Your Mental Breakdown

Doug and Kenzie continue to process thoughts and feelings after the LA fires that destroyed Doug's house and devastated his neighborhood of Altadena. After a recent visit to the old neighborhood, a lot of emotion came up about the landscape, nature, and support in the community. Kenzie notes it's the dose that makes the poison because anything in the right or wrong amount can be really good or harmful for you. Applying this to therapy: the emotion is always inside, it's the trigger that sets it off. Our hosts get existential and psychological – I mean, this is a therapy podcast, right?

Doug and Kenzie are back after the catastrophic LA fires that destroyed the YMB studio along with Doug's house and entire neighborhood of Altadena. We are all safe… Meredith and her sister were evacuated from the Palisades, but their houses were spared. Kenzie was evacuated and her home is untouched. Doug and his sister were evacuated from Altadena and they both lost their houses in the fire.

For those impacted by the tragedy, our lives are forever changed. We will be processing the devastating loss around us for quite some time, and at YMB we are doing our best to move forward by sharing that process with you. Doug's home was also home to the YMB recording room including our gear and memory cards. But his voice and resilience are here for you.

This episode focuses on processing loss and rebuilding after such a traumatic event. We will temporarily move away from client sessions and breakdowns while we bring you this process in real time. We are grateful for the support of our community and we appreciate your understanding, compassion, and kindness as we rebuild.

Drew is experiencing the oxytocin honeymoon feeling with his partner as they are now brand new parents. He acknowledges the feelings as well as the triggers for how he was parented. Doug challenges Drew to think through his ideas and ideals of what it means to be "the man of the house." Drew may have baby brain, but he is expressing his emotions well. He is able to sit with them and process them in session with Doug.

Doug and Kenzie go back in time to Sarah's 2nd session. The breakdown for this episode happens in real time throughout the session. Sarah begins to tell some of her story about growing up in a cult. Doug acknowledges her strength and resilience in the "survival" of her experiences while paving the way to work towards the "thrival" of her life going forward. We explore Sarah's parenting style and Doug hints at the parallel of how Sarah can heal through re-parenting herself.

Sarah is confronted with her past trauma history after learning that a parent at her child's school knows about Sarah's upbringing in a cult. She navigates a conversation to clear the air because that parent is reluctant to allow her child over to Sarah's rumored "cult house." Doug acknowledges that Sarah handled the situation without going into "justice warrior" mode, even though her emotions were triggered. Sarah says that she's glad to have had that conversation with a year of therapy under her belt. She's come a long way and is now embracing being a trauma survivor – without feeling like a victim. Because, "How can you victimize somebody for being victimized?"