Burnout doesn't always look like falling apart. For a lot of therapists, it looks like keeping up, staying on top of it, and pushing through until there's nothing left. In this episode of The Traveling Therapist Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Trisha Wolfe, a trauma therapist, researcher, and educator who spent years studying burnout in therapists while living it herself.
Trisha shares what finally shifted for her, and it wasn't adding more wellness habits to her list. It was learning to observe herself and understanding why the survival strategies that made her a great therapist were also the ones keeping her stuck. And she did all of this while building a life in Europe with one suitcase and no return ticket.
In This Episode, We Explore…
Connect with Trisha:
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TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@thetrishawolfe
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Kym: Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Traveling Therapist podcast. I'm excited for our guest today. She's really living the traveling therapist lifestyle. I can't wait for her to tell you guys all about it. Tricia Wolfe is here with us today.
[00:00:12] Tricia, welcome to the podcast. I'm excited to share your story with the listeners, and I always start out with that question, like, how did you go from being a typical therapist to a traveling therapist?
[00:00:23] Trisha: Absolutely. Yes. This is something that was in the works for me since 2022. We just decided we wanted to do something exciting, have an adventure, and we put all this energy toward it and then it just didn't end up happening in 2022. And so we thought, oh, I don't know if it's the right time. And then last year we went on a vacation to Spain and we just never left we've been traveling for about a year. We got to Spain and we thought, why don't we just on a wing and a prayer apply for the digital nomad visa? And while we were waiting on that, we went traveling all through england and Europe, and now we're in Spain and heading to France and just kind of following what we wanna do,
[00:00:56] Kym: Wow. Oh my gosh. When you say we, is it like your family? Is it this
[00:01:01] Trisha: myself and my partner. Yep.
[00:01:02] Kym: Oh my gosh. How exciting. So like literally you went to Spain and had no, like, you thought you were coming home in a couple
[00:01:08] Trisha: Yeah, we just brought like one suitcase worth of stuff and we were just, we've been here since then. I mean, we've acquired some things. We got a couple suitcases now, but yeah, we're just traveling around having fun .
[00:01:18] Kym: how cool is that? Well, tell us then about the last, what year and a half did you say that you've
[00:01:24] Trisha: It's been just about a year next week. Yep.
[00:01:26] Kym: So tell us where you've been, what's you're doing.
[00:01:28] Trisha: We have been all over. We've been through a lot of cities in France. We've been in Paris and Montpelier, and we've been pretty much all around Spain. We spent the summer in England, which was incredibly amazing. The countryside of England is my new favorite place I would say.
[00:01:41] We've stayed everywhere. We stayed in major cities in England. We stayed in the teeniest tiniest village. It was all thatched roof cottages. Now we're in San Sebastian, right by the sea, and we can walk to everything and it's just so, so wonderful. You know, I get to have the whole day basically. I usually don't start working until 3:00 PM
[00:02:01] and so we have a place here for nine months, but we've still been going on week long trips or two week long trips to different cities in Spain and in France. Just nice to have a place to keep our suitcases, but it's so wonderful to get to go do things during the day and then work in the evenings.
[00:02:16] Kym: Oh, that's amazing. Did you have a house back in the US but you were like, we're not coming back? Or what was your situation? I think people like to know that. Like, wait a second, how'd you just not come back?
[00:02:26] Trisha: I know. Yeah, so, my partner actually flew home after we'd been here for a few months and just packed everything up and put it in the basement. Brought back a few essentials, like we didn't even have a sweater, for example, and we, we found someone to rent our house while we're here. And yeah, so I've been here the whole time, but he went back and took care of some things.
[00:02:45] It's just more difficult for me to travel with my work schedule, obviously. Yeah, and everyone keeps asking like, when are you coming home? It's like, I don't know. We're just having so much fun. We're just gonna stay till we're tired of it.
[00:02:53] Kym: Oh my gosh. And you had someone to rent your house. I think that's like ideal. Really? Because it's like if you wanna come back you can, I mean, granted, they're in a lease, I guess, but yeah, that's really, that's amazing. Oh my gosh. So you're like, no, we're not ready to come back at all. Like, we've got so many things we wanna do. Are you just gonna like hunker down in Spain for a while? Like what's your sort of plan
[00:03:15] Trisha: we're actually applying for a Visa for France right now to just maybe spend a year traveling around France and see, you know, we're considering the fact, like what if we really love, we really love Spain. What if we really love France? What if we wanna settle down somewhere and have a more permanent base to travel from?
[00:03:30] But Spain, France, and the Netherlands were kind of the easiest places for me to find Visa options. And so those are the three places where like, let's spend like nine months in, nine months and nine months and see if we really click with the culture and use it as a home base to travel from.
[00:03:43] Kym: That's awesome. Yeah. Could you tell us about the visas a little. I feel like people really, we talk about it every once in a while in this podcast, but this is more up to date. So we're recording this like March, 2026. What are the visas right now? Like, what's the one in France that you guys applied for?
[00:03:59] Trisha: So in France there's a couple of options. So there's one called the Professional Liberal, maybe butchering the pronunciation visa, and that one is for. Entrepreneur, self-employed people. It's a one year visa and recently you do have to submit a business plan and have that approved, but there's lots of people who've been approved.
[00:04:18] Counselors are not a regulated term in France, nor is coaching or anything like that. Certain terms are like, there's some on the fence list about like psychotherapy, for example. So you would wanna like really work to understand how you were gonna present. Your business plan, but that's a one year visa and then they have a four year visa that's called a talent passport.
[00:04:37] And you do need to have a master's for that, which of course a licensed therapist would have and a business plan for that one too. But yeah, there's lots of therapists who get approved on those two visas and it's like a normal self-employed visa. So you are paying the social security charges, but there are ways to structure it in France.
[00:04:53] Actually, that's more similar to an S corp. So there's some tax advantage.
[00:04:57] Kym: that's very interesting. Yeah. Is the business plan basically I'm gonna see my clients back in the United States? Is that kind of what your business plan will be? Or do you have to like finagle it to make it match what they're looking
[00:05:08] Trisha: Essentially you're kind of showing like, I have done this business. You know, you can get a letter from your accountant kind of saying the money you've made, but then you're talking a little bit about the French market and how you might market to people like in the France and in the eu.
[00:05:21] You're not required to have French clients and it kind of differs a little bit of whether you're going for the four year one or the one year one. But you're not beholden to saying you have to have X number of French clients. They ma mainly wanna know that. You know what you're doing, you've done it before, and that you have put some research into understanding the French market, which honestly is not, it's not too difficult to look up like the wellness market in France .
[00:05:43] Kym: I'm sure you could just like put it in ChatGPT and say, write this for me, and it probably just spits something out pretty good.
[00:05:48] Trisha: Yeah. Yeah, they really, France specifically really wants people who want to be a part of the culture, I think. So, they want to know that you've done some research into France. Spain does not have that requirement at all. Like you don't need to say anything about getting Spanish clients. In fact, you're not allowed to have more than 20% of Spanish clients.
[00:06:05] Kym: Oh, interesting. Okay. Good to know. Good to know. So if you wanted to work in France, could you, on that visa, you could like literally have clients in France that you like
[00:06:15] Trisha: As long as you're practicing under the correct title. If you want to be under the regulated title, you need to go through a, I never can say the word homologation process, but if you're practicing as like a coach or like a counselor or something like that, you can work with French clients and clients in the eu.
[00:06:32] Kym: Wow, that's so interesting. Yeah. Okay. Really good. Because I feel like I always heard, or maybe it was Germany that I always hear is like, it was like super hard to get anything done in Germany. Like if you wanted to get a visa there and be working. Interesting. So did you hire, like, you mentioned like the French version of an S corp. Did you hire somebody to help you work through that part of it or,
[00:06:53] Trisha: I did. Yeah. There's a, wonderful French accounting group. Then they're dually licensed in the US and France.
[00:06:58] Kym: Oh,
[00:06:59] Trisha: And they've been incredibly helpful and they can handle both sides of it. And they understand how to, they understand the American system so they can kind of compare it to the French system. And it's, I think in both countries, I think you're required to have an accountant if you have a business.
[00:07:12] So Spain and France, like I have an accountant in Spain too. But finding someone that was dually licensed was like a lifesaver. 'cause this Spain taxes are a little stressful.
[00:07:20] Kym: Oh, really? So you have to pay in Spain if you're not even working in Spain or not seeing clients in Spain, or are you seeing clients in
[00:07:27] Trisha: I'm not seeing clients in Spain, but yet both of the countries, it's differs on whether you're a resident, which means more than 183 days physically in the country or less than 183 days, but both ways. You have to pay taxes and you definitely in Spain have to pay the social charges. So, if you were six months in and six months out, you have to pay the social charges year round.
[00:07:47] Kym: So how much are the social charges? I don't think I've ever asked anybody that like, in Spain versus France, maybe. Do you, I don't even know if you know
[00:07:54] Trisha: They're not too dissimilar and they, You know, in the US it's a standard. It's like 15 point something percent. I think for the social charges. In Spain, it's a bracketed system. So for the first year, everyone pays 87 ish euros per month. And then after that it goes by brackets of how much income you're making.
[00:08:12] So it could be up to. Maybe 1000 Euro a month. It really doesn't come out to be that much more than us social charges, and you get a lot more for it. It's like a wonderful tax system .
[00:08:23] Kym: That's really interesting. And France is similar with the rates.
[00:08:26] Trisha: Very similar. The difference in France is you're able to set up a company that you can do like an S corp, but similar to an S corp. So you know, the social charges are different based on whether you're getting a salary or whether it's owner distributions, but still similar kind of thing where it's, it's bracketed and if you compare the cost of the health insurance in the US with the social charges over here, it really comes out better to pay
[00:08:46] Kym: Oh, wow.
[00:08:47] Trisha: Yes, it's much more affordable.
[00:08:48] Kym: I'm starting to believe you. My insurance is crazy. Like I've been going to a lot of doctors just because I'm in a, like a, a solid location right now, you know, and I'm just like trying to get all my doctor's visits in. I'm like, I mean, $500 copays, like, it's crazy. And I already pay like $900 a month for my insurance, you know, it's like. I can afford it and pay it, luckily, fortunately, but it's like, this is crazy, you know? and I've heard that healthcare is so much better in these other countries too.
[00:09:13] Trisha: it is. I mean, in Spain you have complete access to the public health system as an autonomous, which is like a self-employed person as part of the social charges. So it's like I'm probably paying maybe a thousand Euro a month, and that was, that's less than my insurance was in the us.
[00:09:27] Kym: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I hear you on that. So you're in Spain for, would you say for like nine months total. You'll
[00:09:34] Trisha: Yep. I'll be here till June.
[00:09:35] Kym: And then y'all leave to go to France if that visa comes through. I guess you have to wait for the visa. Nice. Okay.
[00:09:41] Trisha: Yeah. I'm excited. fun to check out all the different cultures, you know, the Spain and France right next to each other, but quite different.
[00:09:47] Kym: yeah. Oh my gosh. I think that's amazing. So anything you've learned along the way that maybe you could share just like, maybe culturally in Spain versus France, or just like tips or tricks with navigating this lifestyle that you think could be helpful to somebody listening that might wanna do it themselves?
[00:10:02] Trisha: Yeah, I think the way that I'm a anxious person by nature, I'll just say that, you know, I like my routine. I like things to be the way they are. So it's been an adventure and I think the best. Most grounding thing has been to just be really curious about everywhere that I go, that we go where it's, every morning we get out, we go for a walk, we check out someplace new, we try a new cafe, we go to a new store, or whatever it is.
[00:10:23] And I think that helps so much. Feel like you're a part of life. Instead of feeling like, oh my gosh, I don't know what's happening. It's like, well just go check something out. You know? See what happens. in Spain, everyone has been so incredibly friendly to us, and I speak Spanish fairly well. My partner, not at all. they're just so kind and friendly and welcoming. You know, you say Ola, you say Adios. We use the Google Translate. And that's been such an important piece too, I think is just getting to connect with the people around you. We've met so many interesting people who wanna tell us about the city, about the site we're looking at, about the history.
[00:10:57] Especially in San Sebastian, there's a lot of like older men who are out on like their morning walks, maybe they lost their wife or something, and they're just so excited. Like they want to tell you about the history of the city. They're so glad we're here. So it's been such a welcoming experience, I think, to get out and meet people.
[00:11:14] I noticed the days when I just kind of stay in the apartment, that's when I start thinking about like, ooh, you know, what can I do next? what's gonna happen? And it's like just getting out and being a part of it has been really fun.
[00:11:24] And France is really interesting. It's, It reminds me more of the US in some ways. There's more like, almost like the rigidity. Yeah. The formal, formal but still so friendly. You know, people say, oh, you know, French people can be rude if you don't speak the
[00:11:38] Kym: you always hear that they're so rude in
[00:11:40] Trisha: I've never Had that experience. Everyone has always been so friendly and kind. And last weekend I was in Bayone, which is a city in the bass country side of France and we don't speak any French at all.
[00:11:52] And they were just so friendly and everyone's so willing to use the Google Translate app. So, you know, I just think if you go in with a smile and you know how to say hello and thank you, you feel so much more involved in things.
[00:12:04] Kym: Yeah. Oh my gosh, that sounds so fun.
[00:12:07] Trisha: It has been,
[00:12:08] Kym: yeah. and you don't have to like get into detail if you don't want to, but like, what does your partner do? Because I think a lot of people get stuck in that too. It's like, well, I could go be a traveling therapist if I want to, but I've got this partner and that, what are they gonna do?
[00:12:20] They can't really work, you know, is there, do you have tips or suggestions around that?
[00:12:25] Trisha: Yeah, so my, my partner helps me with my business and does some of, kind of like the backend things and can help with like, editing my podcast and like website and things like that. And we also have a product based business, like an outdoor product. They're like these little decks that are like, get outside and be curious and things
[00:12:41] Kym: Oh,
[00:12:42] Trisha: So yeah, he does some, he does some stuff with that as well. But it works really well for us For him to kind of do some of the backend stuff and manage, there's a lot of administrative tasks living in Europe. So it's helpful too, to have, he has a lot of time to manage those things when I'm busy working.
[00:12:57] Kym: That's awesome. Yeah. That's really cool. So those cards, you guys made those like
[00:13:01] Trisha: Yes.
[00:13:02] Kym: my gosh, that is awesome.
[00:13:04] Trisha: Yeah, it's really fun. this is the bird one that we just made where I designed them and then he did all the work to kind of put 'em together. So they're like these little, it's, it's to encourage, like kind of being mindful in the outdoors.
[00:13:16] Kym: oh my gosh, what's it say? I'm like, blind
[00:13:18] Trisha: is the um, Northern flicker.
[00:13:20] Kym: Oh my gosh, that's awesome. So it's kinda like, oh, and it tells you about 'em all. Those are so cool.
[00:13:26] Trisha: Yeah. So we have that little fun thing we do too. So, you know, we have a, an adventuring business, so it kind of fits in well with the traveling aspect.
[00:13:34] Kym: That is awesome. Oh my gosh. Like none of this was on her bio, y'all. So I'm like discovering this. I'm like, what did you also do that? I'm like discovering this as we're talking. So it's really, really cool to, to hear about everything you're doing. It's awesome. you probably know part of this podcast we love to talk about like entrepreneurial types
[00:13:50] stuff like outside of the therapy room, really. Like, what else can I do if I don't wanna just do therapy all the time? So that's really neat. What's your podcast about? Is that more about the nervous system stuff and all of that, or is it about the
[00:14:02] Trisha: Yes, it is my book club podcast. you know, like we read No Bad Parts and now we're reading Unlocking the Emotional Brain and we read the narm book and I kind of take it and then translate it for clinicians and for clients on how to make it realistic. You know, these books are wonderful, but they're very.
[00:14:20] High level theory based. It's harder to understand like, how do I actually apply this? Or if I'm reading this and this doesn't work for me, why doesn't it work for me? So I do that on my substack. It's just like a fun little, I have a lot of side projects.
[00:14:32] Kym: I love that your girl after my own heart.
[00:14:34] Trisha: Yes,
[00:14:35] Kym: what's the name of your podcast if people wanna look it up?
[00:14:37] Trisha: my, my substack is called Tiny Sparks. Big Changes. It's just my name, Trisha wolf.substack.com, and the book club is kind of like for the paid subscribers, but
[00:14:47] Kym: I see.
[00:14:49] Trisha: Yeah, we have a lot of fun and we meet twice live for every book, and I have a lot of clinicians on there who have found it really helpful.
[00:14:55] I kind of specialize in working with people who have a hard time in therapy, so they go through a lot of therapists. And then they don't make progress. So I have a lot of clinicians in there who are kind of like, I love IFS, or I love some of these things, but why can't I get my clients to shift? Like, why are they stuck?
[00:15:13] So we have a lot of fun kind of diving into the, the deeper brain mechanisms behind that.
[00:15:17] Kym: That's really cool. Maybe we could talk about that a little bit. just like burnout cycles, and helpers specifically staying trapped in like over-functioning roles and that kind of thing. I feel like that's an important thing to overcome if you're gonna be like a traveling therapist, if you're gonna be sort of nomadic and moving around a lot. Can we talk about that some and, your specialties around that?
[00:15:37] Trisha: Absolutely. Yeah, so I, I actually had my doctorate and my research was centered around burnout and therapists because I think it's such a major issue. Many of us are drawn to the profession because of our own history and our own strategies around wanting to help other people, which makes sense, right? I mean, we can find the other side of a survival strategy, which caretaking people also has a good side to it, but it also just makes us a lot more susceptible to burnout because we spend a lot of energy tracking our clients, being aware of their experience, wanting to help them, wanting to see them shift. And that doesn't leave that much energy for tracking our own experience.
[00:16:13] And so much research around burnout is kind of like, well do mindfulness and like drink water. And it's like, okay, But what happens when you don't do those things or when you do those things and you still feel stuck? And honestly, like I was in a big burnout cycle in 2022, which is why I think I didn't actually make the leap at that time because trying to finalize all the details to start traveling when I was so burned out was just really, really overwhelming.
[00:16:37] so I think a lot of the work that I do to support therapists is helping them start to tease apart what they really value about the work, what they enjoy about the work versus what we call like the survival strategies, right? The parts of us that feel like we have to give more and more, or we can't have those boundaries, or we need to get our clients somewhere.
[00:16:56] And if we can't, it means something about us. And so my research all centered around. If you learn how to observe yourself, mind and body, 'cause the body component is important too. Does it decrease your risk of burnout? And the answer is yes. When we can learn to observe ourselves, our thoughts, emotions, body sensations, but to tease them apart, it's like an archeological dig, right?
[00:17:17] There's what's happening on the surface. And then there's all those old survival strategies from different parts of our lives. Then we're so much more able to stay connected to ourselves and so much less likely to get burned out because we're not responding from, you know, all modalities use different terms.
[00:17:32] We're not responding from the child consciousness or the protective parts of us. We're able to actually respond from our adult capital S self. And even in traveling, you know, I think a lot of times with the time difference and things like that, 'cause I've met some other people in Europe, there is still this high risk of.
[00:17:48] Burnout where it's like, I've met therapists who say they're working until midnight to accommodate a US schedule. And if that works for you, that's absolutely wonderful. for me, part of this process has been finding what works for me and works for my clients, but most importantly, that I'm well in the process and that it takes a lot of work.
[00:18:07] It takes a lot of self-observation because we care so deeply about our clients. It's very easy to kind of be like, that's absolutely fine. I would love to do that. But internally we're not feeling well.
[00:18:16] Kym: Yeah, internally it's like, I don't wanna work till midnight, but I'm, I'm going to, 'cause I feel like I have to and I'm on this time zone and,
[00:18:22] Trisha: Exactly. I do not work past 7:00 PM because I know that I am not good past 7:00 PM and so I had to change my whole schedule around and that was a navigation with my clients and no problem.
[00:18:32] Kym: so it worked out well. I mean, I guess they were receptive to it and willing to change their
[00:18:36] Trisha: it did work out well. Yeah, so, you know, I, I choose to work Saturdays for the people who are not able to meet in the mornings, and that works out fine for me because I've always preferred to have one weekday off Sundays and Mondays, and I see those people on Saturdays. The rest of the people I work, I work my time, three to 7:00 PM.
[00:18:53] I can still go out to dinner afterward if I want, and I have all day free. And that has been one of the best things for me about traveling. I never thought in the US should I have my days free. You know, I just would always work from like 10 to
[00:19:07] Kym: Nine to five. Yeah. Or whatever.
[00:19:08] Trisha: Yeah. Right. And now to be like, oh, you mean I can find a schedule that works best for my circadian rhythm? It's amazing.
[00:19:14] Kym: I love that so much. So three to seven, like what? Five days? A five days since
[00:19:19] Trisha: I work three to seven, Tuesday to Friday, and then Saturdays I usually work like noon to six. It
[00:19:25] Kym: Wow, that's so great. So you found most of your clients were willing to shift instead of maybe having to like change your hours and just attract a new client base that was more open to that new schedule or,
[00:19:37] Trisha: Yes. Yes. I think a lot of people have more flexibility now with kind of remote working and things like that, that they're able to do that. I mean, I have people all the way to the Pacific Time zone. So, you know, I might even see people before work and they're open to that. And for people who have less flexible careers, like teachers and things like that, that's who I kind of maintain the Saturdays for because it's not like they can just say, oh, I'm gonna pause my class and go do a therapy session. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it worked out well in that regard. And every so often, you know, someone wants to work with me and that doesn't work for them. And that's okay because there are people who work all kinds of different hours.
[00:20:11] Kym: Yeah. Interesting. when you were talking, you sort of mentioned in 2022 that you probably didn't start this earlier then because you were in that cycle of burnout. I'm curious for the listener that's probably like, yeah, I don't even know how I'm so burnt out. Like I have no idea how to even plan something like this to pull it off. You know? how did you, realize you were in that place and then how did you pull yourself out of it so you could actually go function and live this lifestyle?
[00:20:36] Trisha: Yeah, well, I was pretty far down the planning cycle of ready to move to Europe when I realized that it wasn't gonna be from a good place, I was feeling anxious a lot of the time, like a lot of physical anxiety. I was working a lot of hours and feeling. You know, I would call it like a shell. Like I would finish with my client hours and feel like I can't do anything.
[00:20:53] I don't even want anyone to talk to me. Not even people I love. I just wanna lay down. I'm like, I don't think that would be a good sign of, wellbeing . you know, when things just started to feel so overwhelming with planning the move that I was thinking this might be too much, I'm like, I think this is a clue that I need to pause and reevaluate.
[00:21:09] And it was challenging. We'd already put a lot of energy and money into making that happen. But when I was aware that. I was just feeling so drained, so anxious, I knew that I would not settle in well to a new culture. I think you do need to have some sense of online, this presence to be able to adjust to a new culture.
[00:21:26] 'cause that's a whole other can of worms . And so, you know, I, I'm a huge proponent of somatic therapy I do somatic therapy and so I was like time to double back down on that and just did a lot of work around somatic therapy. I don't, you know, know if you ever heard of the Primal Trust program.
[00:21:41] Kym: No.
[00:21:42] Trisha: it's a nervous system, a somatic nervous system program, and even though I'm trained in a lot of somatic modalities, I still found it incredibly helpful to just kind of get my mind and body back into a good rhythm. By the way, I forgot to say in all of this, I was getting my PhD, so that was a huge, that
[00:21:58] Kym: oh my gosh. Really?
[00:21:59] Trisha: huge contributor.
[00:22:00] I was researching burnout while incredibly burned
[00:22:03] Kym: burned out. Of course you were.
[00:22:05] Trisha: Exactly, exactly. But you know, there was so much more flexibility in my system when we came on vacation, which is why I think we could make the decision to say, Hey, let's just make that happen. And I think that's such a missing piece when you're in burnout.
[00:22:18] It's so hard to access that adaptability, that flexibility, because we're so braced. Even if we don't realize it, we might say, you know, especially as Overfunctioners, I'm fine, I'm doing great. But it's like, why do I wake up every morning and I cannot unhinging my jaw?
[00:22:31] Kym: I can relate to that. So what, what was the method ? The primal, what?
[00:22:34] Trisha: It's called Primal Trust.
[00:22:36] Kym: Oh, could you tell us a little
[00:22:38] Trisha: Yeah. Absolutely. Dr. Katherine King created it. She's a physical therapist and I think she does a really great job of amalgamating a bunch of somatic methodologies in one. So like I'm trained in somatic experiencing and several other somatic modalities, but they're huge.
[00:22:52] They're long, they're expensive. She has really condensed it all into this, I think, eight module program that teaches you all about the nervous system, the brain, how they relate, how to really accessible, easy-ish, like they do take some time, but easy places to start in terms of how do I start in my day-to-day life incorporating some of these things and it builds upon itself.
[00:23:14] So it's, it's a lot of education that you might also find useful for your clients. I already knew a lot of it having trained in somatic modalities, but there's, there's a gentle structure to it to say like, if I'm so burned out, I don't know where to start. What's one thing I can do? And it's like, what's two things I can do?
[00:23:30] Oh, now that I'm feeling a little more space, maybe I jump to this third thing. And it's, it's a very science backed modality, and it has a once you get through the nervous system stuff, there's an additional piece that works with more complex experiences. So if you know internal family systems, the parts modality.
[00:23:48] The second part of this program works a lot with parts work, the adult part versus the kind of child parts and It uses memory reconsolidation, which is like the known thing that creates long-term change in our brain. it's a really cool program that puts all of those things together. And I like it for clients too, because you know, when you're in burnout or when you've had trauma, it's very hard to stick to any kind of routine.
[00:24:11] Your brain doesn't feel safe. Your brain in some way wants to stay braced and protected. The same is true when we're burned out, burnout becomes the set point. So when you say, oh, I'm gonna take time for myself, and you go to do that, some part of your body's like, no, that's not safe. We need to go do more things.
[00:24:27] So I like this program because it offers a structure so you don't have to think about, well, how can I make this happen in my daily life? They will tell you exactly like when you wake up, do this one thing right before you eat. Do this one thing before bed, do this one thing. So I really recommend it.
[00:24:42] Kym: That's very cool. Now, is that something you do like with your therapist or is it like a program you sign up for and do
[00:24:47] Trisha: an individual program and you can work through it with a group. Like they have groups that kick off every week. You can pay an additional fee to have a kind of coach who's trained in the modality, but lots of my clients do it, and then we kind of process it together.
[00:25:01] Kym: Yeah. ' because you've done it, you understand it and can , help support 'em through it. That's really cool.
[00:25:05] Trisha: a lot of people who have chronic illness go through it too, so people who have like mold illness or Lyme disease or long COVID.
[00:25:12] it's been really instrumental I think, in some people I've worked with being able to get out of bed even.
[00:25:18] Kym: Wow. I'm gonna go research that.
[00:25:20] Trisha: It's really cool. Mm-hmm.
[00:25:22] Kym: I learn something new today. Thanks. So you incorporate that into your work and just a lot of the nervous system stuff and somatic, somatic work that you're trained in. That's really great.
[00:25:31] Trisha: Yes, yes. I love the combination of somatic modalities with more observational like metacognitive modalities. Like learning to observe ourselves rather than trying to manage ourselves is like, I think the most important thing.
[00:25:43] Kym: Oh my God. Yeah. Like being outside of it instead of in it and like just feeling like so overwhelmed.
[00:25:49] Trisha: Yeah. Yeah. I think so often when we're in burnout, we get caught up in the idea of like, well, now I need to manage myself outta burnout. You know, I need to add more to my list, and I need to stop doing this bad behavior. I need to have better boundaries. Instead of looking at why, why am I not enforcing the boundaries?
[00:26:05] Why am I not taking care of myself? Can I observe what's coming up in those moments and work with the root rather than just when you're burned out? Making it another task to manage is like a recipe for disaster
[00:26:16] Kym: absolutely. Like I need a better schedule or I need, yeah, I could
[00:26:19] Trisha: Exactly. It's just like whack-a-mole at that point.
[00:26:22] Kym: more overwhelming. Yeah. That's very cool. Thanks for sharing about that. And it sounds like you used it yourself and then it got you to this place where you could have this really flexible, amazing lifestyle that you're living.
[00:26:33] Trisha: Absolutely. And I still, I still use it to this day. You know, I, I do the practices regularly or, you know, adjusting to being in a new culture is a, a different experience. And even if you're enjoying it, which I enjoy it very much, it's still a shift for your nervous system. You know, when your nervous system goes from what's known to what's unknown. Still creates a little tension, even if you're having a good time. So I continue to use the practices.
[00:26:56] Kym: Is there like one, thing in there that's been like really great tool that you could share
[00:27:01] Trisha: One of my favorite things that's just like so, so simple, and it actually I think comes from somatic experiencing is called a vu breath. Have you ever heard of that?
[00:27:08] Kym: I feel like I have, but tell me,
[00:27:10] Trisha: like if you know in yoga when you do umm,
[00:27:12] Kym: Oh, yeah.
[00:27:13] Trisha: so it's like, but it's VO instead VOO. And so when you do it and you breathe out, just like um, you kind of create that vibration.
[00:27:21] And so it's, it's like a breath work practice where you're, you were breathing in and then when you breathe out you do the like a long voo breath. And it's really, really wonderful for kind of expelling some of that high energy and getting that vibration all through the system. It's, it's the simplest thing in the world, and I'm actually not a huge proponent of breath work for a variety of reasons.
[00:27:40] I think it has to come. Later down the line when you do breath work, when you're too anxious, it can be challenging. But I have found that one to be like, if I wake up and I'm anxious, I'm just like, I'm doing the V breath right away
[00:27:52] And you can just feel it, start to expel the energy. So it has lots of little practices like that.
[00:27:56] Like there's practices for your eyes. There's different types of breath work, there's different types of, of resourcing imagery based work. I like it for that reason too, because there's something for everybody, right? If you don't like breath work. You can work with a resource. If you don't like a resource you can work with what they call I yoga is really
[00:28:13] Kym: Oh, nice.
[00:28:14] Trisha: yeah,
[00:28:14] Kym: like the EMDR type
[00:28:16] Trisha: yeah, yeah.
[00:28:17] Kym: back and forth.
[00:28:18] Uhhuh.
[00:28:18] Trisha: of looking uhhuh.
[00:28:19] Kym: Oh, neat.
[00:28:20] Trisha: it's, it's a really cool, I mean, it is an incredibly comprehensive program. I cannot imagine how she pulled all that together.
[00:28:26] Kym: Wow. Okay. I'm gonna have to check it out. I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah, really cool. Well, thank you so much. And I know you mentioned it, but where do people find you if they want to talk to you or learn about what the work you're doing or work with you, even if somebody's like, wait, I actually need this type of therapist.
[00:28:43] Trisha: Absolutely, yes. I make content on Instagram and TikTok where I talk about all this stuff. And my name is just my name v Trisha Wolf
[00:28:50] Kym: Okay. Theia Wolf.
[00:28:52] Trisha: and that's my Substack as well, Tricia wolf.substack.com. I teach classes every so often and sometimes CEUs for therapists, but most of my work I try to make free for people via SUBSTACK or social media, just because I think it's so important to get it out there.
[00:29:05] Kym: that's so cool. So what book are y'all reading right now in your book club?
[00:29:09] Trisha: We are reading unlocking the Emotional Brain, and I'm like, cannot speak highly enough about this book. It's about memory reconsolidation and it's memory. Reconsolidation is like what we're finding out is the mechanism for change in therapy. It has to do with how we can rewire old learnings, old survival strategies.
[00:29:28] this book Is incredibly dense, but it's incredibly cool because not only does it talk about coherence therapy, but it goes through all the well-known therapies, E-M-D-R-I-F-S, sensory motor, A EDP, that goes through a ton of therapies and talks about how that type of therapy is actually using memory reconsolidation.
[00:29:48] So you might be practicing IFS and you don't even know you're using memory reconsolidation. it is such a cool book. I mean, I've read it five times and I learned something new. Every single time I go through it and I'm writing my own book actually based on memory consolidation to teach individuals how to do this.
[00:30:04] This book is sort of targeted towards therapist, but I'm telling you, if you go learn about memory reconsolidation, your mind is going to be blown because it is the process where you activate an old learning. Just like an EMDR. You activate the learning, you work with it and give a new experience. And we know from research that that learning is totally rewired.
[00:30:25] Like in that moment, that can happen. That's the mechanism for change that this book goes into. And it is like, it's pretty life changing.
[00:30:32] Kym: Yeah, I mean, I remember when I got trained in EMDR, I was like this, this is like literally the piece that's been missing in this work I'm trying to do with all these, like lots of trauma clients, you know? And it's like I didn't have that until, and then when I finally got trained in it, like you're saying, like it's just like, oh my gosh.
[00:30:47] Yes. Once you consolidate that, you could just see the shifts and then they just shift over time. And it's just amazing to watch that and, and go through it myself. You know, you've gotta go through it yourself to get trained in it.
[00:30:57] Trisha: is so cool. And this book gives you all the science behind it. And I think it's so useful because you know, you might be trained in a modality like E-M-D-R-I-F-S, but you might not actually understand fully the mechanisms behind it. 'cause oftentimes the therapy, the therapy trainings are like, here's a little science, but here's how to practice it.
[00:31:13] But once you get the science behind it and you read about that, it is just like, and teaching it to clients too. When clients understand a little bit about how the mechanism works, a lot of times they're more open to it. They're less resistant to like. This is just another thing I'm gonna try that isn't gonna work, but when you're like, no, here's all the science behind it, and it's good science. It is super, super cool.
[00:31:33] Kym: Yeah. I'm so glad you talked about that today. So when, when can we look for your book?
[00:31:37] Trisha: Oh my gosh. So I'm about halfway through it, and so I'm hoping sometime In 2027. I'm so excited. It's something I've been working on for a long time to try to make this work more accessible and less clinical so that, you know, it doesn't feel so unapproachable.
[00:31:52] Kym: Yeah. I love it. Well, you do a great job of explaining it. It's super interesting when you, when you explain it, so I'm sure the book's gonna be great. Well, thank you so much for taking the time today and telling us about your awesome adventure too, how you're just going around Europe doing your thing.
[00:32:06] Trisha: Yes. Thank you for having me .