In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath speaks with Mary Jo Barrett, a pioneering family therapist whose career spans nearly five decades of work with family violence, incest, and complex trauma. Together they explore what trauma really means, how the word has evolved culturally, and why trauma is best understood as an interruption of development rather than a single event. Mary Jo shares how she was forced to innovate early in her career—creating a collaborative, relationship-centered model based directly on what survivors themselves identified as healing. The conversation also examines power, safety, predictability, hope, and the reality of vicarious trauma for clinicians. This episode is a grounded, deeply human exploration of healing, responsibility, and staying present in the face of suffering.
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In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis sits down with clinical psychologist and life coach Dr. Shahrzad Jalali to explore the ideas behind her book The Fire That Makes Us: Healing Through Curiosity, Compassion, and Integration. Drawing on her own story of profound loss and a traumatic car accident, as well as years of clinical work, Dr. Jalali talks about trauma as something that lives not just in events but in the nervous system, and how the body’s signals can become a doorway rather than a problem to be shut down. She and Travis unpack concepts like higher self, fragmentation versus integration, victim mentality, and shadow, and reflect on why quick-fix self‑help and one‑dimensional solutions so often leave people feeling stuck. The conversation invites a more nuanced, multi‑dimensional relationship with pain—one where we move away from waiting to be rescued and toward reclaiming our own agency and essence.
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In this episode, Travis sits down with social worker, researcher, and author Dr. Will Dobud to explore the “troubled teen industry” and what it reveals about how we think about kids, treatment, and risk. Drawing from his new coauthored book Kids These Days, Will talks about involuntary residential programs, the financial and systemic forces that keep them going, and how many young people experience “treatment” as a form of institutional trauma. Along the way, he reflects on his own evolution as a practitioner, the limits of one-size-fits-all models, and why success, mastery, and genuine engagement matter more than any branded therapy. It’s a provocative, thoughtful conversation about the stories we tell about youth, and why change may actually start with adults these days.
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In this episode, Travis talks with psychologist Tom Medlar, who has spent 43 years providing psychotherapy in nursing homes. They explore how these settings have changed, why they’re “very lively, even though they’re often dealing with death,” and what it means to do meaningful therapy with older adults and medically complex younger adults. Filled with vivid stories and nuanced reflections on loss, hope, communication, and meaning, this conversation reveals why nursing homes remain one of the most overlooked—and deeply human—spaces for psychotherapy.
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In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis speaks with Dr. Marlene Williams of Texas Woman’s University about intergenerational trauma, ancestral wisdom, and what it really means to “break the cycle.” Together they explore how trauma is transmitted through families and culture—psychologically, relationally, and even genetically—and how healing can begin by reclaiming personal and collective stories.
Dr. Williams also shares insights from her work with Black women and mothers, offering a deeply human look at resilience, identity, and liberation through therapy.
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In this special Therapist Confidential Takeover, the tables turn. Guest host Lisa Forbes interviews Travis Heath about his evolving relationship with AI in therapy, why he believes contradiction is essential to being human, and how therapists can subvert psychology’s dominant logics. From graffiti as therapy to hip-hop and basketball as guiding philosophies, this conversation explores what happens when curiosity replaces certainty.
A candid and thought-provoking episode about creativity, ethics, and what it really means to ask good questions.
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Host Travis Heath sits down with therapist, mediator, and “cultural broker” Liliana Baylon for a candid conversation about migration, trauma, and care. Liliana shares her story of coming to the U.S. at 16, “pushing through” grief and survival, and becoming the advocate her family needed. She names what migrants are carrying now — “ongoing anxiety that is coming now to panic attacks” — and why “you are loyal to the client, not to the model.” Part one also explores layered trauma (pre-migration, migration, post-migration), cultural rituals in therapy, and “learning to rest.”
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Host Travis Heath sits down with therapist, mediator, and “cultural broker” Liliana Baylon for a candid conversation about migration, trauma, and care. Liliana shares her story of coming to the U.S. at 16, “pushing through” grief and survival, and becoming the advocate her family needed. She names what migrants are carrying now — “ongoing anxiety that is coming now to panic attacks” — and why “you are loyal to the client, not to the model.” Part one also explores layered trauma (pre-migration, migration, post-migration), cultural rituals in therapy, and “learning to rest.” Brought to you by Psychotherapy.net, the home of timeless and timely conversations in mental health.
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Thomas Doherty, who has been at the forefront of climate psychology, joins Travis Heath to trace an unconventional path—from wilderness therapy and Greenpeace to the APA’s first Climate Change Task Force—and to map today’s “climate elephant.” They explore eco-anxiety as feeling, diagnosis, and social phenomenon; taking news breaks; the “upside down pyramid” of stress; a shifting “horizon of hope”; and action identities (Climate Detective, Champion, Survivor). Doherty shares practical steps from identity work, and adapting existing skills, to implementing with congruence. Brought to you by Psychotherapy.net, the home of timeless and timely conversations in mental health.
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Host Travis Heath goes solo to unpack the realities of private practice—what it takes to start, sustain, and stay grounded while doing it. He shares his own story of building a practice without a website or marketing budget, explores myths about “readiness,” talks money and ethics, and wrestles with the tension between authenticity and visibility. Whether you’re just beginning or re-evaluating your path, this candid conversation offers a grounded look at what private practice really means today. Brought to you by Psychotherapy.net, the home of timeless and timely conversations in mental health.
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