Self Careapist Therapist: Expert Insights & Practical Therapy Skills
Self Careapist Therapist Podcast is a podcast for therapists who want practical, evidence-based psychotherapy skills they can use in their next session. Each Episode brings leading researchers, clinicians, and therapy experts into conversations about what actually happens in the therapy office: from EMDR and ACT to DBT, OCD, trauma, couples therapy, supervision, and beyond.
Past guests include Dr. Tony Attwood and Dr. Michelle Garnett (Autism and ADHD), Dr. Paul Hewitt (perfectionism research), Wendy Behary, LCSW (schema therapy for narcissism), Lainey Rosenzweig, LMFT (founder of Accelerated Resolution Therapy), Dr. Steven C. Hayes (founder of ACT), Dr. William R. Miller (co-developer of Motivational Interviewing), and Dr. Ricardo Muñoz (ran the first randomized controlled trial to prevent depression).
Hosted by Lorain Moorehead, LCSW, PMH-C, EMDR Certified Approved Consultant, Clinical Supervisor, and graduate school faculty associate. Expert guests share evidence-based interventions you can take straight into your next session.
Many episodes offer a free CEU for licensure in Arizona through the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Content is relevant for continuing education across LCSW, LMHC, LPC, LMFT, NCC, NBCC, and psychology licensure.
Topics include:
- EMDR therapy, trauma processing, and advanced EMDR applications
- Internal Family Systems (IFS), parts work, and integrative trauma approaches
- CBT, DBT, RO-DBT, ACT, and third-wave cognitive behavioral therapies
- Clinical supervision, therapist training, and professional development
- Trauma, complex trauma, PTSD, CPTSD, and nervous system regulation
- ADHD, autism, neurodiversity-affirming assessment and treatment
- Therapist burnout, perfectionism, compassion fatigue, and sustainable self-care
- Couples therapy, attachment theory, and relational wounds
- Anxiety, OCD, and exposure-based interventions
- Grief, prolonged grief disorder, and meaning-making
- Suicide risk assessment, CAMS, and crisis intervention
- Parent-child therapy, adolescent anxiety, and family systems
- Perinatal mental health
- Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and emerging modalities
- Clinical ethics, risk management, and culturally responsive practice
- Private practice development, insurance, and building a sustainable career
Questions we answer:
- How do I use EMDR, CBT, DBT, or ACT in real-life sessions, not just textbook examples?
- How do I choose which therapy modality to learn next?
- How do other therapists handle burnout and compassion fatigue?
- How do I integrate different modalities instead of feeling like I'm doing them wrong?
- When should I use IFS parts work versus EMDR reprocessing?
- How do I grow as a therapist after grad school or licensure?
- How do I make my practice more trauma-informed and culturally responsive?
- How do I find my niche or specialty as a clinician?
- What does evidence-based therapy actually look like in practice?
- How do therapists cope with imposter syndrome and self-doubt?
- How do I explain complex therapy concepts to clients in simple language?
Primary-source interviews on EMDR and related trauma reprocessing methods, with the clinicians who developed them: Lainey Rosenzweig on Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) and Thomas Zimmerman on the Four Blinks version of Flash technique.
Whether you are a seasoned clinician or a graduate student, every episode is built to sharpen your clinical thinking. Listen while you drive, walk, or decompress between sessions.
New episodes every other Wednesday.
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps other therapists find the show.
Self Careapist Therapist: Expert Insights & Practical Therapy Skills
5 Common EMDR Questions Explained
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What if the most common sticking points in EMDR therapy have clear, evidence-informed answers? In this solo episode, Lorain Moorehead, LCSW draws directly from her EMDR consultations with therapists to answer five questions that come up again and again in clinical practice. From understanding adaptive information processing and the eight-stage EMDR protocol to navigating negative cognitions, assessing dual awareness, and knowing when to adjust bilateral stimulation, this episode is a practical resource for therapists at every stage of their EMDR training and practice. Whether you are newly trained or a seasoned EMDR therapist, this episode will sharpen how you approach your next session.
0:00 - Intro
1:15 - How adaptive information processing works
2:29 - How trauma generalizes across situations
4:30 - The eight-stage EMDR protocol
6:16 - Resourcing and dual awareness
8:20 - Signs a client needs more resourcing
10:20 - Building the trauma timeline: first, worst, and most recent
13:00 - Virtual EMDR and eye movements vs. other bilateral stimulation
16:00 - Negative cognitions and linked trauma targets
18:11 - Why negative cognitions are hard to identify
20:16 - Criteria for a strong negative cognition
22:38 - Belief vs. fact: an important distinction
24:32 - The gut punch test for the right NC
26:42 - When a client is stuck in reprocessing
28:29 - Adjusting BLS length and speed
30:44 - Combining bilateral stimulation modalities
Episode Highlights:
Adaptive information processing is the theory underlying EMDR. The brain has a natural capacity to process experience, but trauma disrupts that process, and what begins as one trigger can generalize to many situations over time.
EMDR is an eight-stage protocol, and the reprocessing portion is only one part of it. The work has already begun long before bilateral stimulation starts.
Assessing dual awareness, the ability to hold one foot in the present and one foot in the past, is one of the most important readiness indicators before moving into reprocessing.
Spending multiple sessions on resourcing is not a delay. It builds the capacity for clients to visit difficult material and return to the present moment without destabilizing.
The trauma timeline does not need to be exhaustive. Focusing on the first, worst, and most recent incidents is enough to identify the full scope of a target without unnecessarily retraumatizing clients in the process.
Eye movements tend to be the most effective form of bilateral stimulation for many clients, and virtual EMDR can be just as productive as in-person sessions when set up thoughtfully.
A negative cognition must be about the self, negative rather than neutral, a belief and not a fact, and felt as present-tense relevant in order to carry the weight needed for reprocessing to move.
Negative cognitions are often shaped in childhood and can persist even when the adult brain understands the situation differently on a logical level. The NC connects with the instinctual layer of belief, not the reasoning one.
Continuing Education: Many episodes offer a free CEU for licensure in Arizona through the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Content is relevant for continuing education across LCSW, LMHC, LPC, LMFT, NCC, NBCC, and psychology licensure.
Subscribe and leave a review — it helps other therapists find the show.
Not sure where you're stuck clinically? Take the free Stuck Point Quiz at lorainmoorehead.com/quiz and get resources matched to your answers.
Self Careapist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly, therapist-to-therapist conversation hosted by Lorain Moorehead, LCSW, PMH-C, EMDRIA Approved Consultant. Guests include psychologists, researchers, and the developers of the clinical models they teach, with practical takeaways for every level, from intern to clinical supervisor. Many episodes offer a free CEU for Arizona licensure through the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners.
New episodes every other Wednesday. If this episode was useful, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps other therapists find the show.