Fit Mind Chats

Abbey Samide PCC-S & Sarah Della Vella LISW

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Mental Health
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Abbey Samide PCC-S and Sarah Della Vella LISW are co-owners of Fit Mind Cleveland. It is our goal to make therapy and therapeutic topics understandable and available to everyone. We will explore mental health topics with humor, knowledge, insight and compassion. abbeysamide.substack.com

6d ago

You Up? (Only when you need something)

Ester Perrel says that if you are lucky you can experience many different marriages to the same person. I like to think the same goes for friendships. This is a perfectly timed chat on friendship because I just spent the weekend with two of my oldest friends and then some of our friends from our 20s, shout out to the dirty oars my old rowing team. The rhythm of our conversations, the inside jokes and laughing about how we used to be, the friendship dynamics of the group just feels like a comfy old shoe. Friendships are a source of connection, meaning, and a source of well being and longevity (remember how social relationships help us live longer?) if you can weather the ups and downs of life together. Friendship is not easy to navigate as each of us go through difficult times, struggles with mental health, deaths, marriages, divorces, and parenting. There can be natural changes in our social circles, conflicts over boundaries and expectations, even how you define what it means to be a good friend. Today we explore friendships and how to identify a healthy one versus an unhealthy one. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbeysamide.substack.com
Jul 20

Anxiety Detox

Anxiety has become one of the number one things that bring people into therapy. Most come in when it has become unbearable and it is negatively impacting their daily living to where they struggle in relationships, work and overall functioning. Many have been experiencing anxiety since they were kids and did not recognize and assumed this was normal. The constant worry thoughts, assuming the worse, shaking, difficulty sleeping, compulsive behaviors, avoiding things, fear manifesting to somatic sx. GI issues that can not be explained by medical definitions, dizzy, fainting spells, heart palpitations. None explained by a medical issue. After a medical condition has been ruled out they come in our doors. A barrier in treatment is once they learn ways to manage they get anxious about not being anxious. It can be uncomfortable to not have anxiety if you have always had anxiety. Hence the resistance starts and the negative self talk about creating a calm space and having stillness in life. This is where we hear I cannot meditate, I have to keep moving, I hate yoga, walking maybe.. These are learned behaiviors that you have to be busy, productive, moving and it is shameful to take time to ground in nature, sit in stillness, do a workout that does not burn a 500 calories,etc. I know this well I was one of these people and had to unlearn these thoughts. They are thoughts not facts. Sitting in stillness, meditating, yoga being still can be scary bc you are no longer avoiding. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbeysamide.substack.com
Jul 13

Grit Happens

Life can really beat you down. You have a hard day, week, month, maybe year or several years. We go through so many seasons in our lives. You can’t be alive and not face challenges along the way. We watched fairytales when we were kids and oddly all of those fairy tales involved tales of death (usually the mother) evil antagonists (often the stepmother) and some epic battle against the evil in their lives before they overcome usually with some helpers along the way until they persevere and live happily ever after. According to World Health Organization estimates, the average person goes through 1 to 3 major traumatic events in their lifetime, with an international study pointing to an average of 3.2 traumatic experiences per capita. [1, 2, 3] Yup, that sounds like a lot. So, we all need to build resilience within ourselves. While none of us welcome adversity or trauma into our lives, we can come out the other end with a profound personal transformation and growth. You’ve heard us say this before, but we grow through pain. It is inevitable according to the WHO and that pain has the power to transform. Even if you fantasized about running away from life while it was happening. Today, we explore what resiliency means and what you can do to build it within yourself. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbeysamide.substack.com
Jul 6

What women want their partners to know

Last week we polled men on what they wish women knew. This week we polled women on what they wished their partners knew. If you could sit down with hundreds of women and ask them one question—’What’s one thing you wish your partner understood?’—what do you think they’d say? Today, we’re answering that question. Here are some comments we heard I wish they knew: I’m not mad about the dishes; I’m tired of being the manager I do not need this problem fixed I need an ear to listen Foreplay starts at 9am not 9pm The little things matter more than the big things I want to go on dates We have some ideas on ways to strengthen your relationship and have some fun in the process. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbeysamide.substack.com
Jun 29

What Men Want Women to Know....

I remember reading Marie Claire magazine when I was in my teens and 20s. I would read articles with titles like, What Men Really Want, 10 Ways to Turn Someone Off, 6 Things that will drive your man wild. Well, I have to laugh because now what I would tell you all is that if you want to know something like that, the best thing to do is ask. We have heard your suggestions, your outcry for male representation in our podcast. We asked our social media audience to tell us what they wished women would understand about them. We got a few responses and decided to dedicate our podcast to the male perspective as best as we two women with depleted estrogen levels can. We will do our best today to give a voice to a group who may struggle with vulnerability in general and are less likely to seek out counseling than their female counterparts. Unfortunately, stoicism has done our boys a disservice with messages to withhold your feelings or shut them down. Don’t feel. Don’t be a “wuss.” This has huge repercussions healthwise. Today’s chat is “what men want women to know.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbeysamide.substack.com
Jun 22

Tips and Therapy Tricks

Why do people want mental health interventions? Because advice from social media, their cousin, and late-night overthinking wasn’t quite doing the trick. Why should you listen to this podcast? Maybe you are tired of using the same solutions and getting the same problems. Maybe you are looking for relief Maybe what use to work isn’t working anymore Maybe something hurts, stalls, or keeps repeating Maybe you feel you have tried everything Maybe you realize there might be another way Maybe you hit your bottom If any of this resonates today is your day. We are giving coping strategies, tools, interventions that can maybe help if any of the above apply to you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbeysamide.substack.com
Jun 15

Intervention Spotlight

We have compiled a list of our favorite interventions to use in therapy. We often like to describe a problem during our chats and sometimes we forget to give an intervention or how to potentially solve something. Today we want to remedy this and talk about our most used and most effective interventions. As therapists we acknowledge that what sounds very simple is not EASY. There is a big difference in talking about solutions or interventions and knowing something you can do and actually doing it in real time. That’s where it can get dicey and why therapy isn’t a quick fix. It takes time and patience and trial and error. Every person has a system of defense mechanism (all aimed to protect you) that may tell you that something new is scary or that discomfort is bad. It may be telling you that it’s someone else’s fault so you don’t need to change!! It may say that if I stay vigilant then I’ll be safe so never put your guard down. If I joke about something then someone else cannot hurt me. It can tell you to avoid the conversation because it’s not going to end well. Or feelings and vulnerability are weaknesses so don’t express them. This is what every therapist is up against and will help you wade through so you can dream big and feel empowered enough to get there. (shameless plug for therapy) But here we are and we want to tell you about the best things to DO and to consider doing to improve your life. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbeysamide.substack.com
Jun 8

Radically Honesty in a Filtered Social Media World

Last week we discussed radical honesty and took the challenge of only posting on our social media unfiltered day to day business. Not making posts that misrepresent our lives. Social media feeds into our feelings of shame, embarassment and the need to be accepted/admired. Hence the lying on social media misrepresenting situations, spouses, children to gain acceptance and admiration. We are exploring what happens when you post the reality. We are on a 10 day challenge of posting the real day to day things we may struggle with not the triumphs. The reality post have generated more comments and likes than the post of success. It has been a great learning experience being vulnerable to others seeing your daily fails and the second thoughts that happen when you post the fail. Stay tuned today as we review our journey posting the reality, the comments and the post that got the most likes. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbeysamide.substack.com

Abbey Samide PCC-S and Sarah Della Vella LISW are co-owners of Fit Mind Cleveland. It is our goal to make therapy and therapeutic topics understandable and available to everyone. We will explore mental health topics with humor, knowledge, insight and compassion. abbeysamide.substack.com

Creator

Abbey Samide PCC-S & Sarah Della Vella LISW
Years Active

2026
Episodes

30
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© Abbey Samide
Show Website

Fit Mind Chats