Starting therapy can be uncertain, especially for those new to the process. These clips explore what therapy actually looks like—how change unfolds over time, what to expect in sessions, and why progress often comes through repeated, effortful work rather than quick fixes. Whether you’re seeking help for yourself or your child, these conversations offer a grounded look at the therapeutic process.
Brandon Gimbel and Courtney Wells explore how relationship conflict often centers on trying to change the other person, rather than shifting one’s own relationship to internal experience.
Brandon Gimbel and Courtney Wells examine how ACT provides a values-based framework that can hold and integrate other trauma treatments like EMDR.
Brandon Gimbel and Courtney Wells discuss why acceptance can feel like surrender, especially for trauma survivors whose coping strategies once ensured survival.
Brandon Gimbel and Courtney Wells discuss how naming internal experiences creates psychological distance, reduces threat, and restores a sense of agency.
Brandon Gimbel and Courtney Wells explore how trauma is best understood by its lasting impact rather than by the severity or category of the event itself.
Brandon Gimbel asks psychoanalyst Alan Levy to clarify what psychoanalysis really involves. Levy describes it as a collaborative process in which two people work together to make sense of a person’s experience, including what happens inside and outside the therapy room.
Brandon Gimbel and psychoanalyst Alan Levy discuss the difference psychoanalytic work and other therapies.
Brandon Gimbel and Alan Levy discuss how psychoanalytic thinking has evolved from an expert-driven model toward a collaborative relationship in which therapist and patient explore experience together.
Brandon Gimbel and Alan Levy explain how unconscious thoughts and feelings shape the therapeutic relationship and how exploring those dynamics helps bring greater awareness to patterns that influence everyday life.
Brandon Gimbel and Alan Levy discuss how curiosity about emotional reactions—such as recurring anger in relationships—can help patients better understand their experiences and develop new ways of navigating their lives.
North Star Behavioral Health's Brandon Gimbel and Tovah Means, LMFT of Watch Hill Therapy discuss dissociation as an unconscious protective response to overwhelming experience.
North Star Behavioral Health's Brandon Gimbel and Tovah Means, LMFT of Watch Hill Therapy explore why children are especially vulnerable to dissociation and how early threat shapes adult coping.
North Star Behavioral Health's Brandon Gimbel and Tovah Means, LMFT of Watch Hill Therapy examine how shame interferes with healing and how trauma-informed understanding can reduce it.
North Star Behavioral Health's Brandon Gimbel and Tovah Means, LMFT of Watch Hill Therapy clarify the clinical difference between dissociation and avoidance—and why confusing them can misguide treatment.
North Star Behavioral Health's Brandon Gimbel and Tovah Means, LMFT of Watch Hill Therapy explain why trauma work requires enough safety to remain engaged without overwhelm.
North Star Behavioral Health's Brandon Gimbel and Tovah Means, LMFT of Watch Hill Therapy discuss how dissociation preserves survival while limiting emotional and developmental capacity over time.
In this clip, Dr. Melanie Santos explores how subtle safety behaviors—like reassurance seeking or avoidance—can interfere with progress in OCD treatment. She explains how identifying and reducing these behaviors is a key part of ERP.
Maggie challenges the idea that EF coaching is just about attention. She often starts with time, organization, or inhibition—skills that support focus by addressing what’s underneath it.
Maggie explains how coaching helps high-performing teens manage time across work, rest, and play. The goal is sustainable self-regulation—not just short-term rewards.
Dr. Lisa Novak explains that resilience, in the CATCH framework, means equipping families to withstand life’s challenges—not just pushing kids to perform. The organization focuses on parents and caregivers through peer support groups, educational programming, and tools like Coping Kits—delivered at key school transition years—to shift focus from achievement to emotional readiness.
What if we could step back from our thoughts and observe them? Carl describes how mindfulness cultivates metacognition—the ability to notice thoughts as mental events—and how this practice creates space between stimulus and response.
