Self Careapist Therapist Podcast: Expert Insights & Practical Therapy Skills

A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

Dr. William R. Miller was a developer of motivational interviewing. Ricardo Muñoz ran the first randomized controlled trial ever built to prevent depression before it starts. Fifty years ago, as grad students sharing a rickety office at the University of Oregon, they wrote the first version of a book that would go on to prove something the addiction field didn't believe: that self-help alone, with no therapist, could cut problem drinking by the same margin as live counseling. They joined today to talk about what has changed in the research, including what has led to fewer people drinking in 2026 than 1976. Dr. William R. Miller, Ph.D., is an internationally known psychologist and emeritus professor at the University of New Mexico — the originator of Motivational Interviewing (MI), now used worldwide across mental health, medicine, and dentistry. He's published more than 60 books. Dr. Ricardo F. Muñoz, Ph.D., is an emeritus professor of psychology at the UCSF School of Medicine, where he was based at San Francisco General Hospital for 35 years and Chief Psychologist for 25. His work on preventing depression, including the Mothers and Babies Course / El Curso Mamás y Bebés for perinatal depression — is now used internationally and cited by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Fifty years and five editions later, their new book, Rethinking Drinking, is out now. In this episode, you'll learn: - Why the field's old "alcoholic vs. social drinker" binary was wrong, and what Miller's original dissertation proved instead - Why people who were given nothing but the self-help book — no therapist — sustained their drinking reductions as well as people who got live counseling, replicated across studies - The "Healthy Management of Reality" framework (Chapter 12), built on Miller's mentor Albert Bandura's concept of self-efficacy - The real story behind Motivational Interviewing: why "sit down and shut up, I'll tell you what's wrong with you" was the field's default approach before MI, and what changed it - Muñoz's Mothers and Babies Course, shown to help prevent 53% of new perinatal depression cases - The 8 characteristics of therapists whose clients actually get better and a study where the most empathic therapist had a 100% success rate against 25% for the least empathic, using the identical treatment manual Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:40 Meet Dr. William Miller & Dr. Ricardo Muñoz 0:53 What's changed in the alcohol science since 1976 2:43 The surprising research: self-help book vs. therapy 6:47 Ricardo's own decision not to drink (the Stanford dorm story) 10:48 The real reasons people reach for alcohol 18:36 The Drinker's Checkup — a free self-assessment model 21:15 Healthy Management of Reality: the Bandura-inspired framework 23:03 From Bandura's lab to San Francisco General Hospital 30:10 Preventing depression before it starts 39:51 Free clinical manuals, in English and Spanish 44:51 The origin story of Motivational Interviewing 52:21 The 8 characteristics of therapists whose clients get better 56:36 Why giving people just the book kept them changing 59:42 Closing thoughts Resources mentioned: - Rethinking Drinking (Guilford Press, available now): - Dr. Miller's site and full list of books . - Free depression prevention/treatment manuals (English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Persian ) developed by Dr. Munoz and team. - "Giving Psychology Away" (referenced ~41:54 in this file) — George A. Miller's 1969 APA presidential address, published as "Psychology as a Means of Promoting Human Welfare" (American Psychologist, 1969). Note: this is George A. Miller, not guest William R. Miller. - Effective Psychotherapists: How They Develop and Practice , by William R. Miller & Theresa B. Moyers (Guilford Press) — the book behind the 8 therapist characteristics / empathy-outcomes research discussed at 52:21 This episode covers topics relevant to CE/CEU for LCSW, LMHC, LPC, LMFT, NCC. Subscribe for weekly clinical training you can use in your next session. Website: https://lorainmoorehead.com Instagram: @selfcareapist Podcast: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2512198 A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

You clock out, but your brain doesn't. You're still short with your kids, still numb through your own weekend, still running on a threat response that never got the memo the workday ended and you're not sure self-care is actually touching it. Shaina Siber, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker, integrative therapist, and founder of AFFIRM Mental Health, a continuing education company for mental health professionals. She's the author of "Using ACT and CFT for Burnout Recovery: The Beyond Burnout Blueprint" and host of The Affirming Minds Podcast. In this episode, you'll learn: - Christina Maslach's 6 systemic drivers of burnout — and why most of them have nothing to do with willpower or self-care - How Compassion-Focused Therapy's threat/drive/soothing model explains why "well-intentioned" coping (a workout, a glass of wine) often doesn't actually calm your nervous system - Why venting has a real physiological upside in small doses — and how it backfires when it becomes reflexive ("the dose makes the poison") - Two steps from Shaina's Beyond Burnout Blueprint: creating a compelling vision, and identifying your unique strengths - What she'd change first as an employer to prevent burnout on a team — starting with psychological safety Timestamps: 0:00 Welcome & Meet Shaina Siber, LCSW 0:53 The Martyrdom Baked Into Helping Professions 3:34 What Burnout Actually Is (Beyond "Being Tired") 6:59 Christina Maslach's 6 Systemic Drivers of Burnout 28:31 Compassion-Focused Therapy: Old Brain vs. New Brain 33:01 The 3 Systems of Emotional Regulation (Threat, Drive, Soothing) 38:44 Step 1: Creating a Compelling Vision 44:35 Step 3: Watch Your Words (Venting, Complaining, Reassurance-Seeking) 49:27 Step 4: Identify Your Unique Strengths 54:29 Step 5: Be Kind to Yourself and Others 59:49 What Leaders Can Do to Prevent Team Burnout 65:44 Where to Find Shaina Siber If you liked this episode, you might want to check out this episode on Perfectionism education and research . Resources mentioned: - Shaina's book: "Using ACT and CFT for Burnout Recovery: The Beyond Burnout Blueprint" - The Affirming Minds Podcast (Shaina's podcast) - AFFIRM Mental Health - Christina Maslach's burnout research (6 systemic drivers) - Paul Gilbert, founder of Compassion-Focused Therapy - Kristin Neff's self-compassion research (restorative and fierce compassion) A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

You're lying awake trying to think your way to certainty; running the same worry in circles, getting nowhere, but unable to stop. If a client's "careful thinking" has quietly become compulsive reasoning, exposure and response prevention alone won't fix it. This episode shows you what will. Dr. Lisa Levine, Psy.D., is a licensed psychologist and owner of the OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center of Maryland. After 23 years specializing in OCD treatment, she developed non-engagement response strategies for clients whose ERP work was being quietly undermined by compulsive reasoning and rumination happening entirely in their heads; often clients who looked like they were doing everything right. In this episode, you'll learn: - How to tell compulsive reasoning apart from real problem-solving, intrusive thoughts, and obsessing - The "urgency and desperation" litmus test for spotting when reasoning has become compulsive - Why suppression and reassurance-seeking backfire — and what a non-engagement response actually sounds like - The "rumination bully" framework and how strategic agreeing defuses it - Why this shows up constantly in high-achieving clients who'd never be diagnosed with OCD Timestamps: 0:00 Welcome & Meet Dr. Lisa Levine 3:03 What Makes Reasoning "Compulsive"? The Urgency & Desperation Test 9:04 Compulsive Reasoning vs. Intrusive Thoughts vs. Obsessing 12:00 Why Suppression and Reassurance Backfire 18:03 The Toddler Tantrum Analogy: Why It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better 24:07 When Deep Thinking Is Healthy — And When It's a Trap 30:00 The Rumination Bully and the Power of Strategic Agreeing 39:04 Real-World Exposure Examples: Driving, Parking, Everyday Risk 48:00 What a Non-Engagement Response Actually Sounds Like 54:00 Why This Work Takes Courage — Giving Clients (and Yourself) Credit If you liked this episode, watch "Why OCD is Not an Adjective" next. Resources mentioned: - Dr. Levine's article on compulsive reasoning - " How to Stop a Bully"- Brookes Gibbs - Dr. Levine's mentor, Charlie Mansueto, credited with teaching her the "dead man's rule" framework This episode covers topics relevant to CE/CEU for LCSW, LMHC, LPC, LMFT, NCC. Free CEU available for Arizona licensure through the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Subscribe for weekly clinical training you can use in your next session. Website: https://lorainmoorehead.com Instagram: @selfcareapist Podcast: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2512198 #therapist #mentalhealth #continuingeducation #therapisteducation #CEU #LCSW #LPC #LMFT #LMHC #evidencebasedtherapy #therapisttraining #clinicalskills #counseloreducation #OCD #ERP #rumination #compulsivereasoning #anxietytreatment A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

David Archer, MSW, MFT — EMDR therapist, EMDRIA-approved trainer, and author of "Anti-Racist Psychotherapy" breaks down how EMDR therapy can be used to treat racial trauma and complex trauma in clinical practice. In this episode of the Self Careapist Therapist Podcast, Lorain Moorehead, LCSW, PMH-C, sits down with David to explore anti-racist psychotherapy as a science-based framework that integrates EMDR therapy, trauma-informed therapy, and an understanding of how systemic racism creates lasting neurobiological harm. David shares his Rhythm and Processing (RAP) approach, a somatic, rhythm-based method rooted in EMDR principles and explains how therapists can apply memory reconsolidation techniques to help clients heal from racial trauma, complex trauma, and the intersection of both. Whether you're an EMDR therapist, a trauma therapist, or a clinician working with diverse populations, this conversation offers practical clinical tools for addressing race and racism in the therapy room. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 — Introduction: Who is David Archer? 02:30 — What Is Anti-Racist Psychotherapy? 08:15 — The Overlap Between Racial Trauma and Complex Trauma 15:42 — How Systemic Racism Creates Neurobiological Harm 22:18 — EMDR Therapy and Racial Trauma: The Clinical Connection 29:05 — Rhythm and Processing (RAP): A Somatic Approach to Healing 36:50 — Memory Reconsolidation and Conflicting Client Beliefs 44:12 — Working with Clients' Nervous Systems and Allostatic Load 51:30 — Practical Clinical Applications for Therapists 58:20 — Accessibility and Making Healing Available to All 1:05:00 — David's Books and EMDR Training Programs 1:08:00 — Final Reflections and Takeaways for Clinicians 📌 TOPICS COVERED • Anti-racist psychotherapy as a clinical framework • EMDR therapy for racial trauma and complex PTSD • Rhythm and Processing (RAP) — David Archer's somatic approach • Racial trauma vs. complex trauma: overlaps and distinctions • Memory reconsolidation in trauma therapy • How allostatic load and nervous system dysregulation manifest as racial trauma • Conflicting beliefs and cognitive dissonance in trauma processing • Trauma-informed therapy across cultural and racial identities • Practical EMDR therapy techniques for diverse client populations • Accessibility in mental health care 🔗 RESOURCES & LINKS 📚 David Archer's book — "Anti-Racist Psychotherapy: Confronting Systemic Racism and Healing Racial Trauma" Available on Amazon (US & Canada) and BIPOC-owned bookstores: https://archertherapy.com/books/anti-racist-psychotherapy/ 🌐 David Archer's website (therapy services, consultation, blog): https://archertherapy.com/ 🎓 EMDR Training & RAP Approach (EMDRIA-approved, online): https://archertherapy.com/training/emdr-basic/ 📚 David's other books: • "Black Meditation" — https://archertherapy.com/black-meditation/ • "Racial Trauma Recovery" — https://archertherapy.com/racial-trauma-recovery/ • "Black Mountain" — https://archertherapy.com/black-mountain/ • "Transforming Complex Trauma" — https://archertherapy.com/transforming-complex-trauma/ 📧 Contact David Archer: https://archertherapy.com/contact/ 📚 ABOUT SELF CAREAPIST THERAPIST PODCAST Hosted by Lorain Moorehead, LCSW, PMH-C, EMDR Certified Consultant, and Clinical Supervisor Self Careapist Therapist Podcast delivers conference-level clinical training between sessions. Each episode features in-depth clinician interviews and practical technique walkthroughs covering EMDR, CBT, DBT, RO-DBT, ACT, IFS, play therapy, and trauma-informed approaches. Whether you're a practicing therapist, social worker, clinical psychologist, or counselor, you'll find assessment strategies, case conceptualization frameworks, and evidence-based interventions you can apply in your very next session. 🔔 Subscribe for weekly clinical training episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@selfcareapist 💬 Join the conversation leave a comment with your clinical questions or reflections The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week! A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

Lorain Moorehead, LCSW, PMH-C, EMDR Certified Consultant & Clinical Supervisor, sits down with Dr. Laurie Bruce, clinical psychologist (25+ years), mindfulness coach, host of "From Both Sides of the Couch," in a cross-show conversation recorded for both podcasts. They unpack the gap between CEUs and real clinical consultation, what happens when a client triggers something personal in session, and the barriers that keep therapists from finding their own therapist. If you found our episode on EMDR consultation requirements useful, this conversation goes further into the blurry territory between supervision, consultation, and personal therapy. Timestamps: 0:00 — The problem with supervision ending at licensure 1:14 — How other countries require ongoing consultation and the US doesn't 2:16 — Why CEUs should partially be replaced with consultation hours 3:16 — Learning a new modality means starting over, and why that demands supervision 11:04 — Lorain's experience with EMDR consultation requirements 12:47 — Dr. Bruce on DBT consultation teams, RO-DBT, and DART training 17:26 — The deep self-exploration required in IFS training 18:29 — The blurry line between therapy, supervision, and consultation 22:00 — Naming it as a form of informed consent and emotional regulation 23:39 — Administrative vs. clinical supervision: why they're not the same 27:10 — Barriers to therapists seeking their own therapy 34:06 — Structured vs. organic supervision: two different philosophies 42:01 — Why the intake process is the clinical work, not just a formality 43:23 — Individual vs. peer consultation: the role of trust and vulnerability 45:09 — How to find a therapist when you're a therapist yourself 49:32 — Dr. Bruce's upcoming virtual community for therapists and caregivers 52:05 — Where to find Lorain's work on perfectionism, burnout, and anxiety Episode Highlights: Supervision is treated as a finish line tied to licensure instead of an ongoing clinical need. Several countries require monthly consultation to maintain licensure, while the US relies on CEU hours alone. Specializing in a new modality puts a clinician back at square one, requiring the same level of supervision as early training. Administrative supervision and clinical supervision serve different functions and should not be conflated. Naming what is happening in the room functions as both informed consent and a regulation tool. The biggest barriers to therapists seeking their own therapy are financial, the conditioning to be the expert, and the difficulty of finding someone outside their professional circle. A strong intake is not a formality. It is where the clinical work and the supervisee's core skills are actually built. Host: Lorain Moorehead, LCSW, PMH-C, EMDR Certified Consultant & Clinical Supervisor. Private practice supporting high-achieving adults and therapists with perfectionism, burnout, anxiety, and irritability. This episode covers topics relevant to CE/CEU for LCSW, LMHC, LPC, LMFT, NCC. Free CEU available for Arizona licensure through the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Subscribe for weekly clinical training you can use in your next session. Website: https://lorainmoorehead.com Instagram: @selfcareapist Podcast: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2512198 #therapist #mentalhealth #continuingeducation #CEU #LCSW #LPC #LMFT #clinicalsupervision #EMDR #DBT A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What does DBT look like when it is truly LGBTQ+ affirming? In this episode of The Self Careapist Therapist, I sit down with Dr. Kiki Fehling to talk about DBT for LGBTQ+ mental health, minority stress, queer joy, self-love, emotional resilience, and what it means to apply skills in a way that actually honors context. We talk about why being queer is not the source of mental health harm, how anti-queer environments shape emotion dysregulation, and why DBT can be especially helpful when clinicians understand the transaction between identity, biology, environment, invalidation, and safety. If you are a therapist working with LGBTQ+ clients, or if you are trying to deepen your affirming practice beyond good intentions, this conversation offers a thoughtful clinical lens. Listen to the full episode of DBT for LGBTQ+ Mental Health: Self-Love, Emotional Resilience & Queer Joy With Dr. Kiki Fehling. Dr. Kiki Fehling, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and Linehan-Board-certified Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) expert therapist. She specializes in emotional sensitivity, borderline personality disorder, self-harm and suicide, trauma, and LGBTQ+ mental health. She is the co-author of Self-Directed DBT Skills: A 3-Month DBT Workbook and regularly shares mental health tips and DBT-related posts through her @dbtkiki social media accounts. Her work focuses on making DBT skills more accessible and affirming for LGBTQ+ people, especially around self-love, emotional resilience, minority stress, and queer joy. Website: https://www.kikifehling.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dbtkiki/ Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkikifehling/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/drkikifehling/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dbtkiki Lorain Moorehead is a therapist, consultant, and EMDR Certified, EMDRIA‑approved consultant specializing in trauma‑informed care and EMDR integration. She works with high‑achieving adults navigating anxiety, perfectionism, identity loss, and relational stress through depth‑oriented, evidence‑based approaches. Lorain brings advanced training in DBT and certification in Perinatal Mental Health, grounding her work in safety, attunement, and nervous‑system awareness. She also supports clinicians through supervision, consultation, and training, with a strong focus on ethical practice and clinical decisionmaking. In 2025, she launched The Self Care‑apist Therapist Podcast, creating space for therapists to explore innovative, research‑backed modalities—including emerging conversations around KAP and trauma treatment. Website: https://lorainmoorehead.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorainmoorehead/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theselfcareapist/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theselfcareapist YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjS1AkQopGeVq6eP-1j7Y4i-oloOPSJmw A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What can interracial couples teach therapists about race, family systems, and the conversations many clients are still learning how to have? In this episode of The Self Careapist Therapist , I sit down with Dr. Geoffrey Greif and Victoria D. Stubbs, LCSW, co-authors of Interracial Marriage: How Diverse Couples Navigate Relationships. We talk about what hundreds of interviews with interracial and interethnic couples revealed about communication, family approval, identity, power, children, language, safety, and the daily accommodations many couples learn to make. We also explore how therapists can approach these conversations with more humility, curiosity, and clinical nuance. Victoria shares how the six pillars of a brave space framework can support conversations about race, power, privilege, oppression, and identity, while Geoffrey highlights what research interviews can reveal that surveys often miss. Listen to this episode of Interracial Marriage: Love, Identity, and Navigating Differences with Geoffrey Greif and Victoria D. Stubbs Dr. Geoffrey Greif is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, researcher, author, and co-author of Interracial Marriage: How Diverse Couples Navigate Relationships. His work spans family relationships, fathers, adult sibling relationships, group work, and interracial marriage research. Website: https://geoffreygreifbooks.com Victoria D. Stubbs is the founder of Inner Truth Psychotherapy and Wellness, co-author of Interracial Marriage: How Diverse Couples Navigate Relationships and was previously a full-time clinical instructor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Website: https://www.innertruthllc.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/innertruthllc/ Discover how love transcends boundaries — click the link to grab your copy of Interracial Marriage: How Diverse Couples Navigate Relationships in a Divided Time and explore the powerful, real stories that remind us that connection is stronger than division! Buy the Book Here: https://www.amazon.com/Interracial-Marriage-Diverse-Navigate-Relationships/dp/0231218192 Lorain Moorehead is a therapist, consultant, and EMDR Certified, EMDRIA‑approved consultant specializing in trauma‑informed care and EMDR integration. She works with high‑achieving adults navigating anxiety, perfectionism, identity loss, and relational stress through depth‑oriented, evidence‑based approaches. Lorain brings advanced training in DBT and certification in Perinatal Mental Health, grounding her work in safety, attunement, and nervous‑system awareness. She also supports clinicians through supervision, consultation, and training, with a strong focus on ethical practice and clinical decisionmaking. In 2025, she launched The Self Care‑apist Therapist Podcast, creating space for therapists to explore innovative, research‑backed modalities—including emerging conversations around KAP and trauma treatment. Website: https://lorainmoorehead.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorainmoorehead/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theselfcareapist/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theselfcareapist YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjS1AkQopGeVq6eP-1j7Y4i-oloOPSJmw A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

Your most contained, rule-following, hardest-working clients may be the ones standard DBT is least equipped to help. In this episode of Self Careapist Therapist, I sit down with Dr. Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher, lecturer at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UIC, and owner of EAF ReCenter. With over 30 years of clinical and teaching experience, Dr. Astrachan-Fletcher is a nationally recognized expert in both DBT and Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT). She is the co-author of two clinical workbooks used in eating disorder treatment programs across the country, and her third book, RO-DBT for Anxiety, is set for release in August 2026. We cover what RO-DBT is, who it's designed for, how it differs from standard DBT, and what a training path looks like for clinicians who want to learn it. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Radically Open DBT was developed by Dr. Tom Lynch after observing that many clients, particularly those with chronic depression, restrictive eating disorders, and anxiety, were not responding to standard DBT. Standard DBT targets emotional dysregulation, helping clients learn to contain and control. RO-DBT does the opposite: it targets emotional overcontrol, the pattern of holding emotions in, appearing fine, and disconnecting from authentic social signaling. Dr. Astrachan-Fletcher explains the concept of emotional leakage, the moments when a tightly controlled client expresses emotion in unexpected, often indirect ways. She walks through the three core treatment targets in RO-DBT: flexibility, receptivity and openness, and true connection. True connection, she is careful to clarify, is not having a large social network. It is the felt experience of being known and loved even in your most uncomfortable truths. We also discuss emotional loneliness, what Tom Lynch identifies as the core suffering of overcontrolled clients: feeling utterly alone in a room full of people. Dr. Astrachan-Fletcher explains how this loneliness develops from the overcontrolled pattern of masking inner experience and what RO-DBT teaches clients to do differently. Other topics from this conversation: The temperament and developmental origins of overcontrol, including the role of threat sensitivity and detail focus in shaping coping early in life. The three mind states in RO-DBT: fixed mind, fatalistic mind, and flexible mind, and how each shows up in session. The clinical presentation differences between emotionally undercontrolled and overcontrolled clients, and how easy it is to misread a controlled client as doing well. Why RO-DBT calls its group component a "class" rather than a group, and what that distinction signals about how overcontrolled clients experience social environments. How RO-DBT is transdiagnostic, reaching across depression, OCPD, restrictive eating disorders, anxiety, and several personality disorders. Resources Mentioned: Official RO-DBT Training Site: radicallyopendbt.net EAF ReCenter (Dr. Astrachan-Fletcher's practice): eaf-recenter.com RO-DBT for Eating Disorders workbook by Dr. Astrachan-Fletcher RO-DBT for Anxiety (forthcoming, August 2026) by Dr. Astrachan-Fletcher Key Points: 00:00 Introduction 03:19 Emotional overcontrol defined 06:51 Overcontrol as the “high road” 09:03 DBT and RO-DBT as dialectics 12:50 Leakage in real life 15:05 Flexibility, openness, true connection 19:49 Social signaling 23:57 Frozen and masked expressions 25:28 Mirror neurons and Botox 28:02 The eyebrow wag 31:29 Self-inquiry and Malamati Sufism 35:38 Self-inquiry meets EMDR 39:14 Mindfulness differences 43:36 Playfulness and teasing 45:35 Screening and self-reporting 50:00 Skills class structure 53:28 Diagnoses that respond to RO-DBT 58:02 Self-care recommendation Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher is a licensed clinical psychologist, Founder of EAF reCenter, and expert in eating disorders, DBT, and Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT). With nearly three decades of experience spanning academia, clinical leadership, supervision, and training, she specializes in helping individuals cultivate authentic connection and emotional resilience. Website: https://www.eaf-recenter.com/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-astrachan-fletcher-ph-d-ceds-s-faed-a2aa8151/?isSelfProfile=false Lorain Moorehead is a therapist, consultant, and EMDR Certified, EMDRIA‑approved consultant specializing in trauma‑informed care and EMDR integration. She works with high‑achieving adults navigating anxiety, perfectionism, identity loss, and relational stress through depth‑oriented, evidence‑based approaches. Lorain brings advanced training in DBT and certification in Perinatal Mental Health, grounding her work in safety, attunement, and nervous‑system awareness. She also supports clinicians through supervision, consultation, and training, with a strong focus on ethical practice and clinical decision making. Website: https://lorainmoorehead.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorainmoorehead/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theselfcareapist/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theselfcareapist YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjS1AkQopGeVq6eP-1j7Y4i-oloOPSJmw A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

Moments of hesitation after a first EMDR session often signal that meaningful work has already begun. In this episode of The Self Careapist Therapist , I break down what’s really happening when clients feel unsure about continuing EMDR after their first session. I walk through common reactions like exhaustion, vivid dreams, confusion, and the sense that something shifted without fully understanding why. I also talk about how to respond clinically. Sometimes it’s about better debriefing and helping clients understand what their brain is doing. In some cases, hesitation points to something deeper. Slowing down, strengthening safety, and meeting the client where they are can make the difference between dropout and meaningful progress. Let this episode sharpen how you interpret hesitation in your clients. Watch now Why Clients Skip Their Second EMDR Session (And What It's Telling You). Lorain Moorehead is a therapist, consultant, and EMDR Certified, EMDRIA‑approved consultant specializing in trauma‑informed care and EMDR integration. She works with high‑achieving adults navigating anxiety, perfectionism, identity loss, and relational stress through depth‑oriented, evidence‑based approaches. Lorain brings advanced training in DBT and certification in Perinatal Mental Health, grounding her work in safety, attunement, and nervous‑system awareness. She also supports clinicians through supervision, consultation, and training, with a strong focus on ethical practice and clinical decisionmaking. In 2025, she launched The Self Care‑apist Therapist Podcast, creating space for therapists to explore innovative, research‑backed modalities—including emerging conversations around KAP and trauma treatment. Website: https://lorainmoorehead.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorainmoorehead/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theselfcareapist/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theselfcareapist YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjS1AkQopGeVq6eP-1j7Y4i-oloOPSJmw The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What does it actually mean to practice ACT — and how would you know if you already are? Dr. Steven C. Hayes, the originator of acceptance and commitment therapy, joins the podcast to talk about the 45-year arc of ACT's development, where the field of psychotherapy has gone wrong, and what it would mean to truly serve the person sitting in front of you. This conversation covers the six core processes of psychological flexibility, why randomized controlled trials may be misleading your clinical work, and why Dr. Hayes thinks every therapist should start by trying ACT on themselves. If you have been ACT-curious, or if you have been using elements of it without naming it, this episode gives you the bones. Episode Timestamps 0:00 — Introduction 1:27 — What ACT is, and why it may already be in your practice 2:41 — ACT in a single sentence: open, aware, and actively engaged 4:48 — The origin story: personal suffering, panic disorder, and the limits of existing evidence-based therapy 8:08 — Did ACT precede DBT? Dr. Hayes on Marsha Linehan and the shared roots of third-wave approaches 10:35 — Process-based therapy: why the technique matters less than the mechanism 13:29 — What to do instead of drawing a fence around your modality 21:27 — The six core processes of psychological flexibility, explained one by one 29:32 — Reaching more people: how ACT is being used in lower- and middle-income countries 33:28 — Why your journal articles may be statistically misleading you (the ergodic theorem) 38:30 — Idiographic measurement: tracking the individual, not the aggregate 43:00 — PsychFlex and the Personalized Life Assessment Network: tools you can use now 48:51 — The eugenics roots of standard statistical methods in psychology 52:29 — The neurodiversity movement and what it gets right 56:00 — Outcome measurement that fits the actual person 1:01:35 — Where ACT is going: empowering clinicians from the bottom up Episode Highlights ACT is not a set of techniques. It is a model built around processes of change — the small, repeatable behaviors that lift people up or push them down. A new randomized trial is published on ACT every two days. Psychological flexibility — learning to be more open, aware, and actively engaged in meaningful life — is the core target of ACT. Dr. Hayes argues it is also the mediating mechanism behind DBT, MBCT, and most other third-wave approaches. The six core processes of ACT are organized around three pairs: openness (cognitive defusion and acceptance), awareness (flexible attention and a transcendent sense of self), and engagement (values and committed action). They are not six separate things — they work as a system. The statistical methods clinicians rely on — Pearson's R, analysis of variance, factor analysis — were developed by eugenicists and assume that differences between people predict any individual's future. The ergodic theorem, proven in the 1930s, demonstrates mathematically that this assumption is false. Process-based therapy means starting with the person in front of you, identifying which processes are lifting them up or pushing them down, and choosing methods that move those processes. The label you attach to it matters less than whether it works for that person. Dr. Hayes recommends two starting points for clinicians: (1) do a perceived causal network with your client — map what matters, what helps, what hurts — and (2) track those nodes over time with a small number of personalized items. He has been doing this with himself for years. ACT has more randomized trials from lower- and middle-income countries than any other psychotherapy model. Dr. Hayes attributes this to the process-based approach: when clinicians are empowered to apply principles in their own cultural language, the framework travels. Resource A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What happens when a therapist takes EMDR training, loves the eye movements, and throws out the protocol entirely? Laney Rosenzweig did exactly that. In 2007, she walked out of an EMDR training room convinced there was a better way. Eighteen years later, ART (Accelerated Resolution Therapy) has been trained at military bases, studied at Mayo Clinic and Yale, and is resolving complex trauma in a single session. Laney joins the show to break down how ART works, who it helps, and what the training path looks like for licensed clinicians. Episode Timestamps • 0:38 - The origin story of ART • 9:27 - Modifications since the stroke and continued dedication • 10:14 - Commonalities between ART and EMDR origins • 11:48 - Eye movements vs. other bilateral stimulation methods • 13:45 - Positization and the role of humor in ART • 15:32 - The ART script and how it restructures trauma • 17:14 - ART training at military bases and Walter Reed • 18:33 - ART as a foundational model vs. EMDR • 19:24 - Free association vs. guided protocol • 22:56 - How to set expectations with new ART clients • 24:25 - The role of metaphor in ART • 26:23 - Staying passionate after decades of clinical work • 28:30 - What to expect from the basic three-day training • 31:43 - Practicum structure and the three-to-one ratio • 33:25 - Advanced training and credentialing pathway • 36:09 - Who is not a candidate for ART • 37:19 - How to explain ART to a new client • 39:56 - Working with children and the SAFT technique • 42:53 - Training licensed therapists and ethical considerations • 44:30 - Becoming an ART trainer • 47:36 - How ART grew through word of mouth and research • 54:03 - Free intro sessions and getting started • 58:12 - Self-care through ART Episode Highlights • ART was developed after Laney found EMDR's free association protocol too unpredictable. By placing eye movements directly on the problem and building in a structured end point, she created a model that consistently resolves trauma in one session. • The core mechanism is image rescripting combined with eye movements. Rather than asking clients to free associate, the ART script guides the brain to replace distressing images with positive ones, which Laney calls positization. • Humor is a deliberate part of the ART approach. Laney gave the example of a palmetto bug phobia transformed into a favorable image of Willie Nelson. When clients can bring lightness to a previously terrifying image, the therapeutic shift has taken hold. • Metaphor is built into the model, not added as an option. The brain processes in images during sleep, and ART mirrors that process. Clients who resist direct confrontation of a trauma can work entirely through metaphor, including a structured script for clients who fear change. • ART is not free association. Unlike EMDR, the therapist guides the protocol from start to finish. Clients know what to expect and sessions have a clear endpoint, which Laney found critical for both therapist confidence and client safety. • The three-day basic training A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

Can Flash technique fully and permanently resolve a trauma memory in a single session, with almost no distress, even in clients with complex PTSD? Thomas Zimmerman has been answering that question for four and a half years, and his answer is yes. In this episode, he walks through the science, the structure, and the live protocol of the Predictive Processing Flash technique (formerly Four Blinks Version of Flash), with me as the client. Thomas is a mental health therapist, EMDR consultant, author, podcaster, and trainer based in Cleveland, Ohio. He developed his version of the Flash technique, originally called Four Blinks, around a predictive mind model of the brain. He explains why that model changes how we understand trauma, memory, and healing, and why it means every client is capable of change. We cover the four resourcing tools that make this approach safe for complex presentations, how Flash differs from EMDR in every structural and theoretical way, and what is actually happening in the nervous system during a session. Then we do a live demo. I work through a real memory in real time. Thomas also offers free Flash trainings every two weeks, free bi-monthly consultation, and a free weekly self-care Flash group for trained clinicians. This is a conversation worth sharing with every trauma-focused colleague in your network. Resources: https://emdrwithcomplextrauma.com/, https://thomaszimmerman.us/ , https://emdrcleveland.com/ 1:00 - Thomas's background: 10 careers, trauma work, and finding Flash 3:10 - From CBT to EMDR to Flash, and why each mattered 5:32 - Watching 70 consecutive clients resolve trauma without significant distress 6:29 - Flash is not a resource. How Zimmerman changed his understanding 8:29 - The working mechanism: how Flash actually resolves memory 9:20 - Why Zimmerman moved away from the triune brain model 11:28 - The predictive mind model: predictions, error, and precision weighting 14:07 - Why effective trauma approaches feel culturally non-intuitive 19:00 - Demo setup: orienting to what Flash asks you to do 20:25 - Resource 1: Container 22:09 - Resource 2: Shop Vac 26:17 - Resource 3: Pleasant (Calm) Scene 28:44 - Resource 4: Sensory Grounding 34:06 - Selecting the memory and setting up the live demo 37:34 - The Flash demo begins 44:22 - The memory resolves: checking for distress on all channels 47:06 - The positive cognition that installed on its own 51:41 - Neurobiological debrief: what just happened in the predictive mind 58:18 - Free Flash trainings, consultation, and the weekly therapist self-care group 59:49 - Why Thomas offers all of this at no charge 1:02:43 - Thomas's book and the metaphorical index 1:05:19 - Self-care: what Flash has done for Thomas personally Episode Highlights Flash technique fully and permanently resolves trauma memories, not just reduces distress before EMDR. Zimmerman watched 70 consecutive clients complete full adaptive resolution before he changed how he understood the modality. A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What if the most common sticking points in EMDR therapy have clear, evidence-informed answers? In this solo episode, Lorain Moorehead, LCSW draws directly from her EMDR consultations with therapists to answer five questions that come up again and again in clinical practice. From understanding adaptive information processing and the eight-stage EMDR protocol to navigating negative cognitions, assessing dual awareness, and knowing when to adjust bilateral stimulation, this episode is a practical resource for therapists at every stage of their EMDR training and practice. Whether you are newly trained or a seasoned EMDR therapist, this episode will sharpen how you approach your next session. 0:00 - Intro 1:15 - How adaptive information processing works 2:29 - How trauma generalizes across situations 4:30 - The eight-stage EMDR protocol 6:16 - Resourcing and dual awareness 8:20 - Signs a client needs more resourcing 10:20 - Building the trauma timeline: first, worst, and most recent 13:00 - Virtual EMDR and eye movements vs. other bilateral stimulation 16:00 - Negative cognitions and linked trauma targets 18:11 - Why negative cognitions are hard to identify 20:16 - Criteria for a strong negative cognition 22:38 - Belief vs. fact: an important distinction 24:32 - The gut punch test for the right NC 26:42 - When a client is stuck in reprocessing 28:29 - Adjusting BLS length and speed 30:44 - Combining bilateral stimulation modalities Episode Highlights: Adaptive information processing is the theory underlying EMDR. The brain has a natural capacity to process experience, but trauma disrupts that process, and what begins as one trigger can generalize to many situations over time. EMDR is an eight-stage protocol, and the reprocessing portion is only one part of it. The work has already begun long before bilateral stimulation starts. Assessing dual awareness, the ability to hold one foot in the present and one foot in the past, is one of the most important readiness indicators before moving into reprocessing. Spending multiple sessions on resourcing is not a delay. It builds the capacity for clients to visit difficult material and return to the present moment without destabilizing. The trauma timeline does not need to be exhaustive. Focusing on the first, worst, and most recent incidents is enough to identify the full scope of a target without unnecessarily retraumatizing clients in the process. Eye movements tend to be the most effective form of bilateral stimulation for many clients, and virtual EMDR can be just as productive as in-person sessions when set up thoughtfully. A negative cognition must be about the self, negative rather than neutral, a belief and not a fact, and felt as present-tense relevant in order to carry the weight needed for reprocessing to move. Negative cognitions are often shaped in childhood and can persist even when the adult brain understands the situation differently on a logical level. The NC connects with the instinctual layer of belief, not the reasoning one. Continuing Education: Many episodes offer a free CEU for licensure in Arizona through the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Content is relevant for continuing education across LCSW, LMHC, LPC, LMFT, NCC, NBCC, and psychology licensure. Subscribe and leave a review — it helps other therapists find the show. A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What if mindfulness is not a homework assignment you give clients, but the thread running through every single clinical decision you make? In this episode of Self Careapist Therapist, I sit down with Dr. Nikki Rubin, licensed clinical psychologist, ACT specialist, assistant clinical professor at UCLA, and co-founder and COO of Mind Science Collective, a continuing education platform built by clinicians for clinicians. We trace the full history of cognitive behavioral therapies from first wave behaviorism through second wave cognitive interventions to the third wave approaches that define evidence-based practice today, including ACT, DBT, and CFT. Dr. Rubin breaks down how mindfulness functions as a core behavioral tool in the therapy room, how it connects to clinical intuition, and how to help clients distinguish between what their gut is really telling them versus what anxiety is projecting. We also dig into behavioral case formulation, the entrepreneurial path in private practice, and what it looks like to build a values-driven continuing education business. Stay until the end for a live guided mindfulness exercise, and use code SELFCAREAPIST10 at checkout for 10% off any MindScience Collective course. 0:00 - Intro 1:27 - How Dr. Rubin's passion for teaching and training clinicians began 4:48 - The founding of Mind Science Collective and what it offers 10:33 - How CE courses work and the range of topics available 13:18 - ACT values, creativity, and what drives the entrepreneurial instinct 13:38 - The history of CBT waves from Skinner to the third wave 18:06 - What might come after the third wave 21:09 - Reframing the therapist's relationship to marketing and business 27:22 - How mindfulness functions as the foundation of every clinical intervention 29:55 - A clinical example of moment-to-moment mindfulness with a patient 32:28 - Live guided mindfulness exercise with Dr. Rubin 37:12 - Processing the exercise and debunking myths about mindfulness 41:00 - The link between mindfulness and clinical intuition 43:35 - Distinguishing intuition from anxiety in session and in life 47:45 - Upcoming course: The Science of Intuition 48:27 - Supervision training and its parallels with behavioral case formulation 50:27 - What clinicians most commonly miss in case formulation 54:03 - Mindfulness as a thread across theoretical orientations 56:24 - Dr. Rubin's personal approach to self-care Episode Highlights: Mindfulness is a core behavioral practice that threads through every clinical intervention, from conceptualization to treatment planning to in-session responses, and carries far more clinical utility than assigning meditation as homework. Third wave CBT therapies, including ACT, DBT, and CFT, emerged in the mid-1980s through a formal integration of acceptance-based and mindfulness-based practices alongside second wave cognitive techniques. ACT values extend beyond the therapy room into professional decisions, entrepreneurial endeavors, and how clinicians approach their own continuing education and growth. Mindfulness is not about clearing the mind. It is about paying present-moment attention while the brain does exactly what it is designed to do, which is generate thoughts, get distracted, and generate distraction again. Mindfulness and intuition are deeply linked. Mindfulness creates the space needed to quiet mental noise so that what intuition is communicating can actually be heard. Intuition is not premonition. It is a synthesis of all available data up to this moment, and it requires practiced mindful awareness to distinguish it from A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What if perfectionism has nothing to do with wanting things done well? Dr. Paul L. Hewitt, Full Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, researcher, and co-author of Perfectionism: A Relational Approach to Conceptualization, Assessment, and Treatment, joins the podcast to reframe perfectionism as a deeply relational personality style born out of unmet attachment needs. This conversation covers the development of perfectionism through early relational asynchrony, how it functions differently from conscientiousness or high standards, what Dynamic-Relational Therapy for Perfectionism looks like in practice, and what clinicians should know about the depth of pain underneath a high-functioning exterior. The episode also covers new research on how perfectionism in therapists affects the therapeutic alliance. 0:00 - Intro and Dr. Hewitt's background 0:54 - How a dentist's waiting room started a research career 2:30 - Personal connection to perfectionism through classical music training 3:17 - Defining perfectionism as a personality style rather than a set of attitudes 4:03 - The unmet relational and esteem needs underneath perfectionism 8:18 - Whether perfectionism concentrates in one area or crosses all life domains 11:55 - Why achievement fails to correct the core wound (case example) 14:06 - Links to attachment theory and early developmental asynchrony 22:51 - Perfectionism in high-achieving professionals and entrepreneurs 27:20 - The wrong tool: an elegant but ultimately childlike solution to deep pain 28:21 - How treatment parallels the challenge of exposure work in OCD 30:56 - Distinguishing clinical perfectionism from conscientiousness and high standards 32:20 - The vulnerability piece: procrastination and never getting started 33:35 - Dr. Hewitt's concerns about symptom-based classification systems 36:14 - What typically brings someone to therapy for perfectionism 38:29 - The tenets of Dynamic-Relational Therapy for Perfectionism 40:54 - How the therapeutic relationship becomes the vehicle for change 42:37 - Treatment length and the 30-session research benchmark 43:46 - The clinician workshop training model explained 54:24 - The perfectionism book and the new paperback edition 57:38 - The depth of pain underneath high-functioning clients 59:44 - Concealment, imposter syndrome, and the hidden self 1:01:00 - Research on perfectionism in therapists and its impact on the alliance Episode Highlights: Perfectionism is a layered, complex personality style rooted in unmet needs for love, acceptance, and personal worth, not a drive for high standards. The core dynamic is a deeply human need to feel acceptable to others and worthy as a self, which perfectionism attempts to solve through a strategy that can never deliver what it promises. Perfectionism develops through early attachment asynchrony, where the child's needs are not adequately met and they learn that appearing perfect may be the path to safety and connection. Striving for excellence and perfectionism are meaningfully different. The key clinical signal is whether achievement produces any lasting impact on the person's sense of self. Perfectionism is less about trying to be perfect and more about ensuring one is never exposed as imperfect, making the fear of imperfection the central organizing force. Dynamic-Relational Therapy for Perfectionism targets the underlying relational needs rather than perfectionism behaviors themselve Continuing Education: Many episodes offer a free CEU for licensure in Arizona through the Board of A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What happens when two EMDR practitioners who trained together start comparing notes on ketamine? Amanda Baker, LCSW, a clinical social worker at Mindful Springs Counseling in Colorado Springs, joins the conversation to break down ketamine-assisted psychotherapy from the ground up. We explore the striking overlap in neural mechanisms between ketamine and EMDR, walk through the preparation and integration framework, and discuss the virtual group model Amanda ran to make CAP more accessible. She also addresses safety, contraindications, the prescriber relationship, what the training landscape looks like for therapists who want to get started, and why the answer to helping people is rarely about holding on to every client. 0:00 - Intro and Amanda's background 1:21 - Amanda's varied social work career and path to therapy 3:07 - Arrival at Mindful Springs and first exposure to ketamine 5:06 - EMDR training origins and how both modalities connect 9:28 - Moving past skepticism about psychedelics 12:24 - The neural mechanism behind ketamine and how it mirrors EMDR 14:13 - Types of ketamine delivery methods explained 18:00 - What preparation and integration look like in practice 24:21 - Building partnerships with prescribers 28:10 - The virtual ketamine group model 33:08 - The role of chaperones and reparative attachment 34:04 - Conditions the research supports treating with CAP 35:44 - Safety, contraindications, and the high-profile misuse case 40:37 - The history of psychedelics and ketamine's pharmaceutical origins 46:27 - Training resources and how to get started 49:51 - The social work mindset and connecting clients to the right provider 53:32 - Amanda's self-care and ethics-based consultation practice Episode Highlights: Ketamine and EMDR appear to share a neural mechanism, both promoting new neural development and activating overlapping brain regions associated with relaxation and healing. The types of ketamine treatment range from IV infusion and intramuscular injection to oral lozenges and esketamine nasal spray, with differing levels of psychedelic intensity and varying degrees of therapist involvement. Preparation and integration are not optional steps surrounding the dosing session. They are the therapeutic architecture that makes the experience meaningful and the outcomes lasting. A 24 to 48 hour window after a dosing session is the most active period for neural growth and integration, making timely follow-up a clinical priority. Low-dose psycholytic ketamine keeps clients alert and conversational, making it highly compatible with active therapeutic work during the session itself. A prescriber who is willing to write a prescription without speaking with the treating therapist first is a significant red flag. Contraindications include active psychosis or schizoaffective conditions, unregulated hypertension or thyroid disorders, significant cardiac irregularities, and pronounced rigid personality disorder features. The virtual group ketamine model supported four clients at a time through preparation, dosing, and integration, increasing accessibility by reducing individual session costs. The chaperone role during dosing sessions carries potential for reparative attachment, as clients often choose someone close to them who then shows up in a way the client may not have previously experienced. Training resources include Journey Clinical and Fluence, IPI, and Proddy; Sunny Strasburg's Panther model connects the EMDR eight phases directly to the CAP treatment structure. Website: A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What would it look like if we actually asked suicidal clients what was making them suicidal and then treated that? Dr. David Jobes, professor of psychology at The Catholic University of America, director of the CUA Suicide Prevention Lab, and developer of the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS), joins the podcast to challenge the dominant medical model response to suicidality and make the case for a better way. This conversation covers the history and structure of CAMS, the evidence behind it, how it compares to the safety plan, why the research on hospitalization should change how clinicians think about least-restrictive care, how CAMS works with adolescents, and the full range of training options available today, including the brief intervention model for inpatient and emergency settings. 0:00 - Intro and Dr. Jobes's background 0:57 - How a philosophy background led to 43 years in suicide research 3:09 - What came before modern suicide prevention 4:00 - The medical model problem and why hospitalization often increases risk 7:01 - Autonomy, agency, and why containment tends to backfire 9:38 - How CAMS works: the Suicide Status Form and the collaborative assessment 11:36 - Identifying drivers and building a treatment plan around them 15:50 - The relationship between CAMS and DBT 19:48 - Safety planning vs. the Crisis Response Plan: what the research actually shows 23:04 - The marketing problem and how DBT became world famous while better-evidenced tools stayed obscure 24:03 - Types of drivers: relational, vocational, and self-related 27:23 - Suicidal ideation rates post-COVID and what the data shows 30:12 - CAMS is effective at any level of ideation, not only crisis presentations 33:07 - How to get started: the Guilford Press book, CAMS Care training, and consultation 38:47 - The CAMS Brief Intervention model for inpatient and emergency settings 39:49 - Empath units as a model for humane emergency psychiatric care 41:21 - Training for teams, systems of care, and discounts for training programs 45:07 - Fidelity, training hubs, and the international reach of CAMS 48:12 - What CAMS adds that individual clinicians may not be getting in their training 51:09 - CAMS with adolescents: autonomy, existential drivers, and the Stabilization Support Plan for parents 55:16 - Grant support, funding shifts, and how to reach CAMS Care 56:32 - Dr. Jobes on self-care and consultation as an ethical and clinical requirement Episode Highlights: CAMS is a framework, not a new psychotherapy. Clinicians of any theoretical orientation can use it without abandoning their existing approach. The core of CAMS is a collaborative therapeutic assessment in which the clinician takes a figurative seat next to the client to complete the Suicide Status Form together, with the client as the primary author. The framework asks the client directly what makes them suicidal, then treats those drivers rather than treating a diagnosis or assuming depression is the primary target. The most common drivers identified through CAMS are relational and vocational, not diagnostic. Research on suicidality from people with lived experience confirms that the drivers are rarely the diagnosis itself. CAMS has seven randomized controlled trials supporting its effectiveness for reducing suicidal ideation, making it one of the most evidenced interventions in the field. The research on hospitalization consistently shows that coming out of inpatient care is a high-risk period, and involuntary commitment does not improve outcomes specific to suicide risk. It may incr A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

What if the key to understanding your mental health and relationships lies in how your brain developed from the very beginning? I'm joined by Michelle Maikoetter, LPC from the Neurosequential Network, to demystify the Neurosequential Model developed by Dr. Bruce Perry. We explore how our earliest experiences, from in utero through childhood, shape our capacity for self-regulation, connection, and reasoning in adulthood. This conversation is a deep dive into the 'regulate, relate, reason' framework, revealing why we often struggle with emotional healing and how we can sequence our support for true mental wellness. We also discuss the vital role of rhythm, relational health, and creating healing environments, even in our workplaces. Listen now to explore how this transformative lens can change your understanding of your own healing journey and your approach to therapy. 0:00 - Intro 1:44 - Michelle’s personal journey discovering the Neurosequential Model 4:18 - Why the model is a transformational lens for all of life 5:15 - The core tenets of brain development and early childhood impact 7:48 - How the Neurosequential assessment differs from a standard diagnosis 9:36 - Understanding bottom-up brain development 10:57 - Why we must sequence interventions, starting with sensory activities 13:57 - Breaking down the ‘Regulate, Relate, Reason’ framework 19:15 - The essential self-exploration and personal transformation in learning the model 21:38 - The key components of regulation and creating a balanced system 29:51 - How to create a relational and supportive workplace culture 33:32 - The profound relevance of rhythm to regulation and connection 46:39 - The role of empathy and shared humanity in this work 49:57 - How to learn more about the Neurosequential Model Episode Highlights: The brain develops sequentially, and experiences from in utero to age three have a disproportionate impact on its organization. Our capacity for regulation, relationship, and reason is built upon foundational neural pathways laid down in our earliest years. To be effective, interventions must be sequenced developmentally, often starting with sensory and regulatory activities before cognitive work. The "Regulate, Relate, Reason" framework reflects the biological order in which our brain processes information. We cannot be relational or access our reasoning cortex when we are in a dysregulated, reactive state. Self-care is about maintaining a consistent baseline of arousal so we aren't overly reactive to daily stressors. Rhythm is a powerful and often overlooked regulatory tool, intertwined with our earliest developmental experiences. When someone is struggling, the goal should be to increase both structure and relational support, not withdraw connection. True empathy requires us to be in a regulated space to imagine another's experience and acknowledge our shared humanity. For change to be sustainable in any system, the leadership and environment must be aligned with the relational model being taught. Resources: Book: What Happened to You by Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey Book: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry Book: Born for Love by Bruce Perry Website: Neurosequential Network ( neurosequential.com ) Guest: Michelle Maikoetter, LPC – Director of Special Projects, Neurosequential Network Continuing Education: Many episodes offer a free CEU for licensure in Arizona through the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Content is relevant for continuing education across LCSW, LMHC, LPC, LMFT, NCC, NBCC, and psychol A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!

In this episode, I sit down with clinical social worker and author Sophia Vale Galano to discuss her newly released book, Calming Teenage Anxiety: A Parent's Guide to Helping Your Teenager Cope with Worry (published by Hatherley Press, distributed by Penguin Random House). Sophia shares practical tools and strategies for parents navigating teenage anxiety, exploring the unique challenges teens face today including academic stress, social media pressures, and delayed developmental stages post-COVID. We discuss how parents can shift from fixing and controlling to coaching and collaborating, and why curiosity and open-ended questions are a parent's best friend. In this conversation, we explore: How to distinguish between typical teenage behavior and clinical anxiety The importance of tracking patterns with curiosity rather than judgment Why social media isn't all bad (and how to help teens find the positive) Moving from directive parenting to a coaching approach The developmental delays we're seeing post-COVID and what that means for families How well-intentioned parenting can accidentally push teens away Practical phrases and approaches parents can use today Key takeaway: Sometimes what looks like typical teenage moodiness requires a closer look. By tracking how often and to what extent a teen is struggling, parents can better understand when it's time for additional support. Sophia also shares her publishing journey, offering insights for aspiring authors on how to navigate the process without a literary agent and turn your message into a book that helps people. About Sophia Vale Galano: Sophia is an LCSW who has been working with teens and their families for nearly 11 years in private practice, residential treatment centers, and school settings. Her book provides a compassionate, practical blueprint for parents who want to support their anxious teens. Resources mentioned: Calming Teenage Anxiety: A Parent's Guide to Helping Your Teenager Cope with Worry by Sophia Vale Galano Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, and local bookstores Port Light Books for bulk sales Continuing Education: Many episodes offer a free CEU for licensure in Arizona through the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Content is relevant for continuing education across LCSW, LMHC, LPC, LMFT, NCC, NBCC, and psychology licensure. Subscribe and leave a review — it helps other therapists find the show. A short mid-roll CTA inviting listeners to take the Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz, identify their clinical stuck point, and access personalized resources. Includes an optional invitation to join Lorain’s newsletter. The Self Care apist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice. With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here! If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource. See you next week!