InternalChatter

Get your spell check ready, because this episode of Internal Chatter welcomes Nora Stevens, Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator from Portland, Oregon. Wondering how psychedelics work on the brain, what a facilitator does, what is a microdose vs. a regular dose, what the experience can be like, the benefits for mental health, how the safety of the […]

If you missed her at the Vancouver Kiggins’ Theatre panel on Menopause in May 2025, Dr. Cynthia McNally is dropping by the chat for an encore! Staci leads up this interview and gets into all the good stuff with Dr. McNally: comparing peri vs. post menopause symptoms, DUTCH testing drawbacks, a breakdown of Hormone Replacement

Joining us on the chat today is everybody’s favorite strength coach, Brandon Shewbert. Brandon talks about his Know Pain, No Gain (and No Pain, Know Gain – isn’t that fun) philosophy in strength coaching and sustainable development. Staci discovers that there is something she dislikes more than exercise, and she and Melissa both get educated

It’s time to catch up with an old friend of ours, Sgt. Kevin Allen, PIO (Public Information Officer) with the Portland Police Bureau. In addition to getting to the bottom of whether PIO’s actually help catch bad guys (does email count?), and whether Melissa and Staci drank any beers in college – Melissa and Staci

If you’ve heard any of our other shows, you know how often belonging comes up as a critical piece of mental health across all topics we have covered. So, today we get into belonging in detail with Curtis Miller of Connect Ed. Lest you think it’s all woo-woo and esoteric, let’s cut through that right

It’s a teen (and tween) double-header today with Dr. Paula Pilcher, Naturopathic Physician at 11-22 Integrative Medicine and Founder of Empowerteen, and author of Staying Connected with your Teen Yshai Boussi of Portland Family Counseling. We get into some of the biological drivers of teen behavior, preventive health activities to help tween and teen adolescents

The accomplished Susannah Morgan, President of the Oregon Food Bank, stops by the chat to discuss food, hunger, and why having things to do makes all good ideas possible. Along the way, Melissa and Staci find out about lots of other tasty morsels like: how food insecurity affects mental health (yes, we said that in

Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month? Well, the esteemed Kim Schneiderman from NAMI SW WA is here to remind us. In addition, she gives us the lowdown on why she knows everyone at her grocery store, getting into mental health by way of phlebotomy and bubble packs, and how her volunteer

We’re big fans of saying mental health is health, and Jackie Baker, DNP stopped by the chat to give Melissa and Staci a primer in what that looks like in the pediatric office. We talk about fentanyl and narcan training, rapid onset gender dysphoria, pronoun use, sports physicals vs. well checks, what to expect at

Kristine and Cindy stop by the chat to talk PTSD, the COMPACT Act, CBOC’s, PCL-5’s, and other varied acronymed topics that give Melissa and Staci the insider’s peek into mental health care in the Portland VA (Veterans Affairs) Healthcare System. They’re on a mission to spread the word about the VA’s whole health approach, build