If you can't tell already, mental health is a huge topic on the show.
Listen to their show: Dope Sh*t My Therapist Says
Instagram @dopeshttherapypod
Healing in Hindsight™ is managed by host Taylor Daniele™ and Produced by We Are 8 Studios
How are y'all doing today?
Lauren:I'm doing fine.
Lauren:How are you?
Taylor:I am glad that it is Friday.
Taylor:It is what Easter weekend.
Taylor:I keep forgetting because people keep saying happy Easter and I'm like, Oh yeah.
Taylor:Because of just the whole traditional aspect of it, I don't really celebrate it.
Taylor:But I have two friends who are Easter babies.
Taylor:One her birthday is today and then my other best friend is on Monday.
Taylor:So I, I remember that.
Taylor:I don't remember the Easter thing, but it's, it's nice.
Taylor:The weather is nice here in Austin.
Taylor:It's not too hot, not too cold, especially after that wonderful
Taylor:freeze that way, couple of weeks ago.
Taylor:But it's, it's good.
Taylor:It's good.
Taylor:I'm really excited to have you guys both on the show.
Taylor:I have been watching you guys for a minute.
Taylor:I know we met in mutual, podcasting circles, but I've been really enjoying the
Taylor:content that y'all have been pulling out.
Taylor:And so of course after the title itself, I was like, I need y'all on the show
Taylor:because mental health is definitely a huge part of living with a chronic illness.
Taylor:And so, Lauren and Ryan, thank you for sharing your time and energy as
Taylor:we go into this, but something that I would like to do is just for those
Taylor:who don't know you guys, if you could each introduce yourself and then I need
Taylor:y'all to tell the story of how y'all met and how you started the show, because
Taylor:we're in three different time zones.
Taylor:Y'all were really in three different times though, as we're recording this.
Taylor:And I'm just so glad we were able to coordinate this really well.
Taylor:I'm central one specific ones Eastern.
Taylor:So you know, all across the map.
Taylor:It's really cool.
Taylor:So I got to know how you guys have been making this work.
Taylor:So yeah.
Lauren:You want to go first?
Lauren:Learn.
Taylor:wants to go.
Lauren:Got clear my throat.
Lauren:Well, my name is Lauren.
Lauren:I live in Los Angeles, California, born and raised in the San Fernando
Lauren:Valley, which is right by LA.
Lauren:If you've been in LA the area then my family moved out a little bit.
Lauren:About 45 minutes North when I was like nine years old I
Lauren:always loved helping people.
Lauren:That was something I knew I wanted to do as a young girl, just didn't
Lauren:really know what that meant.
Lauren:I had a lot of experience working with children and then I moved to Arizona.
Lauren:I went to Arizona state for undergrad and studied psychology.
Lauren:And then I taught preschool for a year trying to figure
Lauren:out what I wanted to do next.
Lauren:And I moved back to California.
Lauren:And then that was when I entered my grad program, which was where I met Ryan and
Lauren:we studied master's in counseling with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy.
Lauren:And that's kind of where my story with
Taylor:Ryan
Ryanne:starts.
Ryanne:And I'm Ryan.
Ryanne:I now live in Connecticut, but I was born and raised in California.
Ryanne:The desert areas where nobody knows we exist.
Ryanne:And I went to Cal state channel islands out on the coast to get my
Ryanne:bachelor's degree in psychology.
Ryanne:And I also minor, minor in communications and I went straight
Ryanne:into my master's program, which is also where I met Lauren and am now a
Ryanne:licensed marriage and family therapist practicing out here in Connecticut.
Ryanne:And I moved to Connecticut just because I wanted a life change.
Ryanne:I am somewhat of a like wild nomad at heart and I've always been caged in.
Ryanne:So I finally just decided to make the random move, which
Ryanne:people are like, why Connecticut?
Ryanne:And I'm like, there's some, there's something for everyone,
Lauren:I guess.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lauren:And I remember when I met Ryan we kind of started off on a weird foot.
Lauren:I do remember her saying she wanted to move to new England and
Lauren:I was like, that's interesting.
Lauren:And then in our second semester of our first year, I was like,
Lauren:no, we have a lot in common.
Lauren:This girl is really cool.
Lauren:And because she lived right by where my parents lived, it was so easy for us
Lauren:to establish a relationship as friends.
Lauren:And then we became travel buddies at venture buddies, concert buddies.
Lauren:We've done everything together.
Lauren:And then she moved and it was really hard, but we kept in touch.
Lauren:And then July is when we launched our podcast and we've
Lauren:been doing it ever since.
Lauren:Yeah, the
Ryanne:podcast actually was an idea that I had once I moved here, it's kind of
Ryanne:weird just in the realms of mental health.
Ryanne:My mental health changed completely.
Ryanne:Once I left California for the better it was like a closed door and my
Ryanne:brain had opened up and everything that I was good at as a child or had
Ryanne:at the core of me just became easier.
Ryanne:So I had all these creative ideas flooding me.
Ryanne:I'd always wanted to do something creative again, but just never knew what it was.
Ryanne:And so I remember texting Lauren probably within the first couple of months of
Ryanne:me living out here in Connecticut and saying like, I think we should start a
Ryanne:podcast about mental health, about being a therapist, something along this line.
Ryanne:And now, three years later, basically we finally
Lauren:needed a reality.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:I think we, we actually started about the same time you guys
Taylor:were in July and I was in August.
Taylor:And of course COVID made things a lot easier.
Taylor:Right.
Taylor:And remote life has, has given us a whole new meaning of connection, but
Taylor:it's really cool that you guys, had this deep relationship beforehand.
Taylor:And Lauren, I totally feel you on like that separation is hard.
Taylor:One of my best friends from college, she moved to, she first moved to
Taylor:Houston to do her law program.
Taylor:And that was a little bit easier cause like two and a half hours from here.
Taylor:And then she moved to Philadelphia to actually do her practice and
Taylor:work and do what she wants to do.
Taylor:And that was really hard because, we have this trio and so she and I are still here.
Taylor:And then our third is in Philadelphia and we're just like, life is
Taylor:weird because you're not here.
Taylor:And I'm used to seeing you guys every weekend and now I don't.
Taylor:So I, I truly commend you guys for being able to have such a deep relationship and,
Taylor:build something together that surrounds both of your passions on how you met.
Taylor:So that's, that's really cool.
Taylor:So my next question for both of you guys is, so you did your,
Taylor:your grad programs together.
Taylor:Why therapy?
Taylor:Why was that the idea that, especially family and marriages, that's,
Taylor:very particular around to go in.
Taylor:So what inspired each of you to decide?
Taylor:I want to be a therapist and I want to help people.
Lauren:Go first.
Lauren:Okay.
Lauren:I guess I'll
Ryanne:go first.
Taylor:Flipping a coin.
Taylor:I choose
Lauren:okay.
Ryanne:Normally we don't have this problem.
Ryanne:Normally we're very like on, we haven't recorded in a while.
Ryanne:I feel like that's why I'm.
Ryanne:So I actually wanted to go into a completely different field.
Ryanne:I went into college, wanting to be in public relations, wanted
Ryanne:to be in a creative outlet.
Ryanne:And couldn't get any of my classes.
Ryanne:Like they were all full all the time.
Ryanne:And so I was like, I'm not just going to sit here.
Ryanne:I need to be doing something.
Ryanne:So I started taking psychology classes and I finished all of my psychology classes.
Ryanne:By the time my communication classes started opening up, which is why I have
Ryanne:a minor in communications, because I was like, no, I'm not staying here any longer.
Ryanne:I'm done.
Ryanne:And then I don't know.
Ryanne:I just ended up going to my master's program.
Ryanne:My mom is a marriage and family therapist, so I grew up around
Ryanne:psychology and therapy in my household.
Ryanne:So I guess it was just kind of ingrained in me that way.
Ryanne:I've always been a listener, a helper.
Ryanne:That's just kinda my personality.
Ryanne:If you take the personality test, all of mine, come back as the
Ryanne:helper and I'm just like, okay, can we get something new in here?
Ryanne:But to kind of like clarify for most people, the common misconception is
Ryanne:that marriage and family therapy are counselors for couples and families.
Ryanne:And that's actually not necessarily true.
Ryanne:I, it's just kind of the title.
Ryanne:We have a broad range of training in things that are clinical.
Ryanne:So mental health and our degree helps us look at behavior from a systemic
Ryanne:standpoint, meaning like your family is the system that you grow up in.
Ryanne:And that just impacts everything, how we see the world and
Ryanne:how we act and all of that.
Ryanne:So, a lot of people are like, Oh, you do a couples counseling.
Ryanne:I'm like, no, neither of us do couples counseling.
Ryanne:Actually.
Ryanne:It's just the way that our degree
Lauren:is called.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lauren:all right.
Lauren:And then for me, it's funny because when I was like 13, 12, 13, I was
Lauren:always reading those like teen fiction nonfiction novels about.
Lauren:Eating disorders and just other like mental health issues and, looking
Lauren:back, it's like, well, it makes sense.
Lauren:I wanted to be in a helping field.
Lauren:But it's really, I think the reason I wanted to be a therapist
Lauren:was because when I was in middle school, I was bullied and it really
Lauren:impacted how I felt during that time.
Lauren:And the only way I got through it was because my family was so
Lauren:in-tune to how I was feeling.
Lauren:And currently I'm, I'm almost done with my job.
Lauren:It's coming to an end for me, as I entered the licensure process
Lauren:of actually getting my license and being licensed in California I've
Lauren:been working at a high school.
Lauren:So working with teens has been extremely rewarding.
Lauren:So I think that I just wanted to figure out, I think for awhile I
Lauren:wanted to be a child psychologist because the title sound good.
Lauren:And then I found the MFT program and just like Ryan said, I mean,
Lauren:it's not, it is just a title.
Lauren:A lot of the us works on social work.
Lauren:Like that's like the main therapy and other States that
Lauren:are not really California.
Lauren:So California has psychologists, social workers.
Lauren:And to me, I just thought my grandma, who I never met, who
Lauren:passed away when my dad was a child, was a social worker in New York.
Lauren:And I knew what she did.
Lauren:And I was like, I don't want to do that.
Lauren:So what else can I do now?
Lauren:I realize where we're all kind of the same, a little bit different depending
Lauren:on the state and the job itself.
Lauren:But I, and also the grad school that we went to was where I was
Lauren:born and raised for half my life.
Lauren:So I was like, Hmm, it's meant to be.
Lauren:It works
Taylor:out.
Taylor:So
Ryanne:yeah,
Taylor:That's really cool.
Taylor:And definitely Ryan, thank you for, for clarifying the title
Taylor:thing, because I'm guilty.
Taylor:I'm like, okay, it's family issues, it's marriage issues.
Taylor:And you know that that's, that's already a deep, well in itself, let alone what
Taylor:you know, possible individual stuff is.
Taylor:But it's, it's nice to know, for those listening that it means you can cover
Taylor:a lot of things and it's the titling is more so the root of where some
Taylor:of those individual issues come up.
Taylor:So that's really cool.
Taylor:For my own therapist, she's got.
Taylor:50 million tags on our aunties and supervisor.
Taylor:So I'm like, I'm just going to assume that means, all the things and
Taylor:I'm in the right place, because it can be a little bit confusing when
Taylor:you're, especially seeking help.
Taylor:And you're trying to understand what does that mean that you specialize in?
Taylor:So thank you for that clarity.
Taylor:That's really cool, which leads me.
Taylor:And Lauren, I'll start with you on this one is what is one misconception
Taylor:about therapy that you want to correct?
Taylor:So we've got the title thing, but as you go into therapy or someone's
Taylor:seeking it out for the first time, I'd love to hear from both of you.
Taylor:What's one myth or thing that you're just like, Hey, stop the madness.
Taylor:This is not true.
Taylor:If you come into a therapy space, this is actually what happened.
Lauren:So there's probably more than one, but I will say the one that comes
Lauren:to mind is that you need to be in a mental health crisis to get therapy.
Lauren:When in reality, mental health should be looked at from a preventative
Lauren:perspective, which is another reason why I wanted to go into therapy was I
Lauren:wanted it to be preventative because so many things in our life are like, well,
Lauren:we're in it now, how do we get out?
Lauren:And that also relates to physical health as well.
Lauren:Like, if you see something on your body, Go to the doctor now, not
Lauren:in three weeks when it's infected.
Lauren:So I think about that in a mental health way.
Lauren:That for me, it's like, if you're not feeling okay or supported or
Lauren:mentally, well go find a therapist now, because you can always end
Lauren:therapy, you can always leave.
Lauren:You can always find someone new.
Lauren:You can have a short term thing.
Lauren:It could be six months.
Lauren:And you're like, you know what?
Lauren:I feel better.
Lauren:We worked through the challenge that brought me here, or it could
Lauren:be long-term, but it doesn't need to be something that like, Oh wow.
Lauren:I'm in a deep depression.
Lauren:I've been like this for years now.
Lauren:I need therapy.
Lauren:It's like, no, you need therapy before.
Lauren:So that's probably what I would say.
Taylor:Ooh, that's a good one.
Taylor:All right, Ryan, what about you?
Lauren:I think mine would probably be
Ryanne:that I've noticed a lot of clients come into therapy, thinking that there
Ryanne:are these tools that were word gets used a lot that I'm magically going to
Ryanne:give them that will make things better.
Ryanne:Like I just hand them a magic wand and then all of a sudden, like they, they use
Ryanne:that wand when they need to, and it works.
Ryanne:And although we do utilize tools in therapy, they're kind of a little bit
Ryanne:more covert than people will think when they come into therapy, they can
Ryanne:be something so small, like us just talking about something and then them
Ryanne:building insight on being able to think about those things or I was using
Ryanne:mindfulness or journaling or breath work.
Ryanne:Those are all skills and tools and they don't always work.
Ryanne:So I think that's a big misconception is that you're going
Ryanne:to learn how to cope with things.
Ryanne:In therapy and it's always going to work like it's going to be your toolbox.
Ryanne:That always works.
Ryanne:And so, I kind of remind clients there's times where you just have to utilize time
Ryanne:as a coping skill or talking, or just having a space to vent is a big tool.
Ryanne:And that people don't even think about, they're like, well, we're just
Ryanne:talking, Y this is this isn't doing anything like, well, you're, you're
Ryanne:really learning about yourself by being able to vocalize these things.
Ryanne:So I think that's a big one.
Ryanne:We're not going to just hand you these magic wands that
Ryanne:are going to fix everything.
Lauren:You have to do the work.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:And I think that's something so huge in our culture that I feel like
Taylor:we're finally coming around to, in that nothing is going to be instant.
Taylor:I, I, I think we're all around the same age.
Taylor:So we grew up in the microwave generation is that you'll have to call us.
Taylor:Right.
Taylor:So everything is instant.
Taylor:Everything is, it should be fixed right now.
Taylor:And, no matter what it is, whether it is your mental health, your physical health,
Taylor:your spiritual health, it takes time.
Taylor:I don't wake up the next day and suddenly like, Oh, my blood sugars
Taylor:are just absolutely perfect.
Taylor:No, I had to work at this shit and it's still a daily grind.
Taylor:Right.
Taylor:And so, I, I appreciate that, Listen to the therapist, y'all it takes time.
Taylor:It's not something that's going to happen overnight.
Taylor:And that's something that I had to get over it.
Taylor:Cause I did not want to go back to therapy.
Taylor:I had a weird experience when I was a kid with my parents.
Taylor:But thanks to my partner pushing me.
Taylor:I didn't even realize, like I like to share anyways, I'm an
Taylor:overshare, but when I got into that container, it just fell out of me.
Taylor:Like everything just fell out of me and it was just like, that's all I
Taylor:needed half the time was someone who wasn't emotionally attached to me
Taylor:to sit back and just hear me out.
Taylor:And I'm like, yeah, I can do this every week.
Taylor:And so, I think that's very beautiful to understand that it is not going
Taylor:to be an instant, in one session it is something that you need to
Taylor:work at and be willing to work at.
Taylor:Cause if you're looking for a magic wand, we all want to be in Harry Potter world.
Lauren:Oh, yeah.
Taylor:ain't happening.
Taylor:So I would love to dive into a couple of things that, I feel are
Taylor:not only huge, just in general, but especially for the diabetic community.
Taylor:Something that always plays a role in, how our illness progresses is stress.
Taylor:So, I don't know if y'all heard it going off.
Taylor:So I have my CDM right here to check in on where my blood sugar levels are at.
Taylor:Right.
Taylor:And so something that affects blood sugar levels is stress.
Taylor:And it's not something that we can, 100% control.
Taylor:But a lot of times when you're diagnosed people, don't tell you, Hey, stress
Taylor:might make your numbers go crazy.
Taylor:Working out in certain ways might make your numbers go crazy.
Taylor:Ladies.
Taylor:Time of the month, it's going to make your numbers go crazy, being sick.
Taylor:Nobody really breaks that down.
Taylor:And so I would love to one hear from each of you, why stress management is
Taylor:important and how does it take a toll if it goes unchecked, for us, we get,
Taylor:if it goes on, check your numbers are going crazy, but I think there's a
Taylor:deeper thing that can happen if you don't take care of your stress management.
Taylor:So, Ryan, we'll start with you on
Ryanne:Okay.
Ryanne:So I talked to my students about this a lot because I've been
Ryanne:hearing from a lot of people.
Ryanne:I also work at a high school out there.
Ryanne:I said that that they're just really struggling to focus.
Ryanne:They're really struggling with memory and all of these things.
Ryanne:And this is something I actually learned when we were in our master's program,
Ryanne:because it happened to me is that if your stress level gets out of control
Ryanne:your frontal lobe, the front of your head, where your forehead is, where.
Ryanne:All of your decision-making focus, et cetera, comes from
Ryanne:we'll pretty much shut off.
Ryanne:It's like done.
Ryanne:It's like, I'm tired.
Ryanne:I'm not, I'm not working anymore.
Ryanne:And that's a big thing, cause then you're more stressed out.
Ryanne:Like why can't I remember what I just was supposed to be doing?
Ryanne:Why can't I focus on this or that?
Ryanne:So stress can have a huge biological impact on us.
Ryanne:Like you're saying tailor for your blood sugar levels and for other people they're
Ryanne:getting stomach aches and migraines and I mean, stress can even give you
Ryanne:a heart attack if it goes on check.
Ryanne:So the mind body connection is so intense that we really have to learn
Ryanne:how to recognize when we're getting to that place and really find ways to, to
Ryanne:stop it and make conscious decisions
Lauren:to make changes for ourselves.
Taylor:Wow.
Taylor:Wow.
Taylor:What's your take
Lauren:Well, I agree, first of all.
Lauren:But also I feel like a lot of people are just not honest about where they are.
Lauren:The stress is coming from.
Lauren:I'm one of those people because full disclosure.
Lauren:So I have a migraine today.
Lauren:It's because I had a really stressful week and I know exactly
Lauren:why I I'm just dealing with some personal stuff, some career stuff.
Lauren:And I feel like it's really important that people are honest about where their stress
Lauren:is coming from and being able to confide in somebody as a release, whether that
Lauren:is your therapist who can help you work through some of those issues or, a partner
Lauren:or close friend, whoever it may be.
Lauren:Because the body really does pick up on the stress and from
Lauren:a mental health perspective.
Lauren:I mean, there's certain things that I talk about also with my students
Lauren:that are not, anxiety, depression, it's fatigue, and also digestion,
Lauren:like Ryan said sleep issues.
Lauren:Insomnia is, be due to stress.
Lauren:So when I'm hearing, I'm not sleeping well, and there's a lot of
Lauren:my mind, I mean, that it's stress.
Lauren:So finding out the cause of it and then addressing it.
Taylor:Wow.
Taylor:Wow.
Taylor:So first Lauren, thank you for being vulnerable.
Taylor:I know that this is kind of your space on a regular basis, but I
Taylor:think people often forget that the people helping others also need space
Taylor:to be vulnerable and to release.
Taylor:So thank you for being open with us.
Taylor:And I hope the migraine gets a little bit better for you.
Taylor:Because like you guys said, everybody needs to recognize it, acknowledges
Taylor:stress, everybody needs release.
Taylor:And I'm also guilty of not recognizing when I'm stressed the hell out.
Taylor:It, it literally crept up on me in season two.
Taylor:I actually had to take a step back from the show for like two weeks
Taylor:because I translate doing things by.
Taylor:Keep myself busy.
Taylor:If I'm stressed out.
Taylor:If I keep myself busy, if I, if I'm constantly working on something,
Taylor:I love projects anyways, then I will have to acknowledge that
Taylor:something is freaking me out.
Taylor:Right.
Taylor:I'll just deal with it later.
Taylor:When I get all this stuff done, this is more important.
Taylor:And my body literally shut down was just like, you are not going to have the energy
Taylor:to move at all until you address this.
Taylor:So either address it or you just going to be laid out in
Taylor:the bed for a week straight.
Taylor:And so, it is definitely important to check into that.
Taylor:Especially for those with chronic illnesses, it can cause way more harm.
Taylor:If you don't.
Taylor:So speaking of clients with chronic conditions Have either of you worked
Taylor:with students or other people who have a chronic condition like diabetes
Taylor:or some other auto-immune disease.
Taylor:And if you have, what's been the most challenging about it.
Taylor:And what are some tips that you would give somebody like myself or any others who
Taylor:not only have this condition, but they're trying to get their mental health in check
Taylor:as well in ways that they can balance that stress management to keep the symptoms
Taylor:and things from kind of flaring up.
Taylor:And Lauren,
Lauren:okay.
Lauren:So I have a student who's newly diagnosed type one diabetic, and
Lauren:they're having a really hard time.
Lauren:So hard of a time that literally yesterday I got an email from the
Lauren:nurse at school talking about this is a really big issue now without going
Lauren:into details my student hasn't been super vocal about it and because it's
Lauren:something I'm not super familiar with.
Lauren:I'm not pushing it.
Lauren:I'm not pushing for them to talk about it, but I'm aware of it.
Lauren:And I know from, from, Taylor, from other people out there who live with
Lauren:a chronic condition, that it, I mean, it's, it's a very debilitating thing and
Lauren:it's, it's hard, but also working with chronic conditions, depending on the
Lauren:chronic conditions is hard as a therapist when I don't know what it's like.
Lauren:So all I can do is empathize, which it's true for a lot of things, but I feel
Lauren:like that's a great time for them to be in a support group or have a therapist
Lauren:who is capable, dealing with someone.
Lauren:I know there's a lot of support groups for people who have cancer or
Lauren:family members who someone has cancer.
Lauren:So they have a lot of those types of support groups,
Lauren:which are really important.
Lauren:But I, it's hard to say as far as working with chronic conditions
Lauren:because I'm very new to it with my one student And mental health.
Lauren:I mean, we've worked with a bunch of different students who
Lauren:are dealing with having mental health issues, chronic conditions.
Lauren:All I could say is I work with my dad who has Crohn's disease.
Lauren:So he's kind of like my model for working with someone with a chronic condition
Lauren:and seeing how their life is disrupted.
Lauren:It's really, really hard.
Lauren:I definitely have a lot of empathy, a lot
Taylor:of
Ryanne:empathy.
Taylor:yeah, yeah.
Taylor:I will say for, someone who's newly diagnosed I get them
Taylor:not wanting to talk about it.
Taylor:I think as long as you keep that door open for them, that's the
Taylor:biggest part, especially, type one to usually diagnosis kids.
Taylor:And so half the time what's going through their minds is my entire life is over.
Taylor:Everything that I wanted to do.
Taylor:Anything that I wanted to pursue is over, because this thing will hold me back.
Taylor:And it's kind of those subtle reminders that it won't, there are plenty of people
Taylor:who are thriving as type one diabetics and yes, they have to give themselves insulin.
Taylor:Yes.
Taylor:They might need to use gadgets like CGMs or insulin pumps, but it is
Taylor:no different than any other person.
Taylor:You just have a little bit more, care that you have to take for yourself.
Taylor:So if there's any, anything that I can do to help you, it is just keep
Taylor:the door open for them to recognize that it's okay to be afraid.
Taylor:And it's okay because it, it sucks.
Taylor:None of us asked for this, but you can make it and it will be okay.
Taylor:And there's plenty of, great examples everywhere of people doing just that.
Taylor:So, thank you for holding space for them because it's going to be rough.
Taylor:But they will eventually get to a space for that.
Taylor:So those 2 cents Ryan, I would love your take.
Ryanne:Lauren actually reminded me.
Ryanne:I do have a student also that is diagnosed with type one diabetes.
Ryanne:And he is often in the nurse's office, not feeling well.
Ryanne:I don't see him as often, so I don't really have as much time
Ryanne:with him to, to work with it.
Ryanne:But I, I, I do have quite a few friends that have chronic
Ryanne:illnesses in front of lupus.
Ryanne:I have a friend also with type one diabetes, and I guess I would say,
Ryanne:like my only thing that I think I would probably utilize if I had a
Ryanne:client coming to me would be probably mindfulness and meditation, trying
Ryanne:to bring down those stress levels, getting in control of breath.
Ryanne:And because of that mind, body connection, really trying to put those together.
Ryanne:And then I think too, depending on what it is, if, if a client was coming to me
Ryanne:for that specifically for support, I might say, let's find someone together that
Ryanne:would probably have more of a scope of practice around this, that you would feel
Ryanne:more supported by because I can listen.
Ryanne:And you know what I'm saying, offer empathy and have that space for you.
Ryanne:But you know, it might be better for someone else that has a
Ryanne:specialty in that to work with you.
Ryanne:So that ends of work groups like Lauren was saying, I think are probably all good.
Ryanne:Good choices.
Ryanne:Having a social group that gets, it probably makes
Lauren:the biggest difference.
Lauren:I would assume.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:And I've, I've had other guests who are type ones.
Taylor:And one of their biggest piece of advice is just find the community
Taylor:find your people, find, locally and across nationally, if you will.
Taylor:It is a very strong community.
Taylor:And it is a community that even like, if you run out of supplies, someone
Taylor:will come through for you, and so, I'm glad that you guys are, are being
Taylor:so forthright and saying, Hey, let's find someone to, together to be able
Taylor:to give that perspective because it's not easy and especially working
Taylor:with kids it can be, it can be a lot.
Taylor:I will, I will plug a friend for you guys.
Taylor:Her name is Simone.
Taylor:She's actually on the show as well coming out pretty soon, but
Taylor:she's not only a pediatric nurse, but also a type one diabetic.
Taylor:Her handle is diabetes Bay.
Taylor:And I think she'd be a great resource for you guys to just kind of pick
Taylor:her brain on, growing up, she was diagnosed as a teenager and went
Taylor:into nursing, specifically for that.
Taylor:So she had worked through plenty of children's top hospitals and has
Taylor:spoken to, parents that have come in.
Taylor:They're like, Hey, look, she's a nurse and she's a type one.
Taylor:Like she gets it, so, at the Linda, any more resources to help you
Lauren:Oh, yeah, please.
Lauren:But yeah, there's nothing like finding someone who's been
Lauren:through what you're going through.
Lauren:I mean, that's the human connection.
Lauren:So I'm just echoing, with anyone who has a chronic condition is.
Lauren:Finding that support group.
Lauren:And we're so lucky that we have social media in that sense to find groups that
Lauren:are more tangible and ready at access.
Lauren:I've seen them on Facebook and other platforms, but it's really nice to
Lauren:have that community to, to, to say, you've been through something like me
Lauren:and look at you or especially older adults, because, we work with teenagers.
Lauren:So, my students 14 and, they're just like, they weren't taking
Lauren:great care of their health.
Lauren:And then this happened and they were in the hospital and
Lauren:I was so worried about them.
Lauren:And then I found out this happened and I was like, wow.
Lauren:Like I saw the signs, but I didn't know, cause I'm not a doctor, but I
Lauren:saw the stress I saw and, there could be anything that contributes to a
Lauren:chronic illness, but I, it makes sense.
Lauren:Based on how they've been feeling this year.
Lauren:And then plus, COVID in general, it's just a really hard time, but yes, appreciate
Lauren:resources and, and your voice too.
Taylor:Which is great.
Taylor:yeah.
Taylor:Yeah, no happy to help.
Taylor:We we get it.
Taylor:And even though I was diagnosed the 25, I.
Taylor:I cannot imagine, had I been diagnosed at 14 or, a seven or,
Taylor:whatever, because it changes everything, from your relationships
Taylor:to how you navigate to, okay.
Taylor:If I live by myself, what happens if I hit a low and I just run out of candy in
Taylor:the house, there's a lot of things that come with that a lot of immediate growing
Taylor:up that you kind of have to do because when you're a kid and you're a teenager,
Taylor:you're like my body's invincible.
Taylor:I can do whatever the hell I want, and so for that to have
Taylor:to be a focus, it can be a lot.
Taylor:So, Definitely understand and, and happy to, continue to support you
Taylor:guys and connect you with people who can really speak to that.
Taylor:So I want to dive more into, how mental health directly
Taylor:affects the body in a Ryan.
Taylor:You kind of touched on like this deep connection and how we can translate.
Taylor:And I, I'm curious to get a better understanding from you guys of when
Taylor:we don't take care of our mental health and when our bodies start to
Taylor:change, like how do we treat that?
Taylor:How do we re align that connection to ensure that not only are we mentally,
Taylor:working ourselves out, but we're making sure that it's also helping
Taylor:our bodies as well, because I also believe that, when you work on your
Taylor:mind and your spirit, it ensures that every decision that you make towards
Taylor:your body is, is in sync with that.
Taylor:But when it's out of alignment, how do we bring that back?
Taylor:So that way we can ensure that we can actually listen to those
Taylor:signs and those cues that, Hey, something's off or something's wrong.
Taylor:Brian, we'll start with you on this
Ryanne:Yeah.
Ryanne:So I think you can kind of start with any of those three and you'll start to
Ryanne:see a little changes in the other two.
Ryanne:So whether you start with the spiritual aspect, the mental health
Ryanne:aspect, or the physical aspect, you'll start to see an improvement.
Ryanne:When we eat better and we exercise and we get sunshine, when we socialize, when
Ryanne:we drink water, all of those things.
Ryanne:It's helping our bodies produce the right hormones that we need to
Ryanne:feel happier to manage our stress.
Ryanne:If we're going to therapy, if we're utilizing our coping skills, we're
Ryanne:going to have more of the motivation and desire to do things like eating
Ryanne:healthier and getting out of the house.
Ryanne:And spiritually, if you're connecting to something that feels really good for you
Ryanne:it, it really helps you just same thing.
Ryanne:Just feel that energy to utilize in those other, other ways.
Ryanne:So things that I use with my clients a lot is just journaling is a huge one.
Ryanne:Writing down how you're feeling what's going on for you.
Ryanne:Like habit tracking things along those lines, meditation, mindfulness.
Ryanne:I'll bring those up a time.
Ryanne:I know Lauren's not a fan of using them for herself, which she might
Ryanne:explain, but it doesn't work for everybody, but for me it does work.
Ryanne:And so because of that, being my experience, I usually
Lauren:share that with people.
Taylor:that's awesome.
Taylor:That's awesome.
Taylor:Lauren, what's your take
Taylor:So,
Lauren:yeah.
Lauren:Sorry.
Lauren:I'm like having a moment.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lauren:And I agree with Ryan yeah, the mindfulness meditation doesn't work
Lauren:for me because I just have so many thoughts going through my brain,
Lauren:which if you work on mindfulness meditation, you'll settle those thoughts.
Lauren:So it's kind of one of those things.
Lauren:But yeah, I feel like it's really important to adopt some type of
Lauren:routine for yourself of positive coping skills, which is what I talk
Lauren:about consistently with my students.
Lauren:They're probably sick of me talking about it, but that really is the tool.
Lauren:The best tool that therapists can guide you on is finding positive
Lauren:things that make you feel good that contribute to a healthy.
Lauren:Stress-free routine.
Lauren:And they can be anything, there's like the classic getting outside, going on
Lauren:a walk going to the beach, stuff like that, but then it can be something
Lauren:like watching your favorite TV show.
Lauren:It doesn't always have to be so like woo lieu or non tech tech involved.
Lauren:But I feel like for me, what, like what's helped me is developing a really great
Lauren:support system where I feel like I can talk with people in my life about how
Lauren:I'm feeling, I think without the support system, everything else doesn't matter.
Lauren:So for me, it's like your support system matters.
Lauren:Get rid of people who aren't there for you, who or give toxic energy.
Lauren:If you need more support, find those support groups.
Lauren:I run.
Lauren:I run a women's group, there's over 3000 members.
Lauren:My intention was started to Get people connected.
Lauren:And now it's just like booming the last couple months and people are
Lauren:looking for friends, so it's out there.
Lauren:But also just spending, yeah.
Lauren:Spending time with people that I love listening to music.
Lauren:I mean, these are really basic things, but they all help with my stress levels.
Lauren:I'm feel like I'm just, self-disclosing a lot today, but I feel really safe here.
Lauren:So thank you, Taylor.
Lauren:But I have IBS and to, to me to manage IBS, you have to manage your stress.
Lauren:And I suffered for it for years.
Lauren:I've suffered with it for years.
Lauren:And it really, it was really awful, but the last year during COVID I curved
Lauren:it and I'm like, how did that happen?
Lauren:Maybe because I needed to listen to my body and kind of slow down.
Lauren:Not run around everywhere and do everything because that's my mentality.
Lauren:I'm very much like I can't sit still.
Lauren:Like I'm wasting my time.
Lauren:If I'm taking the day off, that's just who I am.
Lauren:But like clearly my body needed it.
Lauren:So when we listened to our bodies I mean, that's kind of the best advice I
Lauren:could give is find the support system, listen to your body and develop a stress
Lauren:free routine that helps curb any of the stress that we experience day to day.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:Yeah, no, I definitely feel that in that I feel like.
Taylor:2020 was the universe is collective message of everybody.
Taylor:Just sit the fuck down, just sit down and chill out for a second, because
Taylor:we are constantly in this moving, evolving, type atmosphere, right?
Taylor:I mean, if you, if we look at our history, none of us could sit still long enough.
Taylor:We had to move on to the next thing we had to build.
Taylor:The next thing we had to create the next thing.
Taylor:And to actually take time for yourself, you discover so much, there's so much that
Taylor:I didn't realize that I was struggling with until I was forced to get quiet.
Taylor:And, obviously the goal is to not have to be forced to do that, but it's still
Taylor:powerful when you really can understand like, Oh, I've been struggling with
Taylor:this and I need to acknowledge that and I need to sit with that and I need to
Taylor:understand why is it that I feel this way, or why does this thing from 10
Taylor:years ago still bother me and, I'm fine.
Taylor:I'm totally fine.
Taylor:As women that lived.
Taylor:So that's our favorite line, right.
Taylor:I'm totally fine.
Taylor:There's nothing wrong, fine, fine, fine.
Taylor:So I appreciate, again, your vulnerability and I'm glad that this container is, is
Taylor:safe for you because we don't talk about it enough, I don't think I'll ever get
Taylor:sick of any of us talking about the stuff that we're going through and how we're
Taylor:able to, support our own overall wellness.
Taylor:So Lauren, you already hit the nail on the head of what I was going to ask next.
Taylor:So Ryan, I'm going to jump to you and, and ask on what are your
Taylor:personal ways that you've worked on your overall mental health?
Taylor:I know you talked about mindfulness and meditation, but just, curious to know
Taylor:what are those kind of deeper things that have really supported you and ensuring
Taylor:that your mental health is, is top-notch.
Ryanne:So I would say, and I kind of said this at the beginning.
Ryanne:The biggest thing I did for myself without even realizing I was doing it for myself.
Ryanne:Was to move.
Ryanne:I suffer from depression and anxiety.
Ryanne:I have for a very, very long time.
Ryanne:And it's gone in waves of being very bad and intense and me
Ryanne:needing to be on medication too.
Ryanne:It being mostly gone and, and manageable when I left California.
Ryanne:And I love California.
Ryanne:It's nothing against California, but for, for me, like you're saying,
Ryanne:like something was screaming at me to say, like, there, you need to
Ryanne:change your environment for you to be able to get a better hold of this.
Ryanne:So I did, I laughed.
Ryanne:And as soon as I got here, I remember telling Lauren, like
Lauren:my anxiety's
Ryanne:better.
Ryanne:My depression is better.
Ryanne:My like blood sugar, like my blood pressure is better.
Ryanne:Like everything has gotten better just by me changing my environment.
Ryanne:And sometimes that's what it takes for us to have a big growth.
Ryanne:In mental health or even physical health is just changing where you are and
Ryanne:kind of pressing the refresh button.
Ryanne:So because of that, I've seen a huge, huge amount of change in myself.
Ryanne:I've noticed my ability to grow in my own mental health, to be
Ryanne:stronger in my own mental health.
Ryanne:And just my desire to take care of myself better.
Ryanne:Now I enjoy being outside a lot more
Lauren:things along those lines.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:I really love the change your environment, because even when it comes to to
Taylor:friend circles, Lauren, you kind of touched on this too about like getting
Taylor:rid of people who have toxic energy.
Taylor:And I, I'm such a people person that I, my, my best friend says, I
Taylor:like to collect people and I'm like, I don't like to collect people.
Taylor:I just.
Taylor:I'm that person, whether it's sober or not.
Taylor:I'm like, Oh my God, let's be friends like exchange numbers.
Taylor:Oh my God.
Taylor:It's not just a one-off thing, but it truly is something where there
Taylor:has to be an application process.
Taylor:Because when you start allowing so many people and entities to
Taylor:surround you, you really don't get how much it can affect you in.
Taylor:And for me, I don't know if you guys are in paths, but I'm very much an impact.
Taylor:And so I'm, it's easy for me to tune into people and I've had to learn to
Taylor:control that because I would tune in so hard that it would be devastating
Taylor:when someone would just randomly break the connection for no reason.
Taylor:And so that environment can really make or break how you do something
Taylor:because, if I'm constantly surrounded by people who are like on the goat, got
Taylor:to move, got to build this next thing.
Taylor:That's what I want to do too, versus having a mixture of like,
Taylor:okay, somebody who's constantly grinding for their business.
Taylor:That's awesome.
Taylor:But I also have someone who really loves to play and wants to, to be childlike.
Taylor:And that helps that's helpful too.
Taylor:And then someone who loves nature and, it's nice to keep a mix of
Taylor:that, but, even when you're by yourself, change of scenery, because
Taylor:especially after this past year, our homes have become everything.
Taylor:And so not being able to, see different environments.
Taylor:It's hard.
Taylor:I will say though.
Taylor:So I recently got an Oculus and that has been a wonderful escape for me.
Taylor:One, cause it's, it's my new workout thing and that's, what's been keeping
Taylor:me constant and moving my body.
Taylor:But even I use this app called trip, which is a like meditation kind of app.
Taylor:And it's really cool because they take you through these very visual
Taylor:experiences and the scenery changes.
Taylor:And I come out of that because I know I'm sitting in my living room, but because
Taylor:it's just so visual and it's illusion, it is really calmed me down in a sense
Taylor:of like, okay, I can get through the day now because I got to even for a
Taylor:snap second, get away from my space.
Taylor:And, and Ryan, I'm kind of where you're at.
Taylor:I'm like, it's time to change my environment.
Taylor:I love Austin.
Taylor:I really do, but I'm ready to, to expand into starting over feels.
Taylor:So different, and I think our generation we're used to that, we're used to kind
Taylor:of that start over process and it can be very therapeutic to have to find new
Taylor:friends there, not have to, but, meeting new people and experiencing new places and
Taylor:you scenery and not the same highways and cities and things that we're involved in.
Taylor:So, yeah, I'm all for I'm much a nomad too.
Taylor:I've just been a, no matter on the city, I haven't jumped to city lines and so, okay.
Taylor:So I want to talk all things, dope, shit therapy pod, because you guys
Taylor:have been crushing it in terms of the things that you brought up.
Taylor:I think my favorite one so far is when you brought up the
Taylor:Brittany Spears documentary, I still haven't watched it Lauren.
Taylor:Okay.
Taylor:I know, I know.
Taylor:I need to watch it because y'all's take on it.
Taylor:I'm just like.
Taylor:I knew we needed to leave Brittany alone, but I just did not understand how
Taylor:deep we needed to leave Britney alone.
Taylor:So it is on my list.
Taylor:That's actually my next my, I call it veg out session where I'm like,
Taylor:I'm doing nothing but watching last last week it was weird.
Taylor:Movies were knockoff movies.
Taylor:And I watched this crazy Nicholas cage one where it was like this alien that
Taylor:comes to earth every six years comment.
Taylor:And it was weird y'all I laughed all the way through and it was great.
Taylor:I love watching cringe-worthy movies where it's just like, and it was 2020.
Taylor:So I'm like, Nikki, you hurting for a check that bad, like face-off
Taylor:is still not making you money.
Taylor:Like, so I love doing that kind of stuff or like cheesy martial arts movies.
Taylor:Although some of them are surprisingly really good and I'm like crying
Taylor:at the end, where does this?
Taylor:So anyways I love the things that you guys talk about.
Taylor:And I wanna know, like, what are the plans for the future and, with you
Taylor:guys being in separate spaces in the world starting to creep into, in okay.
Taylor:I think we can play nice with each other, hopefully.
Taylor:What do you guys want to do with the show?
Taylor:Where do you want to take it?
Taylor:And you got any cool stuff coming up?
Taylor:Cause, cause I, I love when people have cool stuff coming up,
Lauren:it's so funny.
Lauren:You mentioned.
Lauren:Okay.
Lauren:I guess.
Ryanne:Oh
Lauren:me.
Lauren:Okay.
Lauren:I was just going to say it's so funny.
Lauren:You mentioned the Britney Spears episode that we did, because that
Lauren:is by far the most discussed episode amongst people that have listened.
Lauren:I've now heard that at least like six, seven times from like people
Lauren:who've listened to the episode.
Lauren:They were, I don't know if you knew this Ryan, but it just so funny,
Lauren:like that was us just being like, you know what, we we've always,
Lauren:loved Britney Spears growing up.
Lauren:She was like an idol to us.
Lauren:And we were like, let's just give our, take on this experience
Lauren:of watching her documentary.
Lauren:So it's so interesting that people have just picked up
Lauren:on what we were putting down.
Lauren:So thank you.
Lauren:Coming up.
Lauren:We have a lot of great episodes releasing next week we have case Kenny, I don't know
Lauren:if you've heard of case Kenny, but he is.
Lauren:How would you describe him?
Lauren:I have such a hard time describing him, Ryan.
Lauren:I don't know.
Ryanne:So he's kind of like a positive mindset podcaster.
Ryanne:He's been doing it for about three years.
Ryanne:He's like top something on Apple podcasts.
Ryanne:Like he's always the top on his wellness category.
Ryanne:But he does like these really short episodes about just things that
Ryanne:are relatable to everybody, like, like ghosting and red flags and,
Ryanne:What attract most of it's usually surrounding dating and stuff, but
Ryanne:he's done some other things as well.
Ryanne:Confidence, things like that.
Ryanne:So yeah, our episode with him releases on Monday, we're really excited
Lauren:about it.
Taylor:That's cool.
Taylor:That's cool.
Taylor:So, are you guys you guys are audio only.
Taylor:Are you guys gonna gonna creep into the video space or, or do you all do feel
Taylor:I've only listened to on Apple podcast?
Taylor:So forgive me if I didn't
Lauren:No, we do.
Lauren:We do video and we do a snippet.
Lauren:Every Friday of an episode release week, we do a snippet
Lauren:of the video from our recording.
Lauren:And maybe one day I feel like, and maybe you can relate.
Lauren:Taylor, just like getting into the podcast space was us
Lauren:learning everything on our own.
Lauren:No one taught us anything.
Lauren:Other than like tips and tricks, obviously from different groups.
Lauren:But everything we do is as our own.
Lauren:So I think when we find maybe a little bit more time or are ready to take it
Lauren:to the next level, we'll definitely include more of our, our video.
Lauren:But I think focusing on the conversation is our main goal and sometimes it's
Lauren:a little bit hard to do with video.
Lauren:So, but not
Taylor:opposed to it.
Taylor:Okay.
Taylor:Would you guys ever go into practice together?
Taylor:Like, like dope shit therapy.
Taylor:That, that would be cool.
Taylor:I would join.
Taylor:I'd be like, yup.
Taylor:Sign me up.
Taylor:Sounds like my
Taylor:If Ryan
Lauren:wants to move back to California and get licensed here,
Lauren:we can open up a practice in San Diego and she can specialize in
Lauren:I don't know.
Lauren:I love that we have the podcast to kind of, this is ourselves.
Lauren:Like if, if people listen to our podcast, this is truly us, nothing is censored.
Lauren:This is totally us sharing what we want to share, talking about
Lauren:what we want to talk about.
Lauren:So it's nice to have a space that like isn't censored.
Lauren:By our job, if that makes sense.
Lauren:Even though that is our job but there's, there's a lot of rules in,
Lauren:therapy of things we can and cannot do.
Lauren:And so it's nice to just have, like, this is from me.
Lauren:I'm not, I, I am a therapist, we are therapists, but this
Lauren:isn't a therapist podcast.
Lauren:It's two women who know a thing or two about mental health,
Lauren:but also are our own person.
Lauren:And we can just talk about whatever we want to talk about, which is why
Lauren:we did the episode on Brittany Spears.
Lauren:It felt really cathartic to kind of share our experience of
Lauren:like, leave this woman alone.
Lauren:She can't defend herself.
Lauren:So that's my
Taylor:take
Ryanne:I completely agree.
Ryanne:We really started this podcast as a way for us to have almost
Ryanne:something for us, I guess.
Ryanne:But we're both creative people.
Ryanne:We needed an outlet for it.
Ryanne:When you're a therapist, you do a lot of giving.
Ryanne:And although we are giving with this podcast too, it's in a way that we feel
Ryanne:like we can, we can do whatever we want.
Ryanne:So I don't know about Lauren, but I'm assuming, based on our
Ryanne:conversations that, dope shit.
Ryanne:My therapist says it's our brand that we want to be.
Ryanne:Create and build off of off the side of being a therapist, we don't
Ryanne:want to combine them together.
Ryanne:We're utilizing our degrees and our knowledge and our love of mental health
Ryanne:to create and utilize in this brand.
Ryanne:But we don't want to really like combine them together to be one giant thing.
Ryanne:Like we're enjoying that separation.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:I will say if you guys ever want to continue breaking down, like crazy
Taylor:media, mental health breakdowns, like I'm not going to let, the
Taylor:first thing that came to mind was
Ryanne:Oh God.
Taylor:When he like, lost his shit with Gail and I'm just like,
Taylor:let's, let's break this down.
Taylor:What kind of, psychological thing you're going.
Taylor:I think those would be really cool because you, you get all these
Taylor:takes from so many different big wig professionals, but it's nice to know,
Taylor:like what do everyday, therapists think of like, Hey, if, if he came into my
Taylor:space and we were talking about this, like here's what the breakdown was.
Taylor:Lauren, you hit it right on the head.
Taylor:The, the Brittany Spears thing was so compelling because you're always hearing
Taylor:it from these, higher level experts and there are higher level experts
Taylor:everywhere, and it's nice to hear from those perspectives because you guys did
Taylor:just as much work to earn your degrees and your licensees as other people.
Taylor:So, yeah.
Taylor:I don't know why R Kelly came to mind, but I just, I think it's hilarious,
Taylor:honestly, the entire, whatever that is, Aaliyah was one of my favorite
Taylor:Oh, yeah.
Taylor:I'm just like,
Taylor:On it.
Taylor:going on that Brady,
Lauren:Honestly, Taylor, if he came into my office, I'd refer him out immediately.
Lauren:There's just no way.
Lauren:There's just no way.
Lauren:No, I agree.
Lauren:I really like, I haven't, I haven't watched R Kelly.
Lauren:But I, Aaliyah was just so precious and perfect.
Lauren:And I, it's just I have been watching the Demi Lovato documentary that's on YouTube
Lauren:and that one would, might be a good one for us, maybe Ryan to come together.
Lauren:And because it touches on a lot of substance usage which is different
Lauren:from Brittany because Brittany is suffering with a lot of other issues.
Lauren:But Demi, I followed her since the beginning, since I was a Disney
Lauren:kid and we're like the same age.
Lauren:So I've seen her like up and down.
Lauren:So potentially if Ryan's on board, we could a dissectomy.
Lauren:The
Ryanne:thing is like the whole celebrity thing is so Lauren,
Ryanne:like, she is so good at that.
Ryanne:She's the one who runs into celebrities.
Ryanne:She knows all of the details.
Ryanne:If you ask me, I have no clue.
Ryanne:I'm like, all I know is R Kelly did something bad.
Ryanne:I have no clue what you're talking about.
Ryanne:Taylor completely over my head.
Ryanne:I actually never even watched the Brittany Spears documentary.
Ryanne:Like Lauren's like, Oh, watch this, watch that.
Ryanne:And honestly, half the time my coping skills are laying
Ryanne:on the couch with my dog.
Ryanne:On Instagram.
Ryanne:That's my problem is my Instagram habit.
Ryanne:So if we do this, I'm
Lauren:actually going to have to watch the documentary this time.
Taylor:You'll just have to message me and I'll watch it with you.
Taylor:Because again, that's one that I really want to see.
Taylor:Cause I, I looked at me and I followed her and, same Disney kid kind of thing.
Taylor:And I liked that she was different in, that's when all of the singing and
Taylor:dancing like movies kept coming out.
Taylor:And I will say I could have gone the rest of my life without high school musical.
Lauren:Oh yeah, sure.
Lauren:Yeah.
Taylor:Zach and Vanessa and all y'all.
Taylor:But One was enough and y'all did three.
Taylor:So yeah,
Taylor:Megan stop, especially when South park did their episode on it.
Taylor:I'm like, no guys don't fall for it, but I love how they makes fun of stuff.
Taylor:So I, I guess I had to let it happen.
Taylor:But you guys, I would love to ask you one last question of, if somebody is
Taylor:nervous about going to therapy, what's one piece of advice that you would
Taylor:give them about taking that first step into, working on their mental
Taylor:health and Ryan, let's start with you.
Ryanne:I guess research, like looking at it the same way you would going to
Ryanne:a doctor, like look up the therapist, you're trying to find, understand
Ryanne:what you really want to work on first.
Ryanne:And then that'll help guide you in picking a therapist because a lot of
Ryanne:therapists, their profiles will say like, Oh, I focus on this, this and this.
Ryanne:And then that can kind of help guide you on who you're going to pick.
Lauren:The other
Ryanne:thing too is, getting therapy is not selfish.
Ryanne:And I think a lot of people may come from that perspective when they're
Ryanne:nervous to go to therapy, like, Oh, I'm just gonna be talking about myself and,
Ryanne:blah, blah, blah, my friends for that.
Ryanne:Or what are they gonna think?
Ryanne:What are they gonna judge me?
Ryanne:And, here's how I would let therapist, I tell my clients this all the time.
Ryanne:If they're like, I can't believe I'm saying this.
Ryanne:I'm like, Hmm.
Ryanne:You you're fine.
Ryanne:Trust me.
Ryanne:We have heard lots of things so far, and we're not judging you.
Ryanne:Like we really could care less in the way of like, it's good.
Ryanne:We care less, we're just here to listen and absorb it.
Ryanne:And we really, really aren't judgmental in our, in our day to day with that, with
Ryanne:our work, we just really care and want to know how we can listen and be supportive.
Ryanne:So I think, if you understand that, a therapist has gotten under this job
Ryanne:because we do care about humans in general, and that we're really wanting to
Ryanne:listen and understand you, that might be a
Lauren:little bit more supportive.
Lauren:Yeah.
Lauren:I, I feel like something that a lot of people are nervous about besides
Lauren:obviously opening up and being vulnerable is fear of judgment.
Lauren:And that's why I do think, like Ryan said research it's important because
Lauren:I feel like, yeah, if I were to have a therapist who is like in their
Lauren:sixties, like my mom's age, I don't know that I'd be so comfortable.
Lauren:So finding someone maybe who is a little bit younger, if you're younger, Finding a
Lauren:male, if you want a male versus a female.
Lauren:And that's what, psychology today is for a lot of therapists have
Lauren:profiles on there and they talk about what they specialize in.
Lauren:But you know, you can always break up with your therapist if it doesn't go the way
Lauren:you want it to, or you don't feel heard.
Lauren:One of the biggest things is that I think people get turned off with therapy when
Lauren:their therapist is a bad match for them.
Lauren:And it happens because we're humans.
Lauren:So like sometimes I'll have a friend say, yeah, my therapist
Lauren:isn't, isn't hearing me.
Lauren:Right.
Lauren:And so I say, okay, give it a few sessions.
Lauren:And.
Lauren:Talk about what you might need from them, which is really hard, but it's allowed
Lauren:and not talked about often again, if a therapist is going to get butt hurt over
Lauren:that, they are in the wrong profession.
Lauren:And it's up to us to use our professional sense of self outside of the session
Lauren:to talk about our feelings, because we are allowed to get butt hurt.
Lauren:We just can't talk about that with the client, because
Lauren:it's totally unprofessional.
Lauren:But it's important for you to find the right match.
Lauren:And if it's not immediately, I mean, you need to give it a little bit of time.
Lauren:Probably I'd say a couple of months and unless it's just God, awful then get out.
Lauren:But yeah, you might just need to research the type of person that you
Lauren:want as your therapist who specializes in what you're looking for, but also
Lauren:is, is hearing you and giving you
Ryanne:so.
Taylor:Yeah, no, I think both of you make very valid points in that.
Taylor:Do your research, it's okay to find profiles and reviews just
Taylor:like you would when you're about to make a new purchase on something.
Taylor:And it's not to make, you as human sounds like products, but you know, the
Taylor:service that you're getting, you want to know that you're going to get something
Taylor:value out of a valuable out of it.
Taylor:And Lauren, I love your, your aspect of like, Find your mirror, I don't have
Taylor:anything against male therapists, but you don't have the same body parts as me.
Taylor:So if I need to talk about some stuff, I want a female therapist who understands,
Taylor:the ups and downs of womanhood, sometimes when me and my partner did
Taylor:couples therapy, we specifically wanted a woman of color because she could
Taylor:understand some of the things that we go through from a cultural standpoint.
Taylor:And it can be difficult to try to explain that to somebody who's not
Taylor:a part of your culture and it's not to, add to any type of racial divide.
Taylor:It's just like right now for my sanity, I need somebody who gets
Taylor:it, but my therapist used, she's a white lady and I love her to death.
Taylor:Shout out to Kelly because she has been my favorite therapist for the last two years.
Taylor:She's a fellow Texan too.
Taylor:And, and something, she just knows how to just draw stuff out of me.
Taylor:And I've, I've gone leaps and bounds.
Taylor:She was a big honestly person when I was thinking about doing this a, the podcast.
Taylor:Be quitting my job to pursue my own passions and programs
Taylor:outside of the podcast.
Taylor:She's been there for every step.
Taylor:So, finding a good therapist is so important and it is I actually dated,
Taylor:I dated two therapists before I settled on Kelly and I felt so bad.
Taylor:I was like, I'm cheating on them because I was trying to trial them out.
Taylor:Like, like you said, it's okay to try them out because you don't know the vibe
Taylor:of somebody until you spent a little bit of time with them, just like you would
Taylor:a friend or, a possible partner because everybody puts on their best behavior
Taylor:at the beginning, most therapists don't.
Taylor:But for yourself, you're like, do I really want to open up to this person?
Taylor:Do I feel comfortable with them?
Taylor:And so, but I definitely felt like, like a two timing.
Taylor:you are just a terrible person because both of these
Taylor:women are trying to help you.
Taylor:And you're just you're scheming on it.
Taylor:I didn't tell Kelly, cause I literally felt so bad for the other lady.
Taylor:I was like, I just want you to know at the very beginning I was seeing another
Taylor:therapist at the same time as you.
Taylor:I'm sorry, girl, if you don't.
Taylor:Oh, I'm in the session now I can keep going.
Taylor:That's
Ryanne:so funny.
Taylor:So anyways ladies, you, yeah, it's, it's, it's, I'm, I'm dramatic.
Taylor:It's it's the theater kid in me, but y'all, this has been really
Taylor:informative and really awesome.
Taylor:And I thank you both for your time and energy and perspective on this.
Taylor:If people want to keep up with the show and everything that you guys
Taylor:are doing, how can they find you?
Taylor:How can they connect with you and yeah.
Taylor:Yeah, if they, yeah, that's my question.
Ryanne:Okay.
Ryanne:So you can find us on Instagram.
Ryanne:That is the, well, that's a lie.
Ryanne:We have an Instagram, a tick talk and clubhouse now.
Ryanne:So it's the same across all.
Ryanne:It is dope.
Ryanne:S H T therapy pod.
Lauren:And.
Lauren:We also, what
Ryanne:was the other question?
Ryanne:Oh, our podcasts.
Ryanne:You can find us on Apple, Spotify, I heart radio.
Ryanne:We're supposed to be on Amazon, although it hasn't been popping up.
Ryanne:But basically you could find this in
Lauren:most, most podcast platforms.
Taylor:Real quick.
Taylor:How are y'all liking
Lauren:I'm on it.
Lauren:I'm on it.
Taylor:go find y'all y'all are
Lauren:Yeah.
Taylor:Are you on clubhouse
Lauren:Taylor?
Lauren:Okay, I'll follow you.
Lauren:Because I was in a room yesterday.
Lauren:I created a room with two other women.
Lauren:I know.
Lauren:And we were talking about life after the pandemic.
Lauren:It was really good conversation.
Lauren:Just got to get more people on board
Ryanne:grow.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:I'll, I'll go find you guys because now it's a time suck.
Taylor:It's it's very true.
Taylor:What they say that you will find yourselves accidentally on there
Taylor:for, I think my longest was six
Lauren:Whoa.
Taylor:And I was only talking to one person and we just, we
Taylor:just fell into, to this stride.
Taylor:But there are a lot of great rooms, a lot of great room diabetic rooms.
Taylor:So, once I find you guys, I'm happy to ping you in on
Lauren:No.
Lauren:Yeah, that'd be
Taylor:one of my friends on there, she does like type one
Taylor:for caregivers and parents.
Taylor:And then there's another one that we do on Mondays.
Taylor:That's like everything, but diabetes, it's like a play on words and it's a
Taylor:room full of different diabetics and, and others who want to be allies to listen
Taylor:in on, the things that we go through.
Taylor:Sometimes they change the topic on like dating or, drinking, stuff like that.
Taylor:So I will definitely be finding you on clubhouse because I like cliff house.
Taylor:It's just finding the, the, the shutoff step away, turn it off.
Taylor:It's almost worse than
Lauren:if you're not, if you're in a bigger room treating it like a podcast
Lauren:and cleaning and doing things like I did the other day, I was on it for like
Lauren:two hours, but I was doing other things because it was a thousand person room.
Lauren:So it just depends also on my energy level, which I think is great
Lauren:with clubhouse is that I could go, okay, I really want to talk today.
Lauren:Like who's down to talk and what room can I go in that small?
Lauren:And then other days I'm like, I'll just listen.
Lauren:And it's like thousand people and I'm like, great.
Lauren:I don't to raise my hands.
Lauren:So it's
Taylor:nice.
Taylor:The options.
Lauren:It
Ryanne:is under, so our podcast clubhouse is under my name because you
Ryanne:have to put a name in Lauren already had created her own personal one.
Ryanne:So yeah.
Ryanne:I'm not really doing much on it yet.
Ryanne:I just haven't had the energy to figure out it and, kind of have a lot
Ryanne:on my plate, but we are planning on making it a thing and utilizing it.
Ryanne:So I just need my, our podcast one, so we could branch off from
Ryanne:there and do, do all the things.
Ryanne:So yes, feel free to follow.
Ryanne:And hopefully in the very near future, we can actually start
Lauren:making some strides with it.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:Yeah.
Taylor:Well, thank you ladies.
Taylor:Both for, for sparing the time.
Taylor:I know this won't be the last time that we chat.
Taylor:But I'm looking forward to everything that you guys are doing in the podcast
Taylor:space and then some, and appreciate your perspective on, helping other
Taylor:diabetics know that therapy is 100%.
Taylor:Okay.
Taylor:And that you should go for it to ensure that you're getting
Taylor:the help that you need.
Taylor:So until next time guys, we will catch you next week.