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Welcome to Episode 12 in Season 2 of Therapists IRL, where Jen and Steph are joined by friend and colleague Amy Abel. One year ago (almost to the day), Amy found herself on an unexpected medical journey after a freak accident that shattered her ankle. The road to her recovery was long, hard, and sometimes dark, but through it Amy found ways to cope and stay hopeful.

Anyone who has faced a health crisis, be it an illness or injury, knows the toll it takes mentally, physically, and emotionally. Join us as Amy shares her story and her message of hope for others.

No therapists were harmed in the making of this episode, but vulnerability hangovers are real.

Please note: While our podcast aims to destigmatize and normalize mental health issues, increase awareness, foster understanding, and offer support with love and laughter, we are not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment. [Read our full disclaimer here.]

If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a licensed therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider.

If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a mental health crisis hotline. In the U.S., dial 9-8-8 for immediate services.

Remember, your mental health matters, and seeking professional help is a sign of strength. We're here to share stories, insights, and a bit of humor, but your well-being is our top priority.

With care,

Jen and Steph

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We want to introduce you to a man who not only invites other men into healing and wholeness, but also believes women will be safer as a result. Welcome to Season 2, Episode 8, where Jen & Steph talk with Kirk about his passion for seeing men recover from woundedness and emotional stuntedness to achieve the fullness of their potential as men of integrity who enrich and make safer the lives of those around them. Spanning topics from pornography addiction to childhood abuse and more, please join us as we talk with Kirk about his very unique niche within the mental health world. And please share with any men in your life who may benefit!

Kirk M. Samuels Resources:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kirkmsamuels?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Men's Group https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1549dNCEkX/?mibextid=K35XfP

http://www.freeindeed36.com/?

Radio Show:

Mad Men Radio https://www.1220kldc.com/show/madmen-of-masculinity-w-jason-b-kendrick-and-kirk-m-samuels/

http://madmenradio.com/

Books by Kirk M. Samuels

For Your Eyes Only: The Inside Scoop About Men, Porn, and Marriage

( Amazon link : https://a.co/d/64uoR2g )

Seven Secrets of Modern Dating: The He Said, She Said Guide for Getting from Single to Spouse

( Amazon link: https://a.co/d/1oY0V3T )

No therapists were harmed in the making of this episode, but vulnerability hangovers are real.

Please note: While our podcast aims to destigmatize and normalize mental health issues, increase awareness, foster understanding, and offer support with love and laughter, we are not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment. [Read our full disclaimer here.]

If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a licensed therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider.

If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a mental health crisis hotline. In the U.S., dial 9-8-8 for immediate services.

Remember, your mental health matters, and seeking professional help is a sign of strength. We're here to share stories, insights, and a bit of humor, but your well-being is our top priority.

With care,

Jen and Steph

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Hi Listeners! Meet one of Steph's all-time favorite people, Kristi. Welcome to Season 2, Episode 11 of Therapists IRL. Kristi shares openly about what it is like to be orphaned, having lost her mom as a toddler and her father a few years ago. She also shares about the impact of Long COVID on her overall health, and the anxiety that comes from living with unexpected and frightening impacts, and her quest for wellness.

(As you listen, you may notice we reference the upcoming holidays a lot... that's because this episode has been sitting in the archives since November. Oops. Chalk it up to real life, I guess.)

Follow Us on Instagram and TikTok: TherapistsIRL

Email: TherapistsIRL@gmail.com

Please reach out with questions, if you're in a helping profession and would like to come on the podcast, and/or your own mental health stories we can share anonymously.

No therapists were harmed in the making of this episode, but vulnerability hangovers are real.

Please note: While our podcast aims to destigmatize and normalize mental health issues, increase awareness, foster understanding, and offer support with love and laughter, we are not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment. [Read our full disclaimer here.]

If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a licensed therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider.

If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a mental health crisis hotline. In the U.S., dial 9-8-8 for immediate services.

Remember, your mental health matters, and seeking professional help is a sign of strength. We're here to share stories, insights, and a bit of humor, but your well-being is our top priority.

With care,

Jen and Steph

Send us a text

Welcome to Therapists IRL...Season 2 Episode 9? It's been so long, we hardly remember! Yup. We went on a little unplanned hiatus. Please forgive us! We've missed you and we hope you've missed us and come listen to the new episodes we'll be dropping. This episode is a bit of a "catching you up" on where we've been and what we've been up to since November!

No therapists were harmed in the making of this episode, but vulnerability hangovers are real.

Please note: While our podcast aims to destigmatize and normalize mental health issues, increase awareness, foster understanding, and offer support with love and laughter, we are not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment. [Read our full disclaimer here.]

If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a licensed therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider.

If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a mental health crisis hotline. In the U.S., dial 9-8-8 for immediate services.

Remember, your mental health matters, and seeking professional help is a sign of strength. We're here to share stories, insights, and a bit of humor, but your well-being is our top priority.

With care,

Jen and Steph

Send us a text

Have you ever been tempted to let your dog pee on your neighbor's political yard sign? If so, this episode is for you. Welcome to Therapists IRL, Episode 8 of Season 2. In the wake of this 2024 Presidential Election, Steph & Jen explore the emotional impact of politics in today's America (without claiming red or blue). This episode takes a compassionate look at the pain, fear, and division rampant in our country today, on both sides of the aisle. Without getting issue-specific, they candidly discuss the reality of life in a country divided. Regardless of how you voted, today's episode sheds some light on why you might have, for a split second, allowed Fido to lift his leg all over that yard sign.

Resources:

The Center for Nonviolent Communication
www.cnvc.org

Books:
Nonviolent Communication, A Language of Life
Author: Marshall B Rosenberg, PhD

Nonviolent Communication Companion Workbook
Author: Lucy Leu

No therapists were harmed in the making of this episode, but vulnerability hangovers are real.

Please note: While our podcast aims to destigmatize and normalize mental health issues, increase awareness, foster understanding, and offer support with love and laughter, we are not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment. [Read our full disclaimer here.]

If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a licensed therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider.

If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a mental health crisis hotline. In the U.S., dial 9-8-8 for immediate services.

Remember, your mental health matters, and seeking professional help is a sign of strength. We're here to share stories, insights, and a bit of humor, but your well-being is our top priority.

With care,

Jen and Steph

Send us a text

When love alone can't heal, comforting words fall short, and hope doesn’t alter reality….Welcome to Therapists IRL, Episode 7 of Season 2. In this episode, Jen and Steph explore the challenges of caregiver compassion fatigue and anticipatory grief. Jen shares her personal experience of supporting her significant other through illness, offering an honest glimpse into the complexities of loving through hardship.

No therapists were harmed in the making of this episode, but vulnerability hangovers are real.

Please note: While our podcast aims to destigmatize and normalize mental health issues, increase awareness, foster understanding, and offer support with love and laughter, we are not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment. [Read our full disclaimer here.]

If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a licensed therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider.

If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a mental health crisis hotline. In the U.S., dial 9-8-8 for immediate services.

Remember, your mental health matters, and seeking professional help is a sign of strength. We're here to share stories, insights, and a bit of humor, but your well-being is our top priority.

With care,

Jen and Steph

Send us a text

Imagine your rock bottom being the moment a neighbor throws a chair through your window and saves your life. Welcome to Season 2, Episode 6, where Jen & Steph chat with Taylor Newell-Smith about her healing and personal growth within the intersections of her identities - a biracial, pansexual, and spiritual woman growing up in a millenial world. If you could use some inspiration, Taylor's story is for you.

Taylor would like to share reoairces for anyone in need in the Madison, Wisconsin area, USA.

Salvation Army Dane County - Women & Family Shelter
630 E Washington Avenue
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
608-250-2200

Porchlight - Men’s Emergency Shelter
2002 Zeier Road
Madison, Wisconsin 53704
608-416-1446

The Beacon - Day Shelter
615 E Washington Ave
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
608-826-8040

OUTREACH LGBTQ+ Community Center
2701 International Lane
Madison, Wisconsin 53704
608-255-8582

River Food Pantry
2201 Darwin Road
Madison, Wisconsin 53704
608-442-8815

No therapists were harmed in the making of this episode, but vulnerability hangovers are real.

Please note: While our podcast aims to destigmatize and normalize mental health issues, increase awareness, foster understanding, and offer support with love and laughter, we are not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment. [Read our full disclaimer here.]

If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a licensed therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider.

If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a mental health crisis hotline. In the U.S., dial 9-8-8 for immediate services.

Remember, your mental health matters, and seeking professional help is a sign of strength. We're here to share stories, insights, and a bit of humor, but your well-being is our top priority.

With care,

Jen and Steph

Send us a text

Most people probably don't think about the loss a therapist experiences when one of their clients passes away. Welcome to Season 2, Episode 5 of Therapists IRL, where Jen & Steph sit down with our dear friend Abby Ward to discuss just that. On the heels of Suicide Prevention Month last month, Abby tenderly shares her story of living through and recovering from a therapist's worst nightmare - the loss of a beloved client to suicide. A unique perspective that is not talked about enough, we are so thankful for the sacred space carved out in this episode.

Facebook Group for Mental Health Professionals who have lost a client: Confidential Grief.

No therapists were harmed in the making of this episode, but vulnerability hangovers are real.

Please note: While our podcast aims to destigmatize and normalize mental health issues, increase awareness, foster understanding, and offer support with love and laughter, we are not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment. [Read our full disclaimer here.]

If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a licensed therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider.

If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a mental health crisis hotline. In the U.S., dial 9-8-8 for immediate services.

Remember, your mental health matters, and seeking professional help is a sign of strength. We're here to share stories, insights, and a bit of humor, but your well-being is our top priority.

With care,

Jen and Steph