The Trauma & Mental Health Report Podcast

E34: Counselling Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities

In this episode, Trauma Report writer Chiara Gianvito speaks with Amy Camilleri Zahra, a Maltese disability and women’s rights activist, academic, and public speaker. Their conversation centers around Camilleri Zahra’s research on counsellors’ understanding and perceptions of disability that has revealed a need for greater training and accessibility. Camilleri Zahra also shares her lived experiences that have led her to drive social change in these areas. 

Follow along or read the transcribed audio here.

E33: Dissolving Distress Using Humour in Therapeutic Settings

It is understandably difficult to imagine how something as light as humour can be useful in dealing with something as heavy as depression, anxiety or trauma. However, The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humour has made it their mission to help people understand how humour can be an effective therapeutic tool to help individuals struggling with mental health challenges. Trauma Report writer Hannah Mugford sat down with Steven Sultanoff, a clinical psychologist and one of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humour’s past presidents, to learn more about therapeutic humour and how it can have a positive impact on mental health and well-being.

Check out The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humour’s website!

E32: Reason and Less: Imperfections of Logical Thinking

We all like to think that we are capable of perfect reason and making decisions purely from a logical perspective. What many of us fail to recognize is that our reasoning is always linked to our physical feelings. If you ever wondered why judges are more likely to be lenient after lunch or why we may react differently to the same message delivered by people we feel differently about, listen to this episode, where Trauma Report writer Jenna Zorik interviews the cognitive scientist, Professor Vinod Goel, about his new book, “Reason and Less: Pursuing Food, Sex, and Politics.” Tune in as Professor Goel discusses how our feelings and sensations affect our reasoning ranging from inability to control what we eat to refusing to get vaccinated. 

E31:Intergenerational Wisdom as Wealth: Navigating Systems for Immigrant Families

Trauma Report writer Elizabeth Liu speaks with clinical psychology Dr. Sally Chung in this episode exploring the concept of intergenerational wealth not just as physical assets, but as knowledge and wisdom on how to navigate systems integral to society. Understanding the barriers that immigrant families face is important, as the lack of knowledge in educational, economic, and power systems can hold great disadvantage across generations. In addition, individuals who encounter these barriers often grow up facing the additional challenge of integrating multiple cultural identities. Dr. Chung explains how we can bridge these gaps through community, awareness, and providing accessible services.

E30: Rethinking Narcissism - The Secret to Recognizing & Coping with Narcissists

 In this episode, Trauma Report writer Fatmah Jahim speaks with Dr. Craig Malkin, clinical psychologist, lecturer at Harvard and  author of “Rethinking Narcissism: The Secret to Recognizing & Coping with Narcissists”. He has over 20 years of experience in helping families, couples and individuals heal and overcome difficult emotions. His unique and practical approach to helping people break out of painful experiences in addition to his research based work makes him an integrationist: he uses different techniques and schools of thought to help individuals. Moreover, he is an expert on narcissism and has developed The Narcissism Test, derived from his Narcissism Spectrum Model which offers individuals a sense of where individuals may fall in the narcissism spectrum. Dr. Malkins also shares important parts of his book with the audience and further explains the term he coined “echoism”.

E29: Mental Health First Aid Training in BIPOC Communities

In this episode, Trauma Report writer Daniel Sanchez Morales speaks with Amanda Coombs, clinical psychologist and instructor of the First Aid for Mental Health training at the Mental Health Commission of Canada. As a Black single mother, Amanda provides an overview of the training and how she has been able to support BIPOC folks in acquiring skills to respond to mental health crises. Coombs touches on the importance of taking into account folks’ backgrounds when sharing this knowledge, as well as how the program encourages sentiments of unity and trust in her community.

 

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E28: Inside the Mental Health Courts with Richard D. Schneider (Part 2)

In our second installment of our two-part interview, Trauma Report writer Samantha Mason talks with the Honourable Mr. Justice Richard D. Schneider, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., LL.B., LL.M., C.Psych. to discuss the process of decriminalizing the mentally ill and how we can move forward using what we have learned in the mental health courts to provide those who are accused with a more supportive justice system. 

Listen to Part 1 of our interview here.

E27: Combating Mental Health Misinformation on Social Media

There is growing concern regarding the dissemination of misinformation online. Many believe that the driving force behind this “infodemic” are social media platforms, which are rife with anti-science sentiment and misleading information. The health sciences have become a particular target for this misinformation, psychology and mental health included. Thankfully, there is a growing group of people, professional and otherwise, who dedicate their time and effort to combat the deceptions and misunderstandings. One of these people is YouTuber and therapist/social worker Mickey Atkins. Trauma Report writer Hannah Mugford sat down with Mickey to discuss the general topic of psychology and mental health misinformation, along with her experience confronting it through her online presence.

E26: Inside the Mental Health Courts with Richard D. Schneider (Part 1)

In this episode, Trauma Report writer Samantha Mason sits down with the Honourable Mr. Justice Richard D. Schneider, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., LL.B., LL.M., C.Psych. They discuss the innovation of the Mental Health Courts of Toronto, Canada., Schneider’s book "Death of a Butterfly", and explore some memorable cases that appeared before him.

E25: Alternatives to Police in Crisis Response - Denver STAR

Trauma Report writer Sharon Bae speaks with Carleigh Sailon, program manager of the Criminal Justice Services at the Mental Health Centre of Denver, who helped develop the Denver Support Team Assisted Response (STAR). The Denver STAR is an alternative to 911 calls that removes police presence entirely, meeting the demand to change, reduce, or remove the role of law enforcement in responding to emergencies in the community, especially when mental health is involved.