TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO FILE:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT:

THERAPIST: So tell me where you are?

CLIENT: So, poor (sounds worried) Trae has been so sick this past week.

THERAPIST: Oh, no.

CLIENT: I know. This is the first time he is really he had a little cold once before, but this is really the first time -

THERAPIST: The really hard time of year.

CLIENT: Yeah. So this is like the first time I've even left the house, except to take him to the doctor, since Tuesday.

THERAPIST: What does he have?

CLIENT: He does have an ear infection, so I was almost relieved to find out.

THERAPIST: Yeah, that's fixable.

CLIENT: Because at least we can give him medicine and he'll get better.

THERAPIST: Yeah. One day of antibiotics, they tend to feel so much better.

CLIENT: Yeah. I was wondering how long it took, because we have him the first dose like yesterday around 3:00.

THERAPIST: I bet he'll be perked up by tonight.

CLIENT: Okay, good, because he just has been miserable.

THERAPIST: I mean, I'm not a medical doctor, but I have found in my experience that they tend to perk up real fast.

CLIENT: Okay, good.

THERAPIST: And don't be shy to give him his Tylenol, because that's really what bothers them is the pain.

CLIENT: The pain, yeah. [0:01:00.3]

THERAPIST: Poor little guy.

CLIENT: So, I don't know why, just I feel so badly for him, it's hard to see him like so uncomfortable.

THERAPIST: I'm sure.

CLIENT: You just want to like switch places, you know?

THERAPIST: Mm-hmm.

CLIENT: But it actually worked out well, because this week, school is kind of like just starting back up, so I didn't have too many obligations that I had to be at or deadlines that I had to do in terms of work this week. So it's been nice to just be able to -

THERAPIST: You were able to be with him.

CLIENT: Yeah. Put it all on the backburner. Tuesday, he was like coming down with something and my mom was watching him on Tuesday. So that was perfect, but then by the time I got home on Tuesday, we knew he really didn't feel well. We didn't send him to daycare on Wednesday and I just stayed home with him, and yesterday, and then we didn't send him again today, to daycare, because you could just tell he was not himself.

THERAPIST: He was not himself, mm-hmm.

CLIENT: So, that's felt really good though, to be able, just timing wise, to be able to focus on him and not really have to worry. And the few things, like I did have to make sure to turn in or whatever, I was able to finish during a nap or something. So that has made me feel much better. I think it would have really been hard if this had happened at a really busy time, to have to juggle everything. Todd's been really busy at work, because his classes have started already. So, it just like worked out well. [0:02:19.7]

THERAPIST: That you're able to juggle easily right now.

CLIENT: Yeah. But I feel like it's like our first glimpse into like what other parents really go through. I was texting my friend who has a one year-old, and I was like now I understand when Jackson was getting sick all the time and just like how hard it is to see him like that, but also like logistically, to try to figure everything out.

THERAPIST: Right. Everything gets upended.

CLIENT: Yeah, yeah. So I guess we're lucky that he's ten months old and we haven't really had to deal with this yet.

THERAPIST: Well, it's his first winter. It's harder for them.

CLIENT: Poor little thing. Yeah, and we took him to the Children's Museum last weekend and our pediatrician was laughing. She's like, "Well, go and have fun, like you don't live in a bubble, but yeah, that probably did it." I know, so yeah, now I'm feeling -

THERAPIST: They can't catch an ear infection.

CLIENT: That's right, yeah, but his poor little cold. His nose has just been awful.

THERAPIST: Yeah.

CLIENT: So I feel like that's just been like huge.

THERAPIST: And that's what set it off.

CLIENT: Yeah, I think so, yeah. So that's kind of just been continuing. [0:03:22.0]

THERAPIST: I know I sound stuffy, but I'm actually sinus infection, which you also can't catch.

CLIENT: Yeah, I was going to ask. That's too bad too. Are you feeling better now?

THERAPIST: I actually feel fine now. I know my voice has not returned, but I'm on day five of antibiotics, and they kicked in a while ago.

CLIENT: Oh my gosh, wow. But still, that you sound like that after five days.

THERAPIST: I had the flu and then got rid of that, and then had the sinus infection. I haven't been contagious for a really long time but I've sounded like I'm sick for a while.

CLIENT: Yeah. It seems like everyone I know has been getting sick.

THERAPIST: Yeah, it's been rough, it's been a rough winter.

CLIENT: I know. So I feel like that has just kind of been on my mind the most. I'm just really glad that I've been able to have the time with him. I think it would have been hard for me. I would have felt really conflicted and obviously, he would come first, but if I had any other obligations that I have to check off.

THERAPIST: But you do have to take you have to figure out how do you put these other things on the backburner or how do you arrange the time. [0:04:28.1]

CLIENT: I was lucky.

THERAPIST: You never want him to be sick but if he's going to be sick, it's nice that your first experience with having to deal with it was one where you had the flexibility.

CLIENT: Yeah, yeah. And I also feel like it helped me, because I think I mentioned to you, wondering if I should take a half-course, like a module, because I don't think I'll start collecting data now until like March, hopefully, or maybe even April. But the shopping for that course was on Wednesday, when he was like feeling horribly, and it was at 9:00 in the morning and Todd had something, and I was like you know what?

THERAPIST: Not a good day.

CLIENT: This is just a sign. I talked to Todd and my mom too, about that idea, and their reaction was kind of the same.

THERAPIST: No.

CLIENT: Like, why? Do you have to be taking this now? Like, no. So I feel like that's going to help me too. It will be nice to kind of ramp up to collecting data. I think it will be kind of weird for me, like even now it's weird that this semester is starting.

THERAPIST: Because you'll have some space.

CLIENT: And we have lots to do for the course that I'm a teaching fellow for. That is taking a lot of work and will take a lot of work, but that's kind of like the only other thing I'll have. But I also signed on to do a little project at work, which will get me some money and which will also be nice. So I feel like I'll have definitely enough to keep me busy, but it is kind of a weird feeling. [0:05:51.4]

THERAPIST: Yeah, that you're not having totally, the your flow of the semester will not be what you're used to, because it's not going to necessarily it's going to follow your research more than it's going to follow the academic semester.

CLIENT: Right. Which I feel like I'm ready for, but it just feels weird.

THERAPIST: It's a transition into your kind of post-school life.

CLIENT: Yeah. I think I'm really glad not to be taking classes, I'm just ready for that to be done. Like I've enjoyed the ones, most of the ones that I've taken, but I think it's nice now to just -

THERAPIST: You've been taking classes for a really long time.

CLIENT: For a long time, yeah, yeah. And I'm excited about this project, but I'm just like, even in the past two weeks, realizing how many little loopholes there are and all these things to get the permissions in order. I think we were talking about this last time. I just feel like I need to just now be patient, like I'm just kind of waiting on lots of different pieces to come together, which is also kind of just a weird feeling, but I think that's all part of the process of research, that I'm learning, so. [0:06:56.4]

THERAPIST: When you're done, is your career goal to research or to teach? I don't feel like I know this.

CLIENT: I don't feel like I know either.

THERAPIST: Okay, so it's not that I've been ignorant.

CLIENT: No. I mean right now, when I started the program I think, and even now, I would love to go back to work, the organization where I worked before, and Ryan is the professor who I'm TF-ing for. He just teaches this one course and is also the co-founder of the organization. So I feel like I would love to go back there, but I also would love to kind of find some role within the company where I'm based in the schools a lot, because the role I was in before, I really enjoyed, but I wasn't on any projects that were really based in the classroom. And now, just doing the like action research project, where I was working with a teacher, has kind of made me realize that's maybe a weakness there too, like maybe we should be doing more action research or doing more hands-on kinds of things in classrooms. Like I feel like there, some of us can get kind of removed from the classroom, where there are other projects that are in classrooms all the time. So I feel like I want to figure out kind of a new role for myself there, if I were to go back there, because I know I want to be really connected to schools. [0:08:14.5]

THERAPIST: What do you like about being in the classroom?

CLIENT: I just love interacting with the students and with the parents and other teachers. I feel like that's something I really miss, which is weird, like going into this program, like if I'm getting a doctorate in education, I never would have thought I would have felt disconnected from the classroom, and I totally have, which is so strange. Some of the classes that I've taken and that I TF, we've done a better job about having students observe or do project based in school, so that we're getting more connection, but I really miss it. Like sometimes I'm just like, I just miss teaching, like I just want to go back to the classroom. So I'd love to find some nice kind of like hybrid between because I do love the research too, to be able to be doing that and to be more connected to the classroom. And also, I really have liked being a TF, so I wonder if I'll want to think about teaching at the college level too, and seeing Todd do it and really enjoying it too. So we'll see. Ryan has, like I feel like this perfect balance where he's at work but then only teaches this one course, so he's not a full faculty member and doesn't have to deal with all of like, the politics. [0:09:28.3]

THERAPIST: Tenure.

CLIENT: And tenure, yeah, the pressure of tenure and things like that, but has a really nice balance. So I would love something like that, or maybe my balance would be more with the classroom, but to have some kind of some setup like that would be nice, but we'll see. I also feel like it has the potential to change a lot by the time I'm done and ready for a full-time job there. Ryan's in his sixties. I feel like he'll be wanting to work until he can't any more. And a lot of like the founders are all kind of my parents age and looking to retirement, so I feel like the organization will change a lot in the next few years too, so it will be interesting to see the direction that they're taking.

THERAPIST: Where it goes.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: Which might leave you a lot of room to design a position for yourself.

CLIENT: Yeah, yeah. So it will be interesting to see.

THERAPIST: It's just sometimes nice to get a step back from where you are in the moment and think about where it is that you're going or setting yourself up for. [0:10:29.3]

CLIENT: I know, yeah. And now I feel like it is more real to be thinking about what I want, now that I've moved on to like the research phase.

THERAPIST: Mm-hmm, yeah.

CLIENT: But I think even at our school, they consider you an advanced doctoral student once you start working on your qualifying paper, so when I had to register for courses today, I had to register for a qualifying paper and it said advanced doctoral student, so I was like oh that's weird, to even think of it that way, but now that you've done research work.

THERAPIST: Well, you've completed a lot of your work.

CLIENT: Yeah. So that feels good, because it does kind of seem kind of like an endless time, you know, like that the average is six years. I feel like I'll definitely take that longer, now that we have Trae, so. But I think I am really lucky that -

THERAPIST: But you are moving, even though...

CLIENT: Exactly. Like now it feels like I actually am kind of moving forward, whereas in the coursework phase it didn't really feel like that so much.

THERAPIST: Well, you've completed that chunk.

CLIENT: Yeah, I know, it does feel good.

THERAPIST: It's almost like you completed the masters part of it. [0:11:31.1]

CLIENT: Yeah, yeah, and now you get to move on to the fun stuff, which is also like the scary part too. I feel like courses are maybe more stressful. I guess. I haven't really started in on this part yet, but like the professors impose deadlines on you and now, it's nice that you have more freedom and flexibility, but it's like this open ended kind of process. I am a little worried about the support that I'm going to get from my adviser too, who is this I think, like our goals and interests align really well and when he's on, he's on, but when he's off, he's just really hard to track down sometimes. So that, I feel like I form a committee of people that support me and so there will be other people, but he's my head adviser, and I need him to be my head because his interests align so well with mine and he, I think will be really strategic for me in opening doors for projects to get on and jobs and things like that.

THERAPIST: You need to keep him. [0:12:32.9]

CLIENT: So I feel like it's good to have him as the primary and I actually switched to him, but he's not so great at being very supportive, I'm starting to realize.

THERAPIST: In that he's not accessible.

CLIENT: He's not accessible, yeah. I think he's accessible for things... Like when I'm his TF, he's totally accessible because I'm helping him with his course, but the past couple of weeks, trying to get his help on getting an IRB application and so permission from the university to start my research. He just like didn't really I think I might have been looking for more handholding, because it was the first time I had done it and I didn't really know what to expect and how detail oriented you needed to be, and he was just kind of like, "submit it," and I could tell he hadn't really even read it. So I feel like that could be interesting, trying to like navigate that and get the support from him that I'm going to need.

THERAPIST: So, I think one thing one of your tasks will be to figure out what kind of support do you need and what can you get from who.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: So even though he's going to be your main adviser, and you clearly need him and his connections in his area. [0:13:38.6]

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: If there are things that he's just not good at, you may find yourself finding someone else who's good at that and, you know, slotting people where they need to go. And when you form your committee, thinking about what are the strengths of each person and how they fit together, is I think a key part in setting yourself up for success.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: Areas of interest are really important, but so are what the personality matches. Sometimes that counts too and you might find yourself thinking about that when you put them together.

CLIENT: And I think I have the committee formed by now.

THERAPIST: Okay.

CLIENT: And I did get suggestions from friends too, like one of my good friends in the program, she's like, "You need someone who's going to really challenge you, someone you can go and cry to." So, she was good about that. I think I have a good mix, but I am just like a little, I don't know, a little nervous about what I need.

THERAPIST: Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a big thing. [0:14:38.6]

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: You also figure out kind of, you know, it might make sense, with your main adviser, to set at some point, standing appointments.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: Right? So that he can't disappear for too long.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: Some of those might be a waste of time, because you may not really have something that you really need to talk about, but if you get into the routine, you know, you have a standing appointment every other week or the first Friday of every month or whatever, you'll know that you'll at least have him reigned in to something.

CLIENT: Yeah, that's a good idea.

THERAPIST: These are the types of things that I've seen people set up, so that the anxiety of not knowing is brought down to a manageable level.

CLIENT: Yeah, that's a good idea.

THERAPIST: If you have certain things that you know are that you can count on, or certain people in your committee that you know you can count on for something, it brings down some of that anxiety when there's a looming deadline and you can't find somebody.

CLIENT: Right, yeah, that's a really good idea, because he was my adviser for my masters too, but it didn't really matter so much, because -

THERAPIST: You have just a little bit higher stakes. [0:15:40.7]

CLIENT: Yeah, yeah. Now, you kind of like need signatures and things like that, and so we'll see.

THERAPIST: And that is a lot of the battle, is getting people to all be able to show up at the same time for your defense.

CLIENT: Yeah, right. Someone was really late to Todd's defense. (chuckles) Yeah.

THERAPIST: Those will be things that you can juggle.

CLIENT: Yeah, but it does feel exciting to kind of be moving on to like a new phase.

THERAPIST: Mm-hmm, yeah. It's a real mark of what you've done and what you've accomplished. Well, good for you.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: It sounds like the anxiety has been okay.

CLIENT: Yeah, I feel like it definitely has. Like sometimes when I think about when I let myself think too much is when it will kind of creep back. It's funny that I'm on these mom listservs and I usually will read them if I am nursing or whatever, and just like kind of as downtime. There was one mom who wrote how she was having all this trouble sleeping, and as soon as I started to read it, I was like, I probably shouldn't even read this, because it's going to get it in my mind. So I finished reading that one and then I kind of like skipped the replies, but even that night... And I really have been okay sleeping, like I feel afraid to even like say it, because I don't want it to go away, but even that night, I had trouble falling asleep, because it popped into my head and I let myself think about it for a split second. And that was really like the only night in a really long stretch. And even last night, like I had a little bit of trouble, almost because I was kind of like recapping to myself, how the past couple weeks have been, thinking about today. I was like oh, you really haven't had trouble sleeping except for that one time, and then it was like in my head again. [0:17:35.7]

THERAPIST: And there it is.

CLIENT: Yeah. So I thought that was -

THERAPIST: How did you get it out?

CLIENT: I kept trying to just like like, I think I'm getting better at saying to myself, like just don't think about it, just try and like zoom in on one thing. So I thought about you know, like I just was thinking about anything else.

THERAPIST: So you replaced the thought.

CLIENT: Yeah, yeah, because I feel like, it's almost like if I even visualize just like a tunnel almost, like don't let your mind wander, and that's kind of helped a little.

THERAPIST: That's a wonderful technique, because it's really hard to not think about something, but when you put those blinders on and you focus in on something else, being able to replace the thought, you have some control over where it's going, instead of telling yourself, I'm not going to think about that one thing, and then who knows what's going to pop up.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: Having an image or a particular thought or something to focus in on.

CLIENT: Yeah. So I've been kind of doing -

THERAPIST: What is the thing that you go to? [0:18:35.5]

CLIENT: I'm usually thinking about Trae or just kind of, you know, how the day went and what I was thankful for or whatever, just something positive.

THERAPIST: Mm-hmm, wonderful.

CLIENT: So that's been helping.

THERAPIST: And you can even preempt that, using you're making it maybe just part of your routine when you get into bed, to think about three things you're grateful for, before you even, you know. So it's not something you have to move to when you've had a worrisome thought, but that just you're training yourself to go to that place of gratitude or acknowledgement, which sets you up for a positive way to end the day.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: And they can be... You know, the things you're grateful for can be pretty seemingly small things, but just having that automatic focus of something kind of happy, sets you up for a really nice way to guide your thoughts at the end of the night. [0:19:35.2]

CLIENT: And I was even noticing that, because the past couple of nights, just getting ready for this course too, Ryan's been in New York, and so he's been working all day and he's called me the only time we could connect was at night, the past couple of nights, so I feel like I want to say to him, we need to do better about talking during the day, because it was late, like after 9:00, and that was hard too. Like the first night, I did, like I was thinking about other things and tried to just get myself to sleep, but last night, I think that contributed to it too, because we had made a list of things that we needed to do and then that was just kind of on my mind. Because other than that, I've been really good, like I won't even usually, I check my e-mail on my phone past a certain time of night, like I just don't want to bring anything else into my mind.

THERAPIST: Anything that's just not mm-hmm. Those are very healthy strategies.

CLIENT: Yeah, because I feel like even if I check it and it's something simple and not stressful at all, but it will just be on my mind.

THERAPIST: It's starts you off on a path that you don't need to open up right then. [0:20:35.7]

CLIENT: Yeah. So I think that -

THERAPIST: Those are really good boundary setting strategies, and I know sometimes you worry that you're having to sort of do things too much, to set yourself up for success, but those are actually strategies that most people would benefit from. A lot of other people would be better off if they could not check their e-mail after a certain time of night.

CLIENT: Right, yeah.

THERAPIST: You're actually modeling, I think, really healthy strategies.

CLIENT: Good. So, I'll teach them to Ryan.

THERAPIST: Yeah.

CLIENT: Although I know it bothers him, because we actually used to have this course from 7:00 to 9:00 at night, and he switched it to during the day on Fridays now, this is the second year, because he said he would do the same thing, he'd get so like ramped up for the class and not be able to fall asleep when he got home.

THERAPIST: People shouldn't be working from 7:00 to 9:00 at night.

CLIENT: I'll remind him about that and tell him no more calls past 9:00. So all those little things, I think I feel like it's funny, like when I have a good stretch of not having things to worry about, still in my mind, of like not wanting them to creep back in. Like even with that application that I needed to submit, that I was waiting to get help on from my adviser, and there were little things on there, like I knew I didn't have to worry about, but I wanted him to say... [0:21:58.8]

THERAPIST: You don't have to worry about this.

CLIENT: Yeah. And I think that's why it bothered me so much, that he was just like, "I'm ready to sign it." I felt like -

THERAPIST: He wanted you to take responsibility.

CLIENT: Yeah, and part of me right. And even Todd was saying, I don't think these are things that he needs to say are okay, like just submit it, like you take charge, you can send it in. But I think part of it might have been these little things on it that I didn't want to have to worry about, so I know like if he said to me, oh that's fine, don't worry, then I wouldn't. But it was nice that I did submit it and it was on the day that I was home with Trae. I feel like otherwise, I would have been kind of harping on it all day, like if he did go to daycare, and I would have been thinking about it all day and probably submitted it at like 4:00. But instead, he took his nap in the morning and that was my window, so I just submitted it, and it felt good.

THERAPIST: You let it go.

CLIENT: Yeah, that that was nice.

THERAPIST: It's kind of trusting yourself and maybe developing, in the same way that you've tried to sort of trust yourself for reality checking in your personal life, now that you're an advanced doctoral student, you can start to trust yourself to answer these questions and your own intuition about what needs to be addressed and what doesn't professionally, and not look to somebody else. You're senior enough now, that there are lots of things that you can probably do without an okay or confirmation from a professor. [0:23:21.8]

CLIENT: Mm-hmm.

THERAPIST: You know, that's part of your professional development, of realizing that you can answer these questions for yourself and you don't need somebody else to check off on it.

CLIENT: Right. I think part of me knows I can do it, but I want someone to check off on it, just so I won't let myself worry, like think of something to worry about. I think that will all be good practice for me.

THERAPIST: Yeah. But I think just like you sort of let your students develop confidence by doing things on their own, you can develop if you make yourself not have someone else check off on it for you and you're the person that does it, you will develop it's a confidence thing.

CLIENT: Only if I'd treat myself like I treat my students, I'd be fine.

THERAPIST: Mm-hmm, yes. It's much easier to see it when it's somebody else. The concepts you're dealing with are a little bit more abstract, but I think you can turn that around on yourself if you make yourself be the one, just as you did. You sent it off, you let it go, and you felt okay about it. You can next time, you can let yourself do that too. [0:24:32.2]

CLIENT: I did save the e-mail though, from my adviser, saying it's looks good. I was like, I'm just going to keep that just in case.

THERAPIST: That's okay. Anything else we should check up on?

CLIENT: The only other thing, just has been with nursing, and I feel like it has been it was getting a little bit better, and now that he's been sick, like he really has not wanted to nurse well.

THERAPIST: He has no interest in eating.

CLIENT: Yeah. And in a way, like I feel like it's been kind of nice, because it's taken the pressure off, because I kind of know, like he doesn't feel well, his ears are hurting him, like it makes sense that he doesn't want to nurse. So in a way it's felt a little better, but it's also just been hard. Now, of course I'm worried, if we're going through this kind of longer stretch where he hasn't really wanted to nurse, and I have been pumping like crazy at home, only because I have the time, because I'm home with him. I won't be able to do that next week even. I'm still worried about my supply and just kind of looking forward, saying is this kind of like the beginning of the end, you know? But in a way, I feel like I'm more okay with it because there's like a reason. Before, I think it was hard because the only way to stop or to like wean gradually would be because I decided. [0:25:46.4]

THERAPIST: Because you were doing it.

CLIENT: You know? Like it was kind of me giving up in a way, how I felt, but if it does happen now, I almost feel like there's a reason. He got sick, he didn't want to nurse, and that told me it's okay.

THERAPIST: It's shifted.

CLIENT: Yeah. So I don't know if that's good or bad, like that I couldn't say it's okay to just be done, that I was kind of looking for something to tell me. Maybe he'll be fine with nursing too, once he's feeling better, but I feel like I am in that like little stage of projecting to the future and wondering, is this going to be it.

THERAPIST: You don't have to judge it. Whether it doesn't you know, it doesn't have to be good or bad. It can be whatever it is and you can just try to refrain from judging one way or the other, whether it's the beginning of weaning or not, refraining from judging whether or not there's some sort of value to how you decide when to wean, whether it's because of this kind of break because of his ear infection or not. This is a good opportunity to practice not judging yourself. [0:26:58.5]

CLIENT: Yeah. And I do feel like it's been much better. I feel like I would get so frustrated if we would have a bunch of sessions in a row where he just didn't want to nurse. But now, I know it's for a real and it's always for a reason but now, I guess I can kind of understand.

THERAPIST: You can understand the reason, it makes sense to you.

CLIENT: Yeah. So, just it's been nice not to have that as a worry.

THERAPIST: I'm glad you were able to let go of that worry and leave it at bay.

CLIENT: Yes. And try to just leave it, because I feel like I'll let go of it and then it's come back.

THERAPIST: Just like thoughts reoccur, when you're trying to do some mindfulness and thoughts pop up. They do, you can acknowledge them, and then you can let them go away again. Well let's take five minutes to do some relaxation.

CLIENT: Okay, good.

THERAPIST: And then we'll get you on your way to your meeting. Actually, let's schedule and do co-pay.

CLIENT: I don't have any checks, but I think I do have cash. I'm just not sure if I've got the correct change. [0:28:02.6]

THERAPIST: I might. What do you need, twenty-five?

CLIENT: Well, actually, I have money. Yeah. I think I do actually.

THERAPIST: Great, good. Thank you.

CLIENT: Sure. And I was thinking about, I think if you have availability on Tuesday afternoon, like we used to do, that might be better, because I think Fridays are just going to turn into a hectic day, because we're actually doing our teaching team meeting before class, and then we have class from 1:00 to 4:00.

THERAPIST: That's perfect, because everybody seems the whole world seems to want to come in on Friday mornings.

CLIENT: Oh, good then, perfect.

THERAPIST: So, if I can have somebody that wants to come in a different day that's great.

CLIENT: Good.

THERAPIST: So, it looks like, what did we used I have Tuesday afternoon. I don't remember what time you used to be. I have 2:30 and 3:30. [0:29:07.8]

CLIENT: Two-thirty would be great.

THERAPIST: Yay, that works out wonderful.

CLIENT: Oh, good.

THERAPIST: So do you want to do I can't do the 29th, because I have something in your area. I have a meeting with the kindergarten teachers to promote reading at home.

CLIENT: Oh, great.

THERAPIST: So I am taking off some time in the afternoon to go do that, but we could start on the next Tuesday, the 5th.

CLIENT: Yeah, that's great.

THERAPIST: Okay. And then do you want to do weekly or do you want to do biweekly?

CLIENT: Maybe biweekly and just see how that goes.

THERAPIST: Okay. So we can do the 5th and the 19th, both at 2:30, work perfect for me.

CLIENT: Great. And that should work for a while, until I hopefully am able to collect data, like in March and April. So that could be a good time for a stretch.

THERAPIST: Okay. I will hold those Tuesday spots for you in March, just to kind of get some consistency going in my schedule, so I know what I'm usually expecting. And then if we need to change them for your research that's fine. [0:30:13.3]

CLIENT: Great. And probably, it should actually still work even then, because I think I'll mostly be there in the mornings.

THERAPIST: Okay. Well, that's plenty, if we need to juggle we will.

CLIENT: So, Tuesday, February 5th.

THERAPIST: Yes. Now we can let you do this. All right, so close your eyes and let yourself settle into a pace of breathing that feels comfortable for you, and gently letting yourself extend your inhales and exhales as you become more relaxed. Mentally scan your body, just taking notice of what you feel, noticing places that might feel tight or uncomfortable, thinking about breathing into those spaces and letting go of tension as you exhale. [0:31:24.8]

Working with your own rhythm, whenever you're ready to inhale next, you're going to squeeze your eyes tightly shut, noticing where that brings tension to your face, and when you're ready to exhale, relaxing your eyes, letting them be gently closed, and letting yourself repeat that process, squeezing them tightly shut as you inhale and letting them relax as you exhale. On your next breath in, you're going to clench your teeth tightly together, and when you're ready to exhale, you're going to drop your jaw, letting your teeth come apart, letting the tension drain away, clenching your teeth as you inhale, and dropping your jaw as you exhale. [0:32:26.9]

On your next inhale, let yourself drop your chin toward your chest, noticing what that feels like on your neck and your throat, and as you exhale, let your head float up to the neutral position, then repeating that by inhaling and dropping your head forward, exhaling and letting it float up. On your next breath in, you can shrug your shoulders toward your ears, noticing the tension in your neck and your shoulders, and letting them drop all the way down, releasing that tension as you exhale, shrugging up as you inhale and dropping down as you exhale. On the next breath in, you're going to squeeze your hands into a tight fist, noticing where that brings tension, and then exhaling as you relax, squeezing tight fist as you inhale and releasing your hands as you exhale. [0:33:36.4]

On the next breath in, you can squeeze your knees tightly together, noticing where that brings tension to your inner thighs, and as you exhale, let your knees come comfortably apart. Squeezing those knees together as you inhale, noticing where that brings tension, and then letting your legs come apart as you exhale. On the next breath in, you can point your toes down toward the floor, noticing where that brings tension to your lower legs, and then as you exhale, let your heels drop and let your legs relax, and repeating that on your next breath in, relaxing on your next exhale, and mentally scanning your body from your head, down through your torso, legs, all the way to your feet. Notice any place where tension has remained, breathe in, maybe even tighten that space more, exhale, let it go, letting yourself relax into the chair, letting the chair do the work of holding up your body. Taking a breath to check in with your thoughts, noticing what's in your head, acknowledging it, and then letting it go, letting your mind be empty for a moment, and your body stay relaxed. [0:35:12.7]

Letting yourself hold on to your relaxation, taking some deep breaths at your own pace, and letting yourself come back to the room as you're ready. Okay, take that with you. So, I'm sorry, our time was a little bit short today.

CLIENT: That's okay, yeah, and I was running late anyway, so it kind of worked out well.

THERAPIST: I will see you in a couple of weeks.

CLIENT: Yes. Hopefully, you're feeling better by then too.

THERAPIST: Oh, thank you. Yeah, I hope Trae is feeling better.

CLIENT: As long as he has that medication, I think that -

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