, leading her to greater healing, empowerment and connection. Her story is so inspiring, and she has so much knowledge to share, from the benefits of meditation to the purifying qualities of sitting in a sweat lodge. May this conversation help guide and empower you on your own healing journey, to know that there are always more tools available to you, and that the spiritual realm always has your back!

Bijou Blessings offers empowerment through craft. She guides healing rituals in a witchy way using tarot, sound and reiki healing to uplift heavy energy of physical and emotional distress. Anyone can access her craft on her website www.bijoublessings.com. Enjoy private sessions and subscribe to Blessings Cove, a private forum to discuss all things witchy!

@bijoublessings on IG & FB

[email protected]

Tune in to her podcast Improve your Craft for in depth discussions and perspectives on magickal elements and topics. 

https://open.spotify.com/show/4uMS5ZSAiSzPBtjcWqQ0ce

Sample her guidance with a self paced ritual you can follow on video.

 https://www.bijoublessings.com/challenge-page/da154a3e-9643-47e7-8691-8cbdca07637c

Subscribe to her YouTube channel for free empowerment meditations! 

https://youtu.be/vZgA-xhigwg?si=3HyjAJbmqmHbaKBB

Welcome back to the LMY Podcast! It has been a very difficult and tragic last couple of weeks here on Maui, and even before the devastating fires plowed through the historic town of Lahaina, the last capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, leaving its residents displaced with nothing but the clothes on their back, I was planning to talk a little bit about leaning on our connection to something greater than ourselves, like a higher power or even the larger community of which one is a part, as a means for personal peace and healing in one's own life.

I've seen posts on social media, and heard it said many times since the fires started, "PRAY FOR LAHAINA" and "PRAY FOR KULA", and it feels completely reasonable to want to look to the Divine for help and guidance during such a tragic time, however I would like to point out that connecting to a higher power is always an option and tool to be used in our daily lives that can help us find a sense of peace in this challenging, confusing world at any moment.

It has also been really eye-opening and heartwarming to witness the outpouring of love and support from the Maui community and the greater world at large for those who have lost their homes, businesses and loved ones. It is incredible to think what can happen when people reach outside of their own stories of loss or difficulty, to help their fellow human beings because inherently they know, like all of us, that we are a part of and connected to a love and life force far greater than our own little life and story of the moment. The message and lesson I am hoping to convey throughout this episode is simple- that we would remember our connection to the Divine and the greater world and community around us AT ALL TIMES, not just in times of difficulty or disaster.

I hope this information can be of use to the listeners and that these tools for reconnection can be put into practice throughout your daily lives, so that we can all reestablish our inherent connection to the greater whole of existence, remember our place and purpose in it all, and begin to create safe space and sanctuary for ourselves within our own beings, amidst the chaos and overwhelm that creeps into our lives.

If you would like to support the grassroots efforts of different local organizations that are directly supporting those in need here in Maui, here is a list of organizations that I support, and know are bringing relief and resources directly to the people here who need it most:

Common Ground Collective - The Common Ground Collective is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization that provides education and Assistance to promote food security, economic and educational opportunities in Maui county, and is currently serving thousands of meals daily to the shelters on Maui as fire disaster relief.

Pacific Birth Collective - PBC is a local nonprofit dedicated to providing resources to families, mothers and children affected by the Maui wildfires. They are providing care to expectant mothers, women and children in the Lahaina area and at the various shelters on Maui, and are a central donation hub for families in need.

If you are able to donate or contribute to these organizations, I have already worked with them, and know that the funds will go to good use! Please consider donating while we in Maui continue to support one another, recover and rebuild our beautiful home. Mahalo nui for your support!

Stay safe, take care, and love each other, because... Love Makes You!!

"Man up!"

"Don't be such a p*ssy!"

"What are you doing, you little cry baby?"

Phrases like these are tossed around often among men who have been taught that to show emotion and vulnerability is weakness, and that to stuff one's feelings down and isolate through them is the answer. We live in a world where our understanding of ourselves and each other is changing, and men in particular are learning to let go of a false narrative that says that they need to be impenetrable and tough one hundred percent of the time in order to be valuable or worthy of love and respect.

In honor of Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, I am sharing with you a deeply insightful and intriguing conversation I had with the incredibly remarkable Joshua Wenner. Joshua leads the K4 and Valor Men's Groups, holding space for men to learn to self-regulate and process their emotions, hold them accountable in brotherhood, and allow them to thrive as initiated adults in multiple aspects of their lives. He also works with high-ticket clients who have cultivated financial mastery, yet still lack the skillset and understanding required to master their emotions. He is a motivational speaker who helps people uplevel their emotional resiliency and find their personal power, and he has a documentary film coming out called The Gift of Grief that explores the depths of grief and is meant to shed some light on this all-too elusive emotion.

During this thought-provoking conversation we dive into the topics of the self-exploration and initiation process; somatic work, techniques and tools; self and nervous system regulation; and the deep need we have as a society for right of passage ritual in our culture today and the ramifications of the lack of it in our lives, especially for young men.

Side note: I misquoted the year of Thomas's death during our conversation. Thomas died in 2018, the same year as Joshua's brother,

Please enjoy this extremely valuable and informative episode, and remember to be gentle with yourself today and everyday, because being human is hard, and you as much as anyone deserve your love and care.

Resources:

Find Joshua on social media - Instagram - Facebook

Joshua's Podcast - Spotify - Apple

Check out Joshua's website to sign up for his trainings, book a speaking gig, and stay informed about his upcoming film and services!

The recording of this episode takes place on the anniversary of Thomas' death. For those who are new to this show, Thomas is my brother who committed suicide 5 years ago, and he is the founder of LMY. His dream of creating a clothing company called Love Makes You came to life after he passed because I decided to use it to create positive change and spread the message of mental health awareness, provide solutions and resources for those struggling with their mental health, and create a culture of vulnerability, honesty, loving acceptance and emotional safety when it comes to talking about mental health.

In this short episode I talk about self-work - inner work vs. outer work - and how both kinds of work are absolutely necessary to growing, healing, and becoming more happy, healthy, and empowered versions of ourselves!

Self-work can be uncomfortable, exhausting, and downright painful, but the payoff when we finally go deep and allow ourselves to feel from the inside out, and heal from the inside out, can be the most empowering and valuable gift we ever give ourselves. Work is not meant to be easy, nor is it made to be comfortable, but just like learning to strengthen our abs, glutes or biceps at the gym, if we can be consistent, we get stronger, and it does get easier. When we learn to take that first step into the daunting space of being with our uncomfortable emotions and expressing them in a healthy way, we can begin to strengthen our nervous systems, find emotional resilience, and learn to love and see ourselves in a whole new way. So buckle up, and enjoy this intriguing, insightful episode!

Have you ever experienced a loss so unbearable that you weren't sure if you would even survive it? Have you ever lost a loved one, a close relationship, a business or a job? Most likely you answered yes to at least one of those, and I just want you to know that you are definitely not alone in that loss. Loss and the change that comes with loss are inevitable facts of life- no one leaves this world unscathed. It can feel impossible in those moments to feel like life will ever get better, or to even know what to do with yourself! There is hope, though, because in those moments we have the option to come back to our own hearts, to our own precious selves and care for ourselves so that we have the necessary resources and tools to confront those emotions and process all the feelings that come along with them.

When we think of grief, most people picture the death of a loved one, and immense pain and sadness, which is true of grief sometimes, but as we discussed in this thought-provoking interview, grief has many faces and is experienced very differently for different people and under different circumstances.

In this episode I had the opportunity to explore the many names and faces of grief with the very intelligent and perceptive Emily Thiroux Threatt, an accomplished author, of her book Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief: A Comprehensive Guide to Reclaiming and Cultivating Joy and Carrying on in the Face of Loss, a podcast host of her own podcast, Grief and Happiness, and founder of the nonprofit organization the Grief and Happiness Alliance, which offers classes and resources to people who have lost loved ones and need support throughout their grieving process. Emily is well-acquainted with grief, and has lost many people throughout her life, from family members to partners and friends to acquaintances and even patients during her time as a nurse and EMT. She has learned a lot from her many experiences with death and dying, and she has a lot to offer us listeners! In this deep and insightful interview Emily shares her story and all the tools and resources she gained along the way. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as we explore the topics of grief and dying, of self-care, self-love, and self-discovery as a means for finding hope and purpose after loss, and all the little things we can do to bring happiness and meaning into our lives.

Resources:

Grief and Happiness Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grief-happiness/id1589284828

Loving and Living You Way Through Grief: A Comprehensive Guide to Reclaiming and Cultivating Joy and Carrying on in the Face of Loss - Check out her book on Amazon

The Grief and Happiness Alliance - https://www.griefandhappiness.com/

Find out more and contact Emily at her website - https://lovingandlivingyourwaythroughgrief.com/

Welcome back to the Love Makes You Podcast, where I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sam Eaton, an Amazon best-selling author, Instagram influencer, and founder of Recklessly Alive, an organization committed to eliminating death by suicide entirely, who shared his story of trauma, pain and mental illness, and how his suicide attempt taught him that life is precious, that helping others can be part of the purpose we've so desperately been seeking, and ultimately, to become recklessly alive! 

Sam is very honest and vulnerable as he describes how learning to channel the pain and grief that he felt from his own depression and loss of friends and coworkers to suicide helped him to have the courage to speak up about his struggles, and hopefully help someone else. We discuss topics ranging from tips and tools that have been helpful for him on his mental health journey, to the impact of our culture on men's mental health, to the effect social media has on our mental state, to how his relationship with God helped transform his pain into his purpose.

I hope this episode can be hopeful and inspiring to everyone listening, and that it can help you to feel a little more equipped to face life's challenges head on, and a little less alone in doing so!

And don't forget, friends - love makes you!

Resources:

Recklessly Alive - https://www.recklesslyalive.com/

Recklessly Alive: What My Suicide Attempt Taught Me About God and Living Life to the Fullest - Get Sam's book HERE

Sam Eaton on Instagram - YouTube - TikTok

Love Makes You - Website - Shop

Hey Humans!! I am Kea Grace and I want to welcome you to the very first episode of the Love Makes You Podcast! In this introduction episode I briefly discuss the backstory of Love Makes You (LMY) as a clothing brand and as a mental health movement! Mental health is often a sensitive subject that many are hesitant to dive into, but the fortunate fact is that we have an abundance of resources at our fingertips. In this episode I talk about what some of those resources are, and how to use them.