Click to text me what you got out of this episode.

Picture this: Someone's struggling with IKEA furniture, about to install the back panel upside down. Do you jump in to fix it or let them learn through failure? That split-second decision reveals the essence of your leadership philosophy.

Leadership styles aren't random – they're deeply influenced by our own histories. Some of us become "fixers" who proactively correct problems, stepping in before mistakes happen. We may have been over-parented by well-meaning adults who rescued us from every challenge, teaching us that mistakes are dangerous and need immediate correction. Or perhaps we were under-supported, forced to become hyper-responsible because no one else would help.

The alternative approach is the "facilitator" leadership style. Facilitators create space for growth, even when it means allowing people to stumble. They understand that true learning often requires struggle and reflection. By resisting the urge to rescue, facilitators build environments where people develop genuine confidence and problem-solving abilities.

This isn't just about management strategies – it's about psychology. Theory X and Theory Y perspectives, locus of control, and self-determination theory all help explain why some leaders foster independence while others create dependency. When we constantly fix problems for others, we inadvertently communicate that they lack competence. But when we facilitate learning, we nurture autonomy and internal motivation.

Ready to evolve your leadership approach? This week, challenge yourself to let someone assemble that IKEA shelf their way. Create space for them to struggle, reflect, and ultimately grow. True leadership isn't about being the smartest person with all the answers – it's about knowing when your silence is more valuable than your solution. Your restraint might be exactly what someone needs to discover their own capability.

About Danny Clark
Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist based in Houston, Texas. As the founder of Texas Insight Center, he specializes in helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with practical, evidence-based approaches.

💡 Is therapy right for you? Let’s talk. If you’re struggling with stress or emotional regulation or just want to explore healthier coping strategies, reach out for a consultation. Visit www.texasinsightcenter.com to learn more and schedule a session.

📩 Have a question or topic suggestion? Send it to danny@texasinsightcenter.com

You can also follow me on Instagram @texasinsightcenter or visit my webpage at texasinsightcenter.com

Join the conversation! Share your key takeaways using #MentalHealthPotluck or tag me on social media.

The mysterious one-sided bond between followers and online personalities has a name: parasocial relationships. These connections feel intensely real, making us defend celebrities like Taylor Swift as if they're our actual friends, even though they have no idea we exist.

Parasocial relationships aren't new—psychologists first identified them in 1956 when television viewers formed attachments to TV personalities. But social media has supercharged these dynamics to unprecedented levels. When an influencer looks directly into the camera, our brains don't register this as mass communication; instead, it processes the moment as a personal interaction, creating a powerful illusion of friendship.

This phenomenon affects both sides of the screen. For content creators, maintaining an online persona while balancing different audience expectations creates what experts call "context collapse"—a psychological tug-of-war between their authentic self and the version followers expect. This pressure can lead to identity confusion, anxiety, and burnout. Meanwhile, followers who constantly consume carefully curated content may develop unrealistic expectations, lower self-esteem, and diminished satisfaction with their own lives.

The ASAP method offers a practical framework for maintaining mental health in this digital landscape: Awareness of how content affects you, Setting boundaries around social media use, Asking for help when needed, and Prioritizing self-care. Whether you're creating content or consuming it, this approach helps ensure that digital connections enhance your life without replacing real-world relationships. After all, true connection happens beyond the screen, where algorithms don't dictate our worth and validation comes from authentic human interaction rather than metrics.

About Danny Clark
Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist based in Houston, Texas. As the founder of Texas Insight Center, he specializes in helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with practical, evidence-based approaches.

💡 Is therapy right for you? Let’s talk. If you’re struggling with stress or emotional regulation or just want to explore healthier coping strategies, reach out for a consultation. Visit www.texasinsightcenter.com to learn more and schedule a session.

📩 Have a question or topic suggestion? Send it to danny@texasinsightcenter.com

You can also follow me on Instagram @texasinsightcenter or visit my webpage at texasinsightcenter.com

Join the conversation! Share your key takeaways using #MentalHealthPotluck or tag me on social media.

Click to text me what you got out of this episode.

Have you ever heard someone say, "I'm setting a boundary," but it feels more like they're avoiding a hard conversation? Or maybe you've seen the word "trauma" used to describe everything from a bad breakup to a stressful day at work? Therapy language has made its way into everyday conversation, but are we always using it correctly? In this episode, we break down how therapy speak—words meant to help us heal—can sometimes keep us stuck.

We'll explore the four biggest ways therapy language gets misused and what that actually means for your mental health. Plus, we'll dig into how real therapy should challenge you—not just comfort you—and why growth doesn’t happen in an echo chamber of self-validation.

Guest Information

• Guest Name: Reverend Geneece Goertzen
• Bio: Rev. Geneece Goertzen is a national expert on domestic violence, researcher, and author. She provides critical insights into gaslighting and manipulation in abusive relationships and has published books to help people identify red flags.
• Links:
  • Taking It Seriously: A Faith Leader's Guide to Domestic Violence
  • Never Ever After: A Guide to Recognizing Red Flags

Episode Outline

1. The Rise of Therapy Speak

• How psychological terms have entered everyday conversation through social media.
• The pros and cons of using therapy language in casual discussions.

2. Four Common Misuses of Therapy Speak

• Boundaries: When setting a boundary is actually avoiding accountability.
• Trauma: The difference between real trauma and difficult life experiences.
• Toxic Relationships: When normal conflict gets mislabeled as dysfunction.
• Gaslighting: What it actually means (and what it doesn’t).

3. Social Media’s Role in Misinformation

• A study found that 85% of mental health advice on TikTok is misleading, and nearly 75% of trauma-related content is inaccurate.
• How therapists are navigating these challenges in sessions.

4. Therapy Language in the Therapy Room

• How words like "trauma" and "boundaries" function in actual therapy.
• Why therapists ask deeper questions instead of taking labels at face value.

5. Moving Forward: Using Therapy Language for Growth

• Tips for avoiding mislabeling experiences and fostering real self-awareness.
• How to use these terms as conversation starters, not conversation enders.

Host Name: Danny Clark

About Danny Clark
Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist based in Houston, Texas. As the founder of Texas Insight Center, he specializes in helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with practical, evidence-based approaches.

💡 Is therapy right for you? Let’s talk. If you’re struggling with stress or emotional regulation or just want to explore healthier coping strategies, reach out for a consultation. Visit www.texasinsightcenter.com to learn more and schedule a session.

📩 Have a question or topic suggestion? Send it to danny@texasinsightcenter.com

You can also follow me on Instagram @texasinsightcenter or visit my webpage at texasinsightcenter.com

Join the conversation! Share your key takeaways using #MentalHealthPotluck or tag me on social media.

Why We Can’t Look Away: Social Media, Outrage, and Your Brain

Have you ever opened your phone for a quick check-in, only to find yourself deep in an internet-fueled existential crisis? Why does our brain fixate on negativity, and why do social media platforms exploit this? In this episode of Mental Health Potluck, Danny Clark breaks down how social media platforms profit from outrage, why our brains are wired to fixate on bad news, and—most importantly—how to break the cycle before it hijacks your mental health.

We’ll explore the science behind negativity bias, the tactics tech companies use to keep us emotionally invested, and practical strategies to reclaim your attention and peace of mind.

Episode Outline

1. Why Our Brains Fixate on Chaos (2:12)

• The psychology behind negativity bias
• How evolution wired us to pay attention to bad news
• Studies proving that negative news spreads faster than positive news

2. The Outrage Economy & How Social Media Exploits It (5:32)

• How social media algorithms prioritize outrage for engagement
• The business model behind keeping users emotionally on edge
• How platforms personalize negativity to keep you hooked

3. The Mental Health Cost of Doomscrolling (9:21)

• Research on how negative content increases stress, anxiety, and depression
• How your brain absorbs negativity and shifts your worldview
• The cycle of outrage addiction and the dopamine reward loop

4. Five Ways to Break Free from the Outrage Loop (12:24)

• Recognize when you’re in the outrage cycle – Pause before engaging with negative content
• Use the three-day rule – Wait before reacting to emotional news
• Curate your information diet – Choose content that informs rather than enrages
• The 3-to-1 positivity rule – Balance negative exposure with positive inputs
• Digital detox strategies that actually work – Realistic ways to limit harmful social media habits

Host & Show Info

• Host Name: Danny Clark
• About the Host: Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist in private practice at the Texas Insight Center. He takes a no-nonsense approach to mental health and mental wellness while integrating the latest evidence-based research.
• Podcast Website: TexasInsightCenter.com

Community & Calls to Action

• Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts – Your support helps others find the show! Mental Health Potluck
• Follow on Social Media:
  • Instagram: @texasinsightcenter
  • YouTube:

About Danny Clark
Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist based in Houston, Texas. As the founder of Texas Insight Center, he specializes in helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with practical, evidence-based approaches.

💡 Is therapy right for you? Let’s talk. If you’re struggling with stress or emotional regulation or just want to explore healthier coping strategies, reach out for a consultation. Visit www.texasinsightcenter.com to learn more and schedule a session.

📩 Have a question or topic suggestion? Send it to danny@texasinsightcenter.com

You can also follow me on Instagram @texasinsightcenter or visit my webpage at texasinsightcenter.com

Join the conversation! Share your key takeaways using #MentalHealthPotluck or tag me on social media.

In this episode of Mental Health Potluck, Danny Clark explores the unique challenges of stepping into a leadership role at a new company and why approaching leadership like a therapist working with a new client can set managers up for success.

Leadership isn’t just about setting goals and making decisions—it’s about understanding people, navigating workplace dynamics, and earning trust. Danny introduces the concept of role strain, explaining why new leaders often feel caught between expectations and their own uncertainty. Drawing from his experience as a therapist and social worker, he compares the early days of leadership to the first sessions with a new therapy client—where listening, observation, and understanding come before offering solutions.

The episode highlights why trust-building is crucial, how unspoken workplace dynamics shape leadership success, and why leaders should resist the urge to prove themselves immediately. Danny provides a challenge for new leaders: spend the next week observing, listening, and understanding the environment before jumping into action.

Whether you're a first-time manager or a seasoned leader transitioning to a new organization, this episode will help you approach leadership with curiosity, patience, and confidence—and remind you that discomfort in a new role doesn’t mean you don’t belong. It just means you’re still becoming.

Key Topics Covered

• The Leadership-Therapy Connection – Why starting a new leadership role is like working with a new therapy client, and how understanding workplace culture before making changes builds trust.
• Role Strain and the Identity Shift of Leadership – How new leaders experience internal tension between expectations and confidence, and why this adjustment period is normal.
• Building Trust Before Making Changes – The importance of observing workplace power dynamics, listening to employees, and understanding the company’s history before implementing new ideas.

Important Definitions & Concepts

• Role Strain – The psychological tension that arises when the expectations placed on someone in a new role don’t fully match their comfort level, confidence, or familiarity with the system.
• Person-in-Environment Perspective – A social work framework that emphasizes understanding individuals (or teams) within the larger context of their environment, including relationships, power structures, and cultural norms.

Discussion & Reflection Questions

1. How does role strain show up in leadership transitions, and what strategies can help leaders manage it effectively?
2. In what ways do workplace culture and power dynamics shape a leader’s ability to make meaningful changes?

Host & Show Info

About Danny Clark
Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist based in Houston, Texas. As the founder of Texas Insight Center, he specializes in helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with practical, evidence-based approaches.

💡 Is therapy right for you? Let’s talk. If you’re struggling with stress or emotional regulation or just want to explore healthier coping strategies, reach out for a consultation. Visit www.texasinsightcenter.com to learn more and schedule a session.

📩 Have a question or topic suggestion? Send it to danny@texasinsightcenter.com

You can also follow me on Instagram @texasinsightcenter or visit my webpage at texasinsightcenter.com

Join the conversation! Share your key takeaways using #MentalHealthPotluck or tag me on social media.

Click to text me what you got out of this episode.

Episode Summary

Have you ever noticed that when things in your life start going really well, you suddenly find yourself procrastinating, picking fights, or making careless mistakes? You’re not alone. This episode dives into the Upper Limit Problem, a concept from The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, which suggests that we all have an internal “thermostat” for how much success, love, and happiness we think we deserve.

When we exceed our comfort zone, our subconscious mind tries to pull us back down by self-sabotage. Whether it’s in relationships, career, personal growth, or finances, these hidden patterns can keep us stuck—unless we learn to recognize and break them.

In this episode, we explore:

• How self-sabotage shows up in everyday life.
• Where these internal limits come from—family messages, past trauma, and social conditioning.
• Practical strategies for raising your success thermostat and allowing yourself to thrive.

If you’ve ever felt like you keep getting in your own way, this episode will help you understand why—and, more importantly, how to change it.

Key Topics Covered

🔹 What Is the Upper Limit Problem?

• Introduced by Gay Hendricks in The Big Leap, this concept explains why we unconsciously sabotage our own happiness and success when we exceed our perceived limits.
• The idea of an “internal thermostat” that regulates how much good we allow ourselves to experience.

🔹 How Self-Sabotage Shows Up in Daily Life

• Relationships: Picking fights or creating drama when things feel too good.
• Work: Procrastinating or slacking off after a big promotion or success.
• Money: Overspending after a financial windfall, returning to a familiar financial baseline.
• Mental Health: Stopping therapy when progress starts feeling too real.

🔹 Why We Self-Sabotage and How to Break the Cycle

• The role of childhood messages, fear of outshining others, and past trauma.
• Recognizing self-sabotage patterns and expanding your comfort zone.
• Learning to sit with success, instead of running from it.
• Practical mindset shifts to raise your success thermostat.

Important Definitions & Concepts

Upper Limit Problem: A psychological concept from The Big Leap describing the subconscious tendency to sabotage success when we exceed our perceived comfort zone.

Self-Sabotage: Engaging in behaviors that hold you back from achieving your goals, often driven by fear, self-doubt, or limiting beliefs.

Success Thermostat: A metaphor for the internal threshold we have

About Danny Clark
Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist based in Houston, Texas. As the founder of Texas Insight Center, he specializes in helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with practical, evidence-based approaches.

💡 Is therapy right for you? Let’s talk. If you’re struggling with stress or emotional regulation or just want to explore healthier coping strategies, reach out for a consultation. Visit www.texasinsightcenter.com to learn more and schedule a session.

📩 Have a question or topic suggestion? Send it to danny@texasinsightcenter.com

You can also follow me on Instagram @texasinsightcenter or visit my webpage at texasinsightcenter.com

Join the conversation! Share your key takeaways using #MentalHealthPotluck or tag me on social media.

Podcast Title and Episode Number: The Power of Collective Action: How Small Choices Can Create Big Change – Ep. 4

Episode Summary

In this episode of [Podcast Name], Danny explores the power of collective action and how even small, individual choices can contribute to major societal shifts. With the backdrop of today’s economic blackout, a movement where consumers withhold their spending to protest corporate corruption and ethical concerns, Danny dives into the psychology of consumer activism and collective efficacy—the belief that together, we can create meaningful change.

Using historical examples like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he breaks down why some movements succeed while others fade, and what psychological factors make people more likely to take action. The conversation also touches on the bystander effect, how identity shapes behavior, and why our small, daily choices matter more than we think.

The episode wraps up with a challenge for listeners: Take a moment to reflect on a recent decision you made. Did it align with your values? Sometimes, just noticing our choices is the first step toward making meaningful change.

Key Topics Covered

• The Economic Blackout & Consumer Activism – An overview of today’s consumer-led movement to pause spending at major corporations and why this kind of action can send a powerful message.
• The Montgomery Bus Boycott & Historical Context – A deep dive into how a year-long protest fundamentally changed segregation laws in the U.S. and what we can learn from its success.
• The Psychology of Collective Action – Understanding collective efficacy, the bystander effect, and why people struggle to believe their individual choices matter.
• Identity-Based Motivation – How small choices shape the way we see ourselves and influence long-term behavior.

Important Definitions & Concepts

• Collective Efficacy – The belief that when people act together, they can achieve meaningful change. It plays a major role in movements and protests.
• The Bystander Effect – A psychological phenomenon where individuals are less likely to take action when they believe someone else will step in. This can weaken movements when people assume others will take responsibility.
• Identity-Based Motivation – The concept that our behaviors reinforce our self-image. Making one conscious choice aligned with our values can shift how we see ourselves and create lasting habits.

Discussion & Reflection Questions

1. Have you ever participated in a boycott or movement? What motivated you to do so, and did you feel like your contribution mattered?
2. How does consumer activism compare to other forms of activism? Do you thin

About Danny Clark
Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist based in Houston, Texas. As the founder of Texas Insight Center, he specializes in helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with practical, evidence-based approaches.

💡 Is therapy right for you? Let’s talk. If you’re struggling with stress or emotional regulation or just want to explore healthier coping strategies, reach out for a consultation. Visit www.texasinsightcenter.com to learn more and schedule a session.

📩 Have a question or topic suggestion? Send it to danny@texasinsightcenter.com

You can also follow me on Instagram @texasinsightcenter or visit my webpage at texasinsightcenter.com

Join the conversation! Share your key takeaways using #MentalHealthPotluck or tag me on social media.

Click to text me what you got out of this episode.

Are you aware of the hidden challenges your best employees may be facing? This episode of Mental Health Potluck tackles the critical issue of workplace burnout, particularly focusing on so-called go-to employees—those indispensable staff members you consistently rely on for their skills and expertise. We discuss how these individuals, often viewed as the backbone of organizations, may be at the greatest risk for burnout due to the extra pressures placed upon them in today’s fast-paced work environments.

Join us as we dive into the nuanced signs and symptoms of burnout—exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficiency—and how these indicators can develop subtly over time. Discover how workplace culture can glorify overwork, creating an environment where admitting to failure seems impossible. We shine a light on the unique emotional burdens carried by professions like teaching, nursing, and social work, where the emotional labor and high expectations can exacerbate burnout rates.

Moreover, the episode delivers actionable insights for leaders who may unknowingly contribute to their employees' burnout. Are you aware of the workloads you're placing on your team? Are you blurring boundaries by expecting constant availability? We outline essential questions leaders can ask themselves to recognize and mitigate their influence on team burnout.

Prioritizing mental well-being isn't just beneficial for employees—it's good for business, fostering stronger, more engaged teams. We encourage all listeners, especially those in leadership roles, to reflect on their practices and take significant steps to promote a healthier work environment. Tune in, evaluate your roles, and start transforming your workplace culture into a beacon of well-being! Subscribe and be part of this essential conversation!

About Danny Clark
Danny Clark is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist based in Houston, Texas. As the founder of Texas Insight Center, he specializes in helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with practical, evidence-based approaches.

💡 Is therapy right for you? Let’s talk. If you’re struggling with stress or emotional regulation or just want to explore healthier coping strategies, reach out for a consultation. Visit www.texasinsightcenter.com to learn more and schedule a session.

📩 Have a question or topic suggestion? Send it to danny@texasinsightcenter.com

You can also follow me on Instagram @texasinsightcenter or visit my webpage at texasinsightcenter.com

Join the conversation! Share your key takeaways using #MentalHealthPotluck or tag me on social media.