Right Here

Lumen Therapy Collective, WPKN
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Mental Health

Right Here is a mental health podcast that explores the psychological patterns shaping our relationships, choices, and inner lives. Hosted by therapists Christopher Mooney, LCSW, and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW, each episode offers grounded, compassionate conversations rooted in clinical insight and real human experience. No jargon. No judgment. Just clear, thoughtful dialogue designed to help listeners better understand themselves and the people around them.

  1. 21h ago

    The Inner Critic (Part Two)

    In part two of "The Inner Critic," Right Here hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW continue exploring the voice inside us that says we’re too much, not enough, already behind, or bound to fail. This conversation looks at the real cost of living under that voice: hiding instead of connecting, avoiding new risks, choosing unavailable relationships, attacking progress in recovery, shutting down creative work before it begins, and losing the ability to rest, receive joy, or accept a compliment. Christopher and Kenyon examine how the inner critic often disguises itself as humility, realism, or self-improvement, when it may actually be shame, fear, and old protection strategies running the show. They also explore the connection between self-criticism, perfectionism, comparison, anxiety, depression, obsessive negative self-talk, and the painful isolation that can come from believing the worst things we say about ourselves. The episode offers practical ways to work with the inner critic rather than trying to erase it: noticing it, naming it, externalizing it, asking what it's trying to protect, looking for the younger part of you it may be defending, bringing in kinder and more accurate voices, and practicing the simple but surprisingly difficult act of receiving a compliment with “thank you.” The inner critic may not disappear completely, but it doesn't have to run your life. You're not the voice that attacks you. You're the one who can hear it, question it, laugh at it, and begin writing a different next chapter.

  2. Jul 21

    The Inner Critic (Part One)

    You haven’t even had your morning coffee yet, but the voice is already there—listing off your inadequacies. You didn’t do enough yesterday. You’re hopelessly behind. You’ve never been able to keep up. You open your phone and start to scroll, and the thought comes: everyone else is doing everything better than you. Most of us have some version of that voice, and because it sounds so familiar, we often mistake it for the truth. In Part One of this two-part conversation, Right Here hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore the inner critic: what it is, where it comes from, why we believe it, and how to start relating to it differently. Through the lenses of shame, comparison, anger, limiting stories, anxiety, creativity, parenting, recovery, and self-worth, Christopher and Kenyon examine the difference between healthy self-reflection and self-attack. The conversation looks at how the critic often develops from a collage of old voices, expectations, cultural messages, and attempts at protection, then becomes so internalized that it starts to sound like you. The episode also offers a practical path toward working with the inner critic without pretending it will disappear overnight: noticing and naming it, externalizing the voice, asking what it is trying to protect, and inviting in a kinder and more accurate voice to assess your value. You are not the voice inside your head that rips everything you do to shreds. You are the one who can notice that voice, question it, and decide whether it deserves to be in charge. To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here at WPKN.org or on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is a podcast partnership with WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

  3. Jul 12

    Coaching Vs. Therapy with Elizabeth Miller, CLC, LSW, MA

    At some point, a lot of us find ourselves asking some version of the same question: Do I need therapy for this, or would coaching help? Is life coaching just therapy lite? What if I’ve already done therapy and now I’m wondering what comes next? In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW are joined by life coach Elizabeth Miller, CLC, LSW, MA to unpack the difference between therapy and life coaching in a clear, non-jargony way. Together, they differentiate therapy’s focus on assessment, diagnosis, and treatment—one that's often informed by past experiences and behaviors—from coaching as a collaborative, present-and-future-focused process centered on clarity, goals, strengths, accountability, and practical next steps. The conversation examines where therapy and coaching overlap, where they differ, and how they can work together to improve outcomes for people who are feeling stuck, directionless, unmotivated, in transition, or ready to turn internal growth into external action. Elizabeth shares how her background as a therapist led her toward coaching, what coaching can look like in practice, and how she thinks about fit, referrals, and the importance of not using coaching as a replacement for needed therapy. Whether you are looking for healing, structure, accountability, or simply a clearer sense of what kind of help makes the most sense, this episode offers a grounded way to ask: What is the right support for me right now? To learn more about Elizabeth Miller, CLC, MSW, MA, connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here at WPKN.org or on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is a podcast partnership with WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

  4. Jul 4

    The Comparison Trap

    You’re having a perfectly fine day. Then you open your phone. Someone from college just got promoted. A neighbor is posting vacation photos. Another parent mentions their kid just made the travel team. And suddenly, the life you felt okay about two minutes ago starts to feel smaller, slower, or somehow not enough. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore comparison as one of the most universal human habits—and one of the quietest ways we make ourselves miserable. Drawing from psychology, social comparison theory, digital culture, parenting, work, relationships, recovery, and the nervous system, Christopher and Kenyon examine the difference between comparison as information and comparison as judgment. The conversation looks at why comparison can be useful when it helps us learn, but painful when it becomes a measuring stick for our worth. They explore the asymmetry of comparing our full, complicated inner lives to other people’s curated outer lives, how social media has industrialized comparison, and why other people’s good news can sometimes feel threatening instead of simply good. The episode also offers a practical path out of the comparison trap: noticing the feeling without immediately fighting it, asking what emotion is underneath, checking whether the comparison is fair, redirecting attention back to your own values, curating what you consume, and asking one grounding question: “If nobody could see this, would I still want it?” Comparison is not something we eliminate completely. But we can learn to catch it, question it, and stop letting someone else’s highlight reel become the final word on our real, unfiltered, in-progress lives. To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is a podcast partnership with WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

  5. Jun 26

    Alone Doesn't Have to Be Lonely

    You can live in a full house and feel lonely. You can be in a relationship and feel lonely. You can have a group chat that never stops and still feel like no one really knows you. And you can be home alone on a Friday night with nothing but a book, a movie, or a playlist and feel completely at ease. So many of us confuse being alone with being lonely, treating loneliness as a headcount problem instead of a deeper signal about connection, presence, and being seen. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore the difference between solitude and loneliness, and why loneliness can show up even when life looks full from the outside. Drawing from conversations around relationships, parenting, digital connection, role-based living, recovery, adolescence, self-judgment, and the nervous system, Christopher and Kenyon examine how loneliness often points to the experience of feeling unseen, unknown, or unable to be fully yourself with the people around you. The conversation looks at parenting loneliness, partnership loneliness, teen loneliness, the in-between loneliness that can come with growth or recovery, and the quiet shame people often feel when they think they shouldn't be lonely. The episode also offers a practical path toward more real connection: naming loneliness without judgment, looking for depth rather than simply more contact, taking one small "honesty risk," creating consistent anchor points of connection, and learning how to be alone with yourself in a way that feels restorative instead of numbing. Loneliness isn't a judgment about who you are. It's a signal about what you need. And listening to that signal can become an act of wisdom. To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is a podcast partnership with WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

  6. Jun 19

    The Practice of Saying No

    Most of us did not grow up in homes, schools, workplaces, or relationships where “no” was considered an acceptable answer. Maybe you learned to explain, justify, soften, over-apologize, or offer a whole life story in place of simply drawing a boundary. Maybe saying no still feels selfish, rude, ungrateful, dramatic, or difficult. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore why saying no can feel so hard, especially for people who learned early on that keeping other people comfortable was safer than being honest about their own limits. Drawing from conversations around people-pleasing, boundaries, resentment, emotional regulation, and the nervous system, Christopher and Kenyon examine what “no” actually protects: your time, energy, health, values, relationships, and ability to show up honestly. The conversation looks at the myth that no is always harsh, the fear that disappointing someone means losing connection, the belief that we owe everyone a detailed explanation, and the quiet self-betrayal that can happen when every request becomes a yes. The episode also offers a practical path toward cleaner, more sustainable no’s: buying yourself time, starting with low-stakes limits, using simple language, tolerating discomfort, and asking whether a yes now will become resentment later. Saying no does not have to make you cold, selfish, or unavailable. It can be a compassionate response that protects the parts of your life and relationships that matter most. You are allowed to have limits. You are allowed to disappoint people sometimes. You are allowed to be a person, not a resource. To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

  7. Jun 9

    Anger Is Information

    Most of us learned pretty early that anger was a problem. Maybe you were told to calm down, stop overreacting, watch your tone, or keep the peace. So you swallowed it, turned it into jokes, aimed it at yourself, or let it build until it came out sideways. And for a while, that may have worked. You got through family dinners, stayed in relationships, avoided conflict, and kept other people comfortable. But there is a cost to treating anger like a flaw instead of a signal. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore anger as information, not a character defect. Drawing from psychology, philosophy, body-based awareness, and Viktor Frankl’s idea of the space between stimulus and response, Christopher and Kenyon examine what anger is actually trying to tell us, why it often points to crossed boundaries, ignored needs, violated values, or unresolved fear and pain, and what happens when it goes underground. The conversation looks at resentment, anxiety, depression, self-criticism, chronic tension, cultural messages around gender and anger, and the difference between feeling angry and acting aggressively. The episode also offers a practical path toward working with anger more consciously: noticing it in the body, asking what it is pointing toward, separating the feeling from the reaction, choosing a proportionate response, and finding healthy ways to move that energy through. Anger doesn't have to mean exploding, disappearing, or becoming someone you don't want to be. It can be data. It can be direction. And it can be one of the clearest ways that the deeper self says, “Pay attention. Something important is happening.” To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

    Anger Is Information

  8. May 14

    The Stories We Tell Ourselves

    At some point, you decided something about yourself. Maybe you decided you were the difficult one, the responsible one, the one who doesn’t need much, or the kind of person good things don’t happen to. You probably didn’t make that decision consciously. It settled in quietly over time, until the story started to feel like the truth. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore the stories we tell ourselves and how those inner narratives shape our relationships, choices, sense of worth, and capacity for change. Drawing from narrative therapy, existential psychology, Viktor Frankl’s idea of the space between stimulus and response, and the body’s role in carrying old beliefs, Christopher and Kenyon examine how these stories form, why they often begin as protection, and how they can become limiting over time. The conversation looks at confirmation bias, shame, people-pleasing, perfectionism, substance use, and the quiet ways a person’s life can become organized around a story they never consciously chose. The episode also offers a compassionate path toward revision: noticing the story, tracing where it came from, looking for the exceptions it leaves out, allowing the body to practice something new, and experiencing relationships that help you tell a different story about yourself.  To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

    The Stories We Tell Ourselves
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Right Here is a mental health podcast that explores the psychological patterns shaping our relationships, choices, and inner lives. Hosted by therapists Christopher Mooney, LCSW, and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW, each episode offers grounded, compassionate conversations rooted in clinical insight and real human experience. No jargon. No judgment. Just clear, thoughtful dialogue designed to help listeners better understand themselves and the people around them.

Information

  • Creator
    Lumen Therapy Collective, WPKN
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Right Here
  • Show Website
    Right Here