Geek Therapy Network

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Channel • 9 Shows

Mental Health

Mental Health

Updated 12/13/2024
Hobbies

Hobbies

Updated 07/01/2024
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated 07/02/2021
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated 08/04/2022
Mental Health

Mental Health

Updated 05/13/2019
Mental Health

Mental Health

Updated 09/01/2020
Science Fiction

Science Fiction

Series

02/06/2022

Table Top RPG? Twitch Therapy RPG!

#318: Lara and Special guest Kayla Devorak share some of the major emotional moments and therapeutic epiphanies they’ve had while playing Kids on Brooms with the CASTT Gamers group on Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/castt_gamers/ Transcript Josué Cardona 0:12Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network here Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by link Keller. Link Keller 0:22hiiiiii Josué Cardona 0:23Lara Taylor. Lara Taylor 0:24Hey, Josué Cardona 0:26and special guests first time on. GT radio Kayla Devorak. Kayla Devorak 0:32Hello. Josué Cardona 0:33Devorak? Devorak? Devorak, Kayla Devorak 0:36Devorak Josué Cardona 0:36Devorak Kayla Devorak 0:37Yeah. Don’t say Devorak. That’s incorrect. Josué Cardona 0:41Thank you. Thank you for Yeah, Lara Taylor 0:43Josué is very specific, about pronouncing, Kayla Devorak 0:45thank you for asking Josué Cardona 0:45I want to make sure. I want to make sure it’s right. It’s important to me. Yeah. Yeah. Welcome. The reason why you’re here is because Lara, you know, we take turns picking a topic. And every week, you know, one of us goes, and we really bring up who’s gonna go? And I’ve been asking Lara, and she kept saying, like, oh, I don’t know, I don’t have an idea because I’ve been obsessed with something. And it gets, and the first week, okay, it’s fine. We can skip you. And then the second time, she said, I was like, Whoa, that’s your topic that I think that’s it. I think we Lara Taylor 1:23the first time was something else. But then it was my second time. And I was like, all that’s on my brain is buying this house. stuff at work. And this Friday night CASTT game we’ve been playing. Josué Cardona 1:40Please tell us more about that. Lara Taylor 1:42I got to explain everything? Josué Cardona 1:45Start with explaining CASTT, and then and then and then explain what’s happening on CASTT. Lara Taylor 1:50Here, Kayla, you want to explain? Kayla Devorak 1:51Hi, yeah, I can explain CASTT a CASTT it stands for community of applied spiritual, and therapeutic tabletop gamers. We are a Discord server of helping professionals who like to use tabletop role playing games, and board games in an applied manner. We also stream doing those things. Lara Taylor 2:22Yeah, more and more shows being added. Kayla Devorak 2:25We have Friday night casts, which is every Friday night at 9:30pm. Eastern on Twitch, I always forget the timezone transitions. And then we have every other Sunday is gays of our lives, which is an all queer cast playing queer games and talking about being queer. That’s every other Sunday. And then newly started is the tabletop transformations, which is the fourth Thursday of every month where Menachem and Tanya talk about how tabletop games can help us in our spiritual journeys. We have another show coming, but I can’t talk about that one yet. No. Link Keller 3:11For our listeners, you can check that out at Twitch tv slash CASTT. Lara Taylor 3:17With two Ts underscore gamers, Kayla Devorak 3:20yes, thank you. Lara Taylor 3:21Or on YouTube. were CASTT with two T’s gamers no underscore. Kayla Devorak 3:30That’s correct. Lara Taylor 3:31Yeah, yeah. And Josué Cardona 3:32that Discord server, how could we possibly find it or join? If we were so interested. Kayla Devorak 3:41We’re working on getting a submission form built out in our it’ll be in our link tree which you can access in our about page on Twitch. Josué Cardona 3:53Okay, we’ll put in the show notes. Yeah, okay. All right. So that’s CASTT. And then so so. So you’ve been playing a game. Lara Taylor 4:03We’ve been playing a game kids on brooms by if I had thing out Kayla Devorak 4:10Doug Levandowski. Josué Cardona 4:13On rolling for change. We’ve, Lara Taylor 4:15you’ve talked about kids on brooms and kids on bike. Kayla Devorak 4:18Yep, yep. Josué Cardona 4:19Yep. And they’ve played a campaign on there as well. And Menachem, which you mentioned before, has also been on rolling for change. Lara Taylor 4:29So kids on brooms, I started playing. The group that plays on Fridays had been playing games together since before I joined and then kids on brooms was the first game I played with them. Then we decided to do a bunch of other games and then stream and we streamed a bunch of other games and decided we really wanted to come back to the characters that we played in kids on brooms, and it’s been a very interesting, enlightening experience. I think it’s very interesting that we have a queer show. And yet most of like, what we’re going to talk about is like the queer journey in this relationship that our characters have. But this game is Kayla Devorak 5:16super gay Lara Taylor 5:17it is so gay. It’s so gay and so good. Um, Link Keller 5:23before you start describing your characters, could you give us a little quick synopsis of kids on brooms and how it sort of works and in the play style and everything? Lara Taylor 5:37Um, kids on brooms is like a rules light kind of game compared to d&d or any of that you do have dice. You have stats? Link Keller 5:47Do you use d 20 or D sixes? Lara Taylor 5:50a whole bunch of different die. Mm hmm. Link Keller 5:54I love that an excuse to use all of my clackies. Lara Taylor 5:57Exactly. So like you can have a D 20, in brawn and like, be able to beat things up, right? Or you can have a D 4 in brains and not make some good decisions. There’s each, like, we talked about playbooks. There’s tropes instead of classes or whatever. So in this one, it’s kids on broom, so it’s all I don’t want to say Harry Potter base, but Harry Potter magicians, that kind of stuff. Link Keller 6:30Hogwarts adjacent Kayla Devorak 6:31That’s the best way to explain it, Yeah, Lara Taylor 6:32yeah. Um, so you’ve got like, the firstborn caster. That’s my character. The haughty descendant that’s Kayla’s character. You’ve got unlikely ally. I’m trying to remember some of the Oh, teacher’s pet. There’s a whole bunch of good ones. Yeah. Yeah, a whole bunch of tropes, you answer questions based on that. There’s a lot of relationship building in the game. We asked each other relationship questions at the beginning of the game, each time we play. or not each time you play, each season, except sessions. Kayla Devorak 7:20During the character creation and world building. There are relationship questions that will ask you you roll a die, you roll the D 20. And whatever number you get is the question you ask. And you can you can ask a question about a character relationship that is negative, or positive, or you don’t know the person. Lara Taylor 7:42And then we built the world together in that we have a GM it is a GM game. Dustin is wonderful and created this world for us. But we get to have input too. And then we build in rumors that may be true or not help give him ideas on where to go and what we’re interested in in the world. This particular version, our first time playing, we were students at a high school in Yale, or not in Yale to in Salem, where we were deali...

02/06/2022

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1h 8m
06/21/2024

Feeling Out of Control? Build a World You Can Manage

#387: In this episode, Josué, Link, and Marc explore why they keep returning to sandbox and survival-style games like The Sims, Terraria, and Minecraft—especially during times of stress, burnout, or major life changes. What starts as a joking callout about control quickly becomes a thoughtful conversation about agency, structure, creativity, and comfort. The hosts reflect on how building persistent worlds, setting self-directed goals, and engaging with familiar systems can meet psychological needs that real life often fails to satisfy. Drawing on personal experiences with job loss, burnout, and instability, they unpack how these games offer a sense of control, consistency, and safety—without the same stakes, costs, or unpredictability of the real world. Characters / Media Mentioned The Sims (The Sims 4)TerrariaMinecraftBaldur’s Gate 3Fallout 4Animal CrossingBreath of the WildMini Shoot AdventuresOxygen Not IncludedDon’t StarveProject ZomboidWorld of WarcraftMetroid (Samus Aran)My Hero AcademiaGundamReality Is Broken (Jane McGonigal)Themes / Topics Discussed Control and AgencyBurnoutJob Loss and InstabilityCoping Through GamesSandbox and Survival GamesCreativity and World-BuildingStructure vs. FreedomFamiliarity and ComfortPersistence and OwnershipAccessibility and Game DesignNew Game Plus MentalityRelatable Experiences Discussed Feeling Out of Control in LifeLosing a JobBurnout From Work or SchoolWanting Busy Work Without PressureEscaping Into Familiar MediaReturning to Comfort GamesAvoiding Starting From ScratchNeeding Structure Without ObligationFinding Stability in Digital SpacesWant to continue the conversation? Join the GT community and tell us about the games you return to when life feels overwhelming.Connect with the Geek Therapy Network: Website: https://geektherapy.orgCommunity Forums: https://forum.geektherapy.orgSocial Media: @GeekTherapyWhat games do you return to when you’re feeling overwhelmed or out of control?Do you gravitate toward building, exploration, or structured objectives—and why?What needs do games meet for you that real life sometimes doesn’t?

06/21/2024

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59 min
11/22/2024

What if?

#400: In this episode of GT Radio, Josué Cardona is joined by Link Keller, Lara Taylor, and Marc Cuiriz for a wide-ranging conversation about the psychology, appeal, and risks of “what if” thinking. What starts as Marc’s curiosity about alternate timelines in fiction turns into a thoughtful exploration of rumination, imagination, anxiety, hope, and why humans seem wired to replay—or rewrite—reality. The group distinguishes between different kinds of “what ifs”: Looking backward, often tied to regret, shame, or ruminationLooking forward, used for planning, preparation, and imaginationExploring fictional what ifs, which give us safe spaces to play with ideas that might feel overwhelming or impossible in real lifeLara emphasizes that backward-looking what ifs in our personal lives often aren’t productive unless they help us change future behavior. Without that forward application, they can trap people in self-blame and emotional paralysis. Forward-looking what ifs, however, can support decision-making—unless they turn into anxiety-driven catastrophizing. Link frames science fiction itself as a genre built almost entirely on “what if,” suggesting that humanity uses these stories to collectively process rapid technological, social, and cultural change. From dystopias to utopias, these imagined futures allow societies to rehearse fears, hopes, and ethical dilemmas before they arrive. Josué reflects on how “what if” thinking shows up in anxiety, preparation, and even moral reasoning—using imagined extremes (“what if everyone did this?”) as a way to guide ethical decisions. He also shares how running too many future simulations at once can become draining, both personally and culturally, drawing parallels to multiverse storytelling fatigue in modern media. Marc discusses how backward what ifs once dominated his inner world, especially in adolescence, but how learning to shift focus toward present and future possibilities has helped reduce their emotional grip. The group acknowledges that while humans can’t stop themselves from imagining alternatives, learning how and when to engage with those thoughts makes a significant difference. The conversation also touches on fan fiction, alternate universes, and reboots as communal “what if” playgrounds—spaces where people can explore identity, justice, representation, and belonging without rewriting real history. Afrofuturism, indigenous futurism, and speculative reimaginings are discussed as examples of hopeful, forward-facing “what ifs” that inspire action rather than regret. Ultimately, the group lands on a shared understanding: “What if” is a powerful tool—but like any tool, it can help build or cause harm depending on how it’s used. Stories give us a place to practice imagining different outcomes when real life offers no rewinds. Characters / Media Mentioned: Black MirrorStar TrekMarvel’s What If...?This Is UsHorizon Zero DawnBaldur’s Gate 3Family GuyDeadpool & WolverineThe MatrixBintiBlack PantherThemes / Topics Discussed: “What If” ThinkingRumination vs. ImaginationAnxiety and CatastrophizingDecision-Making and Moral ReasoningFan Fiction and Alternate UniversesScience Fiction as Social CommentaryHope, Fear, and FuturismPreparation vs. ParalysisMultiverse FatigueStorytelling as SimulationRelatable Experiences: Replaying Past DecisionsGetting Stuck in “If Only” ThinkingImagining Worst-Case ScenariosOver-Preparing for the FutureLoving a Story and Wanting MoreFeeling Disappointed by AdaptationsUsing Fiction to Process Fear or HopeStruggling to Let Go of Alternate OutcomesJoin the discussion on the GT Forum at https://forum.geektherapy.org and connect with the Geek Therapy Network through the links at https://geektherapy.org. Do you tend to “what if” the past or the future more? When has imagining alternatives helped you—and when has it held you back? What fictional “what if” stories have stayed with you the longest?

11/22/2024

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1h 2m
12/22/2019

Infection

In this episode, Josué and I discuss Babylon 5’s “Infection” a story about stealing bioweapons from ancient cultures and then using them against others, heedless of the warnings and troubles they bring with them. So get our your archeology sets and lets play. Some experience required. The post Infection appeared first on Conspiracy of Light.

12/22/2019

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41 min
11/28/2019

Born to the Purple

The whole idea behind our Conspiracy of Light podcast is that you have 2 friends getting together to watch Babylon 5 together, and you the listener, get to hear the discussions we have after the episode ends. The discussions can be philosophical or silly, but we are exploring our relationship to the Babylon 5 universe and geeking out on the story. We hope that you guys are watching along with us and engaged in the discussion. If you are listening to our show, please let us know. The best way to do that is to talk to us on the Geek Therapy forums: http://forums.geektherapy.com or to chat with us over at the Discord: http://geektherapy.com/discord In this episode, we chat about the intrigue and mystery of Babylon 5 as presented in Born to the Purple, episode 3 of season 1. The post Born to the Purple appeared first on Conspiracy of Light.

11/28/2019

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46 min
07/01/2024

All the Feels in Inside Out 2

47: Join Ariel, Stef, and special guest Helen Garcia from Yellow Chair Collective for a heartfelt, hilarious, and insightful discussion on Inside Out 2 and the emotional rollercoaster that is adolescence. This episode unpacks how the film portrays anxiety, perfectionism, and identity shifts with surprising nuance, and why so many of us saw our younger (and current) selves in Riley’s journey. Whether you cried, cringed, or left the theater texting your therapist, this episode holds space for it all! Summary 00:00 Hosts and guest intros01:10 Inside Out 2, its massive marketing push, and what got left behind04:00 Spoiler warning and movie synopsis06:00 Anxiety’s debut and the anatomy of a panic attack09:00 When Joy can’t reach Anxiety—symbolism of helplessness11:00 Emotion combos, Internal Family Systems theory, and dynamic identity14:00 The evolving sense of self and grounding techniques17:00 Cultural misattunement during puberty (e.g., immigrant family dynamics)20:00 Why Riley’s experience didn’t feel universal for everyone22:00 Cultural TikToks reimagining emotions: Wu Ting, Honor, Filial Piety24:00 Core belief shifts: “I’m not enough” and perfectionism27:00 Visual art therapy and naming personal narratives30:00 Complexity vs. affirmation-only approaches32:00 Revisiting Joy, Sadness, and emotional integration34:00 Classroom tools for building identity through the school year37:00 Changing education systems and honoring the whole child39:00 Perfectionism as a survival response in racialized and immigrant communities42:00 Reflections on gamification, experiential learning, and emotional literacy47:00 Symbolic meanings in control boards and character design51:00 Are we all driven by one dominant emotion?54:00 The fragility of identity and metaphor of the belief system design56:00 Ice skating, burnout, and overachievement culture58:00 Sports as metaphor for identity, connection, and drive59:00 Where to find Yellow Chair Collective and final thoughts Transcription Speaker 1 0:00Shrink wrap radio, number 300 on the neuroscience of dreaming with Robert Haas. Speaker 2 0:07Shrink wrap radio, all the psychology you need to know, and just enough to make it dangerous. It’s all in your head. And now here’s your host, Dr Dave music. Speaker 1 0:27My return guest today, after a long absence, is Robert J Haas and we’ll be discussing recent developments in the neuroscience of dreaming. Robert Haas MS is author of the book Dream language. He’s also a director and past president of the International Association for the Study of dreams. He’s on the faculty at Hayden Institute for Dream leadership training and a former adjunct faculty for Dream studies at such institutions as Sonoma State University, Richland College and Scottsdale College, a former corporate executive scientist and researcher with training in Gestalt and humanistic psychology, he now devotes his skills to dream studies for which he has been a frequent guest on radio and TV and an internationally acclaimed lecturer and instructor for over 30 years. His unique, simple but powerful dream work approach is based on his training in Gestalt therapy and background in Jungian studies the neurobiology of dreaming, plus his pioneering research on the significance of color in dreams. Now here’s the interview. Bob Haas, welcome back to shrink wrap radio. Well, thank you. It’s great to be back. Yeah, it’s been five years since you were here, back on episode number 90, announcing the 2007 dreams conference and speaking about the language of dreams. Now this is going to be episode number 300 and you can help me celebrate, yeah, you can help me celebrate our 300th shrink wrap radio. And of course, after our interview, I’ll ask you to say a few words about the upcoming 29th annual iasd conference. That’s the International Association for the Study of dreams. But before we get into that, I understand you’ve been doing some work on recent developments in the neuroscience of dreaming. Speaker 3 2:27Yes, there’s a tremendous amount of interesting stuff going on now, particularly since over the last decade, certain researchers have been able to use brain scan equipment, PET scans, MRI, things of that sort, or fMRI, to understand what Saturn’s of the brain are active and inactive during the dreaming. Tremendous amount of research out there, and I basically just been kind of compiling it and reporting on it. Yeah, Speaker 1 2:57yeah. And you’ve done a terrific job. You sent me a couple of articles that that you’ve written, and very impressive. So what are some of the more exciting things that neurological research has discovered about the dreaming brain? Speaker 3 3:10Well, just just kind of going into past history, way back in 1952 the discovery of REM occurred, and at that point in time, we suddenly realized that we dream a great deal of our evening two hours, or roughly for adults, about 24% of our sleep time is spent in in dreaming, or in vivid dreaming. What is what typically happens in what’s known as the REM state, which is a rapid eye movement, but now what? What’s happened during through a lot of other testing and research has been done, as they found that we really dream throughout the entire night, even outside of REM state. However, the Dreaming is the dreaming that we think of as dreaming, which is the more vivid dreams and all still occur during this, this REM state. So there’s been a lot of focus with with brain scan type research on neuroscience, on the REM state as being more associated with the kind of vivid dreams that we typically think of. And what has occurred is that the researchers have found that during our this REM state or this more vivid dream state? A great deal of our brain is active. It’s actually awake. And there are other parts of the brain that are that the activity is diminished in or they’re relatively asleep, and they really create the sort of characteristics we see in a dream, for example, the parts of the brain that tend to be asleep, if I can use that simple term when we dream, are the parts of the frontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is our thinking brain, and the rational thinking part of our brain. If. And other areas like motion and parts of the brain responsible for waking consciousness remain pretty much inactive, and what that does is it tends to make our dreams the kind of bizarre characteristics that that we see in our dreams we because there’s no rational filtering going on or rational directing of the dream activities so dreams can hyper Connect. Speaker 1 5:27Yeah. Is that because that prefrontal part of the brain that you were talking about is asleep? Speaker 3 5:34Yeah, the dorsalatal prefrontal cortex is a part of the frontal cortex that really is responsible for our rational thought, and that tends to be inactive. But now that the a whole bunch of centers are active in our dreams, for instance, in particular, the emotional processing, the emotional brain, the emotional part of our brain, called the limbic system, is highly active, also parts of the frontal cortex, lower frontal cortex and the anterior cingulate, which deal with analytical problem solving, learning and problem solving, about those kinds of activities, are quite active. And the really interesting thing is that our visual our primary visual cortex, is not active, the part we see with which is interesting because we’re seeing our dreams. However, what is active are the centers all around that the association cortex in principally the visual association cortex. And what that means is that the things we see in our dreams are really associations, visual associations and visual metaphors associated with the stuff being processed more deeply within the brain. So, you know, people have worked with dreams a long time. Know that, you know, they look at Dream imagery as associations. However, now it’s been shown as to why that is that that visual association cortex is what’s creating the images in our dreams. So we see the sensitive pictures of what is going on inside of our brain, pictures of the emotions being processed, for example. Speaker 1 7:12You know, that part actually seems to me to be in line with some of Freud’s early insights. I mean, he talked a lot about associations, and he was, he was trained as a neurologist, and of course, they didn’t have all the tools that we have today. And boy, I think he would just be tickled. Speaker 3 7:34Stuff. It would be a lot of this is actually supportive of you, even more than Freud, yeah, particularly the part about how the brain can learn and how the brain does problem solving, dealing with unresolved issues of the day and providing cues as to how one might solve it, testing dream scenarios, and thus Actually self rewarding and learning. So there’s a lot of activity going on there that the June would be proud of as well. Speaker 1 8:06Yeah. Now that relates to the whole question of, you know, what’s the function of dreaming? Why has it evolved? What you know, maybe you can speak to that a bit. Speaker 3 8:18Okay, yeah, there has been an awful lot of theory, theories related to the function of dreaming over time, and some of the brain scan activity is actually helping to consolidate some of those theories into a few areas that seem to make sense. And one of them, the first thing, is the finding that the limbic system, or this emotional brain is highly active has led a lot of researchers to believe that the brain is processing unresolved emotional or at least emotionally important issues of the day. A bunch of researchers now feel that that’s the case that we’re really dealing with emotion and emotional processing in our dreaming activity, also the fact that the active frontal regions, the anterior cingulate, cingulate, and some other areas of the brain are active. This is an in

07/01/2024

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1h 1m
09/10/2021

Baby’s First Disney Trip

#21: Stef shares what it’s like to take an infant to the park for the first time. A first for her son and a first for her husband and her. She shares the infant-friendly rides, navigates virtual queues, and responds to the needs of her family. Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources. Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy Transcription Ariel Landrum 0:03Hello, everyone, welcome to The Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Ariel. Stefanie Bautista 0:07And I’m Stef, and we are Disney fans. But we are really so much more than that. Ariel Landrum 0:10Like I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness. Stefanie Bautista 0:16And I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them. Here at Happiest Pod, it’s a place where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens. Ariel Landrum 0:27Why? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume. So Stef what Disney media experience are we dissecting and sharing today? Stefanie Bautista 0:36It is definitely an experience. And it’s one that we’ve heard before and many of you might have been going through. But we are going to be talking about my first trip back to Disneyland with a baby. It’s been a while. First time with a baby of my own. I was thinking about this, and there have been many times that I’ve gone with my nieces, my nephews, other kids, friends of you know, friends of mine to have kids, but going yourself with the baby, your own baby is kind of a whole different ballgame. Ariel Landrum 1:09Did going with those other babies give you at least some idea of how to prep or what you needed to to like consider or because they had other caregivers, maybe you only focused on like small certain parts? Stefanie Bautista 1:21Oh, absolutely. I think I always kind of watched like, how many bags did they take? Are they overpacking? Did they have enough food for them? Are their kids picky? I always take those things in consideration just because for me, it’s like going on a field trip with other kids. So whenever I’m on a field trip with my students, I have to make sure that you know I have their emergency stuff like I have kids medicines, I do a head count, which I always did when we traveled with a big group of kids at Disneyland. We always made sure like “1-2-3-4-5. Okay, we have everybody, we’re good.” Thankfully, I was just responsible for my one child who is mobile, but still can be in a stroller. When I go with my nieces and nephews, many of them are walking now they are you know elementary school age. So for them, it’s more of you know, what rides are they scared of? What rides do they like? What experiences and characters do they identify with, as opposed to bringing a baby, which is really what is safe? And what won’t upset them throughout the day, because you want to have a good day to. Ariel Landrum 2:28You’re talking about, you know, a baby that’s non nonverbal. So, it really and because this is, you know, your son’s very first time very, very first time, everything is a is a reaction. None of his like recall memory or response to like, “Oh, this is something I’ve seen before and it’s familiar and comforting.” It is brand new, like sensory information for him. Stefanie Bautista 2:51Mm hmm. And even during the pandemic, I know we mentioned in another episode that we had visited Downtown Disney before when he was much, much younger, maybe a couple months old. And we were able to do a Taste of Disney, which was the food event at California Adventure. So many of these sites might be the same, but because his eye development wasn’t there yet. So he might not even have remembered that he was watching Cars Land or he might not even remember that there was a big ferris wheel that was in front of him. Ariel Landrum 3:22Because the visual perception is up close, right? And even color recognition. Stefanie Bautista 3:27Yeah. And on top of that, there’s no real like character interaction. So there wasn’t anybody getting into face, or I wasn’t bringing him into anything that was in front of him that he might have recognized. So really, it was a new experience for him overall, aside from the fact that he was maybe used to the noise. I think that was the only thing that was familiar to him. Ariel Landrum 3:48And this is slightly different experience. I think that you’ve had but probably similar because you’re a military wife, one of the experiences that I have had with other military wives who’ve had infants and you know, their partners returning is that theirs “stranger shock,” even though this is their parent, because they don’t recognize that face and and even if they met them as an infant, even into two or three now because they have the ability to recognize faces. This one doesn’t look familiar. It’s scary. Stefanie Bautista 4:19Yes. Ariel Landrum 4:20I mentioned that because the reunification process with families is like really informing the service member that that this is a likely thing to happen and it has nothing to do with a rejection to you. It has everything to do with the baby doesn’t know you doesn’t know your face. Stefanie Bautista 4:37It’s just not familiar. And those are the things that he was experiencing during COVID because his dad was on mission and he was traveling to different parts of California. So there were stretches of time, weeks, months that he didn’t see him and then when we were reunited together, he was really only going by his sense of smell, I think. And it took maybe like a couple minutes, maybe sometimes an hour. Sometimes a couple hours for him to really get used to the fact that this is not a stranger. This is somebody who I can trust. And somebody who kind of smells like me, but not really. Especially since he’s had been, you know, my husband had been living in a hotel for a lot of these months out of the year. So he kind of have that hotel smell? For a while. And um, you know, it wasn’t necessarily that skin to skin smell that they probably that my son was used to right after birth. But yeah, that’s a real thing. And this, this could have been a very different situation had, we had not set up the correct parameters. And I think just to set up for our listeners context, my son is 14 months old. So he’s a little over a year. He’s beginning to say some words, not a lot, he knows some sign language when it comes to food. So he knows when to ask for more. He knows when he’s done, we know his nonverbal cues when he’s finished eating, when he’s cranky. We’ve we’ve kind of gone through these routines with him, not just at home, but when we eat at restaurants outside. So really, that was a lot of context that I was bringing into coming into Disneyland. And thankfully, kind of thankfully, that we had been traveling so much during the pandemic, visiting his dad over at his hotels, I was used to putting him in the car, those things don’t bother him anymore, because he had been conditioned to know that that’s a normal thing. So that in itself was easy for me to transition to because he had had those experiences. Ariel Landrum 6:37Yeah, I think that’s a really good thing to note. Because sometimes, and particularly new parents, or parents that haven’t been around a lot of children but just their own, forget the awareness of essentially desensitizing your child to some of the things that are going to be normalized for them, like being put in a car seat, like long rides. Some kids like those rides, put them to sleep, and it’s fine, but others it’s too much noise from the freeway, it could be like the sound of the air conditioning or unable to like regulate their body temperature. And so caregivers have to really like zero in on those cues. Stefanie Bautista 7:12Definitely. And I always wonder now, why don’t they make car seats more breathable? My son is a sweaty mess, sometimes, and it’s been like 100 degrees here, in LA. Ariel Landrum 7:23Sweaty baby! Stefanie Bautista 7:23He is like, you can see the sweat marks just like they’re forever in his car seat. And, you know, they recommend that children are rear facing up until 20 pounds, or until they’re like two years old. So he’s going to be rear facing for quite a bit, but I don’t have a vent that goes to that side of my car. Ariel Landrum 7:44From the chair. Stefanie Bautista 7:45From the chair. And I’m like, “How do I pick my son not a sweaty mess?” But, you know, hey, people who make car seats, please fix this. Ariel Landrum 7:54Yeah. And it’s not like you could really put a fan near him because for some kids, the fans very fascinating moving thing and they want to touch it. Stefanie Bautista 8:01Oh my gosh. Yes. And I will mention it. I’m going to talk about fans portable fans later. Ariel Landrum 8:06Okay. Stefanie Bautista 8:07One of the experiences we had. Ariel Landrum 8:10So in essentially, in planning for this trip, what exactly did you have to do? Stefanie Bautista 8:16Okay, so I really had to, like take myself out of I was a former annual pass holder, I have my routines in the park, I know which rides I want to go to, I haven’t been on these things since before I was pregnant. All that out the window. Ariel Landrum 8:32So so the managing the expectations, and not only using memory recall and history, because this is new experience. Stefanie Bautista 8:40A brand new experience, not just because you know, we’re coming at a pandemic, the parks are different now,. The way you navigate the parks are certainly different and seeing the cues that you had, for me last time. And also

09/10/2021

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1h 32m
07/06/2019

Toy Story 4: A Woody Story

#3: Toy Story 4 feels smaller and more intimate to us than the other films, mostly because it feels like one toy’s story. This is Woody’s movie and it hit us like all the others, full of very relatable themes that made us reflect on some real-life milestones. Also, are all toys sentient in this world? Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum. — Check out the GT Network: network.geektherapy.com GT Forum: forum.geektherapy.com GT Discord: geektherapy.com/discord GT Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/geektherapy Find us at happy.geektherapy.com | @HappiestPodGT | Lara: @GeekTherapist | Josué: @JosueACardona Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy The post Toy Story 4: A Woody Story appeared first on The Happiest Pod on Earth.

07/06/2019

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54 min
08/05/2021

Back to School? More Like Back To Recess!

#17: Recess is a show about six brave 4th graders who take on the social dynamics of the playground. Stef and Ariel discuss this beloved 90’s animated series, and how studies find that recess is an important part of a child’s social-emotional learning. Resources for this episode:1. Verywell Mind: Quality Recess Gives a Boost to Children’s Mental Health, Study Says2. Journal of School Health: Recess Quality and Social and Behavioral Health in Elementary School Students3. Photos of School Lunches From Around the World Will Make American Kids Want to Study Abroad Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy Transcription Ariel Landrum 0:11Hello, everyone, welcome to the happiest pod on Earth. I’m Ariel. Stefanie Bautista 0:14And I’m Stef, and we’re Disney fans. But we’re really so much more than that. Ariel here is a licensed therapist who uses clients’ passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness. Ariel Landrum 0:24And the lovely Stef is an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help her students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them. Stefanie Bautista 0:32And here at Happiest Pod. It’s a place where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens. Why do we do that? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume. And so today, what Disney the media or experience are we dissecting and sharing on this episode? Ariel Landrum 0:49I think this is one that you are highly familiar with as an educator. Stefanie Bautista 0:53Yep. Yes, it totally is. And I’m really, really excited to talk about this. And we are talking today about recess. Ariel Landrum 1:03Recess! Stefanie Bautista 1:05And I’m sure all of you are like listening to that theme song from Recess in your head, because I loved it so much. I wish we could have it here on the podcast, but we probably need to license that. And there’s the gardener in my house. Low and behold gardeners are not part of recess, but we’re going to be talking about Recess the show, and also recess as it plays into how it works in our kids lives, lives of kids who we know if you don’t have any, and also the impact that it has in our lives growing up. Ariel Landrum 1:39Absolutely. So recently, I got to respond to some research in an article that talked about the importance of recess for students and their mental wellness. And some of the things that they identified was that recess offers an opportunity to support just the healthy development of children. So that they became come well, whole humans and entire experience of themselves. And that the biggest factor was quality recess; factors such as a safe play environment, sufficient play equipment, and even supportive adult engagement, along with student autonomy and minimal disruptive conflict. Would you agree with some of these findings? Stefanie Bautista 2:24Absolutely. I think recess as it has evolved over time, I know that us playing recess in the early 90’s looked a lot different than how recess is conducted today while I’m working at a school. But I remember recess being the time that you are your whole self. In the classroom, you’re in front of an adult, there’s expectations, academic expectations, mannerisms, that you kind of get used to as you’re going into school. But when you’re on the yard, you are really who you are outside, just without your family. And this is where interactions with your peers, interactions with different ages of kids, interactions with other adults who aren’t your teacher, those connections and those opportunities only happen on the recess play yard. And that’s why I think A. I love the show Recess, because it was such a fun way to describe that, obviously in a way more fantastical setting. I did not have a king Bob at my recess yard. But the sixth graders were hecka scary. Ariel Landrum 3:24They were. Stefanie Bautista 3:24Like I did not want to interact with them at all. But absolutely, recess is so integral in, you know, a child’s development socially. And I think this past year, having not had recess really had an impact. But I know we’ll talk a little bit about that later. I know for my school in particular, we do more of a structured recess where we have TAs leading different games, only because we do have limited space on my campus. But at the same time we realize that kids loved structured play. Recess doesn’t have to be a free for all, maybe in kindergarten, as we saw that there, you know, little unruly human beings in the beginning, not really knowing how to socialize yet. But definitely, as you see in the older upper grades, third, fourth and fifth grades, they’re longing for that structure, and they want to use those structured structures to learn more about play and evolve the way they play. Ariel Landrum 4:18Absolutely, absolutely. And research that was published in the Journal of School Health, titled Recess Quality and Social and Behavioral Health in Elementary School Students. And the article that featured my comments was in VerywellMind.com, and the title of the article is Quality Recess Gives a Boost to Children’s Mental Health Study Says. I’ll be sure to link both in the show notes. I agreed with some of the findings in regards to and and again, I think this might be something that you can talk to you because I believe this is maybe similar to your educational environment. But something new that when I came out here had not experienced; in the show Recess, they have a fixed building. And they have a fixed play yard. And there are a lot of schools here that the buildings are not fixed they’re not permanent fixtures. Stefanie Bautista 5:11Yup. Ariel Landrum 5:11Play yard is just asphalt there aren’t there is an equipment, there isn’t toys, there’s maybe just a chain Link fence that separates them from just the street. And it that disparity and access to just play is really disruptive to just the the mental wellness of youth and causes disengagement from adults. Though they’re finding that I definitely agreed with was when the anyone supervising the yard actually wanted to play with the youth and was very attentive, versus, you know, now, maybe on their phone when they shouldn’t be or talking to the other adults and not really paying attention, that that attentiveness created positive memories for for youth in regards to engaging with adults. That play is something important; its the way that they communicate and that it was a thing that was encouraged. Stefanie Bautista 6:01Absolutely, I think that there’s two really important things that you touched upon. The first part is that growing up here in the San Fernando Valley, and also other parts in LA, you have really old schools, and then you have schools within schools. That’s something that’s common here. Because we do have things like charter schools, private schools, and depending on which school you attend, sometimes they have a play apparatus. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes, because they’re located on a school, there’s an apparatus there, but they can’t necessarily play with it. So you have to kind of be creative. And depending on the resources of your school, you can, you know, do structured play, like I mentioned before at my school, but other times I remember being probably in middle school where you don’t really see like a play apparatus, it was more so like you were participating participating in organized sport like soccer, or you know, basketball. And otherwise, you were just hanging out on the yard. And that’s where you see, like you mentioned ‘The Yard Ladies,’ which is like our favorite ‘Yard Lady’ on Recess being her grumpy self. And I remember that was so much more prevalent in public schools. We always called them the ‘LAUSD Yard Ladies,’ they were always frowning. They were super upset everything, they just wanted to, you know, share the gossip with their, you know, your their coworkers and they weren’t really paying attention. And when you went to them, ask them for help or something, they were just like, whatever, figure it out on your own. And that was definitely something that I experienced in public school, as opposed to now working for a charter school. And also knowing other kids, other friends of mine who went to private school, those yard ladies actually played with them on the yard, they were leading games, they were helping do arts and crafts on the side, they had those materials. And unfortunately, that’s just the reality of funding when it comes to public, private, and charter schools in the United States across you know, from coast to coast. But it really does affect the way that kids view play. And it’s no surprise that by the time High School rolls around, they don’t want to play outside anymore. Ariel Landrum 8:06Aboslutely. Stefanie Bautista 8:07Because they never really had those, like positive opportunities when they were younger. Ariel Landrum 8:11And you definitely talked about school funding, right? And one of the I think in the very first episode of the series, we see The Swinger; not not to be taken as a related to Austin Powers. The Swinger is a little girl dressed very much like Amelia Earhart… Stefanie Bautista 8:29Amelia Earhart yup. Ariel Landrum 8:29On a swing, who is wanting to soar to new heights, and getting essentially injured. And one of the characters says, “Oh, we’ll have to talk to her when she comes back to the school from the school nurse.” And I do know that a lot of American schools’, maybe the school nurse shows up two days, maybe there’s no one at all. Stefanie Bautista 8:45We don’t have one at all. And you know what, I was just watching that episode again. And now that I’ve been educated, I haven’t seen it since I was,

08/05/2021

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1h 2m
06/15/2024

Celebrating Juneteenth and Diversity in Disney

44: Ariel, Stef, and special guest Chance Calloway discuss Juneteenth, media representation, and Disney’s portrayal of Black characters. They highlight Juneteenth’s significance and embodiment of “we’re not free until we are all free.” The episode promotes authentic representations and diverse voices in future Disney projects and teaches audiences about The Transformation Trope, Projection Representation, and Black coded characters. Summary Summary of HPOE 44: 00:00 Introduction: Meet Ariel, Stef, and Chance Calloway, and learn about their unique approaches to therapy, education, and creative arts. 01:33 Juneteenth Significance: An in-depth look at Juneteenth, its history, and its recent recognition as a federal holiday. The hosts discuss its unique place among American holidays and its traditions. 07:07 Media Representation: The importance of diverse representation in media, particularly in children’s films. The discussion includes the federal recognition of Juneteenth and calls for authentic portrayals of characters of color in Disney movies. 10:18 Brandy Cinderella Movie: An exploration of the impact of the Brandy Cinderella movie on media representation and its continued relevance in promoting diversity. 21:11 Black Panther: Reflecting on the success of Black Panther and its significance in showcasing Black excellence and representation both in front of and behind the camera. 32:34 Princess Tiana: Critiquing Disney’s portrayal of Princess Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, and advocating for more genuine representations of protagonists of color. 37:55 Black Coding in Disney Films: Discussing the concept of Black coding in Disney movies, the challenges in marketing diverse content, and the importance of amplifying diverse voices in future projects. 43:36 Conclusion: Summarizing the episode’s key points on Juneteenth, media representation, and the portrayal of Black characters in Disney films. The hosts encourage listeners to engage with these critical topics. Transcription 00:00:09,094 –> 00:00:11,894Ariel Landrum: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the happiest pod on Earth. 00:00:11,894 –> 00:00:18,530I’m Ariel, a licensed therapist who uses clients’ passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental development. 00:00:18,690 –> 00:00:24,690Stefanie Bautista: And I’m Stef. I’m an educator who uses her passions and fandoms to educate the kids that I work with. 00:00:24,690 –> 00:00:33,345Chance Calloway: I’m Chance Calloway. I’m a producer, filmmaker, musician, writer, all around multi hyphenate. Creativity is my passion. 00:00:33,450 –> 00:00:36,410Stefanie Bautista: And happiest pod is where we dissect Disney mediums with a 00:00:36,410 –> 00:00:41,710Ariel Landrum: critical lens. Why? Because we are more than just Stef, and we expect more from the mediums we consume. 00:00:42,005 –> 00:00:44,825So, see, so I have a guest today. Chance, what are we talking about? 00:00:45,204 –> 00:00:48,425Chance Calloway: Today we’re talking about Juneteenth, and we’re talking about representation. 00:00:48,805 –> 00:00:56,720Stefanie Bautista: Yeah. Yeah. Chance, as you all know, if you’ve been following us on our podcast and also have seen us at Comic Con or WonderCon, 00:00:56,860 –> 00:01:02,465Chance is 1 of our very good friends, 1 of our most talented friends, like you said, multi hyphenate. 00:01:02,925 –> 00:01:10,500And, you know, I feel even when this podcast was coming to its conception, we would organically have a lot of really good 00:01:10,500 –> 00:01:18,425discussions about the way we consume media and the different things that we expect from it and also want to see from it in the future. 00:01:18,425 –> 00:01:26,080So I hope that today’s discussion is gonna be very enlightening for those of you aren’t familiar with Juneteenth. So, Chance, would you be 00:01:26,080 –> 00:01:28,420Ariel Landrum: able to explain what exactly is Juneteenth? 00:01:28,640 –> 00:01:33,845It became recently a federal holiday, but just because it wasn’t a federal holiday, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a holiday. 00:01:34,165 –> 00:01:40,825Chance Calloway: Correct. Yes. Juneteenth, basically, is the embodiment of the term, we’re not free until we’re all free. 00:01:41,180 –> 00:01:47,680So when, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed, some, black Americans were still enslaved. 00:01:48,060 –> 00:01:51,585Some black Americans did not know that freedom had arrived. 00:01:51,884 –> 00:02:00,350And on June 19th, that was the day that they did basically the final, like, enforcement, and made sure that the enslaved people were made free. 00:02:00,430 –> 00:02:05,170And that’s when a lot of, people in the black community started celebrating it as a holiday. 00:02:05,390 –> 00:02:11,705Ariel Landrum: I think it’s important to note because it’s hard for people to fathom not getting information immediately. 00:02:12,245 –> 00:02:12,724Chance Calloway: Sure. 00:02:12,724 –> 00:02:16,620Ariel Landrum: There’s an acknowledgment that we get media so quickly. 00:02:16,760 –> 00:02:25,885We get news so quickly, especially, like, breaking news, reactions to it, that there isn’t this time to, like, digest and 00:02:25,885 –> 00:02:28,465understand before you’ve moved on to the next thing. 00:02:28,605 –> 00:02:37,650And I think that the fact that it became a holiday amongst the black community just shows, like, how important and informative it was. 00:02:38,189 –> 00:02:45,695Chance Calloway: Absolutely. Suleens. Yeah. And I think, for a lot of people, there’s a a hitch that comes with thinking of American holidays, 00:02:46,050 –> 00:02:47,810you know, and the American flag, things like that. 00:02:47,810 –> 00:02:51,569We’ve seen you know, it’s been the media a lot because of the cover of Beyonce’s new album. 00:02:51,569 –> 00:02:56,465A lot of, black Americans kind of don’t respect, like, holidays like the 4th July. 00:02:56,685 –> 00:03:01,905So then when something like Juneteenth came along, that I can respect. That feels like a celebration. 00:03:02,045 –> 00:03:02,569Ariel Landrum: And I think 00:03:02,569 –> 00:03:08,510Stefanie Bautista: when it comes to holidays, there are diff there’s different layers of celebrating and even the word celebrating a holiday. 00:03:08,650 –> 00:03:14,975Because, essentially, this is 1 of those holidays where it was a realization of something that hadn’t been realized, fully. 00:03:15,115 –> 00:03:22,799When you’re talking about people celebrating the 4th July, they normally talk about barbecues and doing fun stuff and not, 00:03:22,799 –> 00:03:26,180you know, the actual reason for the holiday. 00:03:26,400 –> 00:03:34,595This is 1 of those holidays that kind of wakes us up to the different ways we celebrate and the different ways we honor certain 00:03:34,595 –> 00:03:38,694people, especially when we’re talking about, honoring everyone equal. 00:03:39,710 –> 00:03:43,470And, like, celebrating it with a purpose and not just celebrating to sell. 00:03:43,470 –> 00:03:51,455Chance Calloway: And that that’s a really great point, Steph, because there’s a lot of holidays that, you know, have lost the meaning behind them for various reasons. Yeah. 00:03:51,455 –> 00:03:53,775And people feel different ways depending on the holiday. But Yeah. 00:03:53,855 –> 00:03:58,430Think about the majority of the holidays that we celebrate, it’s more because it’s a day off. Yeah. Right. Yeah. 00:03:58,430 –> 00:04:00,989And there’s some aesthetic theme around it that we like. 00:04:00,989 –> 00:04:06,415And we we celebrate Christmas or don’t even follow, like, the religion that Christmas is based on. 00:04:06,415 –> 00:04:14,840So, like, holidays become other things that, you know, whereas Juneteenth is still very resonant for the reason that it exists. 00:04:14,980 –> 00:04:22,525Stefanie Bautista: I’m coming from a standpoint where at school, that is your first foray into celebrating holidays and doing themed activities. Mhmm. 00:04:22,525 –> 00:04:30,050And I think the way that I’ve been experiencing it in the school culture that I’m currently in, which is very diversity, equity, 00:04:30,110 –> 00:04:39,285inclusion, and belonging based, we really take a deeper dive into what exactly are we celebrating or why exactly do we have that date. 00:04:39,665 –> 00:04:47,850And if, you know, that means taking a little bit more time and not just doing the hand turkey or doing, you know, the snowman. 00:04:48,070 –> 00:04:56,345I mean, that’s okay because we would rather have the kids have a bigger and full understanding of the holiday or the day off. 00:04:56,505 –> 00:05:03,465Ariel Landrum: I know that there are some traditions that have come about for the black community in celebrating Juneteenth, including colors 00:05:03,465 –> 00:05:05,310that you can wear and things that you could eat. 00:05:05,310 –> 00:05:09,729Would you be able to share for audience what that is, or what you did? 00:05:09,870 –> 00:05:14,925Chance Calloway: Sure. I mean, I I always celebrate many holidays just by nature of my bachelor. The 00:05:16,444 –> 00:05:18,944Stefanie Bautista: Every day’s a holiday. Okay. You know, 00:05:19,164 –> 00:05:23,104Chance Calloway: there are some Juneteenth cotillions, you know, which are which are very popular. 00:05:23,270 –> 00:05:29,509A lot of people like to do the, the kinda Afrocentric colors of the red, green, and black. 00:05:29,509 –> 00:05:32,295You know, some people have flags that are in those colors. 00:05:

06/15/2024

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17 min

At Geek Therapy we believe that the best way to understand each other, and ourselves, is through the media we care about. Check out GT Radio: THE Geek Therapy Podcast and our other great shows focused on video games, anime, tabletop, Disney, Queer comics, diversity, Steven Universe, and more. Geek Therapy Network podcasts are brought to you by Geek Therapy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice. We provide education and resources so helping professionals, educators, and community leaders can better understand the communities they serve, through media that matters.

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