303 - How We Relate to the Moment Impacts How We Show Up as Therapists with Santiago Delboy
Conversations With a Wounded Healer
Release Date: 11/19/2025
Conversations With a Wounded Healer
All of us show up with multiple identities (partner, parent, revolutionary, etc.). How do we, as therapists, get better at existing in discomfort and creating space where everyone can explore without rushing to define themselves? Santiago Delboy, MBA, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and founder of Fermata Psychotherapy, a psychoanalytic group practice in Chicago. I consider Santiago a true in-betweener (or, n’betweener©, the term coined by previous guest Nora Alwah for those who, like herself, feel suspended between two (or more) identities; not fully inhabiting one or the...
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
Scan any therapists' forum and you’ll discover that the operational strategies that group practices have relied on no longer work. Could organizing principles like collaboratives, collectives, and cooperatives offer group practices new ways to thrive? Uriah Guilford, MFT, thinks so! He has had success bucking the industry’s tried-and-true practice model. Uriah’s evolution from traditional group practice owner to collaborative model speaks to his willingness to take on risks within reason. GUEST BIO Uriah Guilford, MFT, is a licensed therapist and a group practice owner. He's also...
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
The answer to righting the world’s many wrongs is more love. Love is also the problem. If you’re new here, then solving this conundrum may seem hopeless. Fear not! In part one of my conversation with Michael Sykes, we began with a simple question: How can we encourage ideas or policies rich in love for each other when so many of us struggle to love ourselves? In part two, Michael and I dig into the societal pressures, inherited traumas, and self-doubts that have disconnected us from our authentic loving natures. GUEST BIO Michael Sykes is the founder of Equitable Solutions and...
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
Some people remind us to trust the process, even when it seems hopeless. Michael Sykes is one of those people. He's the cheerleader encouraging us on the uneasy journey to authenticity. What I appreciate most is his commitment to integrity, even when the path toward that innate wholeness feels inaccessible. He doesn't shy away from sharing the most heart-centered version of himself with the world. Sure, he may metaphorically faceplant from time to time (who hasn't?!). But, Michael stays the course—and he's created a guide to help us do the same. GUEST BIO Michael Sykes is the founder of...
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
Chats with group practice employees are more fun when you’re not their practice owner! Maybe a bit more revealing, too. Such is the case with my guest, Sierra Waller, LCPC, an early-career therapist working at Health In Tandem, a small group practice in Chicago. Apologies if you’ve landed here hoping for a gripe-and-gossip session. Instead, Sierra and I dig into her experiences as a newer therapist in a group practice setting. This trajectory from grad school straight into private practice has become increasingly common. Subsequently, there’s a learning curve to be aware of on both sides...
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
How do leaders keep their heads clear and hearts open in the heat of difficult conversations? I ask because it’s only natural for leaders (and any human, really) to bristle at opposition to their ideas, critique of their efforts, or recommendations for improvement. Being in community with each other requires a high level of mutual responsibility. But the practice of accountability can activate deeply entrenched defense mechanisms, even in the most self-aware among us (note to self). In part two of my conversation with Julianne Guinasso, LMFT, and co-founder of Level Up Leaders, we explore...
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
Outward change (to our profession, our communities, and our world) can only happen when we start from within—and we're gonna need all the help we can get. Julianne Guinasso, LMFT, is a role model for these contentious times. She's a therapist in private practice and the co-founder of Level Up Leaders, a partnership that helps mental health group practice owners cultivate psychologically safe, trauma-informed work cultures. Our two-part conversation begins with an honest assessment of the "becoming" process and offers some helpful reframes for when things feel especially sticky. GUEST BIO...
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
I'll start by stating the obvious. Being a group practice owner or group practice therapist in "unprecedented times" is a challenging endeavor. Our people and profession are struggling under the pressures of late-stage capitalism, antagonistic politics, and rage-bait algorithms —the same forces that affect our clients. I'll follow up the obvious with a hard truth. Some of the ills are coming from inside the house, er, practice. I believe in the good and essential aspects of the group practice model. I also believe that the only way out is through. And together. As does Gabrielle...
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
Are you an n’betweener? Before you answer, I recommend queuing up part one of my conversation with Nora Alwah, LPC, the coach, therapist, TEDx speaker, and community-builder. She coined the term n’betweener© to describe those who, like herself, feel suspended between two (or more) identities; not fully inhabiting one or the other. In part two, Nora and I explore ways that folks can expand their capacity for understanding in a world that increasingly devalues the experiences of n’betweeners. GUEST BIO Nora Alwah (she/her) - Coach. Therapist. TEDx speaker. Writer....
info_outlineConversations With a Wounded Healer
Many of us know what it feels like to navigate a middle space. Folks who are gender-fluid come to mind. But I’m also thinking of those who balance a privileged identity with their relationship to a traditionally oppressed group. Or anyone whose ethnicity is not commonly associated with the culture in which they grew up. How do we express this complicated identity in terms that others might understand or empathize with? Nora Alwah, founder of n’betweener©, a global platform and space of belonging, helps folks voice their truth and transform the pain of being an n’betweener into...
info_outlineAll of us show up with multiple identities (partner, parent, revolutionary, etc.). How do we, as therapists, get better at existing in discomfort and creating space where everyone can explore without rushing to define themselves?
Santiago Delboy, MBA, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and founder of Fermata Psychotherapy, a psychoanalytic group practice in Chicago. I consider Santiago a true in-betweener (or, n’betweener©, the term coined by previous guest Nora Alwah for those who, like herself, feel suspended between two (or more) identities; not fully inhabiting one or the other). My assessment isn’t an indictment; it’s an invitation. How can we transmute the discomfort of the unknown into collective growth?
GUEST BIO
Santiago Delboy, MBA, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and founder of Fermata Psychotherapy, a psychoanalytic group practice in Chicago. He has provided clinical supervision and consultation at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, the Institute for Clinical Social Work, and The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Prior to becoming a clinician, he spent over a decade working in the corporate world in Peru, his home country, and the U.S. His publications include essays in Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Revista de la Sociedad Peruana de Psicoanálisis, Aeon, and Psychology Today.
***
Join the Group Practice (R)evolution! GPR is a new platform and podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. For a limited time, podcast listeners can get a full year of membership for only $19.99 by using the discount code PODCAST.
Visit: https://tinyurl.com/GPRPodcast and click on “have a coupon” and enter PODCAST to enjoy all the perks of Group Practice (R)evolution for a year!
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch
Join our Patreon for gifts & perks
Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers
Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts
***
Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…