When a child is upset, overwhelmed, or melting down, it’s easy for parents to feel pulled into the chaos.

In this short Skills Episode, Luke Johanni, LGPC, NCC, focuses on what actually helps in those moments; not controlling behavior, but staying steady when your child can’t.

Building off Episode 12, this episode introduces a simple skill for responding to child distress by regulating yourself first, lowering the intensity, and helping your child deescalate before any teaching or correction happens.

If you’ve ever felt unsure of what to do when emotions run high, this episode offers a clear, grounded way to respond with a calm presence and leadership when it matters most.

Follow @LukeJohanni for more tools and updates.

Fatherhood isn’t just about raising children. It’s about who a man becomes in the process.

In Episode 12 of Mind and Spirit, Catholic-integrative therapist Luke Johanni explores the inner growth of being a father. Drawing from psychology, attachment research, and lived experience, this episode looks at how fatherhood forms a man from the inside out.

You’ll learn why presence matters, how emotional regulation shapes a child’s sense of safety, and why moments of struggle (crying, conflict, and repair) are often where the deepest growth happens.

This episode also reflects on fatherhood through a faith-integrated lens, showing how steady, attuned presence mirrors both secure attachment and the heart of a good Father.

Whether you’re a new dad, a seasoned father, or reflecting on your own experience of being fathered, this episode offers clarity, encouragement, and a grounded vision of fatherhood as being rooted in formation.

If this conversation spoke to you, share it with another father who could benefit. Subscribe to Mind and Spirit for future episodes, and explore more resources at RestoredChristianCounseling.com.

Season 2 of Mind and Spirit is HERE!

Today, Luke Johanni, LGPC, NCC, guides you through a calming, prayerful guided imagery exercise designed to help you slow down, release stress, and meet your God-guided future self.

Through visualization, Scripture, and gentle reflection, you’ll explore the desires God is placing on your heart and the next steps He may be inviting you to take.

A free PDF version of this guided imagery script is available at RestoredChristianCounseling.com under the Resources tab.

Your support helps make this show possible. Be sure to subscribe and follow me on Instagram @LukeJohanni.

Season 2 of Mind and Spirit is STARTS TOMORROW!

Bringing with it Skills Episodes!

Short episodes focused on providing you with immediate tools to help you find clarity, focus, peace, and direction in the moments you need it most.

These episodes will continue to alternate with our full-length Season 1 conversations, giving you additional practical techniques to practice each week.

Your support helps make this show possible. Be sure to subscribe, follow me on Instagram @LukeJohanni, and visit RestoredChristianCounseling.com for more resources.

What if the very thing we turn to for relief is quietly rewiring our mind, reshaping our desires, and pulling us further from the life we want?

In this episode of Mind and Spirit, Catholic-integrativetherapist Luke Johanni, LGPC, unpacks how pornography hijacks the brain, distorts identity, and fractures our capacity for love; and why so many men feel trapped in shame, secrecy, and cycles they can’t seem to break.

Through practical psychology, neuroscience, and a grounded Christian perspective, Luke explains how porn rewires reward pathways, disrupts development, and creates a “pornified worldview” that affects relationships, self-worth, and spiritual life. And more importantly, he reveals how healing actually begins: through honesty, support, and intentional re-training of the mind.

You’ll learn why porn becomes compulsive, how early exposure shapes the brain, and the five concrete steps any man can take to begin breaking free (plus how faith, virtue, and God’s mercy restore what shame tries to destroy.)

It’s time to stop hiding and start healing.

Because when a man reclaims his heart, he reclaims his freedom.

🎧 Listen now and begin the journey toward real restoration.

Sources:

Beyond the Porn Phenomenon (2024) — Barna Group

Covenant Eyes – Porn Statistics Summary

Fight the New Drug – Early Exposure & Teen Porn Use Stats

A Look Into Teens’ Exposure to PornographyHow Early Exposure Impacts the BrainYour Brain on Porn — Gary Wilson

The Coolidge Effect — Academic Background

The Porn Trap — Wendy & Larry Maltz

Teen Smartphone & Internet Usage — Pew Research Center

Teens, Social Media and Technology

Children’s Screen Time & Smartphone Ownership — Common Sense Media

The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens

Porn & Violence Statistics

Theology of the Body — John Paul II

What does it really mean to be a man today? In a world that swings between extremes (calling masculinity either “toxic” or meaningless) many men are left without a clear, healthy, or hopeful vision of who they are called to be.

In this episode, we explore authentic masculinity through the lenses of psychology, Catholic theology, and lived experience. We look at the distortions (machismo, domination, emotional suppression, passivity, the manosphere) and the cultural overcorrections that have left men confused and isolated.

Then we rebuild a grounded, realistic, and spiritually rooted understanding of masculinity basedon five essential traits: courage, responsibility, presence, sacrifice, and self-mastery.

Along the way, we draw from C. S. Lewis, St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope John Paul II, and modern psychological research to show how true masculine strength is not about power or self-invention but about ordering strength toward love.

If you’re a man seeking clarity, healing, or direction (or someone who loves and supports men) this episode will give you a hopeful, grounded vision of what masculinitywas always meant to be.

Sources

APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Boysand Men (2018)

American Perspectives Survey – Friendship Decline(2021)

C. S. Lewis — The Abolition of Man

John Paul II — Mulieris Dignitatem

Gaudium et Spes (Vatican II)

Positive Masculinity Research (Kiselica &Englar-Carlson)

Kupers, T. (2005). Toxic masculinity research

For generations, men have been taught to stay strong, stay silent, and handle it alone. But what happens when silence becomes the very thing that’s breaking us?

In this episode of Mind and Spirit, Catholic-integrativetherapist Luke Johanni, LGPC, explores the hidden epidemic of men’s mental health; the exhaustion, anger, and addictions that grow from unspoken pain.

Through practical psychology, faith, and real conversation, Luke challenges the belief that silence is strength and reveals how healing begins with honesty.

You’ll learn why men bottle emotions, how silence turns into self-destruction, and what Scripture teaches about true brotherhood and strength.

It’s time to stop surviving and start healing. Because when a man finds his voice, he finds his strength.

Listen now and take the first step toward real restoration.

Sources:

• Galatians 6:2

• Proverbs 27:17

• Proverbs 16:18

• Luke 23:26

• SSMHealth. (2023, June). Mental Health: A Men’sIssue Too.

• Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2024). Dataon Excessive Alcohol Use.

• Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2025). AlcoholUse and Sex-Based Differences.

• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse andAlcoholism (NIAAA). (2024). Alcohol-RelatedDisease Impact Data.

• OurWorld in Data. (2025). Suicide Rates Are Higherin Men Than Women.

• PsychologyToday. (2021, Sept 1). The Link BetweenPornography and Loneliness.

When prayer feels empty and heaven seems quiet, it’s easy to wonder if God has left you.

In this episode of Mind and Spirit, Catholic-integrated therapist, Luke Johanni, explores what the saints called the Dark Night of the Soul; a season when God withdraws the feeling of His presence not to punish, but to purify and deepen our love.

You’ll learn how to recognize the difference between spiritualdryness and depression, why God sometimes seems silent, and how therapy and faith together can guide you through the darkness toward renewal.

Luke draws from St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and St. John Paul II, blending Scripture, Catholic theology, and psychological insight to show that God’s silence is never absence. It’s the language of deeper love.

Whether you’re in a season of dryness or searching for meaning in suffering, this episode will help you rediscover hope, trust, and intimacy with God.

Sources:

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church §§164–165, 272–27
2. St. Augustine — Confessions (Book I, ch. 1)
3. St. John Paul II — Novo Millennio Ineunte (2001)
4. St. John Paul II — Salvifici Doloris (1984)
5. St. John of the Cross – Dark Night of the Soul
6. St. Teresa of Ávila — Interior Castle (Book IV)
7. St. Teresa of Calcutta – Come Be My Light
8. St. Thérèse of Lisieux — Story of a Soul
9. APA Dictionary of Psychology – APA.org
10. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ( ACT ) – Contextual Science Association
11. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ( CBT ) – NAMI.org
12. Viktor E. Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning

Scripture Sources:

1. Book of Job 1–2; 19:25
2. Deuteronomy 31:6
3. Isaiah 49:15
4. John 16:33
5. Lamentations 3:7–8; 22–23
6. Mark 9:24
7. Psalm 22
8. Psalm 42:5
9. Romans 8:28