Have you ever wondered if you're truly ready—mentally and emotionally—for bariatric surgery? Or how much support matters throughout your bariatric journey?

In this episode of the BariNation Podcast, we talk with Dr. Kati Duncan, a licensed psychologist and owner of Assessment & Therapy Associates (ATA). We explore how the pre-op evaluation is a tool for success, not a barrier, and why working with a therapist who understands bariatric life makes all the difference. We also dive into emotional prep, connection, and the decisive shift when the physical and emotional weight is finally lifted.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• (00:00) Opening and introduction
• (01:39) Discussion of working with therapists who see bariatrics from a patient's perspective and discounted benefits for members of the BariNation Community
• (07:11) Insurance companies' requirements and being mentally ready for the bariatric journey
• (15:05) Preparing for pre-op and post-op surgery and bariatric life
• (23:16) Disaster planning and writing a letter to yourself before surgery
• (35:13) Natalie explains how she approached the period before her last surgery
• (41:04) The power of faith in believing bariatric surgery will work
• (46:47) Dr. Kati predicts the future of the bariatric space and leaves parting words for listeners

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The pre-surgical psychological evaluation isn’t a barrier—it’s a support tool designed to ensure patients are mentally and emotionally prepared for surgery and long-term success. When paired with a therapist who specializes in bariatrics, the guidance becomes even more impactful, offering relevant support rooted in a deep understanding of obesity and disordered eating.
• Connection is a biological necessity, not a luxury—and in the bariatric journey, preparing with self-compassion and surrounding yourself with people who truly understand can be just as vital to healing as the bariatric surgery itself.
• Obesity quietly consumes emotional and physical energy, often unnoticed until that weight is lifted. After surgery, many experience a profound peace and clarity, realizing how much space the constant struggle had occupied. Support groups and shared vulnerability play a vital role in recovery, offering a safe space to receive and eventually give back, creating a powerful healing cycle.
• Dr. Duncan commends Dr. Ann Rogers, President of the ASMBS, for prioritizing reducing stigma and improving access to obesity care during her presidency. There's a hopeful shift in how obesity is discussed—as a disease rather than a personal failing—encouraging more people to seek treatment. Finally, the Access to Care Committee, is dedicated to  making sure that every patient has access to obesity care.

RESOURCES:

• BariNation Website 
• Join the BariNation Membership community meetups to support you on your journey with obesity treatment. https://barination.com/pages/join-our-community
• Want to see bonus content? Head over to https://www.patreon.com/BariNationPodcast to get more and support the podcast for as low as $5 per month!    

OTHER RESOURCES: 

ATA Bariatrics and BariNation have teamed up to ensure you never walk this bariatric journey alone. Both organizations aim to connect patients with the education, tools, and resources needed to find and maintain personal wellness along their journey. Check out the link below!

Practice Partnership | ATA Bariatrics and BariNation

GUEST RESOURCES:

Assessment & Therapy Associates - Instagram

Assessment & Therapy Associates - Website

ASMBS Website

Access to Care Committee

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Kati Duncan

I have worked with bariatric patients for over 20 years and truly love my work. I own ATA Bariatrics, a practice with 18 specialized providers dedicated to supporting patients through every stage of the bariatric journey. I’m excited to be part of the BariNation community and to continue helping patients thrive!

ABOUT:

If the BariNation podcast helps power your bariatric journey, become a monthly podcast supporter and help us produce the show! Visit www.barinationpodcast.com and help us support people treating the disease of obesity with humor, humility, and honesty.

We need your help to keep the BariNation Podcast in production. Your one-time or recurring donations help us ensure this free support remains open to everyone. Click Drive To Thrive - Donation to learn more and give. THANK YOU for your support!

Bariatric Surgery, Bariatric Journey, Bariatric Life, Weight Loss, Obesity, BariNation Community, BariNation Community Support, Bariatric Diet, NSVs, GLP-1, VSG, Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, LapBand, Roux-en-Y, Gastric Bypass, SADI-S, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Therapy Support, ASMBS, American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons, Access to Care

April Williams: You've just tuned into a podcast that welcomes you into a community, a resource center, and a safe place that powers your [00:00:15] journey towards personal wellness.

Natalie Tierney: Our goal is you leave us today feeling hopeful, inspired, and ready to live your best bariatric life.

Thank you. So excited. We're very excited. This has been a long time coming. I feel like at the first

Dr. Kati Duncan: I, it doesn't feel new to me. Right? It feels like this has been a while, but yeah, it.

And I think you literally shouted across an oratorium Yo Nation. All people are like[00:01:15]

Will you introduce yourself to our friends and listeners who are new?

Uh, presurgical evaluation. And so I was in my [00:02:00] fellowship at the medical school when one of my colleagues was doing it, and she had me sit on one and I instantly, I was there for neuropsych. I'm actually a neuropsychologist by training and so I really had no, um. No, no knowledge of bariatrics at all. And I loved it immediately.[00:02:15]

I think we have a great group of people.

Dr. Kati Duncan: I am [00:03:00] so excited and we keep getting these people who are experienced in bariatrics already. They're just coming from other areas and I love it. And so it's people who get it, and I think that's really important.

And Nat, from your patient perspective, what really has been the biggest thing that you've noticed when you have worked with a therapist that really specializes or understand obesity or bariatrics?

When I was working with some, some therapists who. [00:03:45] Had never worked with, uh, bariatrics, let alone obesity and disordered eating. It was like, why am I doing this? What is this for? I don't feel like this is helping me. It felt like I was more lost than helped. [00:04:00] Um, but when I'm with someone who really understands bariatrics.

Dr. Kati Duncan: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Does that make sense?

April Williams: It is a really powerful experience to be working with a professional that that, that just like you said, gets it.

So a phenomenal resource. If you are a patient of a TA bariatrics or you would like to maybe eventually onboard therapy or you're interested in taking a toe dip into support groups, [00:05:00] a TA offers all of these services. They have a, a, a once a month, uh, support that's led by one of their practitioners on.

I know it's crazy. Everybody's like, it's. [00:05:30] That's

Natalie Tierney: amazing. I just uploaded the calendar last night. Can't confirm. Oh my God. Basically at 80. That's a roundup, but we're still basically at 80. That's crazy.

Dr. Kati Duncan: That's amazing.

We wanted to be accessible. We want it to be meaningful, and we really want people to think of BariNation. Kind of like a menu, right? If you walk in, you sit down, you're like, what do I feel like today? What do I need today? I. [00:06:00] We really wanted to empower patients to be able to self-select instead of some of the experiences where you don't get any choice in what you're learning about that day, right at at a support group, if you go, if you go to your clinic.

The reason that we are so excited about this is we have plenty of people who listen or watch this show. They are either thinking about bariatric surgery, maybe they haven't told a soul, or they are kind of in that pre-op process and [00:06:45] the pre-op. Period, moment, journey, whatever you wanna call it, can be the most exciting, but also the most overwhelming because you think you're doing things wrong and you just dunno what to do.

Dr. Kati Duncan: think it's twofold. So the first is to app [00:07:15] piece the insurance companies, which.

And if you are already not doing well. Um, or you have a high, um, [00:07:45] risk of, uh, you know, certain things or you are a substance user and you're struggling, it's not the right time. Um, and so sometimes we'll implement a treatment plan in order to get you to where you need to be [00:08:00] so that you can have the surgery.

Um, we're, we're, we can get the surgery. It's really about the willingness to engage in the treatment plan that we know [00:08:30] helps them post-surgically. Um, that is the biggest key for us.

April Williams: I was gonna say the, the two things that absolutely stand out to me there is that you said. Surgery? Not yet. Not surgery, never.

Dr. Kati Duncan: Yeah. I, I've had it, you know, over the years I've had people really upset with me because they consider I'm slowing them down. It, it, I should clarify, this is not a large portion of the people [00:09:15] that we see, um, that we, we put a pause on or slow down. But when we do, sometimes people are understandably upset.

There's no, um, we normally will give you a curated list of people that we've connected with all throughout the country that treat whatever specific [00:09:45] issue you might have, um, so that people don't feel like, or they're having to, to come back into a TA. Mm-hmm. Um, and really when people say. You know, okay.

That they've, I've seen [00:10:15] people go do this and when they come back they're like, I was so mad at you, and I am so thankful because now I have my person. Right.

Natalie Tierney: Yeah.

Right. So I get more thank yous, um, after the, the, the mad at me and I'm, that makes my just hearting, I'm so happy when that happens.

I.

From this. Um, for my most recent surgery, [00:11:30] um, I didn't have to because I did do medical tourism. I went to Mexico. Um, however, as you were speaking, Katie, I just appreciated so much. Your emphasis on, not right now, [00:11:45] but let's work together to get you to a place. Uh, because I went through before my most recent surgery, I went through two rounds with two different hospitals.

So, [00:12:30] yeah. Yeah, I kind of did, but I kind of didn't, if that makes sense. Yeah,

Bariatric surgery is as safe as it is because your entire care team is [00:13:00] very prepared for your surgery. That's why they want the scans. That's why they want you to meet. With, with, uh, mental health experts, right? It's why they wanna know all the things so that you can be best prepared when you do go in for that surgery.

Those truthful conversations are actually the keys that will unlock all of the doors and help you get through all of the hoops that lie ahead for you. But if you are not truthful in [00:13:45] those two areas, it's just not going to be a successful journey for you.

Dr. Kati Duncan: And you might, um, get, get through the hoops really quickly and get the surgery.

Your answers are going to help us curate. [00:14:15] Yeah. A nice set of recommendations for you. And that's really the second part, the insurance requirements. You know, are you, um, are you free of a substance abuse diagnosis at the current moment? Are you free of any major mental illnesses? And when we say [00:14:30] major mental illnesses, we mean like.

And so that's the insurance portion of it. The other portion of it, I think it kind of depends on who you go to and what you get, but mm-hmm. This is my favorite part, which is the recommendations, which is like, [00:15:15] tell me all the. Tell me all the things you struggle with for the past, whatever many years that you've been struggling and, and let's like, dig it apart and figure out how we can do it differently.

So I, I love it. I love the, that set of recommendations is just like the, the little things, but go, oh my God, I never thought about that. Mm-hmm. And, you know, [00:16:00] that's my, that's my win for the day.

April Williams: Yep. Oh, totally. Well, and Nat and I both know that, right. It, it took that, that meeting with the mental health professional to kind of give us those set of recommendations so we could be successful after surgery.

Woo. It was like a choose your own adventure. Except I didn't get to pick the adventure. It was like, here's what it is now. And if I would not have had Right mental, uh, mental health professionals, a support community, [00:16:45] you know, all these things on my side mm-hmm. I wouldn't be sitting talking with you guys today.

Their [00:17:15] experience post-op. So the first is

Um, where are you gonna fit in planning and prepping and shopping for the right. Foods that you're going to eat, because that is time consuming. And it's sort of a, um, you know, sometimes people go from not planning anything to having to realize, oh my gosh, like I can't [00:17:45] just wing it like I used to. And so getting in those, those tiny changes into your day are kind of a big deal.

It's a big one. [00:18:15] Um, and, you know, uh, like movement is just, and I say movement instead of exercise just because I really, some people aren't even close to what we consider exercise. I mean, today I have done no exercise and earlier I was like, I just need to walk down the street and [00:18:30] back and run an errand at the end of my street.

And I just.

Uh, [00:19:00] many of us do. It's just a nice, easy. Comfortable. Mm-hmm. Go right. Um, imagine this, imagine if you use crutches and I were to say to you, Hey, um, gimme your crutches. Uh, you not, I'm [00:19:15] gonna put 'em right here, but you can't use 'em.

Natalie Tierney: Mm-hmm. You would

Dr. Kati Duncan: be like, uh, um, and it, it would create some panic, right? You can't use the crutches.

Where is the surface flatter? [00:19:45] You know, where, where are the roads that aren't as bumpy for you? Um, where do you know that can be triggers for you to fall? Right? And so in those three months, just getting three or four little tiny things that would help you to not look back [00:20:00] to the crutches. So key. And so that is it.

It's really, it's really not a hard thing to do, but it really can help prepare people prior to surgery to just have those little things ready.

Yeah. So all three of the things that you mentioned, we talk about every single day, and we talk about those things in every stage. So we have members of variation who are pre-op, right? [00:20:45] Like, they don't even know what surgeon they're, they're gonna go with yet. They just know they've committed to the process.

Dr. Kati Duncan: we're hardwired for connection, right? Research shows that human beings, uh, um, experience emotional, even physical pain when they're isolated.

Natalie Tierney: Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you so much about that. Uh, what can I do now? My, my pre-op for my most recent [00:21:45] surgery was three months. I had a very rigorous like. Very limited pre-op diet, uh, to follow. Um, and I just deep dived. I thought it was, well, it was the middle, middle of Covid. I was unemployed. I [00:22:00] just thought, I'm gonna make this my job.

I mean, it really is the more I, I truly believe that. Because I did so much this time around during my pre-op and didn't see it as a punishment, but saw it as a, a toolkit, if you [00:22:45] will. Um, I feel like I'm doing so much better this time around because I did all of that preparation and taught myself just a handful of things.

Dr. Kati Duncan: And there's, there's two other things that I, I love and I, I rely on frequently. One is called what I, what I just [00:23:15] probably not very well named, but I call it disaster planning.

All those great things you put into place, you're like out the window. Mm-hmm. And so I tell people, you know, [00:23:45] get a, get a list of like five to eight meals. And you might have to recreate this list multiple times as you go through your journey and you no longer can eat eggs because you don't like them anymore or whatever the case might be.[00:24:00]

Every surgeon's a little bit different with what they suggest, so

Natalie Tierney: mm-hmm.

Time yourself all the way through fast food, and then I want you to do it again and time [00:24:45] yourself through the 10 minutes to the grocery store where you got nine meals out of it.

Natalie Tierney: Mm-hmm. Right?

Dr. Kati Duncan: Mm-hmm. And, and then you divide like it trusts me. It didn't save you any time and you lost money and you don't feel as good, right?

April Williams: Oh my God. And that disaster plan can be applied not [00:25:15] just to disastrous moments of life, like it can be applied today.

Like if you look ahead of your week is insane, and, and you instantly feel that worry and that anxiety rising. Yeah. This is when you could use that plan. I'm

Mm-hmm. Like it's too stressful in this house. If we could all just make sandwiches and. Wouldn't that be better? Right. [00:25:45] Like, and I finally began to realize that I was just hurting myself by trying to make it continue to work and then everybody was miserable. So, um, and then I think the other one that I use a lot is writing a letter to [00:26:00] yourself prior to surgery.

I will never forget about 20 years ago, I had a guy come back to see me and he had done this list and at the very top of the [00:26:30] list. He had getting out of the ebbing car and it was in big writing and he said he rode in the parking lot. He was so mad. And he said, you know, this is just, I can't, like, it's so hard to get in and out of my [00:26:45] car.

And then secondly, you know why you're still doing it. You believe it or not, you can forget how much struggle you had in years past. It's shocking, but you can.

How different life is now for me. And it's like, I know it [00:27:30] feels different. I know this is different, but I can't remember exactly why. Yeah. And if I would've taken the time to kind of record that, I would have it. And we talk about, again, it's gonna sound like a broken record in Bury Nation. It was just a few weeks ago.

'cause I wanna get outta the effing car. Why do I wanna get this done? Because I wanna go kayaking. I wanna do these things in life. But really, what's at the. At the, the foundation of that [00:28:15] why is you want more access to your life.

Natalie Tierney: Mm-hmm.

April Williams: That's right. Right? That's your why. That why never changes and how you access life and what you do absolutely can change as you go throughout your journey.

Dr. Kati Duncan: And I, and it's important that I think physicians get on board with this too, about the [00:28:45] why's of their patients instead of just the number on the scale.

It, it's funny because patients are scared to see somebody for the first time, a bariatric surgeon, even a psychologist. I think, you know, [00:29:15] there's, there's been a lot of medical stigma of, um, you know, just having suffered from obesity their whole life, right? Mm-hmm. Or, or, mm-hmm. Or even for just years. That step is huge.

Ann Rogers on here, and [00:29:45] I feel like the fact that a surgeon even made stigma her. Goal this year is just mind blowing. It's so amazing to me. Right. It's so cool. And it's being talked about more than it's ever been. Mm-hmm. Um, for a long time. [00:30:00] So, so I think it's, I think it's a great time to be, um, to be seeking out care because I think we're, we're starting to get it more than we ever have.

Or man, why wasn't I encouraged to do this sooner? Or you fill in the blank. And there are so many times where I say. Yeah, but look at the time that we do [00:30:45] get to have surgery, because this is, we're on the precipice of really big things in the bariatric realm and that always kind of cools people off. I'm like, yeah, it sucks that we have to be right.

It's because patients are speaking up. And, and doing the work of weight loss surgery, like we like to call it, in variation. So,

Yes. Are hopefully going to be less stigmatizing than maybe somebody who's just 10 seconds ago learned about it from the rep,

They've either hit a stall. They've hit a plateau, they're having [00:32:15] adverse effects. Right. Whatever it is. They are working with that surgeon, right with that, with that obesity medicine specialist, and the conversation naturally goes to, okay, look, you are battling a lifelong and chronic disease and [00:32:30] anti-obesity medications might not be the thing that helps us.

You know, treat it indefinitely. So now let's talk about these other, it's be

Natalie Tierney: one of the tools,

And now thanks to. Truly social media. You can see millions of people successfully living life after the surgery. A as nat always says, they're living their, their loudest, proudest, [00:33:00] most authentic selves, even if they're not actually broadcasting their surgery experience. Just living your life in your most boldest way is a testament to the power of, of this type of treatment.

Those are all absolutely phenomenal things and attempt to do them really, truly do. When I was a patient before surgery, I did [00:33:45] not think food controlled my life. I didn't think it, I didn't believe it. There was no way on God's green earth that I, that I was doing okay. I absolutely was relying on food for everything in my life.

[00:34:15] But sometimes you can't see something until you, until you are living something. So give yourself some space in grace, right? Look and listen, rewatch all of these amazing things that Katie is saying and really, truly think about. What can you try [00:34:30] now? What can you do now? Because it's true. I didn't practice any of those things after surgery, before surgery, and it was a real struggle.

This is my full-time job. It's not saying it's [00:35:00] more important or less important, but you're saying this is equally important with all my other responsibilities. So will you share with us that a little bit of like how did you wrap your brain around that? How did you kind of just make this commitment to, this is my job for now?

I knew that there was gonna be. Some kind of a plan, uh, [00:35:45] asked of me before and after surgery. Um, I think what was different this time is I actually felt ready, like I actually with therapy, with doing the work, with hearing, [00:36:00] um, hearing stories from patients like you and Jason and, and other podcasts that we've, um, that we've heard and seen grow.

I mean, I was really in a, a deep, dark space and I treat and it was covid, right? So [00:36:45] isolation. I mean, there was a lot going on in my life. Um, and I just thought, this has to be it. This has to be the thing that changes my life. And I made it happen because I needed it. I needed it to work. [00:37:00] And not in a desperation way, but in like a, this is for me for the first time in my life way.

Right. I bring it back to that because I was not ready. I was doing it because I felt like I needed to, to lose weight. [00:37:45] I didn't feel comfortable in my body, but that was kind of it. It was expected of me, but like when I was approved and ready to go and did all the things, I was ready. I made the decision, and I felt [00:38:00] secure in that decision because it was for me, it wasn't for society, it wasn't for.

Family members or friends. It was me. It was my decision and it was gonna happen.

Uh, or, because I always wonder, I don't ever want people to think I'm misleading them. You know? I just, I don't, yeah. [00:38:30] You know, that's a good question.

Mm-hmm. I wasn't ready. Like I think sometimes if, if I was ready at that point and someone said, Hey. We can't approve you today, but like let's, then I would've been like, yep, sign me up. [00:39:00] What do I need to do? Oh my God. But I think it has to be the mental, like I'm ready to do the work because it is work before, after, during, like it's all work.

Dr. Kati Duncan: So much emotional energy too for other things. I think that's what's awesome about when you go to therapy and you can put your stuff in its right place.

Natalie Tierney: Mm-hmm.

I mean, it's unbelievable. And so it's just everything sort of propels forward when you can find its place.

Why do I feel like I have so much time on my, I was like, what am I forgetting? What meetings have I missed? What? Like I was like, oh my God, [00:40:00] why? And it dawned on me. It's because I'm not fighting obesity. Right. It's because literally the disease has been put in its place up here. It's been put in its place physically, and that was when I realized just how much time and energy the [00:40:15] disease was sucking out of every facet of my life.

Yeah,

I thought, gosh, this is, this is like a great [00:40:45] reminder that sometimes we don't even, I, I didn't think I was that upset by it, but I was like, oh, wow, I feel so much better. Oh, we remove these things that are like, sort of constant eating at us and distracting us from what we be attending to. [00:41:00] Yeah.

April Williams: It, it does.

I finally understand what it means to believe wholeheartedly that something [00:41:30] is out there for you or will help, but you have absolutely zero evidence of it. You can't touch it, you can't see it, you can't access it. It is not something that is available to you in that moment, but every fiber [00:41:45] of your being is pushing you to just believe that it is waiting for you.

But that is what faith is [00:42:15] and listening to stories, uh, of patients like us, listening to practitioners like Katie talk about the power of surgery and how you can be successful is the thing that you can tap into if you need that little boost of faith to get you over the edge. [00:42:30] It is going to be unlike work you have ever done before in your life, and you are going into this knowing you don't know how to be a patient.

You're gonna need that. [00:43:00] But that's how this is designed to work. And I think for so many years, for decades, we treated the disease as it treated us, which was in isolation. One patient, one procedure, you are only gonna talk to the doctor, right? [00:43:15] The, there was no community support surrounding it, right? And as soon as you bust that disease out of this little cave of isolation that you've been living in, you can not only see it for what it truly is, which is a lifelong and chronic disease, but you can [00:43:30] name it.

But as soon as you do that, your, your, your life, your bariatric life, your bariatric journey will change. It's. The [00:44:00] reason we created variation. If you want to learn how to do these things, if you want that kind of support, it lives in in the community and it also lives with a TA bariatrics, it lives there in your support groups.

Dr. Kati Duncan: What I think is great about these support systems is that. Sometimes you're not ready to be the vulnerable one, but you get to come and watch somebody be the vulnerable one and go, I feel that way too.

And so you don't have to be the person who says a lot. You may just need to come and see other people being a couple steps ahead of you, or a lot of steps ahead of you, or maybe a couple steps behind you and you can go, you got this. I've seen this before. I've been here [00:45:00] before. And

Natalie Tierney: that's amazing. We, we encourage a lot of, of our members, um, generally at the top.

Um, they [00:45:30] just have to get something off their chest because they're in the middle of, of something, and that's okay too. Um, but yeah, just having, having seen how the sharing of your story can help others and then wanting to share, uh, your own is, [00:45:45] is also just as

April Williams: impactful. We're literally, we're, we're mind melding.

Dr. Kati Duncan: Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely like learning something and then being able to turn around and teach it to somebody else, I think, I think it's so cool. It's the best. Yeah. It's the best. Best [00:46:15] because you're like, I was you, I was there. I can show you this. I mean, I feel like this when I meet new psychologists and, and I'm like, let me help you.

Let me show you what, what fumbles I made, and hopefully you won't have to make them. And that's just really rewarding.

Dr. Kati Duncan: Gosh, we're almost through 2025.

It's just, and that. I believe that would've not happened prior to her putting [00:47:30] that out there, which is really cool. So I, I think there's a real shift in the way we're talking about obesity.

Natalie Tierney: Mm-hmm.

And, um. Just putting that stigma and shame that, that we have, you know, seen people walk around with for far too.[00:48:00]

Mm-hmm. Um, I think it's a great, and, and I'll also [00:48:30] add to here too, if you are not finding that you can get your mental health covered. Let us know because if you, they can email me, I don't care. But it's, it's a, it's a place for us to start because if we don't know that it's not being covered [00:48:45] for your, for your presurgical evaluation, for example, or even postoperative therapy, um, let us know.

It's something we'll fight for. I mean, I feel really passionate about that,

One of those committees is the access to care committee. And the entire role of that committee is to make sure that every [00:49:15] patient has access to obesity care. And it is all of it. It's nutrition, it's mindset, it's movement, everything Very. Thankfully, amazingly, we have a seat on that committee, so I get to go to the [00:49:30] meetings and hear what they do, freaking pit bulls who are on a mission to do so.

Improving access to care. So that is exactly what she's talking about. So if this is you, reach out. We'll link Katie's contact information in the show notes. Just open up the description. Her email will be [00:50:00] there, her website will be there. You can also send us, um, an email or a DM and we'll connect you with her, whatever you feel most comfortable doing.

Dr. Kati Duncan: No. And No, I was rooting.

Like I'm a very, okay. Yeah, I have my pumpkin. My apple candles are for the fall [00:51:15] too. Mm-hmm. We're about to get into, you know, like the cotton summer candles. Now's, yeah. Great. So some lemon, some tropical notes and that. Are you like an all

Natalie Tierney: year

Dr. Kati Duncan: long pumpkin

I would drink it.

I just had you on team now you're making the switch already. I dunno if it brings

Natalie Tierney: me

Dr. Kati Duncan: joy,

Natalie Tierney: take it away. You know what I, there

Natalie Tierney: And I don't like that much there. The, it's very, as foram it's not, right. Yeah.

Dr. Kati Duncan: Christmas pine trees in the Exactly.

Thanks. Thank you.

Dr. Kati Duncan: confused all the time.

April Williams: You enjoy that. Exactly. It's all, it's always where we stand. Oh, goodness. Well, Katie, thank you for indulging, uh, a moment of fun and playfulness in what has been an amazing conversation. I, if there is one thing that you really want the [00:53:00] people listening or watching this episode taking away from today, what is it?

What, what's your big takeaway for them?

And really actually you're, uh, when I meet people who are like, I'm not tripping. I want surgery. And I'm like, well, you're, you're the one that gets decide that, right? Like, let's talk all about it, all the whole [00:53:45] thing and then you can decide today or tomorrow or next year. It doesn't really matter. Um, and I think when you take that kind of.

Come and eyeball it. Just see what it's about. You. You didn't sign up for a life commitment. You didn't just have a baby [00:54:15] and have to take care of for 18 years. I don't, and that's like our support groups are like once a month. You pay for one little support group and you never come back. Um, and you don't have to talk, right.

April Williams: Yes. We have a lot of wallflowers, a lot of hang hanger honors. There's all kinds of words that they use to describe themselves, but we always say, you are welcome in whatever capacity you can show up today.

Dr. Kati Duncan: and, and you [00:55:00] know, if you're in the presurgical process and you have questions, I mean.

It's a real person. Um, like. [00:55:30] Four of them who are fantastic, and they get, they get the people who say, I actually am at the end of my road and I forgot to schedule the psych eval. What do I do? And we're like, all right, let's make this happen for you. We can't promise that you know, you're gonna, you're [00:55:45] gonna, you get, get the green check mark right away, but hopefully so.

We are thrilled about this and we're, we're just honored to, to be on the same team.

April Williams: I'm excited. This has been wonderful. Friends, if you wanna connect with Katie, all of her contact information will be linked in those show notes. So just go ahead and open that description.

That wraps up [00:56:45] another empowering episode of The Bear. Barry Nation Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, keep the conversation going by joining the Barry Nation membership community where you can attend live support events, access on-demand resources, and find a caring community.

Natalie Tierney: Joinus @ www.barination.mn.co.

If you found this podcast valuable, help us produce it by becoming a $5 monthly supporter at BariNation Podcast.com