Education
**Struggle Care**

A podcast about self-care by a host that hates the term self-care. Therapist KC Davis, author of the book How to Keep House While Drowning talks about mental health, care tasks, and more.

Latest Episodes:

113: Balancing Self-Care and Community Care with Nat Vikitsreth Sep 30, 2024

Show notes

This episode is about liberation, revolution, and social justice. We are tackling these topics from a practical perspective with my guest, Nat. Join us!

Nat Vikitsreth is a licensed clinical social worker who works with families who want to practice social justice in their daily lives but are torn between acting in their communities and at home. She helps them bridge the gap despite being tired, overwhelmed, and stretched too thin. Holding space for their beautiful intentions and walking with them on this journey are Nat’s passions.

Show Highlights:

Nat’s background as a transgender woman from Thailand who has become a clinician and a social justice organizer
Trying to honor our values about liberation at home and in the community
Being your own ally first with agility and awareness of your available bandwidth
Learning to hold space for accountability
The root causes of our suffering: white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy
Leading with compassion in action instead of punishment
What it means to be truly humble
Nat’s advice for parents
Finding the sweet spot between discomfort and boundaries
Being realistic in your family about what causes you can support and take action on with your limited capacity
Nat’s words of advice about actions beyond the “sexy actions” to take

Resources and Links:

Connect with Nat Vikitsreth: Website and Come Back to Care Podcast

Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook

Get KC’s book,How to Keep House While Drowning

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

112: When a Loved One Won’t Seek Mental Health Treatment with Dr. Alec Pollard Sep 23, 2024

Show notes

What do you do when a loved one won’t seek the mental health treatment that they obviously need? We are looking at the very important topic of mental health from the perspective of your concern for a loved one who might be resistant to asking for help, and what you can do about it. I’m joined by Dr. Alec Pollard, a co-author of When A Loved One Won't Seek Mental Health Treatment: How to Promote Recovery and Reclaim Your Family’s Well-Being. With a long career as a clinical psychologist, he is the founding director of the St. Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute. Join us to learn more!

Show Highlights:

Dr. Pollard’s background and four decades of experience as a psychologist
Turning his focus to help those who are concerned about their loved one’s mental health
Dr. Pollard explains The Family Well-Being Approach/Consultation
Two types of accommodations that loved ones make: commission and omission
Differentiation between appropriate and inappropriate accommodations for a loved one
Recovery avoidance: a pattern of behavior that is inconsistent with the process of recovery
Creating opportunities for a loved one to get better through support, incentives, and positive rewards
Dr. Pollard’s book and its approach of finding a balance between long-term planning and crisis management
Dr. Pollard’s takeaway about his book as his proudest achievement in his career

Resources and Links:

Connect with Dr. Alec Pollard: St. Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute and When A Loved One Won't Seek Mental Health Treatment

Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook

Get KC’s book,How to Keep House While Drowning

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

111: How to be a Content Creator without Wrecking Your Mental Health with Franchesca Ramsey Sep 16, 2024

Show notes

If you joined us for last week’s episode, you know that we promised Part 2 of my conversation with Franchesca Ramsey. She brings an expert perspective on the various aspects of content creation, like authenticity, compassion, handling negative comments, the value of listening, and more. Franchesca Ramsey is an actor, writer, public speaker, and longtime content creator. She wrote and performed in the web series MTV Decoded, where she tackled race, pop culture, and other uncomfortable topics. Other notable accomplishments include writing for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and a nomination for an NAACP award for one of the best books of 2018: Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist. Franchesca shares her expertise and insights about guarding your mental health as a content creator. Join us to learn more!

Show Highlights:

The skills we lack in being human, trusting each other, and genuinely calling someone IN
The public vs. private sphere of an online presence
Listening, forgiving, and doing the right thing
Hard-earned perspectives on hot takes and being silent
What’s your WHY for content creation?
Handling critical and negative comments on social media
Being authentic in content creation means sometimes logging off.
KC’s thoughts on her WHY as a content creator

Resources and Links:

Connect with Franchesca Ramsey: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and book

Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook

Get KC’s book,How to Keep House While Drowning

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

110: How to be a Content Creator without Wrecking Your Mental Health with Franchesca Ramsey Sep 09, 2024

Show notes

Today’s episode is a conversation I’ve been wanting to have for awhile, and I’ve found the perfect person for this topic. Franchesca Ramsey is an actor, writer, public speaker, and longtime content creator. She wrote and performed in the web series MTV Decoded, where she tackled race, pop culture, and other uncomfortable topics. Other notable accomplishments include writing for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and a nomination for an NAACP award for one of the best books of 2018: Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist. Franchesca shares her expertise and insights on longevity and mental health as a content creator. Join us to learn more!

Show Highlights:

Burnout is real in the content creation world.
Lessons learned about life and authenticity as a content creator, influencer, and vlogger
Are you putting your time and energy in the wrong place?
You have to censor yourself EVERY day!
Impulsive reactions on social media can have severe consequences. Give yourself space to step back.
Prioritizing joy in your content and not reacting with anger
The nature of social media
Strengthening internal boundaries by getting comfortable with being misunderstood
Thoughts on cancel culture and negative backlash
Our conversation is so good that we don’t want it to end. We will continue with Part 2 with Franchesca in next week’s episode!

Resources and Links:

Connect with Franchesca Ramsey: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and book

Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook

Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

109: Should We Bully Immoral People? with Ellie Rushton Sep 02, 2024

Show notes

Join us for today’s interesting conversation about ethics, boundaries, suffering, bullying, and being online/offline. There are many facets to these topics as they intertwine with morality, and we are diving into a discussion with Ellie Rushton,

Show Highlights:

Ellie’s background, work, and TikTok content about “cultivating bold spaces”
Ellie’s definition of bullying: “doing something harmful several times on purpose for the sake of someone’s suffering”
Thoughts on bullying and why people do it
Holding someone accountable vs. bullying—what’s the difference?
Ellie’s perspective on online comments to others’ content
Thoughts on the roots of inequality, oppression, and suffering—and the problem with categorizing “good” and “bad” people
People are afraid of embodying compassion.
What is effective in online spaces
Thoughts about boundaries, revenge, and retribution
Standing up for what you believe while holding yourself accountable

Resources and Links:

Connect with Ellie: TikTok

Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook

Get KC’s book,How to Keep House While Drowning

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

108: BEST OF: The Sex Ed You Should Have Gotten with Rachel Coler Mulholland Aug 26, 2024

Show notes

🌟 Taking a Break! 🌟

Hey everyone! I am taking a short break for August to recharge and prepare exciting new content for you. I’ll be back in September with fresh episodes and engaging conversations. Thanks for your support and patience. Stay tuned for what’s coming next!

Today, we are covering an important topic today, but maybe not in the way you expect. I’m joined by Rachel Mulholland (aka Shug CM), a therapist whom I met on TikTok because of her incredible content around sex education for children. Today’s focus is on how our lives as adults are impacted if we don’t get comprehensive sex education as children. Join us for the conversation!

Show Highlights:

How KC’s story from her teenage years illustrates the gaps that most people have in their education about sex and the fact that sex ed is NOT a one-time conversation
How “purity culture” is impacting teenagers in certain places in the US in damaging ways
How even most comprehensive sex ed doesn’t address the pleasurable side of sex–and (for females) that the pleasure doesn’t have to come from another person
How sexual predators take advantage of the lack of information in sex ed from SAFE places
Why parents have real fear about talking to their kids about sex ed
The effects of NOT educating kids that sex and pleasure don’t always go together
Rachel’s Four Pillars of Safe Sex: confirmation, communication, lubrication, and enthusiastic participation
Why parents should be aware when their kids are ready to hear and learn–and begin at the most basic level appropriate for their age
How to answer those first little-kid questions around, “Where do babies come from?”
Why curiosity is a foundational part of body talk for kids–not just around sexuality
How parents can work through their own feelings around sex ed with their children
Why Rachel’s next project is a book about body talk

Resources:

Connect with Rachel: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Website (coming soon!)

Recommended by Rachel: How Do You Make A Baby by Anna Fiske

Connect with KC: TikTok, Instagram, and Website

Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

107: BEST OF: The Color of Care Tasks with Danita Platt Aug 19, 2024

Show notes

🌟 Taking a Break! 🌟

I’m excited to have Danita Platt on the show today. I didn’t know anyone of color in the field of care tasks until I met her. Her content resonates with me and my views around care tasks, so I hope you’ll enjoy hearing more from Danita!

Show Highlights:

Who Danita is and how she became an expert on gentle care tasks
How our society over the last two generations has moralized care tasks and tied them to the worth of a woman
Why we need to rethink our views about care tasks and “being a good woman” that go back to the founding of the US, historically speaking
How the concept of “invisible labor” has carried over from colonial days even to today
How many white people were able to live the lives they did because of the cheap, exploitable labor of Black women
How the Great Migration happened to move many Black families to northern cities from the South
How the shift happened to push Black (and white) women to work industrial jobs while men were away during the war
How the push is recurring for 1950s homemaking to be viewed as the superior role for women
What we DON’T talk about in the fulfilling life of a homemaker
How Danita chooses to honor the Black women who had to wash clothes, clean house, and cook meals under duress–with no freedom or choice of their own
What Danita would say to women who want to live more joyfully in their homes and experience more freedom and quality of life

Resources:

Connect with Danita: TikTok and Instagram

Mentioned in this episode: Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism

Connect with KC: TikTok, Instagram, and Website

Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

106: BEST OF: Is Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria Real? with Dr Lesley Aug 15, 2024

Show notes

🌟 Taking a Break! 🌟

I’m back with one of my favorite guests who is always up for the challenge of a podcast–no matter what the topic is! I want to explore the term rejection sensitivity dysphoria and get Dr. Lesley Cook’s take on it because I have so many questions. Let’s learn more together!

Dr. Lesley Cook is a psychologist who works with those with ADHD and other kinds of neurodivergence. Born and raised in Hawaii, she now lives in Virginia and works with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families.

Show Highlights:

● What RSD (rejection sensitivity dysphoria) is and how it is manifested

● KC’s personal experience with RSD and feelings of worthlessness

● How RSD is different from sensory sensitivity and autism

● Thoughts about the strong word dysphoria in RSD

● KC’s personal experience with RSD and being told she is “too sensitive”

● How we can grow, change, and find regulatory strategies for RSD

● Why it is difficult to communicate the facets and nuances of RSD and other interpersonal difficulties

Resources and Links:

Connect with Dr. Lesley Cook: TikTok

Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook

Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

105: BEST OF: Self-Esteem Sucks. You need Self-Compassion with Dr Kristin Neff Aug 12, 2024

Show notes

🌟 Taking a Break! 🌟

I’m excited about today’s guest because she has had a huge influence on me. I can confidently say that finding her research on self-compassion was a turning point in my healing journey. Do you need more self-compassion? Join us to learn more!

Dr. Kristin Neff is a renowned psychologist, self-care researcher, and author. Her work has had a profound impact on the field of psychology and has helped countless people cultivate self-acceptance and resilience.

Show Highlights:

How self-compassion became Dr. Kristin’s main area of research
Understanding self-esteem vs. self-compassion
The three components of self-compassion: mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness
How self-esteem creates comparison and social disconnection by being conditional and unstable
How self-compassion gives the gift of authenticity
The difference between fierce self-compassion and tender self-compassion
How self-compassion helps us get past our shame
Why self-compassion doesn’t mean indulgence
Pathways and blocks to self-compassion
The connection between self-compassion and psychological functioning
How self-compassion helps when we fail and make mistakes
Why the goal of practicing self-compassion is to be simply a compassionate mess who is completely human
Why the practice of self-compassion has to start small with baby steps of warmth and support (What would you say to a friend?)
A look at Dr. Kristin’s latest book, Fierce Self-Compassion
How anger fits into self-compassion

Resources and Links:

Connect with Dr. Kristin and find many helpful resources: Website

Connect with KC: TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook

Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

104: The Controversy of ABA: A Discussion with Researcher Dr. Robin Roscigno Aug 05, 2024

Show notes

Our deep dive into ABA and autism continues in this episode. Today’s guest recently finished her Ph.D. in Education, focusing on disability studies and related research in the world of DEI. Dr. Robin Roscigno helps educate parents about neurodiversity to create a more inclusive world for neurodiverse individuals. She posts frequently on social media platforms about autism and autism therapies. Her studies and life experiences give her both a professional and personal relationship to this topic because of her brother’s childhood diagnosis of autism. Robin was also diagnosed with autism along with her young daughter and began navigating the therapy world as a parent who struggled to find therapies that are affirming. After leaving teaching to pursue her Ph.D., she now focuses on autism intervention and challenging the dominant paradigms.

Show Highlights:

Understanding what ABA therapy is and why there is such controversy around this topic
The dilemma for parents in the “explosive landscape” of ABA
Understanding behaviorism as a therapeutic approach
The old-school ABA therapy and its focus on eye contact
How current autism therapies are designed to make people appear “less autistic” and “fit in more” in the world
The need for wisdom and a harm-reduction approach in therapies
Choosing a school program for your child based on goals and techniques and not a binary (ABA:good or ABA: bad) approach
The foundation of neurotypical norms (like eye contact) in connection, relationships, and social referencing—-which we ALL need
Teaching social referencing in affirming ways that help develop skills
Looking for red/green flags in assessing specific goals and techniques from an advocacy perspective
Unrealistic expectations of autistic kids and their parents

Resources and Links:

Connect with Dr. Robin Roscigno: Website, TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TEDx Talk: “Your Autistic Child Can Have a Great Life. Here’s How”

Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook

Get KC’s book,How to House While Drowning

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices