Therapist Expanded – Details, episodes & analysis

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Welcome back to Therapist Expanded! Today I’m interviewing Psychotherapist Renelle Bourdage.

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In this episode we discuss:

• The history of how we got here as a field
• Endless working that leads to insurmountable suffering
• ‘Its not you it’s me’ type thinking in these systems, and a movement to the ‘It’s you not me’ phase that predicts readiness for change
• Students following the direction of liability phobic governing bodies and agencies
• Conditioning and wounding that stems from oppression, and the story we tell ourselves
• Having less expectations and more agreements
• Acting responsibly vs being responsible
• The system changing by going after what we want and by innovating from Selfhood
• Different cultures doing things rooted in love and healing, and not fear

Renelle Bourdage, Psychotherapist and researcher in clinical neuropsychology shares with us her story of how she took huge steps to live outside of her conditioning. First by realizing she was stuck in an unsustainable agency model, and then noticing others were not recognizing this problem. 

She believed she was powerless in making systemic change, and ultimately reached profound burn out. From this place she saw she needed to make significant changes and she gave herself permission to take the leap.

When she couldn’t  keep up with all the demands, whether realistic or perceived, Renelle realized she was stuck in the rhythm of the treadmill with no end, never moving forward.

She felt the speed and structure of the way the agency model was set up to get clients off the waitlist, and she felt like she needed to be a miracle worker within a certain amount of sessions. Then getting them 'out the door' while working with their complex mental health diagnoses and managing a large caseload. 

She shares that it led to a high burnout rate with no end, like being on that treadmill while never moving forward.  

She realized it's also no one's fault, no one’s wrong. It's an unsustainable system and agency model that ultimately leads to compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and leaving therapists feeling depleted.

Thanks for listening!

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for...

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Welcome back to Therapist Expanded! Today we're doing an encore of the amazing interview with Andrea Shuman of Mycrodrops.

Here are ways to learn more: Mycrodrops.com to take Andrea's quiz to determine how this could help you, Facebook, Instagram, and moving video App announcement.

Use code EXPANDED at checkout for $10 off your first order of $30 or more!

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!

• Andrea tells us about how she started her healing career in Massage Therapy before studying Ayurvedic Medicine, and then became an entrepreneur in the foodspace making Ghee, before starting Mycrodrops
• She shares that women in midlife transitions have always been drawn to her, and how now in midlife herself she sees how dynamic of a time it is now
• Andrea describes how her own experience was very difficult even with her specialization in women’s health and her subspecialty in post-partum, and how difficult this was and that she’d set herself up well for the post-partum period but struggled a lot with weening depression
• We went more in depth into weening depression which isn’t well understood, and the general challenges of nursing women
• She shares how she needed support and needed a reminder that she had all of the tools, and could formulate her own solutions, so once clear, that’s what she did 
• We discussed women’s hormones, in depth testing, and mental health and how that leads to over-prescription of antidepressants
• Andrea shares how her mother was on antidepressants for over 30 years and just came off of them (she also states that over 50 million Americans are on antidepressants!)
• The research that Andrea has done shows startling psychotropic over-prescription rates and the incredible bidirectional gender biases of prescription
• Andrea has heard a common refrain from women that they were commonly put on antidepressants after a sexual assault, with no plan for trauma treatment or an end game to get off of these medications
• I share my view that even after 30 years of antidepressants,...

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On this episode of Therapist Expanded, Erin is joined by guest Andy Wareham. Andy is a humanistic counselor who offers a calm, confidential, and reflective space for people to explore any difficulties they may be experiencing.

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

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Andy believes in creating awareness of current discomforts to help make necessary changes that bring wellness into people's lives. Throughout the episode, Erin and Andy discuss a range of topics, including Andy's bipolar disorder, the challenges associated with becoming a therapist, and Andy's theory for a better world!

Here’s a breakdown of Erin’s episode with Andy:

2:11 – Andy tells us about himself and his bi-polar disorder, his work and his passions in the field

6:35 – Bi-polar disorder can be great for working, but it’s not healthy for the individual

8:23 – Andy talks about the wounded healer and how he falls into the category and how he didn’t know who he was

9:17 – Erin speaks about her experience growing up in a community where mental health services were shut down, to which Andy compares to the Thatcher reign in the UK

13:41 – Andy talks about how you can feel like you’ve wasted time if you’ve lived unconsciously for a long time, but he’d never changes his life because he has built something great

15:50 – Erin speaks on her spirituality and how she lost it after some traumas, but she wouldn’t be able to do what she does know if she hadn’t

18:26 – Erin explains how explaining how telling clients about how she was a drug addicted single mom takes a weight off her clients, followed by Andy concurring and sharing his experience of disclosing his own problems

22:40 – Andy talks about the courage it takes for a therapist to tap into their intuition and leave the programming they have

25:24 – The mind is just a filter of the brain, it’s the weakest and the slowest part and it’s a transformational process to stop listening to it

29:00 – Erin asks what Andy would say to someone who is thinking about opening a practice or to someone who might be struggling in the early stages

33:31 – Andy talks about how he sees things from a different point of view as he comes from a point of abundance and not lack

35:58 – Andy and Erin suggest to therapists to stand outside the indoctrination which they received in graduate school, talking about Daniel Quinn’s books and Andy’s vision of a better future

43:18 – Erin gives her insight on what she sees Andy’s theories could help or solve, like poverty for example

45:06 – Andy shares his thoughts on what mental health revolution looks like

For more information about Andy and how he can support you visit the following

links:

Andy’s

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On this episode of Therapist Expanded, Erin is joined by guest Mikki Gaffen Stone. Mikki is a board-certified behavioural analyst who coaches successful people ready to realize their bigger vision by helping them see greater possibilities and map out steps to achieve them.

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!

Here’s a breakdown of Erin’s episode with Mikki:

2:15 – Mikki gives us an insight into her life, her career and her passions

4:30 – Mikki speaks about human design and how our undefined weight centres are an avenue for conditioning

6:57 – Mikki talks about the problems that stem from conditioning

14:06 – Mikki shares some concepts she believes in such as ‘laziness doesn’t exists; behaviour happens for a reason’

24:50 – Mikki speaks about the different forms of therapies and how they’re not one size fits all

31:37 – Mikki and Erin discuss the power and importance of intuition

35:50 – Mikki shares her thoughts on mental health revolution

42:00 – Mikki provides her best advice to therapist who are feeling lost or need grounding and re-centring

44:06 – Mikki encourages you to take note of how often you use limiting words and empowering words so that you can begin to reduce the limits you put upon yourself

For more information about Mikki and how she can support you visit the following

Links:

Mikki’s Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

Mikki’s Free Human Design Chart | Free E-Books & Resource Library | One-Hour of Free Coaching

Thanks for listening!

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the

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On this episode of Therapist Expanded, Erin is joined by guest, Lauren Ashley! Lauren is an aligned business coach who helps people build their dream lives and businesses with ease. Lauren has an emphasis on owning your truth, trusting your intuition, and not letting society’s conditioning sway you.

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!

Erin and Lauren touch on a  number of important topics throughout this episode including human design, how creating from ease brings us to ease, and society’s ideology of ‘success’.

Here’s a breakdown of Erin’s episode with Lauren:

1:22 – Lauren gives us insight into her life, her career and her passions

4:56 – Lauren speaks about why she doesn’t define her identity by her career choice

6:35 – Lauren shares why she wanted to become a therapist and why she didn’t choose that path in the end

11:02 – Lauren talks about helping people create their life/business by working through emotions and taking the path with the least resistance

16:05 – Lauren talks about a time where she held herself back whilst working in a toxic environment

25:48 – Lauren speaks about a recent retreat she held where they participated in a free writing exercise that allowed them to rediscover how to connect with life and re-algin with what’s their hearts

33:38 – Lauren takes us through a story of her past which relays what mental health revolution means to her

39:23 – Erin talks about a shift in attitude she’s noticed towards therapy since the Pandemic

41:55 – Lauren gives us an insight into what she has coming up for the future of her business

For more information about Lauren and how she can support you visit the following links:

Lauren’s Website | Lauren’s Podcast | Lauren’s Magnetizing Money Masterclass

Lauren’s Instagram and Facebook

Thanks for listening!

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment...

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Welcome back to Therapist Expanded! Today Erin is doing a second solo episode on one of her favourite topics - Fee Setting!

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!

Erin starts by recapping the last episode about setting a Thrive Fee, and she highly recommends that if you haven’t listened to that episode, start there and return to this one.  Part of her recap for those of you who’ve heard that episode is to remind the listener about the ways that therapists and helping professionals usually set their fees: 

• Worth: This gets tied into self-worth and doesn’t have anything to do with setting fees but is compelling for the ego
• Value: Professionals put off raising their fees to what they need to be well and abundant because they want more trainings to feel worthy and like their services are valuable
• Comparison: This is where professionals start comparing to what others are charging and this is not relevant to the individual’s situation and they have no idea how the other person is setting their fee.
• Fantasy: This is a step where helping professionals imagine what other people will or won’t pay or can afford.

Erin shares how unfortunately even when people have done the process to discover their Thrive Fee, they often revert back to the mindsets above and have a hard time actually implementing what they need to really stay well and thrive.

She shares a quote about how people will not necessarily get what they dream of, they’ll get what they tolerate. If you want to know what you’re tolerating, look around at the areas of your life you’re not satisfied with. 

Erin believes the Thrive Fee is the answer to ending a lot of this toleration, and she gives some tips for not fudging the numbers and for considering new markets along with not owning what others can pay. She recommends a Google search to show your mind that people are paying what you may be afraid to charge (and especially in other areas of your own region or state that can be marketed to for virtual therapy clients).

She lays out the State, Story, Strategy method to help with actually implementing the new fee. Shifting your state shifts your story which shifts your strategy (you now have access to more options in terms of marketing and setting the Thrive Fee starts to feel more possible, while different ideas arise compared to the state of resistance, fear, and stress).

Erin shares how money story is essential to look at here, and that she shifted her money story by making an investment beyond her consciousness at the time. She spent 70K+ on coaching and it rewired her money story (it was absolutely terrifying). She explains why she actually made this investment and did not expect her money stories to be so affected.

She...

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Welcome back to Therapist Expanded! Today Erin is doing a solo episode on one of her favourite topics - Fee Setting!!

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!

Erin starts by reading what she recently wrote to her email list about the topic of fee setting in order to set the stage for the topic and act as an outline.

She goes further say that this is likely a part 1, and that she’s going to cover how people usually set their fees, a Thrive Fee system she teaches, and then briefly why people don’t usually set their fees according to the system she lays out (i.e. the blocks or pitfalls). She shares how in the next fee setting episode she’ll cover more about the topic of how to actually approach implementing the Thrive Fee (and she alludes to that it’s about State, Story, and Strategy), and one of the ways she overcame her money stories by investing in herself.

Erin lays out how she’s been supporting therapists to set fees since 2017, and how therapists usually look to what she calls Worth, Value, Comparison and Fantasy as ways to set fees - and how these do not really work to create a sustainable and THRIVING life for the therapist or helping professional. She also shares that when she started setting her own fees in 2016 she did all the things she now cautions against.

Erin defines the four ways people usually set their fees: 

• Worth: This gets tied into self-worth and doesn’t have anything to do with setting fees but is compelling for the ego (Erin uses a thought experiment to demonstrate how worth cannot be earned or defined by anything we do or charge)
• Value: Helping professionals put off raising their fees to what they need to be well and abundant because they ‘need’ more trainings or certifications.
• Comparison: This is where helping professionals start comparing to what others are charging and this is not relevant to the individual’s situation, and they have no idea how the other person is setting their fee.
• Fantasy: This is a step where helping professionals imagine what other people will or won’t pay or can afford.

Setting too low a fee starts to become a problem pretty fast, and then it affects our ability to stay well and affects the work.

Erin feels like it’s almost an emergency in her body when she sees therapists setting their fee too low for their needs because of the stories related to them needing to increase their worth/value first (i.e. they are setting based on what feels the most comfortable short term and sacrificing their long-term wellness).

Setting a Thrive Fee:

1. Do the math to figure out what you need financially for your basic needs to survive per month.
2. Write down what you need to Thrive (this is not the numbers - but is how you need your income to be the loving...

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In this solo episode Erin talks about the theme of Power that completes the two-sided coin of power and responsibility she believes we need to be aware of in order to live the internal blueprint path of our fulfillment.

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!

Erin begins the episode explaining how power relates to her mission of mental health revolution, and this two-sided coin of fulfillment and walking the inner path of our desires, relates to how power and responsibility utilized consciously means we can follow the path of our deepest desires. Misused power or over-responsibility means we consistently walk off of our path of fulfillment.

She normalizes us waffling on that path and how we can check in with whether we’re holding full self-responsibility and stepping into our power, or we’re trying to use force, giving away power, or perhaps holding responsibility for others.

Erin describes through her own recent life experiences and stories the difference between power and force. She uses the opportunity here to model sharing openly as powerful. She uses the words “painful exorcism…living in a house of mirrors” about her experience as of late with the journey of Therapist Expanded unfolding.

She describes the nature of her power shoulders and the release of testosterone during what people call power poses, and how teaching assertiveness to clients as therapists is an example of the difficulty we can all have discerning power and force (like discerning assertiveness and aggression).

Erin goes on to talk about how power is truly vulnerable and speaks about Brene Brown and reads this quote from Juliet Trnka; “So asking for what you want starts to look like a really powerful tool to create the life you would love! It’s also super vulnerable! Most of us carry the residue of trauma around the ‘wrongness’ of asking.”

She describes her recent realizations in launching Therapist Expanded and the feelings of this 'trauma residue' and yet choosing to step into her power anyway.

She ends with saying that you uplevel the entire world by stepping into your power.

Thanks for listening!

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just...

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Welcome back to Therapist Expanded! In this solo episode, Erin talks about the theme of Responsibility (or better stated over-responsibility), and the impossible bind in our field between working to help people empower themselves AND being asked to be responsible for them (under threat of disciplinary action, being sued, etc.). 

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!

Erin begins by reading a powerful social media post that provides a framework and a summary for this episode.

She tells a story about a woman on Facebook sharing her screen in a group to show a course that was mandatory for her because her client died by suicide - she either took that course or could not practice.

Erin lays out the ways this over-responsibility is conditioned in childhood in a deeply codependent culture, especially in a society that encourages being liked and nice, over being safe.

Erin normalizes the role the ego plays in this over-responsibility, and the stories we tell ourselves about why we do and don’t do things based on others (and she lays out the truth of where we actually act from - hint: it’s not about others).

She described her clinical supervisor’s mic drop share about how he’s stayed well in this field for 50 years (!!); he acts responsibly and doesn’t take responsibility! This changed Erin’s life and she describes how.

Erin shares stories about how ending the responsibility trap is an evolving journey of trying to not take responsibility for what’s outside of herself. As well as how taking full responsibility for ourselves and our greatness is the truest gift to us and the world.

She ends with a question: If any story about how your greatness or your desires will hurt others is holding you back, can you surrender responsibility for what isn’t yours, and be a loving stand for freedom instead?

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and...

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On this episode of Therapist Expanded, Erin is joined by returning guest, Betti Delorey! Throughout this Part Two episode, Erin and Betti take us through a mini coaching session where they discuss the business that Betti is launching.

*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream! 

On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ  today and receive curated content just for you! 

I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!

Betti Delorey offers intuitive guidance sessions where she connects with spirit guides, passed loved ones, and ancestors, to direct you to what needs your attention. Betti works from a place of her Indigenous cultural values passed down to her by her mother, grandmother and aunties, and empowers people to act as their own innate guides so that they can access healing on their own, in their own time, and in their own way.

This episode is mainly focused on introducing the concept of creating ‘from’. Erin explains how we’re trained to set goals in North America, especially as high achievers, to think about where we’re creating ‘to’ and how to get there, which opens up the mind to think about all the ways that what we’re trying to achieve is impossible. This episode really navigates through the idea that we need to create a state of being or positive feeling and then vision the goal we want ‘from’ that positive feeling in order for us to create a pathway ‘to’ that state of being or feeling!

Here’s a breakdown of Erin’s episode with Betti:

3:53 – Betti shares how she would like some help working through her belief system

7:48 – Betti speaks about her fear of rejection and how she handles criticism because of her belief system

10:03 – Betti talks about her return to work after a traumatic experience and how it affected her in a way where she lost touch with a lot of the things that she knew to be true about her beliefs, and how she works with clients

14:17 – Erin guides Betti through a short experiencing task to help guide her through these feelings that are holding her back and keeping her stuck in fear

17:38 – Betti discusses her journey, and how it was difficult to reach her destination, and how  she realized she’s craving feelings of joy

24:50 – Erin and Betti speak about Betti’s progress with becoming comfortable with the uncertainty of starting her business and the general uncertainty life brings

31:47 – Betti speaks about her realization that when you put down and set aside heavier energies you create more space for those joy and content pieces to enter into your daily life

For more information about Betti and her intuitive guidance sessions, make sure to check out her Facebook group or book a session.

Wildfire Intuitive Wellness Facebook Group

Book a session with Betti

Thanks for listening!

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