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Evan sits down with Rhiana Holmes Turner for a sharp, honest conversation about therapist burnout, private practice, money, ADHD, recovery, and the culture of over-sacrifice in mental health. They talk about brain drain, disaster psychology, community mental health, performative social justice, and why helping people does not mean destroying yourself in the process.

• brain drain, disaster psychology, and why good intentions can still miss the point
• therapist burnout and the culture of self-sacrifice in mental health
• why so many clinicians stay underpaid, overworked, and stuck
• private practice, private pay, and charging what your work is worth
• the overlap between ADHD, addiction, systems, and adaptation
• recovery, shame, and how culture treats addiction differently than healing
• criminalization, punishment, and why rehabilitation is more complicated than people want to admit
• therapist branding, authenticity, and the pressure to perform a professional identity
• what it looks like to stop over-identifying with struggle and actually build a life

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In this episode, we unpack one of the most misunderstood dynamics in therapy: masking.We start with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model and how somatic work helps clients notice real shifts in their nervous system. Then we get into what therapists often miss — clients who look “fine” in session but are shutting down outside the room.

We cover:

• Why clients mask in therapy (often without realizing it)
• How therapists can misread progress
• Dorsal vagal shutdown and what it actually looks like
• When a memory is too big for the client’s current capacity
• Why some people stay emotionally stuck for decades
• How blame can block real healing
• The link between underdeveloped identity and addiction risk
• Short-form content, attention and ADHD brains
• The pressure to appear regulated in everyday life

If you’re a therapist, helper or someone trying to understand why change can feel harder than it “should,” this episode will give you a much deeper lens.

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Have any questions or insights about this episode? Reach out to us at contactus@tellmeaboutyourmother.run

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Guest Elizabeth Morrison is a licensed therapist, MS, LPC, in Texas, that specializes in treating Neurodivergent individuals.

We talk through what’s happening as mental health language goes mainstream: it’s helping more people seek support, but it’s also creating confusion, oversimplification, and “pop psychology” that gets repeated as fact. We unpack what neurodivergence and neurodivergent actually mean, why traits aren’t the same thing as diagnoses, and how real clinical work depends on nuance, context, and felt safety. The conversation also zooms out to schools and families, exploring how kids’ behavior often reflects unmet needs, overstimulation, and a lack of support rather than “badness.”

• Why social media spreads both awareness and misinformation about mental health
• Neurodivergence vs. neurodivergent vs. neuroinclusive (and why the labels matter)
• Bottom-up vs. top-down processing and how that changes therapy approaches
• Common neurodivergent presentations discussed: autism, ADHD, OCD (and the broader spectrum)
• Stimming and fidgets as regulation tools, not “bad habits”
• Burnout, dopamine/energy drain, and why everyday tasks can cost more for ND brains
• The difference between having traits and meeting diagnostic criteria (clinical significance)
• Limits of assessments: masking, self-awareness gaps, and the nuance tests can miss
• Medication basics: what it should and shouldn’t do, and when to revisit dosage/prescriptions
• School systems, missed support, and why behavior is often communication
• Practical parenting ideas: reducing demands after school and asking better questions
• How family patterns repeat across generations and how therapy helps revise the “old contract”

Support the show

Have any questions or insights about this episode? Reach out to us at contactus@tellmeaboutyourmother.run