Come on in – Welcome to our studio. Times call for all of us to work together so we’re glad you’re here. Let’s explore what needs to be done, what’s being done and what we can contribute to shine the light on social justice issues and create positive change.
We’re always looking to highlight people and organizations that address the myriad of social justice issues around us. We want to focus on as many as possible, so we’re always a work in progress. We update this website regularly to reflect new information and share with you what we learn from our latest podcasts.
About
Hello and Welcome! We’re progressive intersectional feminists exploring psychology and social justice. Our podcast is co-hosted by psychologists Cindy Ariel and Julie Mayer. We’re happy to have you join us as we muddle through our world of social injustice – shining the light on issues that need attention and working together in whatever ways we can. Social justice includes working toward healthy communities that are free and safe from homo/transphobia, racism, sexism, poverty, deportation, and incarceration. We’d love to inspire you to get involved and help us to spread awareness, acceptance, and optimism.
Julie and Cindy start the day with coffee and social justice conversation.
Whether you want to learn about the intersection of psychology and social justice, understand intersectional feminism, get more involved in promoting social justice, or just feel a little more optimistic day to day, you will get a lot out of listening to our inspiring podcasts. We drop a new episode every Tuesday! Typically we air interviews with people on the ground actively working for social justice, people from the field of psychology with a social justice passion, and/or people from a marginalized group directly impacted by important mental health and social justice issues.
It can be difficult to stay optimistic given today’s social, economic, and political landscape. As seasoned psychologists (and moms) we feel a responsibility to promote social justice. As experienced clinicians, authors, and speakers we know the power of telling personal stories, and the power of listening to them. We highlight diverse voices and ideas to promote understanding and action.
Come on in. Have a seat on the couch and get comfortable. Join us in our quest to learn about social justice issues and what people are doing to address the multitude of challenges in our communities.
Cake pic from @thesweetfeminist (Becca Rea-Holloway) an artist we love to follow on Instagram as she ‘says it with sugar.’
On the last Tuesday of every month, we get a little more informal and have After Hours conversations over drinks. Last year, our second year of podcasting, we initiated this new feature of our regular show. Our goal was to have intersectional conversations, explore differences and similarities, and even tackle some hard issues arising along the way.
It was always a ton of fun to work with Dr. Holly Sawyer and Allison Gibbs, LCSW – they also helped us to brainstorm the name of the feature (Shrinks After Hours), and Holly’s son’s beats were played at the beginning and end of every podcast during our 2nd season. We enjoyed our time with these two wonderful, professional women; we learned a great deal from each of them, respect them highly, and will miss them. Both Holly and Allison have decided to move on to their own important work, and we have decided that in this time, we have important work to do as well.
We’re now going to use Shrinks After Hours as a way to focus on our blind spots, our entitlements, our white privilege … and work on being the best anti-racist progressive allies we can be. We’re going to delve into understanding as well as we can from the perspective of African American women and other People of Color. Through our own After Hours conversations, we hope to help each other and hopefully our listeners, to expand all of our perspectives as we move forward.
Some After Hours Shenanigans (from left to right): Holly, Julie, Allison, and Cindy
We recorded a year’s worth of episodes with Allison Gibbs, LCSW, of Therapy Concierge, LLC and/or Dr. Holly Sawyer of Life First Therapy, LLC. As Shrinks After Hours, we talked about race, religion, and whatever else we thought was important to examine, explore and share on our journey to bring understanding, connection, and positivity into all of our spaces.
Issues
Social Justice
Social justice issues intersect and overlap; the distinctions are not clear. All of these concerns impact minority and vulnerable populations to a greater extent than they impact others; and, all of us are brought down by anything that brings down others. We won’t fall over by helping the next person up; in fact, it’s through that effort that we can stand strong together.
While it’s hard to hear about the world’s social problems, it can feel better to face them and work together on solutions than to hide from them and pretend they don’t affect us. However, we also have to be mindful of our own self-care and needs so that we have the energy and personal resources necessary to do the work.
We’re building this website based on organizations and people we interview so we add issues and actions frequently. If you know of an issue, or a voice that we’re missing please send them our way. We’ll be glad to interview and add them to our community.
Please reach out to us with questions or comments at cindyandjulie@shrinksonthird.com or shrinksafterhours@shrinksonthird.com.
We’d love to hear from you! You can also use the contact form (below).
As clinicians who elicit personal stories from the people who come to us for help, we have mad skills to develop immediate rapport and trust. We do our best to insure that our podcast interviewees not only feel heard and appreciated, but emotionally connected. If you work on social justice projects and you’d like to be on our podcast, you can let us know that too. We’re eager to learn about what you’re doing!
