Therapy Chat | Psychotherapy | Mindfulness | Trauma | Attachment | Worthiness | Self Care | Parenting

Welcome to episode 159 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. Today Laura speaks with Deb Dana, LCSW about Polyvagal Theory.   Deb’s work is based on the principles of Polyvagal Theory. Developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory offers a way to understand the human autonomic nervous system and directly engage with our habitual patterns of response. Through a polyvagal lens we learn to listen to our embodied stories.  Using a polyvagal perspective, we can let go of self-criticism and bring an open heart to exploring the "ways and whys" of our daily experience...how we interact or isolate, join or judge, move toward or away, speak or stay silent.  Resources https://www.rhythmofregulation.com  Leave me a message via Speakpipe by going to https://therapychatpodcast.com and clicking on the green Speakpipe button. Please consider supporting Therapy Chat by becoming a member on Patreon! Just $1 a month would make a huge impact to keep Therapy Chat going strong! To learn more: http

Welcome to episode 158 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. Today’s episode is a solo episode where Laura discusses the importance of self-care, avoiding chronic stress and keeping tabs on your health and well-being before issues start. Resources: https://therapychatpodcast.com   Episode 110 with Kyle Davies: http://traffic.libsyn.com/baltimoreannapolispsychotherapypodcast/TherapyChat_EP110.mp3 Poet Nayyirah Waheed on Instagram: @nayyirahwaheed   Her website: https://www.nayyirahwaheed.com/salt Leave me a message via Speakpipe by going to https://therapychatpodcast.com and clicking on the green Speakpipe button. Please consider supporting Therapy Chat by becoming a member on Patreon! Just $1 a month would make a huge impact to keep Therapy Chat going strong! To learn more: https://patreon.com/TherapyChat - members get special perks and swag too! Thank you for listening to Therapy Chat! Please be sure to go to iTunes and leave a rating and review, subscribe and download episodes. You ca

Welcome to episode 157 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. This week we're delighted to welcome back Lanie Smith return to the podcast who talks all about creativity, play, and intuition Lanie Smith, MPS, ATR, a registered art therapist, has worked in a variety of settings for several years. Her work began with the Nat'l Institute of Health, researching the efficacy of art therapy with war-affected youth in N. Uganda, followed by two publications. Lanie developed environmental art therapy for sustainable practice at numerous sites in the Phoenix area. She provides art therapy to others to support the prevention of burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. Lanie also supervises and trains on the ethical considerations regarding the use of art in therapy. Resources https://www.laniesmithcoaching.com Leave me a message via Speakpipe by going to https://therapychatpodcast.com and clicking on the green Speakpipe button. Please consider supporting Therapy Chat by becoming a

Welcome to episode 156 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. This week, we’re delighted to welcome back Dr. Natalie Feinblatt who speaks to us all about working with former cult members. Dr. Natalie Feinblatt is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice. She is based in Santa Monica & specializes in addiction. Natalie's goal is to empower her clients to live their lives with as much passion & purpose as possible. If you're willing to make changes to live a better life, then she is happy to help you do so every step of the way. If you're struggling to get sober, you're scared about the impact sobriety might have on your creative abilities (and life in general). If you're in early sobriety, you're working to gain your footing in a new landscape. If you're a trauma survivor, you're wondering why your sensitivity & insight aren't helping you get to that light at the end of the tunnel. What do you do if your pain is too great to handl

Welcome to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode, we’re delighted to welcome Dr. Robert T. Muller, author of the new book, "Trauma & the Struggle to Open Up". Dr. Robert T. Muller trained at Harvard University, was on faculty at the University of Massachusetts, and is currently at York University in Toronto. Dr. Muller was recently honored as a Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation (ISSTD) for his work on trauma treatment. And his psychotherapy bestseller, Trauma and the Avoidant Client, in its third printing, has been translated and won the 2011 ISSTD award for the year's best written work on trauma. As lead investigator on several multi-site programs to treat interpersonal trauma, Dr. Muller has lectured internationally and has been the keynote speaker at mental health conferences in New Zealand and Canada. He founded an online magazine, The Trauma & Mental Health Report, that is now visited by over 100,000 readers a year. With over 20 years in the fie

Welcome to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode, we’re delighted to welcome Robyn E. Brickel, MA, LMFT to the podcast. Robyn E. Brickel, MA, LMFT is the clinical director and lead therapist at Brickel and Associates, LLC in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, which she founded in 1999. She is deeply committed to clinical practice, professional education and better public awareness of mental health issues. Robyn practices a strengths-based approach to therapy. She helps clients process and heal from trauma, addictions, challenged family systems, and mood disorders including maternal mental health issues. She works with individuals (both adolescents and adults), couples, families, and groups. With advanced training and experience in the treatment of trauma, dissociation, addiction and maternal mental health, Robyn helps people make and maintain positive changes in their lives. Clients find a safe therapeutic environment for recovering from dysfunctional relationships, anxiety, depression, abuse history, addictions, and

Welcome to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode, we’re delighted to welcome back trauma specialist and EMDR trained clinician Nityda Gessel. Feeling like a foreigner in your own body is beyond unsettling. Despite your drive and success, it is challenging to feel worthy, comfortable, and at peace within your own skin, and this further exacerbates your fear that you are just not good enough. You might worry that there is no fix for you and you'll feel this way forever. And because to others, you appear to have it all together, it's incredibly lonely to know that inside you there is a longing for love and living that is not being satiated- a pervasive fear that love and joy may never come. Nityda Gessel works with women who due to a traumatic past and overwhelming self-doubt, struggle to cultivate meaningful and fulfilling relationships and feel a sense of purpose in life. Her approach is one that addresses the mind and body as a whole. Nityda integrates somatic awareness, yoga, meditation and mindfulness in

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode, Laura speaks with Susan Pease Banitt, LCSW about wisdom, attachment + Love in trauma therapy. Susan Pease Banitt, LCSW is a social worker, psychotherapist and author who specializes in the treatment of severe trauma and PTSD. She has worked in the field of mental health for more than four decades in diverse settings: inpatient, outpatient, and medical with adults and children, and trained in the Harvard medical teaching hospitals in Boston, MA. She is a Karuna Reiki® Master, Kripalu trained yoga teacher (RYT 200), and shamanic healer in the Celtic tradition.In addition Susan studied Past Life Regression Therapy with Dr. Brian Weiss. Susan’s book The Trauma Tool Kit: Healing PTSD From the Inside Out won several awards including; the Alumni Media Award for Written Work by Simmons College School of Social Work, the Silver Nautilus Award for Health and Healing and was runner-up at the London Book Fair in the category of Spiritual Books.  Susan speaks international

Welcome to episode 151 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. Today, Laura revists her interview with Dr. Richard Schwartz.   Richard Schwartz earned his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University, after which he began a long association with the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and more recently at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, attaining the status of Associate Professor at both institutions. He is coauthor, with Michael Nichols, of Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, the most widely used family therapy text in the United States. Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems in response to clients' descriptions of experiencing various parts–many extreme–within themselves. He noticed that when these parts felt safe and had their concerns addressed, they were less disruptive and would accede to the wise leadership of what Dr. Schwartz came to call the "Self." In developing IFS, he recognized that, a

Welcome to episode 150 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. Today I’m revisiting my interview with Sarah Peyton. Sarah Peyton, international speaker and facilitator, has a passion for weaving together neuroscience knowledge and experiences of healing that unify people with their brains and bodies. Sarah makes Interpersonal Neurobiology research available for our embodied brains to use in living at peace with ourselves. Funny, touching, and filled with personal stories and up-to-date research on our nervous systems and how they interact with each other, her presentations change lives and invite self-acceptance and self-compassion. Sarah offers healing experiences of hearing ourselves and others deeply (using the precision and resonant language that come alive in the long-term study of Nonviolent communication) and 3D body-centered explorations of families over generations (through family constellation work.) Sarah is a CNVC Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication;  an experienced f

Welcome to episode 149 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. Today Laura revisits her chat with Dr. Pat Ogden about bottom-up processing using sensorimotor psychotherapy.  SPI is a professional educational organization that designs and provides the highest-level trainings and services to serve a global network of mental health practitioners, and for the public at large. Seeking to enhance human relationships, our paradigm is substantiated by interpersonal neurobiology and impelled by mindfulness applied in interactive contexts. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy draws from somatic therapies, neuroscience, attachment theory, and cognitive approaches, as well as from the Hakomi Method. Since the first course in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy was offered in the early 1980’s, it has gained international acclaim. The first book on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy®, Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy, published in the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology in 2006 gained internat

Welcome to episode 148 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. This week's episode features Laura revisiting her interview with Dr. Gabor Maté. Dr. Maté is the co-founder of Compassion for Addiction, a new non-profit that focuses on addiction. He is also an advisor of Drugs over Dinner. As an author, Dr. Maté has written several bestselling books including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress; and Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder, and co-authored Hold on to Your Kids. His works have been published internationally in twenty languages. For twelve years Dr. Maté worked in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with patients challenged by hard-core drug addiction, mental illness and HIV, including at Vancouver’s Supervised Injection Site. With over 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience and extensive knowledge of the latest findings of

Welcome to episode 147 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. This week Laura re-visits her interview with Buddhist Psychologist and student of Thich Nhat Hahn Tim Ambrose Desmond, LMFT.   Tim Desmond is a mindfulness teacher, therapist in private practice, and co-founder of Morning Sun Mindfulness Center in Alstead, NH. He is the author of Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy (W.W. Norton, 2015) and offers training and consultation to therapists around the world, helping them to integrate positive psychology and mindfulness practices into their work. Tim has presented at Yale University, the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy Colloquium, Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Conference, and the International Society for Ethics in Psychology and Psychiatry, as well as to mental health audiences around the country. His writings on mindfulness and positive psychology have appeared in the Psychotherapy Networker and the Mindfulness Bell magazine. Tim was interviewed about self-compassion by t

Welcome to episode 146 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. This week Laura re-visits the issue of when your partner doesn't understand trauma. *The names and characters in this episode represent a composite of people I have know personally and professionally. No real person is represented in this episode, which is intended for educational purposes.* When Your Partner Doesn't Understand Your Trauma Michael can't understand it. He just doesn't get what is going on with his wife of over 25 years, Amy. Michael is concerned about her and wondering when she is going to "get over" the childhood physical and sexual abuse she went through years ago.  He really just wants her to be okay. And honestly, he's sick of her trauma symptoms affecting her, him and their children. He's not sure how much longer he can take it.  Why can't she just get over it? To be fair, Michael doesn't realize that Amy's mood and behavior are related to her childhood trauma. He

Welcome to episode 145 of the Therapy Chat Podcast with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. This week Laura re-visits her interview with Deirdre Fay, MSW, LICSW, who integrates trauma and attachment theory with yoga and meditation in embodiment. She is also the founder of the Becoming Safely Embodied Skills and maintains a private practice in Arlington, MA. The work she does arises out of her life. What she knows is grounded in her own healing as well as rigorous training as a psychotherapist looking for answers and ways to help others navigate the often-difficult terrain of healing trauma and attachment wounds. Deirdre knows what it’s like to make that journey. She did it dealing with her own history of trauma and as she searched for answers to relational and attachment issues. During the course of her life, she was lucky to have lived for six years in a spiritual community [Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health] which surrounded her with a nurturing environment. That experience grounded Deirdre in her commitment to fin

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C re-visits her interview with Stuart Fensterheim, LCSW Stuart is a clinical social worker in Scottsdale, Arizona, practicing with couples using Sue Johnson’s Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) which is an attachment-based couples therapy method.  In the episode, Stuart talks about how he works on making connections with couples and how our childhood attachment affects the way we show up in relationships as adults. He also touches upon John Bowlby's Attachment Theory, which focuses on your relationship with your primary caretaker and how it influences everything through your life. To make sense of this theory, he talks further about the relationship young babies have with their caretaker, avoiding failure to thrive and how the needs of a young baby to experience touch and closeness, continue with us throughout our adult life. Resources http://www.thecouplesexpertscottsdale.com http://www.thecouplesexpertscottsdale.com/podcasts http://

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C re-visits her interview with Rebecca Wong, LCSW-R.  Rebecca Wong, LCSW-R, a relationship therapist in New Paltz, NY, the creator of Connectfulness, and co-host of the upcoming Practice Of Being Seen podcast. Rebecca talks about using play in her couples work, as well as how our attachment relates to our ability to trust our partners. Rebecca explains that needing attention is not a bad thing – it’s normal. She talks about the concept of being seen, in relationships and in our work with clients. She and Laura discuss getting out of our heads and into our bodies to connect with our partners, other people in our lives and as therapists, how we can connect with our clients. Rebecca explains how using animal-assisted therapy with dogs and horses helps us understand our emotions as shown in our bodies. Rebecca describes her five-step process of Connectfulness, a research-based practice she developed and uses with her couples therapy clients.

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C re-visits her interview with Amy Sugeno, LCSW. Amy is a clinical social worker in private practice who specializes in working with survivors of trauma related to attachment, particularly related to adoption. Amy explains how attachment trauma can affect children who were adopted, even if the adoption went as smoothly as it possibly could. She describes how children who have been adopted may act out behaviorally to tell their parents how they feel. Amy also talks about a surprising way adoptive parents (and others parenting traumatized children) may experience trauma themselves and how to recognize the symptoms. She and Laura discuss how prior difficulty with conceiving a child can contribute to the experience for parents, how the parent’s own attachment style and trauma history is “churned up” through the process of adoption. She describes how adoption can change relationships within a family and between the family and their community.

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode, Laura speaks with trauma specialist and EMDR trained clinician Nityda Gessel. Feeling like a foreigner in your own body is beyond unsettling. Despite your drive and success, it is challenging to feel worthy, comfortable, and at peace within your own skin, and this further exacerbates your fear that you are just not good enough. You might worry that there is no fix for you and you'll feel this way forever. And because to others, you appear to have it all together, it's incredibly lonely to know that inside you there is a longing for love and living that is not being satiated- a pervasive fear that love and joy may never come. Nityda Gessel works with women who due to a traumatic past and overwhelming self-doubt, struggle to cultivate meaningful and fulfilling relationships and feel a sense of purpose in life. Her approach is one that addresses the mind and body as a whole. Nityda integrates somatic awareness, yoga, meditation and mindfulness into psycho

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! In today’s episode, Laura speaks with Sharon Martin, LCSW. Sharon is a licensed therapist, counselor, and mental health and wellness writer based in San Jose, CA. She has spent 20 years providing counseling, therapy, and clinical supervision. Sharon has built a specialized private practice that reflects her belief that you matter, and you can love yourself, heal, be empowered, speak your truth, and create a life you love. Listen for Sharon’s incredible insights on life, well-being and much more! Resources https://livewellwithsharonmartin.com Register now for the next Daring Way™ and Relational Equine Assisted Learning retreat: https://laurareaganlcswc.com/retreat Leave me a message via Speakpipe by going to https://therapychatpodcast.com and clicking on the green Speakpipe button. Thank you for listening to Therapy Chat! Please be sure to go to iTunes and leave a rating and review, subscribe and download episodes. You can also download the Therapy Chat app on iTunes by clicking