Episode Details

In this episode, I am joined by Susan Orenstein, who works with individuals and couples to pursue a more peaceful, purposeful, and passionate life. Susan speaks about the process behind starting a podcast and what she has learned so far. We chat about creating content outside of the therapy room to help people on their healing journey. Tune in as we discuss other ways to expand your niche and turn your passions into creative and useful content.

Hi, I'm Susan Orenstein, Ph.D. For over twenty-five years, I've worked with individuals and couples that come to my counseling office in pursuit of a more peaceful, purposeful, and passionate life. Relationships are integral to that rich, fulfilling existence we all desire. Healthy relationships bolster our well-being while unhealthy relationships hinder our ability to thrive.

That's why I'm passionate about helping couples to either optimize their relationship or learn to let each other go so they can develop a nourishing, intimate connection elsewhere.

Susan wants her work to be accessible to more people. So, she developed a podcast - it's called After The First Marriage. Plus, Susan has a free e-course that goes with it. She is creating a lot of content because Susan particularly loves the work that she does. In addition, Susan loves going online and looking at worksheets, reading, and joining groups. There are so many ways people can heal outside of the therapy room, and Susan wanted to help develop those things for her clients.

In Susan's podcast, she gets to bring more of herself in. Susan gets to think about who interests her, who she wants to learn from, what she is reading, and who she wants to interview. Plus, Susan gets to create fun materials with her content. Also, Susan is learning that there are parts of her that she can bring into this process to expand her ability to be a therapist. For instance, Susan has learned about the effectiveness of self-disclosure when working with clients because it gives you more credibility when they can hear that a therapist has gone through similar struggles. Overall, with a podcast and creating content, it's fun to shake it up and to learn new things all the time.

Next, Susan speaks about working on tearing down the stigma that's still attached to being a therapy client. She wants to normalize these processes for people because almost everybody cares about having healthy relationships. Therefore, getting the skills to learn about this and making it approachable and accessible to people is critical to Susan. One way Susan helps people for free is through her podcast and social media. Plus, podcasting is more personal than blogging or written material because it's a better way to connect with the person on the other end. Even though you're just listening to a recording, you still make a connection through voice.

Professionally, Susan's favorite clients have been people who have been kicked to the curb. They are so down; they cannot get their head up, and they are so grateful to have therapy and have someone believe in them and have someone help them. That way, Susan can help her clients figure out what happened, so it doesn't happen again. Through therapy, Susan's clients regain self-esteem and gain some tools for intimacy in the future. Some of her very favorite clients have been people going through a divorce. Luckily, Susan can't say that she knows personally what divorce is like. However, she can say that she has never taken her husband for granted, and he has never taken Susan for granted.

When Susan sees somebody going through a divorce who didn't choose divorce, they are often very wounded, have hurt self-esteem and depression. Plus, there is anxiety, they question their attractiveness, and they question their desirability. After di