The Anxious Pineapple Kayla Chorley

Today’s episode features the lovely Rachel Potter and we chat all about burnout. Rachel shares some helpful tips on how to recognize you are headed for burnout, as well as some strategies to prevent it. Rachel and I also discuss work anxiety, how the pandemic has impacted our jobs, and how leaders can support their employees during this uncertain time.

Rachel Potter is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New York State. Rachel is passionate about helping chronically stressed individuals get "unstuck" and build a life that motivates and inspires them. She is the owner and founder of Strive Behavioral Counseling and Well-Being therapy practice, specializing in chronic stress, including burnout and chronic illness. In addition to private practice, Rachel works at a hospital in NYC. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rachel volunteered as a mental health liaison for front line workers on COVID inpatient units, as well as developing wellness groups for her team and COVID outpatients. Outside of work, Rachel loves to read, paint, and hike. 

Find out more at www.pineappletherapy.ca

On today’s episode we talk to Aliza Katz about parenting anxious children. Although I am not a parent myself, I recognize the pressure to be “perfect” and to have all of the answers. Aliza shared some ways parents can model working with emotions to their children, as well as some helpful tips and tricks when it comes to helping children work through anxiety and see it as a teammate instead of an enemy. If you are a caregiver, teacher, parent - this episode is for you.

Aliza Katz is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in NY and NJ and is a Registered Play Therapist (RPT). She received her Masters in Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work at CUNY Hunter College. Aliza specializes in trauma therapy for creative children, teens, and young adults. She’s loved children for as long as she can remember. Their sense of wonder, pursuit of adventure and playful nature has kept me seeking out more interactions. She is trained in EMDR, ACT and CBT. and also trained in multiple methods of Play Therapy, including Child-Centered Play Therapy, Theraplay (Levels One and Two), and Sandtray Therapy. Aliza also trained in multiple parenting methods such as The Nurtured Heart Approach, Collaborative and Proactive Solutions, Parent Management Training, and others. To find out more about Aliza, go to alizakatzlcsw.com

Aliza mentions several resources in the podcast, including her blog, which you can find here: https://www.alizakatzlcsw.com/blog/

Relationships - am I right?! Gotta love them, but they are also so challenging. We are speaking with my dear therapist friend Brandon Langrock, around attachment theory and relationships. This concept is something that has become extremely popular in the last little while, and you might have heard people mention attachment in passing. We are going to focus on anxious attachment, and the role it plays in adult relationships. Now, this can apply to all types of relationships, not just romantic partnerships, and we can learn alot about ourselves in the context of relationship. So, if you are like me, and you tend to lean more towards the anxious side of things in relationships, this episode is for you!

Brandon Langrock is a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) and Mental Health Therapist in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Brandon works in primary care, providing mental health therapy to a variety of mental health concerns including attachment issues and codependency, trauma and PTSD, and grief. Brandon is also the founder of The Closer Couple, a website that provides accessible skills and strategies to create healthier, more intimate relationships. Find out more at www.theclosercouple.com.

Today we are going to explore the world of Dance/Movement Therapy with Kimberly Bevans. I thoroughly enjoy a good living room dance party, and I find myself turning up the tunes and dancing in between client sessions quite frequently, but I've never really stopped to think about WHY I choose to move my body in this way and what it does for me. Research has found that there is a strong mind-body connection, and our body’s quite frequently remember things that our minds don’t. Kimberly is going to walk us through what a typical DMT session looks like, as well as lead us through a movement exercise, and tell us more about the benefits of dance therapy. If you are curious about movement and its connection to mental health, this episode is for you!
Kimberly Schmidt Bevans is a licensed mental health counselor in Massachusetts (LMHC) and board-certified dance/movement therapist (BC-DMT). Kim has a private practice, currently all tele-health, serving high-achieving, deep-feeling women in the Boston area and across Massachusetts. Kim utilizes body-based, expressive and mindfulness techniques to help her clients with stress-reduction, anxiety, and trauma to live more present, full lives. Find out more at kimberlyschmidtbevans.com
A transcript of this episode can be found at pineappletherapy.ca/podcast 

On today’s episode we spend time with Susan Roggendorf, and we talk about self-worth, this idea of how we interpret our own value. Susan speaks to this idea as it relates to the lbgtq+ queer community, and the internal and external factors that contribute to self-worth, including the anxiety that comes with being a part of a marginalized community. We discuss how you can be an ally to the queer community, without compromising your own comfort zone. I absolutely learned so much from Susan, and I know you will too. So, whether you are apart of the queer community, or want to be a better ally to the queer community, this episode is for you!

Susan Roggendorf is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Iowa. She's the LGBTQ+ owner of Coffelt Counseling Services in the Quad Cities. Susan works with folx living with anxiety in her LGBTQIA2s+ community. She's also currently in certification to expand her work with First Responders grappling with anxiety. Susan's passionate about being an advocate of education and support while helping her clients build tools to cope with their anxiety. You can find her on Instagram at @coffeltcounseling or at www.coffeltcounselingservices.com

A transcript of today’s show is available at www.pineappletherapy.ca/podcast

On today’s episode the lovely Aisha Shabazz joins us to talk about the world of perfectionism - how it shows up for many of us, how society promotes it, and questions to reflect on in regards to its role in your life. So, if you identify as having perfectionist tendencies like me, this episode is for you.

We also touch on the topic of de-colonizing mental health and asking the most important question “why” - why do we do what we do? Is it really as inclusive as we think? Can things be done differently? How is perfectionism tied to things like white supremacy and what can be done to address it? Such an important topic as we work together to become anti-racist.

Before we get started with today’s episode, let me tell you a bit about Aisha. Aisha R. Shabazz is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, career strategist, and solo private practice creator. Aisha established a mental health private practice, In Real Time Wellness (@inrealtimewellness), that offers individual and group therapy to socially conscious and creative teens, young adults, and human beings who are seeking to relieve anxiety, release insecurity, and build confidence.

Through her consulting firm (@aisharshabazz), she serves marginalized mental health therapists and helping professionals who are striving to offer high-quality care to their client and patient populations without sacrificing their own health and wellbeing in the process — addressing not only the impact of employee exploitation, toxic working environments, and burnout that occurs in the helping industry, but also offering practical guidance on how therapists and helping professionals can creatively use their unique technical skills to expand into entrepreneurship.

Her business enterprise is value-based and founded on the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), decolonization, anti-racism, and mindfulness.

The episode transcript can be found at www.pineappletherapy.ca/podcast