We Do Hope: Recent Episodes
W2W
“We Do Hope” is the official podcast of the Witness to Witness (W2W) Program, a program of Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN) endorsed by the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA). We serve providers who work with vulnerable populations, providing resources to support each other to sustain reasonable hope. These podcasts offer easy-to-apply tools to challenging issues, recognizing that time – and bandwidth – are limited. Dr. Weingarten is a clinical and community psychologist with over 50 years of experience who values clear, straight talk. Join us today.
What if hope were a verb not a noun? “We Do Hope” embraces that idea. Hope is not just something you feel, you have or you don't have, but something you do, preferably with others. We call doing hope with others the practice of "reasonable hope." The Witness to Witness (W2W) Program helps clinicians attain and sustain reasonable hope. We encourage clinicians to resist isolation and support each other. In the final episode of “We Do Hope,” Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, founder and Director of the Witness to Witness Program with Migrant Clinicians Network, is joined by Moises Arjona Jr., MS, Collective Impact Director of Unidos Contra La Diabetes, Jessica Calderón, International Projects and Emerging Issues & Witness to Witness Program Associate and Pamela Secada, MPH, W2W Senior Program Manager, to discuss reasonable hope.
Microaggressions are subtle, everyday slights, put-downs, or invalidations that people in historically marginalized groups experience in daily interactions with people who may be oblivious to their impact. While people committing microaggressions may be unaware of their impact, their harm can be significant. In episode five of “We Do Hope,” Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, founder and Director of the Witness to Witness Program with Migrant Clinicians Network, is joined by Moises Arjona Jr., MS, Collective Impact Director of Unidos Contra La Diabetes, Jessica Calderón, International Projects and Emerging Issues & Witness to Witness Program Associate and Pamela Secada, MPH, W2W Senior Program Manager, to explain what microaggressions are, how people can identify them, and how to cope with the harm they can cause. In this conversation, they also help people understand what they can do to repair harm should they cause it.
After these years of living through the added hardships of the pandemic, we all need to be kinder to ourselves. The Witness to Witness (W2W) Program helps us understand how to practice self-compassion, a form of kindness with research evidence that supports its benefit. In episode four of “We Do Hope,” Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, founder and Director of the Witness to Witness Program with Migrant Clinicians Network, is joined by Moises Arjona Jr., MS, Collective Impact Director of Unidos Contra La Diabetes, Jessica Calderón, International Projects and Emerging Issues & Witness to Witness Program Associate and Pamela Secada, MPH, W2W Senior Program Manager, to discuss ways to practice the compassion we owe ourselves.
We are a nation in mourning. Chronic sorrow is the feeling of ongoing loss, losses that are not final and will continue to affect the lives of those who are grieving. Loss is not always about death; often it is a feeling of lost opportunity or limitations in your life or the life of a loved one. The Witness to Witness (W2W) Program seeks to help clinicians understand the grief they and their patients are experiencing. In episode three of “We Do Hope,” Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, founder and Director of the Witness to Witness Program with Migrant Clinicians Network, is joined by Moises Arjona Jr., MS, Collective Impact Director of Unidos Contra La Diabetes, Jessica Calderón, International Projects and Emerging Issues & Witness to Witness Program Associate and Pamela Secada, MPH, W2W Senior Program Manager, to explain chronic sorrow and disenfranchised grief.
Clinicians are likely to experience moral injury, the pain felt when they have to make a decision that goes against their values. This can manifest in extreme guilt or shame that clinicians may feel when the actions they took, or were unable to take, conflict with their felt sense of what is right and good. During this pandemic, clinicians have had to make life and death decisions every day, leading to intense stress and burnout. In episode two of “We Do Hope,” Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, founder and Director of the Witness to Witness Program with Migrant Clinicians Network, is joined by Moises Arjona Jr., MS, Collective Impact Director of Unidos Contra La Diabetes and Pamela Secada, MPH, W2W Senior Program Manager, to discuss moral injury and how clinicians can cope with the moral injuries they have sustained.
Clinicians on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic have been regular witnesses to trauma, death, and hardships, at a scale that most have never encountered. Long work hours and intense workloads add to the pressure. Most are unprepared to process this kind of trauma, which can affect clinicians for the rest of their lives. The Witness to Witness (W2W) Program seeks to help clinicians to process these experiences and come to terms with what they’ve been witness to. In episode one of “We Do Hope,” Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, founder and Director of the Witness to Witness Program with Migrant Clinicians Network, is joined by Moises Arjona Jr., MS, Collective Impact Director of Unidos Contra La Diabetes and Pamela Secada, MPH, W2W Senior Program Manager, to explain what it means to be a witness and how that can affect those who are overexposed to hardship.