Ep 134: Touching Two Worlds with Dr. Sherry Walling
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Ep 134: Touching Two Worlds with Dr. Sherry Walling
Episode 134: Show Notes
Joining us today is Clinical Psychologist and the Author of Touching Two Worlds, Dr. Sherry Walling. Dr. Sherry has been treating patients for trauma, stress, and grief for over 20 years, and in 2017, the loss of her father and brother gave her a front-row seat to the type of devastation she’d been helping others navigate.
She combined what she’d learned when studying both theology and psychology with her own personal experience, to develop a memoir that is as heart-wrenching and personal as it is informative and cathartic. We talk about understanding depression as a disease, how to be present in both grief and joy, why healing requires truth-telling, and how to speak to your kids about grief and loss.
Dr. Sherry then explains why we need to change the societal narrative around suicide, the best practices when you are experiencing grief, how to speak to someone when they are grieving, and how the circus can be way more than just comical relief!
Please note that this episode carries a trigger warning for loss, depression, and suicide.
Key Points From This Episode:
Introducing today’s guest, Clinical Psychologist and so much more, Dr. Sherry Walling.
Dr. Sherry’s childhood of growing up on the pastures with her younger brothers.
What it was like for her growing up a minister’s child and how she became disciplined.
How her family dealt with her father’s depression and whether they understood the disease.
Her understanding of success and how it’s changed with age.
Why she decided to get her Master’s Degree in Theology.
What inspired her to pivot toward psychology.
How her understanding of God has evolved from when she was a child to now.
The story of the grieving hero, Anna-Maria from El Salvador.
Holding grief and joy together, being present in both at the same time.
The after-effects of genocide on the mental health of survivors.
How healing requires truth-telling.
Why Dr. Sherry chose to focus on the psychology of trauma.
Who she looked up to as role models in trauma psychology.
Why she’s never practiced clinical psychology by herself; there’s always a team.
Her informal approach to discussing trauma and how her journey with trauma began.
TW: For those wishing to avoid Dr. Sherry’s recollection of her dad’s cancer diagnosis, please skip the audio between [00:38:04] and [00:39:18].
How she processed her dad’s cancer diagnosis when he announced it.
The way she managed being available to other people in her life while also helping her dad.
When the grieving process starts, according to Dr. Sherry.
What inspired her to write Touching Two Worlds and for whom she wrote the book.
How she was able to merge her very personal book with her professional life.
Explaining loss and grief to kids and how Dr. Sherry navigated the topic with hers.
TW: For those wishing to avoid Dr. Sherry’s recollection of her dad’s death and brother’s suicide, please skip the audio between [00:54:47] and [00:57:07].
Dr. Sherry opens up about her dad’s death and brother’s suicide.
The tenets of grieving well, how you can help a loved one in grief, and the power of asking.
How society shames conversations about suicide and what can be done to rectify it.
The way she hopes that readers of her book will practically engage with its contents.
Her process of writing Touching Two Worlds.
What others appreciate about Dr. Sherry’s unique approach to grief.
How she found relief in joining the circus.
Tweetables:
“My work within psychology was focused on trauma. My theological training helped when people are going through life-altering experiences and asking big questions about, ‘Where is God?’” — @sherrywalling [0:17:19]
“My journey with God or with the spiritual or with the divine has been to transition from a place of knowing to a place of not knowing, and to that being a much more comfortable and true framework for me.” — @sherrywalling [0:18:22]
“To hold the two together, that's really the theme of my book, to hold grief and to hold joy in one lifetime, in one heart, in one moment. And to be present to both at the same time, I think, is deep and important work in the course of human life.” — @sherrywalling [0:23:25]
“Getting ideas out there has always felt like an important part of success for me. This idea of transmitting knowledge and the exchange of, “How do you think about this? How do we make sense of this?” It feels really important and has been a marker of success for me.” — @sherrywalling [0:34:09]
“My experience with grief has been an invitation for me to lean fully into who I am, in ways that I wasn't really allowed to earlier in life. I've discovered that who I am is to be quite informal, quite accessible, quite creative, pretty playful, and I really like being that way.” — @sherrywalling [0:36:06]
“Grief for children needs language, it needs explanation, it needs permission, and it needs adults to normalize that it is absolutely healthy and appropriate and beautiful to cry over someone that you love that is no longer with you. An emotional reaction to loss is part of love.” — @sherrywalling [0:54:07]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Dr. Sherry Walling on LinkedIn
Dr. Sherry Walling on Instagram