Beyond the Smile

Beyond the Smile: Real Talk with Real People / Season Two, Episode Twelve:  It’s A Wrap!   Lessons Learned this Season 

What a second season!  We laughed, I cried, my life turned upside down with a move and I added an AMAZING co-host.   We covered the topics of burnout, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, self-care, social media and so many other topics that we hope you enjoyed.  Tune into our LAST episode to hear our summary of the season, what we have going on now, and maybe a preview of another season.   Maybe a discussion of a retreat to meet other like-minded people that can become your tribe?  Perhaps.  Check it out!

Want to learn more? or contact us?  Click the links below for more info:

Beyond the Smile: Real Talk with Real People / Season Two, Episode Eleven:  Tribe Time!  Wait, What Does That Even Mean???   Finding Your People

Brené Brown states in Daring Greatly,  “Connection is why we're here. We are hardwired to connect with others, it's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.”   In our post-pandemic culture, individuals are feeling increasingly more isolated despite their ability to leave quarantine and mingle.    It is an internal longing to be understood and known by someone on a core level (that isn’t your therapist!).   Today we discuss what this concept of ‘finding your tribe’ really means and ways to connect in your own community.  In addition, we review coach vs therapist if you feel you need some additional support in finding your people.  They are out there - we promise.

Check out Episode Eleven as we dive into this important topic and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Have a great Monday everyone -

Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

Beyond the Smile: Real Talk with Real People / Season Two, Episode Ten:  A Dolphin, A Lion, A Bear, and A Wolf Walk Into A Bar …

Confused?  No worries at all!  I will admit to being very confused when my amazing co-host broached the subject of sleep chronotypes.   I am someone who always is looking for that “great night of sleep” and never quite seeming to find it.  In addition, I have always been jealous of those who can go to the gym at 5a, or work late without caffeine and even those who can wake up without an alarm clock.   Our discussion today centers around being able to identify your sleep chronotype, why sleep patterns are so important, and what you can learn about yourself based on when your body works best.  Are we experts?  Nope.  Not yet! But we will talk through the impact of sleep on all aspects of your life, including your mental health.

Check out Episode Ten as we dive into this very interesting topic and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Have a great Monday everyone -

Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

Beyond the Smile: Real Talk with Real People / Season Two, Episode Nine:   Passions At A Circus Are Always In Tents

Self-care is not selfish.   Self-care is taking care of yourself so you can take care of others.  Self-care is respecting yourself the way you respect others.  Heard any of those statements in your life?   Yep, so have I.   And I roll my eyes.    As a result, we are diving in to determine what SELF CARE really means what it does not mean.    You may think you know all about self-care, but after our discussion, we hope you change that opinion.  Sound familiar?  Yep - this is round two for those overachievers in our world that need a second discussion to REALLY hear the importance of this issue.  We - ok, MJC - uses my own struggles as a working example!

Check out Episode Nine as we dive into this important topic and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Have a great Monday everyone -

Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

Self-care is not selfish.   Self-care is taking care of you so you can take care of others.  Self-care is respecting yourself the way you respect others.  Heard any of those statements in your life?   Yep, so have I.   And I roll my eyes.    As a result, we are diving in to determine what SELF CARE really means what it does not mean.    You may think you know all about self-care, but after our discussion, we hope you change that opinion.

Check out Episode Eight as we dive into this controversial (ok, annoying to some…)  topic and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Have a great Monday everyone -

Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

Social Media is something that one either loves (or loves to hate…) or avoid at all costs.   But is there a benefit to social media?   Many individuals look to social media for their mental health information, general health advice, and overall tips and tricks for life.  Oh, and to keep in touch with people of course!   So can it be a positive avenue for information if taken from another point of view?    It may surprise you to hear that we both have different views on this subject!

Check out Episode Seven as we dive into this interesting topic and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Have a great Monday everyone -

Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

What?  I cannot be perfect?   Who says?   Perfection is an ideal that many seek and often fall short of their goal.  Tune in to hear stories of imperfect perfection in our lives, the negative impact that seeking perfection has on individuals, and, as always, ways to change your view to be realistic.    We are all Perfectly Imperfect and we hope that you will take some insight from our discussion to change what your ‘ideal’ for you is.   If you are still struggling after you listen - send us an email!  We would love to help you change those perfectionistic tendencies so you can live your amazing life.

Check out Episode Six as we dive into this super important topic and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Have a great Monday everyone -

Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

This - by far - is our heaviest episode to date.   We included it in this season because of the increase of successful suicides that have been in the media, as well as in our lives since the pandemic began.   Is there a connection?  Or is it our culture increasing the pressure?   We may not have the answers, but we will discuss some of the issues impacting this discussion and offer some hope.   Please note that the show resources offer so many options for connection for anyone who needs extra support at this time.

Check out Episode Five as we dive into this heavy, but a very important topic, and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Have a great Monday everyone -

Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

Overachiever?  Yep - we got you.   Feel like that is the only way to ‘do life’?  Yep - we get that too.  But there is another way.    Tune in as we talk about the issue of unrealistic expectations starting in youth and transitioning into adulthood.    We will review ways to manage your expectations and live the life in which you can thrive with REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS.

Check out Episode Four as we dive into this creative topic and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Have a great Monday everyone -

Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

Episode 3:  Tag-Team Match of the Week:  Stress and Burnout vs Balance and Happiness.  Place your bets!

What a tag-team match this episode will be for everyone!   I heard a quote from a student:

"The brain relies more on experience than it does knowledge" seems to really apply to this discussion.    If your experience is to run the stress and burnout cycle day after day, sometimes KNOWING what to do isn’t as important as experiencing a new normal.  This episode runs through leading causes for burnout, how we live in a stress-based culture, and ways to find your true balanced, and happy self.

Curious to see everyone’s thoughts!  Have a great week - Melissa & Melissa

Resources Referred to in Episode:

Ever get lost in a spiral of Tik-Tok or maybe Instagram?  Before you know it hours have passed!   It is more common than you think.  Even mental health professionals are capitalizing on the social media platforms (both of us included!) but is that a good thing? Or can there be harm in seeking guidance or diagnosis via social media?

Check out Episode Two as we dive into this relevant topic and as always, we are curious to know what you think!

Resources Referred to in Episode:

Check out my chat with Leah Rockwell!   We connected randomly (thank you IG!) and I am grateful to have a peer with such passion, energy, and commitment to those she works with.   Such a delightful conversation and such a wonderful new friend to have in my circle!

Leah Rockwell, LPC, LCPC is a licensed professional counselor in PA and MD, providing online counseling services for women dealing with burnout, with a particular focus on the motherhood experience. She's a lovingly direct counselor and a co-parenting mom of two daughters. In former lives, she was a Spanish teacher, a sex education instructor, a school administrator, a wine vendor, and she is pretty sure she was a mermaid.

Leah utilizes a feminist approach to therapy and believes deeply in the power of healing through connection, both within the therapeutic relationship as well as by reconnecting clients with their own embodied, internal experience. When not working with clients, she can be found writing, cooking, reading, swimming, and introverting. Her future plans include building a space for divorced moms to connect online and Airbnb-ing her 1860-built, former bootlegging cottage in Frederick, MD.

Andy Kerr is beyond one of the most entertaining, engaging and authentic people that I have the pleasure to have in my tribe.  Check out my interview with him and let me know what you think!

Hi! I'm Andy - Speaker/Trainer/Coach

I love stories!  It always inspires me to see the hero of the story fight through impossible odds, gain the skills needed to defeat the enemy and achieve the life he or she has always wanted. I want to help create the event, the team, the business and the life you are dreaming of.  I can help you & your organization get UNSTUCK, have FUN and do WORK THAT MATTERS!!

One of Andy's favorite quotes:

“Life's too short" is repeated often enough to be a cliche, but this time it's true. You don't have enough time to be both unhappy and mediocre. It's not just pointless, it's painful. Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don't need to escape from.” -Seth Godin

Talk about a delightful interview with one of my new favorite people!  Tracy was able to be vulnerable, blunt, and quite humorous as she discussed her transition to private practice during a pandemic, as well as finding her ideal client niche.   Such a fun interview and I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did speaking with her!

Tracy is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor in New Jersey. She has been in the counseling field for over 15 years. Tracy is the owner of Positive Reflections Counseling. She works with clients who feel stuck or who are experiencing obstacles that are holding them back in life. She focuses on helping clients cope with life transitions, self-esteem issues, and stress management. Tracy helps clients feel empowered and motivated to achieve their goals in a comfortable and supportive manner. She likes to incorporate mindfulness into her practice but tailors the sessions to meet the client’s needs. When Tracy is not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two rescue dogs exploring different trails and parks.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my discussion with Alicia Hite on finding your niche, what we both cringe when asked by a friend, and our collective need to destigmatize mental health overall.    Her energy is contagious and I am excited for you to listen!

Alicia Hite is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2013 with her master's in Marriage and Family Therapy. Prior to living in Colorado Springs, Alicia resided in Las Vegas, Nevada where she owned a private practice and worked in a variety of mental health settings such as drug and alcohol rehab centers, foster care agencies, school-based settings, and community mental health agencies. She is currently the owner of Springs Psychotherapy LLC which a private practice that provides therapy to those that struggle with anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, which usually result from less than nurturing early childhood experiences. Additionally, Alicia works with couples who have experienced some sort of betrayal trauma within their relationship and are looking to rebuild and strengthen their connection to one another. Alicia is passionate about helping clients have a safe space in which they can begin to work through their past painful experiences and discover their voice, their strength, and their true selves.

Alicia also enjoys coaching other therapists in their private practice building journey which led her to create an online private practice building course called Prepping the Practitioner: How To Build, Maintain, and Love Your Private Practice. When Alicia is not working, she enjoys hiking or anything nature-related for that matter, reading, dancing, writing, meditation, and spending time with her friends and family.

Ever hear about Brainspotting?   Yep - neither had I.  Until I met the incredible Shaina Feingold.   Check out my interview with her and let me know what you think!

Shaina Feingold is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Trauma and Performance Specialist. She is certified in Brainspotting, which she uses to provide clients with lasting results. She received her Masters in Social Work from California State University, Los Angeles with a focus in trauma and forensics. She has spent the bulk of her career working with adolescents and adults who have a history of trauma or chronic stress. She has experience working in residential substance abuse treatment, community mental health, and the school system in Minnesota.

Shaina recently opened Mindful Reflections in Boca Raton, Florida, to offer a new and liberating way of conducting therapy and performance coaching. Through Mindful Reflections, Shaina aims to redefine trauma, performance, as well as addiction, in order for clients to feel heard. She sees people for who they are, not what they have experienced. Shaina helps clients find their truth so they can take back their power.

Check out my chat with Dr. Schwinn and her thoughts on her Mary Poppin's bag, our culture of workplace identity, and what self-care looks like for her.  So many nuggets of info in this interview - get a pen ready to take notes!

Dr. Schwinn’s passions lie in supporting women, particularly issues surrounding the transition within mamma-hood. In becoming a mother herself, there is a deep connection to those crossing this “rite of passage”, and the deep need to heal (what she calls inviting acceptance) from unmet expectations.

Dr. Schwinn aim’s to meet the patient with compassionate inquiry, towards integration. Building authentic connections through humor and sensitivity, clients report a genuine therapeutic alliance, allowing their vulnerabilities to be held with graceful respect.

She resides in Northern California with her beloved husband, 2 small children, and Australian Shepard. She is naturally drawn to the water, being near it whenever possible. In daily life, you would find her engaging in yoga, while sipping good wine and practicing her Italian.

Check out my interview with Catherine Lazen - talk about getting real.   We discussed religion, family, feeling like a fraud, and many topics in between.   It is a longer interview than most but the content is so powerful I encourage you to listen the whole way through.   She has some excellent resources for you to check out below as well!  Let me know what you think. While the focus of Catherine's training and experience is children and couples/families, she loves working with individuals of all ages. Her focus is to help her clients overcome and manage mental health challenges, issues associated with ASD, grief/trauma, relationship/family conflict, behavioral difficulties, life change, career planning, and issues associated with identity. As a former educator, she is particularly skilled at differentiating therapeutic interventions to fit individuals to suit their needs. In addition, she helps parents advocate for the educational needs of their children and provide social/emotional skills training to children and adults. Catherine Lazen is a clinical social worker and educational psychologist who specializes in human development over the lifespan. She offers support for healing, growth, learning, and healthy relationships. Her strength-based approach is informed by multiple theoretical frameworks, brain-based research, evidence-based therapies, the expressive arts, and a sense of humor. 

Check out Episode 03 with one of my favorite people as we discuss how the issue of authenticity, the impact of mentoring and empowerment shows up in academia, as well as life.   You will also hear about her recent tour of Anne Frank's House and Tai Chi in a Japanese garden!

Dr. Dana Grossman Leeman is the Senior Associate Director of the Tufts University Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT). Dana works with faculty to help bring their most creative, confident, and intentional selves to their teaching in order to improve student engagement, build community and foster equitable and inclusive professional development to optimize the quality of teaching and learning in face-to-face and online domains. Prior to coming to CELT, Dana was on faculty at the Simmons University School of Social Work for 22 years, during which she built two online degree programs in Clinical Social Work and Behavior Analysis. She was the inaugural Associate Dean for Online Education for the School of Social Work and was then appointed as the Inaugural Provost Faculty Fellow for Online Education in which she provided professional development to all faculty teaching in six online Masters programs across the university. Dana’s work derives from relational cultural theory, experiential learning, and the sociological construct of mattering. She holds an MSW from Boston University School of Social Work and a Ph.D. in Clinical Social Work from Simmons University. Dana is a passionate guitarist, balletomane, voracious reader, and is currently co-editing a text on Creating Communities in Online Education. She and her husband, Rafe, have two amazing children- Gabriel and Marissa.

Ms. Jean-Charles is the sole proprietor of MA Jean-Charles Psychotherapy and Consulting, LLC, a private behavioral health practice that provides psychodynamic therapy to individuals, couples, and families of color. Melissa received a Master in Social Work (MSW)  from Simmons University and is an independently licensed clinical social worker in  Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Melissa also received a Master in Public Health (MPH) from George Washington University.  MA Jean-Charles Psychotherapy and Consulting, LLC provides psychodynamic therapy to individuals, couples, and families of color. We started our practice due to a shortage of private practices concentrating on people of color.

MA Jean-Charles Psychotherapy and Consulting, LLC also provides a continuum of consultation services to small behavioral health private practices and clinics. Consulting services include office management, credentialing strategy, and the development of network proposals. Melissa has significant policy and behavioral health network management experience, including employment as a Deputy Director with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts DSRIP Community Partner’s program and Regional Director of Provider Quality for both Metro Boston and Southeast Region for a Managed Care Entity (MCE).

You can reach Melissa Jean-Charles to learn more about her practice, or to ask questions at:

cell: 617.335.5613

Episode 01

Melissa Russiano, LCSW, LISW, CDWF

In the first episode, get to know Melissa on a different level and understand the WHY of passion for this podcast.   It is a different format to what the rest of the season will be, but a way to launch with an explanation to set the tone.