Welcome back to the Practice Building Series on Therapy Chat! In Episode 37, the second episode in the practice building series, you will hear Laura Reagan's episode with Joe Sanok, who is a podcaster, counselor, business coach and successful entrepreneur. Joe shares tons of tips and techniques for building a practice which runs effectively, efficiently and highly productively. Joe also offers several freebies for listeners! You can find more about Joe by visiting his website, www.practiceofthepractice.com and listening to his Practice of the Practice podcast on iTunes. And don't forget to visit Therapy Chat on iTunes to subscribe and leave a rating and review! Let us know what you think of this practice building series!

Welcome to Episode 36 of Therapy Chat! In this episode, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C interviews author and psychotherapist Tim Ambrose Desmond, LMFT. Tim is a student of Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn who wrote a book called Self Compassion in Psychotherapy: Mindfulness-Based Practices for Healing and Transformation. Laura and Tim discuss how he became interested in self compassion, how it has helped him, and how it can be used in psychotherapy. He explains concepts from the book. To learn more about Tim and try out his online course teaching self compassion, visit his website, http://www.timdesmond.net or visit Morning Sun Mindfulness Center online at http://www.morningsuncommunity.org to learn more about his work. Thanks for listening to Therapy Chat, and as always, please visit iTunes to leave a rating and review and subscribe to receive the latest episodes! 

Welcome back! In Episode 35, the first episode of the Practice Building Series, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C speaks with counselor, coach and podcaster Colleen Mullen, PsyD, LMFT. Colleen is a psychologist and coach practicing in San Diego, CA and hosts a popular podcast called Coaching Through Chaos. She is also the co-host of a new podcast she will talk about in this episode. With so much going on, Colleen understands that burnout is an occupational hazard for entrepreneurs. She offers some ways to identify when you are at risk for burnout, and some strategies to avoid entrepreneur burnout. You can find out more about what Colleen is doing by visiting her website, www.coachingthroughchaos.com. Listen in on this conversation for some key points therapists need to think about when considering going into private practice. Enjoy! And please visit iTunes to leave a rating and review for Therapy Chat, as well as subscribing and downloading episodes! You can also listen and download episodes at www.therapychatpodcast.com. 

Welcome back! In Episode 35, the first episode of the Practice Building Series, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C speaks with counselor, coach and podcaster Colleen Mullen, PsyD, LMFT. Colleen is a psychologist and coach practicing in San Diego, CA and hosts a popular podcast called Coaching Through Chaos.  She is also the co-host of a new podcast she will talk about in this episode. With so much going on, Colleen understands that burnout is an occupational hazard for entrepreneurs. She offers some ways to identify when you are at risk for burnout, and some strategies to avoid entrepreneur burnout. You can find out more about what Colleen is doing by visiting her website, www.coachingthroughchaos.com. Listen in on this conversation for some key points therapists need to think about when considering going into private practice. Enjoy! And please visit iTunes to leave a rating and review for Therapy Chat, as well as subscribing and downloading episodes! You can also listen and download episodes at www.therapychatpodcast.com. 

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! If you’re a therapist, my guest today is someone who needs no introduction. Dr. Dan Siegel is my guest, and he explains the concept of interpersonal neurobiology, the nature of the mind, integration and “Mwe”.

He shares his story of becoming interested in the brain and the mind beginning in college, and continuing through his medical school training. He explains his disappointment at discovering in medical school in the late 1980’s that there did not seem to be a science of the mind that psychiatry was using to inform mental health work. He wanted to understand both how the body functions and how our mental lives play a part in keeping us alive.

He explains that interpersonal neurobiology is not a branch of neurobiology, but a framework combining many disciplines including the mental health fields of psychology, psychiatry, counseling, social work, as well as sociology, philosophy, quantum physics, math and others to answer the question “what is the mind?” He explains that he has interviewed over 100,000 people and none of them had ever had any training in what the mind is, which is a real gap in knowledge considering that we in the mental health field are working in the mind. That is what our work is.

He tells us that if the mind is where the self comes from, then the who, what, why, when and where can be deepened by asking the question about what the mind is, why it exists, where is it, what’s its function. Dan argues we need to understand the mind to understand all of these questions. He discusses this in depth in his new book, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, which is coming out in Fall of 2016.

He notes that the field called Philosophy of mind discourages asking what is the mind. Psychiatry doesn’t have a definition of the mind. Psychology doesn’t have a definition and says it’s a useful placeholder. What is a healthy mind? What’s a healthy thought? Some topics Dan discusses in this episode:

• Mind is not emotions in this definition. It includes emotions, feelings, anything you can be subjectively aware of.
• In Dan’s definition, consciousness, subjective experience and information processing are the 3 parts of the mind.
• He talks about how he noticed that what we call mental health disorders fit into a pattern of chaos and rigidity. In probability theory of math there was an area of study which related to this which states that a complex system has three characteristics: It’s open to influences from outside of self; capable of being chaotic and it’s non-linear.
• It’s a self organizing, embodied and relational process. This answer comes from math. He explains that in mental health, integration defines health.
• He states that the best definition of mental health is that the system is Flexible, Adaptive, Coherent, Energized and Stable (FACES).
• Where attention goes, neural firing flows, neural connection grows

Dan talks about how therapists can use these concepts to help clients live happier and more fulfilling lives, not just lives of being free from mental health symptoms. We had a very thought-provoking discussion and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

Wheel of Awareness practice

Mindsight

The Mindful Therapist

Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology

The Developing Mind

Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human

Dan Siegel’s website

I hope you enjoyed Episode 34 of Therapy Chat. I was so honored to interview Dr. Dan Siegel. As always, please visit iTunes to leave a rating and review, and subscribe to receive the latest episodes of Therapy Chat as soon as they are released!

You can also listen on Stitcher and Google Play (available now!). And for more of what I'm doing, please  sign up for my newsletter. You can also sign up for information on my Daring Way™ offerings and other groups and workshops; sign up to receive the latest episodes of Therapy Chat when they're released; sign up to receive my latest blog posts when they are posted, and follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram & Google+. If you're a trauma therapist you may be interested in my new Trauma Therapist Community, forming now. Click here for the info. I look forward to connecting! 

Wholeheartedly,

Laura Reagan, LCSW-C

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! If you’re a therapist, my guest today is someone who needs no introduction. Dr. Dan Siegel is my guest, and he explains the concept of interpersonal neurobiology, the nature of the mind, integration and “Mwe”.

He shares his story of becoming interested in the brain and the mind beginning in college, and continuing through his medical school training. He explains his disappointment at discovering in medical school in the late 1980’s that there did not seem to be a science of the mind that psychiatry was using to inform mental health work. He wanted to understand both how the body functions and how our mental lives play a part in keeping us alive.

He explains that interpersonal neurobiology is not a branch of neurobiology, but a framework combining many disciplines including the mental health fields of psychology, psychiatry, counseling, social work, as well as sociology, philosophy, quantum physics, math and others to answer the question “what is the mind?” He explains that he has interviewed over 100,000 people and none of them had ever had any training in what the mind is, which is a real gap in knowledge considering that we in the mental health field are working in the mind. That is what our work is.

He tells us that if the mind is where the self comes from, then the who, what, why, when and where can be deepened by asking the question about what the mind is, why it exists, where is it, what’s its function. Dan argues we need to understand the mind to understand all of these questions. He discusses this in depth in his new book, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, which is coming out in Fall of 2016.

He notes that the field called Philosophy of mind discourages asking what is the mind. Psychiatry doesn’t have a definition of the mind. Psychology doesn’t have a definition and says it’s a useful placeholder. What is a healthy mind? What’s a healthy thought? Some topics Dan discusses in this episode:

• Mind is not emotions in this definition. It includes emotions, feelings, anything you can be subjectively aware of.
• In Dan’s definition, consciousness, subjective experience and information processing are the 3 parts of the mind.
• He talks about how he noticed that what we call mental health disorders fit into a pattern of chaos and rigidity. In probability theory of math there was an area of study which related to this which states that a complex system has three characteristics: It’s open to influences from outside of self; capable of being chaotic and it’s non-linear.
• It’s a self organizing, embodied and relational process. This answer comes from math. He explains that in mental health, integration defines health.
• He states that the best definition of mental health is that the system is Flexible, Adaptive, Coherent, Energized and Stable (FACES).
• Where attention goes, neural firing flows, neural connection grows

Dan talks about how therapists can use these concepts to help clients live happier and more fulfilling lives, not just lives of being free from mental health symptoms. We had a very thought-provoking discussion and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

Wheel of Awareness practice

Mindsight

The Mindful Therapist

Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology

The Developing Mind

Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human

Dan Siegel’s website

I hope you enjoyed Episode 34 of Therapy Chat. I was so honored to interview Dr. Dan Siegel. As always, please visit iTunes to leave a rating and review, and subscribe to receive the latest episodes of Therapy Chat as soon as they are released!

You can also listen on Stitcher and Google Play (available now!). And for more of what I'm doing, please  sign up for my newsletter. You can also sign up for information on my Daring Way™ offerings and other groups and workshops; sign up to receive the latest episodes of Therapy Chat when they're released; sign up to receive my latest blog posts when they are posted, and follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram & Google+. If you're a trauma therapist you may be interested in my new Trauma Therapist Community, forming now. Click here for the info. I look forward to connecting! 

Wholeheartedly,

Laura Reagan, LCSW-C

Welcome! Today we’re discussing Perfectionism, Worthiness, and Self-Compassion. I’m using a personal example from my own experience as the basis for our discussion. Join me!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• The “growth ceiling” can cause anxiety as we exceed our expectations.
• As an example of a “growth ceiling,” I never imagined having a thriving full-time practice where I love going to work and serving my clients, or having a podcast, or interviewing prominent guests.
• Brene’ Brown refers to this as “foreboding joy,” the dread that “good things just can’t happen for me.”
• The solution to these attitudes is to stay in the moment and to realize that no one is more worthy of good things than another.
• Kristin Neff identifies Three Elements of Self-Compassion:
  • Self-Kindness
  • Common Humanity
  • Mindfulness
• Scarcity—What does it mean to operate from this focus?
• My personal example is when I was overjoyed to interview Dr. Dan Seigel for the podcast. Listen in to hear the disastrous story of my recording attempt!
• I normally would have felt like a failure and gone into a shame spiral, but instead, I was able to think, “How lucky I am to have had that beautiful conversation with Dr. Seigel!”
• My Self-Compassion practice has allowed me to have this incredibly different attitude and retain my sense of worthiness.
• I had to contact Dr. Seigel and request to re-record the conversation, which will be a soon upcoming episode.
• Self-Compassion has truly changed my life. “I’m human. Stuff happens. We recover, and it’s OK.”
• Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Dr. Kristin Neff
• You may want to become part of my Trauma Therapist Community, where therapists will share collective wisdom and strategies. Sign up at laurareaganlcswc.com.

Welcome! Today we’re discussing Perfectionism, Worthiness, and Self-Compassion. I’m using a personal example from my own experience as the basis for our discussion. Join me!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• The “growth ceiling” can cause anxiety as we exceed our expectations.
• As an example of a “growth ceiling,” I never imagined having a thriving full-time practice where I love going to work and serving my clients, or having a podcast, or interviewing prominent guests.
• Brene’ Brown refers to this as “foreboding joy,” the dread that “good things just can’t happen for me.”
• The solution to these attitudes is to stay in the moment and to realize that no one is more worthy of good things than another.
• Kristin Neff identifies Three Elements of Self-Compassion:
  • Self-Kindness
  • Common Humanity
  • Mindfulness
• Scarcity—What does it mean to operate from this focus?
• My personal example is when I was overjoyed to interview Dr. Dan Seigel for the podcast. Listen in to hear the disastrous story of my recording attempt!
• I normally would have felt like a failure and gone into a shame spiral, but instead, I was able to think, “How lucky I am to have had that beautiful conversation with Dr. Seigel!”
• My Self-Compassion practice has allowed me to have this incredibly different attitude and retain my sense of worthiness.
• I had to contact Dr. Seigel and request to re-record the conversation, which will be a soon upcoming episode.
• Self-Compassion has truly changed my life. “I’m human. Stuff happens. We recover, and it’s OK.”
• Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Dr. Kristin Neff
• You may want to become part of my Trauma Therapist Community, where therapists will share collective wisdom and strategies. Sign up at laurareaganlcswc.com.

Welcome! My guest for this episode is Dr. Andrea Brandt, a psychotherapist, speaker, and author who has much knowledge and experience to bring to the table. Her book, Mindful Anger: A Pathway to Emotional Freedom, explores revolutionary thinking on the topic of anger. Join us as we discuss mindful anger.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Mindfulness and anger are not usually thought of as partners.
• Anger is almost always viewed as a negative emotion.
• “The Pleasure Principle” that humans live by teaches us to avoid anger.
• The goal? To get wisdom from your anger
• Anger helps us set boundaries, meet needs, and accomplish change.
• Andrea shares a personal example from her own family, where a passive-aggressive approach to anger stemmed from the murder of her grandfather by the Chicago mob in the 1920’s!
• Andrea later went through therapy and learned to get in touch with her feelings.
• She remembers being startled by the power of the energy in tandem with anger.
• “Anger is a very corrosive emotion if you don’t have the tools to deal with it.”
• Conflict and anger CAN strengthen relationships and don’t have to destroy them.
• Andrea shares how she uses snowglobe imagery to help clients deal with anger with mindfulness.
• “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”: how our anger belief systems are learned during childhood.
• Andrea’s book can help with anger in the following ways:Deepening your understanding of anger
• Learning new ways of perceiving and dealing with anger
• Using exercises to learn to benefit from anger
• Learning how to catch the impulse of anger
• Realizing what your triggers to anger are
• Learning to use assertive communication
• Using mindfulness and meditations in response to anger
• Helping passive-aggressive people deal with anger more directly
• “It’s not ANGER that needs to be managed, but the impulse that precedes the anger.”
• “Passive-aggressive people are deeply committed to INACTION.”
• Andrea discusses the mind-body connection to anger.
• How sensorimotor psychotherapy can be effective and powerful in dealing with anger
• Connect with Dr. Brandt at abrandtherapy.com or email her at [email protected]. Find her book on Amazon!

Welcome! My guest for this episode is Dr. Andrea Brandt, a psychotherapist, speaker, and author who has much knowledge and experience to bring to the table. Her book, Mindful Anger: A Pathway to Emotional Freedom, explores revolutionary thinking on the topic of anger. Join us as we discuss mindful anger.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Mindfulness and anger are not usually thought of as partners.
• Anger is almost always viewed as a negative emotion.
• “The Pleasure Principle” that humans live by teaches us to avoid anger.
• The goal? To get wisdom from your anger
• Anger helps us set boundaries, meet needs, and accomplish change.
• Andrea shares a personal example from her own family, where a passive-aggressive approach to anger stemmed from the murder of her grandfather by the Chicago mob in the 1920’s!
• Andrea later went through therapy and learned to get in touch with her feelings.
• She remembers being startled by the power of the energy in tandem with anger.
• “Anger is a very corrosive emotion if you don’t have the tools to deal with it.”
• Conflict and anger CAN strengthen relationships and don’t have to destroy them.
• Andrea shares how she uses snowglobe imagery to help clients deal with anger with mindfulness.
• “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”: how our anger belief systems are learned during childhood.
• Andrea’s book can help with anger in the following ways:
  • Deepening your understanding of anger
  • Learning new ways of perceiving and dealing with anger
  • Using exercises to learn to benefit from anger
  • Learning how to catch the impulse of anger
  • Realizing what your triggers to anger are
  • Learning to use assertive communication
  • Using mindfulness and meditations in response to anger
  • Helping passive-aggressive people deal with anger more directly
• “It’s not ANGER that needs to be managed, but the impulse that precedes the anger.”
• “Passive-aggressive people are deeply committed to INACTION.”
• Andrea discusses the mind-body connection to anger.
• How sensorimotor psychotherapy can be effective and powerful in dealing with anger
• Connect with Dr. Brandt at abrandtherapy.com or email her at [email protected]. Find her book on Amazon!