Jeremy Hirshberg on Leadership, Burnout, Meaning, and Why Your Boss Shouldn’t Sound Like ChatGPT

Jeremy Hirshberg — organizational psychologist, leadership consultant and executive coach for Organizational Solutions, founder of Kaleidoscope Collaborative, and host of Resiliency Rounds and The Good Life, Reconsidered — joins the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on AI, leadership, resilience, and what happens when technology starts moving faster than the human nervous system. Drawing on his work at the Center for Creative Leadership and Booz Allen Hamilton, Jeremy explores how organizations can integrate AI without losing empathy, creativity, psychological safety, or their collective soul.

We discuss burnout, “AI theater,” executive anxiety, emotional intelligence, adaptability, meaning-making, and why the future belongs not simply to companies with the best technology — but to those combining high AI capability with being fully human. This taps into an interdependent cultural framework. Along the way we ask uncomfortable questions: What work should humans still own? What decisions should never be delegated to AI? Can mindfulness survive Slack notifications? And is your company innovating… or just panic-Googling the future with better branding?

Credits:

River is High, Ticketless Traveler

Carl Reisman, guitar, singer, and songwriter

Jenny Goodwine, vocals

James Singleton, bass

Johnny Vidocovich, drums

Dave Easley, steel guitar

Produced by Morgan Orion Reisman

for more information, carlreisman@gmail.com

Copyright 2025

WCMI networking group
A networking group for mindfulness-focused clinicians dedicated to learning together & collaborating for more information click here

In this thought-provoking episode of Shrinks Rap, yours truly, Dr. James Bramson, sits down with Janis Phelps—clinical psychologist, professor, and founder of the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research at CIIS — to explore one of the most fascinating, hopeful, and controversial frontiers in modern mental health treatment: psychedelic-assisted therapy for addiction and emotional healing.

As public enthusiasm for psychedelics accelerates faster than a Silicon Valley startup pitch deck, are we entering a genuine new era of recovery—or another cycle of overpromising and magical thinking? Dr. Phelps brings decades of experience in clinical psychology, mindfulness, ethics, and therapist training to a nuanced conversation about both the extraordinary potential and very real risks of psychedelic medicine.

Janis also discusses her hope that psychedelic experiences can help cultivate a more interconnected “one world, one love” mindset—one that fosters compassion, reverence for nature, and a deeper sense of meaning and belonging. From this expanded awareness of consciousness, she believes people may become more attuned not only to their own healing, but also to the ecological and spiritual crises facing our planet. In short: perhaps healing ourselves and healing the Earth are not entirely separate projects. Heavy stuff—but in a good way.

Together, we explore:
• What people are getting wrong right now about psychedelics and addiction
• The biggest upside—and biggest dangers—for vulnerable patients
• Who may benefit most, and who should absolutely avoid these treatments
• Whether psychedelics can become another form of emotional escape or spiritual bypassing
• Why some profound psychedelic experiences lead to lasting transformation—and others fade quickly
• The most common reasons psychedelic treatment fails
• What matters most: the medicine, the therapist, or the integration process
• Whether a “mystical experience” is actually necessary for recovery
• How clinicians screen for psychosis risk, destabilization, and contraindications
• Whether the field is over-promising results to people desperate for healing

Dr. Phelps also discusses the importance of ethical therapist training, mindfulness, integration, and the intersection of Eastern contemplative traditions with psychotherapy. The conversation balances curiosity with caution, hope with realism, and science with soul—while reminding listeners that psychedelic healing is not magic, but a complex process that depends on careful screening, support, and integration.

For clinicians, seekers, skeptics, recovering humans, and anyone interested in the future of mental health and recovery, this episode offers a grounded and deeply human exploration of what psychedelic healing can—and cannot—do.

Credits:

River is High, Ticketless Traveler

Carl Reisman, guitar, singer, and songwriter

Jenny Goodwine, vocals

James Singleton, bass

Johnny Vidocovich, drums

Dave Easley, steel guitar

Produced by Morgan Orion Reisman

for more information, carlreisman@gmail.com

Copyright 2025

WCMI networking group
A networking group for mindfulness-focused clinicians dedicated to learning together & collaborating for more information click here

Dr. Veronika Mesheriakova is an adolescent medicine physician, addiction specialist, and founder of the Northern California Adolescent Specialty Center. She previously served as an Associate Professor in the Division of Adolescent & Young Adult Medicine at University of California, San Francisco, where she founded the UCSF Youth Outpatient Substance Use Program and conducted research focused on adolescent substance use and addiction. Dr. Mesheriakova completed her pediatrics residency at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, followed by a fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at UCSF. She will also be a featured speaker at the Human Potential Conference.

In this timely episode of Shrinks Rap, Dr. James Bramson speaks with Dr. Veronika Mesheriakova about the growing mental health and addiction crisis facing today’s teens. Together, they explore the rise of high-potency cannabis, fentanyl exposure, vaping, and polysubstance use among adolescents—many of whom appear outwardly “fine” while quietly struggling emotionally.

Dr. Mesheriakova explains how today’s cannabis differs dramatically from earlier generations, with higher THC concentrations linked to anxiety, depression, psychosis risk, emotional dysregulation, and addiction in developing brains. The conversation also examines the growing danger of fentanyl contamination in counterfeit pills and recreational drugs, making experimentation increasingly life-threatening.

The episode highlights practical ways parents can approach teens without escalating shame, secrecy, or power struggles around substances and screen time. Dr. Mesheriakova emphasizes the importance of family involvement, the role medications can play in treatment, and how recovery ultimately depends on helping adolescents reconnect with hope, purpose, belonging, and a future worth showing up for. The conversation balances science, compassion, and humor—because parenting teenagers sometimes requires both evidence-based care and an excellent breathing practice.

Credits:

River is High, Ticketless Traveler

Carl Reisman, guitar, singer, and songwriter

Jenny Goodwine, vocals

James Singleton, bass

Johnny Vidocovich, drums

Dave Easley, steel guitar

Produced by Morgan Orion Reisman

for more information, carlreisman@gmail.com

Copyright 2025

WCMI networking group
A networking group for mindfulness-focused clinicians dedicated to learning together & collaborating for more information click here