The Therapeutic Poet

Today I am joined by Susan Earlam. Susan has been a very successful blogger

in the past and her short fiction has appeared in publications and

anthologies including Pure Slush, Feminist Surrealism Journal, The

Debutante, Mslexia, Reflex Function and Cabinet of Heed.

This year she released her debut novel Earthly Bodies, a dystopian eco

horror story that spans the ages, where strangers reveal their contribution

to an extraordinary act of survival.

We start with my poem ‘Be a litter picker upper’

Joining me to talk about trauma and how we can thrive despite, or perhaps

because of the trauma we have endured is trauma specialist Lou Lebentz.

Lou is founder of the group ‘Trauma Thrivers’. Lou’s mission is to make

trauma therapy accessible to all and go beyond that to thriving in life.

She has been a therapist specialising in trauma, eating disorders,

addiction and EMDR for nearly 20 years and did a Ted Talk called ‘The sweet

sanity of madness’ in 2015.

We talk about what trauma is. Rather than it being as the result of a

particular event, it is a nervous system response that gets held in the

body, rather than being discharged.

We start with my poem ‘Freeze’

Today we talk about grief, something that Clover is very familiar with. Her

mum was brain damaged in a horse accident when Clover was 16 and her mum

died 22 years later. Clover has also lost her dear sister Nell to breast

cancer. We look grief in the face in this episode and I hope that it gives

you some encouragement to allow yourself to grieve in the way you need to,

or to help support someone else who may be grieving right now. Clover is a

generous conversationalist and I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I

enjoyed speaking to her.

The effect that weak social connections can have on physical health is equivalent to the risk of smoking 15 cigarettes per day!

(Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology and neuroscience 2010).

This podcast is a different format to the others. The guest this week is...you! Loneliness can be such a taboo subject, but not here. I invite you to get familiar with your loneliness through a meditation and the suggestion of some writing exercises.

Show notes:

The poem I reference is 'how to be alone' by Pádraig Ó'Tuama.
Books I reference:
'Together' by Vivek H Murthy
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton

Articles:
Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology and neuroscience 2010: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316

Loneliness: The experience of emotional and social isolation by RS Weiss

Information on G. Rizzolatti and mirror neurons: https://www.dialoghisulluomo.it/en/rizzolatti-sinigaglia/are-we-social-beings-a-dialogue-between-neuroscience-and-philosophy

Support the show

Click here to go to my Substack page.

Click here to buy my book

Click here to buy my a coffee and show your support

Listener support: I love making The Therapeutic Poet podcast, but it does cost time and money. If you have enjoyed it, been informed by it or found it helpful then I would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can do this by:

Taking a paid subscription on my Substack - a weekly newsletter helping people have 'Permission to feel'. You'll receive tips on how to navigate our human tricky things, recorded poems and other goodies.

Buying my book ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Or buy me a coffee 🤗.

Judy Apps is a professional voice and communication coach and has spent many years unravelling the secrets of how great leaders inspire others, and now teaches these skills to people from all walks of life – from executives on the board of major international corporations to media people, politicians, and individuals just wanting to find the best of themselves. She is the author of several books and in 2019 did a Ted Talk on 'How your voice touches others: The True Meaning of what you say.'

Findn out more about Judy at:
www.judyapps.co.uk

Watch Judy's Ted Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hW89Ytljic

Support the show

Click here to go to my Substack page.

Click here to buy my book

Click here to buy my a coffee and show your support

Listener support: I love making The Therapeutic Poet podcast, but it does cost time and money. If you have enjoyed it, been informed by it or found it helpful then I would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can do this by:

Taking a paid subscription on my Substack - a weekly newsletter helping people have 'Permission to feel'. You'll receive tips on how to navigate our human tricky things, recorded poems and other goodies.

Buying my book ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Or buy me a coffee 🤗.

This is a meaty episode!

I speak to clinical psychologist Anne Darcy (bio below) who works in a personality disorder unit. We talk about what is problematic about a mental health diagnosis; labelling people with ‘disorders’. 

Anne has been using an alternative approach called The Power Threat Meaning Framework. 

A group of senior psychologists (Lucy Johnstone, Mary Boyle, John Cromby, David Harper, Peter Kinderman, David Pilgrim and John Read) and high profile service user campaigners (Jacqui Dillon and Eleanor Longden) spent five years developing the Power Threat Meaning Framework as an alternative to more traditional models based on psychiatric diagnosis.

Anne leads us through how this works so that instead of asking ‘what is wrong with you’ we start from a place of ‘what has happened to you and how has power operated and affected you in your life and how did you respond.’

We talk about the cultural influence of ‘disorders’; that ‘disorders’ are responses to stress and that all stress is culture-bound. 

We challenge the biological approach  of ‘mental health’ (that depression is hereditary and mental illness caused by chemical imbalances in the brain), discuss how the diagnosis of schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder are very often given to highly oppressed or marginalised individuals in the community.

We look at trauma, and how using the word ‘adversity’ may be more useful.

This is truly a podcast which will help to rehumanise our human experience.

Jargon Buster:
DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association - the handbook used to diagnose mental health disorders
ICD is the International Classification of Diseases - the global standard for diagnostic health information.

Show notes:

For more information on The Power Threat Meaning Framework and resources:
https://www.bps.org.uk/power-threat-meaning-framework

To buy the book (which informed much of this discussion):
https://www.pccs-books.co.uk/products/a-straight-talking-introduction-to-the-power-threat-meaning-framework-an-alternative-to-psychiatric-diagnosis


A recent article by Dr Lucy Johnstone, co author of the framework:
https://iai.tv/articles/beyond-the-mental-health-paradigm-the-power-threat-meaning-framework-auid-1803?_auid=2020

Support the show

Click here to go to my Substack page.

Click here to buy my book

Click here to buy my a coffee and show your support

Listener support: I love making The Therapeutic Poet podcast, but it does cost time and money. If you have enjoyed it, been informed by it or found it helpful then I would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can do this by:

Taking a paid subscription on my Substack - a weekly newsletter helping people have 'Permission to feel'. You'll receive tips on how to navigate our human tricky things, recorded poems and other goodies.

Buying my book ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Or buy me a coffee 🤗.

Jude is the definition of a thriver. Having been in recovery for substance abuse and eating disorders they then realised that part of their 'dis-ease' was about their gender identity. 

This is an important conversation that will leave you rethinking the way in which we view 'mental health' and gender identity. 

This podcast is about recognising that we all have our 'human tricky things', but the key is that, underneath it all, we are all human and each unique self is beautiful, inspirational and has something to offer the world. 

I'm so delighted to be able to help Jude share their story and de-'other' our humanness. 

You can find out more about them:
Instagram @becomingjude
www.becomingjude.com

Support the show

Click here to go to my Substack page.

Click here to buy my book

Click here to buy my a coffee and show your support

Listener support: I love making The Therapeutic Poet podcast, but it does cost time and money. If you have enjoyed it, been informed by it or found it helpful then I would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can do this by:

Taking a paid subscription on my Substack - a weekly newsletter helping people have 'Permission to feel'. You'll receive tips on how to navigate our human tricky things, recorded poems and other goodies.

Buying my book ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Or buy me a coffee 🤗.

Brad is co-founder and clinical Director of Evoke Therapy Programs. Evoke’s

evidence based Wilderness Therapy is based Oregon and Utah and works with

the outdoors, reaching deep and accomplishing growth that just can’t be

achieved in a therapist’s office or hospital setting. Thousand of

Adolescents, parents and families have benefited from the work done there.

Brad also hosts his own podcast called Finding you: Evoke Therapy podcast

and he is the author of two books: The Journey of the heroic parent and The

audacity to be you: learning to love your horrible rotten self.’

Learning to love our horrible rotten selves as humans and as parents.

Dr. Brad Reedy is co-founder of Evoke Therapy Programs and author to two books: The Journey of the Heroic Parent and The audacity to be you: learning to love our horrible rotten selves.' 

Evoke Therapy Programs provide innovative treatment solutions that foster lasting change utilizing Wilderness Therapy, Intensives and Adventure Trips for adolescents, young adults and families. 

Imagine losing your temper with your kid, writing a poem about it and then picking it apart with an expert in child and family therapy. Well, that's what I did in this podcast.

Starting with my poem ‘Screaming like a Banshee’, which is a poem about the trials of parenting, we talked about the benefits of Wilderness Therapy - how it provides a unique  and impactful therapeutic experience. 

We both shared our experiences of not only being parents, but also being our horrible rotten selves, of being overwhelmed and feeling out of control. Brad shared his widsom on how to deal with our mistakes, the importance of saying sorry, and how healing our histories helps us to be more present in any relationship. 

I’m grateful to Brad for the way he shares his personal experiences in relationships, not just his experience as a therapist. 

Being in a therapeutic relationship is not about being given answers, but about creating a safe and brave space so that we can discover the answers that are already within us.

This conversation is full of Brad's wisdom so get your notebook ready!

www.bradreedy.com
www.evoketherapy.com

Books mentioned:

The Journey of the Heroic Parent and The audacity to be you: learning to love our horrible rotten selves.' by Dr. Brad Reedy
The drama of the gifted child by Alice Miller

Support the show

Click here to go to my Substack page.

Click here to buy my book

Click here to buy my a coffee and show your support

Listener support: I love making The Therapeutic Poet podcast, but it does cost time and money. If you have enjoyed it, been informed by it or found it helpful then I would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can do this by:

Taking a paid subscription on my Substack - a weekly newsletter helping people have 'Permission to feel'. You'll receive tips on how to navigate our human tricky things, recorded poems and other goodies.

Buying my book ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Or buy me a coffee 🤗.

Do you or someone you know have dyslexia? Then listen up!In this podcast I

speak to Michelle Catterson. Michelle is not only executive head at the

Moonhall schools in Surrey, she is also a Vice Chair of the British

Dyslexia Association. Moonhall school specialises in teaching children with

dyslexia.