It’s Not Therapy!

That's Private! ... Or Is It?
In a society where cameras are everywhere, our personal privacy is under assault on a daily basis. But it isn't just technology that erodes our privacy; there are, and always have been, people who violate trust for status, amusement or advantage. At the same time, there are some secrets which should not be kept private. Liana shares some very personal experiences that illustrate the damage done by loose lips and some cases where keeping a confidence can be harmful to those who entrust you with them.

Everyone wants authenticity… from others.  Expressing your real feelings, real opinions, and real needs can be scary in a world increasingly built on rejection; hiding behind pleasant, fake smiles seems safer. But that protective fakeness can sabotage the connections we crave. Ontario psychotherapist Kirsten Davidson (https://mindthegaps.co/) talks to Liana about how to create a comfort zone of authenticity for stronger, more meaningful relationships. 

When her son Jonathan was very young, Lynn Greenberg was told that his neurodivergence would prevent Jon from achieving scholastic success. Years later, Jon graduated from university with a Master's Degree, and the mother-and-son team now write and successfully publish books for young readers featuring neurodivergent characters. Liana talks to Lynn and Jonathan about how they overcame the hurdles of low-expectations - hint: it wasn't by smiling and nodding at 'experts'.

How to put the 'oral' in sex!A healthy sexual connection with a partner is built on good communication and understanding. But what happens when you don't fully understand what arouses you or how to communicate that effectively? Add the challenges many neuro-divergent people face in making themselves understood and the obstacles to successful intimacy can become ever more daunting. Liana talks with multi-award-winning, Edmonton-based AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist Dr. Cory Hruska about how to connect with our own sexual impulses and how to share that knowledge with our partners. His podcast, Up the Rabbit Hole, can be found here: 

Narcissism - Myths, Facts and When Therapists Get It Wrong. Narcissism is a word that has broken containment; people mistakenly believe it's simply an inflated ego rather than a specific mental health disorder requiring diagnosis by a licensed medical health practitioner. In other words, it's often misunderstood. But what happens when narcissism is also misunderstood by some mental health practitioners? Mental health educator and licensed therapist Ross Rosenberg, founder of Selfloverecovery.com, returns to talk to Liana about how to recognize when you, a friend or loved one is not receiving appropriate mental health assistance.

We all have tasks or projects that we know we need to do, even want to do, but we don't, we don't even get started. Is it fear of failure? Fear of success? Fear of change? A mixture of fears? And how do we get past our hesitations and get going? Good questions, and Liana's returning guest, Steven Puri of thesukha.co, has some answers!

Social media and cell phone bans for children under 16 are a common topic among many world governments, including Canada's. But what if the device isn't the problem, but a symptom masking the problem? Child mental health therapist Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge joins Liana to talk about the less-discussed social, emotional and mental health issues that may fuel a child's phone habits... and those of adults.

Recent studies have shown that the loneliness epidemic has been furthered by a lack of meeting spaces in the real world, notably low-pressure gatherings... and what's more low-pressure than a garage sale?? Liana talks with Danielle Cohen, organizer of the Georgina-Wide Garage Sale Day, about the need to create opportunities for people to interact in a chill space where the weight of constrictive social norms are relaxed.
 

Who are you? The answer to that question often depends on who is asking and where it's being asked. There's the "You" you are at work, the "You" you are to friends and family, the "You" society, your racial, religious or cultural profile says you are, and who you are in quiet moments alone. What is the real you? Or are they all the real you? Machan Taylor has lived this journey as a singer, songwriter, educator and author who performed with, among others, Pink Floyd, Sting, Foreigner and Pat Benatar. Liana talks to Machan about her book Naked Out Loud: From Yokohama to Pink Floyd and Beyond and everyone's quest to self-define their personal identity.

Many of us were told in childhood not to talk to strangers. Good advice at the time. But today, one of the foundations of the loneliness epidemic is people not knowing how to talk to strangers, or very afraid of trying. Liana lived with these experiences and so did her guest, Geoffrey Huck (courageous-communication.com), who shares how he 'flipped his extrovert switch' and turned his fear of speaking to new people into a compass and not a stop sign.