Dr. Colleen tackles relationship questions from Hopeful Romantics who haven't given up on finding & keeping the love they want.

I have been a therapist, specializing in helping my clients break free of their past to have a better future for over 2 decades. I'll say more about my career in a sec, but I want to tell you about "Love, Unboxed, For the Hopeful Romantic" first.

"Love, Unboxed" is a passion project that was born out of my work with my clients. You see, no matter the background and life experience, the obstacles that prevent us from finding & keeping the love we want are unexpectedly similar. Some people end up giving up on finding the love they want, leaving them chronically unsatisfied, but others never give up. I'm here for the ones who never give up on love. I call them (& myself) the Hopeful Romantics.

I want to share what I know with other Hopeful Romantics. Each episode is built around a relationship question from a listener. Anyone can leave me a digital voicemail at LoveUnboxedPodcast.com

In each episode, I play back a Hopeful Romantic question & proceed to "unbox" the topic. I discuss the topic at hand in more detail. I provide other examples of how that problem can show up. I discuss underlying psychological theories of how that dilemma can affect a person or a relationship. And then I provide some practical advice for decreasing, healing or even extinguishing the issue.

Prior to starting my private practice, Coaching Through Chaos, in 2007, I had great professional experiences in several different settings and have over 200 media mentions or interviews in Mertha Stewart, The NY Times, The NY Post, The Wa Po, Fortune, Brides, Glamour, Success, PsychCentral and many more!

My clinical specialties are trauma healing, managing depression and anxiety, and stabilizing chaotic relationship patterns. I have loved all my work, but I especially love helping people make the changes they want to make in their life in order to find & keep the love that they've always wanted.

Try me. Just go to LoveUnboxedPodcast.com to tell me where you get stuck in your love life. What's on your mind? I want to know!
 

This podcast was born out of my daily work with my therapy clients, but this is not my first podcast. I created & hosted "Coaching Through Chaos" from 2015-2021. On that show, I interviewed experts helping my listeners navigate the chaos in their life, but I always had a dream of having a call-in advice show. I fell in love with podcasting while hosting Coaching Through Chaos. I've met great people, had fun opportunities, and found a community of new friends among other podcasters. Back in 2015, I won a radio contest for a podcast show idea, and had 30 days to launch. I knew nothing about podcasting, but episode by episode I learned my new craft and am so grateful for all that podcasting has brought to my life. I'm proud that "Coaching Through Chaos" still ranks in the top 2% of all podcasts 3 years after its last episode!

"Love, Unboxed" has been an idea for a long time, but now that it's finally live, my dream is to be able to grow "Love, Unboxed: For the Hopeful Romantic" to help as many people as I can improve their relationship with themselves and the people they love., one episode at a time.
 

Is there funding for podcasts?!? lol! Right now "Love, Unboxed" is self-funded, but I'm open to sponsors and have plans for launching my Patreon page to give my listeners access to more content on relationships. II also will be launching online workshops on "Dating Differently Online" and "Having Loving Relationships" later this year. I love my daily work self-employed as a therapist . My private practice affords me the ability to launch these other ventures. But time is also a factor. I enjoy my life but it does leave me short on time.

In addition to my private practice, I'm also a new wife to my husband, Mike. He has grown kids & grandkids who we love spending time with. In addition to that, I (lovingly) inherited my sister, Suzy and became her unofficial parent when our mother passed away rather suddenly 6 years ago. It's been a big transition to move her to CA and take her in. I was a woman who has been taking care of myself since I was 17. I never had kids or had to think about being responsible for someone else's welfare in the way a parent does. As it turns out, I appreciate what she brings to my life as much as she appreciates me.

I try to take time to prioritize myself. I love all the people and my work, even if I might be chronically wishing for more hours in a day! :)
The podcast takes me about 6-8 hours to prep, record and edit (I just discovered Describe-what a great product!). EVen though the show is currently self-funded, as the audience grows, I plan to seek out the funding opportunities that align with my values and afford me more time with my family and friends.
 

I have gained, and continue to gain so much from podcasting. The most meaningful thing I've gained is the special people I get to call friends that are only in my life because of our connection as podcasters. Podcasting is such a special medium - I get an opportunity to share important messages about having a more satisfying love life to as many people as I can get the show in front of. That is a unique thing to be able to do.

The most special person I gained was my husband, Mike. When we met 6 years ago, he was a podcast fan, and quickly became my biggest one! We love connecting over great podcast episodes or sharing shows we think the other will like.

As the "Love, Unboxed" audience grows, of course, I hope to gain a bigger bank account. ;)
 

MY podcasting process is pretty structured. Once I decide which call I'll be featuring on the episode, I spend about 2 hours prepping for the recording (pulling data points, writing my notes, etc.. Then I leave most of my Wednesdays for recording and editing. My goal is to complete the production process and have the show scheduled for a Monday launch within 48 hours of my recording session start time. This leaves my weekends for some down time & also some leeway in case there's a glitch during production.
 

"Love, Unboxed '' is only 6 episodes in so the audience is still small, but definitely growing a little each week. I have done very little marketing so far. I have a plan for more assertive marketing in the near future as more episodes are added to the catalog, but ways I am marking or have plan to utilize soon:

1. Social Media - I'M terrible at keeping up with posting, but I'm working on it. I use Tik Tok, IG, X, & FB - it is useful when it's done right.
2. Cross promotion on shows with similar target audiences.
3. Professional speaking opportunities at places where my audience would be
4. Social media ads
    

1. Give yourself some grace to learn how to podcast the way you want to.
2. No matter how much you may not like to listen to your own voice, lots of people will love listening to it.
3. If you believe in it, keep doing it.
4. LEARN how to do it - go to conferences, ask questions, reach out to other podcasters, join podcaster groups online. We are a friendly bunch and want the genre to keep growing, so we will want you to succeed, too!
    

You can find the show & ask me your burning relationship questions at LoveUnboxedPodcast.com.

My private practice and any other work I do is found at CoachingThroughChaos.com

You can get your copy of "My Mindful Reflections: A Daily Journal for Better Mental Health" on Amazon at https://a.co/d/9IupCnT
Instagram/x/FB : @DrColleenMullen
TikTok: @love_unboxed_podcast

Please Follow/Subscribe to Love Unboxed if you're curious about the show.

I look forward to unboxing love each week with you!