https://simplecast.com The Circle Podcast — two therapists, no script, thinking out loud. The Circle Podcast is an unscripted, fireside chat between two therapists. No theme, no lesson plan — just Candice and Ari sitting down to think out loud about the real work of being a clinician: the conversations we usually only have with each other, the questions that don't have clean answers, and the things nobody teaches you in training. It's the same thing we try to do in the therapy room: Just stay curious, drop the expert act, and see what we find when we wander around a good question together. Pull up a chair and join us. 2026, CHM, The Therapist Circle en Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000 Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:00:15 +0000 https://the-circle-podcast-two-therapists-no-script-thinking-out.simplecast.com The Circle Podcast — two therapists, no script, thinking out loud. https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/eb174b66-950a-4ccf-83ed-ec6b155be7e8/4cdf2b16-905c-4de8-ae48-7877a4f42c6d/3000x3000/chatgpt_image_jul_23_2026_at_102359_pm.jpg?aid=rss_feed https://the-circle-podcast-two-therapists-no-script-thinking-out.simplecast.com episodic The Circle Podcast is an unscripted, fireside chat between two therapists. No theme, no lesson plan — just Candice and Ari sitting down to think out loud about the real work of being a clinician: the conversations we usually only have with each other, the questions that don't have clean answers, and the things nobody teaches you in training. It's the same thing we try to do in the therapy room: Just stay curious, drop the expert act, and see what we find when we wander around a good question together. Pull up a chair and join us. Ari Shapero, Candice Hamilton-Miller false https://feeds.simplecast.com/o7TJW44j being a therapist,canadian therapists,clinical practice,clinical supervision,clinicians,counselling,countertransference,curiosity,mental health,mental health professionals,psychotherapy,therapist podcast,therapy conversations,therapy podcast Candice Hamilton-Miller candice@chmtherapy.com ef85b09a-6a18-44df-ab3b-20a4d0b05e49 Brain Zings What happens to our boundaries when the instinct to help follows us home? This one starts with the therapist reflex to fix (in friendships, in parenting, in our own relationships) and the honest question of whether the deeper look we do is us being the expert or us happily admitting we don't know. Then the brain starts zinging: the head-tilt theory that runs away with the conversation (lean left for thought, lean right for feeling), whether we could tilt on purpose to shift a session, the way clients walk away remembering a version of what we said that we never actually said, and the birthday Ari went to work only to have one of five booked clients show up. Underneath all of it sits one freeing idea: we are not a crisis service, we are at best a speed bump, and people mostly survive the session we miss. A conversation about holding the work a little more lightly.

A note on the science: the head-tilt idea we get excited about in this one (lean left to think, lean right to feel, a little extra blood to one side of the brain) is a great story that doesn't hold up. Head position doesn't route blood to one hemisphere, so that part isn't real. There is a smaller, more defensible idea underneath, that a deliberate gesture can cue a shift in your own attention, and we dig into the whole thing in the members' resource inside The Circle.

Content note: strong language throughout, and a brief, non-graphic mention of suicide and clinical risk in the context of crisis-service limits.

Like the way we think? The Circle is where we keep the conversation going with clinicians like you. Come find your people: https://tinyurl.com/th3c1rcl3

Like the way we think? The Circle is where we keep the conversation going with clinicians like you. Come find your people: The Therapist Circle

]]> Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000 candice@chmtherapy.com (Candice Hamilton-Miller, Ari Shapero) https://the-circle-podcast-two-therapists-no-script-thinking-out.simplecast.com/episodes/brain-zings-Lsv5XLRj What happens to our boundaries when the instinct to help follows us home? This one starts with the therapist reflex to fix (in friendships, in parenting, in our own relationships) and the honest question of whether the deeper look we do is us being the expert or us happily admitting we don't know. Then the brain starts zinging: the head-tilt theory that runs away with the conversation (lean left for thought, lean right for feeling), whether we could tilt on purpose to shift a session, the way clients walk away remembering a version of what we said that we never actually said, and the birthday Ari went to work only to have one of five booked clients show up. Underneath all of it sits one freeing idea: we are not a crisis service, we are at best a speed bump, and people mostly survive the session we miss. A conversation about holding the work a little more lightly.

A note on the science: the head-tilt idea we get excited about in this one (lean left to think, lean right to feel, a little extra blood to one side of the brain) is a great story that doesn't hold up. Head position doesn't route blood to one hemisphere, so that part isn't real. There is a smaller, more defensible idea underneath, that a deliberate gesture can cue a shift in your own attention, and we dig into the whole thing in the members' resource inside The Circle.

Content note: strong language throughout, and a brief, non-graphic mention of suicide and clinical risk in the context of crisis-service limits.

Like the way we think? The Circle is where we keep the conversation going with clinicians like you. Come find your people: https://tinyurl.com/th3c1rcl3

Like the way we think? The Circle is where we keep the conversation going with clinicians like you. Come find your people: The Therapist Circle

]]> Brain Zings Candice Hamilton-Miller, Ari Shapero 00:32:30 Two therapists wander from a simple question, what happens when the instinct to help follows us home, into a string of “brain zings”: the head-tilt theory that leaning left is thinking and leaning right is feeling, the way clients remember a version of what we said that we never said, and the birthday Ari went to work only to have one of five clients show up. Underneath it all sits one freeing idea. We are not a crisis service, we are at best a speed bump, and people mostly survive the session we miss. Two therapists wander from a simple question, what happens when the instinct to help follows us home, into a string of “brain zings”: the head-tilt theory that leaning left is thinking and leaning right is feeling, the way clients remember a version of what we said that we never said, and the birthday Ari went to work only to have one of five clients show up. Underneath it all sits one freeing idea. We are not a crisis service, we are at best a speed bump, and people mostly survive the session we miss. therapist importance, fixing vs understanding, being a good host, helper instinct, hemispheric lateralization, ): therapist boundaries, crisis service limits, curiosity vs analysis, therapists are human., therapist self-care, head tilt and the brain, private practice boundaries, decentred practice, clients misremembering sessions, therapist burnout, working with teenagers, left brain right brain myth, snow day true full 2 40e551b4-894b-4cc7-a8f3-c9ee2f2d81d4 Fascinated with Humans Fascinated with Humans

Two therapists sit down without a plan and follow a good question wherever it goes. What starts as "how close is too close to a client?" turns into an honest conversation about talking about suicide without flinching, why the mandate to keep people safe depends on going deeper rather than backing away, and what happens to the work when we stop trying to be the expert. Along the way: curiosity versus judgment, the difference between fixing and understanding, why nobody grows from being comfortable, and the idea that we, not the office or the toolbox, are the space the work happens in.

Content note: this episode includes open discussion of suicide and MAID (medical assistance in dying).

What we get into:

- How close is too close to a client: transference, countertransference, and the "friend zone"

- "Who are we to say suicide is wrong?" A colleague's question, MAID, and the gray areas mental health still occupies

- Why the safety mandate needs the deep conversation, not less of it, and how documentation protects you

- From understanding to fascination: curiosity and judgment can't share a room

- Letting go of the expert seat

- Fixing versus understanding, and the idea that maybe nothing is wrong

- Nobody grows from being comfortable

- "We are the space": the real room is the conversation between two people

- Aging, burnout, and getting the magic back

Links:

- Join The Circle (free two-week trial): https://tinyurl.com/th3c1rcl3

 

Like the way we think? The Circle is where we keep the conversation going with clinicians like you. Come find your people: https://tinyurl.com/th3c1rcl3

Like the way we think? The Circle is where we keep the conversation going with clinicians like you. Come find your people: The Therapist Circle

]]> Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000 candice@chmtherapy.com (Candice Hamilton-Miller, Ari Shapero) https://the-circle-podcast-two-therapists-no-script-thinking-out.simplecast.com/episodes/fascinated-with-humans-qtQsIOe0 Fascinated with Humans

Two therapists sit down without a plan and follow a good question wherever it goes. What starts as "how close is too close to a client?" turns into an honest conversation about talking about suicide without flinching, why the mandate to keep people safe depends on going deeper rather than backing away, and what happens to the work when we stop trying to be the expert. Along the way: curiosity versus judgment, the difference between fixing and understanding, why nobody grows from being comfortable, and the idea that we, not the office or the toolbox, are the space the work happens in.

Content note: this episode includes open discussion of suicide and MAID (medical assistance in dying).

What we get into:

- How close is too close to a client: transference, countertransference, and the "friend zone"

- "Who are we to say suicide is wrong?" A colleague's question, MAID, and the gray areas mental health still occupies

- Why the safety mandate needs the deep conversation, not less of it, and how documentation protects you

- From understanding to fascination: curiosity and judgment can't share a room

- Letting go of the expert seat

- Fixing versus understanding, and the idea that maybe nothing is wrong

- Nobody grows from being comfortable

- "We are the space": the real room is the conversation between two people

- Aging, burnout, and getting the magic back

Links:

- Join The Circle (free two-week trial): https://tinyurl.com/th3c1rcl3

 

Like the way we think? The Circle is where we keep the conversation going with clinicians like you. Come find your people: https://tinyurl.com/th3c1rcl3

Like the way we think? The Circle is where we keep the conversation going with clinicians like you. Come find your people: The Therapist Circle

]]> Fascinated with Humans Candice Hamilton-Miller, Ari Shapero 00:32:00 How close is too close to a client, and what happens when we stop trying to be the expert? Candice and Ari start there and wander through talking about suicide without flinching, curiosity versus judgment, and why this work can still feel like magic. How close is too close to a client, and what happens when we stop trying to be the expert? Candice and Ari start there and wander through talking about suicide without flinching, curiosity versus judgment, and why this work can still feel like magic. fixing vs understanding, narrative therapy, suicide and therapy, therapeutic curiosity, talking about suicide, maid, therapeutic presence, clinical risk assessment, countertransference, therapist burnout, working with teenagers, being seen in therapy false full 1