Developing Meaning

May 10 2024 1
Developing Meaning Podcast artwork

A podcast about healing trauma and finding meaning.


Have you ever wondered what your therapist has figured out about life's big questions?


Join psychiatrist Dr. Dirk Winter as he speaks with colleagues, therapists, and other healers about what they have learned from their clinical work about how to heal trauma and build more meaning and purpose into our lives.


Developing Meaning is NOT CLINICAL ADVICE and is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS.  It is intended to play with ideas that are emerging, fringe, and outside of the mainstream in order to discover the meaning of life.


Produced by Dirk Winter and Violet Chernoff

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#11: Deb Dana - on Polyvagal Therapy, Neuroscience of Connection, and How Meaning Emerges From Our Internal States

May 10 2024 76 mins  
Deb Dana is a master healer, teacher, author, and the creator of a unique polyvagal-informed approach to therapy that is based on The Polyvagal Theory of Dr. Stephen Porges.In this episode you will learn about the neuroscience of human connection, and how our autonomic nervous system is composed of three distinct internal states that determine how we feel and how we create meaning.

#10: EMDR and The Meaning Of Life In One Word with Dr. April Minjarez

Mar 17 2024 69 mins  
Dr. April Minjarez is the only therapist I know who is both experienced at healing infant trauma and an end of life doula. She is also an expert in multiple trauma healing modalities including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and an amazing mentor, teacher, and healer.In this episode you will hear how a terrifying experience with gangs in middle school inspired

#9: Dr. Richard Brockman - On Surviving His Mother's Suicide, Psychoanalysis, and Healing Trauma with Neuroscience, Storytelling and Love

Feb 10 2024 90 mins  
When Richard Brockman was seven years old his mother died by suicide. He went on to become an expert in trauma and suicide, and is now a Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia, Psychoanalyst, Playwright, Author and my mentor and friend. He recently published his memoir, Life After Death: Surviving Suicide, which tells his story of loss and healing from both a first person and a neuros

#8: 2023 Year End Review: How a Meaning Inventory Can Guide Us Into a Better New Year

Jan 20 2024 26 mins  
In this episode I discuss how a year end review can help us prioritize and plan for the year ahead. I review what I have learned from this podcast so far and look ahead toward upcoming episodes and topics in 2024.Produced by Dirk Winter and Violet ChernoffTheme Music by The Thrashing Skumz

#7: Bruce Hersey - How I Built the Syzygy Institute - Healing Trauma by Combining EMDR, IFS, and Coherence Therapy.

Dec 10 2023 88 mins  
"The more efficient a force is, the more silent and the more subtle it is. Love is the subtlest force in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi(quote lifted from Bruce's bio page)How can you know what type of therapy is most likely to be helpful when the number of psychotherapies is vast and growing ? One way is to learn from Bruce Hersey, who has 30 + years of clinical experience and a wide

#6: My First Ketamine Journey: Audio Diary of Ketamine Assisted Therapy Training Experience at Menla

Nov 21 2023 60 mins  
Join me as I share an audio diary of my first encounter with Ketamine, which is a legal psychedelic medication that can treat depression, trauma and more. Set in the serene Menla retreat center of the Catskill Mountains, this episode describes my participation in a week-long training program designed to teach mental health clinicians how to utilize the healing power of Ketamine. Du

#5: Dr. David Merrill - on Psychoanalysis, Writing, and the Value of Exploring Our Unconscious Mind with Honesty, Kindness and Courage.

Oct 09 2023 62 mins  
What would make a successful Columbia Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst fly across the country to write a story about a one-legged wrestling superstar? What does it mean to be Neurotic, and how can we recognize and change repetitive self-defeating patterns? In this episode we explore unconscious motivations with my friend, colleague and former supervisor, Dr. David Merrill. Dr. Merril

#4: Justin Townsend, CEO of MycoMeditations - Journey into Psychedelic Retreats, Healing Trauma, and Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life.

Sep 26 2023 111 mins  
Are you curious about psychedelic retreats? Join us for an insider’s perspective with Justin Townsend, CEO of MycoMeditations, the oldest and largest psilocybin mushroom therapeutic retreat center in Jamaica. We discuss the process of safety screening, and the potential of using psychedelics to overcome trauma, ease depression, and reconnect with our authentic selves. Justin shar

#3: Dr. Jean Marmoreo - on Medically Assisted Dying, Living Wakes, and Meaning at the End of Life.

Aug 11 2023 46 mins  
Dr. Jean Marmoreo has been a family physician for upwards of forty years. For most of those years, she practiced mid-life medicine while breaking marathon records and hiking all around the world. Her speciality shifted in 2016, when MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) was legalized and she became one of Canada’s first MAiD practitioners. Having worked in the end-of-life medical sp

#2: Annette Dubreuil Discusses Eugene Gendlin's Felt Sense as it Applies to Meaning, Creativity, and More.

Aug 10 2023 76 mins  
Many emerging therapies like EMDR, IFS, Somatic Experiencing, and Psychedelics target a client’s “Felt Sense” and “Embodied Knowing” rather than intellectual and cognitive insight. The term “Felt Sense” was coined by philosopher Eugene Gendlin, who developed a peer to peer therapy process called Focusing in the 1950s. Here we present a conversation with Focusing exper