As new President Elect of the Board of MAGPS, I am thrilled to invite you to consider this upcoming conference in Baltimore. MAGPS is a wonderful conference for learning about and experiencing group therapy skills and dynamics, but it's also relevant for any therapist or social worker! Join us!

In this episode, we discuss a relatively new treatment for depression, ketamine, as well as the power and importance of friends in our lives. We also discuss how and why our culture doesn't support the value and importance of friends. Fight fascism...make friends! And more, in this episode...

For many folks, the hardest part of getting sober isn't giving up alcohol, it's the social weirdness that ensues. So, I decided to make this sober Bingo card that may be helpful in taking the edge off of weddings and other big events in early sobriety #sobersky

Feeling tired, depleted, exhausted, or like you can't keep up? This tool may help you explore if that's a "me" problem or something bigger going on with how the world around you is supporting you. open.substack.com/pub/shifthap...

Important news you can use: Self-silencing is making women sick. I work with a lot of women in my practice on becoming more disappointing, as this author writes, as well as in "being just a little less competent." Well worth a read.

Two GenX therapists raised by Boomers and who see many of their children in therapy discuss this perplexing generation and offer some theories, guesses, and perspectives. Links to the full episode here: open.substack.com/pub/winwwu/p...

Need a therapist in Virginia? Our new associate, Robyn Gearey, may be a good fit for you. We're so glad she's joining us next month at the Shift Happens Collective!

Women are not only silencing themselves to a great degree, but we're often not letting our friends or therapists know what's really going on with us. The reason? Patriarchy, of course. More here: shifthappenscollective.substack.com/p/are-you-tr...

In Episode 23, we get into therapy terms that are sometimes not used correctly, and why we think that is. Join us to learn more about boundaries, narcissism/toxic people, depression, trauma bonding, and more! Substack summary: open.substack.com/pub/winwwu/p...

A text message from @katiejettwalls.bsky.social got me thinking about family photos, and what they might have to do with our psychological well-being. Full reflection on my Substack: shorturl.at/SZKlJ

New substack article with resources on choosing a therapist now available, also with a link to the workshop I'm co-leading this Saturday on Zoom with @lsherper.bsky.social on relationship education for women in heterosexual relationships. Spots still open if you want to register!

Online dating! People shopping! What a strange thing to do! And yet, it's hard to date or find friends these days without doing it! What to do? We have thoughts! Episode summary here, or listen to me and @pauladatkinson.bsky.social blab on anywhere you listen to your podcasts! tinyurl.com/bdd7bp8a

Oh, they are scared! The statement confirms what advocates said. ASWB implemented changes on 3/31, announced on 4/10, updated guidebook on 4/14. Breaks were always allowed. Why do this?! www.aswb.org/exam-break-p...

A brilliant piece by my colleague, Lisa Sherper, LICSW, LCSW, LCSW-C, on her reflections on heterosexual marriages after years as a couple's counselor and therapist to women and men. She and I are collaborating on the upcoming workshop,

Some parents are out here doing what some call "next level parenting," and it's much less about their kids, and much more about how unaccommodating our culture is to different ways of being, different learning styles, different developmental speeds and paths.

Men often report being blindsided when their wives leave. My colleague, @lsherper.bsky.social, a therapist to women & couples, writes a letter to explain what she wishes they would not only understand, but act on: shorturl.at/sfRCK

Should I Stay, Commit, or Go? Women are frightened of being judged for leaving their marriage, they worry about the financial impact, and are apprehensive about being single. When there are children to consider, the story that divorce harms children deeply concerns them.

What federal workers, and anyone impacted by federal budgets, are currently experiencing is the impact of deliberate and willful infliction of psychological warfare.

@lsherper.bsky.social and I wrote a blog about how it came to be that we're offering a workshop for women on relationships, w/research and data on how hetero marriage impacts women. It was quite the journey and it's on my Substack: shifthappenscollective.substack.com/p/upcoming-w...

New episode alert! In this one we discuss how our culture's obsession with romance, love, and couple-dom are not doing wonders for our mental health. Get a preview on our Substack at: tinyurl.com/4fpw78ms or tune in anywhere you get your podcasts. On the YouTube we're here: www.youtube.com/@WINWWY

Feeling chronically under appreciated, devalued, dismissed, or misunderstood in a relationship? This post, with a side of humor for a profoundly painful topic, may help: bit.ly/4dDYeyT

I had the opportunity to discuss the emotional toll and impacts of unexpected job loss with the wonderful Michelle McKenzie of Empowering Insights. Full episode: youtu.be/9McXYB99REU?... (More content notes below)

Can couple’s therapy help? Will this get better if we “work on it”? Therapists are fallible. We are just as susceptible to the belief systems of the dominant culture which promote hierarchical, adversarial relationships over reciprocal, cooperative relationships.

Links included to the podcast, an upcoming workshop for women on relationships, and a survey--we're soliciting your therapy horror stories, and there's a meaningful reason why!

Upcoming workshop led by @lsherper.bsky.social and I: Relationship education for women in (or considering being in) relationships with men.

For news/updates about CE events & other workshops, without having to catch it on social media, subscribe to my Substack. Upcoming: A workshop for women to learn about how marriage and long-term relationships with men impact women's lives and health. Because a lot of what we're told isn't...true.

Why is 70 degrees different if it's heat 70 degrees vs. A/C 70 degrees? Shouldn't 70 degrees just always feel the same?

This should be shown in every social work policy advocacy + diversity class across the U.S. as an example of blatant systemic oppression against marginalized populations being perpetuated by the systems of our profession and a masterclass by exhausted advocates in how to take it on. #socialworksky

New post to the Substack, an addendum to our Couple's Therapy episode on the @winwwu.bsky.social podcast, with @pauladatkinson.bsky.social! Read it here: winwwu.substack.com/p/how-couple...

Episode 20 has dropped and explores the mental health benefits of quitting, saying no, setting boundaries, and disappointing others. Not to mention a review of Bad Sisters, years after its release, and other chit chat tidbits!

The @winwwu.bsky.social podcast has a Substack! @pauladatkinson.bsky.social wrote our first post, a supplement to the gossip episode(s)!

They said it was very important that I not lie when I renewed, so I didn't.

New episode alert! #19, Gossip Redux, wherein we revisit gossip and its many uses, especially in times like these, and explore other coping strategies that might settle our nervous systems at least a little while the horrors assault us. My miseducation about Melissa Etheridge also features.

I'm quoted in this very disturbing article about the impact of DOGE on the mental health of federal workers: www.cnn.com/2025/04/14/p...

Looking forward.

I'll be liveblogging the #SocailWork Commission Rules Committee Meeting discussing the qualifying national exam rule.

The Squid Games Challenge, where they don’t kill people, is such a great example of how Americans have no idea who to be mad at and keep wolves in sheep’s clothing around while ostracizing people w/integrity trying to tell them there’s a bully in the room as “uncivil.” We are wild, y’all

Anyone else just kinda surprised to learn we plan wars on group texts?

Such an important read from my friend @fpwellman.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/fpwellma...

But food isn’t that high on the pyramid we appropriated from indigenous people, is it? Am I misremembering?

Social work is a super not racist profession. You can tell by its super objective and fair exams, among other things, and its people. We allow for a diverse scholarship and marketplace of ideas, too, I see.

Got asked by a reporter if I’d be willing to go on TV. She assumed I wouldn’t because no other therapists would go on the record by name. My response, “Oh, I’m a talker. I’m happy to.” So anyway, super professional and articulate therapist available to go on the record. Inquire within.

Just a reminder that getting misinformation from scrolling Facebook is not a meta-analysis.

"From That Moment, Everything has Changed”: The Experience of Women With Anorexia Nervosa Receiving a Diagnosis of Autism: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

All bullies, really. But we don’t understand this at any level in the U.S. of A. We chronically pander to bullies and bully and interrogate victims.

Describe your entire personality in one screen shot.

Calling all over-functioners! Take a breather and listen to this episode, made just for you, by two over-functioners in recovery! @winwwu.bsky.social #socialworksky #psychsky

Seasonal Affective Disorder: the only psychiatric diagnosis that can be cured in literally five minutes if the weather is right #socialworksky #psychologysky