Third Culture Therapy

This episode is with the musician, author & mental chiropractor & Palestine advocate, Daniel Mate. Daniel co-authored the renowned best-selling book, The Myth of Normal, with his father, Gabor Mate. The illustrious duo also run the workshop series, HELLO AGAIN: A Fresh Start For Parents and Their Adult Children and are co-writing a book by the same name. With an indefatigable mission to help heal others, how do the father and son duo retain a healthy and compassionate relationship with one another? When does professional familial collaboration get in the way of personal familial relations? Listen in and learn more about: 🔔 Where Daniel’s long-standing healing journey has taken him and where he wants to go next 🔔 How you can change a parent-adult child relationship by shifting perspective 🔔 What Daniel’s mental chiropractic is and why it is very different from therapy 🔔 Why therapy as a modern phenomenon and how it can sometimes be more comforting than effectual 🔔 How Ayahuasca in Peru helped with the emergence of a new style of healing. 🔔 How finding his own unique style allowed him to compliment, not compete, with his father 00:00 - Intro 01:27 - Who is Daniel Mate? 03:25 - Which identifying characteristic resonates most? 05:11 - Why did you study psychology and why the later shift to studying music? 11:00 - How a breakdown at university foreshadowed Daniel’s “tortured but well-faded struggle” to become himself 12:40 - How, if at all, did therapy help after your breakdown? 14:26 - What is the Landmark Forum self-development programme? 16:00 - The difference between insight and change 17:30 - What has your healing journey been like? 21:10 - The comfort of having parents who feel guilty and why it’s a kind of emotional ‘racket’ 21:38 - “Am I something other than Gabor Mate’s son?” How Daniel healed his familial wounds in the shadow of his father’s worldwide popularity as a ‘healer’ 24:00 - Wanting a dad, not a saviour. Did your father’s fame help or hinder your relationship with him? 25:45 - What is the Hello Again: a fresh start for parents and their adult children? 32:35 - How does the workshop work? How does it compare to therapy? 35:20 - Flipping the script. How ‘radically transforming your view of the relationship’ is the key to peace, understanding and meaningful change. 36:20 - How did you develop the Hello Again workshop and your unique “mental chiropractic” modality? 39:50 - What is “mental chiropractic” and is it a compliment or replacement to therapy? 45:00 - Ayahuasca, workshops, therapy and more. What therapy or healing modality has been the most transformational for you? What do you still consistently practise for good emotional and mental wellbeing? 47:30 - The Myth of Normal and the mind-body connection. 50:00 - Why did you choose to publicly enter the Israel / Palestine debate after October 7th? 56:30 - What are the psychological implications of being uncritically attached to a problematic ideology? 01:01:00 - What has been the feedback to you becoming a satirical and analytical commentator on social media? How have you dealt with the massive following you’ve accrued as a result? 01:03:40 - How much of what is happening in Israel / Palestine can be viewed through the lens of unhealed trauma? How can the emotional psychosis vortex be stopped? 01:04:30 - What is the criticism from some people in the Palestinian activist scene around “normalisation”? What can / should pro-Palestinians do about that? 01:08:00 - Is it important to do personal healing work before engaging in collective healing? Host Instagram: @laylamaghribi ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/LaylaMaghribi⁠⁠⁠⁠ www.laylamaghribi.com Guest Instagram: @danielbmate https://www.danielmate.com https://www.walkwithdaniel.com https://www.helloagainproject.com Did you enjoy this episode? Then please give it a like / follow / share / review. All of it helps keep this podcast going,

Hadar Cohen is an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic and artist whose work focuses on multi-religious spirituality, politics, social issues, and community building. She is the founder of malchut, a spiritual skill-building school teaching Jewish mysticism and direct experience of god. she teaches and consults in a variety of settings and formats, from one-on-one coaching to online group classes and in-person retreats. Her podcast, hadar’s web, features community conversations on spirituality, healing, justice, and art. Hadar is a 10th-generation Jerusalemite with lineage roots also in Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq and Iran. Listen in to hear Hadar speak about: Growing up in the tragically divided city of Jerusalem What identifying as an Arab brings Hadar, and what it also takes away Why she loves Judaism but hates Zionism What Jewish pain is and why the harm inflicted by the Israeli state against Palestinian is a betrayal of it Why breaking the cycle of pain between Israelis and Palestinians requires first the recognition of the pain What spiritual maturity is and why it is needed in order to witness someone else’s pain while not abandoning your own Why not doing personal healing work can cause long-term societal harm Why we must learn to hold space for one another within the Arab community - whatever your religion How the embracing of Hadar's Arab-Jewish identity could be an example of an alternative vision for the future of Israeli/Palestine Podcast Host Instagram: @laylamaghribi ⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/LaylaMaghribi⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Guest Instagram: @⁠hadarcohen32 linktr.ee/hadarcohen Did you enjoy this episode? Then please give it a like / follow / share / review. All of it helps keep this podcast going. If you like listening to this podcast then please consider buying me a cup of coffee or two with a Patreon membership here. I love making this show but it is an entirely independent endeavour and the extra caffeine helps me keep going!

Hana is a British-Libyan multifaceted creative, grief counsellor and end-of-life carer. She runs monthly grief circles called Permission to Grieve and works with clients 1-to-1. Using a holistic approach, including vibrational sound medicine, Hana strives to create a safe space for people to address & heal their loss. Hana draws on her own personal healing journey and the many losses - her brother, her marriage, her identity, her country, to name a few - experienced in her life to help others. As a space-holder, her niche is overcoming trauma and processing grief through understanding the mind, body, spirit connection. Since the ongoing bombardment of Gaza began a few months ago, Hana has been holding grief circles for members of the Arab and Palestinian community in the UK but says there is no amount of training that can prepare for grieving and healing during a genocide. Tune in to this episode of Culture Therapy to hear about: What the elusive Libyan society is really like How reading history resolved Hana's identity crisis What death and divorce taught her about loss The cycles of grief & healthy ways to process them How she weaves Sufi practise into her work and self-care And much much more! Podcast Host Instagram: @laylamaghribi ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/LaylaMaghribi⁠⁠ Podcast Guest Instagram: @hana.elrais linktr.ee/Hana.Elrais Did you enjoy this episode? Then please give it a like / follow / share / review. All of it helps keep this podcast going. If you like listening to this podcast then please consider buying me a cup of coffee or two with a Patreon membership ⁠here⁠. I love making this show but it is an entirely independent endeavour and the extra caffeine helps me keep going!

Alya Mooro is the Egyptian born, London raised writer & best-selling author of The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes. Many of Alya’s Instagram followers will be familiar with her The Greater Conversation newsletter & community (& if you don’t, go sign up!) but did you know that Alya is also a TV producer with a number of exciting projects up her sleeve? Tune in to this TCT conversation & find out about Alya’s journey of self-development & what she puts her mental health toolbox today! Topics covered include: As well as being a brilliant writer & producer, Alya also hosted & produced a podcast series called The Talk of Shame in which she explores the meaning and impact shame has on our lives in an attempt to answer that all important question: how do we stop giving a f*ck and start living life for ourselves? Listen to the episode to hear more about: Instagram: @laylamaghribi ⁠https://linktr.ee/LaylaMaghribi⁠ Podcast Guest https://linktr.ee/alyamooro

Alya Mooro is the Egyptian born, London raised writer & best-selling author of The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes. Many of Alya’s Instagram followers will be familiar with her The Greater Conversation newsletter & community (& if you don’t, go sign up!) but did you know that Alya is also a TV producer with a number of exciting projects up her sleeve? Tune in to this Third Culture Therapy conversation & find out about Alya’s journey of self-development & what she puts her mental health toolbox today! Topics covered include: As well as being a brilliant writer & producer, Alya also hosted & produced a podcast series called The Talk of Shame in which she explores the meaning and impact shame has on our lives in an attempt to answer that all important question: how do we stop giving a f*ck and start living life for ourselves? Listen to the episode to hear more about: Podcast Host Instagram: @laylamaghribi ⁠https://linktr.ee/LaylaMaghribi⁠ Podcast Guest Instagram: @alyamooro https://linktr.ee/alyamooro Did you enjoy this episode? Then please give it a like / follow / share / review. All of it helps keep this podcast going. If you like listening to this podcast then please consider buying me a cup of coffee or two with a Patreon membership ⁠here⁠. I love making this show but it is an entirely independent endeavour and the extra caffeine helps me keep going!

This week’s conversation is with Palestinian-Polish @thehumanitariantherapist, Tasha Matar. Tasha is therapist living in Canada who specializes in generational wounds, including struggles with belonging, diasporic grief and complex trauma. Raised in Canada to a Polish mother and a Palestinian father, Tasha understands the third culture life and its challenges well! She draws on her own cultural awareness and a decolonial perspective to connect with her clients - many of whom are Palestinians - using an eclectic approach that includes Sensorimotor, DBT, Internal Family Systems and Art Psychotherapy. Tasha’s experience as an intersectional therapist has been invaluable in the wake of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and she regularly post videos on her social media channel on a wide range of topics that I’ve find very compassionate and thought-provoking. How to be self-compassionate during a genocide? How to deal with survivors guilt? How to stop intellectualising trauma? How to sit in our grief? All difficult but critical questions to ask and to have some compassionate answers to. On this episode you'll hear Tasha speak about: Podcast Host Instagram: @LaylaMaghribi Podcast Guest Instagram: @the.humanitarian.therapist Did you enjoy this episode? Then please give it a like / follow / share / review. All of it helps keep this podcast going.

Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan is a British Egyptian paediatric neurologist and humanitarian activist who has been leading a global civil society movement for the protection of healthcare workers in Palestine amid the ongoing bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces. In this episode of Third Culture Therapy, Omar talks about the mental and emotional toll witnessing the horrors emerging out of Gaza has had on him and shares the advice an expert in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) gave him on how to healthily process what he has witnessed. He also shares his experience as an activist in the UK and the challenges of being outspoken in a country that is politically hostile towards Palestinians and their supporters. Shedding light on the reasons behind the high rates of mental health challenges, among them suicidal ideation, among medics, Omar shares his reasons for opening up about his own struggles in an attempt to de-stigmatise the topic. Who is Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan? An ardent and prolific advocate on Palestine, Omar’s experience in humanitarian activism dates back to 2011 when he began travelling to the West Bank and Gaza every year with medical delegations. Following the 7th October Hamas attacks and the ensuing bombardment of Gaza, Omar co-founded Gaza Medic Voices, which currently has over (>90,000 instagram followers), in an attempt to amplify the voices of Gazan healthcare workers and give them a platform to testify to what they are seeing inside Gaza. Omar went on to establish and lead a global civil society movement, Health Workers for Palestine, holding weekly vigils to remember the killed healthcare workers in Gaza across over 20 UK towns and cities and 15 global cities across 5 continents. He has been a prolific voice across UK media, appearing in dozens of radio and television news programmes where he sheds light on the horrific humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza and advocates for the protection of healthcare workers, patients and medical facilities under attack in the small territory. Follow Omar and his humanitarian work on Instagram: @dr.omar.am @gazamedicvoices @healthworkers4palestine

In this episode, I share some of my reflections on my recent trip to Damascus, the place my mother was born and raised in, the place I spent all my childhood summers, the place I have some of my most loving and joyful memories and the place that is at the heart of one of the worst wars of the past century. Here is where I answer some of the many questions I've been asked about how Damascus is today - the good, the bad, the ugly and the painful. You'll hear about:

Amir Bozorgzadeh is the cofounder and CEO at Virtuleap, a startup that combines neuroscience with virtual reality (VR) to help increase attention levels and address cognitive disorders, such as ADD/ADHD, addiction and phobias. Born and raised in Canada to Iranian parents, Amir worked in the UAE for over a decade and is now based in Spain. In this episode: Amir previously founded Gameguise, a mobile games studio based in Dubai, and Time Dirham, the first social impact startup to introduce time banking to the Middle East. He has been a contributing writer to tech blogs like VentureBeat and Tech Crunch on the topics of emerging tech, spatial computing, and startup ecosystems. Find out more about Amir: linkedin.com/in/amirboz https://virtuleap.com/

Dubai-born Reema Baniabbasi is a USA-trained counselling psychologist from the United Arab Emirates. On this episode, Reema shares how she felt a "raw disintegration" after returning to her city of Dubai following 10 years abroad to find it dramatically changed. The therapist reflects on the ongoing developments within the mental health space in her country and reveals what some of the common issues her clients come to her with and how a 'narrative' form of therapy can help people better understand themselves and reclaim their life story. Reema works at The Psychiatry & Therapy Centre in Dubai Healthcare City and is a consultant for Takalam⁠, the UAE based online counseling platform for mental well-being. After graduating from high school in Dubai, Reema left her birthplace for Massachusetts, USA, where she lived for a decade. She has a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology, both from Northeastern University in Boston, and holds a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As well as her regular therapy practice in Dubai, Reema is a columnist at Sail magazine where she shares her thoughts on mental health. recommendations to learn more Reema Banibbasi TakalamTypesRetelling The Stories Of Our LivesTED Talk: CultureAmp:can be found here Samuel Center for Social Connectedness

Hazara-Brit Roh Yakobi fled Afghanistan as a young man after being tortured by the Taliban and is now a UK-based activist and journalist and is currently standing to be selected as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Shrewsbury and Atcham. In this episode, Roh talks about running from danger, the struggle to find inner peace in safety and how his political activism gives him purpose and sanity. Roh is a member of the ethnic minority Hazara community in Afghanistan, who have long been subject to persecution in their homeland, particularly from the Taliban. Roh’s father was a prominent Hazara military commander in his village in Afghanistan’s central highlands and Roh grew up aware of the dangers and discrimination associated with being from the Hazara community. Aged 12, Roh was forced to flee his village after the Taliban captured and tortured him. From Pakistan to Iran and eventually to the UK, Roh’s early life was all about running from fear. When he finally arrived to safety in Britain, the trauma and pain he had run from also came with and he shares his struggles with depression and PTSD. He talks about how he had to dig deep into himself to find peace and how fighting for justice for Hazaras gives him purpose and he hopes his story can lift the stigma and shame around mental health within his community. Additional links and recommended reading www.rohyacobi.com https://kabulcast.buzzsprout.com

Host Layla Maghribi shares her thoughts on Karina's conversation about what it means to be Russian and reflects on her own assumptions and hang-ups about Russia. Layla also reflects on the emotional and mental burden of being associated with your country's politics and leaders, particularly when they aren't popular, and the effect that has.

Karina Carter is a Russian-Dutch-Brit who has called 9 countries home! She’s actually just about to make Indonesia her next stop so glad I caught her while I could. Karina grew up in 1990s post-Soviet Union Russia at a time of widespread crisis and misery. Her grandmother died by su!c!de, her father left the family with mountains of debt, Russian mafia were threatening her family and all around her were stories of trauma and bare survival. On this episode, Karina tells Third Culture Therapy podcast what a childhood in that environment taught her and how she had to unlearn some things when she moved to The Netherlands as a teenager. She also talks about how the war in Ukraine and the international enmity of Russia and Russians has torn relationships apart and made her question her own identity. Karina's recommended reading: Who lost Russia - Peter Conradi The Gates of Europe - Serhii Plokhy

Host Layla Maghribi shares her musings on the episode with a round-up what Bhanu shared about growing up between cultures and not completely fitting in either 'back home' or in one's adopted home. Layla also questions what societal 'norms' really are and where they come from with a look at how many of our contemporary beliefs or views, including about homosexuality, come from colonial laws or foreign oppression that don't always reflect honestly on local culture. Like Bhanu said, it is time to decolonise our minds...

Bhanu Bhatnagar is your textbook Third Culture Kid. Born in Sweden to Indian parents, Bhanu was raised between Stockholm and Delhi and has lived around the world. A former journalist for over a decade, Bhanu is now in charge of press and media relations for the World Health Organisation's regional office for Europe. In this episode, Bhanu talks about the challenges in finding belonging as a ‘brown kid in Sweden’ and then later as a ‘foreigner in India’. He also shares his struggles with not always feeling ‘Indian enough’ and how it was a white woman who introduced him to his culture’s practise of yoga. Bhanu says the ancient practise was a "lifesaver and therapist" that helped him through the trauma of coming out as a gay man to his parents and the feelings of guilt that came with it. Recommended reading / watch list https://www.aljazeera.com/program/al-jazeera-correspondent/2014/11/27/who-owns-yoga

Host Layla Maghribi recaps some of what Louisa said in her episode and shares her own personal journey with Ayahuasca and what she experienced and discovered along the way.

In part 1, Louisa spoke about her youth growing up in Iraq amid two wars, seeking asylum in The Netherlands as an adult and her later struggles with anxiety, PTSD and addiction. In part 2, Louisa talks about her healing journey with the ancient South American psychoactive brewed drink, Ayahuasca, and how it helped heal her mental and emotional health. She also shares details of the two-year training she did in Peru to become a shaman and what she has learned over the hundreds of ceremonies she has led. What is Ayahuasca? Ayahuasca is a South American psychoactive and entheogenic brewed drink traditionally used both socially and as a ceremonial or shamanic spiritual medicine among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin and is used as a form of traditional medicine and cultural psychiatry. More recently, the substance has become increasingly known in the Western world as people use it to heal from past traumas, or simply experience an Ayahuasca journey. Some research suggests that Ayahuasca may benefit those with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and addiction disorders though more research is needed. If you would like to learn more, please refer to the show notes in Part 1 for a recommended reading and watch list. IMPORTANT NOTICE TO READ: Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew made of two components - Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis. When combined, these two plants form a powerful psychedelic brew that affects the central nervous system, leading to an altered state of consciousness that can include hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and euphoria. It’s strongly recommended that Ayahuasca only be taken when supervised by an experienced shaman, as the brew can lead to an altered state of consciousness that lasts for many hours and those who take it need to be looked after carefully. Taking Ayahuasca can result in serious side effects, as it can interact with many medications and may worsen some medical conditions. Those with medical conditions should not seek symptom relief by participating in an Ayahuasca ceremony. If you’re interested in participating in an Ayahuasca experience, be sure to do your research thoroughly and speak to experienced shamans. Louisa has a list of important questions to ask before you consider joining a ceremony.

Louisa is an Iraqi Ayahuasca shaman and healer who trained in the Amazon jungle of Peru. After fleeing Baghdad during the first gulf war, Louisa sought asylum in The Netherlands. Louisa’s traumatic experiences of war and an eight-year asylum process in Europe impacted her mental and emotional health for many years, and she suffered from paranoia, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She later became addicted to cannabis, which she had first started using to self-soothe but later found that the drug was only masking her underlying and unresolved pain. Louisa spent many years trying to find a way out of addiction and to better mental health through various treatments, but it was the ancient South American plant medicine, Ayahuasca, that she says finally brought her the peace and healing she was looking for. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive and entheogenic brewed drink traditionally used both socially and as a ceremonial or shamanic spiritual medicine among the indigenous peoples. More recently, the substance has become increasingly known in the Western world as people use it to heal from past traumas, or to experience an Ayahuasca journey. After experiencing the benefits of Ayahuasca, Louisa went through an intense two-year training process in Peru to become a shaman herself and has been leading ceremonies for several years. Please read the important notice below. Louisa's recommendations To read To watch IMPORTANT NOTICE TO READ: Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew made of two components - Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis. When combined, these two plants form a powerful psychedelic brew that affects the central nervous system, leading to an altered state of consciousness that can include hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and euphoria. It’s strongly recommended that Ayahuasca only be taken when supervised by an experienced shaman, as the brew can lead to an altered state of consciousness that lasts for many hours and those who take it need to be looked after carefully. Taking Ayahuasca can result in serious side effects, as it can interact with many medications and may worsen some medical conditions. Those with medical conditions should not seek symptom relief by participating in an Ayahuasca ceremony. If you’re interested in participating in an Ayahuasca experience, be sure to do your research thoroughly and speak to experienced shamans. Louisa has a list of important questions to ask before you consider joining a ceremony.

Host Layla Maghribi reflects on Jihad's episode and shares her own story of grief after losing her father to cancer in her 20s and why it took her a long time to properly heal from it.

Jihad is a British-Lebanese multimedia producer who was raised between Sierra Leone and the UK. In this episode, he talks about the intense grief and depression he experienced after his mother’s death from cancer, and how therapy helped him overcome the symptoms of PTSD that followed. He also speaks about surviving Lebanon's many compounding tragedies and how living among a distressed population helped him deal with his own grief in what he calls 'a kind of national group therapy'. Finally, Jihad reveals how living as an openly gay man in a culturally conservative country is his form of activism, and that therapy has made him realise how the wounds of childhood bullying targeting his sexuality still bare their marks on him as an adult. Jihad’s recommendations for balancing mental health: - daily physical movement; - regular interaction with nature; - cross-species interaction (Jihad adopted a dog in Lebanon); and - any form of creative expression (talent not required). Podcast Host Instagram: @laylamaghribi ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/LaylaMaghribi⁠⁠⁠