Daedalian Lowry connects with Mike Stratton and Morgen Bowen, the hosts of a brand new podcast called A PscyhoDelicious Conversation. Their program will be posted on LCC Connect, on Tuesday, July 23rd with the goal of opening up the conversation about mental health.

Related Podcast: A PsychoDelicious Conversation

Mike Stratton's A Groove Supreme

Spotify: Mike's Podcast, The Little Green Book

Email: A PsychoDelicous Conversation

Hi, this is Daedalian, and I'm the general manager of LCC Connect. And on this episode of Behind the Connection, we're going to feature a chat with the hosts of a new podcast called A Psycho Delicious Conversation

The hosts of the program are Mike Stratton and Morgan Bowen. They are two mental health professionals and members of our Mid Michigan community as well.

Their podcast premieres on LCC Connect, Tuesday, July 23rd, and you can listen to it at lccconnect.org or on your favorite streaming service. And now it's time to delve behind the scenes and find out what's happening behind the Connection.

First of all, I want to say thanks for coming in and joining me here on Behind the Connection. Going to get started by having you just take a moment to introduce yourself each and explain what you do professionally. Mike, let's start with you.

Well, my name is Mike Stratton. I'm a psychotherapist, LMSW licensed Master's of Social Work, clinical social worker.

So primarily what I do is I do psychotherapy with people, and the areas that I focus on are trauma, depression, anxiety, relationships, and substance abuse. So those are the main areas that I do. I also do radio show. I did a radio show here at LCC back in the WLNZ days.

You bet.

We will chat about that. We will chat about that.

And I'm currently on WKAR hosting, and

we'll chat about that, too. So don't go too far. Don't go too far. Okay, Morgan, what you got going on?

I'm less storied, but I'm Morgan Bowen. I'm a psychiatric nurse practitioner. So my letters are PMHNP, and that stands for Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

So I work in the community. I have a private practice. I see mostly adults for medication management, although I do see adolescents and some younger folks.

And I specialize in treating and working with LGBTQ folks.

Very good. And obviously, I'm not of either.

So, in layman's terms, from my understanding, Morgan, you deal more in the medication side, whereas you deal more on the therapy side.

Yep. Mike, the talking cure. Very cool. Yes.

Everybody's got their path to how they

got to where they are.

Why exactly did you choose to go into the mental health Profession. Mike, let's start with you.

I went to college thinking I was going to be an attorney. And I was lucky enough to have my heart broken in that first semester. And I came across a psychology book.

Now, when you say heartbroken, you're talking love.

Love.

You're talking.

I fell in love with a girl who had.

There's always a love story at the beginning, isn't there?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And it started with tragedy and trauma.

And anyway, she had a boyfriend that she had not told me about that was back home, but came up to visit her. And I'm like, what? What? And then I was.

I found a primer on Jung and a primer on Freud, and I was reading those, and I was like, oh, my God, there's answers here. And I started taking psychology classes, and I could see myself doing that.

You know, it just seemed like there was something in it that really entranced me. It really tickled me. And so that was the start of it, you know, to. To go down this path and become a therapist.

Tragic love story gone.

Right. Eventually, I mean, I found other. Yeah, Turns out there was more than me.

Came other people's solutions.

You kind of sound like you're still trying to convince yourself of that.

I thought there was more than one woman in the world. So, Morgan, how about you?

So mine's a little bit different. I grew up in a family. My father was a psychiatrist in the area. Grew up in Williamston, Michigan. And my mom was a nurse.

She did psych nursing and public health as well. So I was not interested in doing that from. Although I was. I mean, I always had a knack for it. I would say it came sort of easy, the role.

The role of, like, listening and being present and interested in folks and what they're going through. But I kind of stayed away from it because I wanted to be a rebel. I wanted to be a rebel in the family. But when I.

Mission accomplished.

Yeah, mission accomplished. When I got a little bit older, like in my late 20s, I decided that it was probably a good idea to fulfill my destiny.

So I went back to school at that point to become what I do today.

And Mike likes to point out the age difference between the two of you each and every show.

I think Morgan does that.

I was thinking Mike fell in love right after World War II, a little

bit younger, but at the same time, you've got quite a bit of experience. How many years did you say?

So? 15 years. I became a NER, and then, you know, have been a nurse practitioner now for five years. Right around the beginning of the pandemic,

what do you find to be the most rewarding part of what you do?

Oh, people getting better. So, you know, usually when you meet somebody for the first time, things are not going well if they're seeking out some type of psychiatric services.

So that's not always true, but a lot of times people are in some having difficulty, some level of crisis, and so to, you know, be with them, it'd be a component of that journey, hopefully, to a quick solution is great. You meet people. It's nice to work in the community. I'm from here. I grew up here, and I've lived in a lot of places.

So there's something special or something different about working in the area that you're from. So it's nice that I both like seeing people get better, and I like being a contributing member of society and the community.

That sounds kind of dorky, but it's true. Having lived other, like, big cities, Chicago, New York, where you're just kind of one in a million, it's nice to take part in the community.

Would you echo that sentiment on your side there, Mike? Do you feel like that's the most rewarding part of what you do?

Yeah, definitely. It's not the money. It is. I mean, to be able to make a living, though, at something where, you know that you're helping other people. And I just.

I like. Well, like Morgan, I realized that I was a good listener at a very early age, and there was something about that just really, it's interesting to me.

And also the idea that I can help people. And also, just like Morgan said, I enjoy being a part of this community. I really lived in Lansing almost my entire life.

You know, I also lived in Grand Haven for a little while, Grand Rapids, Ireland for a semester, if that counts. Oh, that'd be great. Yeah, yeah, it was good. But, yeah, I love this community. I really do. And I kind of.

It's weird because I take it personally when people start dragging Lansing around, you know, and I get offended. It's like, you know, I don't know why that is, but it's a fair story.

You know, I will say the same thing. I'm, you know, born and bred in the mid Michigan area and Lansing, of course, I got a little bit of pride there.

You know, you said at the beginning there that you don't do it for the money. So you're saying neither one of you lead the lifestyle of Frasier Crane, huh?

So, no, no.

You don't have the penthouse or anything?

Like that?

No, no.

We live not too far from each other over there on the west side of lan. We might, you know, we live in the community that we work in.

Very good, Very good.

I'm on the south side, so, you know.

You know,

a little bit different there too. Okay, so the show is called A Psycho Delicious Conversation. What is it and what's it about?

That was Morgan's idea, the name.

Yeah. We went through a couple. Well, not too many iterations, but we

hit what Get a Grip was one of the ones you guys were kicking around, which I like. It was basic, simple, and it's good.

I like a cake. Campy, you know, I like the kitsch. I like the camp myself.

But of course, a little research, we found that there was a couple other podcasts out there called Get a Grip, so.

Yeah.

But landed on Psycho Delicious.

There are certain people in this world who just are more in tune with, you know, the. The psych. The psych realm of things and, you know, are. Are. What's the word? Like, conversant about it. Vocal about it. So oftentimes when.

When somebody either is that vibe or perhaps has a bit of a vibe of maybe that they're. Have a few demons that they're working through, a few disorders that maybe they're. They're that are part of their journey, sometimes I like.

I think of them as a Psycho Delicious Folk. Psycho Delicious Folk. It's a little bit of a camp vibe to it.

I've mentioned it to you guys, you know, because I've sat in on most of the recordings that we. That we've done so far. And one of the things I like about you guys is you bring a little bit of humor into the situation.

You're not making fun of it, but you're making things light and casual and basically opening up the conversation about mental health. And I also like the fact that you share in some of your own struggles, and that's been great. So what impact. Yeah, go ahead, Go ahead.

No, I think that's a very deliberate thing. We wanted to hit a tone, our particular tone that was informative but also entertaining and that people could relate to and to.

And the idea we are all people, you know? Right.

So we're all in this together.

We all. We're all in this together, and we all have different aspects, you know, of things that we're working on all the time. So all of that is just. Just.

Just something we wanted to convey through this process of doing this podcast.

And I think a common misconception or a Lot of people think when it comes to mental health professionals is that you guys got your stuff all together all the time.

Au contrary.

Do you find that. Do you find that to be true?

No, it's the opposite. It's the opposite.

I mean, if I counted up the number of years I've been in therapy, there's a lot of therapy. I've had a lot of therapy. I'm currently in therapy. And it's useful to me, it's helpful to me.

And I don't think of it as like, oh, you need therapy when you're sick.

It's like, it is just a great place to hear yourself think out loud, to bounce that off of somebody who's informed in a particular way that can see when you are undermining your own best efforts. You know, it's that outside voice. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So are there actually therapists out there that specialize in therapists for therapists?

Is that a story? I see a number of therapists in my practice, yeah.

Well, yeah, because there's also, you know, stresses specific to the job, certainly.

Yeah.

Hear a lot of stuff. There's a lot of, you know, energy that you don't necessarily absorb, but you're exposed to. And, you know, that can be difficult.

I mean, it can definitely be draining. And so you develop over your career, you know, the ability to. What's the right word? You know, develop some boundaries, develop some self care.

Self care. A lot of self care. Yeah. Develop the ability to do that. That's part of the job, is to be able to listen, to participate, to

be

present with people who are going through struggles. And that will take a toll. It does take a toll. But the self care and the ability to navigate and manage that space is part of the job.

Very cool.

And I think humor has a lot of.

Humor does help.

Humor helps.

And that's the one thing I feel like I take myself too seriously sometimes. And I mean, I think back to when I was younger.

I didn't do that.

I don't know where I became serious.

It's. It's this place. This place.

War.

Are we talking about this place where I'm at, or are we talking about

Lansing this time in life? Or maybe. Or maybe. Yeah.

Who knows? Oh, it could be the time.

Yeah. Or the pandemic, or it could be any number of things.

There is a lot of stuff going on in there.

Appears to be.

When times are bad, business is good. That's what I've always said.

So obviously you guys are making a difference in your own profession. What made you guys feel like you wanted to bring on yet another thing and do a podcast?

Well, it's funny because we have breakfast once a week. Once a week. We do have breakfast once a week.

And I was talking about a podcast that I've done for a book that I wrote, and Morgan said to me, we should do a podcast. And I said, well, that's a possibility.

Now, was that a limited series?

I think it's like 20, 21 episodes. It's out there. It's out there.

What's it called?

It's called the Little Green Book Podcast by Mike Stratton. So you can look it up. And basically it's me reading my book into a podcast format and inviting people to engage.

So I put that out there, and I've just ignored it. It's just out there in the world. But this is something that would be more Dyn.

That would be more ongoing, and the fun of doing it with somebody else and having more of an interactive kind of flavor to it, because I can drone on and on for a long time by myself. And it's true.

Chuck.

Few breakfasts.

Wait a minute.

So basically, Morgan's having the breakfast. You're talking.

We're going to time it next time. I think Morgan. Morgan does the majority of the time, actually.

I love podcasts. I'm a podcast consumer. I love the podcast world. The revolution of podcasts that have been. What has it been now?

I don't know, five, ten years or whatever. Since.

I think.

Since. Yeah, since it's really blossomed or really picked up.

And I liked it before then. I always liked audiobooks growing up. And the podcasts that I really like are dynamic.

Two people conversant about something that they're interested in, but there's a casual quality to it. And then. So the other thing was, is, like, you know, I really wanted to.

I'm always looking for avenues to highlight to people what resources are available in the community for mental health care, whether it be whatever that looks like acute or counseling or. And we have a lot in Lansing, but a lot of times when I'm talking to patients, we. I'll say, oh, I didn't know that we had that.

Or, you know, so there's a. I think that, you know, information. There's always a need for more information related to mental health. So that was another. That was another big thing for me.

And there's one of the podcasts I listen to, and I'm gonna block on the name of it, but I have to pay for it. Every month. And it's very, very clinical and it goes into great depth. You know, they'll talk about depression, for instance.

It'll be three hours long. But it's extremely clinical and it's good. But I also. Other ones where are conversant.

You know, I'm not a big Joe Rogan fan in the sense of I don't believe in everything he says, but I like the tone of his podcasts and the way he engages with people and brings up all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories.

Right. I find it interesting that you were talking about the information that's out there as far as mental health goes.

Yes, absolutely. I think in part the stigma is lifted from it. I think more people are getting mental health.

I think the pandemic definitely did contribute to that, particularly with young people.

I think I've mentioned this before on the podcast, but young people used to have to be sentenced to therapy, and now they're requesting it, and they come with their own diagnosis. They've researched it. They know, hey, I think I'm this, I think I'm this, I think I'm this.

And yeah, I just think people are much more open to getting it. And there seems to be. I mean, I used to know all the therapists in town basically when I first started. Again, here's the age thing.

I don't know hardly anyone now, but there's an army of therapists and everybody's full. You know, people talk about how difficult it is to get in to see somebody, so.

So I think people are availing themselves of mental health therapy a lot more than in the past.

Agreed. Yeah, yeah, agreed. And, you know, there's different methods of accessing as well.

So telehealth has really has been something that we've used in psychiatry for a while because of a lack of providers and a lack of access that people have had. You know, rural areas and Michigan is definitely part of that.

But the ability to deliver mental health care through telehealth has opened up a lot of possibility as well as the technology to facilitate that. So the telehealth platforms and different electronic health records and just ways of creating access, really the infrastructure of access.

So I think a lot of people have the ability to do it now, too, whereas maybe they didn't have access before.

Well, I'm hoping that it's getting a little easier to find someone. I know that last year I actually went through the process of trying to find a therapist myself.

And it took me a good month and a half just to find somebody that was available. And I was kind of surprised at the time.

And when you're in that situation where you really want to talk to somebody, it's difficult to go through that waiting process. So hopefully that's expanding a little bit. Okay, so, Mike, you kind of beat me to the punch a little bit earlier.

But longtime listeners of wlnz, you probably recognize Mike's voice. He used to do the vinyl set of Midnight here on wlnz. It was awesome. How many years did you do that?

And I came back and did, like, I don't know, maybe a half dozen shows before the plug got pulled. So, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Things switched here at the station. And then, of course, I was glad to find out that you actually found a new home. You're over at WKAR now.

Yeah.

The name of the show is Groove Supreme. Groove Supreme, Yeah.

Which is a takeoff on a Love supreme, you know, the famous John Coltrane album. Famous to jazz fans. But, you know, there's a few titles that jazz fans recognize right away. So I thought, oh, GRU Supreme. That could work.

Yeah.

And that's Saturday evenings, right?

Saturday nights, 8 to 10 o'. Clock. Yeah.

Little plug for your show there. So 23 years here at the station, and then, of course, you kept going on.

And I recall I saw at one point you and I talking and you saying that, really, jazz wasn't in your life when you began the show.

No, it was. I was a big jazz fan, but it wasn't radio, wasn't in my life at all. That's what was really not in my life.

And I had seen an article that there was a young woman who did a show called Strings and Things, which Lynn Pareno, after she took off after this woman. The article said that LCC was accepting volunteers. And really, the genesis of doing that show was one day I was listening to wkr.

It was right after Ella Fitzgerald had died. I was out in my backyard playing Scrabble with my wife and drinking coffee. And we listened to three hours of Ella Fitzgerald.

And I thought, God, this is great. I wish there was a show that did this kind of thing every week. And so I just. I started to, you know, I just started to pester the people at lcc.

I called Dave Downey. Well, I called Dave Downing. He says, I'm glad that you have some interest, but we really can't do that.

And I said, yeah, but if it did, how would it work? So he said, well, you'd probably have to talk to Lyn. I said, okay, what's her number?

And then I just kept doing that, and I volunteered here for a little while. I reviewed records for him. They hardly knew anything about jazz. They were rock and country background. Oh, wow. Yeah.

So way back then.

Way back then. And I just pitched the idea, would you like. Because it was smooth jazz at that time. And I said, would you like a show of classic jazz?

Straight ahead, Jazz, bebop, explaining to them the difference. And they agreed. And they stuck me in that corner on Sunday night. And I found an audience, or the audience found me, and it became really popular.

Awesome.

Yeah.

I'm glad it's still a part of your life. Do you find jazz to be a therapeutic outlet for you?

All music is all music. And I'm. It's. It's not that I'm. I wasn't into jazz. It was. I was into everything. I love blues. I love rock. I love classical. I love, you know, just.

I love every kind of music. And I also hate every kind of. Some parts of every kind of music. But there's just, you know, I agree with Duke Ellington.

There's good music and bad music, and that's true with any genre. So.

Definitely, definitely. And I agree with you. I'm like, I'm all over the place when it comes to music.

So I acknowledge that this is going to be a very broad and general question, but given your background, and I'm pretty sure you're a music fan as well. Am I right? He's like, yeah, I think so.

Yeah.

That is robust as.

So, again, very broad, very general question, but I wanted to see where it goes. What are your thoughts on music when it comes to mental health?

Well, there's definitely a place for it. There is a whole field of music therapy that is operationalized in a very structured way.

But definitely, music is a major coping mechanism for a lot of people.

So if they are struggling with whatever, whether it be depression, anxiety, an acute phase of their illness, then music oftentimes plays a part in the journey out of that. I would say, like, I'm thinking, you know, even people who are psychotic, so they're hallucinating.

A lot of times, auditory hallucinations will use some type of music to help to kind of drown that out or manage the. Manage the auditory hallucinations and then, you know, certainly soothing music for, you know, all sorts of different reasons. So it's a major.

I think it's a huge component of the human experience. You know, music has been around for forever. Well, I don't know about forever.

I would have to rock,

like, some type of drumming.

I mean, our natural inclination is to just, like, beat a rhythm sometimes, you know, and even if there's nothing going. You know what I mean?

Yeah. I think one of the things that Mike and I share is just that, you know, psych is a part of the human experience. I mean, it's a huge part of.

Of the human experience. And it interfaces with everything, with all sorts of things.

And I think anything as moving and as primitively responsive as music is going to have an impact on psychology.

Yeah. I think I would broaden the answer even more into the arts in general.

So not just music, but literature, movies, painting, a picture, paintings, anything like that. I was interviewing Randy Napoleon, who's a local jazz player.

He's actually an internationally known jazz player, and we were talking about Billie Holiday and John Coltrane. And I said, you know, there's certain artists, when you hear them, there's just some basic human thing that they just pull right out of you.

And his answer was so great. He said, yeah, when you hear that and you're happy and sad at the same time. And I thought, wow, because it touches something inside of you.

And I think when therapy is really going well, you get to that same place with people when they know, like, oh, you've really touched my soul. Now you've really got me. You know, you really.

We have really connected, you know, And I think that is what therapy has in common with the arts and that the arts have in common with therapy. I agree.

And the word you said just there, connection. That's really what it's all about.

Well, behind.

Behind the connection.

Well, the other thing that struck me, too, is while I was thinking of the amount of musicians with some form of mental illness and going back years, was one of the major classical persons. Bach. Right. Was famously bipolar. And that sort of. He was busy. Yeah, yeah.

That sort of connection to something and the access to something that comes with a very unique mind.

But I'm against the idea of pathologizing Bach. He's too beautiful to

a psycho.

Delicious Conversation is the name of the podcast. It's going to be premiering on LCC Connect and on all major streaming platforms 23rd July. You guys didn't even know that yet, did you?

No.

This is news.

Yeah.

I didn't even tell you guys that yet. Of course I've sat in.

Like I said, I've sat in on a number of recordings for the show, and I've noticed you've been very proactive about opening up a conversation with your listeners. So if somebody has a question about mental health that they'd like you to address, how would they go about doing that?

Oh, wow. We gotta remember.

All right, full disclosure. We had to listen to the outro of the show in order to figure out the Gmail. We didn't have it. Andy, what is it?

It is psychodeliciousmail.com so P S y C H O D E L I C I O U S Gmail dot com.

There you go. You got questions for Mike and Morgan. That is where you need to go. Thanks so much for coming in and talk with me on behind the connection.

I am really looking forward to having you guys on board and being a part of what we're doing, and it's awesome that you guys are just doing what you're doing.

And thank you, Dadalion, for giving us a platform.

Absolutely.

Appreciate it. We finish up on the very last thing. We finish up on behind the connection with a rando question of the day. I don't even know what this is.

So here we go. In your group of friends, what role do you play? Morgan, let's start with you. With that reaction. You spoke first.

The cut up. I guess I would say I'm quick with humor and. Yeah, don't spare anybody with the quick wit and the sarcasm.

Kind of a Rodney Dangerfield thing.

Well, no, not that crass. Not that crass. I like to think I have an elevated.

Little more eloquent.

Elevated, Hated humor. But then I like to think.

You like to think it. You like to think it.

Anyway, I. I think I'm. I tend to be a little quieter and I just have so much wisdom and so much. Yeah, I'm the main. Is it because of the age, the wizard, you know?

So I think that's it. Yeah. If you don't know the email, psycho. Delicious kind of conversation.

But we can't. It can't be that. It can't be that long.

You just created it like right in the beginning of us doing this.

What did we do?

What did we do? I don't remember.

You know what? You know what?

We're gonna have to. We'll come back.

This is LCC Connect. Voices, Vibes, Vision.