A Hero's Welcome Podcast
A Hero’s Welcome Podcast Hosted by Liliana Baylon and Maria Laquerre Diego, both LMFT-S and RPT-S A Hero’s Welcome is a podcast for therapists, supervisors, and mental health professionals who want honest, culturally responsive conversations about clinical work, trauma, play therapy, supervision, and the humanity of being a helper. Each episode brings practical insight, real stories, and thoughtful reflection for clinicians who want to serve with depth, humility, and courage. We discuss mental health topics, including psychotherapy models, clinical interventions, trauma-informed practices, and the role of cultural humility in therapeutic work. Our guests share their experiences serving children, families, and communities impacted by systemic stressors, offering insights and practical tools for fellow practitioners. Whether you're looking to deepen your understanding of culturally competent care or seeking a community that values diversity and inclusion, A Hero’s Welcome offers a space for reflection, learning, and growth. Hosts: Liliana Baylon liliana@lilianabaylon.com Maria Laquerre-Diego maria@anewhopetc.org
Episodes
If you’ve ever watched a room light up with phone screens the moment a slide gets good, you already know the problem we’re naming today. We’re Maria and Liliana, and we’re done pretending that screenshotting trainings, recording workshops, and passing around paid handouts is harmless. In a field that talks nonstop about ethics, consent, and respect, it’s wild how normalized “just ...
What if the heart of OCD isn’t just compulsion and control, but grief steady, daily, and often unnamed? We sit down with our returning guest, Bryn Murphy, a clinician who lives with OCD, to map the hidden losses that shape this diagnosis: time swallowed by rituals, spontaneity crushed by rigidity, identity tugged by relentless doubt, and relationships frayed by reassurance cycles. From there, we build a gentle...
The fastest way to burn out in therapy is to believe you have to be available for everyone, all the time, no matter what your body is doing. We’ve both lived that lie, and after a powerful AAMFT leadership weekend, we can’t unsee what it costs. A workshop from Ashley Hicks on Leadership and Radical Self-Care gave us language for what we’ve been trying to practice: radical self-care is not a treat, ...
What if dissociation isn’t the enemy but a form of wisdom your nervous system uses to protect what’s most sacred? We sat down with Marshall for a candid, grounded conversation about dissociation, spirituality, and why mental health’s obsession with neat categories can unintentionally harm the people we’re trying to help.
We unpack the four domains: thought, feeling, body, and time as a...
The moment someone said, “Just write the note and get back to work,” we knew this conversation had to happen. Kara returns to help us put words to the wounds so many clinicians carry in silence, Adverse Psychological Events that hit confidence, corrode safety, and quietly push talented therapists out of the field.
We dig into six APEs Kara is tracking through an anonymous multi-state survey: clien...
The world feels loud, relentless, and on fire, and we’re saying it out loud. We unpack what burnout looks like when you’re a therapist, a caregiver, a business owner, and a human with real health needs. From gendered reactions to boundaries to the whiplash of funding news that can upend client care overnight, we explore why mental health work is unavoidably political and how that reality lands in our bod...
What if “screen time” could become the most connective part of your day? We sit down with psychologist and play therapy supervisor Rachel to rethink digital life not as a threat to childhood, but as a modern playground where families can heal, learn, and laugh together. From a rollicking demo of Acron (VR tree vs. mobile squirrels) to the tiny moments of co-viewing YouTube with a toddler, we explore how ...
What if the “defiant” behavior you’re seeing is really an attachment alarm? We sit with licensed counselor and adoptive parent Dorothy Derapellian to unpack Core Attachment Therapy, a practical, compassionate framework that steadies the home first, then rewires safety through play. Dorothy blends the Nurtured Heart Approach with developmentally sequenced attachment games so families can “go b...
What happens when the checklist says “no,” but your body and life keep saying “something is real”? We open the new season by taking aim at diagnostic gatekeeping across therapy offices, clinics, and urgent care, and making the case for care that centers on lived experience alongside criteria. With returning guest Jessica Kruckeberg, LMFT, and sex therapist, we untangle how the medical model c...
The conversations that shaped our year didn’t push us to work harder. They moved us to be human. We revisit the moments that shifted our lens: naming white supremacy inside everyday clinical decisions, strengthening cultural competence with Latinx clients, and turning judgment into curiosity so the therapeutic alliance can lead. We also reframed the parts of the job that feel “scary.” Subpoenas, hi...
The mental health field has a problem we need to talk about - one that's driving talented clinicians away and ultimately harming the clients we all serve. In this candid conversation, two Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists strip away professional pretense to examine the dysfunctional systems governing our work.
We tackle the uncomfortable reality of gatekeeping in mental health - how established professi...
What happens when therapists bring their authentic, neurodivergent selves into the playroom? Magic, according to Heather Fairley-Denbrough, a licensed clinical social worker and registered play therapist supervisor with 16 years of experience.
Heather opens up about her relatively recent discovery of her own autism and ADHD, sharing how this self-knowledge has profoundly transformed her therapeutic relationsh...
Child therapist Laura joins us to explore the concerning shortage of therapists willing to work with children, despite growing mental health needs among youth populations.
• Laura explains how even in therapy-rich Los Angeles, there's a significant gap in child therapy services
• Many clinicians avoid working with children due to fear, lack of proper training, or hesitation about parental dynamics
When words collapse under the weight of trauma, symbols step in with clarity and care. We sit down with Anna Gomez to explore how EMDR and sand tray therapy, used together, create a safer path into memory networks, one that honors culture, protects against flooding, and invites healing to unfold at the nervous system’s pace. From the first touch of sand to the choice of a miniature, the tray becomes a living m...
Erika brings Dungeons & Dragons into therapy sessions, creating transformative healing experiences for clients through role-playing games and character development.
• Using D&D with clients to build characters and create new therapy modalities
• Personal journey with D&D helping develop real-world skills like confrontation
• Client's story of choosing friendship over combat reveals therapeut...
Miranda shares how we can create the life we want by letting go of fear and embracing our authentic selves through the removal of protective armor that no longer serves us.
• Exploring how our "armor" protects us from vulnerability but also prevents authentic connection
• Teaching children to question their protective responses rather than automatically armoring up
• Understanding how burnout happens wh...
We explore how pursuing personal passions, such as travel, can serve as a powerful burnout prevention strategy for therapists, with special guest Allison Rimland sharing her journey after losing her father and discovering the world of travel hacking.
- Allison shares how her father's sudden death prompted her to reconsider priorities and follow her parents' example of making travel a life priority.
- Introductio...
The secret evolution of therapists that nobody talks about in graduate school - from survival mode to seasoned professional, Maria and Liliana crack open the unspoken developmental journey that shapes our careers and lives as mental health professionals.
Remember that idealistic student who entered the field ready to change lives? Then reality hit - staggering student debt met with jobs (not careers) where yo...
Professional identity formation is a crucial yet often overlooked process for preventing burnout and achieving fulfillment in the mental health field.
- Burnout symptoms closely mirror those of an identity crisis
- Many clinicians experience burnout within just 2-5 years of practice
- Professional identity involves aligning personal values with professional work
- Transitioning from training to practice requires developing ...
We welcome special guest Val to discuss her upcoming session at the SITH Conference, which focuses on helping clinicians navigate the legal arena with confidence. Val shares her expertise as a translator between the therapeutic world and legal settings, helping therapists understand how to effectively advocate for their clients in court.
• SITH (Supportive Innovations for Therapeutic Heroes) is an in-person c...
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