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Produced by Psychotherapy.net, Therapist Confidential is a raw, real, and unscripted podcast, creating an authentic dialog by pulling back the curtain on what it really means to be a therapist. Host Travis Heath pushes beyond the surface-level conversations, diving deep into the successes, struggles, fears, and failures that reveal guests in a way they’ve never been heard before.
41 Episodes
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In this Therapist Confidential short, Travis Heath tackles one of the most common—and most loaded—questions clients ask at the start of therapy: “How long is this supposed to take?” Travis breaks down the tension between brief, structured, goal-oriented therapy and longer-term work that focuses on patterns across time—attachment, relationship dynamics, meaning, and identity. He also names the forces that shape our expectations (insurance, social media, and late capitalism’s demand for measurable outcomes) and why the “right” length of therapy isn’t a rule—it’s a fit. Using real-world examples (panic while driving vs. repeating emotionally unavailable relationships), Travis argues that therapy length should match the depth of change someone is seeking: symptom relief, skill-building, support through a season of life, or deeper repatterning. He also highlights something we rarely name: therapist style and fit can influence how quickly change happens, and both clients and clinicians can carry quiet shame—whether they practice brief work or stay in therapy longer. This episode offers practical questions to ask—so decisions about staying or leaving are guided less by ideology and more by what’s actually useful.
In this Therapist Confidential short, Travis Heath explores a simple but often-forgotten truth: your therapist is a person. Therapists walk into sessions with moods, histories, cultural identities, blind spots, and preferences—because we’re human. The goal isn’t to erase that humanity or pretend it isn’t there. The work is noticing it, metabolizing it, and staying responsive so it doesn’t quietly run the session. Travis unpacks the “blank slate” myth and why neutrality is impossible (and, at times, misleading). Therapy isn’t just an exchange of ideas—it’s two nervous systems coming into contact. Clients often sense micro-shifts in a therapist long before anything is named: tightening, softening, pulling away, leaning in. Using a practical example of how a therapist’s emotional state can subtly push a client toward (or away from) confrontation, Travis highlights the importance of self-awareness—and the power of rupture and repair. This is a warm, grounded invitation to bring more honesty and humanity into the therapeutic relationship—without letting the therapist’s inner world take over.
In this Therapist Confidential short, Travis Heath takes a playful (and affectionate) look at therapist language—the phrases that show up in sessions, supervision, and training rooms so often they’ve become a dialect. From “holding space” and “what I’m hearing you say is…” to “let’s sit with that” and “where do you feel that in your body,” Travis roasts the clichés many of us rely on—himself included. This mini-episode isn’t a takedown of therapy skills. It’s a reminder that cliché phrases often start as useful training wheels—slowing things down, conveying presence, and creating safety—but over time can lose flavor and drift into autopilot. In an era where clients increasingly recognize therapy-speak (thanks to social media and mental health content), Travis invites clinicians to get curious about their own language: why we say what we say, when it helps, and how repeating scripts can sometimes get in the way of real human contact. Warm, self-deprecating, and practical—this one’s for therapists, students, and anyone who’s ever heard “that makes so much sense.”
In this solo episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath explores the internal conversations therapists have every day—but rarely say out loud. Beneath the public image of therapy as a space of clarity, certainty, and expertise lies a quieter reality shaped by judgment, doubt, ethical tension, and very real limits. Travis reflects on uncomfortable but human thoughts therapists hold: noticing judgments, choosing not to relieve distress too quickly, sensing when therapy may not “fix” what a client is facing, and grappling with the ways therapy exists within economic and social systems. Rather than exposing these thoughts as confessions or grievances, this episode frames them as part of the responsibility of therapeutic work—held carefully, often privately, and sometimes alone. A reflective episode about presence over solutions, dignity over improvement, and why therapy’s power often lies not in certainty, but in staying with what cannot be easily resolved.
Travis Heath sits down with Dr. Tammie Lee Demler—board-certified psychiatric and geriatric pharmacist—for a wide-ranging conversation on psychopharmacology, stigma, loneliness, and what clinicians often miss when they talk about “meds.” From deprescribing and the realities of polypharmacy in older adults to the ethics of access and affordability, Dr. Demler offers a grounded, collaborative perspective that’s especially relevant for therapists who work alongside prescribers. They also unpack the Surgeon General’s framing of loneliness (and how it differs from social isolation), the importance of “noticing,” and why directly asking about suicide can be relieving—not harmful. Along the way, Dr. Demler shares research on teaching to reduce stigma, explores why testing “taboo” hypotheses can still be good science, and breaks down what’s notable (and challenging) about a newer antipsychotic option with a novel, muscarinic-based mechanism.
In this solo episode, Travis Heath explores the fast-moving question on every therapist’s mind: what does AI mean for psychotherapy—right now? After a surprising personal encounter with a highly realistic “client bot,” Travis unpacks why AI no longer feels like a future thought experiment, but an active force reshaping mental health care. He walks through the most compelling possibilities (access, 24/7 support, therapist relief, psychoeducation, and AI as a reflective mirror), alongside the most pressing concerns (privacy, misguidance, equity, overreliance, dehumanization of care, and subtle relational harms). Rather than panic or naïve optimism, Travis argues for a more useful stance: curiosity, ethical clarity, and collaboration—while protecting what is uniquely human about therapy. Ultimately, this episode asks a deeper question: if AI can do the worksheets, scripts, and surface-level empathy, what will it demand of us as therapists—and what might it invite us to reclaim?
In this solo episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath reflects on what it means to speak the unspeakable in therapy. Drawing from years of clinical work and recent conversations in the aftermath of a polarizing act of political violence, Travis explores how people often experience feelings they are not given permission to have—relief, anger, shame, grief, and confusion—often all at once. He discusses why therapy can be one of the few places where these contradictions can be spoken without judgment, and why curiosity is not a soft skill but an ethical practice. This episode invites therapists and listeners alike to consider how systems shape emotion, how polarization flattens complexity, and how speaking what feels forbidden can restore humanity.
In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath speaks with psychologist and researcher Dr. Daryl Chow about what actually makes therapists effective. Drawing from decades of research on deliberate practice and feedback-informed treatment, Daryl challenges some of psychotherapy’s most comfortable assumptions—including the idea that experience alone leads to better outcomes. Together, they explore why therapists often stop improving, the difference between performance and learning systems, and why humility, curiosity, and surprise may be hallmarks of highly effective clinicians. The conversation also touches on premeditated treatment plans, the limits of psychotherapy models, the role of good conversation, and what human therapists offer that AI cannot. A thoughtful, grounded episode for anyone serious about becoming a better therapist.
In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath speaks with international and multilingual psychotherapist Anastasia Piatakhina Gire about therapy across borders. Based in Paris and working with clients around the world, Anastasia specializes in working with displaced, expatriate, immigrant, and highly mobile populations. Together, they explore how language, culture, power, and history shape the therapeutic relationship, and why displacement—whether physical or emotional—can be deeply traumatic. Anastasia introduces the concept of displacement as an existential experience, discusses working therapeutically in multiple languages, and reflects on identity, shame, belonging, and the meaning of home in a globalized world. This episode offers a rich, relational, and deeply human exploration of psychotherapy in motion.
In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath sits down with psychologist, writer, and longtime Psychotherapy.net interviewer Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Rubin for a wide-ranging conversation on superheroes, popular culture, and psychotherapy. Larry reflects on his own origin story, his lifelong fascination with stories and objects, and how superheroes became a powerful metaphor in his work with children, adolescents, and adults. They explore themes of identity, anger, power, creativity, and play, as well as the role of mythology and Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey in adult therapy. Along the way, Larry challenges the idea that fantasy is mere avoidance, argues that adulthood often stifles vitality, and encourages therapists to remain curious, idiosyncratic, and true to themselves—even when their interests fall outside the mainstream.
In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis Heath speaks with Mary Jo Barrett, a pioneering family therapist whose career spans nearly five decades of work with family violence, incest, and complex trauma. Together they explore what trauma really means, how the word has evolved culturally, and why trauma is best understood as an interruption of development rather than a single event. Mary Jo shares how she was forced to innovate early in her career—creating a collaborative, relationship-centered model based directly on what survivors themselves identified as healing. The conversation also examines power, safety, predictability, hope, and the reality of vicarious trauma for clinicians. This episode is a grounded, deeply human exploration of healing, responsibility, and staying present in the face of suffering.
In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis sits down with clinical psychologist and life coach Dr. Shahrzad Jalali to explore the ideas behind her book The Fire That Makes Us: Healing Through Curiosity, Compassion, and Integration. Drawing on her own story of profound loss and a traumatic car accident, as well as years of clinical work, Dr. Jalali talks about trauma as something that lives not just in events but in the nervous system, and how the body’s signals can become a doorway rather than a problem to be shut down. She and Travis unpack concepts like higher self, fragmentation versus integration, victim mentality, and shadow, and reflect on why quick-fix self‑help and one‑dimensional solutions so often leave people feeling stuck. The conversation invites a more nuanced, multi‑dimensional relationship with pain—one where we move away from waiting to be rescued and toward reclaiming our own agency and essence.
In this episode, Travis sits down with social worker, researcher, and author Dr. Will Dobud to explore the “troubled teen industry” and what it reveals about how we think about kids, treatment, and risk. Drawing from his new coauthored book Kids These Days, Will talks about involuntary residential programs, the financial and systemic forces that keep them going, and how many young people experience “treatment” as a form of institutional trauma. Along the way, he reflects on his own evolution as a practitioner, the limits of one-size-fits-all models, and why success, mastery, and genuine engagement matter more than any branded therapy. It’s a provocative, thoughtful conversation about the stories we tell about youth, and why change may actually start with adults these days.
In this episode, Travis talks with psychologist Tom Medlar, who has spent 43 years providing psychotherapy in nursing homes. They explore how these settings have changed, why they’re “very lively, even though they’re often dealing with death,” and what it means to do meaningful therapy with older adults and medically complex younger adults. Filled with vivid stories and nuanced reflections on loss, hope, communication, and meaning, this conversation reveals why nursing homes remain one of the most overlooked—and deeply human—spaces for psychotherapy.
In this episode of Therapist Confidential, Travis speaks with Dr. Marlene Williams of Texas Woman’s University about intergenerational trauma, ancestral wisdom, and what it really means to “break the cycle.” Together they explore how trauma is transmitted through families and culture—psychologically, relationally, and even genetically—and how healing can begin by reclaiming personal and collective stories. Dr. Williams also shares insights from her work with Black women and mothers, offering a deeply human look at resilience, identity, and liberation through therapy.
In this special Therapist Confidential Takeover, the tables turn. Guest host Lisa Forbes interviews Travis Heath about his evolving relationship with AI in therapy, why he believes contradiction is essential to being human, and how therapists can subvert psychology’s dominant logics. From graffiti as therapy to hip-hop and basketball as guiding philosophies, this conversation explores what happens when curiosity replaces certainty. A candid and thought-provoking episode about creativity, ethics, and what it really means to ask good questions.
In Part 2 of his conversation with therapist and educator Liliana Baylon, Travis Heath goes deeper into what cultural humility looks like in real clinical moments. They talk about unlearning as a playful, accountability-driven practice; how and when self-disclosure can support client safety; and why not getting ahead of the client matters when facilitating acculturation groups with youth. Liliana shares how she works across English, Spanish, and Spanglish, why language justice is central to healing, and how she navigates religious intersections without centering her own agenda. They also explore adapting therapy models to fit clients and contexts, supporting supervisees to find their own voice, attending to countertransference when identities are shared, and the everyday faces of activism in clinical work. They close with what’s giving them hope right now. Brought to you by Psychotherapy.net, the home of timeless and timely conversations in mental health.
Host Travis Heath sits down with therapist, mediator, and “cultural broker” Liliana Baylon for a candid conversation about migration, trauma, and care. Liliana shares her story of coming to the U.S. at 16, “pushing through” grief and survival, and becoming the advocate her family needed. She names what migrants are carrying now — “ongoing anxiety that is coming now to panic attacks” — and why “you are loyal to the client, not to the model.” Part one also explores layered trauma (pre-migration, migration, post-migration), cultural rituals in therapy, and “learning to rest.” Brought to you by Psychotherapy.net, the home of timeless and timely conversations in mental health.
Thomas Doherty, who has been at the forefront of climate psychology, joins Travis Heath to trace an unconventional path—from wilderness therapy and Greenpeace to the APA’s first Climate Change Task Force—and to map today’s “climate elephant.” They explore eco-anxiety as feeling, diagnosis, and social phenomenon; taking news breaks; the “upside down pyramid” of stress; a shifting “horizon of hope”; and action identities (Climate Detective, Champion, Survivor). Doherty shares practical steps from identity work, and adapting existing skills, to implementing with congruence. Brought to you by Psychotherapy.net, the home of timeless and timely conversations in mental health.
Host Travis Heath goes solo to unpack the realities of private practice—what it takes to start, sustain, and stay grounded while doing it. He shares his own story of building a practice without a website or marketing budget, explores myths about “readiness,” talks money and ethics, and wrestles with the tension between authenticity and visibility. Whether you’re just beginning or re-evaluating your path, this candid conversation offers a grounded look at what private practice really means today. Brought to you by Psychotherapy.net, the home of timeless and timely conversations in mental health.
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