So, I ran into an issue.

I love making lists. In fact, my brother, sister-in-law, and father-in-law have a snapchat titled “All About the Lists” which is a chat that is (as the name implies) all about the lists. We pick subjects such as movies, songs, albums, TV shows, whatever we want and we give each other our favorites in each category. We might also change the name to “All About the Lists and the Ratings” so we can include our rating on various things. Riveting, I know!

Anyways, I started this trend on my own personal blogs here at Bridging Harts. It started with top five book recommendations and moved to top five movie recommendations. Today, I was going to list my top five podcasts, but I ran into a problem: they are not all therapeutically relevant. So, while I have many podcasts that I love, only a couple of them stand out regarding therapy for me to share with the readers. However, I feel these two podcasts are essential for anyone looking to better their health in all aspects. These podcasts are: The Checkup with Doctor Mike and The Dr. John Delony Show.

The Checkup with Doctor Mike:

I discovered Dr. Mike only a couple of years ago, but he has been big for a long time. Dr. Mike practices family medicine in New York, and gained a huge following on his social media, YouTube, and now his podcast. All I can say is, I find his perspective and approach to life (as well as medicine) incredible. It is very rare to find someone who speaks as if they could speak for you and you would have no issue with it, and that is the way I feel hearing Dr. Mike speak. His approach to science and practical ways to better your diet, exercise, and sleep are right up my alley, and I have formed numerous habits in my life around his recommendations. I believe for the better!

The reason why I would recommend listening to his podcast is as follows: One, because he is honest and transparent. Two, because he has healthy discussions, even with those he severely disagrees with. And three, he explores topics and actionable items that can actually be applied practically for a general audience. If you want to learn more about how to live a healthy lifestyle from top to bottom, or just want to gain more education and knowledge on how we should have handled COVID, a reasonable approach to eastern medicine, and hear someone confront health “gurus”, Dr. Mike is a fantastic place to start.

The Dr. John Delony Show:

This podcast is my favorite mental health podcast. Not only that, but Dr. John Delony is my favorite mental health author and speaker EVER. Like with Dr. Mike, I feel very lined up in my approach to my own counseling as Dr. Delony does with callers on his show. Each episode shows three different callers, each calling to discuss with Dr. Delony the issue they are experiencing. He walks through with them, giving them practical advice and solid next steps to take. Again, I would also be alright having Dr. Delony speak for me because I believe my beliefs line up solidly with his own. His approach to emotions, boundaries, parenting, and much more are items that I have also applied to my own life and try to live by every day.

I recommend this podcast because everyone can get something out of the conversation being had. These aren’t famous influencers, other professionals, or made-up scenarios. These are real people giving real issues, and he meets them with real solutions and ideas. He provides a much-needed shift to the current narrative of mental health as it pertains to the general public, challenging common notions and ideas that are so prevalent. To add onto that, he also challenges a lot of practices and approaches currently used at large in the therapeutic community that perhaps are doing more harm than good. If you’ve considered therapy but don’t know how to take the next step, or don’t even know what you’d work on in therapy once you got there, Dr. Delony’s show may be exactly what you need.

I wanted to take time to explore these shows this month because in my life, they have had such a tremendous impact. I have had a lot of psychological and physiological growth these past few years, and unpacking and changing that has been due a lot to educating myself through these podcasts. Now I want to be clear, these are not the only things I do. As you know by now, I am a huge reader, especially of mental health material. A am actively engaged in collaborating and communicating with other professionals in my field. I am constantly seeking areas to improve and learn. But these places give me a solid base and a drive to bring myself out and put in the work I need to put it. My hope is that they will do the same for you. So, give them a try, find an episode with a summary or title that sounds intriguing to you! Maybe soon we can share our thoughts with each other.

P.S.

I am currently working on starting up my own podcast, exploring all areas of health: mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Stay tuned!