Thriving Outside the Box

Michelle P. Maidenberg, Ph.D., MPH, LCSW-R maintains a private practice in Harrison, NY. She is also the Co-Founder and Clinical Director of "Thru My Eyes", a nonprofit 501c3 organization that offers free clinically-guided videotaping to chronically medically ill individuals who want to leave video legacies for their children and loved ones.

Michelle is adjunct faculty at New York University (NYU) teaching a graduate course in Mindfulness Practice. She is a member of the American Red Cross Crisis Team. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Westchester Trauma Network (WTN) in Westchester NY.

Michelle is the author of award winning books "Free Your Child From Overeating" 53 Mind-Body Strategies For Lifelong Health" and new book and audiobook "Ace Your Life: Unleash Your Best Self and Live the Life You Want" is available at: Thriftbooks, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Target and Amazon. Listen to Michelle's TED TALK: Circumventing Emotional Avoidance. She is also a blogger for Psychology Today and publishes a new guided meditation every Thursday on her YouTube channel. Michelle is dedicated and invested in health and mental health advocacy.

In this episode, Dr. Kim & Dr. Maidenberg talk about finding the courage to be vulnerable and do the work on and in your own life when you're in a profession that requires you to keep it together for everyone else. Michelle shares her journey as she continues to find new ways to thrive in her personal life and the impact this has on her ability to help others heal as a psychotherapist. She shares insights on:

• Understanding how your emotional and behavior patterns can keep you in the box

• The power that comes from being authentic

• How your values can help you strengthen every area of your life including your relationships

Check out:

Which Unconscious Behavior Pattern Is Keeping You Stuck In Life? Take This FREE 60-Second Quiz To Find Out What's Your #1 Path To Getting Unstuck in Life?

https://ace.unstuckyourselfquiz.com/sf/36c20a5a

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

Betsy Kase, E-RYT-500, is a yoga therapist, yoga teacher, and the founder and co-owner of Yoga Haven in Westchester County,NY. With over 30 years of teaching experience she has witnessed yoga's profound ability to reduce a student's pain, on all levels - physical, psychological, and spiritual- helping people transform from the inside toward a more peaceful, balanced, and healthy life. She is devoted to providing mentorship and educational opportunities for new yoga teachers. She brings this to life through Yoga Haven's annual 200 hour teacher training program and the studio's mission to provide inclusive programming related to improving women's health and wellness

Dr. Kim and Betsy talk through:

• Always being outside the box and navigating the world with no road map
• The perseverance required to start your own thing when it feels like you're out of options
• Building a successful business in a challenging industry, losing it during the pandemic, and the courage to begin again
• Leading a life where she always asks "Why?" and not taking the answer "because that's the way it's always been done" as a definite
• Helping others to survive a disjointed healthcare system while creating community and places to heal

Stay connected to Betsy by visiting www.YogaHaven.com or following Yoga Haven on Instagram and Facebook

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

Coach Rich is full professor emeritus of social work at the University of Washington, Tacoma. 30 years as a clinical social worker, organizational leader, therapist, coach and scholar.

Author of 20 books and over 120 peer-reviewed articles, and recognized as one of the international leaders in expressive, arts-based qualitative methodologies. He will help you become the scholar you wish to be, or leave it all and open a margarita bar on a beach in Bali--whatever your heart desires.

In Rich, you have someone with the skills and temperament to help you do either! Rich loves salsa dancing, playing punk rock and jazz ukulele, writing creative nonfiction, dogs, and helping amazing people develop in ways they never thought possible.

Did you enjoy the episode? Go ahead and subscribe and share with someone who needs this message today!

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

Welcome to the first solo episode of TOTB with yours truly, Dr. Kimberly Grocher, a licensed psychotherapist, executive coach, and yoga/meditation teacher!

It's time to turn the focus on you and consider how your relationhip with yourself is helping (or getting in the way) as you create your own path and move closer to your vision. And yes, while self care is a whole movement these days, we're going beyond self care in this episode:

• What does it even mean to have a healthy relationship with yourself?

• Why does it matter as a leader or entrepreneur who is doing things your way?

• How can you cultivate a healthy, trusting relationship with yourself throughout your journey?

If you enjoy the episode, go ahead and subscribe and share with someone who needs this messsage today!

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

Elle McPherson is an ICF-certified coach, Certified Erotic Blueprint Coach™, yoga teacher, and Accelerated Evolution Trainer who helps individuals and couples reclaim pleasure, embodiment, and emotional clarity as tools for growth.

After over a decade in international nonprofit leadership, Elle charted her own path — blending personal development, conscious sexuality, and nervous system-informed coaching into a unique practice that supports clients in creating lives aligned with their truth.

Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she lives with her Argentine husband, Elle works with expats, digital nomads, and curious seekers around the world who are ready to break old patterns, feel more, and thrive on their own terms — outside the box.

Elle and Dr. Kim dig into:

1) Syncing your inner & outer journey: Traveling & living abroad as a means to self-exploration and deconditioning

2) Changing careers at mid-life (ish)

3) Cultivating the courgae to ditch the grind & reexamining your life "itinerary"

Connect with Elle on IG & LinkedIn.

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

F. Diane Barth, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City and Massachusetts. She has a master's degree from Columbia University School of Social Work and analytic certification from the Psychoanalytic Institute of the Postgraduate Center. She has been on the faculty and supervisory staff and a training analyst at Postgraduate, NIP and ICP in NYC. Currently she teaches private study groups and often runs workshops around the country. Ms. Barth's articles have been published in the Clinical Social Work Journal, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Psychoanalytic Psychology, and other professional journals, and as chapters in a number of books.

We talk about thriving by:

• Understanding your "box" and what being outside that box looks like for you

• Loving the work you do, even if your support system doesn't understand it

• Finding and developing strong mentoring relationships

• Taking on new challenges to grow no matter your age or stage in life

Connect with Diane at https://www.dianebarth.net/.

You can also subscribe to her blogs:

Psychology Today blog Off the Couch

Substack blog: Aging Without a Map

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

Bridgette Simmonds is a transformational speaker, coach, and founder of Bridgette Simmonds International, where she helps high-achievers ditch limiting belief systems and reinvent themselves for success that actually feels good. Known as the Queen of Belief, Bridgette guides leaders and go-getters to prioritize wellness, mindset, and personal empowerment as the foundation for sustainable achievement. After leaving a successful corporate career, she now helps others break free from the box of hustle culture and step into alignment, fulfillment, and freedom. Bridgette is passionate about helping driven individuals redefine success on their own terms—starting from the inside out.

Topics We Cover:

1. Why Wellness is the True Path to Success: Bridgette breaks down how high performers often neglect themselves in the pursuit of success and how wellness became the secret ingredient in her transformation—and now, her coaching framework.

2. Leaving Corporate America: The Pivot Point That Changed Everything Hear Bridgette's story of leaving a thriving corporate career, the fears and mindset challenges she faced, and what ultimately pushed her to step out of the box and into her purpose.

3. The Power of Vision: How Creating a Clear Vision Led to a Life of Freedom and Fulfillment Bridgette explains how vision-setting became a foundational tool in her personal and professional reinvention and how you can use it to chart your own aligned path.

4. The 3 Essential Steps to Personal Reinvention Bridgette shares her signature approach to helping go-getters reinvent themselves, including shifting belief systems, embodying a new identity, and prioritizing wellness as a non-negotiable.

5. Breaking the Hustle Cycle: Redefining Success Beyond External Achievements Learn how Bridgette helps leaders and entrepreneurs step off the hamster wheel of hustle, dismantle societal expectations, and create a definition of success that aligns with who they truly are.

Connect with Bridgette at bridgette.co and on IG and LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to her newsletter, Freedom.

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

Meg Winnecour is a mom and partner, an artist, writer, and the founding director and CLO (Chief Love Officer) of Cloud Collective Residency, a creative residency in Asheville, NC. She's a long-time art teacher to kids, teens and adults and believes in the healing (both personal and world) power of making things.

In this episode, Dr. Kim & Meg dive into Meg's journey and courage to live outside the norm and along the way discuss:

• the importance of knowing, accepting and trusting yourself
• aligning your personal and professional life
• challenging yourself to be in places and spaces that are outside your box
• leveraging the power of relationships to bring your vision to reality

Connect with Meg and the Cloud Collective Residency by email and on Instagram & Facebook.

Special shout out to Chateau d'Orquevaux Artist & Writer's Residency.

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

Alex Davis is a Certified Public Accountant, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional, Licensed Life, Health, & Annuity Agent, and Amazon Best Selling author, but above all, she identifies as a legacy builder. After a decade of serving high-net-worth individuals and small business owners in public accounting, she faced burnout, missed valuable family time, and felt she was not fulfilling her purpose. This realization led her to leave a secure six-figure financially rewarding but soul-draining career.

She established AGA Tax and Consulting Services LLC, a boutique firm specializing in tax and financial coaching for entrepreneurs. The firm's mission is to assist entrepreneurs in building wealth through strategic financial planning and transforming their relationship with money.

• Importance of Community in Entrepreneurship

• Building a Mental Wellness Toolbox

• Business is personal, take care of self

Contact Alex at [email protected] and follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Guest: Alex Davis, CPA, CFP®️

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Sound Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC

Join Dr. Kim and featured guest, Angela McCullough, CEO, CPC, for inspiration about getting beyond stereotypes and creating a path that aligns with your professional strengths and personal values. Angela McCullough, a federal senior executive with over three decades of service, has held several c-suite equivalent positions where she spearheaded organizational restructuring and program optimization in those roles. This Air Force veteran turned public servant is also an accomplished executive coach, keynote speaker and author of "Beyond Gender and Ethnic Stereotypes: How Women of Color Redefine Public Sector Leadership." Armed with a Master of Science in Administration, Angela is dedicated to empowering women of color in public sector careers, leveraging her expertise as both a thought leader and change agent.

In this episode Dr. Kim & Angela cover:

• The importance of public sector employee demographics representing all of America
• Obstacles keeping WOC from senior public sector positions where their voice is missing from key policy decisions
• The criticality of educated and successful women to have a sponsor.
• The need to amplify the successful voices of women of color. They are the antistereotype.

Credits

Host: Dr. Kimberly Grocher PhD, MA, LCSW, ACC, RYT

Guest: Angela McCullough, CEO, CPC

Music: Gregory Brooks, Jr.

Audio Engineer: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC