Episodes

  • Episode 20: Love Hurts

    Episode 20: Love Hurts
    Dec 18 2022

    Episode 20 Love Hurts Show Notes This is our “lost episode” from Season 1 – it was so emotionally difficult for us to record that we couldn’t bring ourselves to edit it until we began to talk about recording Season 2 more than two years later! Props to Monica for gearing up to lean back...

    The post Episode 20: Love Hurts appeared first on Practice Imperfect.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Mini Episode 2: Quarantine Poem

    Mini Episode 2: Quarantine Poem
    Mar 29 2020

    Mini Episode 2 Quarantine Poem Show Notes We wrote and recorded this mini episode to provide a little encouragement during the harrowing uncertainty of the covid-19 outbreak. Recorded on phones in people’s homes by our generous guests from Season 1: Audrey Mayer, LCSW Barbara Pfingst, MA Spiritual Guidance Bonna Horovitz, LCSW Elora Kalish, LCSW Michelle...

    The post Mini Episode 2: Quarantine Poem appeared first on Practice Imperfect.
    Show More Show Less
    4 mins
  • Episode 19: A Letter to Ramy

    Episode 19: A Letter to Ramy
    Mar 1 2020

    Episode 19 A Letter to Ramy Show Notes In this final episode of Season 1, we go out as we came in. Ian shares one of his life regrets in a moving and vulnerable podcast letter to a friend and reflects on fear, hope, love, friendship and failure. But also in the hope of bringing...

    The post Episode 19: A Letter to Ramy appeared first on Practice Imperfect.
    Show More Show Less
    17 mins
  • Episode 18: Role Play – Faith in the Process

    Episode 18: Role Play – Faith in the Process
    Feb 16 2020

    Episode 18 Faith in the Process Guest: Barbara Pfingst At an early age, Barbara realized there was a greater sense to the universe than what is physically before us. In her journey to name this sense, she sought various forums that provided a safe and open approach to spirituality. In her travels she encountered an...

    The post Episode 18: Role Play – Faith in the Process appeared first on Practice Imperfect.
    Show More Show Less
    48 mins
  • Episode 17: Love in Psychotherapy Part 2

    Episode 17: Love in Psychotherapy Part 2
    Feb 2 2020
    Our discussion about love in psychotherapy continues: How do we convey our affection for the client sitting across from us, without crossing the line of impropriety? Psychotherapy will most naturally invite a reenactment of patterns in a person’s life, between client and therapist. When we can with intention do something in the clinical relationship to break that reenactment, to invite a chance for repair and healing in, is it ok to tell our client that we really like, even love them?
    If you’re looking for a light and fluffy topic right now, this is not the episode for you. Head to the kitchen and make an omelet instead.
    In Part 2 of the Love Episode, we dive deeper into what it means when we genuinely care about our client, when the affection we feel is mutual. The potential for powerful healing is there, side-by-side with the fear that we risk mucking things up in this clinical setting. When a person isolating in extreme emotional pain sits across from us, beckoning for an external answer to finding happiness again, it is our capacity as a loving being who can show up to simply walk with them in their pain, as an act of love, reaffirming the power of human connection. What can bring comfort in the moment is not the path out, but the companionship that a therapist can provide when there seems to be nowhere else to go.
    Team PI discusses our own vulnerability in the therapist setting, what happens after we affectionately open up to a client that they matter to us, and muse on whether insurance companies could measure love as an evidenced-based tool – and what our progress notes would be like if they did.
    And by the way, we want you to know that we love you…our listeners.
    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
  • Episode 16: Love in Psychotherapy Part 1

    Episode 16: Love in Psychotherapy Part 1
    Jan 19 2020
    Have you ever told a client how much you like them? How you think you could be friends outside of a session, and maybe meet one day for a cup of coffee? Maybe even how you actually have feelings for them? Okay – stop the soft (or creepy) background music. We’re not talking about romantic feelings. But why and how we choose to show a client that we genuinely care for them, when doing so doesn’t disrupt their process and instead deepens it, is at the heart of this episode, Love in Psychotherapy.
    As professionals, we’re trained to maintain healthy boundaries, to hold back from displays of open affection toward clients, because to do otherwise could cause harm to them. We consider every client as an individual with unique challenges, yet the more common human thread for all surrounds the interpersonal issues we face. When taking a calculated risk in session to push that boundary, to offer a hug, to share words of affection, the clinical relationship can become a healing, even powerful experience for both therapist and client. It may be one of the few places for those we serve where it feels safe to just receive, devoid of some sticky obligation that doesn’t feel genuine.
    Our Practice Imperfect hosts discuss the riveting climax in the classic film Ordinary People, and how effective psychiatrist Dr. Berger softened the boundaries with his client Conrad in crisis to achieve an incredible breakthrough. Yes, this is Hollywood; also yes, components of their deeper relationship seem very real to our work. Team PI asks why it can feel weird after we ourselves become vulnerable with a client, and whether our own attachment styles come into play. Take a listen and also learn why Ian, Monica and Bill will not be going to the Oscars this year.
    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
  • Episode 15: Danielle and Brian Part 2

    Episode 15: Danielle and Brian Part 2
    Jan 5 2020
    In Part 2 of our interview, guests Danielle Capra LMSW and Brian Figueroa LPC dive deeper to find peace with the notion that psychotherapy can both improve the client’s experience in the world and be self-serving to the clinician. Brian talks about how he sees our work as an art form, where the work becomes something greater than just him, yet feels personally empowering – that he can help to make a change in someone else’s world. Danielle acknowledges her own suffering and the chance for healing that comes up in session for us as therapists, along with the opportunity to help a client channel their pain into something else, which may teach them to do the same for someone they love.
    What are the moments we fear most that could happen when sitting across from a client? Our two psychotherapists share their worst nightmares: when the parent of an adolescent client interrupts to say that you don’t know what you’re doing (aka “you suck!”) and storms out, or when someone becomes physically intimidating. We usually choose to carry on with our work, with the courage to be vulnerable, while cautious in our decision whether to self-disclose or yield to a client’s expressed need for a hug. Our clients teach us much, our guests acknowledge. At the end of our professional day or night, it’s up to us to take care of ourselves, to get what we need to go back in and do this work again.
    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
  • Episode 14: Danielle and Brian Part 1

    Episode 14: Danielle and Brian Part 1
    Dec 22 2019
    When have you found yourself thinking, “Who am I to be sitting with this person who has experienced life as I haven’t”? How do we navigate that fine line where we acknowledge our cultural differences, our positionality, all while making efforts to join our client, intending to meet them where they are? In this recent interview, co-host Monica sits down with two psychotherapists, Danielle Capra, LMSW, and Brian Figueroa, LPC, as they take on some awkward moments such as how it feels to explore with a client’s parent how to be a more supportive parent - when it’s apparent you’re not a parent yourself.
    In Part 1, our guests discuss how to handle that feeling of inadequacy when being sized up based on our differences, such as being half the age of our client’s parents, or whether we can relate to a military veteran when we’ve never had their experience. We explore how our decision to self-disclose must add value to the client’s work. To what degree does the specific population (e.g. teens or adults) and setting (e.g. outpatient or residential treatment) impact the appropriateness and level of our disclosure as therapists? In the end, our professional training allows our skills to do the talking and our humanness invites our own vulnerability and soft belly into the room, where we can find the words to say, “I’m just here to help”.
    Show More Show Less
    28 mins