“People began thanking me for sharing my fallibility. This gave them hope and seemed to strip them of the shame they so often feel when engaging in parenting therapy and parenting education.”
SALT LAKE CITY (PRWEB) February 22, 2023
It is with great excitement that we announce the 15th anniversary of the broadcast that has become, “Finding You: An Evoke Therapy Podcast,” hosted by Evoke Therapy Programs Co-founder and Executive Clinical Director, Dr. Brad Reedy.
Through his engaging, honest, and relatable style, Dr. Reedy has built a loyal following of listeners who tune in each week to hear him speak candidly about difficult topics such as boundary setting, dealing with guilt and shame, personal accountability, and self-compassion.
At the time the broadcasts began in 2007, Evoke was predominantly a wilderness therapy program treating adolescents and young adults. The webinar broadcasts arose at the suggestion of a former Evoke parent who thought it would be a great way for Dr. Reedy to connect with the program’s current and alumni parents on a regular and more direct basis. Since its inception, Evoke’s Dr. Reedy has broadcast over 1,550 episodes. Six years ago, to increase accessibility, Evoke made the decision to turn each of these live webinars into a podcast episode, with over 500 episodes to date. The podcast’s popularity has skyrocketed, bringing the total to 3 million downloads!
One podcast reviewer writes,
"Thank you, Brad, and Evoke for making this podcast available to the public. I’ve been listening for almost 3 years. I started listening when my family was having serious issues. Whenever I feel like I need support, I just turn on this podcast, go for a walk or do the dishes, and I feel much better and clearer. I can honestly say that this podcast has improved my life in a major way."
And another adds,
"The principles discussed in his podcasts, and my practicing of them is healing. I am a therapist by profession, and I am seeing this improve my work, and holding my client's emotions more effectively now. I witness great healing by following the principles explained here. I can only hope this podcast has helped its listeners in the way it’s helped me."
While the broadcasts cover diverse topics related to parenting, psychological disorders, and theory, book reviews, and interviews with authors, therapists, and artists, the content has evolved over the years along with Reedy’s own philosophy, growth, and self-knowledge. The thread throughout the broadcasts, be it a specific topic or a Q&A, are the foundational concepts Dr. Reedy emphasizes: the importance of doing your own work, the centrality of the relationship to the self as the foundation for parenting or a partnership, and the negative effects of guilt and shame on healthy psychological development.
“In the earliest days, I would receive emails from parents saying how they loved the broadcasts but sometimes left them feeling inadequate,” remembers Dr. Reedy. This response led to Reedy making a major shift as he began sharing more personally - his own mistakes, setbacks, and regressions as he related to the topics being taught. While this was part of his own evolution as a host, he recognized how this shift was helping his audience. “People began thanking me for sharing my fallibility. This gave them hope and seemed to strip them of the shame they so often feel when engaging in parenting therapy and parenting education,” he says.
He sees the broadcasts in their current iteration as trying to convey ways of thinking about parenting, relationships, and personal growth, versus sharing self-help tricks, tips, and tools. “I love it when people tell me that they try to guess at what I might say on a given topic or in a given situation in their lives,” says Dr. Reedy. “That tells me they are trying to understand this new way of thinking. That is the goal. This way of thinking and the emphasis on attachment theory is not mine; I did not create it.” Rather, Reedy’s work comes from his synthesis of the teachings of people he calls “the masters,” like psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Melanie Klein, D.W. Winnicott, J.D. Gill, James Hollis, and Alice Miller; philosophers Immanuel Kant, Joseph Campbell, Ram Dass, and Nietzsche; poets Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, and Rilke; and, finally, Buddhist teachers Alan Watts and Thich Nhat Hanh.
To learn more about Evoke's wilderness therapy program, an experiential, nature-based therapy program for teens and young adults, individual and parent coaching, as well as Evoke’s therapeutic intensives for individuals, couples, and families, visit evoketherapy.com. Several new programs to come out of the broadcasts include the Conscious Parenting Workshop and a Master Class on Attachment-Based Therapy for therapists who want to improve their clinical skills. Dr. Reedy’s next Conscious Parenting Workshop with be held February 24, 2023; the Master Class will air May 26th, and Dr. Reedy returns to the UK this summer to host a Finding You Weekend, June 23rd-25th. To learn more about any of these programs or to register, email admissions@evoketherapy.com.
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