Intentional Therapist: Putting You In Your Schedule - Behind the Scenes of Intentional Therapist & Thrivival 101: A Conversation with Dr. Karen Dyck and Dr. Melissa Tiessen

Behind the Scenes of Intentional Therapist & Thrivival 101: A Conversation with Dr. Karen Dyck and Dr. Melissa Tiessen

10/05/23 • 52 min

Intentional Therapist: Putting You In Your Schedule

In this long overdue episode, we, Dr. Karen Dyck and Dr. Melissa Tiessen, discuss the factors that led us to start Intentional Therapist and begin hosting this podcast, Thrivival 101. We also explain why we believe self-care is a four-letter word, share how we are redefining self-care, and how our 4 C’s framework - Connection, Compassion, Courage, and Creativity - can help female clinicians (regardless of our work setting) put more of ourselves into our schedule and create a life from which we don’t need to escape.

Highlights:

What led Melissa and Karen to start Intentional Therapist and Thrivival 101
How self-care has become a four-letter word
How we’re redefining self-care for female clinicians
The 4 C’s framework: Connection, Compassion, Courage, and Creativity
How getting “messy” is such an important part of self-care
Some more of Melissa and Karen’s favourite nonconventional self-care practices

Dr. Karen Dyck completed her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of South Dakota. She currently works in private practice in Oakbank, Manitoba and is also the Executive Director of the Manitoba Psychological Society. Before shifting to private practice, Karen spent the bulk of her career working within the Rural and Northern Psychology Program at the University of Manitoba’s Department of Clinical Health Psychology and was the founding chair of the Rural and Northern Psychology Section of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA).
Dr. Melissa Tiessen completed her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at McGill University and currently works in private practice in Winnipeg, Manitoba, having recently moved from a group practice in Ottawa, Ontario. Melissa has previously worked in the Rural and Northern Psychology Program at the University of Manitoba’s Department of Clinical Health Psychology, within the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program through the University of Ottawa/The Ottawa Hospital Heart Institute, and has served as the Education Director for the CPA, overseeing the organization’s accreditation and continuing education activities.
In 2019 Karen and Melissa co-founded Intentional Therapist, which we developed to help female mental health clinicians redefine our approach to self-care and start putting more of ourselves into our schedule.

Connect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/
Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapist
Disclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

Highlights:

What led Melissa and Karen to start Intentional Therapist and Thrivival 101
How self-care has become a four-letter word
How we’re redefining self-care for female clinicians
The 4 C’s framework: Connection, Compassion, Courage, and Creativity
How getting “messy” is such an important part of self-care
Some more of Melissa and Karen’s favourite nonconventional self-care practices

Previous Episode

Intentionally Incorporating Self-Care to Create Sustainable Success: A Conversation with Dr. Stephanie Grunewald

In this episode we connect with Dr. Stephanie Grunewald, psychologist, coach, and entrepreneur, to learn more about her RESET model and how she helps her clients achieve a life and business aligned in purpose. Stephanie shares some of the common traps impacting ambitious women and how her own experience of connecting with her values resulted in her making the very intentional decision against expanding her own counseling business. She also explains her RESET model and how her work highlights the importance of community and nature. We end the episode, as always, hearing about Stephanie’s “non-conventional” self-care practices.

Episode highlights:

Common traps impacting ambitious women’s self-care
How connecting with her own values influenced Stephanie's decision to NOT grow her own business
How she incorporates her RESET model into her work
The importance of community and nature
Stephanie’s favorite “non-conventional” self-care practice

Stephanie Grunewald, PhD is a psychologist and holistic coach. After experiencing burnout while building her group counseling practice, she realized the toll of deprioritizing herself. Following the death of her mother, she felt a calling to incorporate lessons from nature to change the way women build their businesses. She expanded her work to coaching where she focuses on developing the whole person — working on the personal mindset and habits that unlock business growth. Dr. Grunewald offers mastermind groups and reset retreats to help women entrepreneurs prioritize their wellbeing to create intentional and sustainable success.

Connect with Stephanie:
www.ancorio.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-grunewald-phd/
Instagram: @stephanie_grunewald
FREE Guide to Break Free from Busy: Unlocking Success through Efficiency
https://ancorio.com/guides/break-free-from-busy

Next Episode

The Impact of 'Scripts' and Oppressive Systems on Our Self-Care: A Conversation with Silvana Espinoza Lau

As female mental health clinicians we receive multiple messages or “scripts” through our socialization as women and mental health clinicians about things like professionalism, productivity, caregiving and even what it means to be a “good therapist” and a “good woman.” And the reality is, these messages come from systems that are based in a western, capitalist, patriarchal society. In this episode we speak with Silvana Espinoza Lau about how these “scripts” and oppressive symptoms impact female mental health clinicians in general, as well as some of the unique impact these messages have on female clinicians with marginalized identities.

Episode highlights:

How the “scripts” we receive about professionalism, productivity, serving others, and being a “good therapist” impact female clinicians
The key topics missing from clinicians’ conversations with one another
Factors contributing to the Imposter Syndrome and how it affects clinicians differently
What clinicians can do to limit the negative impact of oppressive symptoms on their self-care
Why embodied connections are so important
Some of Silvana’s best non-conventional self-care practices

Silvana Espinoza Lau is an embodied liberation and decolonization consultant and coach for mental health professionals. Silvana coaches mental health professionals who want to incorporate decolonized, liberation focused and anti-oppressive values in their practices in an embodied way and consults with mental health agencies that want to center therapy seekers with minoritized identities. Silvana is also an LMFT in private practice in the unceded Kalapuya territory (Oregon), and a clinical supervisor and consultant to both licensed and pre-licensed clinicians with a focus on anti-oppressive and decolonized practices.
Connect with Silvana:
https://seventhselfcounseling.com
https://www.instagram.com/seventhselfcounseling/

Intentional Therapist: Putting You In Your Schedule - Behind the Scenes of Intentional Therapist & Thrivival 101: A Conversation with Dr. Karen Dyck and Dr. Melissa Tiessen

Transcript

Karen Dyck00:00:04.826

Welcome to Thrivival 101 , a fresh take on self-care for female mental health clinicians .

Melissa Tiessen00:00:12.224

A podcast where we have the courage to talk about what actually supports and gets in the way of our self-care , so that we can redefine what it truly means to take care of ourselves , our best tools and thrive in this work .

Meliss