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Healing from Wounds No One Sees – From Military to Motorcycles

Bear Psychology Podcast

Release Date: 03/06/2025

Using MDMA therapy to improve relationships and manage conflict show art Using MDMA therapy to improve relationships and manage conflict

Bear Psychology Podcast

MDMA or 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is a synthetic psychoactive medicine that alters mood and perception.  It has been shown to be highly effective for treating trauma. Some studies have shown 71% to 86% of participants achieved clinically meaningful improvements, and about half no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. It is now being used to address relational conflict and improving relationships. The book Ecstasy for Couples was written to better understand this exploratory intervention and how couples are using MDMA to better understand each other and work on...

info_outline Caring for patients with kindness and connection show art Caring for patients with kindness and connection

Bear Psychology Podcast

This guide for mental health professionals offers an insightful, conversational approach to mastering empathic communication with clients. Dr. Douglas Flemons invites readers to join him in a dialogue that incorporates voices from clinical research and practice, philosophy (both Eastern and Western), neuroscience, and the arts. In his book, “Empathic Engagement in Clinical Practice,” Douglas explains the nuts and bolts of empathy and offers guidelines for how therapists can make sense of clients’ thoughts, feelings, and choices from inside their worldview. He also shows how the...

info_outline The Strength to Serve: Mental Health for First Responders & Care Providers show art The Strength to Serve: Mental Health for First Responders & Care Providers

Bear Psychology Podcast

First responders and healthcare professionals are trained to manage crisis — but repeated exposure to trauma, loss, and high-stakes decision-making can take a cumulative toll. Over time, this can lead to emotional exhaustion, sleep disruption, irritability, and disconnection — not because of weakness, but because the nervous system has been under sustained demand without adequate recovery. In this podcast, psychologist and author Tania Bielak, Ph.D. shares insights from her book The Strength to Serve, offering practical, evidence-based strategies to support mental health in...

info_outline Addiction and the Journey to Enlightenment show art Addiction and the Journey to Enlightenment

Bear Psychology Podcast

Addiction isn’t just about pain—it can also be a call to something greater. The darkest paths can sometimes lead to the brightest truths by walking the path from suffering to self-discovery. In his book, “The Shadow of a Figure of Light: The Archetype of the Alcoholic and the Journey to Enlightenment” (2024) Cody Peterson explores the essence of Psycho-Spiritual transformation. Peterson looks at addiction as a pathway to wholeness. His book serves as both a guide and a mirror for those seeking to understand the hidden patterns behind self-destruction and the redemptive power...

info_outline Using Polyvagal Theory for Healing show art Using Polyvagal Theory for Healing

Bear Psychology Podcast

Listen to us as we discuss how you can rewire your nervous system for lasting calm, connection, and resilience with cutting-edge, polyvagal theory-based activities. Whether you have suffered a single traumatic experience or faced repeated difficult life events, you can be left feeling hypervigilant, irritable, and disconnected. Daily tasks like attending a work meeting or social gathering can feel overwhelming or even frightening. Most therapies for treating trauma require you to “revisit” your traumatic experience in potentially triggering ways. Best-selling author Dr. Arielle Schwartz...

info_outline The Relationships Workbook for BPD show art The Relationships Workbook for BPD

Bear Psychology Podcast

The Relationships Workbook for BPD - Bear Psychology Radio hosted by Dr. Anna Baranowsky with guest Dr. Daniel J. Fox. When intense emotions, fear of abandonment, or distorted expectations consume you, relationships can slowly erode, replaced by feelings of resentment and hostility. Unstable and high-conflict relationships are a hallmark of borderline personality disorder (BPD). In his book, “The Relationships Workbook for BPD”, Daniel J. Fox guides you step-by-step to help explore beliefs, behaviours and patterns that sabotage connection. Instead you learn how to repair relationships...

info_outline Inner Growth for emotional healing show art Inner Growth for emotional healing

Bear Psychology Podcast

Many people associate the term "enlightenment" with images of a solitary figure sitting atop a distant mountain peak or a monk focused intently on meditation, but what does this concept look like when navigating our lives in today’s complex society? Enlightment, at its core, is about gaining awareness and awakening ourselves to the interconnected nature of existence. Dr. Steve Taylor, a renowned spiritual psychologist, has devoted his life to investigating spiritual awakening. His previous bestselling books provided case histories of dozens of people who experienced profound shifts in...

info_outline The Power of Psychoanalysis show art The Power of Psychoanalysis

Bear Psychology Podcast

From alleviating recurring nightmares to finding oneself by discovering your family’s secret past, psychoanalysis is a turbulent but rewarding form of psychotherapy. Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis establishing it in the 1890’s. The approach includes a focus on the unconscious mind, dream interpretation and talk therapy for addressing mental disturbances. Psychoanalysis continues to be a valuable path for gaining inner freedom from a host of mental struggles. In her book, “Untangling: A Memoir of Psychoanalysis” Joan Peters takes us through her journey of...

info_outline Divorce and New Beginnings show art Divorce and New Beginnings

Bear Psychology Podcast

Using Self-Compassion practices after divorce can help both parents and children.  Divorce and/or separation is a stressful but quite common experience for both parents and children. Children often carry guilt, shame, and anger along with many other big feelings that parents often feel ill-equipped to address. In her book, “Two Times as Much Love” Eileen Beltzner tells the story of Alexander, a third-grader struggling with the emotional aftermath of his parents’ divorce, and his journey toward self-understanding and personal growth. Beltzner uses engaging storytelling and...

info_outline Schizoid Personality Disorder and a life of challenge show art Schizoid Personality Disorder and a life of challenge

Bear Psychology Podcast

Blair Sorrel shares her journey of living with Schizoid Personality Disorder and learning to accept and love herself. She undercovers further elements of her life growing up in a family of origin where she experienced ridicule leading to low self-worth, social anxiety and a debilitating fear of authority figures.   She explores a home life with “poor parenting” which undermined her academic and career disappointments. She reflects on the importance of nurturing caregivers to allow the flourishing of Intelligence and genetics toward success. In her book, “A Schizoid at Smith: How...

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Dedicating your life to the safety and freedom of your country is a massive sacrifice military veterans across make every day. One of the largest challenges for these heroes is working through the barriers and stigma of PTSD following service and navigating their path of readjustment and recovery. Kurt Grant, author of “Shiny Side Up: On the Road to Recovery”, used a cross-country motorcycle trip to help integrate and calm some of the chaos in his mind following military service as an infantry sergeant.

Listen to our conversation with veteran & author Kurt Grant as we talk about his healing journey, what life looks like after service, and the rocky path to recovery.

Kurt Grant is a 32 year military veteran of the Canadian Forces and author. Apart from his service as an infantry sergeant with the Canadian Forces, he also worked as a researcher and writer at the Directorate of History and Heritage and was an editor at the Canadian Army Journal. He has published in multiple books and peer reviewed journals. Grant himself was diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) back in 2011 as a result of his military service.

This book is a personal memoir of his journey leaving military service after a diagnosis of PTSD. With his motorcycle and a fly-fishing kit in hand, Grant set off on a long cross country-trip.  His healing journey is wonderfully detailed with a deep dive into a healing journey that helped him reconnect with his past and his present.

If you are interested in Kurt Grant’s story and the realities of life as a military veteran, this podcast is for you.

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