Coming Into Focus

Jay Wick

"Coming Into Focus" is a mental health podcast, hosted by Jay Wick, licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. This podcast aims to share inspiring stories of individuals who have faced significant life challenges and celebrates the resiliency we all are capable of. Episodes also feature interesting topics in the field of mental health, told by other therapists, coaches, shaman, gurus and those with an overall purpose to facilitate change and healing. www.comingintofocus.org

  1. 06/20/2021

    Nika Hirsch - This Life Rocks

    On this episode Jay sits down with Nika Hirsch. Nika is the youngest guest so far on the podcast, at 10 years old. But, as you’ll hear, she’s one of the most inspiring guests. Nika and her mom run an Instagram account, This Life Rocks, which documents all of her amazing accomplishments and kind deeds. From a young age Nika has been dealing with selective mutism, which is an anxiety disorder that’s characterized by an inability to speak in certain social settings. So, it makes it all the more impressive that she could sit down with a total stranger and have this conversation. Nika uses her Instagram account to promote mental health awareness, spread kindness, and promote the various fundraising activities she’s always coming up with. Throughout her fundraising, Nika has raised several thousand dollars, most of which has been donated to various cancer foundations due to her father battling with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, twice. In addition, at the time of recording this, Nika’s dad was in the hospital recovering from a brain surgery after a new cancer showed up. Because Nika has been so brave through all that she faces, and because she does so much do help raise money for cancer research, Jay reached out to Nika’s mom and asked if he could set up a fundraiser with all proceeds being donated to a cancer foundation of their choosing. If you would like to get more information on this, please visit the show's Instagram page @comingintofocus, all one word and look for the post promoting this episode. And, while you’re at it, go check out This Life Rocks to see all of the amazing things Nika does. Nika's Instagram: This Life Rocks Jay's links: Instagram Focus Therapy Website Facebook Group

    34 min
  2. 06/06/2020

    TOPIC IN FOCUS: White Privilege

    When I started school to become a therapist, I sort of unknowingly entered a program that had a huge social justice component. I was extremely uninformed in the area of social justice, which isn’t surprising considering that as a white straight male I’m not often directly impacted by many of these issues. Being uneducated on these topics, I found myself becoming defensive often and speaking from a place of authority about things I really knew nothing about. Some of my defensiveness was directly related to feeling comments were an attacking me, and some of it was out of complete ignorance... which is ultimately why having open dialogues often felt like an attack. I used to feel frustrated thinking “It’s not my job to tell other people how to live their lives. My focus is to resolve mental health issues.” I couldn’t see how these larger systemic issues had anything to do with mental health. It was truly eye opening over the years to come to learn that these issues don’t affect MY mental health because of the bubble of privilege that protects me from them. Since leaving school, I have continued to be educated daily from experiences with my clients. I have worked with clients of multiple different ethnicities, cultures, genders and sexual orientations, and I have come to realize more and more that in order to be the therapist I want to be, I need to continue seeking education and self-reflection in the areas that are in my blind-spots. I remain committed to being being better and doing better, not only for myself but for everyone I come into contact with. Jay's links: Instagram Focus Therapy Website

    18 min
5
out of 5
34 Ratings

About

"Coming Into Focus" is a mental health podcast, hosted by Jay Wick, licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. This podcast aims to share inspiring stories of individuals who have faced significant life challenges and celebrates the resiliency we all are capable of. Episodes also feature interesting topics in the field of mental health, told by other therapists, coaches, shaman, gurus and those with an overall purpose to facilitate change and healing. www.comingintofocus.org