Episode #48 - Overcoming The Mental Stigma: An Interview With Shannon Weise

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Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

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determination, all converge into an amazing, heartfelt experience.

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This is Speaking From The Heart.

Joshua: 00:00:11

Welcome back to very special episode of Speaking From the Heart.

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Episode 48 is going to feature a guest by the name of Shannon Weise in

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honor of earlier this month in which OCD Awareness, which is for obsessive

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compulsive disorder, has really been prevalent in a lot of different people,

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especially even some of the clients that I work with and trying to overcome

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some of the difficulties that they have, so we are featuring someone in

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the field in order to talk about this.

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Shannon is a licensed clinical social worker and also a

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graduate of Temple University.

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She's the founder and owner of the Anxiety and OCD Treatment Center

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of Central Pennsylvania, where she specializes in the treatment of OCD,

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anxiety disorders, phobias, and BFRBs.

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Shannon's work emphasizes cognitive behavioral therapy exposure and response

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prevention, acceptance and commitment therapy, and also prolonged exposure

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for adults, adolescents, and children.

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Shannon also values creativity in which she has started her own podcast

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over the last few years called Finding The Thing, which we talk a little

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bit about her resurgence into that podcast and even creating pottery.

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She's also the Vice President of OCD Pennsylvania, which is affiliate of the

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IOCDF, which we talk about a little bit, and she is the professional member of

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the International OCD Foundation, which is the acronym, IOCDF, and the Anxiety

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and Depression Association of America.

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In this episode, we do dig into quite a number of different things as it

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relates to not only the different types of responses that we might have as

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it comes to these sort of disorders, but we specifically even talk about

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some of the most personal of examples that Shannon has been through, and it

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really shows character in terms of not only the things that we might take for

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granted as alphabet soup, with all the different types of acronyms that are

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around in the medical community, but it puts a story behind something that

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we should definitely pay attention to.

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With that, let's go to the episode.

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All right.

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We're here with Shannon Weise.

Joshua: 00:02:28

Shannon, thanks for sharing your heart with us today.

Shannon: 00:02:32

Absolutely.

Shannon: 00:02:33

Thanks for having me.

Joshua: 00:02:35

Absolutely, and I want to thank you for recognizing and seeing the

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posts that I had on the podcast and I really appreciate you reaching out

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because I found your background to be truly interesting, given what I do as a

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coach myself but you have a completely different take when it comes to what

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you do, which we'll get into today.

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Shannon, full disclosure, I've already let the audience know a lot about what

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you are and what your business is and all of that, but my first question for

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you is, why did you start with being a licensed clinical social worker?

Joshua: 00:03:10

How did you get to thinking, "This is the career path that I wanted to do?"

Joshua: 00:03:14

Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Shannon: 00:03:17

Sure.

Shannon: 00:03:17

Actually my undergrad is in fine art, so I went to school for photography

Shannon: 00:03:26

and really spent some time working in that area, like actually I worked for

Shannon: 00:03:31

the Governor's Office and did some work with them, and then I was just feeling

Shannon: 00:03:37

like I wasn't doing enough or something.

Shannon: 00:03:43

I wanted to do more, and at the time my parents were doing foster care and I felt

Shannon: 00:03:50

like I wanted to be able to help these kids more and so I did some research

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and I found that social work degree.

Shannon: 00:03:59

You can get licensed in all 50 states and that was really why I chose that path.

Joshua: 00:04:07

With that path and what you decided to do, was there something

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that really appealed to you with helping people or even doing

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some of the work that you do now?

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Is it something that you thought it would be really helpful for people to be able

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to work with and find their niche or figure out what's going on with them?

Joshua: 00:04:27

What's your motivation?

Shannon: 00:04:29

Right.

Shannon: 00:04:30

I have a lot of personal experience with mental health and some mental

Shannon: 00:04:36

health conditions within my family, and so I think a lot of it came

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from that and really wanting to know and understand myself and

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then help other people to do that.

Joshua: 00:04:48

Yeah, and I know for me, my family has a history on my dad's side

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with mental health issues and illnesses, which have definitely plagued me, and my

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audience has learned a lot about that.

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I've shared with some of those experiences with you at a high level.

Shannon: 00:05:03

Yeah.

Joshua: 00:05:04

When you are going through even depression and anxiety, especially

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with some of the things that you have personally had to overcome, which if you

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feel comfortable talking about that, that would be fantastic, I think it just gives

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some more context to our discussion, and especially for those listening to

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this, but, do you find that you have had to kind of change your mindset or

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change the way that you were thinking about things, especially when it came to

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dealing with those sort of, I would say illnesses, because sometimes it's really

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hard to change those perspectives, right?

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Especially if we have different things that we go through in our

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life, but I don't know for you, has there been something that maybe

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clicked a light bulb on for you to change from feeling that way.

Joshua: 00:05:53

Can you talk about that?

Shannon: 00:05:55

Hmm.

Shannon: 00:05:55

I don't know specifically how to answer that question.

Shannon: 00:05:59

I feel like I have just kind of, it's always been about personal growth for

Shannon: 00:06:06

me and striving and thriving for more trying to break a cycle that I've seen

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and grown up with, and I currently, so I think I was sharing with you earlier

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just about having social anxiety and the reason for doing this is to work on

Shannon: 00:06:25

that, like having exposure for myself, and I really do practice what I preach

Shannon: 00:06:31

to clients in really trying to live my life the way that I'm asking them to.

Joshua: 00:06:37

Yeah, and you have to almost live that content and live

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with that and I know what you mean.

Joshua: 00:06:43

I'm doing that even for myself with the business that I have is.

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I'm not just saying to people, this is what you have to do.

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I actually saying to them, "This is what I'd done.

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This is what supports that, but I know that your path is going to be

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different, so let's talk about how your path is different", so kind

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of living inside of that, and I've felt like I was living inside of you

Joshua: 00:07:05

there for a second with your social anxiety and identifying with that too.

Shannon: 00:07:09

Yes.

Joshua: 00:07:10

But with all those things said, you had started the Anxiety and OCD

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Treatment Center of Central Pennsylvania, so walk me through what led you to

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actually then wanting to start a business, because I find it really interesting

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that, "Well, I struggle with these things.

Joshua: 00:07:26

Let's start a business with it", because-

Shannon: 00:07:28

Yeah.

Joshua: 00:07:28

All of us, all those things, sort of start from there, but I'm

Joshua: 00:07:31

just curious what led you into be starting that business practice?

Shannon: 00:07:35

Yeah.

Shannon: 00:07:35

I never actually saw myself as being this business owner or growing a business.

Shannon: 00:07:42

I actually worked for a practice for nine years.

Shannon: 00:07:46

It was a private practice in the area and it was a wonderful experience

Shannon: 00:07:50

and I honestly, I thought, that I was going to become an owner there.

Shannon: 00:07:55

Some things occurred and I just decided to very randomly go out on

Shannon: 00:08:01

my own, and so this was not planned.

Shannon: 00:08:04

This was literally within months just doing it, really taking a chance,

Shannon: 00:08:10

not having a paycheck for six months.

Shannon: 00:08:12

It was so scary and that's kind of how it happened, so May 1st, 2017 was when I

Shannon: 00:08:20

opened my own practice and originally my practice went by Shannon Weise Counseling,

Shannon: 00:08:25

and I just went from there and I'm so thankful I had a lot of clients follow

Shannon: 00:08:31

me and I do have a really good reputation in the area so I do get a lot of word of

Shannon: 00:08:37

mouth referrals and from there, COVID hit, and I was so overwhelmed by the amount of

Shannon: 00:08:47

people that needed mental health treatment and I think I had a year long waiting

Shannon: 00:08:52

list, and it was just so, so overwhelming, and so I ended up, randomly as well, not

Shannon: 00:09:01

planned, although I had looked for people to hire for my practice at certain points,

Shannon: 00:09:06

I randomly came across a person that I knew who was looking for a position and

Shannon: 00:09:12

I said, "Do you want to come work with me?", and that's kind of how it started,

Shannon: 00:09:16

and that was last March 2022, and just this May, I hired another person and

Shannon: 00:09:24

that's kind of the plan to continue to grow and provide these services here.

Joshua: 00:09:30

I love the fact that you had to adapt, especially everyone had to adapt.

Joshua: 00:09:36

I know for me, I didn't tell you this and my audience knows a little bit about this,

Joshua: 00:09:41

but it was literally three weeks before the COVID pandemic started officially

Joshua: 00:09:47

that I was in a mental institution for 72 hours, so being released, and then

Joshua: 00:09:54

being thrust into the turmoil that was then trying to get everything situated

Joshua: 00:10:01

with COVID, was really wrecking havoc on myself, and thankfully I got in just at

Joshua: 00:10:07

time with another provider so that they would be able to help me kind of navigate

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and walk through it, because I'll be honest, it was the toughest thing for me

Joshua: 00:10:17

and I know, I can only imagine, Shannon, how tough it was to deal with having

Joshua: 00:10:22

all those people that are interested and having to help you out, and I did notice

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that you have two other people on staff.

Joshua: 00:10:28

Do you want to talk about them a little bit about how they

Joshua: 00:10:30

support you in your practice?

Shannon: 00:10:33

Sure.

Shannon: 00:10:34

I mean, I know that when I hired Emily, so Emily is the first person that I

Shannon: 00:10:38

hired; her name's Emily McCallister, and she's a wonderful therapist.

Shannon: 00:10:42

When I hired her, I still had this really extensive waiting list,

Shannon: 00:10:46

so she kind of took that from me, and that was so relieving.

Shannon: 00:10:51

Through COVID I was just working, I was even working weekends because you know,

Shannon: 00:10:55

we're locked in at home and I'm like, "Well, why not make money or help people",

Shannon: 00:11:01

so anyway, so Emily started then back in March and she just alleviates some of

Shannon: 00:11:09

that stress of so many people wanting me or needing me, and I continued, like I

Shannon: 00:11:17

said before, I just hired another person.

Shannon: 00:11:20

Her name is Kayla; Kayla Hoffman, and she came on because Emily is completely

Shannon: 00:11:27

full as well, and we're just kind of like, "Okay, well, what do we do?

Shannon: 00:11:31

We either do a big waiting list again or we keep growing", and so I'm

Shannon: 00:11:36

hoping that we can continue to grow.

Joshua: 00:11:38

Absolutely, and I think the need for having somebody to talk to no

Joshua: 00:11:44

matter what the situation is, is really important and this is the time of the

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episode in which I'm going to remind my audience, if you ever know anybody

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that is in a mental health crisis or going through something that they need

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help immediately there is a hotline.

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There is a phone number that you can call.

Joshua: 00:12:02

It's 988.

Joshua: 00:12:04

I'll put in the episode notes in case you ever want to check out more information

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about that, including even some of the things that you can do to help somebody.

Joshua: 00:12:13

You don't have to be necessarily trained to help someone, but you can help somebody

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by at least calling 988 and getting them on the phone with somebody that is

Joshua: 00:12:21

qualified to do so, but Shannon, back to you now that I've did my public service

Joshua: 00:12:27

announcement with that, I am really curious that you have been treating

Joshua: 00:12:32

all kinds of different disorders.

Joshua: 00:12:34

I noticed that on your website you deal a lot with OCD, anxiety, maybe

Joshua: 00:12:39

even some additional disorders.

Joshua: 00:12:41

I would say, out of all the things that your practice has, what typically

Joshua: 00:12:46

do you see clients coming in for the most, and why do you think that is the

Joshua: 00:12:51

case, especially in our society today?

Shannon: 00:12:54

Yeah, so we've chosen to specialize in treating OCD, anxiety

Shannon: 00:13:01

disorders, something called body focused repetitive behaviors and other phobias,

Shannon: 00:13:07

and so people seek us out because we specialize in those areas and there are

Shannon: 00:13:12

a lot of people out there with, well, I think most people have anxiety at some

Shannon: 00:13:16

point in their lives, and then we've got people having OCD and really sometimes

Shannon: 00:13:23

I'll see clients who come in and they've been in therapy for 30 years, but have

Shannon: 00:13:28

never had the proper treatment for it.

Shannon: 00:13:31

I'm not sure what else to say there, but I just think that they're coming

Shannon: 00:13:36

to us for that and we're providing specialized service doing exposure

Shannon: 00:13:43

based treatments, so we do exposure and response prevention, and that is

Shannon: 00:13:49

currently the best treatment for OCD and a lot of anxiety disorders and phobias.

Shannon: 00:13:56

We also offer, if I can say Josh, sometimes in-home

Shannon: 00:13:59

treatment to treat this disorder.

Shannon: 00:14:02

We also provide intensive treatment sometimes, like three day weekend

Shannon: 00:14:07

intensives for people, who are really, really struggling, so those

Shannon: 00:14:11

are some of the things that we offer.

Shannon: 00:14:13

We do treat other disorders, I mean, I think it's impossible to

Shannon: 00:14:17

be alive and not have more than one thing going on at times, and

Shannon: 00:14:22

so we do treat other stuff as well.

Joshua: 00:14:24

Being that I mentioned earlier about going through that process-

Shannon: 00:14:27

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:14:28

I will say that I had been diagnosed as manic depressive and

Joshua: 00:14:32

also going through anxiety myself.

Joshua: 00:14:34

I've been on numerous medications, but finally have gotten to the

Joshua: 00:14:38

other side of that because the medication isn't supposed to be

Joshua: 00:14:41

something that is prolonged long-term.

Joshua: 00:14:43

It's just to help you with those spikes as you work through treatment,

Joshua: 00:14:46

which is usually through a therapy session, so I totally understand

Joshua: 00:14:51

where you're coming from with that.

Joshua: 00:14:52

You mentioned exposure and response treatments.

Joshua: 00:14:55

Can you talk about what the differences are for my listeners that might not

Joshua: 00:14:58

have that background and how that works?

Shannon: 00:15:01

Yeah, so there is this big umbrella of treatment modality

Shannon: 00:15:05

called cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, okay, and so there's lots

Shannon: 00:15:10

of other treatments that fall under that, and one of them is

Shannon: 00:15:13

exposure and response prevention.

Shannon: 00:15:16

Some people in the past have called it exposure and ritual prevention,

Shannon: 00:15:20

so what that actually means is that we go towards the fear, whatever that

Shannon: 00:15:26

might be, that's coming from obsessive compulsive disorder, and we practice

Shannon: 00:15:31

exposure and we resist doing compulsions.

Shannon: 00:15:35

A compulsion could be seeking reassurance from someone, asking them,

Shannon: 00:15:40

"Hey, am I okay?", or avoiding things.

Shannon: 00:15:44

Anyway, so we practice resisting those compulsions and eventually this thing, I

Shannon: 00:15:51

usually do this drawing for my clients, but originally exposure and response

Shannon: 00:15:56

prevention was a habituation based model, so what we're looking for is the anxiety.

Shannon: 00:16:03

We're doing exposure enough that anxiety falls off and currently, there's a

Shannon: 00:16:10

lot of other thoughts about that and that we actually have new learning.

Shannon: 00:16:14

It's called inhibitory learning, so sometimes people don't habituate or

Shannon: 00:16:19

don't have the fall off of anxiety.

Joshua: 00:16:22

Yeah, and I know a few people that have those phobias

Joshua: 00:16:27

that they're dealing with.

Joshua: 00:16:29

Those are like big, deep seated fears and-

Shannon: 00:16:32

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:16:32

How would you say, and I know this sounds like a silly

Joshua: 00:16:35

question, but I want to ask it anyway.

Joshua: 00:16:38

What's the difference between that and hypnotism, where essentially you're

Joshua: 00:16:42

masking those sort of things through some sort of treatment where it kind

Joshua: 00:16:46

of removes it from the person's body, but it's still there, but it's just not

Joshua: 00:16:51

being self-aware, because I know that sounds really weird, but I've known some

Joshua: 00:16:55

people in that sort of realm, that have been really good at therapy as well,

Joshua: 00:17:00

but at the same time, I have seen people kind of walking through that, going

Joshua: 00:17:04

through those sort of exercises, and I'm really curious what the differences

Joshua: 00:17:08

are, if you are able to talk about that.

Shannon: 00:17:11

Yeah, I can't speak too much on hypnosis because I don't really know it,

Shannon: 00:17:17

but what I'll say is we're really trying to change the relationship with anxiety

Shannon: 00:17:22

and fear, okay, and how we respond to it.

Shannon: 00:17:25

We're not going to take away thoughts that you have, like

Shannon: 00:17:28

if that's how your brain works.

Shannon: 00:17:30

We're going to actually just kind of have you be able to say, "Oh, there's

Shannon: 00:17:34

one of those thoughts", and not give it attention; not engage with it,

Shannon: 00:17:39

and then with hypnosis, I think the premise or the idea behind it is we

Shannon: 00:17:43

are trying to take something away.

Joshua: 00:17:46

Yeah.

Shannon: 00:17:46

Right, or to soothe and like with exposure based treatment, we're really not

Shannon: 00:17:51

trying to do the normal coping skills.

Shannon: 00:17:53

We're not practicing deep breathing or trying to feel better.

Shannon: 00:17:57

We're actually trying to feel worse before we feel better.

Joshua: 00:18:01

Being that I've been involved with CBT myself as I was working through

Joshua: 00:18:07

a lot of my thoughts as to why I wanted to hurt myself, or why these feelings

Joshua: 00:18:13

were dominant in me, I mean, I later find out that I'm autistic, and that explains

Joshua: 00:18:18

so much as to why I carried that burden and why I was so obsessed about why those

Joshua: 00:18:24

sort of details were impacting me, which kind of opened a whole new worldview.

Joshua: 00:18:29

It helped me to remove and step back from those sort of tendencies as

Joshua: 00:18:34

well, because I did dive into what some of those things are that were

Joshua: 00:18:38

causing that in the first place.

Shannon: 00:18:40

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:18:41

Now this is a question that I've been waiting to

Joshua: 00:18:43

ask because of what you said.

Joshua: 00:18:46

Seeing that you have been through all these things personally yourself, and

Joshua: 00:18:50

then you're seeing clients that are going through this and seeing successes,

Joshua: 00:18:54

have you been personally impacted by that, meaning, have you been able to

Joshua: 00:18:58

take some of the lessons that your clients have learned and been able to

Joshua: 00:19:01

apply it in your own personal lifestyle?

Joshua: 00:19:04

I'm wondering if you have been able to evolve as a result of

Joshua: 00:19:08

opening this business and what has been the impact on you?

Shannon: 00:19:12

Yeah, so I think mental health wise, I absolutely think that treating

Shannon: 00:19:17

clients for OCD has been helpful to me.

Shannon: 00:19:22

I developed OCD when I was young, very young, probably about five years old,

Shannon: 00:19:26

and did not ever have treatment for that, and personally, like what occurred for

Shannon: 00:19:32

me is I started doing exposure work with clients and a lot of the exposures that

Shannon: 00:19:38

I was doing with them became exposures for me and really helped me, so I think

Shannon: 00:19:46

that answers what you were asking.

Joshua: 00:19:49

Yeah, and I'm wondering though, if you could take it a layer deeper.

Joshua: 00:19:54

Has it been impactful on your relationships, maybe with other people?

Joshua: 00:19:59

Has it been helpful for you to continue growing into another area of your

Joshua: 00:20:05

life that maybe you've been hesitant in doing because of those diagnoses?

Joshua: 00:20:10

I'm wondering if you could share some of that too.

Shannon: 00:20:13

Mm-hmm.

Shannon: 00:20:16

I don't know.

Shannon: 00:20:17

I do think it.

Shannon: 00:20:20

Gosh, I mean, other than like really wanting to help people, and I think

Shannon: 00:20:25

one thing I'll say about exposure based treatment was I learned that, I mean,

Shannon: 00:20:29

I've been doing this about 12 years now, so I learned at some point in my career

Shannon: 00:20:34

here, I went and I had this exposure and response prevention training.

Shannon: 00:20:37

I learned it, and I was like, "Wow, this is really what I need."

Shannon: 00:20:41

Prior to that, I didn't know that and then also, just being able to see what I saw

Shannon: 00:20:47

was people get better, and that motivated me to continue to want to do this work.

Joshua: 00:20:55

Yeah.

Joshua: 00:20:55

Yeah.

Joshua: 00:20:56

I love that.

Joshua: 00:20:56

I love hearing that because, for me, I almost feel like I put myself a little bit

Joshua: 00:21:01

in my client's shoes, which some people that I ever talked to when it comes to

Joshua: 00:21:06

valuation and selling services, they're like, "Well, this is about your value.

Joshua: 00:21:11

You need to get your value out of this too."

Joshua: 00:21:12

I'm like, "I'm not saying that I shouldn't", because I feel like I provide

Joshua: 00:21:16

a unique approach, but I think the value that isn't just from the monetary aspect,

Joshua: 00:21:21

which I think is second to everything, I think the first thing is to value

Joshua: 00:21:27

the relationship of the people that you're helping and how that impacts you.

Joshua: 00:21:32

That I think, is truly the gift that keeps on giving when we do these sort of things,

Joshua: 00:21:38

especially the things that we love doing, which I'll tell you, for the longest

Joshua: 00:21:42

time, I was not doing what I really love to do, which actually leads me into this.

Joshua: 00:21:48

What would you say has been one of the most successful clients that you

Joshua: 00:21:52

have, and I'm not asking you to mention names, obviously for confidentiality,

Joshua: 00:21:56

but I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about this client that you

Joshua: 00:22:00

have just seen blossom because of what you've been able to help them achieve.

Joshua: 00:22:05

Can you talk a little bit about one of those people?

Shannon: 00:22:07

Yeah, absolutely, and I think I do want to just say one other

Shannon: 00:22:11

thing about seeing people get better.

Joshua: 00:22:14

Yeah, go ahead.

Shannon: 00:22:15

I just got a phone call actually, and the connection that I have with

Shannon: 00:22:18

people and how important that is to me, but I think it was Friday or Thursday,

Shannon: 00:22:23

I received a phone call from a client who I saw eight years ago, and he left

Shannon: 00:22:28

me a message, and was like, "I just want to thank you again and I just want

Shannon: 00:22:33

you to know this, what's going on for me and your help was just tremendous in

Shannon: 00:22:37

changing my life", and so occasionally, I mean, sometimes this is thankless

Shannon: 00:22:42

work, but at the same time, sometimes we hear things like that and I was just

Shannon: 00:22:47

incredibly touched that this person, after eight years even thought about me ever.

Shannon: 00:22:53

Yeah, but so that was really, really cool.

Joshua: 00:22:55

I want to make a comment to that because I had a guest on that we had

Joshua: 00:23:00

a chance encounter, which I've known this person for many years, and it was

Joshua: 00:23:04

actually specifically related to the podcast where I thought, "Man, this guy.

Joshua: 00:23:09

This guy never wants to be on this show, like he doesn't think of me

Joshua: 00:23:12

highly", and then I was thinking about, "Man, I wish he would be on my

Joshua: 00:23:15

show", and then all of a sudden, a few minutes later, he messages me and says,

Joshua: 00:23:19

"Hey, I see that you started this.

Joshua: 00:23:20

I would love to be on the show", and I'm like, "Oh my gosh.

Joshua: 00:23:23

I can't believe that", so Dan, if you're listening to this, yes,

Joshua: 00:23:26

I'm still talking about you, even though you've been on the show.

Shannon: 00:23:29

Aw.

Joshua: 00:23:29

It's almost like you get that sense of, "Oh my gosh,

Joshua: 00:23:32

people have been following me.

Joshua: 00:23:34

They have seen what I've been able to do.

Joshua: 00:23:37

It's a incredible feeling.

Shannon: 00:23:38

This work does matter.

Shannon: 00:23:39

It really is incredible.

Joshua: 00:23:42

Yeah.

Shannon: 00:23:42

So I know you asked about like a really difficult case that I've seen

Shannon: 00:23:46

and I've seen many, and particularly a person I'm thinking of was not working,

Shannon: 00:23:52

not leaving their home, really struggling with a fear of cancer and kind of how that

Shannon: 00:24:01

could occur through, so this particular person, like even like seeing the word

Shannon: 00:24:06

cancer, maybe that was difficult for them, so that was someone where I did in-home

Shannon: 00:24:13

treatment, out of the office stuff, we went and did tons of exposure surrounding

Shannon: 00:24:18

this, and this person is thriving.

Shannon: 00:24:22

They're working outside of the home, really not truly bothered by this

Shannon: 00:24:28

anymore and that was just really, really incredible to see and he

Shannon: 00:24:33

would also come, I used to run an OCD support group, and he would come and

Shannon: 00:24:38

really was inspiring to others and talking about the things that he did.

Joshua: 00:24:43

Yeah.

Joshua: 00:24:43

It's really incredible to see somebody shift from the mindset that

Joshua: 00:24:48

they had originally starting out-

Shannon: 00:24:49

mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:24:50

To a completely different mindset, which I've had clients, literally, I

Joshua: 00:24:54

have a couch that is in front of where I sit and do a lot of my work and

Joshua: 00:24:58

where they sit and they talk, and I've just seen them ball and cry when they

Joshua: 00:25:03

realized that those are the keys that they needed to unlock themselves, and

Joshua: 00:25:07

it's a great feeling to then see that happen in their lives and how they start

Joshua: 00:25:12

to change those things for the better.

Shannon: 00:25:14

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:25:14

Shannon, I want to dive into this real quick because I think it's

Joshua: 00:25:17

important because it isn't just about the work that you do at your business, but

Joshua: 00:25:21

I've seen that you are affiliated with some foundations that really helped to

Joshua: 00:25:25

advance the mission of what you do, and I'm wondering, really quick, if you could

Joshua: 00:25:29

talk about why you do some of the things that you do, which the audience has heard

Joshua: 00:25:34

about, which is including being even the Vice President of OCD Pennsylvania.

Shannon: 00:25:38

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:25:39

I'm wondering if you could share, why give even more of yourself?

Joshua: 00:25:43

To me, listening to you, I feel like, there's a lot of

Joshua: 00:25:46

sacrifice that you also give of-

Shannon: 00:25:48

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:25:49

Yourself to other people, especially just through your

Joshua: 00:25:51

practice, and some people are probably introverted enough to say,

Joshua: 00:25:55

"I'm tired, I need to walk away."

Shannon: 00:25:57

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:25:57

And I know that for some people, it's like, "Yes, give me more

Joshua: 00:26:01

people because I thrive on this", but-

Shannon: 00:26:03

Right.

Joshua: 00:26:03

What makes you want to serve even further in those roles?

Shannon: 00:26:07

Yeah, I mean, I think this is just an issue that really, truly

Shannon: 00:26:11

matters to me, you know, and like I said, seeing people get better, like,

Shannon: 00:26:16

I just want to help that continue, and so randomly, I became Vice

Shannon: 00:26:23

President of OCD Pennsylvania, and we do some work just raising awareness.

Shannon: 00:26:29

We're doing like some OCD meetups and we do a walk every year here and those

Shannon: 00:26:36

are all things that just continue to get the word out and hopefully

Shannon: 00:26:40

getting people to treatment sooner.

Shannon: 00:26:43

That's some of that mission.

Joshua: 00:26:45

I know that for even missions like that, I understand October is also a month

Joshua: 00:26:52

where we celebrate this a little bit, so do you mind talking about that for our

Joshua: 00:26:57

audience that might not be aware of that?

Shannon: 00:26:59

Sure, there is a week in October, this year it's the eighth through the

Shannon: 00:27:03

14th, and it is called OCD Awareness Week, and so lots of people in this

Shannon: 00:27:09

community really do work to bring more awareness, and one thing my practice does

Shannon: 00:27:16

is we offer additional groups that week.

Shannon: 00:27:19

We come up with something targeted to certain people and that's one

Shannon: 00:27:24

thing that we do as a practice.

Joshua: 00:27:26

I know that that week has already passed since this episode will air, and

Joshua: 00:27:30

I already told Shannon we're going to bring some more awareness for next year

Joshua: 00:27:33

when I have her back about this, because I wish that I would've known about that

Joshua: 00:27:38

sooner so that we would've been able to showcase that a bit more but I really

Joshua: 00:27:43

appreciate that you spend that advocacy and also that additional time outside of

Joshua: 00:27:48

your practice to do those sort of things.

Joshua: 00:27:51

Shannon, we're towards the end of our time, but I want to give

Joshua: 00:27:54

you the last few minutes here to showcase your business that you have.

Joshua: 00:27:59

Showcase the work that you do.

Joshua: 00:28:00

How can people reach out to you?

Joshua: 00:28:02

What are some of the things that potential clients that they can think

Joshua: 00:28:06

about, and anything else that you want to share as it relates to anything

Joshua: 00:28:10

that we had talked about today.

Joshua: 00:28:12

I want to give you the last few minutes.

Shannon: 00:28:14

Sure.

Shannon: 00:28:14

Okay.

Shannon: 00:28:15

Something else that we do and offer is we have a YouTube channel and it

Shannon: 00:28:20

is under the name of the practice and so on that YouTube channel, I will

Shannon: 00:28:27

sometimes create videos providing some more education on OCD and anxiety

Shannon: 00:28:33

disorders; so that's something.

Shannon: 00:28:36

We do have an Instagram, which I try to be pretty active on and share things.

Shannon: 00:28:41

We offer groups from time to time, and you kind of just have

Shannon: 00:28:45

to be on the lookout for them.

Joshua: 00:28:47

Can you give the audience the website specifically

Joshua: 00:28:50

that they could visit-

Shannon: 00:28:50

Sure.

Joshua: 00:28:50

To learn more about you?

Shannon: 00:28:52

Absolutely.

Shannon: 00:28:53

It's isthisocd.com, and the same, our Instagram is, isthisOCD; so

Shannon: 00:29:00

those are ways to kind of check in with us or to reach out.

Shannon: 00:29:04

That's how they can reach out, and it's usually me calling to get

Shannon: 00:29:08

people signed up for treatment.

Joshua: 00:29:10

I noticed it isn't just in person, which I know you have your

Joshua: 00:29:13

offices in Camp Hill, but there there's also virtual appointments as well?

Shannon: 00:29:18

Yes.

Joshua: 00:29:18

And all that?

Shannon: 00:29:18

Yeah.

Joshua: 00:29:19

How would that work?

Shannon: 00:29:20

So we use telehealth via the software called Simple Practice,

Shannon: 00:29:25

and so we can do video sessions for anyone that is in Pennsylvania,

Shannon: 00:29:30

because we're licensed in Pennsylvania.

Shannon: 00:29:32

I personally am licensed in Maryland and South Carolina as well, so I can

Shannon: 00:29:37

see clients in those areas virtually.

Joshua: 00:29:40

And I noticed that you have event calendar and books too that-

Shannon: 00:29:43

Yes.

Joshua: 00:29:43

People can go check out on the website.

Joshua: 00:29:45

Do you want to talk about that real quick?

Shannon: 00:29:46

Yeah, so I mean books that I feel are valuable to people with OCD or

Shannon: 00:29:52

their families, there's like a listing there, and those are some of the best

Shannon: 00:29:57

ones that I think folks should read and we do have our events calendar on there,

Shannon: 00:30:02

which is where things like the groups during OCD Awareness Week are posted,

Shannon: 00:30:09

or any other groups that we might have.

Joshua: 00:30:12

Yeah, and I will let you know that we had a conversation before this show

Joshua: 00:30:16

about the podcast too that she has, which hasn't been posted for a little bit but we

Joshua: 00:30:22

were talking about how we could possibly collaborate, maybe, and figure out,

Joshua: 00:30:25

maybe, some ways in which we can restart that because I think it's a valuable

Joshua: 00:30:29

resource and Shannon, I would love to help you with that at some point too.

Joshua: 00:30:32

Maybe we can have a discussion about that as well.

Shannon: 00:30:34

Yeah.

Shannon: 00:30:35

Yeah, so that podcast is called Finding The Thing, and it started out as me

Shannon: 00:30:41

really wanting to connect again, but I think the avenue that it is going

Shannon: 00:30:47

towards is more mental health focus.

Shannon: 00:30:49

The mission of that podcast was being able to love yourself,

Shannon: 00:30:53

finding love and happiness within.

Joshua: 00:30:56

If you want to go check that out, it is also on her

Joshua: 00:30:59

website under the resources.

Joshua: 00:31:00

You can click on that and it will take you to Spotify where it's located at, but

Joshua: 00:31:05

Shannon, I want to say this to wrap up.

Joshua: 00:31:07

First off, I think I find it incredible that you are doing these things despite

Joshua: 00:31:14

the challenges that are happening in our community as a whole when it comes to

Joshua: 00:31:18

mental health, which has just only grown and exploded in importance and more focus.

Joshua: 00:31:23

It's used to be such a stigma, but now it's becoming more accepted of what is

Joshua: 00:31:30

needed and I feel so fortunate to be able to do something like this and talk

Joshua: 00:31:33

to people like you, which is always a valuable opportunity for me to learn

Joshua: 00:31:38

a lot more about the motivations and individuals that make up the mental

Joshua: 00:31:42

health community that really support those, like me, that is still going

Joshua: 00:31:47

through therapy, even after three and a half years, and I'm really thankful for

Joshua: 00:31:51

all the sacrifices that therapists do.

Joshua: 00:31:53

I think that it's understated and they are undervalued sometimes when

Joshua: 00:31:58

it comes to what they actually do, but I will say to you this, that

Joshua: 00:32:02

you definitely are making an impact.

Joshua: 00:32:04

You're in Camp Hill, which for my listeners that are far away, that's

Joshua: 00:32:09

in Pennsylvania, close to me, but nevertheless, it is an opportunity for

Joshua: 00:32:14

all of us to learn and recognize that we, no matter where we're at, can always seek

Joshua: 00:32:18

help no matter what the issue is, and I think it's so important to value that if

Joshua: 00:32:23

you are going through something like that.

Joshua: 00:32:26

It isn't just about when it's a crisis.

Joshua: 00:32:27

It could be just as simple as I'm going through this and I need that extra

Joshua: 00:32:31

set of ears to help me process that.

Joshua: 00:32:34

So I-

Shannon: 00:32:35

I like to say, can I just interject really quick, Josh?

Joshua: 00:32:38

Yeah.

Shannon: 00:32:38

I like to say, I think therapy should be like a car mechanic.

Shannon: 00:32:42

You have a car mechanic that you take your car to.

Shannon: 00:32:44

We all need that kind of maintenance and I wish that therapy was more common

Shannon: 00:32:50

and accepted and I do think it's getting more, more so, and I love that you're

Shannon: 00:32:54

sharing your story, your experience, Josh.

Shannon: 00:32:57

I think that's awesome and sometimes that's why I share also about

Shannon: 00:33:01

having mental health conditions.

Joshua: 00:33:04

It is so important so that-

Shannon: 00:33:05

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:33:06

We can continue to work together towards feeling like we are not alone in

Joshua: 00:33:11

this, and I think I appreciate you and your staff doing that, but Shannon, thanks

Joshua: 00:33:16

for being on Speaking From the Heart.

Joshua: 00:33:18

It was really a privilege to talk to you, and I look forward to

Joshua: 00:33:21

having you again in the future.

Shannon: 00:33:23

Thank you.

Shannon: 00:33:23

I appreciate it.

Joshua: 00:33:25

I want to thank Shannon again for being part of this episode and recognizing

Joshua: 00:33:29

OCD Awareness Week, which happened earlier this month, and even being willing to

Joshua: 00:33:34

open up about her story of really the difficulties it can be to have all

Joshua: 00:33:39

these different types of disorders and different types of things that we do to

Joshua: 00:33:44

extend our energy levels to really help people overcome and become some of the

Joshua: 00:33:49

best people to work with and to associate with because of those different types of

Joshua: 00:33:55

attitudes and different types of things that they bring to the table, and I

Joshua: 00:34:00

really loved in this episode, more than anything, about the point of having to

Joshua: 00:34:05

create some of these opportunities for ourselves to become the best versions

Joshua: 00:34:10

of ourselves, which for many of you that have been following along all this time,

Joshua: 00:34:14

we know that we've been talking quite a lot about the importance of seeing

Joshua: 00:34:18

that, identifying that, and even working through how to do just those activities

Joshua: 00:34:24

alone, but being able to just go to the root of really what makes us unique can

Joshua: 00:34:30

actually be an inspirational moment in itself, and we heard a little bit about

Joshua: 00:34:35

that, and even Shannon's story when it came to just the creative juices that are

Joshua: 00:34:40

rolling and creating some of those best opportunities for her so that she can meet

Joshua: 00:34:46

with people face to face, no matter what it is, and be able to help them get that

Joshua: 00:34:52

opportunity for themselves out of wherever that is, and being able to see people

Joshua: 00:34:58

push themselves forward and being able to create that meaningful impact means

Joshua: 00:35:02

really digging underneath the surface.

Joshua: 00:35:05

Now I will be the first one to tell you that I am not one of these

Joshua: 00:35:09

other coaches that we've featured.

Joshua: 00:35:12

Might be having a licensed background where they are therapists, doctors,

Joshua: 00:35:17

nurses; whatever the case is, we have seen an throughout all these different types

Joshua: 00:35:23

of things that we've interviewed so far the magnitude of how that can create some

Joshua: 00:35:28

of the best opportunities to work with them and I will never downplay the medical

Joshua: 00:35:33

industry for what it can potentially provide, especially since I've been able

Joshua: 00:35:38

to benefit greatly and would've never been able to open up Your Speaking Voice,

Joshua: 00:35:42

the business as a result, of all the different things that I've been through,

Joshua: 00:35:47

but we have to go back quite a ways to even figure out in the first place: where

Joshua: 00:35:52

did this actually start, and you heard a little bit about this from really the

Joshua: 00:35:57

genetics, the things that sometimes we have those nervous ticks or those things

Joshua: 00:36:03

that we go through in our life that create some of those downplaying moments that we

Joshua: 00:36:08

play in our life over and over and over again, but there has to be a time in which

Joshua: 00:36:15

we say to ourselves, "When am I going to press the button to ask for help?",

Joshua: 00:36:19

and that can be really tough in itself.

Joshua: 00:36:22

When we ask for help, it almost feels like we are suffocating ourselves, for

Joshua: 00:36:26

some of us, especially if we're autistic, which I am, to really put out a cry for

Joshua: 00:36:32

help, but even if you're autistic or not, or you have OCD or not, we have to

Joshua: 00:36:38

figure out where are some of those things that we can do to help us to understand

Joshua: 00:36:44

where that is coming from and we dug a lot into the fact that there's two

Joshua: 00:36:48

different types of treatments that could be done: the exposure side of it, and

Joshua: 00:36:53

then the response side of it, but really, it's about practicing and breaking those

Joshua: 00:36:59

habits and changing that relationship.

Joshua: 00:37:03

Now, you might be asking yourself, "That's quite a heavy load, Joshua.

Joshua: 00:37:07

How am I ever going to be able to do something like that,

Joshua: 00:37:10

especially in a coaching setting?

Joshua: 00:37:13

Part of the process in which I even do involves working with

Joshua: 00:37:16

clients to see what are they?

Joshua: 00:37:19

What is it that they really want to have that comes out of this relationship

Joshua: 00:37:23

that we're going to work through?

Joshua: 00:37:25

That means getting to know and understand how they work, how they tick, how they

Joshua: 00:37:31

make those decisions in their lives.

Joshua: 00:37:33

How are they getting to point A to point B on a daily basis?

Joshua: 00:37:38

Maybe even from point A to where they are now might, which might be points D, E, and

Joshua: 00:37:44

F, because knowing that history makes such a big impact in the ways in which we're

Joshua: 00:37:50

able to work together in finding ways of overcoming, and that's really important

Joshua: 00:37:56

in any sort of relationship, right?

Joshua: 00:37:58

It's not just about the things that we do.

Joshua: 00:38:02

It's about the things that we learn from each other, but that's the point.

Joshua: 00:38:08

We have to change the way in which we interact with those sort of feelings,

Joshua: 00:38:13

those thoughts, those aspects of re-triggering that creates some of

Joshua: 00:38:18

those opportunities over and over and over again, which is why you heard so

Joshua: 00:38:23

much in this episode about not just what she wanted to do to start with

Joshua: 00:38:28

this, to really help other people, but listen to the fact that she was

Joshua: 00:38:33

going through these things herself.

Joshua: 00:38:36

She wanted to be part of this change that other people were seeking, and as a

Joshua: 00:38:41

result of that, her story of relating to a client that has just been so successful

Joshua: 00:38:47

because of the things that they've been doing together is what is changing her

Joshua: 00:38:52

as a result, and I can relate so much after being open for almost a year now

Joshua: 00:38:58

and seeing so many different people come through my door, whether they are just

Joshua: 00:39:02

initially checking me out, all the way to clients that have been truly making

Joshua: 00:39:07

progress every step of the way, but that is the point that I'm trying to make, is

Joshua: 00:39:13

that sometimes we have to become something that we never thought possible in order to

Joshua: 00:39:18

then see the true results of our labors.

Joshua: 00:39:23

It is a long road to get there.

Joshua: 00:39:26

It's something that we have to pave in our own lives, and we just need to do more

Joshua: 00:39:31

in order to create those opportunities.

Joshua: 00:39:35

Shannon had to find that for herself, especially even with

Joshua: 00:39:39

working with the fine arts.

Joshua: 00:39:41

Using those talents and finding ways in which we can interweave them into other

Joshua: 00:39:46

aspects of our lives can be the most joyous of occasions, not only for the

Joshua: 00:39:51

people that we're interacting with, but also for the people that we're making as

Joshua: 00:39:56

part of that process, better, stronger, and happier, and that is really something

Joshua: 00:40:03

that we are always working on to create some of those best opportunities.

Joshua: 00:40:09

It's a trial by error.

Joshua: 00:40:11

Sometimes we do it and it isn't successful, but we are going to try

Joshua: 00:40:15

again, because being able to push forward, and being able to see that whether it

Joshua: 00:40:20

works or not, means that we're adapting and we're learning, and we're changing.

Joshua: 00:40:27

I don't have it right all the time.

Joshua: 00:40:31

I know, right?

Joshua: 00:40:32

That means that me as a coach, I might ask you to do something and it might not be

Joshua: 00:40:37

correct, and that isn't because of what you said to me or even what I said to you.

Joshua: 00:40:41

It is really about experimenting and figuring out what is the way in which

Joshua: 00:40:46

it can help us to become better.

Joshua: 00:40:49

It's about not only the things that help us to get the word out

Joshua: 00:40:53

about who we are, but also about the ways in which we can become

Joshua: 00:40:57

better in our own internal dialogue.

Joshua: 00:41:02

For the longest time in my life, I was so upset with even myself.

Joshua: 00:41:07

Matter of fact, before we even started recording, Shannon mentioned to me

Joshua: 00:41:11

about the social anxiety that she faced on a daily basis, even relating to

Joshua: 00:41:15

this podcast that we were recording.

Joshua: 00:41:18

To my astonishment, I was surprised to hear that sort of statement from

Joshua: 00:41:23

her because she has her own podcast.

Joshua: 00:41:26

Why would she be afraid of being part of this, but I feel that

Joshua: 00:41:31

it all comes down to one fact.

Joshua: 00:41:35

It's that sometimes when we have those unconscious biases happening

Joshua: 00:41:39

in our lives, it will wreck havoc.

Joshua: 00:41:42

It will, no matter how many times you say that you are good enough, that you're

Joshua: 00:41:47

telling yourself the direct opposite.

Joshua: 00:41:50

It is something that it doesn't happen overnight in which you snap

Joshua: 00:41:53

your fingers and things are all okay.

Joshua: 00:41:57

It means figuring out where is that message coming from and being able

Joshua: 00:42:01

to understand that that's something that you don't need to obsess about,

Joshua: 00:42:05

so for for all my listeners that are dealing or experiencing OCD in one

Joshua: 00:42:10

form or another, listen carefully.

Joshua: 00:42:13

You do not have to suffer alone.

Joshua: 00:42:17

There are groups that are helping every sort of type of disorder out there,

Joshua: 00:42:21

including even those that have OCD.

Joshua: 00:42:24

It doesn't mean that you have to suffer alone though, and it doesn't mean that

Joshua: 00:42:27

you have to worry about every single meticulous thing, but it does mean that

Joshua: 00:42:32

you have to be open to the promise that you're going to provide some of those

Joshua: 00:42:36

opportunities in your own life to work on the things that need to change.

Joshua: 00:42:42

That is the key.

Joshua: 00:42:44

If you're willing to do that, and if you're willing to say to yourself,

Joshua: 00:42:47

no matter what you might feel about it, that you want to make movement

Joshua: 00:42:51

happen in your life, then you are going to be able to do some of the

Joshua: 00:42:55

best things in your entire life.

Joshua: 00:42:58

It means that you are going to be able to change your perspective one way

Joshua: 00:43:02

or another, and it doesn't mean that you're a failure if you don't succeed,

Joshua: 00:43:07

because just by trying, you already won.

Joshua: 00:43:11

You won the battle in which sometimes we're afraid of doing, and yet here

Joshua: 00:43:15

we are, we're able to do it, and that is credit where credit is due.

Joshua: 00:43:22

Thanks for joining us in which we are honoring those that have been through OCD

Joshua: 00:43:27

and even that occurrence in your life, and I really appreciate my guest and being

Joshua: 00:43:32

able to recognize that achievement as well because you can certainly achieve anything

Joshua: 00:43:37

if you're willing to put your mind to it.

Joshua: 00:43:40

With that, thanks for listening to episode number 48 of Speaking from

Joshua: 00:43:44

the Heart, and I look forward to hearing from your heart, very soon.

Outro: 00:43:48

Thanks for listening.

Outro: 00:43:50

For more information about our podcast and future shows, search for Speaking From

Outro: 00:43:54

The Heart to subscribe and be notified wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Outro: 00:43:59

Visit us at www.yourspeakingvoice.biz for more information about potential

Outro: 00:44:05

services that can help you create the best version of yourself.