Very Bad Therapy Podcast

12/12/2023

Friend of the show and all-around all-star Ben Caldwell of High Pass Education / Ben Caldwell Labs is HIRING!! This position would be perfect for someone looking for part-time non-clinical work in the field!

Take it away, Ben:

Wanna work with me?!? 😃 We're looking for an amazing and talented person to join the growing High Pass Education team as a Content Specialist. This **half-time, fully remote** position is budgeted with a salary of $40,000/year. Check our site for full details, qualifications, and how to apply!

Ben Caldwell Labs d/b/a High Pass Education seeks motivated, intelligent, inspired, and highly-qualified candidates for the following positions. Equal opportunity employer. Women and members of historically underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged to apply. Current openings: Content Speci...

01/10/2023

Thank you for listening!

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/termination-session

27/07/2023

Life can be hard at times. Do you want to feel more visible and important in your relationships? Are you curious about why every Psychology Today profile looks the same? We get silly with the incredible Therapist Generator and learn all about treating sunroof addition with truckload therapy and registered turtleneck therapy. The therapist profiles are fake, but our desire to meet you where you are on your journey is very real.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/patreon-selects-fun-with-the-psychology-today-profile-generator

09/07/2023

What is religious trauma, and why do some therapists refuse to work with clients who use that language? In today’s episode, Jeremy speaks about his experiences with therapists who felt the need to defend their faith in session, and we are joined by Josh Foster, LCPC (Fostering Hopes Counseling Services) to discuss the complicated intersection between evangelical Christianity and ethical psychotherapy.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/not-all-christians-with-josh-foster-lcpc

03/07/2023

Sentio Counseling Center is available for your low-fee referral needs in California. We are a nonprofit providing 100% telehealth services starting at $30/session. Immediate availability for new clients: sentiocc.org

21/06/2023

Trauma-informed therapy is…what, exactly? And is trauma actually stored in the body, or is that just a clever narrative that a few enterprising gurus have used to sell books and trainings? We dig deep into the research on trauma to answer these questions and more, and Carrie introduces her breakthrough trauma-focused treatment: dog therapy.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/vbt-study-hall-what-does-trauma-informed-mean

06/06/2023

Let’s get controversial! Is it a good idea for a therapist to project their own political views onto a client? For today’s guest Ruth, the answer is a resounding “no.” We hear her story of a therapist who took her political advocacy too far, and Dr. Ben Caldwell rejoins us to explore the ethics of discussing politics in therapy. Plus, how can therapists know if they are trauma-informed enough for their clients?

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/politics-in-the-therapy-room-with-dr-ben-caldwell

22/05/2023

No, EMDR is not a cultish pyramid scheme. With that out of the way, why is EMDR training so expensive when its theoretical foundations are supported by dubious (at best) research? In this clickbaity-titled episode, Angela Nauss, EMDRIA-certified LMFT, joins us to describe the experience of paying thousands of dollars to “watch the dumpster fire from inside the dumpster.” Please direct all angry emails to [email protected].

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/patreon-selects-is-emdr-a-cultish-pyramid-scheme

17/05/2023

[Content advisory: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault. Listener discretion advised.] Crisis management questions will often include multiple answers that are good things to do in the situation described. But there's often a key word in the question that can help you know which of tho...

16/05/2023

How do we know which psychotherapy research is trustworthy? Dr. Alex Williams and Dr. John Sakaluk help us search for evidence in all the logical places: the replication crisis, RCTs, qualitative studies, dolphin therapy, Canadian football, researchers fighting Connor McGregor, and of course, EMDR. This episode is brought to you by MR. BEAR (Meta-analysis, Registered, Big sample size, Experiment, Active control group, Replicated).

*******Now with transcript!!!**********

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/vbt-study-hall-evaluating-research

02/05/2023

Are you studying for a licensing exam? Check out this podcast that I (Carrie) did with friend-of-the-show Ben Caldwell!!

Carrie Wiita and Ben Caldwell talk through a sample question to start our discussion of test-taking skills, and Carrie comes one step closer to an important life goal. This question comes from an older version of the BBS California LMFT Law & Ethics Exam handbook. It would equally apply to the LPCC....

17/04/2023

What exactly is treatment planning and why do some therapists dread having to do it on a regular basis? This episode is Carrie’s love letter to treatment plans – why they are used, how they can improve therapy outcomes, and why Ben is wrong in his stubborn resistance to writing out a detailed plan for every client.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/vbt-study-hall-treatment-planning

03/04/2023

Mental health clinical licensing exams have come under scrutiny due to data which showed major racial disparities in exam results. Here’s what you need to know.

03/04/2023

What’s so important about a diagnosis? For neurodivergent clients, it can mean affirmation, community support, and access to much-needed services…if the diagnosis is correct. In today’s episode, we talk to Harley about her challenges in seeking diagnoses of autism and ADHD, and Halina Brooke rejoins us to discuss some of the best practices (and controversies) in supporting autistic clients.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/neurodiversity-and-diagnosis-with-halina-brooke-lamft

22/03/2023

Nothing lasts forever, including therapeutic relationships. Therapy can end in lots of different ways, but what constitutes a good goodbye? We dig into the research on termination and the related ethics codes and come away with a surprising conclusion: firing a client is almost always ethically acceptable.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/vbt-study-hall-termination

08/03/2023

From Ben Caldwell Labs: Clinical exams hurt public safety.

A letter to the editor can raise public awareness of an important issue, like ASWB exams harming access to qualified mental health care.

06/03/2023

“No bad parts” is a common mantra in therapy – the various parts of ourselves are always working to serve some beneficial purpose. But what happens when a therapist communicates to a client that significant parts of who they are aren’t welcome in the therapy room? Today’s guest Adam describes having to compartmentalize aspects of his identity with his therapist, and Dr. Sheila Addison joins us to discuss how to provide affirming services to all parts of a client.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/some-bad-parts-with-dr-sheila-addison

26/02/2023

Hi friends! We are looking for three people to interview for upcoming episodes:

1) An expert on group therapy.
2) An expert on the overlap between neurodivergence and diagnoses.
3) Someone in the first or second year of their graduate program. This is for an upcoming series on our Patreon page where we interview a therapist annually about their thoughts on the field as their career progresses.

Do you fit the bill for any of these requests? Do you know anyone who does? Let us know!

09/02/2023

Is good therapy as simple as whatever activity makes a client feel better? What if that activity is a singular focus on sports betting strategy? In today’s episode, we talk with Christine to learn from her experience of “gambling therapy” and answer the question of whether or not it’s a good thing to be friends with your therapist (spoiler: no, no it is not).

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/gambling-therapy

09/02/2023

Carrie hasn’t worked as a therapist in over a year. Will she ever get licensed, and how is her decision connected to the apparent reality that many therapists are actively trying to not see clients? We explore the interesting trend of therapists looking for side hustles, and Carrie forces Ben to confront his extreme aversion to participating in the real world (aka sales and marketing).

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/will-carrie-ever-get-licensed

18/01/2023

You’ve already heard that the therapeutic alliance is important to client outcomes, but does anyone actually know why? We dig into the research to figure out if ruptures can be a good thing (yes!), what clients and therapists should know about the therapeutic alliance, and why this topic has been fervently researched over the last half-century.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/vbt-study-hall-the-therapeutic-alliance

16/01/2023

Are you a therapist in California looking for reliable low-fee referral options? Are you a client in California looking for affordable therapy? I (Ben) am the director of Sentio Counseling Center, a nonprofit that provides online therapy throughout California. Fees begin at $30/session and we have immediate availability for new individual and couples clients. Get started at sentiocc.org.

04/01/2023

Do we have any listeners in Santa Fe, or New Mexico in general?? Carrie would love to connect!! I just *fell in love* with Santa Fe on a road trip and am trying to figure out the MFT licensing process there. Would love to hear any perspectives on that or being a therapist in general in the great state of New Mexico!

04/01/2023

Many clients want a spiritual component to their therapy, but what happens when a therapist acts more like a theologian than a mental health professional? Today’s guest Kelsey describes her experience of having spirituality weaponized against her in sessions, and Dr. Jim Jobin joins us to discuss how religion can be ethically and effectively incorporated into the therapeutic environment.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/enlightenment-is-not-a-treatment-goal-with-dr-jim-jobin

22/12/2022

It seems odd that most therapists – us included – aren’t 100% certain about what constitutes an intervention. Are interventions scripted in-session activities? What about the theoretical orientations themselves? There isn’t one single answer, but interventions aren’t that difficult to understand if you zoom out far enough…and get a little bit of help from ChatGPT.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/vbt-study-hall-interventions

22/12/2022

Stereotypes aren’t always a bad thing. That may not be true in therapy, especially when a client is made to feel like they are representing an entire group of people. That’s what we explore with today’s guest Jess, and we’re also joined by Deanna Fierman, LPC, to talk about what therapists should do after their biases about identity lead to clinical errors. Plus, Ben finds a therapist and Carrie gets a mammogram.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/so-youve-stereotyped-your-client-with-deanna-fierman-lpc

21/11/2022

There are over 600 types of psychotherapy. What are they, where did they come from, and what makes them important? We dive deep (too deep, probably) into a $900 textbook in an attempt to make sense of the spectacularly confusing topic of theoretical orientations. This is an integrative episode – we integrate a lot of information with even more information.

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/episodes/vbt-study-hall-theoretical-orientations