Connie Palmer, LCSW, offers a thoughtful and clinically grounded conversation on codependency, exploring what it is, where it comes from, and how healing is possible. Drawing from both personal and professional experience, she helps us better understand codependent behavior and how it shows up in everyday life.

Together, we unpack the societal shame often associated with codependency and reframe these patterns as adaptive survival responses rooted in trauma. Connie explains how codependency develops over time and how it appears across relationships—with partners, friends, and within broader attachment styles and relational dynamics.

This episode also explores how anxious attachment and avoidant attachment can shape relationship patterns, along with the emotional impact of prioritizing others’ needs over your own. Connie shares practical insight into recognizing these patterns, setting healthy boundaries, and beginning the process of healing from codependency with greater self-awareness and compassion.

Connie Palmer, a licensed clinical social worker, is an experienced teacher, presenter, therapist, and school counselor who has spent more than thirty years working with children, youth, and families. She is the owner of Therapeutic Learning Connections which offers social, emotional learning workshops to mental health professionals, community organizations, schools, and workplaces. She is also a Grief Education Consultant for Imagine, a Center for Coping with Loss in Mountainside, NJ which offers grief support groups and grief education. She can be reached at Connie@TLConnections.org.

Pause, Notice, Respond. We are moving beyond the wellness trend to explore how mindfulness in therapy actually works in clinical practice. In this episode, we explore how mindfulness moves beyond a wellness buzzword and becomes a meaningful clinical tool in therapy sessions. We discuss how therapists introduce mindfulness techniques in practice, how it supports trauma-informed care, and what happens internally for clinicians when sessions become emotionally intense. We will also share practical strategies such as guided meditation, body scans, and other grounding techniques. Whether you’re a clinician or simply curious about the role of mindfulness in mental health, this episode offers an honest look at how present-moment awareness can shift therapeutic work. Mindfulness is everywhere—but what does it actually look like in therapy?

Natalie Nieves is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), counselor educator in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Molloy University, and a doctoral candidate at Montclair State University, where she is expected to graduate this May!

During her doctoral teaching internship, she developed a Mindfulness and Counseling course shaped by her mentorship with Dr. Sheely Moore, her personal meditation and yoga practice, and the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn. Influenced by Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the course integrates contemplative practice with clinical skill development. Natalie and Dr. Sheely-Moore’s manuscript on utilizing mindfulness and embodied pedagogy to address racial microaggressions in the classroom will be published in an upcoming issue of ACES Teaching Practice Briefs. Outside of academia, Natalie operates a private practice serving predominantly women of color. Grounded in multicultural competency, she integrates cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and restorative practices such as mindfulness to strengthen the mind–body connection while honoring clients’ intersecting cultural identities.

In this episode, Dr. Meyers sits down with Kate Lund, a clinical psychologist and resilience expert, to explore a shift in how we understand challenges and support emotional resilience in children, families, and ourselves.

Together, they unpack what it means to see children not as problems to fix, but as emotional human beings to support. Kate explains how reframing behavior through a strengths-based parenting approach can influence the parent-child relationship and support emotional regulation, flexibility, and self-awareness.

The conversation focuses on how resilience develops through everyday experiences, not just in response to adversity. Dr. Meyers and Kate discuss how parents can support emotional growth, confidence, and adaptability in ordinary moments, helping children build internal resources over time.

Dr. Kate Lund, is a psychologist, TEDx speaker, best-selling author, and host of The Optimized Mind podcast. Her book Step Away—The Keys to Resilient Parenting, is available on amazon and focuses on small, practical steps for parents and leaders facing burnout, setbacks, or those "ugly cry in the car" days.

In this episode, Dr. Meyers explores what happens when the clinician becomes the patient. Anthony Gaetani, LMSW, reflects on how his own therapy has shaped the way he shows up in his professional work. This candid conversation examines therapists in therapy, countertransference and burnout in social work, offering an honest look at the emotional weight of clinical responsibility — carrying clients’ stories home, the persistent feeling of “never doing enough,” and the internal pressure many helpers know all too well. Through personal therapy, he developed greater self-awareness, stronger professional boundaries and deeper compassion — for his clients and for himself — while doing work rooted in care, responsibility, and human connection.

Anthony earned his Bachelor of Social Work from Molloy University and his Master of Social Work from Fordham University. He has experience working with diverse populations across inpatient and outpatient settings and currently works as an inpatient psychiatric social worker supporting individuals experiencing acute psychiatric challenges through comprehensive assessment, interdisciplinary collaboration and linkage to community-based resources that promote long-term stability. He approaches social work as both a profession and a calling, grounded in the belief that every individual deserves dignity, respect and the opportunity to thrive beyond hospitalization.

In this powerful episode, Dr. Amy Meyers opens up about her personal experience with emotional and physical sibling abuse and the long-lasting effects on self-esteem, trust, and relationships.

Joined by fellow survivor Lorene Stanwick, Dr. Meyers reflects on family dynamics, her current sibling relationship, and the challenges of speaking publicly about trauma. She shares why telling her story now feels important and how it connects to her work as a psychotherapist.

Listeners will gain insight into healing from childhood trauma, building resilience, and personal growth after abuse. Dr. Meyers’ journey is a compelling example of overcoming adversity and reclaiming confidence, offering hope and guidance for survivors, parents, and mental health professionals.

In this episode, Dr. Meyers shares her thoughtful perspective on psychiatric medication, focusing on its potential utility as a tool rather than a cure. She explores how medication can help stabilize symptoms, support day-to-day functioning, and create the conditions for individuals to more fully engage in therapy. With a balanced and compassionate lens, this conversation invites listeners to move beyond polarized debates and consider how medication and therapy can work together to support healing and growth.

In this episode, Dr. Ray Blanchard explores the critical role of context and systems in practice, grounding the conversation in the person-in-environment perspective. Together, we move beyond pathologizing individuals to examine how relationships, environments, and larger systems shape functioning and behavior. Dr. Blanchard highlights the importance of collaboration, curiosity, and shared meaning-making, emphasizing a systems-oriented lens where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This episode invites practitioners to rethink assessment and intervention through a more relational, contextual, and humane framework.
Dr. Ray Blanchard earned his PhD in Counseling from Montclair State University, specializing in school mental health and LGBTQ issues. With over 10 years of bilingual clinical and supervisory experience, he has worked extensively with children and adolescents in NYC schools. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor and Clinical Coordinator in Molloy University's Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program.

Dr. Hudson Elmore explains how Ketamine is being used in psychotherapy. He unpacks how patients are prepared for its use, what it's really like inside a ketamine therapy session, and the profound ways in which it can unlock trauma,treat depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. Beyond the inapropriate uses of Ketamine, we take a close look at its utility in the treatment process and the trepidation that folks may have.

Dr. Elmore is a Clinical Adult Psychiatrist, who serves as the medical director at Being Health, an integrated mental health practice in New York City. He has expertise in ketamine therapy and oversees interventional services at Being Health, where they offer IV and IM ketamine therapy as well as Spravato (intranasal esketamine). Dr. Elmore completed his training in Adult Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City. He holds a Medical Degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. www.beinghealth.co