Behavioral Health Today

Transitioning to Fatherhood with Rob Feiner, LPC – Episode 112

In today’s episode, Dr. Erin Elmore is joined by Rob Feiner. Rob is a licensed clinical counselor and has a private practice in Torrance, California with two decades of experience coaching diverse individuals. In 2018, Rob became a father and since then he’s combined his years of coaching and mental health with his experience fathering and now focuses his practice to include fathers-to-be on their journey to parenthood. Together they discuss the isolated feelings men have as new fathers, working with clients to help them become an active participant and equal partner in raising kids together, normalizing the transition to fatherhood, and knowing that there will be progress. For a new dad, this is the most significant thing that's probably happening in your life, where you will, now, be responsible for this human being and help them create a life for themselves.

 

For more information about Rob Feiner and his private practice, please visit: http://www.robfeiner.com

For more information about How to Not Hate Your Husband After Kids by Jancee Dunn, please visit: http://janceedunn.net/books/how-not-to-hate-your-husband-after-kids/

For more information about Pacify Me: A Handbook for the Freaked-Out New Dad by Chris Mancini, please visit: https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/Pacify-Me/Chris-Mancini/9781439128879

For more information about Husband on Purpose by Conrod Deas, please visit: https://husbandonpurpose.com

For more information about Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson, please visit: https://drsuejohnson.com/books/

For more information about the John Gottman interview on The Armchair Expert Podcast, please visit: https://armchairexpertpod.com/pods/john-gottman

For more information on John Kim The Angry Therapist, please visit: https://www.theangrytherapist.com

For more information about Mike Birbiglia: The New One, please visit: https://www.netflix.com/title/81062293

Part 2 – Trauma & the Therapy Relationship with Ragan Schriver, PsyD, MSW – Episode 111

In this concluding Clinicians Series episode, we resume our talk today with Dr. Graham Taylor and Dr. Ragan Schriver, Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Tennessee, by discussing how we can practice mindfulness and awareness with people that we're seeing. Together they discuss spirituality and how trauma can shape our idea of a higher power, they discuss the power of shame and guilt and how to combat trauma identity, and finally, they talk about ending therapy and working toward a therapeutic goodbye.

For more information about the University of Tennessee and its Social Work Program, please visit: https://www.csw.utk.edu/
For more information about What Happened to Me by Bruce D. Perry, PhD & Oprah Winfrey, please visit: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250223210
For more information about The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolb, MD, please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313183/the-body-keeps-the-score-by-bessel-van-der-kolk-md/

Part 1 – Trauma & the Therapy Relationship with Ragan Schriver, PsyD, MSW – Episode 110

In these two-part Clinicians Series episodes, we go deeper into the therapist/patient experience and give our listeners an understanding of what occurs within the therapeutic process. In today’s first part episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Ragan Schriver, PsyD, MSW. Ragan is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Tennessee’s College of Social Work and director of the MSW program. Together we discuss how trauma causes adaptations in our behavior, the importance of recognizing oneself in the therapeutic relationship, and the significance of doing your own inner work to avoid the vicarious trauma that can mislead our clients. We also talk about how the therapist/client relationship creates a corrective emotional experience opportunity and the importance of trust in that relationship.

For more information about the University of Tennessee and its Social Work Program, please visit: https://www.csw.utk.edu/
For more information about What Happened to Me by Bruce D. Perry, PhD & Oprah Winfrey, please visit: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250223210
For more information about The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolb, MD, please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313183/the-body-keeps-the-score-by-bessel-van-der-kolk-md/

 

What I Wished I Had Known as a Graduate Student with Dr. Nikki Johnson – Episode 109

Education is a privilege. It is an opportunity to help people and an opportunity at higher education. In this episode, Dr. Erin Elmore is joined by Dr. Nikki Johnson. Nikki is a clinical psychologist and a professor at Northwest University in Washington. The conversation with Dr. Johnson will be especially relevant for early career practitioners because we’re discussing tips for graduate students from the perspective of graduates of a program as well as Nikki’s experience as a teaching professor. Together they discuss what to expect in a doctorate level program, the responsibilities and eclectic roles as a college professor, advice for graduate students, tips on the graduate level interview process to get into graduate school, and defining successful graduates. Graduate-level education is a privilege and people are coming to you. They need help because they're trusting you, their lives are sometimes in your hands. And I think it's something we need to take seriously. Embrace it like it is your job because people's lives will depend on your work and not take that for granted.

 

For more information about Northwest University’s Doctoral Program, please visit: https://www.northwestu.edu/college-social-behavioral-sciences/doctor-psychology-counseling-psychology

If you would like to get in contact with Dr. Nikki Johnson, please email her at: drnljohnson@gmail.com

Trauma-Sensitive Yoga with Dr. Nicole Nakamura – Episode 108

New research is demonstrating that traumas can be transformed by having physical experiences, that directly address feelings of helplessness, rage, and fear and help with regaining self-mastery over one's life. One such therapeutic physical experience is trauma-sensitive yoga, and it is evidencing the ability to alleviate PTSD by creating connections between the body and the mind. In today’s episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Dr. Nicole Nakamura a licensed psychologist, trauma-informed therapist, and certified facilitator in trauma-sensitive yoga. Together they discuss processing traumas in our bodies, the process of trauma-sensitive yoga, and how you can pair this with therapy. Trauma-sensitive yoga provides us this opportunity to look internally to see how our bodies are reacting to emotions and familiarize ourselves with areas of the body and signs of safety internally. Another piece of trauma-sensitive yoga is decision-making and embodying the perspective that you don’t have to be one shape. This is a safe space to feel our bodies and participate in ways that feel most comfortable to us and provides an opportunity to introduce your nervous system to something different.

 

For more information about the Trauma Center for Trauma Sensitive Yoga, please visit:https://www.traumasensitiveyoga.com

For more information about Nicole Nakamura and her private practice, please visit: http://nicolenakamura.com

Integrating Spirituality and Therapy with Dan Kim, LMFT – Episode 107

At its core, spirituality is a connection and a relationship, but a disposition that flows from that. Therapy is spiritual work. In this episode, we proudly welcome our newest member to our podcast and today’s host Dr. Erin Elmore. Erin is joined by Daniel Kim, LMFT, who has 12 years of experience working with clients who struggle with trauma, relational problems, and spiritual issues. Dan has also worked with members of the clergy who struggle with deep personal issues. Together, Erin and Dan, discuss integrating faith with therapy practice, viewing therapy as spiritual work, working with pastors in therapy, and advocating for therapists to do their own personal work to become better at helping their clients. When we are helping people in our sessions experience unconditional positive regard, compassion, and love as a therapist, and treat our clients with worth and dignity, we help our clients love themselves with self-compassion and acceptance. That is spirituality.

 

For more information about Spiritual Strategy for Counseling and Psychotherapy by P. Scott Richards, PhD and Allen E. Bergin, PhD, please visit: https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4317077

For more information about How God Changes Your Brain by Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman, please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/120938/how-god-changes-your-brain-by-andrew-newberg-md-and-mark-robert-waldman/

For more information about Building Moral Intelligence by Michele Borba, Ed.D, please visit: https://www.micheleborba.com/books/building-moral-intelligence/

For more information about Soul Searching by Dr. William Doherty, please visit: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/soul-searching-15

For more information about Daniel Kim and his private practice, please visit: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/daniel-c-kim-la-mesa-ca/475310

The Impact of Untreated Trauma with Wendy Byrd, LPC, LMFT – Episode 106

Trauma and traumatic events can impact us, and those effects can ripple to other aspects of our lives that we may not be aware of. In today’s episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Wendy Byrd, LPC, LMFT, and president of the Board of Directors for EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). Together they discuss the impact of trauma and the ways the brain stores a traumatic event, like issues in avoidance, betrayal of self, substance use, shame, and the biological and physiological effects of our own body. We also discuss how trauma can ripple into our family system and impact relationships in your life, show up in how you parent your children, and the risks of secondary trauma. We want to encourage the importance of seeking treatment, so once trauma does it negatively affect those in your lives, around you nor limit your potential in life.

For more information about EMDR International Association
https://www.emdria.org

For more information about Wendy Byrd and her private practice, please visit:
https://www.wendybyrd.com

Building a Professional Network for Practitioners with Brandon Jones & Oliver Lubin – Episode 105

What if mental health practitioners had, in addition to state organizations, a network that provided national access and connection with colleagues, as well as larger exposure to numerous services, job listings, and licensing information to use as practitioners? The Triad Network is a free-of-charge hub for education, community, and career resources specifically for behavioral and mental health professionals focused on both helping people, help people, and providing a space for practitioners to come together. In today’s episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Brandon Jones, CEO, and Oliver Lubin, CTO, for Triad. Together they discuss the trends that led to the conception, the challenge of isolation in the mental health community, and creating a network that is content-specific and intentionally niche for behavioral health. The Triad Network includes community resources, education both exam prep and continuing education, public groups specifically for mental health and available to both students and professionals, job listings, and products and services offered by partners. We encourage you to check out www.hellotriad.com, both to equip yourself as a professional and to join others for support and encouragement.

 

Get your FREE Triad profile, please visit: www.hellotriad.com

For more information about the Triad Network’s Jobs Marketplace, please visit: app.hellotriad.com/jobs

For more information about Triad and the brands and services they provide, please visit: www.triadhq.com

Emotionally Focused Therapy with Kelly Bourque, LMFT – Episode 104

Emotion is like our north star. Emotion gets us where we want to be. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Kelly Bourque. Kelly is a founder of Red Therapy Group, a group practice in the Nashville area. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Emotionally Focused Therapist and supervisor with over a decade of experience, working with couples in private practice. Together they discuss this theoretical orientation being emotionally focused, understanding protective patterns, attachment systems, and the disowned part of self. And the approach to working with couples to contextually understand their reactivity of emotions. Kelly speaks about her shift to working with couples within the context of intensives, the collaborative process, and a walk-through of the client experience. As an EFT, you learn to trust to follow emotion. And it takes us to those places that have not been processed.

 

For more information about Red Therapy Group, please visit: https://redtherapygroup.com

If you’re a couple looking for resources, please visit Red Therapy’s free resources:https://redtherapygroup.com/resources

If you are interested in intensive couples therapy, please visit:  https://www.eftmarriageintensive.com

For interactive couples thearpy resource, please visit Hold Me Tight Online, by Sue Johnson: https://holdmetightonline.com

 

A Unique Opportunity to Bring Mental Health into Schools with Stephanie Taylor – Episode 103

Right now, there is a unique opportunity that schools have to contribute to the social and emotional development of children and that behavioral health journey. In today’s episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Stephanie Taylor, school psychologist and clinical director for psycho-educational services at PresenceLearning. We speak on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health and the position schools are in due to the unique circumstances that have allowed an opportunity to address mental health services in the educational model. Together they discuss re-establishing the norms of social development, challenges schools are facing, the connection of academic performance and mental health needs, and ways schools can begin to add mental health services to the rich learning experience. Let's try something for this year that we don't usually have the opportunity to do. And let's allow ourselves to see some results because once you see results, it is so much easier to keep up with it.

 

For more information about PresenceLearning, please visit: https://www.presencelearning.com

For more information about PresenceLearning resources for schools and parents, please visit: https://www.presencelearning.com/resources/content-library/

Part 2: Establishing 988 for National Suicide Hotline with U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart & U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton – Episode 102

This episode resumes the conversation with Dr. Graham Taylor and Congressmen Chris Stewart and Seth Moulton. In our last episode, we discussed the role each of these congressmen played in the creation of this new program, the importance and willingness to deal with mental health struggles, their goals and benefits they anticipate with the new hotline number and what it can provide and advocate for mental health. We’ll resume today’s talk by discussing the details and services available with this new 988 3-digit crisis hotline number and how this service can open conversations about mental wellness. This national hotline will help reduce suicide rates and ideally provide specific responses for those in a mental health crisis. And subsequently we're going to anticipate better outcomes for those with mental health needs. While the 988 3-digit number is not established yet, it is scheduled to deploy in 2022.

For more information about 988 3-digit hotline, please visit: https://www.fcc.gov/suicide-prevention-hotline or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

If you are in a Crisis and need help, please call:
SAMSHA National Helpline 1-800-622-HELP (4357) or by texting TalkWithUs to 66746, for Veterans please text, 838255, or visit: https://www.samhsa.gov/
Help prevent suicide with the National Suicide Prevention 24/7 Lifeline, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Part 1: Establishing 988 for National Suicide Hotline with U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart & U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton – Episode 101

In 2020 our federal government responded to the growing mental health epidemic with the creation of the 988, a 3-digit national suicide prevention hotline specific for mental health crisis services. In our show today Dr. Graham Taylor is honored to speak with Congressman Chris Stewart of Utah and Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts on the inspiration, creation, and hopes for this new national emergency number. Together they discuss the experiences in each of their lives that led to the inspiration of this idea, the willingness to address mental health struggles, and the roles each of the congressmen played in the creation of this new program. This was a bipartisan effort to establishing the hotline with the hopes of helping Americans get the help they need and advocating for mental health across the nation. The hotline is scheduled to deploy in 2022.

For more information about 988 3-digit hotline, please visit: https://www.fcc.gov/suicide-prevention-hotline or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

If you are in a Crisis and need help, please call:
SAMSHA National Helpline 1-800-622-HELP (4357) or by texting TalkWithUs to 66746, for Veterans please text, 838255, or visit: https://www.samhsa.gov/
Help prevent suicide with the National Suicide Prevention 24/7 Lifeline, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Complicated Grief & the Meaningfulness of Loss with Dr. Kathy Shear – Episode 100

At some point in all our lives, we will experience loss. The most difficult loss is the loss of someone close to us. With this loss, the landscape of our life changes and the process of experiencing and working through our grief begins. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Dr. Kathy Shear, professor of psychiatry at the Columbia School of Social Work and founder and director of the Center for Complicated Grief. She shares with us the grief process, how to recognize complicated grief, and her recent research contribution and inclusion of this condition, now called Prolonged Grief Disorder, into the forthcoming DSM-V. There is life to be lived after this loss and if we can grieve in productive and growth-oriented ways, we can find a path that can allow us to continue to grow and have joy in our lives while continuing to carry and relate to the one we've lost in a very meaningful way.

 

For more information about the Center for Complicated Grief, please visit: https://complicatedgrief.columbia.edu
For more information about training, please visit: https://complicatedgrief.columbia.edu/professionals/training/
And for more information about resources on Complicated Grief, please visit: https://complicatedgrief.columbia.edu/professionals/resources-pro/

Part 2: Mental Health of Athletes & the NBA with Dr. William Parham – Episode 99

This episode resumes the conversation with Dr. Graham Taylor and Dr. William Parham the inaugural Director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Mental Health and Wellness Department. We have not yet begun to see what real GOAT (greatest of all time) behavior looks like. If we to invest, from the beginning all of those systems early on should have a mental health and wellness component as part of their regimen. If we can look at the developmental part of it first, that athletic performance will just naturally evolve the way that it's designed to evolve. Mental health is the missing link and maximizing one's true potential.

For more information about the NBPA Mental Health and Wellness Department, please visit: https://nbpa.com/mentalwellness

Other resources provided by Dr. Parham include:
HBO Special - Weight of Gold: https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/the-weight-of-gold
Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) Study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6675915/
ISSP Sports Psychology Consensus document: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1612197X.2019.1570473
West by West. Memoir shedding light on mental health in the NBA: https://www.amazon.com/West-My-Charmed-Tormented-Life-ebook/dp/B004QZ9PFG
Washington Post, article One’s Mental Health in Olympic Athletes: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/06/19/olympics-mental-health-simone-manuel/
Aeon Magazine Invisible Tattoos - article on childhood trauma in athletes: https://aeon.co/essays/if-trauma-can-propel-athletes-healing-can-make-them-soar
The Positive Coaching Alliance: https://positivecoach.org

 

 

Part 1: Mental Health of Athletes & the NBA with Dr. William Parham – Episode 98

Athletes are aesthetically pleasing and like the theater, it's a venue for emotional expression. However, while we fans may be enjoying their performances we get to watch, we don't often fully appreciate the degrees of pressure on elite athletes. The win-it-all mentality presents a unique concern for the mental health among athletes. In this episode Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Dr. William Parham the inaugural Director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Mental Health and Wellness Department. Together they discuss the psychological demands on professional and elite athletes and strategies to support their mental health. Everybody wins when you invest in the whole person and their mental health and wellness. 

For more information about the NBPA Mental Health and Wellness Department, please visit: https://nbpa.com/mentalwellness

Other resources provided by Dr. Parham include:
HBO Special - Weight of Gold: https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/the-weight-of-gold
Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) Study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6675915/
ISSP Sports Psychology Consensus document: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1612197X.2019.1570473
West by West. Memoir shedding light on mental health in the NBA: https://www.amazon.com/West-My-Charmed-Tormented-Life-ebook/dp/B004QZ9PFG
Washington Post, article One’s Mental Health in Olympic Athletes: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/06/19/olympics-mental-health-simone-manuel/
Aeon Magazine Invisible Tattoos - article on childhood trauma in athletes: https://aeon.co/essays/if-trauma-can-propel-athletes-healing-can-make-them-soar
The Positive Coaching Alliance: https://positivecoach.org