Mental Health Insights: Recent Episodes
mentalhealthinsights
Redwood Trees are amazing and can shed some light on some helpful mental health concepts!
In this episode we talk about pruning to benefit our mental health. I hope you find this helpful!
Often we see ourselves as one of the biggest obsticles we face. Is this true or is there more to it than that. Are we really our worst enemy? Let's start to find out.
Feel free to reach out and offer episode suggestions or just to say hi. I read and respond to every email! Craig@lifecarecounselingstl.com
People pleasing is seen as such a bad thing that we should take some time to think of if that is true or not. Join me in exploring people pleasing, its function, and if it is really a bad thing.
Feel free to reach out at Craig@lifecarecounselingstl.com if you have episode suggestions or just to say Hi! I respond to every email!
In this episode we explore how long lasting issues or challenging could be less mental health related issues and more a possibility of how your brain just is. Our brains operate differently and their is a fairly significant variance as more and more people are born. This leads us to question if the different ways our brains think is actually a mental illness or is it just wired to operate and be used differently? We explore this idea in this episode, I hope you enjoy!
In this episode, I talk about how porn use can impact our mental health. This is important because of how prevalent porn use is and how it can impact our body and relationships deeply. I hope you find it helpful!
If you want to reach out for questions or episode suggestions, please email me at Craig@lifecarecounselingstl.com
This question was asked by a friend and I took some time to think it over and I believe you will resonate with the answer. Thinking of your own life, you will likely be able to pick out how you may do this very thing we discuss to harm your own mental health without meaning to.
If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you would like to share, please feel free to email me at Craig@lifecarecounselingstl.com
More processing power equals more ability to decrease the emotional volatility of an experience. Today we talk about how to increase you brain's processing power several times over to help you though tough experiences.
Remember to give our other podcast a listen to, Mental Health Insights In the Bible! You can find some of those episodes on all major podcast apps and at: https://mental-health-insights.captivate.fm/mentalhealthinsightsinthebible
If you want to reach out to me, my email is craig@lifecarecounselingstl.com
Take care!
Here is an episode from our other podcast, Mental Health Insights In The Bible. This episode will be posted for a short while so feel free to listen as long as it is up. To listen more more episodes, please subscribe by following the link: https://mental-health-insights.captivate.fm/mentalhealthinsightsinthebible
Here are the show notes:
Thank you for joining us on this journey! We go over Genesis one and start to unpack some of the biblical lessons from before the fall occurs in the biblical narrative. This is one of the most powerful examples of what life as a human would look like before sin and exile from the Garden of Eden occurs.
Lessons to Ponder
- We are an image of God
- Mental health issues caused by conflict with identity and purpose
- We are not meant to go through life alone
- The disconnecting damage of guilt and shame
- Communication issues at the very start of the biblical story
We hope you enjoyed the session! If you would like to reach out for questions, episode requests, or encouragement then please feel free to email us at mentalhealthinsightsinthebible@gmail.com
We love you very much!
Small wins can take us so much further in our mental health journey because they normally come more frequently than larger ones. In this episode I talk about leveraging habits to create these small wins that yield big results.
If you would like to check out our other podcast, Mental Health Insights in the Bible then here is a link: https://mental-health-insights.captivate.fm/mentalhealthinsightsinthebiblehttps://mental-health-insights.captivate.fm
If you would like to reach out, my email is Craig@lifecarecounselintslt.com
Take care!
In this episode we go over the steps to take when you are suffering and go through several examples to demonstrate them. The truth is, we have to do something because suffering is something we all experience or will experience.
It has been almost a year since I have published anything while I worked on my other podcast Mental Health Insights In The Bible. Now that we have that off the ground I am happy to be back recording for this one again as well. If you want to check that other podcast out (we have some great things on that one too) then here is a link to some of the episodes: https://mental-health-insights.captivate.fm/mentalhealthinsightsinthebiblehttps://mental-health-insights.captivate.fm
I look forward to sharing more next time!
In this episode we talk about distance in the relationship. Often when we feel distance (emotional rather than physical in this case) we will react in several ways. I break this down in the episode and start to give some ways of considering and talking about distance in your relationship.
This episode is part of a series and is another building block so we can continue to more complex topics. We like to keep it simple so breaking it down and taking it slow is something we hope will help really soak in the understanding and ability to take action on some of what we are discussing!
We are created to bond and connect with others. In this episode we talk about human attachment and responsiveness to give us a foundation to build upon as we further explore relationships and how they impact our mental health.
In this episode I do not really talk about attachment styles as I feel like sometimes labels can restrict ways we think about ourselves. If labels help you more then I recommend you look some up since we all learn differently!
Burnout is a challenging feeling to contend with. Most of us will have to face it at some point or another and we need a strategy to get out of it and a more clear idea of what burnout actually is. Thank you for listening and I am glad to be back!
Emotional wounds can last a long time. With enough time, do they go away? In this episode, we explore this question and how we can work on helping emotional wounds heal.
If you want to support this podcast and our mission to create a safe online community for working on improving mental health, please consider becoming a supporter.
As a supporter, you will be working towards helping this new community start up and contributing to the resources to help people improve their mental health. Improving our mental health alone doesn't work, so please support this effort here!
In this episode we break down validation and how central it is to building understanding and empathy in relationships. Validation is the key to communicating understanding of what someone is communicating and in this episode we talk about how this is done. After this episode, you will be able practice validating and experience the change it can bring!
In this episode we explore how we naturally create our own narratives or stories about ourselves in our day to day life. This can be a bad things if we are not really happy with how we are living our life. This can also be a great opportunity to use a powerful tool to actually help our mental health by crafting and pursuing narratives we want about our life. As with all things, awareness helps and it is action from awareness that will create change!
In this episode we continue to explore the concept of mind over matter in relation to willpower.
In this episode we talk about the concept of mind over matter and how it can impact your mental health.
When we have anxiety, it can be common to try and think our way out of our problems. That may not be the right approach, fighting thoughts with thoughts. How about we try a different way.
A short rest or break can do wonders to develop great mental health. In this episode I break down why that is and how we can use this technique to help improve your mental health!
Hope is foundational to help keep us moving forward. In this episode I will talk about some functions of hope and how to use them to help improve your mental health. Mental health issues like depression will make this difficult, so make sure you set realistic expectations of yourself and keep that in you mind as you listen!
Hope can be a powerful tool if harnessed purposefully. I hope you enjoy the episode!
In this episode I talk to Paula Fontenelle about suicide. Paula is a mental health clinician and expert in working with all aspects of suicide. Paula shares with us signs, interventions, and mindsets to be aware of when helping someone that is suicidal.
Paula helps us understand that anyone can help someone with suicidal thoughts. Paula has great resources available at her website, understandsuicide.com where you can look at her book, online course, and podcast.
I enjoyed my conversation with Paula and know you will find her knowledge and insight helpful!
As humans, we have amazing capacity to grow and learn. In this episode we will explore how technology can impact our attention and our propensity to avoid unpleasantness in life. We will also discuss how to star to think about striking that balance to help improve your mental health!
In this episode we start to unpack some of the ways our use of technology can impact our mental health. Technology is here to stay, so understanding the relationship between our mental health and technology use is critical!
Have you ever had a hard time thinking about the future? Maybe you know someone who has trouble with this now? In this episode we will explore how mental health impacts our thinking about the future. We will also talk about day by day planning and what functions that serve for our mental health.
In this episode I break down depression and the various ways it can work. This episode will also explore what you can do to help your or someone else's depression. I hope you find this helpful!
Does your mind get flooded with thoughts that you can't seem to shake? Does your racing mind make it hard to focus or difficult to get anything done? In this episode, Pete Sandoval, LPC will explore with us what causes a racing mind and what we can do in order to calm ourselves in these moments.
This episode is part of the Calming A Racing Mind series but we go more in depth this episode to really drive home what you can do to help calm yourself in these tough moments. We hope you enjoy!
In this episode I start the conversation about how sex affects our mental health. First, we have to talk about both physical and emotional components that make up sex. I hope you enjoy!
In this episode, Sarah Sanburn, LPC helps us to understand how physical touch impacts our mental health. Sarah also helps use to understand how to use touch to help improve behaviors and connection to our children (young and old)! We hope you find this episode helpful!
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder that can be complicated. Today we have Dr. Jeremy Shuman help simplify OCD and guide us towards what treatment of OCD looks like. We hope you find this helpful!
Improving our mental health is important. This is an easy idea and tool to help you start the path to understanding what you can actually do to help your mental health. We hope you enjoy!
In this episode, I talk to Stephanie Korpal, a therapist in Saint Louis Missouri that helps us understand how sleep helps our mental health. We hope you enjoy!
Join Reshaunda Thornton and myself as we explore how the foods you eat can impact your mental health. We will also explore how you can transform your relationship with food and why a diet may not be the right direction for you. We hope you enjoy!
In this episode we explore how language, words, and description help our brain deepen its understanding of an experience we have. This is a crucial process in helping us process emotional events and helps us to better be able to communicate our experiences.
Being able to express your experiences is a great way to help yourself and others understand you. In this episode I will also talk about a process of helping you talk about your feelings and experiences in a deeper way with those around you. I hope you enjoy!
In this episode I talk about introspection and how to go about being more reflective of your own life experiences. I also talk about how important this is for our own personal growth. I provide personal examples to help you with your own journey as well!
In this episode I start to talk about the science of some of what happens during counseling. This episode is great for understanding how counseling starts to produce change!
Our brain creates labels as short cuts for helping us make logical leaps and conserve energy. The problem is, sometimes these labels are wrong or cause more issues for us. Today we explore how to look at and start the process of changing the way we use labels in the world around us!
Today Matt Bauersachs from Learn To Live Recovery joins us to talk about recovery from substance abuse and how the transformation takes place. We talk about how how recovery is a process that helps addicts learn to live differently and feel differently about themselves. We hope you enjoy this episode!
In this episode I talk about mindsets and how they form and impact your way of thinking and experiences life. We also start to talk about how to adjust a mindset you want to change and what that process looks like. I hope you find this helpful!
For those that decide to go to college, it is a stressful process and many times and very emotional one. Not only that but even getting to college can be create a very difficulty environment for a student to thrive. Join me as I explore these challenges with a college counselor, Joann Elliott, LPC. We hope you enjoy!
In this episode I talk about common mistakes I see in couples I work with. Being aware of these mistakes can give you the opportunity to creating a closer relationship with your significant other! I hope you enjoy this episode!
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Roland about functional medicine and the relationship that exists between physical and mental health. We explore how environment and illness can play a role in contributing or even causing different mental health issues. I hope you find this helpful!
A continuation of our Calming A Racing Mind series. In this episode I talk about how experimenting is one of the best ways to discover what works for you and give you real life examples and practical ways to get into this mindset. I hope you enjoy!
Today I talk with Melissa Webb about how she has seen anxiety and trauma impact relationships with those she works with. We hope you enjoy!
In this episode I talk to Kim McGuiness, LPC about how she helps people find purpose and the importance that can have to our mental health. We hope you enjoy!
Today I talk to Heather Midgley who is a specialist in perinatal mental health. We talk about the importance of taking care your mental health when trying to have a child and when having a child. We hope you enjoy this episode!
Join Cheryl Kinney, a therapist that specializes in working with the elderly, and myself as we talk about the difficult task of protecting the mental health of the elderly. We also explore the complications around dementia and the importance of doing mental exercises to help maintain as much functioning as possible. We hope you enjoy the episode!
In this episode I talk to Susan Moore, LPC about some of the intricacies of trauma to help understand why it can be so intense. We also talk about realistic expectations for trauma work. We hope you find it helpful!
In this episode we start to explore a type of therapy called Psychodynamic Therapy with Gabi Black. This type of therapy is what we may call a deep therapy that is designed to help create understanding around deep rooted issues and behaviors.
We also start a conversation about dreams and how they can have psychological significance. We hope you enjoy!
How can you make everything you do a little easier? Just try to protect your mental bandwidth and learn what drains it! Today I talk about what this mental bandwidth is and why protecting it is so important.
Join me and exploring some common challenges those with mental health issues face with medications. We explore some of the most common mental health issues and how medications can affect them.
I encourage open and honest conversations with your medical providers about your medications and there effectiveness!
This episode focuses calming your mind around having so many things on your "to do list". I hope you enjoy!
Today I talk to Dr. Jessica Stone about Digital Play Therapy and how this can help us get to know our kids in a very different way. This is a great episode for both therapist and parents that want to get their kids talking more! We hope you enjoy!
Today I talk with Paula Heller, a Drama Therapist. We talk about how acting, role play, and storytelling elements can help in therapy and really take "talk" therapy to another level.
We also talk about how movement and role playing can help you get unstuck from difficult anxieties or trauma. We hope you find this helpful!
We finally talk about attachment. We have touched on this topic in several episodes but today I talk with Shirley Crenshaw, LCSW, a specialist in attachment related issues and trauma. If you are wondering how childhood relationships can have big impacts on people later in life, then you will enjoy this episode. I hope you enjoy!
Today Stephanie Barbee and I start to explore how our experiences shape our identity, attachment needs/responses, and how to work on becoming who you want to be. We talk about messages different people get at different times of their life as examples to help you start to think about your own identity and what helped form you into who you are today. The wonderful part of being human is we can change our identity over time and we also discuss how Stephanie helps people do so! We hope you enjoy!
Many times we think about sitting on the couch and talking to someone when we think of therapy. This is because most therapy consists of that. However, Brainspotting is a therapy that can help with a variety of issues with very little speaking. In this episode, I talk to Brittany Bagy about Brainspotting. This type of therapy was developed by Dr. David Grand, and is very unique type of therapy.
If you are curious about the brain and different ways therapy can engage in change in the brain/body then you will love this episode!
Men face a cultural stigma in therapy and today, we start to explore why. If you are a guy thinking about therapy or a therapist that works with guys, this will be most helpful for you. We hope you enjoy!
In this episode we continue to explore intense emotions, going with more than just anger. We also talk about common mistakes and good ways to manage intense emotions. I hope you enjoy!
Fear wrecks havoc on your brain and body. Lets talk about what to do about it. I hope you enjoy!
Join Jiryis Shaheen and Craig Foust as we discuss more creative approaches in counseling. Most people know about "talk therapy" that most counselors practice in one way or another. We explore how some counselors have been able to help make great breakthroughs using alternative approaches.
If you are someone considering counseling but hate the idea of sitting and just talking, then this may be a good episode for you. If you are a counselor and want to broaden your scope of how you think counseling can be done, then you will enjoy this as well!
Intense emotions, such as anger can often be misleading. Often, we misinterpret situations or people when they express anger because it affects of feelings of threat and safety which activates our stress response. In this episode, Nicole and I dive into a different way of seeing and understanding anger. We hope you find this helpful!
Self awareness is something that helps us be who we want to be and understand why we do the things we do. It is an attribute healthy, successful, and many great leaders share. Maybe, self awareness is the key ingredient to big mental health changes! Join Craig Foust, Nicole Oliver, and Pete Sandoval for this episode. We hope you enjoy!
Join us as we discuss how this pandemic is a possible shared trauma experience all of us are going through and how that could explain such a wide variety of responses. We also talk about how to start to process through this event. In this episode you will hear from Craig Foust, Kristen Craren, Pete Sandoval, and Nicole Oliver. We hope you find this helpful!
Our lives have been very different for the past several months amid the Covid-19 challenges our entire country has been contending with. Now, many are planning and considering what it will look like returning to work after all of this. Stress, confusion, and uncertainty are hallmarks of this time. In this episode we talk you through going back to work and honoring the difficulty of the transition in regards to safety, child care, and stress. We hope you find this helpful!
When is it the right time to talk about sex, emotions, the future, and any other tough topic with your child? We explore this question and how to have these tough conversations in this episode. We hope you enjoy!
Thriving during a crisis is challenging so we explore some ways to help you thrive. We also talk about our own experience struggling during this time and how we are handling it. We hope you find this helpful!
You can take a great step towards better mental health by doing some house cleaning! If you have been staying home lately, consider clean up a little to help feel better! This episode talks about why mental health and cleanliness is related and how to go about taking these steps to improve your mental health.
Learn more about yourself and use that to help make your life better. Self awareness is a perspective and reality we work towards and I will talk to you about how to do it in this episode. I hope you enjoy!
Learn how to mange stress when you don't have easy access to social supports you may normally use. I hope you find this helpful!
In light of the high anxiety time we are in, I wanted to share some simple tips to keep your stress and anxiety from getting too high. Keep in mind, our stress and anxiety directly impact our immune system. This means we have to keep working to keep our stress and anxiety in check! I hope you find this helpful!
Join Craig Foust, Nicole Oliver, Pete Sandoval, and Kristen Craren as we explore what healthy relationships look like. All of us look at relationships from different angles and give our own view on what "healthy relationships" look like and how to work towards them. We hope you enjoy!
Talking to people you care about is hard. How do we get better at it? Kristen Craren joins me in answering this question and helping you understand a little about the importance of relationships. We hope you enjoy!
During this episode, I talk to Chad Welch about how important mental health work is with active and retired military. We also start to explore purpose and meaning in our life and how that propels different issues therapist treat!
This one skill will help you have a better marriage. Imagine reducing fighting, arguing, disagreements, and tension by just having make sure you do this one thing. This will be part 1 in a series to help you improve your relationships!
Forgetting important things is awful.
We have all been in that gut wrenching moment when we realize we forgot something important. Today, Nicole, Sheila, and myself talk about how to improve your memory so you don't get into those situations as often. I hope you enjoy the episode!
5 Steps to Handle Big Emotions
Do you feel like your emotions overwhelm and take over when situations get tough in your life? You are not alone. Anyone can get overwhelmed from strong emotional tides and sometimes it may even feel like our life is ruled by our emotions. In this podcast episode, I talk about 5 ways to help you start to break down those big emotions and stop those overwhelming feelings from taking over. I hope you enjoy!
Making Your Resolutions Stick
It is hard to stick to goals and resolutions. The sense of defeat from trying to improve can be devastating. In this episode we talk about how to make habits, resolutions, and goals easier to be successful with.
This is a topic Pete, Nicole, and myself really enjoy talking about and I hope that you find it helpful for your own pursuits as well!
The Crushing Loneliness of Social Anxiety
Social anxiety is an isolating condition that can be overcome. You can be confident when walking into a social situation when you address your social anxiety. This condition makes avoiding any social situation normal. Learning social skills and being more comfortable in talking to others can go a long way in helping you develop lasting relationships. Social anxiety is the condition that promotes loneliness and avoidance. Learn how to address your social anxiety and visit My first dungeons and dragons group for those that suffer from social anxiety is aimed at starting in January! I still have some age groups open for 17-20 year old and 21 and older if any of you have any people in mind. Addressing social anxiety is best done in a group setting, which is the most frightening thing for someone that suffers from this issue. Here is a link with more information if you know anyone that may be interested and they are free to email or call me with any more questions! https://www.lifecarecounselingstl.com/role-playing-therapy-group/ to learn more and find a group today!
Psychosis is a scary experience, and it is largely unknown why it occurs in some and not others. We do know early warning signs, how reduce chances of psychosis, and how to start the road to recovery.
Jennifer Gerlach with True Story Counseling talks to us about psychosis and how to help recovery. She also talks to us about warning signs and some factors that influence if someone will experience psychosis. We hope you enjoy!
Surviving The Holidays
The holidays can be a hard time for many people due to the high time demands, stressful family encounters, and tugging expectations. We unpack these difficulties and start to talk about how to address each issue to help you get through the holidays. This will help you enjoy the holidays instead of dreading them!
How Does Nicotine Affect Mental Health?
Nicotine is a drug that has been around for many years and the cravings and withdrawals from it are well known. How bad is nicotine for you, what does it do, is it that hard to stop and what are the different forms of nicotine use are all questions I will talk about in this episode.
I will also share some of my experience working with adolescent that use nicotine regularly in the newer vape devices that are gaining popularity. I hope you find this episode helpful!
Understanding Opiates and Addiction
Opiates are some of the most powerful and deadly drugs and there is good reason. They affect our brain and body in a powerful way by tapping into natural internal systems we have. Learn how opiates impact the body and brain and how to help with opiate addiction. I hope you enjoy this episode and find it helpful!
How Do Therapist Resolve Trauma?
Join Craig Foust, Nicole Oliver, and Pete Sandoval as we talk about how therapist approach working with trauma and helping healing occur around traumatic experiences. Trauma therapists use several techniques such as EMDR, somatic experiencing, accelerated resolution therapy, and couples therapy to help with trauma. Each of these methods taps into natural ways the brain is able to heal from trauma and many of them work in similar fashion.
Join us as we explore some of the techniques and how they work to heal trauma! We hope you enjoy!
Due to an error with the the original episode, a good portion was cut out. This episode is a solo episode to go over some of the key areas we covered to make sure the information is still available and to help with a smooth transition to the next trauma episode in the series! I hope you enjoy!
Sometimes moving from place to place is a part of life. Sometimes we move because we want to and other times not so much.
Join me as I talk to Christina with Mindful Coping Solutions and Lauren with Venture Wellness about their recent move to St. Louis.
As mental health professionals, these two have a different take on how to make moving a little easier! I hope you enjoy!
I go over how cocaine affects the body and brain and some of the ramifications of its use. I also talk about some signs to spot possible cocaine use, I hope this is helpful!
This episode is to help you understand depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens/dissociatives. I also talk about how these drugs can impact mental health on a basic scale and will go more in depth when we start talking about specific drugs. I hope you enjoy!
A continuation of our addiction series where I talk about how alcohol use affects mental health. This episode also talks about benzodiazapines since they are similar in how they work. I hope you enjoy!
Today we talk to Sarah Wilson about her work with dogs and how that informs her some of the family dynamics. While Sarah focuses on altering unwanted behavior of the dog, she talks to us about how dogs are reactive to the dynamics in the home. This is a fascinating episode that has me looking at my dogs and wondering how their behavior can inform me about how I am at home with my family. I also have Kristen Craren with me to lend some of her own observations and experiences to the conversation. I hope you enjoy!
Join Craig Foust, Nicole Oliver, and Kristen Craren as we talk about how our past experiences impact us today. While the context is with trauma in mind, our own past experiences have deep impacts on our feelings and behaviors presently. We hope you enjoy our exploration of this topic!
Join Craig Foust, Nicole Oliver, Kristen Craren, and Pete Sandoval as we talk about what trauma is, how it occurs, different types of trauma, and how trauma affects people. We hope you enjoy!
Join a few therapist as they talk about ways to manage your stress and anxiety. They share their own ways of managing stress and some ways their clients have found to be helpful. In this episode, Craig Foust with Life Care Counseling, Nicole Oliver with Integrative Neurocounseling, and Kristen Craren with Craren Family Services. I hope you enjoy it!
This talk from the addiction series, will focus on marijuana. In this episode I will talk about how marijuana works in the body and brain and what effects can occur due to ongoing marijuana use. I will also talk about the difference between THC and CBD. I hope you find this helpful!
Your stress response is a beautiful thing in the right circumstances. Just like many parts of ourselves, the stress response is something that can adapt to our experiences and our genetics.
In this episode, Nicole and I talk about the stress response, how it works, and signs of what it may look like if the stress response is over active. We hope you find this helpful!
Join me in this solo episode as I talk about addiction and habit loops. These pieces are a part of all of us and starting to understand the basics can help us alter our own behavior. I hope you enjoy!
Join us for our first episode on Mental Health Insights. Here we talk about the basics of the brain to build an understand for our later talks on mental health. We hope you enjoy!