Your Therapist Needs Therapy

Jeremy is joined by one of his favorite collaborators, Emily Lapolice, to announce a retreat for May 14-16, 2027. Jeremy and Emily talk about their thought process in putting the retreat together, share some of their hopes for what might be accomplished in that weekend, and highlight some of the ideas for a safe, calm, trauma sensitive retreat that centers autonomy and community. 

To learn more about the retreat and sign up, he...

This week Jeremy grapples with the paradox that everyone wants community but so few people actually do community well. Using some real life examples from his own lived experience, Jeremy highlights some of the common pitfalls of too many humans interacting with one another, and lays out some of the high points of communities that unfortunately still tend to fail at scale. We wrap this week’s episode looking forward to what ch...

This week Jeremy asks why is it so hard to do the things we actually want to do? He explores the gap between desire and capacity, and why exhaustion, perfectionism, and the lure of immediate gratification can make even the things we love feel like chores. Maybe the answer isn't more discipline, but less shame, less friction, and permission to do things badly simply because we enjoy them.

As always, Jeremy has all his practice info a...

This week Jeremy talks about the tiny tyrants who make everyday life miserable. From HOA presidents and angry customers to sports parents screaming at umpires, we unpacked why small amounts of power can bring out our worst impulses. We explore the psychology and social conditions that turn ordinary people into enforcers, and what it looks like to use the small amounts of power we all have to build community instead of hierarchy.

As ...

This week Jeremy pulls out some cork board and red string to connect all the ways in which late stage capitalism wants you to be burnt out. Jeremy talks about the extractive nature of late stage capitalism and how it creates and then profits from your exhaustion. While self care is always lovely and stress management is never a bad thing, Jeremy makes the case that no rest will ever truly cure burnout as long as capitalism is still...

This week Jeremy gets the chance to sit down with Dhyana Levey, a journalist who specializes in working with survivors of insular religious groups. Dhyana and Jeremy chat about the modern hype around cult documentaries, and the spaces where both (either?) the media and survivors can get the story wrong. Dhyana shares some tips about deciding when and how to share a survivor story with the media, and also has some pointers on where ...

This week Jeremy channels his inner “world’s greatest detective” to be able to look at the overt evil we encounter in the modern world. We ponder on what it means that corruption no longer feels the need to hide itself, war crimes do not merit front page coverage, and the government is full of a cast of villains that would make a comic book writer blush. Jeremy also talks about the mental toll of living in a dysto...

This week Jeremy gets to chat with Packers fan extraordinaire and very funny human Tom Grossi. Tom shares his journey from being a teacher to a Packers podcaster to announcing a draft pick, and he highlights the incredible connections the internet can create. Jeremy and Tom talk about some of the ways that sports can be a wonderful community in spite of endless monetization, and Tom talks about some of the ways he takes care of his...

This week Jeremy looks at how celebrity culture has convinced us that visibility is the same as wisdom, turning artists, athletes, and influencers into stand-ins for philosophers, political analysts, and moral authorities. Jeremy uses the recent example of Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame rubbing elbows with Tucker Carlson as to why it’s a bad idea that our culture keeps outsourcing its thinking to famous people. We take a cri...

This week Jeremy talks about one of his favorite topics: safety! Jeremy looks at what safety for our system actually looks and feels like, and how that is different from discomfort. Jeremy breaks down why working through being uncomfortable is part of healing, and how safety as a signal isn’t necessarily a sign to shut down. We also apply a critical historical lens on how therapy continues to rebrand social critiques into ind...

This week Jeremy looks at the algorithms we consume. Jeremy breaks down how these mindless math equations actively shape who we become by rewarding outrage, insecurity, and endless engagement over truth and connection. We touch on how the attention economy reinforces the same psychological patterns found in authoritarian systems, from identity formation to fear-based messaging, and why that's so profitable. Most importantly, we dis...

In this week’s episode, Jeremy explores how therapy speak terms like gaslighting, narcissist, attachment, and trauma have drifted from clinical concepts into everyday weapons, and why curiosity is more healing than diagnosis. Jeremy talks about how to recognize the difference between using psychological language to build understanding and using it to shut conversations down. Basically, diagnosis can be helpful, but also, stop...

CW: Suicide

This week Jeremy sits in the complex emotions surrounding the recent death of Ryan Stollar. Jeremy looks at how we try to hold the tragedy of a loss simultaneous with anger at harm perpetrated, and how that gets even more complex with holding space for mental health and complex trauma. Jeremy talks about accountability mattering even for the dead as a way to protect the living, and highlights that mental health issues ar...

This week famed podcaster and friendly neighborhood therapist Jeremy Schumacher talks about parasocial relationships. Jeremy explores why these relationships feel so real, when they can be helpful, and how they can slide into dependency, especially in religious, therapeutic, and influencer spaces. Along the way, we examine the continuum between connection and exploitation, and ask what ethical responsibility comes with influence.

To...

This week Jeremy takes a look at what happens when therapeutic frameworks evolve from useful models into systems of certainty. Jeremy uses Internal Family Systems (IFS) founder Richard Schwartz (among others) as an example of how authority, insider language, and resistance to criticism can emerge in therapy communities just as they do in religious and ideological movements. Rather than asking whether a popular therapy modality is a...

This week Jeremy talks about the dirty laundry involved in major sporting events, such as this year’s upcoming World Cup. We look at the terrible environmental impact that will make this the worst World Cup ever for pollution, the nightmarish public transportation situation in the US, and how three host countries actually is a pretty bad idea. And since Jeremy knows so little about soccer, he also uses examples from the NBA, ...

This week Jeremy peels back a dark corner of the internet to look at how meme culture and edgelord attempts at irony contribute to mass violence. We look at the recent shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego where three victims died while the perpetrators posted livestream links and a manifesto full of in-group jokes and microwaved 4chan references to show they culturally belong to a group of online extremists. The absurd and v...

This week Jeremy discusses some therapy business drama! Aetna and/or Alma are the worst and blaming each other for what is in effect a huge pay cut for a majority of therapists. Jeremy breaks down the comically evil way in which this pay cut will happen, who it all effects, and what therapists can do moving forward. He also rants about capitalism and therapists with bad business practices!

As always, Jeremy has all his practice info...

One of Jeremy’s greatest adversaries is the topic today, as we’re doing a deconstruction of professionalism! Hooray! Jeremy takes a look at how the arbitrary and socially constructed meaning of a concept like professionalism serves to protect people in power, and perpetuates harm specifically against marginalized communities. We also question how far the charade of professionalism can go while modern leaders are woefull...