Therapist Confidential

Therapist Confidential
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

Produced by Psychotherapy.net, Therapist Confidential is a raw, real, and unscripted podcast, creating an authentic dialog by pulling back the curtain on what it really means to be a therapist. Host Travis Heath pushes beyond the surface-level conversations, diving deep into the successes, struggles, fears, and failures that reveal guests in a way they’ve never been heard before.

  1. 4d ago

    Off the Fence, Into the Well: Derrick Paladino on Multiracial Identity and the Art of Crisis Counseling

    What do you say when a stranger in line at Universal Studios taps you on the shoulder and announces, “We all have a bet going — what are you?” Derrick Paladino, professor of counseling and department chair at Rollins College, has spent decades turning that question into “me-search.” He joins Travis Heath to talk about growing up biracial in America, finding (or not finding) yourself in your multicultural textbooks, and why multiracial identity remains “the most complex identity, but the shortest chapter in the book.” The conversation then turns to crisis and suicide work: how Derrick learned the hard way not to stay too long in the well with a client, his “trickle-down reflection” method for asking about suicide in a way that feels human, and what counselors-in-training are facing on today’s college campuses. An episode about stepping off the fence — and knowing when to go deep. Further Learning Resources Crisis Counseling: 7 Steps to Effective Intervention Assessment and Intervention with Suicidal Clients with John Sommers-Flanagan Multicultural Competence in Counseling & Psychotherapy with Derald Wing Sue Inviting Racial Conversations into Therapy with Sam Steen and Joy Steen The System Wasn’t Built for You: Elijah Murphy on Hope, Racism, and PhDing While Black The post Off the Fence, Into the Well: Derrick Paladino on Multiracial Identity and the Art of Crisis Counseling appeared first on Psychotherapy.net.

  2. Sep 23

    Goals Are Overrated: The Value of Processes

    What if the goals we chase are quietly working against us? In this solo episode, host Travis Heath admits something that feels almost taboo for a therapist to say out loud: he thinks goals are overrated. He unpacks why the clients and grad students he works with so often hit a wall of “what’s next?” right after reaching a long-sought goal, why “achievement culture” quietly raises the bar until yesterday’s dream becomes today’s minimum expectation, and why chasing “more” may be the most dangerous goal of all. He makes the case for trading goals and achievements for habits and processes that let you practice being the person you want to be today, instead of constantly working to become someone different. He leaves listeners with a different question to sit with: not where do I need to get, but how do I want to live, and what would I keep doing even if nobody knew I was doing it?   Further Learning: The Gift of Stuckness: Travis Heath on Not Knowing Where to Go Carl Rogers on Person-Centered Therapy Experiential Techniques for Moving Beyond “How Do You Feel?” Hamed: Prompting Self-Discovery   The post Goals Are Overrated: The Value of Processes appeared first on Psychotherapy.net.

  3. Sep 16

    Charge More, Slow Down: John Clarke on Private Practice and the Value of Presence

    What is a therapy session actually worth—and what makes it valuable? In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath talks with therapist and private practice expert John Clarke about money, marketing, and building a sustainable life as a therapist. They challenge the idea that helping professionals need to struggle financially in order to do meaningful work, and explore what makes therapy valuable. Is it worth more when a client has a breakthrough? When the therapist uses the “right” intervention? After years of experience in Internal Family Systems, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing, Clarke finds himself returning to the basics: slowing down, being curious, and trusting the therapeutic power of presence. Together, Travis and John consider what it means to practice this way in a culture that constantly asks us to move faster — and whether slowing down might be one of the most meaningful things a therapist can do.     The post Charge More, Slow Down: John Clarke on Private Practice and the Value of Presence appeared first on Psychotherapy.net.

  4. Sep 9

    Learning When to Listen: Mauricio Yabar on Intuition and Other Half-Baked Ideas

    What do you do when something in a therapy session quietly tells you to pay attention? Mauricio Yabar joins Travis Heath to explore clinical intuition as an embodied, relational form of knowing shaped by lived experience, culture, pattern recognition, and the therapeutic relationship. They discuss learning to hear intuition’s “little whispers” without automatically acting on them, distinguishing intuition from anxiety and bias, and making room in clinical practice for forms of knowledge that don’t always arrive with an immediate explanation. Together they explore the role of intuition in therapy, supervision, research, and clinical training; the limits of privileging only what can be rationally explained; and the value of making room for the “half-baked ideas” that emerge when therapists allow themselves to be surprised.  The post Learning When to Listen: Mauricio Yabar on Intuition and Other Half-Baked Ideas appeared first on Psychotherapy.net.

  5. Sep 2

    The Shadow of Shared Trauma: Bahareh Sahebi on Authoritarianism, Grief and the Iranian Diaspora

    Before Dr. Bahareh Sahebi checks her calendar each morning, she checks the news from Iran, and so do many of her clients. In this episode, host Travis Heath talks with Dr. Sahebi, a clinical psychologist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and co-author of the Integrative Systemic Therapy Handbook, about how collective trauma and authoritarian systems don’t just harm people, they reorganize them: their nervous systems, relationships, identities, and sense of the future. Dr. Sahebi explains why the old clinical question, “what happened to you?”, increasingly needs to become “what is still happening around you?”, and why realities like war, political violence, and forced migration don’t stay outside the therapy room, they enter with the emotional climate clients carry in. Drawing on her own experience as an Iranian American, she makes the case for a systemic, politically aware model of trauma-informed care. The post The Shadow of Shared Trauma: Bahareh Sahebi on Authoritarianism, Grief and the Iranian Diaspora appeared first on Psychotherapy.net.

  6. Aug 26

    The Therapy Industrial Complex: When Healing Becomes a Market

    What happens when healing becomes a market?   In this solo episode, Travis Heath explores what he calls the therapy industrial complex and asks a provocative question: When human suffering becomes economically valuable, what incentives does that create?   Through personal reflection, Travis examines how economic forces shape the profession of therapy. From speaking engagements and conferences to branded modalities and trademarked language, he considers whether the mental health field simply responds to increasing demand—or whether it also participates in creating it. This is a thoughtful conversation about therapy, ethics, economics, and the questions we often avoid asking. The post The Therapy Industrial Complex: When Healing Becomes a Market appeared first on Psychotherapy.net.

  7. Aug 19

    Patching People Up to Go Back to War: Julie Tilsen on Neoliberalism and Co-Responsibility

    What if therapy’s job isn’t to patch you up and send you back into the machine? Julie Tilsen — a longtime narrative therapist with a PhD in social construction and an emphasis in queer and cultural studies — joins Travis Heath to talk about her new book, Personal Responsibility, Inc: How Psychotherapy Turns Society’s Problems Into Yours. They trace Julie’s two decades of work in trans-affirmative therapy (and why “affirmative care” is a lower bar than it sounds), the neoliberal language reshaping how clients describe their own suffering, and what it might mean to be responsible to each other rather than just to ourselves. Along the way: George Floyd Square, Rebecca Solnit on hope, and why Julie gives her book royalties away. A conversation about what we owe each other, and what therapy too often lets us forget. The post Patching People Up to Go Back to War: Julie Tilsen on Neoliberalism and Co-Responsibility appeared first on Psychotherapy.net.

  8. Aug 12

    Know Your Why: Gordon Brewer on Building a Sustainable Private Practice

    Don’t quit your day job too quickly. That’s the first rule Gordon Brewer gives every therapist eyeing private practice. Gordon — a licensed marriage and family therapist, owner of Kingsport Counseling Associates, and host of the Practice of Therapy podcast — joins Travis for a candid conversation about the business side of therapy that graduate school never taught. They dig into the real math of leaving a salaried job, weighing insurance panels against private pay (and the hybrid model in between), marketing without the “ick factor,” and the money shame so many therapists carry into private practice. Gordon also gets candid about burnout, and why leaning on community and delegation matters more than most of us admit. The post Know Your Why: Gordon Brewer on Building a Sustainable Private Practice appeared first on Psychotherapy.net.

See All (63)

5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

Produced by Psychotherapy.net, Therapist Confidential is a raw, real, and unscripted podcast, creating an authentic dialog by pulling back the curtain on what it really means to be a therapist. Host Travis Heath pushes beyond the surface-level conversations, diving deep into the successes, struggles, fears, and failures that reveal guests in a way they’ve never been heard before.

Information

  • Creator
    Therapist Confidential
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    63
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Therapist Confidential

You Might Also Like