The session in which we speak once again with Nurah Muhammad (shrinksonthird.com/actionism-sister-nurah-muhammad), who lives and works in Camden, NJ. For this session we reached out to get Sister Nurah’s take on the changes in the Camden Police Department, recently touted as a successful model of community policing. She offered her perspective on what’s working, what isn’t, and what still needs improvement.
Hope Springs Eternal
As we bring our 2nd year of podcasting to a close and begin a new ‘season’ we think about hope and try to find it to begin our 3rd year. In this session we explore hopefulness: where we look for and find it, how we highlight it, and how to share it. It’s been a rough year – we’re hopeful the next one will be better.
Politics in Therapy
The session in which we discuss the increasing amount that political thoughts and concerns have permeated therapy sessions since 2016. In the past, politics did not enter therapy in the same ways that it seems to now. In this session, we talk about politics in therapy and how it has changed the way we manage our therapeutic relationships.
Health Psychology
The session in which we speak with Dr. Phil Fizur, a clinical psychologist in the department of Behavioral Medicine at Cooper University Healthcare in Camden, NJ. Dr. Fizur’s day-to-day work involves patient care at Cooper’s Urban Health Institute, focusing on providing healthcare to Camden’s underserved populations. In addition, since the pandemic hit, he is also dealing with the traumatic impact of COVID19 on patients and providers.
Loneliness
We haven’t been in person together in almost 6 months now and the title of this Shrinks After Hours episode perhaps, in part, reflects that fact. Loneliness is experienced very differently by different people and in this particular episode we were reflecting upon that with Allison Gibbs, LCSW, of Therapy Concierge, LLC.
Dreams and Nightmares
Not too many bonuses in 2020 but here’s one! We talked to Director of the Philadelphia Storytelling Project, Mark Lyons, on this week’s main episode. He mentioned a book he helped to edit and translate by a young woman who fled alone to the United States when she was 14. In this bonus episode, Mark reads a powerful excerpt from the book, Dreams and Nightmares/Sueños y Pesadillas by Liliana Velásquez.
The Power of Story
The session in which we talk to Mark Lyons about the power of stories to create social change. As an author, and director of the Philadelphia Storytelling Project, Mark has worked with youth and adults to create audio stories about their lives. He has worked with inner-city youth using audio stories to improve literacy; with immigrants to document their dreams, barriers and determination, and with veterans who have found a way out of homelessness.
Education Activism
The session in which we meet Samuel Reed III, aka Reed, and Ismael Jimenez to talk about education activism and teacherpreneurship. Reed and Ismael are two passionate and dedicated educators who are core members of the Teacher Action Group (tagphilly.org). Ismael recently spearheaded the founding of the Philly Hub for Liberatory Academics (phlaed.org) while Reed currently focuses most on being a teacherpreneur and helping to promote economic and financial empowerment. Both believe in education as a tool of social change and liberation.
Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom
The session in which we spoke with Marion Hamermesh about her participation in the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an organization working to build relationships between Muslim and Jewish women. We focused our discussion on a ‘Building Bridges’ trip some of the Sisterhood went on in January 2020. A group of 48 Muslim and Jewish women from all across the United States traveled to the U.S./Mexican border in Arizona.
The bonding and learning was deep and heartfelt for all of the participants. In addition to each woman’s personal moral compass, they were following respective Islamic and Jewish text (from their website):
“You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus, 23:9)
“The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Beware of oppression, for oppression will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection.’” (Muslim 2578)
Learn more at sosspeace.org
Viral Inequities
An After Hours session with Allison Gibbs, LCSW (Therapy Concierge, LLC) focusing on the Coronavirus health disparities highlighted in the news. We first debunk a very offensive and baseless idea that this is because of some biological predisposition to the novel coronavirus among Black people, and talked more sanely about why these inequities truly exist and why we’re seeing them right now. Not the most lighthearted of our After Hours conversations, but it’s always a positive experience to open up in heartfelt dialog with Allison.