Two Therapists Bring The Science Of Brain And Relationships In Practical And Realistic Ways

Therapist Uncensored podcast and online community therapistuncensored.com is a gathering of those who are interested in learning about the science of relationships and how to be a better partner, parent and human in this mad world. Our listeners include therapists and a whole bunch of life-long learners that aren't professional healers but are interested in the science of relationships and encouraging security in themselves, and the world.

We started in September, 2017 as three Austin therapists who wanted to share science that otherwise would be stuck in textbooks (or therapists' minds) with the world. Our initial goals were to have the information as accessible as possible and distributed as widely as possible. Our motivation had been there a long time, and it was truly this drive to share information on attachment, the brain and relationships. We didn't think further than that, and certainly didn't think that many people would be interested. 

We are already getting over 20,000 downloads a month and are heard in 122 countries around the world! Who knew?!

It took us a very long time to create our first website, which for some silly reason we thought we needed before we started to podcast. :) Now we know you can podcast without a website and create websites quickly and easily. Again, who knew?!

I do listen to podcasts, my favorite is Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam on NPR. However that is intimidating because those professionally produced are so polished, and if you don't have an editor and a staff to help, podcasting is very hard to produce consistently!

We started out releasing episodes weekly, but had trouble with real-life keeping up with that schedule. We've gone off and on with sponsors, it's great to have them and more motivating to record, but it is also pressure to always produce. It's a mixed bag. I think you have to find a balance so that you can sustain yourself for the long-term. We've always had private practices to maintain, marriage, family, pets, house, and of course carving out time for fun and our physical health. We are proud to not be perfect, making mistakes all along the way, and that gets incorporated into who we are on the show for sure. It's not us therapists vs those patients who have issues. No, we ALL have issues, let's just be honest and candid, please!

We've been approached by a few and previously worked with two companies very early on. We then waited awhile as we built our momentum and refrained from pressure-producing. We now realize how lucky we were to be approached in this way, and are building relationships with new sponsors and affiliate relationships that we will use after our live conference to support out work. We don't sign with anyone who pays less than $500 per episode, as we don't need this support and don't want to muck up our message with unnecessary ads. Our most important value is creating win-win-wins: for our audience, ourselves and the sponsor. We will never work with anyone we don't think brings value to our audience. That's an absolute bottom line.

Since we've had ambivalence about sponsorship we've done it both ways. As a brand new model we ended up doing a live conference for therapists as a way to fund the podcast without advertising and share great new resources we were finding by interviewing new guests. This is still in play (it's slated for April 7, 2018 on Healing Adult Attachment in Austin, TX), so we will see how it goes, but we liked the idea of literally bringing live excellent training to professionals in our community and our audience.

Our expenses to produce episodes include primarily audio editing and hosting, so it depends how complicated our episodes are (# of guests, number of edits, sound recorded etc.). However we consider ourselves very lucky in this regard. Our only fixed costs besides audio editing are hosting. Our host, Podcast Websites, does everything for us including the website and ongoing training for just over $900 per year. We have an affiliate link for a discount here so please go to our page to sign up as it's totally worth it and the way to get the best deal for you on podcast website services.

We both share our own expertise and experience, and interview thought-leaders in our field. This allows us to keep up to date ourselves, and gives our audience a chance to connect directly with those generating new ideas on their subject of interest. We have personal relationships with most of our guests from our decades of practice and community work. We typically use those relationships to get guests such as Dan Seigle, Stan Tatkin, Esther Perel and so many others known and loved by therapists and those interested in the relational sciences. We have been very lucky in this regard, but don't worry if you are new. Build your audience and then approach leaders in your area not with what they can do for you, but what you can do for them, which should be true and demonstratable.

We do very little prep on purpose, as we want the interview to be as candid as possible. We never share questions ahead of time, but always do our research thoroughly so we know where we want to go in the interview. We do ask them to have in mind a few practical take-aways for our audience. We aim to create value, explain technical material in real-world, practical language, and to provide healthy challenges for our listeners.

Our equipment in-studio includes a Tascam recorder, multiple XLR cables and basic mics, and Audacity. For over the phone interviews, we Skype for a few minutes to get oriented, then we just record audio via a software called Call Recording so that is the best audio possible. We simultaneously record our own part on our Tascam, and if they have any recording equipment already we use that as a back up, this seems to be our most reliable and consistent set up. That way if they don't have equipment there is no problem. This has never failed us (knock on wood) and is about $9/month for unlimited hours of recording (and transcription).

We have a steady rate of well over 20,000 downloads a month and are heard in 122 countries. We are also proud that we are consistently top-rated in multiple polls for therapist podcasts, although we always say we are not only for therapists. We have many normal human listeners.

For marketing we use Facebook, Twitter and Linked In primarily. We are of course also found on all the major podcast players including Stitcher, iTunes, Google Play, IHeartRadio, Podbean etc. You will soon if not already be able to listen via Alexa.

I'd say be patient, be careful about expectations and have a team to help you. It's tougher than it seems not to get started but to stay relevant. Getting started is easy. Keeping going and producing quality content is where it gets tough, and this is what separates the wheat from the chaff when it comes to all of us awesome amateurs. Professional podcasts are it's own thing -- but amateur, totally-passion driven shows are a beauty to behold. They must be protected as they are the most direct and creative voices available. Hang in there and get your message out!!!

Also go to a podcasting conference to get inspired. We went to our first one this year, Podcast Movement, and plan to attend again this year. It was a blast and super-inspiring!

I also think of podcasting as important for those considered "other." Women, minorities, sexual and gender diviants - the field is so wide and your voice is SO important!! We can create social change by empowering the non-dominant culture to have their own voice and bring on their own guests. It's a powerful movement of social change and I'm proud to be attempting to contribute as a white woman married to a woman and raising 3 teens. It's very cool to get to share stories and science of what it takes to create secure connections.

• therapistuncensored.com