In this episode of What Your Therapist is Reading, psychotherapist and host Jessica Fowler interviews education writer Natalie Wexler about her book "The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System—and How to Fix It.  Wexler explains that many elementary schools, especially since the rise of high-stakes testing around 2000, have reduced time spent on history, social studies, and science in favor of practicing transferable reading “skills” like finding the main idea. Drawing on cognitive science, she argues these skills depend heavily on prior knowledge and vocabulary, and that building knowledge through coherent, topic-based instruction improves reading comprehension by reducing working-memory load (cognitive load theory). In addition, we discuss we explore how mental health and education are connected.

*Information shared in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.

*Information shared on this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.

In this weeks episode of What Your Therapist is Reading, Jessica Fowler speaks with Chris Gamble about his book Tales of a Black Therapist. In our discussion, Chris shares how he uses storytelling to highlight the unique challenges and perspectives of Black therapists.

Highlights include:

-Chris shares about the premise of the book and how although a novel wanted to share some of the lessons he was learning in community mental health work, although the stories are fictional.

-Systemic issues in mental health care.

- Chris shares who this book is for and how he provides book club questions.

-We discuss how often students are not made away of what it is like to really work in the mental health field.

In this weeks episode, Jessica Fowler, interviews Jennifer Mullan, PsyD about her book Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma & Politicizing Your Practice. We cover so much in this episode including what decolonizing therapy is and how to apply that to your own practice. We explore the struggles of therapists and what can be done differently.

Jessica Fowler chats with Carrie Leaf, MS, LMFT about her book Therapize Yourself: Choose to Heal and Find Your Truth. A Step by Step Program to Bring Our the Best Version of You by Integrating the Mind, Body and Spirit. Carrie shares in her book what she shares with all her clients.

Jessica Fowler, LCSW interviews Sharon Martin, LCSW about her book Better Boundaries.

Jessica Fowler interviews Jamie D. Roberts, LMFT about her book Mindfulness for Teen Anxiety: A Practical Guide to Manage Stress, Ease Worry, and Find Calm. Jamie shares tools that can help teens with their anxiety.

Jessica Fowler interviews Nicole Schwartz, LMFT about her book It Starts with You: How Imperfect Parents Can Find Calm and Connection With Their Kids.