Being able to work through mental disorders can be challenging, especially if they are something that you are genetically prone to in your family, or have developed certain characteristics over the years because of learned behaviors and situations. However, there is always hope in even the darkest of places, particularly when it comes to the world of mental health therapy practices! In this very special episode recognizing OCD Awareness Week that took place earlier in October 2023, our guest Shannon Weise discusses her unique story of "falling into" the practice of helping others with their unique disorders and how she has created a culture of helping others from all walks of life, not just for her clients, but for herself personally.

Guest Bio

Shannon is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), a graduate of Temple University and founder/owner of The Anxiety & OCD Treatment Center of Central Pennsylvania. She specializes in the treatment of OCD, Anxiety Disorders, Phobias, and BFRBs. Shannon's work emphasizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Exposure & Response Prevention, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure for adults, adolescents, and children. Shannon also values creativity. She produces a podcast called Finding the Thing and creates pottery. For more information about Shannon's work, visit www.isthisocd.com. She is also the Vice President of OCD Pennsylvania, which is an affiliate of the IOCDF, a professional member of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF), and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/shannonmweise

@isthisocd on Instagram

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz762qcr3nphD5sZges2rkw

Website: https://www.isthisocd.com

• National Suicide Lifeline (988) (https://988lifeline.org/) - This dedicated webpage talks about the various amount of resources that are available when dealing with a mental health crisis of any kind. DO NOT DO IT ALONE! Find resources in your area (even outside of the United States) if you need assistance with a crisis.

Visit Our Website: https://speaking-from-the-heart.captivate.fm/

Visit Our Business Website: https://www.yourspeakingvoice.biz

Support The Mission Of The Business! Donate Here: https://speaking-from-the-heart.captivate.fm/support

Intro/Outro By: Michael Dugan, Podcast Host: Voice4Chefs

Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

determination, all converge into an amazing, heartfelt experience.

This is Speaking From The Heart.

Welcome back to very special episode of Speaking From the Heart.

Episode 48 is going to feature a guest by the name of Shannon Weise in

honor of earlier this month in which OCD Awareness, which is for obsessive

compulsive disorder, has really been prevalent in a lot of different people,

especially even some of the clients that I work with and trying to overcome

some of the difficulties that they have, so we are featuring someone in

the field in order to talk about this.

Shannon is a licensed clinical social worker and also a

graduate of Temple University.

She's the founder and owner of the Anxiety and OCD Treatment Center

of Central Pennsylvania, where she specializes in the treatment of OCD,

anxiety disorders, phobias, and BFRBs.

Shannon's work emphasizes cognitive behavioral therapy exposure and response

prevention, acceptance and commitment therapy, and also prolonged exposure

for adults, adolescents, and children.

Shannon also values creativity in which she has started her own podcast

over the last few years called Finding The Thing, which we talk a little

bit about her resurgence into that podcast and even creating pottery.

She's also the Vice President of OCD Pennsylvania, which is affiliate of the

IOCDF, which we talk about a little bit, and she is the professional member of

the International OCD Foundation, which is the acronym, IOCDF, and the Anxiety

and Depression Association of America.

In this episode, we do dig into quite a number of different things as it

relates to not only the different types of responses that we might have as

it comes to these sort of disorders, but we specifically even talk about

some of the most personal of examples that Shannon has been through, and it

really shows character in terms of not only the things that we might take for

granted as alphabet soup, with all the different types of acronyms that are

around in the medical community, but it puts a story behind something that

we should definitely pay attention to.

With that, let's go to the episode.

All right.

We're here with Shannon Weise.

Shannon, thanks for sharing your heart with us today.

Absolutely.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely, and I want to thank you for recognizing and seeing the

posts that I had on the podcast and I really appreciate you reaching out

because I found your background to be truly interesting, given what I do as a

coach myself but you have a completely different take when it comes to what

you do, which we'll get into today.

Shannon, full disclosure, I've already let the audience know a lot about what

you are and what your business is and all of that, but my first question for

you is, why did you start with being a licensed clinical social worker?

How did you get to thinking, "This is the career path that I wanted to do?"

Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Sure.

Actually my undergrad is in fine art, so I went to school for photography

and really spent some time working in that area, like actually I worked for

the Governor's Office and did some work with them, and then I was just feeling

like I wasn't doing enough or something.

I wanted to do more, and at the time my parents were doing foster care and I felt

like I wanted to be able to help these kids more and so I did some research

and I found that social work degree.

You can get licensed in all 50 states and that was really why I chose that path.

With that path and what you decided to do, was there something

that really appealed to you with helping people or even doing

some of the work that you do now?

Is it something that you thought it would be really helpful for people to be able

to work with and find their niche or figure out what's going on with them?

What's your motivation?

Right.

I have a lot of personal experience with mental health and some mental

health conditions within my family, and so I think a lot of it came

from that and really wanting to know and understand myself and

then help other people to do that.

Yeah, and I know for me, my family has a history on my dad's side

with mental health issues and illnesses, which have definitely plagued me, and my

audience has learned a lot about that.

I've shared with some of those experiences with you at a high level.

Yeah.

When you are going through even depression and anxiety, especially

with some of the things that you have personally had to overcome, which if you

feel comfortable talking about that, that would be fantastic, I think it just gives

some more context to our discussion, and especially for those listening to

this, but, do you find that you have had to kind of change your mindset or

change the way that you were thinking about things, especially when it came to

dealing with those sort of, I would say illnesses, because sometimes it's really

hard to change those perspectives, right?

Especially if we have different things that we go through in our

life, but I don't know for you, has there been something that maybe

clicked a light bulb on for you to change from feeling that way.

Can you talk about that?

Hmm.

I don't know specifically how to answer that question.

I feel like I have just kind of, it's always been about personal growth for

me and striving and thriving for more trying to break a cycle that I've seen

and grown up with, and I currently, so I think I was sharing with you earlier

just about having social anxiety and the reason for doing this is to work on

that, like having exposure for myself, and I really do practice what I preach

to clients in really trying to live my life the way that I'm asking them to.

Yeah, and you have to almost live that content and live

with that and I know what you mean.

I'm doing that even for myself with the business that I have is.

I'm not just saying to people, this is what you have to do.

I actually saying to them, "This is what I'd done.

This is what supports that, but I know that your path is going to be

different, so let's talk about how your path is different", so kind

of living inside of that, and I've felt like I was living inside of you

there for a second with your social anxiety and identifying with that too.

Yes.

But with all those things said, you had started the Anxiety and OCD

Treatment Center of Central Pennsylvania, so walk me through what led you to

actually then wanting to start a business, because I find it really interesting

that, "Well, I struggle with these things.

Let's start a business with it", because-

Yeah.

All of us, all those things, sort of start from there, but I'm

just curious what led you into be starting that business practice?

Yeah.

I never actually saw myself as being this business owner or growing a business.

I actually worked for a practice for nine years.

It was a private practice in the area and it was a wonderful experience

and I honestly, I thought, that I was going to become an owner there.

Some things occurred and I just decided to very randomly go out on

my own, and so this was not planned.

This was literally within months just doing it, really taking a chance,

not having a paycheck for six months.

It was so scary and that's kind of how it happened, so May 1st, 2017 was when I

opened my own practice and originally my practice went by Shannon Weise Counseling,

and I just went from there and I'm so thankful I had a lot of clients follow

me and I do have a really good reputation in the area so I do get a lot of word of

mouth referrals and from there, COVID hit, and I was so overwhelmed by the amount of

people that needed mental health treatment and I think I had a year long waiting

list, and it was just so, so overwhelming, and so I ended up, randomly as well, not

planned, although I had looked for people to hire for my practice at certain points,

I randomly came across a person that I knew who was looking for a position and

I said, "Do you want to come work with me?", and that's kind of how it started,

and that was last March 2022, and just this May, I hired another person and

that's kind of the plan to continue to grow and provide these services here.

I love the fact that you had to adapt, especially everyone had to adapt.

I know for me, I didn't tell you this and my audience knows a little bit about this,

but it was literally three weeks before the COVID pandemic started officially

that I was in a mental institution for 72 hours, so being released, and then

being thrust into the turmoil that was then trying to get everything situated

with COVID, was really wrecking havoc on myself, and thankfully I got in just at

time with another provider so that they would be able to help me kind of navigate

and walk through it, because I'll be honest, it was the toughest thing for me

and I know, I can only imagine, Shannon, how tough it was to deal with having

all those people that are interested and having to help you out, and I did notice

that you have two other people on staff.

Do you want to talk about them a little bit about how they

support you in your practice?

Sure.

I mean, I know that when I hired Emily, so Emily is the first person that I

hired; her name's Emily McCallister, and she's a wonderful therapist.

When I hired her, I still had this really extensive waiting list,

so she kind of took that from me, and that was so relieving.

Through COVID I was just working, I was even working weekends because you know,

we're locked in at home and I'm like, "Well, why not make money or help people",

so anyway, so Emily started then back in March and she just alleviates some of

that stress of so many people wanting me or needing me, and I continued, like I

said before, I just hired another person.

Her name is Kayla; Kayla Hoffman, and she came on because Emily is completely

full as well, and we're just kind of like, "Okay, well, what do we do?

We either do a big waiting list again or we keep growing", and so I'm

hoping that we can continue to grow.

Absolutely, and I think the need for having somebody to talk to no

matter what the situation is, is really important and this is the time of the

episode in which I'm going to remind my audience, if you ever know anybody

that is in a mental health crisis or going through something that they need

help immediately there is a hotline.

There is a phone number that you can call.

It's 988.

I'll put in the episode notes in case you ever want to check out more information

about that, including even some of the things that you can do to help somebody.

You don't have to be necessarily trained to help someone, but you can help somebody

by at least calling 988 and getting them on the phone with somebody that is

qualified to do so, but Shannon, back to you now that I've did my public service

announcement with that, I am really curious that you have been treating

all kinds of different disorders.

I noticed that on your website you deal a lot with OCD, anxiety, maybe

even some additional disorders.

I would say, out of all the things that your practice has, what typically

do you see clients coming in for the most, and why do you think that is the

case, especially in our society today?

Yeah, so we've chosen to specialize in treating OCD, anxiety

disorders, something called body focused repetitive behaviors and other phobias,

and so people seek us out because we specialize in those areas and there are

a lot of people out there with, well, I think most people have anxiety at some

point in their lives, and then we've got people having OCD and really sometimes

I'll see clients who come in and they've been in therapy for 30 years, but have

never had the proper treatment for it.

I'm not sure what else to say there, but I just think that they're coming

to us for that and we're providing specialized service doing exposure

based treatments, so we do exposure and response prevention, and that is

currently the best treatment for OCD and a lot of anxiety disorders and phobias.

We also offer, if I can say Josh, sometimes in-home

treatment to treat this disorder.

We also provide intensive treatment sometimes, like three day weekend

intensives for people, who are really, really struggling, so those

are some of the things that we offer.

We do treat other disorders, I mean, I think it's impossible to

be alive and not have more than one thing going on at times, and

so we do treat other stuff as well.

Being that I mentioned earlier about going through that process-

Mm-hmm.

I will say that I had been diagnosed as manic depressive and

also going through anxiety myself.

I've been on numerous medications, but finally have gotten to the

other side of that because the medication isn't supposed to be

something that is prolonged long-term.

It's just to help you with those spikes as you work through treatment,

which is usually through a therapy session, so I totally understand

where you're coming from with that.

You mentioned exposure and response treatments.

Can you talk about what the differences are for my listeners that might not

have that background and how that works?

Yeah, so there is this big umbrella of treatment modality

called cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, okay, and so there's lots

of other treatments that fall under that, and one of them is

exposure and response prevention.

Some people in the past have called it exposure and ritual prevention,

so what that actually means is that we go towards the fear, whatever that

might be, that's coming from obsessive compulsive disorder, and we practice

exposure and we resist doing compulsions.

A compulsion could be seeking reassurance from someone, asking them,

"Hey, am I okay?", or avoiding things.

Anyway, so we practice resisting those compulsions and eventually this thing, I

usually do this drawing for my clients, but originally exposure and response

prevention was a habituation based model, so what we're looking for is the anxiety.

We're doing exposure enough that anxiety falls off and currently, there's a

lot of other thoughts about that and that we actually have new learning.

It's called inhibitory learning, so sometimes people don't habituate or

don't have the fall off of anxiety.

Yeah, and I know a few people that have those phobias

that they're dealing with.

Those are like big, deep seated fears and-

Mm-hmm.

How would you say, and I know this sounds like a silly

question, but I want to ask it anyway.

What's the difference between that and hypnotism, where essentially you're

masking those sort of things through some sort of treatment where it kind

of removes it from the person's body, but it's still there, but it's just not

being self-aware, because I know that sounds really weird, but I've known some

people in that sort of realm, that have been really good at therapy as well,

but at the same time, I have seen people kind of walking through that, going

through those sort of exercises, and I'm really curious what the differences

are, if you are able to talk about that.

Yeah, I can't speak too much on hypnosis because I don't really know it,

but what I'll say is we're really trying to change the relationship with anxiety

and fear, okay, and how we respond to it.

We're not going to take away thoughts that you have, like

if that's how your brain works.

We're going to actually just kind of have you be able to say, "Oh, there's

one of those thoughts", and not give it attention; not engage with it,

and then with hypnosis, I think the premise or the idea behind it is we

are trying to take something away.

Yeah.

Right, or to soothe and like with exposure based treatment, we're really not

trying to do the normal coping skills.

We're not practicing deep breathing or trying to feel better.

We're actually trying to feel worse before we feel better.

Being that I've been involved with CBT myself as I was working through

a lot of my thoughts as to why I wanted to hurt myself, or why these feelings

were dominant in me, I mean, I later find out that I'm autistic, and that explains

so much as to why I carried that burden and why I was so obsessed about why those

sort of details were impacting me, which kind of opened a whole new worldview.

It helped me to remove and step back from those sort of tendencies as

well, because I did dive into what some of those things are that were

causing that in the first place.

Mm-hmm.

Now this is a question that I've been waiting to

ask because of what you said.

Seeing that you have been through all these things personally yourself, and

then you're seeing clients that are going through this and seeing successes,

have you been personally impacted by that, meaning, have you been able to

take some of the lessons that your clients have learned and been able to

apply it in your own personal lifestyle?

I'm wondering if you have been able to evolve as a result of

opening this business and what has been the impact on you?

Yeah, so I think mental health wise, I absolutely think that treating

clients for OCD has been helpful to me.

I developed OCD when I was young, very young, probably about five years old,

and did not ever have treatment for that, and personally, like what occurred for

me is I started doing exposure work with clients and a lot of the exposures that

I was doing with them became exposures for me and really helped me, so I think

that answers what you were asking.

Yeah, and I'm wondering though, if you could take it a layer deeper.

Has it been impactful on your relationships, maybe with other people?

Has it been helpful for you to continue growing into another area of your

life that maybe you've been hesitant in doing because of those diagnoses?

I'm wondering if you could share some of that too.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know.

I do think it.

Gosh, I mean, other than like really wanting to help people, and I think

one thing I'll say about exposure based treatment was I learned that, I mean,

I've been doing this about 12 years now, so I learned at some point in my career

here, I went and I had this exposure and response prevention training.

I learned it, and I was like, "Wow, this is really what I need."

Prior to that, I didn't know that and then also, just being able to see what I saw

was people get better, and that motivated me to continue to want to do this work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love that.

I love hearing that because, for me, I almost feel like I put myself a little bit

in my client's shoes, which some people that I ever talked to when it comes to

valuation and selling services, they're like, "Well, this is about your value.

You need to get your value out of this too."

I'm like, "I'm not saying that I shouldn't", because I feel like I provide

a unique approach, but I think the value that isn't just from the monetary aspect,

which I think is second to everything, I think the first thing is to value

the relationship of the people that you're helping and how that impacts you.

That I think, is truly the gift that keeps on giving when we do these sort of things,

especially the things that we love doing, which I'll tell you, for the longest

time, I was not doing what I really love to do, which actually leads me into this.

What would you say has been one of the most successful clients that you

have, and I'm not asking you to mention names, obviously for confidentiality,

but I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about this client that you

have just seen blossom because of what you've been able to help them achieve.

Can you talk a little bit about one of those people?

Yeah, absolutely, and I think I do want to just say one other

thing about seeing people get better.

Yeah, go ahead.

I just got a phone call actually, and the connection that I have with

people and how important that is to me, but I think it was Friday or Thursday,

I received a phone call from a client who I saw eight years ago, and he left

me a message, and was like, "I just want to thank you again and I just want

you to know this, what's going on for me and your help was just tremendous in

changing my life", and so occasionally, I mean, sometimes this is thankless

work, but at the same time, sometimes we hear things like that and I was just

incredibly touched that this person, after eight years even thought about me ever.

Yeah, but so that was really, really cool.

I want to make a comment to that because I had a guest on that we had

a chance encounter, which I've known this person for many years, and it was

actually specifically related to the podcast where I thought, "Man, this guy.

This guy never wants to be on this show, like he doesn't think of me

highly", and then I was thinking about, "Man, I wish he would be on my

show", and then all of a sudden, a few minutes later, he messages me and says,

"Hey, I see that you started this.

I would love to be on the show", and I'm like, "Oh my gosh.

I can't believe that", so Dan, if you're listening to this, yes,

I'm still talking about you, even though you've been on the show.

Aw.

It's almost like you get that sense of, "Oh my gosh,

people have been following me.

They have seen what I've been able to do.

It's a incredible feeling.

This work does matter.

It really is incredible.

Yeah.

So I know you asked about like a really difficult case that I've seen

and I've seen many, and particularly a person I'm thinking of was not working,

not leaving their home, really struggling with a fear of cancer and kind of how that

could occur through, so this particular person, like even like seeing the word

cancer, maybe that was difficult for them, so that was someone where I did in-home

treatment, out of the office stuff, we went and did tons of exposure surrounding

this, and this person is thriving.

They're working outside of the home, really not truly bothered by this

anymore and that was just really, really incredible to see and he

would also come, I used to run an OCD support group, and he would come and

really was inspiring to others and talking about the things that he did.

Yeah.

It's really incredible to see somebody shift from the mindset that

they had originally starting out-

mm-hmm.

To a completely different mindset, which I've had clients, literally, I

have a couch that is in front of where I sit and do a lot of my work and

where they sit and they talk, and I've just seen them ball and cry when they

realized that those are the keys that they needed to unlock themselves, and

it's a great feeling to then see that happen in their lives and how they start

to change those things for the better.

Mm-hmm.

Shannon, I want to dive into this real quick because I think it's

important because it isn't just about the work that you do at your business, but

I've seen that you are affiliated with some foundations that really helped to

advance the mission of what you do, and I'm wondering, really quick, if you could

talk about why you do some of the things that you do, which the audience has heard

about, which is including being even the Vice President of OCD Pennsylvania.

Mm-hmm.

I'm wondering if you could share, why give even more of yourself?

To me, listening to you, I feel like, there's a lot of

sacrifice that you also give of-

Mm-hmm.

Yourself to other people, especially just through your

practice, and some people are probably introverted enough to say,

"I'm tired, I need to walk away."

Mm-hmm.

And I know that for some people, it's like, "Yes, give me more

people because I thrive on this", but-

Right.

What makes you want to serve even further in those roles?

Yeah, I mean, I think this is just an issue that really, truly

matters to me, you know, and like I said, seeing people get better, like,

I just want to help that continue, and so randomly, I became Vice

President of OCD Pennsylvania, and we do some work just raising awareness.

We're doing like some OCD meetups and we do a walk every year here and those

are all things that just continue to get the word out and hopefully

getting people to treatment sooner.

That's some of that mission.

I know that for even missions like that, I understand October is also a month

where we celebrate this a little bit, so do you mind talking about that for our

audience that might not be aware of that?

Sure, there is a week in October, this year it's the eighth through the

14th, and it is called OCD Awareness Week, and so lots of people in this

community really do work to bring more awareness, and one thing my practice does

is we offer additional groups that week.

We come up with something targeted to certain people and that's one

thing that we do as a practice.

I know that that week has already passed since this episode will air, and

I already told Shannon we're going to bring some more awareness for next year

when I have her back about this, because I wish that I would've known about that

sooner so that we would've been able to showcase that a bit more but I really

appreciate that you spend that advocacy and also that additional time outside of

your practice to do those sort of things.

Shannon, we're towards the end of our time, but I want to give

you the last few minutes here to showcase your business that you have.

Showcase the work that you do.

How can people reach out to you?

What are some of the things that potential clients that they can think

about, and anything else that you want to share as it relates to anything

that we had talked about today.

I want to give you the last few minutes.

Sure.

Okay.

Something else that we do and offer is we have a YouTube channel and it

is under the name of the practice and so on that YouTube channel, I will

sometimes create videos providing some more education on OCD and anxiety

disorders; so that's something.

We do have an Instagram, which I try to be pretty active on and share things.

We offer groups from time to time, and you kind of just have

to be on the lookout for them.

Can you give the audience the website specifically

that they could visit-

Sure.

To learn more about you?

Absolutely.

It's isthisocd.com, and the same, our Instagram is, isthisOCD; so

those are ways to kind of check in with us or to reach out.

That's how they can reach out, and it's usually me calling to get

people signed up for treatment.

I noticed it isn't just in person, which I know you have your

offices in Camp Hill, but there there's also virtual appointments as well?

Yes.

And all that?

Yeah.

How would that work?

So we use telehealth via the software called Simple Practice,

and so we can do video sessions for anyone that is in Pennsylvania,

because we're licensed in Pennsylvania.

I personally am licensed in Maryland and South Carolina as well, so I can

see clients in those areas virtually.

And I noticed that you have event calendar and books too that-

Yes.

People can go check out on the website.

Do you want to talk about that real quick?

Yeah, so I mean books that I feel are valuable to people with OCD or

their families, there's like a listing there, and those are some of the best

ones that I think folks should read and we do have our events calendar on there,

which is where things like the groups during OCD Awareness Week are posted,

or any other groups that we might have.

Yeah, and I will let you know that we had a conversation before this show

about the podcast too that she has, which hasn't been posted for a little bit but we

were talking about how we could possibly collaborate, maybe, and figure out,

maybe, some ways in which we can restart that because I think it's a valuable

resource and Shannon, I would love to help you with that at some point too.

Maybe we can have a discussion about that as well.

Yeah.

Yeah, so that podcast is called Finding The Thing, and it started out as me

really wanting to connect again, but I think the avenue that it is going

towards is more mental health focus.

The mission of that podcast was being able to love yourself,

finding love and happiness within.

If you want to go check that out, it is also on her

website under the resources.

You can click on that and it will take you to Spotify where it's located at, but

Shannon, I want to say this to wrap up.

First off, I think I find it incredible that you are doing these things despite

the challenges that are happening in our community as a whole when it comes to

mental health, which has just only grown and exploded in importance and more focus.

It's used to be such a stigma, but now it's becoming more accepted of what is

needed and I feel so fortunate to be able to do something like this and talk

to people like you, which is always a valuable opportunity for me to learn

a lot more about the motivations and individuals that make up the mental

health community that really support those, like me, that is still going

through therapy, even after three and a half years, and I'm really thankful for

all the sacrifices that therapists do.

I think that it's understated and they are undervalued sometimes when

it comes to what they actually do, but I will say to you this, that

you definitely are making an impact.

You're in Camp Hill, which for my listeners that are far away, that's

in Pennsylvania, close to me, but nevertheless, it is an opportunity for

all of us to learn and recognize that we, no matter where we're at, can always seek

help no matter what the issue is, and I think it's so important to value that if

you are going through something like that.

It isn't just about when it's a crisis.

It could be just as simple as I'm going through this and I need that extra

set of ears to help me process that.

So I-

I like to say, can I just interject really quick, Josh?

Yeah.

I like to say, I think therapy should be like a car mechanic.

You have a car mechanic that you take your car to.

We all need that kind of maintenance and I wish that therapy was more common

and accepted and I do think it's getting more, more so, and I love that you're

sharing your story, your experience, Josh.

I think that's awesome and sometimes that's why I share also about

having mental health conditions.

It is so important so that-

Mm-hmm.

We can continue to work together towards feeling like we are not alone in

this, and I think I appreciate you and your staff doing that, but Shannon, thanks

for being on Speaking From the Heart.

It was really a privilege to talk to you, and I look forward to

having you again in the future.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

I want to thank Shannon again for being part of this episode and recognizing

OCD Awareness Week, which happened earlier this month, and even being willing to

open up about her story of really the difficulties it can be to have all

these different types of disorders and different types of things that we do to

extend our energy levels to really help people overcome and become some of the

best people to work with and to associate with because of those different types of

attitudes and different types of things that they bring to the table, and I

really loved in this episode, more than anything, about the point of having to

create some of these opportunities for ourselves to become the best versions

of ourselves, which for many of you that have been following along all this time,

we know that we've been talking quite a lot about the importance of seeing

that, identifying that, and even working through how to do just those activities

alone, but being able to just go to the root of really what makes us unique can

actually be an inspirational moment in itself, and we heard a little bit about

that, and even Shannon's story when it came to just the creative juices that are

rolling and creating some of those best opportunities for her so that she can meet

with people face to face, no matter what it is, and be able to help them get that

opportunity for themselves out of wherever that is, and being able to see people

push themselves forward and being able to create that meaningful impact means

really digging underneath the surface.

Now I will be the first one to tell you that I am not one of these

other coaches that we've featured.

Might be having a licensed background where they are therapists, doctors,

nurses; whatever the case is, we have seen an throughout all these different types

of things that we've interviewed so far the magnitude of how that can create some

of the best opportunities to work with them and I will never downplay the medical

industry for what it can potentially provide, especially since I've been able

to benefit greatly and would've never been able to open up Your Speaking Voice,

the business as a result, of all the different things that I've been through,

but we have to go back quite a ways to even figure out in the first place: where

did this actually start, and you heard a little bit about this from really the

genetics, the things that sometimes we have those nervous ticks or those things

that we go through in our life that create some of those downplaying moments that we

play in our life over and over and over again, but there has to be a time in which

we say to ourselves, "When am I going to press the button to ask for help?",

and that can be really tough in itself.

When we ask for help, it almost feels like we are suffocating ourselves, for

some of us, especially if we're autistic, which I am, to really put out a cry for

help, but even if you're autistic or not, or you have OCD or not, we have to

figure out where are some of those things that we can do to help us to understand

where that is coming from and we dug a lot into the fact that there's two

different types of treatments that could be done: the exposure side of it, and

then the response side of it, but really, it's about practicing and breaking those

habits and changing that relationship.

Now, you might be asking yourself, "That's quite a heavy load, Joshua.

How am I ever going to be able to do something like that,

especially in a coaching setting?

Part of the process in which I even do involves working with

clients to see what are they?

What is it that they really want to have that comes out of this relationship

that we're going to work through?

That means getting to know and understand how they work, how they tick, how they

make those decisions in their lives.

How are they getting to point A to point B on a daily basis?

Maybe even from point A to where they are now might, which might be points D, E, and

F, because knowing that history makes such a big impact in the ways in which we're

able to work together in finding ways of overcoming, and that's really important

in any sort of relationship, right?

It's not just about the things that we do.

It's about the things that we learn from each other, but that's the point.

We have to change the way in which we interact with those sort of feelings,

those thoughts, those aspects of re-triggering that creates some of

those opportunities over and over and over again, which is why you heard so

much in this episode about not just what she wanted to do to start with

this, to really help other people, but listen to the fact that she was

going through these things herself.

She wanted to be part of this change that other people were seeking, and as a

result of that, her story of relating to a client that has just been so successful

because of the things that they've been doing together is what is changing her

as a result, and I can relate so much after being open for almost a year now

and seeing so many different people come through my door, whether they are just

initially checking me out, all the way to clients that have been truly making

progress every step of the way, but that is the point that I'm trying to make, is

that sometimes we have to become something that we never thought possible in order to

then see the true results of our labors.

It is a long road to get there.

It's something that we have to pave in our own lives, and we just need to do more

in order to create those opportunities.

Shannon had to find that for herself, especially even with

working with the fine arts.

Using those talents and finding ways in which we can interweave them into other

aspects of our lives can be the most joyous of occasions, not only for the

people that we're interacting with, but also for the people that we're making as

part of that process, better, stronger, and happier, and that is really something

that we are always working on to create some of those best opportunities.

It's a trial by error.

Sometimes we do it and it isn't successful, but we are going to try

again, because being able to push forward, and being able to see that whether it

works or not, means that we're adapting and we're learning, and we're changing.

I don't have it right all the time.

I know, right?

That means that me as a coach, I might ask you to do something and it might not be

correct, and that isn't because of what you said to me or even what I said to you.

It is really about experimenting and figuring out what is the way in which

it can help us to become better.

It's about not only the things that help us to get the word out

about who we are, but also about the ways in which we can become

better in our own internal dialogue.

For the longest time in my life, I was so upset with even myself.

Matter of fact, before we even started recording, Shannon mentioned to me

about the social anxiety that she faced on a daily basis, even relating to

this podcast that we were recording.

To my astonishment, I was surprised to hear that sort of statement from

her because she has her own podcast.

Why would she be afraid of being part of this, but I feel that

it all comes down to one fact.

It's that sometimes when we have those unconscious biases happening

in our lives, it will wreck havoc.

It will, no matter how many times you say that you are good enough, that you're

telling yourself the direct opposite.

It is something that it doesn't happen overnight in which you snap

your fingers and things are all okay.

It means figuring out where is that message coming from and being able

to understand that that's something that you don't need to obsess about,

so for for all my listeners that are dealing or experiencing OCD in one

form or another, listen carefully.

You do not have to suffer alone.

There are groups that are helping every sort of type of disorder out there,

including even those that have OCD.

It doesn't mean that you have to suffer alone though, and it doesn't mean that

you have to worry about every single meticulous thing, but it does mean that

you have to be open to the promise that you're going to provide some of those

opportunities in your own life to work on the things that need to change.

That is the key.

If you're willing to do that, and if you're willing to say to yourself,

no matter what you might feel about it, that you want to make movement

happen in your life, then you are going to be able to do some of the

best things in your entire life.

It means that you are going to be able to change your perspective one way

or another, and it doesn't mean that you're a failure if you don't succeed,

because just by trying, you already won.

You won the battle in which sometimes we're afraid of doing, and yet here

we are, we're able to do it, and that is credit where credit is due.

Thanks for joining us in which we are honoring those that have been through OCD

and even that occurrence in your life, and I really appreciate my guest and being

able to recognize that achievement as well because you can certainly achieve anything

if you're willing to put your mind to it.

With that, thanks for listening to episode number 48 of Speaking from

the Heart, and I look forward to hearing from your heart, very soon.

Thanks for listening.

For more information about our podcast and future shows, search for Speaking From

The Heart to subscribe and be notified wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Visit us at www.yourspeakingvoice.biz for more information about potential

services that can help you create the best version of yourself.