BANTR: A Narrative Therapy Podcast Bay Area Narrative Therapy Resource (BANTR)

In this episode, Will Sherwin asked Navid Zamani, Mike Giancola, and Tom to each share two questions they've found helpful in their psychotherapy practice.  We discussed each of them at a camping site in Cuyamaca State Park near San Diego during Will's bachelor camping trip weekend before he got married in August 2022.
 
The questions are:
 
1) [2:15]  "If you'd had yourself as a parent, what difference would this have made to your life?" -- Michael White
 
2) [22:30] "Can you tell me a time where someone's believed in you?"
 
3) [27:40] "What does family mean to you?"
 
4) [44:15] "Can you tell me about your erotic self?" 
 
5) [58:00] "What would love do?" -- Luke Quinn
 
6) [1:02:15] "How did you come to know that?"
 
7) [1:06:20] "Imagine, down the line, your kids are talking about you and talking about this time.  What story would you want them to share about you as a Dad?"
 
8) [1:14:36] "What's the animal that you connect with when this problem is most impactful in your life?"
 
The watercolor painting of the manzanita trees near our campsite used as the episode image was done on location "en plen air" by Will Sherwin.
The guitar music in the episode is played by Will Sherwin.

On this episode Will Sherwin talks with Dr. Danielle Drake from the San Francisco Bay Area.  Danielle performs two of her spoken word poems, we discuss African-centered psychologies, her journey to becoming a clinical psychologist, song lyrics evocative of therapeutic principles, teaching narrative and expressive arts practices at CIIS, sky-diving and more!
Danielle is on the core faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies’ Expressive Arts Program in San Francisco, CA.  She is also a PhD. candidate at the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara.  Her dissertation is entitled, “Spirituality and Creativity Among Culturally Empowered African-Americans: A Legacy of Empowered Community Liberation.”
Danielle Drake can be reached at dydrake@ciis.edu and she would love to hear your reflections.
Show Notes:
[35:19} “The challenge mindset” from the book:
The Triumph of the Soul:  Cultural and Psychological Aspects of African American Music
by Ferdinand Jones, Arthur C. Jones, ed.
 
[39:36]  “I feel the other, I dance the other, therefore I am.” — Leopold Sedar Senghor.
[47:32}  Gregory Porter — “Painted on Canvas”

 
[1:10:27]  “The will to adorn”
[1:11:48]  Outkast — “So Fresh, So Clean”

 
[1:16:01]  Carolyn Malachi — “Beautiful Dreamer”

Originally published on May 25, 2018.

On this episode Will Sherwin and Scott Ralston talk with Art Fisher and Nancy MacDonald, co-founders of the Nova Scotia Trauma-Informed Network and Directors of the Family Service Agencies of Western and Eastern Nova Scotia respectively.  We discuss honoring people’s response-skills to violence, thinking critically about the language of trauma-informed care, the social determinants of health, “going rogue” and more.
Art Fisher can be reached at art.fisher@ns.sympatico.ca
Nancy MacDonald can be reached nmacdonald@fsens.ns.ca
 
Will Sherwin, LMFT works in Irvine, CA and can be reached at wwsherwin@gmail.com
Scott Ralston, LCSW works in Oakland, CA and can be reached at smr@there.net
 
Show References:
CHNET-WORKS! Webinar #437 Family Violence Prevention – Building Trauma Informed Communities with Nancy McDonald and Art Fisher.
“Health, Illness, Men and Masculinities (HIMM): a theoretical framework for understanding men and their health” by Dr. Blye Frank.
Decolonizing Trauma Work by Renee Linklater.
 
Originally published on March 25, 2018.

On this episode Will Sherwin talked with contributors of Painted Brain: Kazuki Takizawa, James Giaquinto, Tristan Scremin, Naomi Barrett, and Angela Tuckerman.  Painted Brain is a Los Angeles-based organization that creates lasting community-based solutions to mental health challenges and the impact of social injustice through arts, advocacy, and enterprise.
 
 
 
We discuss Painted Brain‘s history, personal stories of navigating mental health systems, principles and practices of making a “cool place to hangout”, and lots more.
 
 
 
Painted Brain‘s new headquarters is located at 5980 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90035.
 
 
Visit their website at paintedbrain.org
 
Episode originally published November 25, 2017.

Travis Heath and Will Sherwin sat down at ReauthoringTeaching.com’s 2017 Narrative Camp to discuss Travis’s work using hip hop and narrative therapy, subverting the systems of academia, police murder of young people of color in the United States, and more. Dr. Travis Heath is a psychologist in private practice, associate professor of psychology at MSU Denver and has served as a team consultant in the NBA. He can be reached at heatht@msudenver.edu
 
[23:54] Oli — “Closer to My Dreams
[45:18] Public Enemy – “We Got Game”
“We Got Game” lyrics here.
[48:50] Lauryn Hill – “Black Rage”
“Black Rage” lyrics here.
[50:34] J Cole – “Be Free”
“Be Free” lyrics here.
[1:32:36] Narrativa-Mente Podcast by Luigi Frezza
[1:34:17] – Saas – “Lonely Conscious”
Facebook: WolfSasuke
All instrumental tracks were produced by The Passion HiFi.

Will Sherwin facilitated and recorded a conversation about songs evocative of narrative practice principles at the Los Angeles PoMo Gathering, April 9th, 2017 with five other therapists from Los Angeles: Charley Lang, Pritika Sehgal, Kerry Thorne, Lucy Cotter, and Larry Zucker.
Send questions, comments, or suggestions to wwsherwin@gmail.com.
 
The songs:
[3:24] “Sweet Inspiration” by The Sweet Inspirations, 1967 (written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, Muscle Shoals, AL USA).Song lyrics here. 
[14:41] “The Words Don’t Fit the Picture” by Willie Nelson, 1972 (Texas, USA).Song lyrics here. 
[30:00] “A Song of Survival” by David Denborough, Dulwich Centre (Adelaide, Australia). http://dulwichcentre.com.au/songs/

[41:46] “Rose From the Concrete” by artists involved with Beats, Rhymes, and Life Inc., brl-inc.org.  2015 (Oakland, CA USA)
[54:03] “Powerful Man” by Hop Along, 2015 (Philadelphia, PA USA).
hopalong.bandcamp.com/
Song lyrics here.
[1:17:36] “Done It Again” by Friendly Males, Los Angeles, 2015.
 friendlymales.bandcamp.com/ 
 
Episode artwork by Lucy Cotter