You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist

By Stephanie Winn

A podcast at the intersection of psychology and culture that intimately explores the human experience and critiques the counseling profession. Your host, Stephanie Winn, distills wisdom gained from he... more

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The podcast currently has 232 episodes available.

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Number 1: 233. Why You Probably Won't Lose Your Therapy License for Speaking Your Conscience | Chris Legg, LPC
Pastor and counselor Chris Legg returns to talk about something he sees in nearly every grad student who arrives for training at Aletheia Family Counseling Center: fear. After 25 years of training new therapists from seminaries, secular universities, and everything in between, Chris says most show up convinced a lawsuit is coming the moment anyone learns what they personally believe. We start with the phrase "check your values at the door," and Chris shows why it collapses under its own logic. He tells the story of a local university that stopped sending students to Aletheia after an intern wrote that she was glad she wasn't required to counsel same-sex couples, and what happened when he asked the professors whether a survivor of assault should be required to treat abusers. We also look at what the record actually shows about therapists getting in trouble for declining certain clients, why the process is so often the punishment, and why some talented clinicians are giving up their licenses to work as coaches. I explain why I kept my license but do my work as a coach. Then Chris speaks directly to grad students and interns: you matter to the therapeutic process, and you don't have to practice in constant fear. What does it look like to expose your faith without imposing it? And where can counselors with conservative or religious values find mentorship? Pastor Chris Legg, LPCs, and his wife Ginger have been living out the parable of God’s love for His people since 1993 and have been blessed with five great kids. He is the Lead Pastor at South Spring Baptist Church in Tyler, TX (www.southspring.org) and is also the founding owner and clinical director of Alethia Family Counseling Center (www.alethiacounseling.com), which offers training, counseling, speaking and business consulting in several locations in Texas. He and his son, Mark, are the authors of the book Sex and Marriage, which is intended to restore to marriages the power God intended. Learn more about SSBC at www.southspring.org. More about Alethia at www.alethiacounseling.com. Contact Chris, read any of his articles, and look for other resources at his website at www.chrismlegg.com and at https://chrismlegg.substack.com/ [00:00:00] Start [00:03:35] Why Grad Students Fear Their Own Values [00:08:08] University Cuts Ties Over Same-Sex Couples Policy [00:11:34] Competency, Referrals, and Therapist Boundaries [00:20:43] Do Therapists Really Lose Licenses Over Refusals [00:24:55] Board Complaints: The Process Is the Punishment [00:30:44] Aletheia's Bylaws: Therapy as Protected Speech [00:32:44] Why Therapists Trade Licenses for Coaching [00:42:12] Chris's Message to Anxious New Therapists [00:55:07] Imposing vs. Exposing Values in Therapy [00:59:53] How Conversion Therapy's Meaning Shifted [01:02:17] Advice for Therapists in Blue States [01:10:27] Cross-State Licensing Laws and PSYPACT ROGD REPAIR Course + Community gives concerned parents instant access to over 120 lessons providing the psychological insights and communication tools you need to get through to your kid. Now featuring 24/7 personalized AI support implementing the tools with RepairBot! Use code SOMETHERAPIST2026 to take 50% off your first month. PODCOURSES: use code SOMETHERAPIST at LisaMustard.com/PodCourses PRODUCTION: Looking for your own podcast producer? Visit PodsByNick.com and mention my podcast for 20% off your initial services. MUSIC: Thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude & permission. ALL OTHER LINKS HERE. To support this show, please leave a rating & review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe, like, comment & share via my YouTube channel. Or recommend this to a friend! Learn more about Do No Harm. Take $200 off your EightSleep Pod Pro Cover with code SOMETHERAPIST at EightSleep.com. Take 20% off all superfood beverages with code SOMETHERAPIST at Organifi. Check out my shop for book recommendations + wellness products. Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI. Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission. Watch NO WAY BACK: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care (our medical ethics documentary, formerly known as Affirmation Generation). Stream the film or purchase a DVD. Use code SOMETHERAPIST to take 20% off your order. Follow us on X @2022affirmation or Instagram at @affirmationgeneration. Have a question for me? Looking to go deeper and discuss these ideas with other listeners? Join my Locals community! Members get to ask questions I will respond to in exclusive, members-only livestreams, post questions for upcoming guests to answer, plus other perks TBD. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
September 28, 20261h 18min
Number 2: 232. Katy Faust: Adults Should Do Hard Things So Children Don’t Have To
Katy Faust returns to the podcast, and this time the conversation goes somewhere I didn’t expect. Katy founded Them Before Us to defend children’s right to their mother and father, and she opens by laying out the three principles that drive her work: children have a right to life, children need their mom and dad, and children should not be bought and sold. Those convictions put her at odds with almost everyone at some point, which is exactly why I wanted to talk with her again. What makes this episode different is how personal it gets. Katy asks me, as a therapist, whether children ever really get over losing a parent. That question opens into a long exchange about ego strength, earned secure attachment, and why a twenty-year-old can’t yet see what a forty-year-old can about the childhood in their rear view mirror. I share more about my own psychic foundations than I have before on this show, picking up on the personal disclosures in my recent conversation with Soad Tabrizi. We also get practical. Katy shares what it took to help the son they adopted at age two to finally feel secure after neglect and abandonment. Katy explains the “no flinch rule” from her book on parenting, why self-esteem comes from doing hard things rather than hearing praise, and why American parenting has the freedom-to-constraint ratio backwards. And we talk directly to parents who built their families through donor conception or surrogacy: how do you hold the complexity of loving your children while staying open to what they may be grieving as a result of your choices? Katy Faust is Founder and President of Them Before Us, a global movement defending children’s right to their mother and father. She publishes, speaks and testifies widely on why marriage and family are matters of justice for children. Her articles have appeared in outlets including Newsweek, USA Today, Fox News, The Federalist, Public Discourse, WORLD Magazine, First Things, and the Blaze. She is on the advisory board for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. She detailed her philosophy of worldview transmission in her book, Raising Conservative Kids in a Woke City. Her third book, Pro-Child Politics was published September 2024. She is spearheading Greater Than which aims to retake legal marriage on behalf of children. She and her husband have raised their four children in Seattle. Katy previously appeared on this podcast in episode 145. Putting Children’s Needs Before Adults’ Desires with Katy Faust.Substack: Them Before Us | Katy FaustFacebook: Them Before UsInstagram: @them_before_usPodcast: Them Before Us PodcastX: @ThemBeforeUsWebsite: Them Before UsX | @Katy_FaustFacebook |Katy FaustWebsite |Katy FaustInstagram |@katyfaustofficialBooks mentioned in this episode:Them Before Us: Why We Need a Global Children’s Rights Movement — Katy FaustRaising Conservative Kids in a Woke City — Katy Faust, co-authored (the co-author is referred to only as “Stacy” in the transcript)Pro-Child Politics — Katy Faust, ed. (a collection of 19 subject-matter experts writing on policy through a child-first lens)[00:00:00] Start [00:01:59] Right To Life, Mother And Father, Not Bought And Sold [00:13:07] Adults Should Do Hard Things For Children [00:19:25] Children Who Lost A Parent By Adult Choice [00:22:32] Ego Strength And Honest Reflection [00:31:00] Earned Secure Attachment [00:32:56] Adopting A Son Starved Of Everything [00:36:16] Parenting From Guilt And Weak Boundaries [00:40:10] American Parenting Has It Upside Down [00:47:12] Where Self-Esteem Actually Comes From [00:51:09] Emotional Intimacy And The No Flinch Rule [01:00:04] Advice For Parents Who Used Donors Or Surrogacy ROGD REPAIR Course + Community gives concerned parents instant access to over 120 lessons providing the psychological insights and communication tools you need to get through to your kid. Now featuring 24/7 personalized AI support implementing the tools with RepairBot! Use code SOMETHERAPIST2026 to take 50% off your first month. PODCOURSES: use code SOMETHERAPIST at LisaMustard.com/PodCourses PRODUCTION: Looking for your own podcast producer? Visit PodsByNick.com and mention my podcast for 20% off your initial services. MUSIC: Thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude & permission. ALL OTHER LINKS HERE. To support this show, please leave a rating & review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe, like, comment & share via my YouTube channel. Or recommend this to a friend! Learn more about Do No Harm. Take $200 off your EightSleep Pod Pro Cover with code SOMETHERAPIST at EightSleep.com. Take 20% off all superfood beverages with code SOMETHERAPIST at Organifi. Check out my shop for book recommendations + wellness products. Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI. Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission. Watch NO WAY BACK: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care (our medical ethics documentary, formerly known as Affirmation Generation). Stream the film or purchase a DVD. Use code SOMETHERAPIST to take 20% off your order. Follow u...
September 21, 20261h 10min
Number 3: 231. Detransition Lawsuits: Legal Accountability for Medical Harm with Lynn Chadwick
I'm eager to welcome back Lynn Chadwick, a retired NICU nurse and founder of Themis Resource Fund, to discuss the critical landscape of detransition lawsuits and legal accountability in medical transition. We dive deep into the first detransition lawsuit victory—the Varian v. Einhorn case—where a therapist was found 70% culpable, and what this landmark decision means for mental health professionals. Lynn shares how Themis is supporting detransitioned individuals seeking litigation assistance, the major barriers they face (including the statute of limitations crisis that prevents most cases from moving forward), and how the FTC investigation into fraudulent billing practices is changing the legal landscape. We explore the difference between autonomy and medical ethics, why expanding statute of limitations laws is critical work that needs grassroots advocates, and how parents and professionals can support this effort. Most importantly, Lynn articulates a vision of evidence-based medicine—one that prioritizes healing and truth over harm, and recognizes that young, healthy people deserve protection, not procedures that damage their bodies for life. This conversation tackles the intersection of parental advocacy, legal justice, and the path forward for families navigating detransition. Lynn Chadwick is a retired NICU nurse who became a parent advocate after two of her children medically transitioned. She founded Themis Resource Fund to provide detransitioned individuals with litigation assistance. ThemisResourceFund.org X: @ThemisRF Lynn's previous episode on my podcast: 182. From Estrangement to Advocacy: Lynn Chadwick on Parental Identity After Your Child Transitions ROGD Repair article mentioned: The Belief That Builds Its Own Cage: The Causal Chain of Consequence in Trans Ideation Special Offer for Listeners: Donate $500 or more to Themis Resource Fund and forward your receipt to [email protected] to receive lifetime access to ROGD Repair as a thank you gift from Stephanie. [00:00:00] Start [00:01:33] Understanding Detransition Lawsuits [00:03:45] Politics & Humanity Divide [00:07:00] Medicine Requires Evidence-Based Practice [00:10:00] Mental Health Data Contradicts Narratives [00:31:00] The Regret & Remorse Timeline [00:33:30] Statute of Limitations Crisis [00:40:30] FTC Investigation & Billing Fraud [00:43:00] Litigation Barriers & Legal Strategy [00:48:30] The Coming Wave of Cases [00:52:30] Family Therapy & Reconciliation [01:01:00] Expert Witnesses & Professionals [01:05:00] Themis Resource Fund Support [01:08:15] Camille Kifer Settlement Success ROGD REPAIR Course + Community gives concerned parents instant access to over 120 lessons providing the psychological insights and communication tools you need to get through to your kid. Now featuring 24/7 personalized AI support implementing the tools with RepairBot! Use code SOMETHERAPIST2026 to take 50% off your first month. PODCOURSES: use code SOMETHERAPIST at LisaMustard.com/PodCourses PRODUCTION: Looking for your own podcast producer? Visit PodsByNick.com and mention my podcast for 20% off your initial services. MUSIC: Thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude & permission. ALL OTHER LINKS HERE. To support this show, please leave a rating & review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe, like, comment & share via my YouTube channel. Or recommend this to a friend! Learn more about Do No Harm. Take $200 off your EightSleep Pod Pro Cover with code SOMETHERAPIST at EightSleep.com. Take 20% off all superfood beverages with code SOMETHERAPIST at Organifi. Check out my shop for book recommendations + wellness products. Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI. Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission. Watch NO WAY BACK: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care (our medical ethics documentary, formerly known as Affirmation Generation). Stream the film or purchase a DVD. Use code SOMETHERAPIST to take 20% off your order. Follow us on X @2022affirmation or Instagram at @affirmationgeneration. Have a question for me? Looking to go deeper and discuss these ideas with other listeners? Join my Locals community! Members get to ask questions I will respond to in exclusive, members-only livestreams, post questions for upcoming guests to answer, plus other perks TBD. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
September 14, 20261h 22min
Number 4: 230. Meet Young Stephanie: My Untold Story, Drawn Out by Soad Tabrizi
I can’t believe I’m doing this. My friend Soad Tabrizi — therapist, founder of Conservative Counselors, and a returning guest — asked if she could reverse-interview me about my own story, and I said yes. What came out was far more than I planned to share, and even if you’ve been following my work for years, it’s probably all new to you. I talk about growing up a white girl near Compton and Inglewood in the 1990s, the racial scapegoating I faced as a child, and the nutritional and emotional neglect that shaped my body and nervous system for decades. I describe the father I’ve called an autistic narcissist, a mother who loved me but couldn’t see me, and the bullying that pushed me into a punk, anarchist, runaway adolescence. I trace the path from a near-fatal drinking incident at fourteen through cults in Hawai’i, the Hare Krishnas in LA, and finally a near-stranger’s intervention that sent me to college and, eventually, into this profession. Why tell any of this? Because so much of what I teach parents — about willful children, suicide threats, meeting kids where they are, forgiveness, and how to apologize well — comes straight out of what I lived through, and went without. This is the person behind the professional, and the deficits that became my life’s work. Podcasts are not therapy, and I’m not your therapist — but I hope my story helps you see your own kids, and yourself, with a little more grace. Watch the full episode here on Substack. Click here to find it on your podcast listening platform of choice. Click here to find it on YouTube. Soad Tabrizi is a licensed marriage and family therapist with more than 15 years of clinical experience. She runs a telehealth private practice from her office in Orange County, California, and is the founder of Conservative Counselors, a directory connecting clients with reality-based mental health professionals who share their values. Soad is a contributing opinion writer for Human Events and publishes a subscriber-supported Substack focused on the corruption and ideological capture of the mental health field, as well as commentary on culture and politics. She is known for challenging woke orthodoxy in mental health and encouraging conservative professionals to stop hiding their values and start speaking openly about them. She previously appeared on episodes 65. Conservative Patients in Therapy with Soad Tabrizi and 103. Truth, Hope, & Mental Health | Michael DC Bowen, Pamela Garfield-Jaeger & Soad Tabrizi.www.soadtabrizi.comwww.conservativecounselors.comhttps://x.com/SoadTabrizihttps://www.facebook.com/soadtabrizihttps://www.instagram.com/soadtabrizi/ [00:00:00] Start [00:05:22] Warmth, Coldness, And Humility [00:10:00] Ego Strength And Online Scapegoating [00:13:45] A White Girl In Compton [00:19:30] Childhood Nutritional Neglect [00:25:45] The 1992 Riots And Racial Scapegoating [00:32:00] Having An Autistic Narcissist For A Father [00:44:19] Middle School Humiliation [00:57:29] Punk Years And The Masc Mask [01:06:45] Handling Teen Suicide Threats [01:09:20] A Teenage Overdose [01:18:14] Burning Out And Escaping To Hawaii [01:22:45] One Cult After Another [01:29:45] A Surprise Intervention [01:36:15] Finding Belonging In Santa Cruz [01:42:26] The Question Of Forgiveness ROGD REPAIR Course + Community gives concerned parents instant access to over 120 lessons providing the psychological insights and communication tools you need to get through to your kid. Now featuring 24/7 personalized AI support implementing the tools with RepairBot! Use code SOMETHERAPIST2026 to take 50% off your first month. PODCOURSES: use code SOMETHERAPIST at LisaMustard.com/PodCourses PRODUCTION: Looking for your own podcast producer? Visit PodsByNick.com and mention my podcast for 20% off your initial services. MUSIC: Thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude & permission. ALL OTHER LINKS HERE. To support this show, please leave a rating & review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe, like, comment & share via my YouTube channel. Or recommend this to a friend! Learn more about Do No Harm. Take $200 off your EightSleep Pod Pro Cover with code SOMETHERAPIST at EightSleep.com. Take 20% off all superfood beverages with code SOMETHERAPIST at Organifi. Check out my shop for book recommendations + wellness products. Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI. Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission. Watch NO WAY BACK: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care (our medical ethics documentary, formerly known as Affirmation Generation). Stream the film or purchase a DVD. Use code SOMETHERAPIST to take 20% off your order. Follow us on X @2022affirmation or Instagram at @affirmationgeneration. Have a question for me? Looking to go deeper and discuss these ideas with other listeners? Join my Locals community! Members get to ask questions I will respond to in exclusive, members-only livestreams, post questions for upcoming guests to answer, plus other perks TBD. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
September 07, 20262h 4min
Number 5: 229. When Psychedelic Therapy Imprints Politics Onto Vulnerable Patients | Karen King & Wesley Smith
The psychedelic renaissance is here — money is pouring in, states are legalizing, and a federal executive order has fast-tracked ibogaine research for veterans. But if you’re a conservative, a skeptic, or just politically homeless, is there room for you in this movement? In this episode I welcome back therapist Karen King (last heard in episodes 81 and 97) alongside her co-author Wesley Smith, a small-c conservative who stumbled into psychedelics through a paragliding accident. Together they’ve written Sensible Psychedelics: Why the Psychedelic Renaissance Needs Conservatives, Skeptics, and the Politically Homeless. We dig into what Karen witnessed firsthand in the very first therapist training cohort: a week spent dismantling privilege and naming genders rather than discussing consciousness, clinical skills, or facilitation. We talk about why that ideological capture isn’t just annoying — it’s dangerous. When a patient’s mind is cracked wide open in a psychedelic state, a facilitator who imprints their own politics is committing something close to abuse. Wesley shares the veterans angle, where an anti-colonial culture hopes to turn warriors into pacifists. But this isn’t a cynical conversation. We explore the genuine healing psychedelics can offer — Karen’s work helping a dying woman conquer her fear of death, Wesley’s reconciliation with his late father — and ask the questions this movement keeps avoiding: Why does psychedelic culture skew so far left? Where are the liberals whose journeys made them more curious about people they’d dismissed? And can a self-regulating, transparent ecosystem — maybe even one built around churches — grow up outside the captured certification boards? Are you an ROGD parent looking to do some deep, inner work for healing? A trusted friend has a special small-group offering called “Parents Heal Together” which might be a good fit for you. To learn more, please sign up here for a free informational webinar. Books mentioned in this episode:Sensible Psychedelics: Why the Psychedelic Renaissance Needs Conservatives, Skeptics, and the Politically Homeless — Karen King & Wesley SmithHow to Change Your Mind — Michael PollanKaren King, MS, LMHC, LPC is a psychotherapist with more than 20 years of experience helping adults navigate trauma, anxiety, grief, and life’s deepest transitions. The former founder of a multidisciplinary behavioral health clinic, she specializes in contemplative and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. With Wesley Smith, she co-authored the forthcoming Sensible Psychedelics: Why the Psychedelic Renaissance Needs Conservatives, Skeptics, and the Politically Homeless, which explores how psychedelics can bridge cultural divides rather than deepen them. Find her therapy practice at NewMindTherapy.com. Karen also hosts the Nuanced Therapist Network, a private, vetted community for heterodox therapists. Wesley Smith is a “small c” conservative psychonaut and writer working to bring the psychedelic renaissance out of the counterculture and into the living rooms of average Americans. After a head injury led him to explore nontraditional paths for healing, he found that psychedelics can deepen the values conservatives hold dear — faith, family, duty, and personal responsibility. His co-authored case in Sensible Psychedelics pairs evidence-based research with a culturally grounded argument for humility, gratitude, and moral clarity. [00:00:00] Start [00:03:15] Trump's Executive Order and State Psychedelic Laws [00:06:57] A Conservative's Accidental Path to Psychedelics [00:14:45] Karen's Path Through Ketamine-Assisted Therapy [00:18:50] Ideological Capture in Psychedelic Training [00:21:52] Imprinting Values, Vulnerability, and Veterans [00:29:07] Ketamine Case Study and Personal Growth [00:35:56] Why the Psychedelic World Skews Left [00:44:52] How Psychedelics Broadened Wesley's Empathy [00:48:33] Therapy as Dismantling Civilization [00:52:23] Regulation, Transparency, and Psychedelic Churches ROGD REPAIR Course + Community gives concerned parents instant access to over 120 lessons providing the psychological insights and communication tools you need to get through to your kid. Now featuring 24/7 personalized AI support implementing the tools with RepairBot! Use code SOMETHERAPIST2026 to take 50% off your first month. PODCOURSES: use code SOMETHERAPIST at LisaMustard.com/PodCourses PRODUCTION: Looking for your own podcast producer? Visit PodsByNick.com and mention my podcast for 20% off your initial services. MUSIC: Thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude & permission. ALL OTHER LINKS HERE. To support this show, please leave a rating & review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe, like, comment & share via my YouTube channel. Or recommend this to a friend! Learn more about Do No Harm. Take $200 off your EightSleep Pod Pro Cover with code SOMETHERAPIST at EightSleep.com. Take 20% off all superfood beverages with code SOMETHERAPIST at Organifi. Check out my shop for book recommendations + wellness products. Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI. Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission. Watch NO WAY BACK: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care (our medical ethics documentary, formerly known as Affirmation Generation). Stream the film or purchase a DVD. Use code SOMETHERAPIST to take 20% off your order. Follow us on X @2022affirmation or Instagram at @affirmationgeneration. Have a question for me? Looking to go deeper and discuss these ideas with other listeners? Join my L...
August 31, 20261h 7min