Morning Cup of Joe

In this episode Traci and Amber compare the systems of a car to our own mental health, and how managing our mental health can be very much like driving a car.

We all have needs, some are pretty basic for survival. All are needed for us to be happy and successful. This week we will talk about what those needs are, and how lacking in any of those needs can affect us using the show/game The Last of Us.

In this episode Traci and Amber talk about the movie Oppenheimer, and the invention of the Atomic Bomb, and how it ties into feelings of regret. We also talk about what to do if you are feeling regret about something that may have happened in your own life.

This week we cover the famous aviator and aerospace engineer Howard Hughes, and his struggle with OCD. We will talk about the symptoms of OCD and what to do if you are struggling with symptoms.

Relationships, most people want them but in this day and age dating has become complicated. In this episode Traci and Amber discuss new phenomenon of situationships, what they are and what to do if you find yourself in one.

In this episode Amber and Traci walk you through using Minecraft as a mindfulness technique. We talk about benefits of mindfulness, and why using creative games like Minecraft can be therapeutic for reducing stress and anxiety.

Conflict is something we all face in our daily lives. This week Traci and Amber use the Miranda Rights we hear repeated in Procedural Cop Shows to explain some conflict resolution strategies we can use the next time we find ourselves part of a disagreement.

This week we use a scenario about driving a car to talk about Polyvagal Theory. Polyvagal Theory is a theory that uses stimulation of the Vagus Nerve in order to decrease feelings of anxiety and overstimulation. We talk about what it is, why it works and how to use the techniques yourself in your everyday life.

This week Traci and Amber use the video game The Sims to talk about motivation. Like our digital counterparts we have needs, and wants that overall shape how we spend our time. Those wants and needs have to balanced with lifetime goals and our individual personality traits. Listen in to learn how to keep all of these things in balance and increase your motivation.

In this episode we use the classic video game Tetris to talk about Overstimulation. We talk about what it is, and what we can do about it.

Google Maps has made navigation easy. We just type in a destination, and the computer chooses the route, optimizing of course for any detours along the way. Sometimes it seems that it would make life easier if we could do that for our lives and goals as well. In this episode we will talk about Life Maps, and how we can use them to optimize efficiency in reaching our goals.

This week we will be using the Disney classic The Little Mermaid to discuss Limerence and Love and what the difference is between them. We will talk about what is happening in the brain when we "fall in love."

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the way we want to react is counterproductive? This is where the Opposite Action Skill comes in. Amber and Traci will use the Blockbuster movie The Martian to talk about this skill we can use when out fight or fight system wants to act in ways that we know are not productive.

In this episode we talk about water, why it is important to our mental health, and how much we should be drinking. We also talk about ways increase our water intake in ways that are fun.

In this episode we talk about the challenges of feeling lonely. Most of us struggle with feeling lonely at some point in our lives. In this episode we talk about what makes us feel lonely, and how to deal with loneliness and create connections with others.

In this episode, Amber relates a specific individual experience playing the firefight mode of the game Halo, that went wrong, to explain the emotional regulation tool SSTA and how to use it in our daily lives. SSTA or Stop, Slow Down and Think, then Act is a CBT tool to deal with feelings of being overwhelmed.

This week we will be talking about emotional regulation using the Disney Movie Inside Out. We will explore core emotions, and how our emotions impact how we see and interpret the world around us.

This week we will be discussing the best-selling novel and Apple TV series, Lessons in Chemistry, which we will be using to discuss Grit and Resilience. We will learn what they are, the difference between them, and how to increase these positive traits within ourselves.

This week Traci and Amber tackle a common issue in relationships, insecurity. Using an example from an advice form, each counselor takes the point of view of a person within the couple and talks about the issue of insecurity within the relationship, and how to handle it.

In part two of a two part series, we go into the healthy side of coping mechanisms. We discuss Frodo and how he used healthy coping mechanisms to handle stress and effectively manage the power of the ring.

For the next two weeks we will take a dive into coping mechanisms. We will start this week by exploring unhealthy coping mechanisms by using the example of Gollum from LOTR. We will talk about what they are, how they harm us, how we gain them, and how to know you or someone else you know is using one.

In this episode we loop back to Disney's Tangled to discuss the patterns that people use to manipulate people that try to push back against emotional abuse. We use the example of Mother Gothel to discuss the DARVO tactics of Deny, Attack and Reverse Victim and Offender. As always it isn't vital to have seen the movie we are talking about, but it can be referred to before or after listening to this podcast for illustrative purposes.

In this week's episode we look at a famous quote from Star Wars. "Remember Anakin, Your Focus Determines Your Reality." We look at how our focus change our perceptions, and even our reactions and thus shape our reality. There are some minor spoilers for Episodes I-III as we discuss how Anakin's Focus impacted his future and the path he took towards the Dark Side. We also discuss ways to change our focus in ways that can help us move towards our goals.

This week we talk about trauma, and how it can permanently affects us after the fact. We seek to reframe that trauma in a way that can helps us feel better about ourselves.

This week Amber relays a personal experience about a carnival ride and how it related to the hormonal spiral that happens when we are under large amounts of stress. We talk about ways that unhealthy coping mechanisms can worsen that hormonal spiral, and what we can do about it.

Sometimes it feels like everything is falling apart in our lives and that we are lost and out of control. In this episode we talk about handle that feeling by refocusing on the things within our control, in order to help us have less anxiety and be more resilient.

When we play video games we put a lot of thought and effort into how we want that character to develop and the type of game play experience that we want to have. Why do we not always put as much of that kind of thought into ourselves. In this episode we touch on RPG character creation and how it can help us make long term goals, and find a realistic pathway to reach them.

Gossip and Bullying can have a massive effect on our mental health and our self-esteem. Tune in this week as we talk about how Gossip and Bullying effect our mental health and what we can do about it if we experience it.

Do you struggle with perfectionism. Is anything less that perfect feel like failure to you? This week we are talking about Perfectionism and how it can sabotage our efforts and our mental health.

In this incredibly silly episode, we use the popular Anime series Delicious in Dungeon to talk about the basics of Nutrition, and services on campus that can help us learn more information about nutrition. So, sit back and be prepared to laugh as we spend a half an hour discussing the nutritional value of dungeon monsters, our daily intake requirements, and how even in a monster filled dungeon we can eat food that is nutritious and delicious.

In this episode Traci and Amber talk about how we often compare ourselves to others, and how it can make us feel inferior and unprepared. We talk about how it isn't about being the winner or being absolutely perfect. In this episode we also interviewed several students at the Miner Welcome Bash and got their opinions about what they are doing to prepare for college, and then we talk about how we can prepare ourselves most effectively for college.

No one likes change, change brings uncertainty, and everyone at certain points in time fights change. Ultimately though everyone faces change. This episode explores how the movie Dial of Destiny showed us that stepping through the portals of time, like many other movies that get referenced have a common theme: to change or fix something. This episode prompts listeners to challenge themselves to think about how change can be positive and learn the aspects of how change can be beneficial. The ACT Choice point is introduced to listeners and explained in detail to assist listeners to better understand how to break down resistance, take control away from things that are moving them away from their personal goals/values and move them toward personal growth and success in your everyday life personally and professionally.

In this episode we explore the tactics that horror movies that writers use to create tension, and how it relates to the causes of anxiety. We look at how to use that knowledge to decrease our anxious thoughts.

In this episode we explore the importance of perspective in relation to disappointment and rejection. We talk about reframing and relate it to looking through a different window of a house.

In this episode we explain how if the brain is a computer we can look at trauma as the computer virus. We discuss types of trauma, and what it is and what it isn't.

This episode is about Intimate Partner Violence, the patterns and warning signs. We talk about abuse, what it looks like, the cycle of abuse and resources.

Please be aware due to the subject matter, it may be upsetting for some listeners. While none of the graphic violence detailed or described, it is discussed.

As March begins we are starting to see our New Years resolutions start to fade and many people have already given up on the goals they set for themselves. So why is it we struggle so much with keeping our goals?

Have you ever had someone talk down to you? How about that person that seems to mess up easy tasks just so that they won't have to do them? This episode is about Transactional Analysis a psychology theory that teaches us about how we approach interactions with others, and how others can use things like anger and incompetence as weapons to control and manipulate.

This episode is about how sometimes we can struggle with parental expectations. We focus on two families from the series Wednesday and the differences in parental expectations and how each character copes with them.

This episode uses a single episode from the popular show Supernatural, Season 7 to explain the concept of Cognitive Dissonance and the ABC model of Cognitive Reframing.

In this episode we discuss the general theme in much of popular culture that emotions are bad through looking at the popular series Star Trek.

This episode is about the importance of acting in situations where you observe someone else acting in a way that is concerning or dangerous. We discuss the STEP-UP Program, and why sometimes people do not act.

This episode is about how to overcome feelings of social anxiety.

This episode is about finding connections online, and we examine if those relationships are real relationships.

This episode about the Joe's Peers and how they help make access to mental health information easier and more accessible.

In older video games they used perception to trick us into thinking that levels were getting progressively harder. In this episode we are exploring perception and how it can impact our real lives.

In this episode we join two subject matter experts, Dr. Elizabeth Dodd and Dr. Matthew Thimgan, to discuss sleep, and what it does for us, as well as how insufficient or poor quality sleep can effect us.

Every relationship, like every dinosaur needs boundaries. We use the Jurassic Park Franchise to explain boundary setting and how to set appropriate boundaries for our interpersonal relationships.

Sometimes we feel like we didn't earn our achievements. We feel like we aren't good enough, or don't deserve to be here. This episode goes over Imposter Syndrome and how to cope with feeling like an imposter.