Podcast Episodes

Behind The Good Girl Mask

Only hugged once in her life by her mother, 25 year-old Yohana is the daughter of conservative East African war refugees from Ethiopia & Eritrea. All her life she has buried her rage by wearing the “good girl” mask to try to placate her narcissistic mother and having to be someone else to survive as a kid growing up in Oakland where there were some fixed ideas of what makes someone an “authentic African-American”. She shares about living with a learning disability, having physically disabled siblings(and a mother who is ashamed of them) and a passive father. She talks about her battles with body shame, emotional eating, anxiety and depression.

This episode is sponsored by MadisonReed. For 10% off your first hair color kit (and free shipping) go to www.Madison-Reed.com and use offer code HAPPY

Follow Yohana on Twitter @Yohnkid

For info and tickets to the upcoming live MIHH event at the In This Together Festival in Los Angeles go to www.ITTFest.com It’s Sunday Nov 13th and starts at 4pm. Paul will be interviewing former NBA player and mental health advocate Royce White.

 

Sex and Politics – Jamie Varon

The 31 year-old writer discusses feminism, sexual violence and misogyny in the context of partisan politics, and her personal life. She shares about the complexities of marrying a Muslim, growing up being told “you’re too sensitive”, avoiding her emotions by achieving, hating her body, fighting the drill sergeant in her head and learning the power of being vulnerable and letting go of shame.

Jamie’s links

Facebook: facebook.com/jamievaron

Twitter: twitter.com/jamievaron

Instagram: instagram.com/jamievaron

All my published writing: jamievaron.com/writing

Writing workshops: http://workshops.jamievaron.com

This episode is sponsored by Madison Reed. For 10% off your first color kit (and free shipping go to www.Madison-Reed.com and use the offer code HAPPY

This episode is sponsored by Young Health’s Probimune. To get your first bottle free (plus $6.75 shipping) go to www.probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL

This episode is sponsored by ZipRecruiter. Listeners can post jobs free by going to www.ZipRecruiter.com/first

For information about the In This Together Festival in LA on Nov 13th, go to www.ITTFest.com Paul will be interviewing former NBA player Royce White.

Books mentioned by Jamie are: A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson, Ask and It is Given by Esther Hicks, and When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron.

Jeff Rosenthal

Jeff is Paul’s friend of 28 years and the son of former guest and Holocaust survivor Kristine Keese. He shares about her recent passing, their deep but complicated relationship, how he made peace with her being “a terrible mom but a great friend” and the book she wrote Shadows of Survival: A Child’s Memoir of the Warsaw Ghetto.

 

Visit Jeff’s Facebook page here.

Buy Kristine’s book here.

Follow Jeff on Twitter @Jeff_Rosie

This episode is sponsored by Meundies. For 20% off your first order go to www.meundies.com/mental

This episode is sponsored by Young Health’s Probimune. For a free bottle go to www.probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL when you sign up for automated delivery.

This episode is sponsored by MVMT watches. For 15% off today with free shipping and free returns go to www.mvmtwatches.com/mental

For tix or info on the In This Together Festival Nov 13th in Los Angeles at the Avalon go to www.ITTFest.com

 

Freshman College Meltdown: Jen Curran’s Story

The writer/improviser shares about the mental/emotional breakdown her freshman year of college at NYU that left her living in her car and squatting in empty buildings in New York City. She looks back on her childhood and the familial love that was so often conditional, based on her weight and appearance. She opens up about the body shaming women in her family unconsciously modeled for her, her relationship with food, difficulty setting boundaries with toxic people and finding out what she really wants instead of living to meet other people’s expectations of her.

Follow Jen on Twitter @JenCurran

This episode is sponsored by Young Health’s Probimune. For your first bottle free (plus $6.75 shipping) go to www.probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL

This episode is sponsored by Casper mattresses. Go to www.casper.com/mental

This episode is sponsored by ZipRecruiter.com Listeners can post jobs for free by going to www.ziprecruiter.com/first

#298 Lora B

The 33 year-old listener was the woman who comforted Murray Valeriano during our live episode last week. From a blended family with every kind of abuse imaginable, including her church elder step-grandfather who molested her, her descent into meth and drinking, finding sobriety, and getting therapy for her traumas.

This episode is sponsored by Casper Mattresses via LAPodfest. Visit www.casper.com/mental

This episode is sponsored by Criquet Shirts. For 20% off your first purchase visitwww.criquetshirts.com/mental and use offer code MENTAL

This episode is sponsored by New Health’s Probimune. By signing up for automated delivery you’ll get your first bottle free (plus $6.75 shipping and handling) Go towww.probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL at checkout.

Click for free tickets to the UC Berkley panel Paul is participating in on OCT 17th.

#297 Murray Valeriano at LAPodfest

The comedian/writer/podcaster had never talked much about losing his virginity at 15 to a 32 year-old tutor. Tonight that changed and so did his view of the event and aftermath. He also opens up about being a preacher’s kid (who wasn’t even allowed to see Footloose), being a father and the role “forbidden” music played in helping him cope as young man.

If you would like to watch video of this episode, it will be archived at www.lapodfest.com (with all the other shows at the festival) until Oct 25th. For $5 off use offer code HAPPY

Listen to Murray’s podcast Road Stories www.roadstories.tv (or Itunes)

Follow Murray on Twitter www.twitter.com/murrayv

Check out his tour dates and his album Rusty Cow at Murray’s website www.murrayvaleriano.com

His Facebook page is www.facebook.com/murrayvalerianocomedy

For info on the Out of The Darkness Walk go to www.chicagowalk.org

This episode is sponsored by Young Health’s Probimune. For your first bottle free (plus $6.75 shipping) go to www.probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL

Glynn Washington

The producer/host of WNYC’s Snap Judgment shares about being raised in a fundamentalist Christian cult, strategies he’s used to survive racism, what he learned by visiting Japan as a college student, his struggles with bipolar and his family’s history of mental illness especially his late brother.

This episode is sponsored by Young Health’s Probimune. For your first bottle free (plus $6.75 shipping) go to www.Probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL.

For more information on LAPodfest go to www.LAPodfest.com and use offer code HAPPY for $5 off. The festival is Sept 23-25 in LA. Our podcast records Sun Sept 25th at 9pm. It can be watched in person, live streaming or up to 30 days archived.

For more information on the In This Together Festival, where Paul will be interviewing NBA player Royce White, go to www.ITTFest.com The festival is Nov 13th in LA.

Mara Wilson

You probably know her as the little girl from Matilda or Mrs. Doubtfire but you probably don’t know that’s around the time she lost her mom, developed OCD, anxiety, depression and panic attacks and that today she is an advocate for mental health. She is also a playwright, author (Where Am I Now?) and still occasionally acts.

This episode is sponsored by Probimune. For your first bottle free and just $6.75 Shipping/handling go to www.Probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL

Buy Mara’s new book Where Am I Now?

Follow Mara on Twiiter @MaraWilson

Visit her webpage and blog at www.MaraWilsonWritesStuff.com

For tickets or info about LAPodfest (Sept 23-25) visit www.LAPodfest.com The podcast will be doing a live recording Sunday night Sept 25.

Dr Laura Dabney

The psychiatrist and therapist talks about sexual trauma in the military, powerful men who fear intimacy, meds, treating personality disorders, doing therapy via Skype, the therapy process and why insurance companies suck.

Check out Dr Dabney’s site www.drldabney.com follow her on Twitter @DrLDabney

Buy tix to see MIHH at LAPodfest Sept 23-25 www.lapodfest.com (MIHH is recording Sun. Sept 25th at 9pm)

This episode is sponsored by Chicagoland Out of the Darkness Walk by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevent www.chicagowalk.org

This episode is sponsored by BlueApron. To try your first three meals free with free delivery go to www.BlueApron.com/mental

This episode is sponsored by Young Health’s Probimune. For 50% off your first purchase of Probimune go to www.probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL