Relationships 2.0 With Dr. Michelle Skeen

Latest Episodes:

Guest: Raychelle Cassada Lohmann author of Teen Anxiety: A CBT and ACT Activity Resource Book for Helping Anxious Adolescents. Jan 21, 2015

Show notes

About the book: Today’s teens are faced with all sorts of decisions, dilemmas and difficulties, from exam worries to friendship and relationship problems. The result is that anxiety is an increasingly common problem, and professionals need practical ways of helping these anxious teens. Teen Anxiety is a practical manual to use with teenagers to help them cope with anxious feelings. With 60 easy-to-do activities based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), teenagers can be helped to understand what triggers their anxiety; the importance of taking care of themselves; how to work through anxious feelings, fear, stress, and panic; and how to accept and manage thoughts and emotions. Part 1 of the book provides a guide to CBT, ACT and what anxiety is, and the manual also includes scaling questions for assessment and graphs to track progress. This ready-to-use manual, packed with information and activities, will be invaluable to professionals working with anxious teenagers. About the author: Raychelle Cassada Lohmann, MS, LPC, is the author of The Anger Workbook for Teens (New Harbinger Publications), Staying Cool…When You’re Steaming Mad (Marco Products), The Bullying Workbook for Teens (New Harbinger Publications), Teen Anxiety (Jessica Kingsley) and Blogger of Teen Angst for Psychology Today. The Anger Workbook for Teens has been translated into four different languages (Dutch, English, French, and Korean.) Her second book, Staying Cool…When You’re Steaming Mad is a comprehensive anger management curriculum for educators and counseling professionals working with troubled youth. Raychelle’s third book co-authored with Julia V. Taylor, The Bullying Workbook for Teens: Activities to help you deal with Social Aggression and Cyberbullying is a guide to help youth cope with bullying. Raychelle ‘s new book Teen Anxiety is set to be released January, 2015. Raychelle is an active member of the American Counseling Association, American School Counseling Association, and National Career Development Association. Additionally, she is a National Board Certified Counselor and a Licensed Professional Counselor in the states of NC and SC as well as a Global Career Development Facilitator.

Guest: Karen Koenig, author of Outsmarting Overeating: Boost Your Life Skills, End Your Food Problems. Jan 20, 2015

Show notes

About the book: The reason you turn to food when you’re stressed or distressed is that you don’t have better ways of managing life’s ups and downs. According to Karen R. Koenig, an expert on the psychology of eating, you can transform your eating habits—and your life—by developing effective life skills. When you have enhanced skills, you won’t need to turn to mindless eating to make it through the day and will get the best out of life rather than letting life get the best of you. With Koenig’s guidance, you’ll learn how to establish and maintain functional relationships, take care of yourself physically and emotionally, think rationally, and create a passionate, joyful, and meaningful life. When these behaviors take root and become automatic, food becomes what it is meant to be: nourishment and one of life’s many pleasures. About the author: I am a psychotherapist, national educator, international author, and an expert on the psychology of eating—the how and why, not the what, of it. For more than three decades, my mission has been to help people with eating and weight problems learn to eat “normally” and maintain a healthy, stable weight for life without dieting and deprivation. My therapy practice is in Sarasota, FL, where I do tele-coaching and Skype consultation worldwide. As a recovered chronic dieter and binge-eater, I meld my personal recovery wisdom with my professional knowledge and experience to resolve eating problems. My books are Nice Girls Finish Fat, The Rules of “Normal” Eating, The Food and Feelings Workbook, and What Every Therapist Needs to Know About Treating Eating and Weight Issues.

Guest: William Powers, author of New Slow City: Living Simply in the World’s Fastest City. Jan 07, 2015

Show notes

About the book: Burned-out after years of doing development work around the world, William Powers spent a season in a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin off the grid in North Carolina, as recounted in his award-winning memoir Twelve by Twelve. Could he live a similarly minimalist life in the heart of New York City? To find out, Powers and his wife jettisoned 80 percent of their stuff, left their 2,000-square-foot Queens townhouse, and moved into a 350-square-foot “micro-apartment” in Greenwich Village. Downshifting to a two-day workweek, Powers explores the viability of Slow Food and Slow Money, technology fasts and urban sanctuaries. Discovering a colorful cast of New Yorkers attempting to resist the culture of Total Work, Powers offers an inspiring exploration for anyone trying to make urban life more people- and planet-friendly. About the author: Powers new book New Slow City offers an inspiring exploration for anyone trying to make urban life more people- and planet-friendly. Born and raised on Long Island, William Powers has worked for over a decade in development aid and conservation in Latin America, Africa, Native North America, and Washington, DC. He is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and is on the adjunct faculty of New York University. A third generation New Yorker, Powers has also spent two decades exploring the American culture-of-speed and its alternatives in some fifty countries around the world. He has covered the subject in his four books and written about it in the Washington Post and the Atlantic. An expert on sustainable development, he is a freelance writer and speaker. More information on his work can be found here: www.williampowersbooks.com. Contact William directly: bill@williampowersbooks.com.

Guest: Karen Maezen Miller author of Paradise in Plain Sight, Hand Wash Cold, and Momma Zen Dec 31, 2014

Show notes

My special guest for the last show of the year is the author who influenced me the most in 2014, Karen Maezen Miller author of Paradise in Plain Sight, Hand Wash Cold, and Momma Zen About the book: When Zen teacher Karen Maezen Miller and her family land in a house with a hundred-year-old Japanese garden, she uses the paradise in her backyard to glean the living wisdom of our natural world. Through her eyes, rocks convey faith, ponds preach stillness, flowers give love, and leaves express the effortless ease of letting go. The book welcomes readers into the garden for Zen lessons in fearlessness, forgiveness, presence, acceptance, and contentment. Miller gathers inspiration from the ground beneath her feet to remind us that paradise is always here and now. About the author: Karen Maezen Miller is a wife and mother as well as a Zen Buddhist priest at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles. She and her family live in Sierra Madre, California, with a century-old Japanese garden in their backyard. She writes about spirituality in everyday life. She is the author of Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden, Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood, and her writing is included in numerous anthologies.

Guest: Amy Alkon, author of Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck Dec 24, 2014

Show notes

About the book: We live in a world that’s very different from the one in which Emily Post came of age. Many of us who are nice (but who also sometimes say “f*ck”) are frequently at a loss for guidelines about how to be a good person who deals effectively with the increasing onslaught of rudeness we all encounter. To lead us out of the miasma of modern mannerlessness, science-based and bitingly funny syndicated advice columnist Amy Alkon rips the doily off the manners genre and gives us a new set of rules for our twenty-first century lives. With wit, style, and a dash of snark, Alkon explains that we now live in societies too big for our brains, lacking the constraints on bad behavior that we had in the small bands we evolved in. Alkon shows us how we can reimpose those constraints, how we can avoid being one of the rude, and how to stand up to those who are. Foregoing prissy advice on which utensil to use, Alkon answers the twenty-first century’s most burning questions about manners, including: Why do many people, especially those under forty, now find spontaneous phone calls rude? What can you tape to your mailbox to stop dog walkers from letting their pooch violate your lawn? How do you shut up the guy in the pharmacy line with his cellphone on speaker? What small gift to your new neighbors might make them think twice about playing Metallica at 3 a.m.? Combining science with more than a touch of humor, Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck is destined to give good old Emily a shove off the etiquette shelf (if that’s not too rude to say). About the author: Amy Alkon writes The Advice Goddess, an award-winning, syndicated column that runs in more than one hundred newspapers across the United States and Canada. She is also the author of I See Rude People. She has been on Good Morning America, The Today Show, NPR, CNN, MTV, and Entertainment Tonight and has a weekly radio show called Advice Goddess Radio. She has also written for Psychology Today, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Daily News (New York), and Pravda, among others. She lives in Venice, California.

Guest: Julia V. Taylor MA, author of The Body Image Workbook for Teens: Activities to Help Girls Develop a Healthy Body Image in an Image-Obsessed World. Dec 17, 2014

Show notes

About the book: Like most teens, you want to feel good about the way you look. But what happens when the way you look just doesn’t feel good enough? Whether it’s online, on TV, or in magazines, images of impossibly perfect—and mostly Photoshopped—young women are everywhere. As a result, you may feel an intense pressure to look a certain way. Your friends feel the pressure too, which often creates a secret comparison competition that can make you feel worse about yourself. So how can you start feeling good about who you are, as is? In The Body Image Workbook for Teens, you’ll find practical exercises and tips that address the most common factors that can lead to negative body image, including: comparison, negative self-talk, unrealistic media images, societal and family pressures, perfectionism, toxic friendships, and a fear of disappointing others. You’ll also learn powerful coping strategies to deal with the daily, intense pressures of being a teenage girl. Being a teen girl in today’s world is hard, and no one knows that more than you. But if you are ready to stop comparing yourself to others, silence your inner critic, and build authentic, lasting self-confidence—this book is your go-to guide. About the author: Julia V. Taylor, MA, is author of Salvaging Sisterhood and Perfectly You, and is coauthor of G.I.R.L.S. (Girls in Real Life Situations) and The Bullying Workbook for Teens. Taylor has worked as a middle and high school counselor and has a passion for empowering girls to stand up to unrealistic media expectations, take healthy risks, and cultivate meaningful relationships. Visit her online at www.juliavtaylor.com.

Guest: Shawn T. Smith, author of Surviving Aggressive People: Practical Violence Prevention Skills for the Workplace and the Street Dec 10, 2014

Show notes

About the book: Whether an aggressor is a seasoned predator or an irate individual, hostility is almost always preceded by warning signs—if we know what to look for. Surviving Aggressive People dissects the psychology of aggression. It exposes the subtle cues of impending violence and offers timeless methods for transforming a potential disaster into a peaceful victory. Using time-tested methods for conflict management and crisis intervention, this book offers persuasion and peacemaking skills that historically have been reserved for law enforcement, psychologists, and other professionals working the front lines of emotionally charged situations. In today’s world, these skills are a must for everyone. Newly updated, with a special appendix for healthcare workers, the enduring knowledge in Surviving Aggressive People can help deter hostility before it spins out of control. It might even save your life. About the author: Shawn Smith is a clinical psychologist in Denver, Colorado and the author of three psychology books. He also writes a blog at www.ironshrink.com, where he answers important questions such as: Can dogs learn to read? Why do I feel amorous when I have a cold? Is my ex possessed? Shawn’s writing is light-hearted, impeccably researched, and always useful.

Guest: Marc Bekoff, PhD, author of Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence. Dec 03, 2014

Show notes

About the book: In wildlife conservation, rewilding refers to restoring habitats and creating corridors between preserved lands to allow declining populations to rebound. Marc Bekoff, one of the world’s leading animal experts and activists, here applies rewilding to human attitudes. Rewilding Our Hearts invites readers to do the essential work of becoming reenchanted with the world, acting from the inside out, and dissolving false boundaries to truly connect with both nature and themselves. About the author: Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is author of The Emotional Lives of Animals and Wild Justice, among many other titles. www.marcbekoff.com

Guest: Alan Fox, author of People Tools for Business: 54 Strategies for Building Relationships, Creating Joy and Embracing Prosperity. Nov 26, 2014

Show notes

About the book: Getting along well with others is the real secret to success and happiness. In tens of thousands of classrooms we teach reading, writing, and arithmetic and yet we leave solutions to the universal problems of human relationships to be discovered, if at all, by trial and error. The trial is painful and the error is costly. People Tools: 54 Strategies for Building Relationships, Creating Joy, and Embracing Prosperity, provides time-proven techniques that you can use to build a better, happier, more successful life. It is the perfect resource for busy people looking for fast and effective solutions to the challenges we face every day. PRACTICAL WISDOM ON EVERY PAGE People Tools are practical and easy to understand. From developing self-confidence, to improving communication skills, to finding constructive ways to resolve conflict, each People Tool addresses a specific issue and provides a simple, straightforward strategy that you can adopt to bring about a positive result. Some of the useful People Tools in the book include: The Belt Buckle. When words are different than action (The Belt Buckle), trust the Belt Buckle, not the words. Buy a Ticket. To make something good happen in your life you have to participate. Catching a Feather. An alternative to the endless chase, this Tool reveals how to attract people you want to be closer to. Patterns Persist. Prior actions are predictive of future behaviors. Catch Them Being Good. Rewards are more effective than punishments. TIME-TESTED TOOLS TO ENHANCE YOUR WELLBEING Although you may recognize the more intuitive techniques in People Tools, this sourcebook provides explanations and helpful examples from a vast collection of different tools designed to help you further expand your own existing repertoire of skills. Open the book to any page and you will find a useful solution. Each tool is illustrated with insightful stories and amusing anecdotes that are relevant and relatable. The stories will reel you in but the advice will change your life. About the author: Alan Fox has enjoyed a number of lifetimes during the past seventy-two years. He has university degrees in accounting, law, education, and professional writing. He has been employed as a Tax Supervisor for a national CPA firm, established his own law firm, and founded a commercial real estate company in 1968 that now owns and manages more than seventy major income-producing properties in eleven states. Fox is the founder, editor, and publisher of Rattle, one of the most respected literary magazines in the United States, and he sits on the board of directors of several non-profit foundations. People Tools is the distillation of his experience in accounting, law, real estate, poetry, three marriages, and raising six children, two step children, and one foster child.

Guest: Gina Vucci, co-author of The Relationship Handbook: A Path to Consciousness, Healing and Growth. Nov 19, 2014

Show notes

About the book: Using knowledge and skills honed over a lifetime of teaching and learning, personal development pioneer Shakti Gawain presents a powerful, life-changing work on a subject she has always been passionate about: our relationships. In her popular workshops and in her personal life, she has tested and refined the insights and exercises in this book, which she cowrote with her longtime collaborator Gina Vucci. Their approach reflects the fact that each of us is in relationships not only with romantic partners, family, coworkers, and children, but also with internal core beliefs and a variety of selves, including primary, disowned, and shadow selves. These revelatory teachings incorporate strategies for becoming aware of hidden beliefs, applying the Voice Dialogue process developed by Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone, and learning to experience every relationship as a path to self-knowledge. Through her gentle guidance, Shakti shows us how every relationship we have at every moment can be seen as a path toward greater consciousness, healing, and growth. There is no other book on relationships like this. Give this powerful book even a short amount of time and prepare yourself for some truly remarkable results! About the co-author: Gina has worked with Shakti Gawain, a pioneer in the field for personal growth, for more than 15 years. Gina co-leads workshops, facilitates groups and has contributed to Shakti’s best selling products including Developing Intuition, and revised editions of Creative Visualization and Living In The Light. Gina has been trained and certified in a number of counseling fields. She brings a deep level of experience, wisdom and joy to her work with others teaching, speaking, and writing. Here is a snapshot of Gina: Gina is a “Soccer Mom.” She is a single mom raising three inspired children, a survivor of domestic violence, a sober alcoholic for over twenty six years, a mentor, a friend, an advocate, a seeker. Her journey has brought her to a place of knowing that life holds something extraordinary for each of us. Her faith and hope has brought insight and inspiration to many. Her passion is to support people in recognizing their true potential for joy, freedom and empowerment.

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