LOVELINK

Dr. Bill Doherty, family therapist and professor, discusses bringing conservatives and liberals together through Braver Angels. He emphasizes the importance of listening, understanding, and finding common ground. The podcast explores the roots of political polarization, workshops promoting empathy, structured training for respectful dialogue, storytelling to bridge divides, and effective communication strategies.

In this interview, Caroline Welch, CEO and co-founder of the Mindsight Institute in Santa Monica, CA, talks to us about the importance of presence in helping women stay grounded in their lives. Caroline teaches us how mindful awareness can inform the three Ps, Purpose (finding what matters to us), Pivoting (making changes), and Pacing (the speed of life), to help women live with more awareness and authenticity. Caroline also opens up about her own journey toward cultivating presence through her many life transitions and roles. For more information about Caroline’s teachings, check out her new book The Gift of Presence: A Mindfulness Guide for Women

Parenting expert Dan Siegel discusses present parenting, attunement with children, latest research on adolescence, and integrating neuroscience with mindfulness. Topics include creating a supportive home environment, cultivating presence, emotional resonance, trust in parent-child relationships, and dispelling myths about adolescence. He also explores the impact of books and indigenous wisdom on self-perception and social change.

In this interview, psychologist Michael Clemmens provides an overview of Gestalt therapy, a form of psychotherapy focused on helping people develop their present moment awareness. Dr. Clemmens describes how our ability to feel ourselves increases our choices and allows for a more meaningful lived experience. With his clear and engaging way of being, Dr. Clemmens embodies present moment awareness, inspiring us to do the same. We would recommend this podcast to anyone interested in the benefits of increased awareness and the clinical applications of Gestalt.

We welcome back Dr. Ian Kerner, renowned sex therapist and best selling author of “She Comes First.” As one of the most well known voices in the field of sex therapy, Ian integrates both a biological and psychodynamic understanding of sexuality, making his work both deep in understanding as well as incredibly practical. In our interview, Ian discusses his most recent book, “So Tell Me About The Last Time You Had Sex.” As the first question in his sessions to couples in sexual distress, Ian walks us through the ways he helps couples get unstuck in the bedroom. Through examining the sequences of events, Ian talks about how couples can analyze their “sex script” and help expand these scripts to give couples more flexibility and erotic identities with themselves and to one another. He also shares with us some very practical tools and techniques to address sex ruts. Take a listen!

The majority of people will become parents, a role of enormous importance and influence, yet few people have any training (other than their own childhoods) to set them up for success. After the birth of a first child, it’s common to feel overwhelmed and in information overload. Toddlers, with their big and increasingly complex emotions, don’t make life any easier! Thankfully, clinicians like Alice Kaltman are here to help. With her solution focused, no nonsense approach, Alice helps parents become better equipped to handle the emotional and practical challenges they face. In this interview we explore boundaries, parental self-control, managing temper tantrums, cultivating presence, and much more. We highly recommend this podcast to any expecting or new parent.

We welcome back one of our favorite guests, Dr. Alexandra Solomon to give us the sex education we wished we had in high school. Her newest book “Taking Sexy Back” is all about reclaiming sexuality and cultivating sexual self-awareness by being curious about your pleasures and desires. Sex is more than just what your partner finds sexy or what society tells us we should do. It’s about creating space for yourself to discover and empower your sexual identity. We also discuss our optimism and concern around the future directions of sexuality in mainstream culture and how meta processing is key to sexual communication.

Harville Hendrix Ph.D. and Helen LaKelly Hunt Ph.D. are the creators of Imago Relationship Therapy, a popular form of couples therapy centered around helping couples learn to dialogue with each other in ways that build safety and connection. In this interview, Harville and Helen talk about how they developed Imago and share how they were able to use the model to reconnect in their own marriage. They talk about how childhood influences who we chose to partner with, accepting and working with the differences that exist between individuals in a relationship, and how our brains change in secure love. They also explain and role-play the structured dialogue they have developed to help couples navigate difficult moments. After you listen to the interview, be sure to check out their new book, Doing Imago Relationship Therapy – In the Space Between, packed with practical relationship guidance grounded in the science of love.

The decision to go on psychiatric medication is not an easy one.  Worries about being overly dependent, experiencing negative side effects, and the stigma of medication prevent many people from considering an option that could be extremely beneficial. On the flip side, medical communities too often default to a quick fix and neglect other factors in a person's life that may be contributing to their depression and anxiety. Our interview with Dr. Sue Varma, psychiatrist and professor at NYU Langone Medical Center, helps to clarify some of these questions around psychiatric medication and provide a better understanding in order to make more informed decisions.

Mike Moran is a couples and sex therapist and educator specializing in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy. He’s also our clinical supervisor and has helped us navigate many challenging cases, so we have firsthand knowledge of how clinically gifted and wise he is! In this interview, Mike talks to us about the unique experiences gay couples bring to therapy and what straight couples can learn from them. We talk about the impact of growing up in a homophobic culture, embracing sexual fluidity, and helping couples navigate the pain of infidelity. It’s an episode about gay couples, but it’s really a must-listen for straight people!