With You in the Weeds: Where Faith Meets Mental Health

If you’ve been trying to read the mind of a teenager and still feel perplexed, today’s episode is for you! 

Today we ask:

What does your teen really want?

What are some challenges and opportunities they are facing? 

How can you love your teen when they push you away? 

What can you do to encourage their growth?

Austin asks all of these questions and more to the co-directors of Crossing Students - Jeff Parrett and Anna West. You’ll learn that teens are asking deep questions about identity, belonging and purpose that can be a catalyst for great conversations. This episode is full of wisdom and resources from two talented people who work with teens every day, so we know you’ll be encouraged as you listen!

Book Recommendations:

3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager

Parenting With Hope

Habits of the Household

The Worry Free Parent

If you liked this episode, text it to a friend! And please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave the team a review. You can subscribe to our newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com and follow us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds!

Childhood cancer forced Samantha to face reality at an early age, but working through the myriad of emotions that come with hardship has been an ongoing process in her life. Giving herself permission to fall apart and “not be ok” was just one thing she learned through counseling.

Battling cancer, infertility, infant loss and the journey of adoption are just a few elements of Samantha’s story that will open your heart. In this special episode with Austin, she vulnerably shares her struggle with resting in Jesus when she’s tempted to control everything around her.

If you’ve ever wondered, “should I go to counseling?”, this conversation will open up a whole new world for you. Not shying away from hard topics, Austin and Samantha discuss how counseling can be a way to work through life’s hardships, learn tools for healthy coping, and get comfortable with negative emotions. 

To hear more from Samantha, find her podcast Going There, where she invites women to get away from shallow conversations and go deep into their friendships and relationship with God.

If you liked this episode, text it to a friend! And please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave the team a review. 

You can subscribe to our newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com and follow us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds for more great content and message us with your topic suggestions for future episodes.

“Addiction is about filling a hole in your heart.” 

Have you considered that the underlying dynamics of addiction are driven by a relationship? A simple definition of addiction is: “An unhealthy, mood-altering relationship with a person, behavior or substance.” This relationship promises comfort and significance to fill the hole in your heart, but it always falls short.

This enlightening conversation with clinical therapist and author Michael John Cusick will invite you to understand addiction in a way that makes sense: Addiction is a form of false connection that serves as a substitute for the intimacy you were designed for. 

Addiction involves your entire being: your body, mind and spirit. This conversation will help you understand that breaking free from an addiction is more than stopping an unhealthy behavior. Recovery involves creating a true and genuine connection with others where there are no more secrets, and where you can be known and loved for who you are.

This vision of the gospel message - that God pursues and loves you while you are in the middle of your messy life - is the grace that you need to open your hands and surrender yourself to a process of restoration. 

You will be inspired and encouraged to reconsider what wholeness and healing means as you listen to John, Austin and Michael peel back the layers of addiction, grace, humility and recovery. 

Restoring the Soul

Surfing for God

If you know someone who could benefit from this episode, please text it to a friend and let them know about With You in the Weeds!

Please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave us a positive review! Or message us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds to ask a question or suggest a topic. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com for more great content from our team of counselors.

Does the current political climate make you want to bury your head in the sand? Whether you enjoy political debates or try to avoid politics altogether, we think you’ll appreciate this episode.

John and Shay offer a biblical view of the role of government and provide guidance on how to love others who you have political disagreements with. They also share how you can have hope, no matter which candidate wins the election.

Shay studied political science at the University of Missouri, and has enjoyed following and observing the ever-changing political landscape. His wisdom and informed perspective will encourage you to not lose faith as you navigate political conversations with grace.

If you know someone who could benefit from this episode, please text it to a friend and let them know about With You in the Weeds!

Please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave us a positive review! Or message us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds to ask a question or suggest a topic. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com for more great content from our team of counselors.

Imagine that you’re in a tunnel and you don’t see a way out. Or maybe there isn’t a way out. What would that feel like? 

If you are managing a chronic illness, or love someone who is, the feeling of being trapped in a tunnel may be all too familiar. Whether it’s chronic pain, autoimmune disease, recurrent migraines, cancer or some other life-altering illness that prevents you from living a “normal” life, you’re probably exhausted.

In this episode, John, Shay and Lynn share openly and personally about the impact of chronic illness on your mental and emotional health, as well as your relationships and spiritual life. The discouragement, depression and fear are powerful when you are in the tunnel, and we want to speak to these feelings and help guide you through the darkness.

If you can relate to this struggle, or know someone else who needs to be encouraged while battling difficult health circumstances, this episode was created just for you.

We would love to hear from you! Please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave us a positive review! Or message us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds to ask a question or suggest a topic. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com for more great content from our team of counselors.

Have the flaws and imperfections in the body of Christ become a stumbling block to your faith? Whether it's a church leader abusing their power, a congregation full of gossip, or a legalistic message that curdles your soul, a church can be a source of hurt just as easily as a source of healing.

In this special episode, Austin interviews author, pastor, and university professor Trevin Wax, to discuss the ways that being part of a church can be both a source of blessing and pain. For as many ways as fellowship with other believers can be life-giving, there is also an opportunity for hurt that can lead to distrust and rejection of the faith altogether.

This episode will both challenge and encourage you to think more deeply about why your role in a church matters, how powerful your personal influence is on the body of Christ, and how to process church hurt when it happens.

To hear more from Trevin Wax, check out his podcast Reconstructing Faith, or his books The Thrill of Orthodoxy and Rethink Yourself.

If you liked this episode, text it to a friend! And please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave the team a review.

You can subscribe to our newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com and follow us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds for more great content and message us with your topic suggestions for future episodes.

If you've experienced betrayal, then you know the pain and heartache that comes with it. Betrayal is a piercing wound that can cause you to never want to trust anyone again, even God.

John and Lynn discuss the impact that betrayal can have in the areas of:

- friendship

- marriage

- with a parent

- within a church

By naming the reality of this hurt, and using the Psalms as a guide, this conversation will give you the words you need to describe, explain and understand the pain of betrayal.

We hope you find comfort in knowing that your feelings are real, your hurt matters, and you are not alone in what you are experiencing. Even when betrayal leaves you feeling gutted, we want you to know that God acutely understands the pain you are in, and is near to your broken heart.

If you liked this episode, text it to a friend! And please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave the team a review.

You can subscribe to our newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com and follow us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds for more great content and message us with your topic suggestions for future episodes.

When you're suffering and in pain, hope is something you wish would arrive like a package on your doorstep. But that's not actually how hope is formed.

In this special episode, John and Austin interview Christian psychiatrist Curt Thompson, MD, author of the book: "The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope".

This conversation will completely change the way you've thought about HOPE, and dispel the belief that forming hope is a solitary exercise.

Hope is not something that "I try to have", but something that "we form together" through the power of presence and relational connection. All of your efforts to manage the suffering of life are in some fashion designed to pull you into a relationship with someone, or something, that can be WITH YOU in the pain.

We are honored that Curt Thompson joined the WYITW team to share his love of psychology, interpersonal neurobiology and biblical scholarship!

We know you will be encouraged by Curt's insight, and will want to check out his books that have shaped our thinking as Christian therapists, as well as his podcast, Being Known.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/being-known-podcast/id1556261828

Anatomy of the Soul

The Soul of Shame

If you liked this episode, text it to a friend! And please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave the team a review.

You can subscribe to our newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com and follow us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds for more great content and message us with your topic suggestions for future episodes.

What are you most afraid of?

If you can honestly answer that question, then you are well on your way toward facing your fear.

There are many reasons why fear can be overwhelming, but how you handle fear will determine whether or not you stay stuck or keep growing. And understanding the biblical antidote to fear will help you not lose faith, even when your fear threatens to shut you down.

In this episode we want you to understand what's happening when fear gets activated in your body, and how you can manage the fears that you can't avoid.

Lynn and Austin discuss how fear affects you in the following four areas:

- Mentally

- Physically

- Emotionally

- Spiritually

Once you have an idea of how fear affects you, you can learn how to accept and acknowledge it rather than ignore and minimize it. After listening, you’ll be better equipped to not only determine what you are most afraid of and why, but you’ll be reminded where to take those fears.

If you liked this episode, text it to a friend! And please consider rating WYITW on your podcast player and leave the team a review.

You can subscribe to our newsletter at withyouintheweeds.com and follow us on Instagram @withyouintheweeds for more great content and message us with your topic suggestions for future episodes.

After working as a therapist in an inpatient treatment center for eating disorders, Travis Steward realized that rejecting shame with his clients was the way to break the pattern of a compulsive behavior.

In this installment of "Stories in the Weeds", Austin and Travis discuss what it takes to surrender self-destructive patterns and give up your personal strategies for making life work apart from God. Loosening your grip on habits that make you feel powerful and comfortable may feel impossible, but safe and trusting relationships are the pathway to finding freedom.

This interview with seasoned therapist Travis Steward will have you rethinking the ways you've learned to feel accomplished and valuable, and challenge you with a question:

"How will you get better without trusting God or others?"

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