Integrating Eastern Philosophy and Western Psychology in Program Development for Lifelong Wellness

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Join us for an insightful and empowering episode with doctor Malasri Chaudhary Malgari, affectionately known as Doctor Mala as she shares her journey blending western psychology and eastern philosophy, discover how her integrated treatment programs are transforming mental health outcomes, especially for diverse and underserved populations. From family dynamics and addiction recovery to debunking mental health myths, Doctor Mala provides practical strategies for daily life and sheds light on the power of motivational speaking in advocacy. Don't miss this enlightening conversation on supporting individuals in treatment and the future of integrative therapy with Doctor Mala.

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Welcome to grandparents raising grandchildren nurturing through adversity in.

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This podcast, we will delve deep into. The challenges and triumphs of grandparents raising grandchildren as we navigate the complexities of legal, financial, and emotional support. I invite you to join us on a journey of exploring thoughts, feelings, and beliefs surrounding this growing segment of our society. Drawing from real stories and expert advice, we will explore the nuances of childrearing. For children who have experienced trauma and offer valuable resources to guide you through. The intricate journey of kinship care.

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We'll discuss how we can change the course of history by rewriting our grandchildren's future, all within a supportive community that understands the unique joys and and struggles. This podcast was made especially for you.

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Welcome to a community where your voice is heard, your experiences are valued, and. Your journey is honored.

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As an advocate for integrated treatment programs that enhance mental health and wellness outcomes, I have witnessed the transformative power of holistic healing approaches. At the age of 18, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which sparked my journey in seeking healing from an integrated perspective.

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Encouraged by my neurologist to explore all available research on the subject, I became a believer in the power of combining various approaches for healing. Today, I'm so excited to engage in. A conversation with Doctor Mala who sheds light on new paths to healing and growth for diverse populations. Join us as we explore the integration of western psychology and eastern philosophy, delve into the importance of culturally competent care, and share practical strategies for supporting mental health in our communities. Doctor Malae, why don't you share with us how you came to work with such a diverse population and why you wanted to integrate both western psychology with eastern psychology?

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Sure, yeah. I mean, how long have you got? I think originally, you know, I actually, I was very interested in the field of medicine. I was pretty hell bent set over becoming a doctor and from a very young age, so I was on track.

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I had all of the right jobs, I did all the right things. I got into an accelerated program for my undergrad, that would just shoot me right into med school. It was a great setup.

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And, you know, getting into the program, first run through the hospital, I found myself talking to the patients and then getting in trouble for that. So I literally was the student who was being told, you need to be in and out of there in two to five minutes. You can't sit and linger, you know, for ten or longer.

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And it just. It really hit me. It hit me very hard. And in my mind and spirit and soul, I was like, how are you going to help heal somebody if you're not listening to them, their story and understanding who they are? And of course, that was at a time when, you know, taking time with patients was not something that was done. Arguably, it's still not done, depending on which branch of medicine you're practicing. But certainly integrative and functional medicine wasn't a thing at that point, not with any promise. So I didn't even know that would have been a possibility. But I had a calling. You know, basically those experiences led me to understand that I needed to sit and connect and understand people and help them with their journey.

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But how I was going to do that was a question mark.

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So I felt a little bit lost for a minute. And then I happened upon a biopsychology and cognitive sciences class, and I thought I hit the jackpot.

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I mean, I was literally leaving the first day of that class on such a beautiful high. I was like, this is it. I found it. You know, this is a combination of understanding how somebody functions biologically, cognitively, and even a little bit of spirituality was thrown in that class, and I was in heaven. So that's what started me off in realizing that psychology was my true calling and finished that undergrad degree and then went into marriage and family psychology, where the focus was, of course, marriages and families and children, and found my passion there for helping individuals who needed rehabilitation. I actually landed on the traumatic brain injury population in Michigan and found my first position out of my masters in that industry and was absolutely blown away by the amount of impact one could have.

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But also how unspoken it was of a situation, of a diagnosis even. And this was a population of people that needed help, and I was helping kids and families. But another kind of branch of TBI, of course, is the military. And that was kind of like an underlying thing that I noticed and wanted to explore more of. And I ended up doing my doctorate. And then right out of that, I was offered a position with the military. And that's what took me to do the work with the military population, where I focused on pain management as well as traumatic brain injury, anybody who really had any rehabilitation to go through and focused on working with that population for a while and then basically shifted over. So another kind of area of specialty of mine is education as well, and working with individuals within the educational system of all ages and making sure that services and treatment are offered to them so that along the developmental path, we can resolve what needs to be resolved and what have you. So I was really able to pull together all of my interests, and one thing kind of ended up leading to another with each position.

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Learning is a continuous journey, right? You know, you never reach a destination. There's always more. And the minute I find something, you know, that I'm very interested in or that I want to focus in more on, that's what's always kept me going.

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And that's also why I've been able to specialize in so many different things and focus on utilizing the tools that I gain, of course, with the populations that I've worked with. So I've always kind of had 1ft in the door for doing that actual therapeutic work and also educating through those two. I really found that I love program development as well, and a very quick mission was developed when I discovered that, and that was the quick discovery, and that was that I really wanted to hit the masses. I wanted to have a really broad reach to diverse populations to many, many people, as many people as I could, because I just want to help everyone. Right. So how do you do that?

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You do that with education, you do that with program development, you do that with administration. And I really have been enjoying this new portion of my career where I've been able to focus on that. So you mentioned recovery.com. dot recovery.com is a really amazing platform that helps individuals connect to treatment, no matter their recovery journey or where they are on their recovery journey. And I have the privilege of being editor in chief there, where we are developing and distributing content that will help individuals understand where they're at on their journey, how they can connect to treatment, what that looks like and so much more so really is an amazing platform. I'm not just saying that because I work with them, I really mean that. But it, it is a great tool and also service.

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Our motto over there is like, if we could just save one life, you know, that's, that's what matters. So we're on a mission to help everyone connect to save lives.

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Yeah, what a great mission.

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Can you explain how your combination of eastern and western philosophy has benefited your clients and improved their therapeutic outcomes? Yeah, absolutely. So, really? I mean, I had the eastern philosophy part growing up. You know, it was just part of my background in my culture.

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I'm asian indian, and I was always brought up in art. I was brought up in an artistic home, but one that really focused on listening to your mind and body. So I learned very early on that that was an important part of just life and living. So it almost felt unnatural to me to not integrate that in and have that be kind of my art in the field, my artistic part in the field. So being able to integrate western psychology with eastern philosophy provides holistic approaches to therapy that addresses the mind, body and spirit. And that fusion allows for a broader range of tools and techniques that can be tailored, customized to each person that you end up working with. So, for example, western psychology offers structured methods, evidence based practices. And eastern philosophy brings in things like mindfulness and meditation, focusing on balance and connectivity.

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And again, like I said, I mean, the fusion of the two, the integration of both really helps with exploring one sense of self awareness, gives you additional tools and techniques to manage mental health and really focus on not only traditions that can help with enhancing life, but also cognitive approaches and techniques to integrate into your life. So they kind of work in synchronicity to one another as well. And I found nothing but benefit with that. We've got studies also that show that there's such great impact that can be had if you integrate in such a way. So, yeah, that's basically how I started, and I started doing that early on in my career. Again, when that wasn't really done, it was at a time when that eastern philosophy wasn't really understood or known very well. And now I'm so excited that it is part of our lexicon in the rehabilitative arena, in the recovery arena.

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That's great. Now, I know you enjoy working with rural and underserved communities. How can rural and underserved communities better access and benefit from mental health and wellness related treatment services? Yeah, I mean, there's so much I want for them.

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Basically. There are things that I hope for, and I think I'll lead with that.

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You know, I think telehealth expansion is a big deal, thankfully, and this is the bonus with COVID is that it opened up the virtual world so much.

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Now, interestingly enough, I was in the virtual world well before COVID actually hit, and I was excited that it became kind of like the standard for accessibility, because it just opens up so much telehealth expansion and doing it, well, is really important so that we can leverage technology to deliver mental health services and even education for those remote areas.

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Community based programs are, I think, very essential. Really.

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Fortifying community based programs and developing initiatives becomes really important as well. You can integrate them into places like schools for early education and intervention, community centers, churches, any place of sanctuary.

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Just basically trying to make things more accessible and less stigmatized, I think, is very key.

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Training local providers and even individuals who could be just a support, like more along the lines of peer support or coaching, is always a great way to do this because, again, it helps with that destigmatization, but it empowers individuals within the community to feel like they can help with, you know, not only enhance their own skills, but help with the community that they're involved in. I always say that partnerships are a big deal. So the more you make and build relationships, whether it's between organizations or people, that's just going to help with spreading the word and the mission of whatever it is that you're trying to, you know, emphasize. So building on partnerships, I think, is really important. And I mentioned this already, but outreach and education, so important. So how many different ways can we integrate outreach and education, not only within the community, but globally? You know, I think is important. And then locally, you know, policy advocacy, I think it's important for us to stand up and advocate for policies that support funding and development of mental health services across the lifespan. You know, each developmental phase has its hurdles, but, you know, I think, for example, I've done a lot of work with emerging adults and emerging adult population, and that's the individuals between 18 and 25. And we've seen a lot of change happen in that age range with not only expectations, but how they kind of shoulder, like, the burden of those expectations during those times.

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And that can lead to a lot of risk taking behavior, which then can be the foundation to things that are more long lasting problems like substance use disorder and so on and so forth. So being able to educate, you know, and then have resources available, but also have policies that help support these different age ranges, I think is really important and imperative as well. Being someone that comes from a rural community, I know that here in Montana we struggle with those issues. And you speak about partnering. How can you suggest that people that live in rural communities begin partnering with, and what organizations would you suggest that they look to reach out to in their community? Yeah, I mean, off the top of my head, I would say, like, Nami is a good one, the national alliance of Mental Health, they're great. And I know that they have local, like, headquarters or departments that go across the country, but anything like that, you know, I would say again, because we're living in a world where virtual connection is a possibility that opens up our ability to partner with different organizations. So even if it's, for example, like, you know, the Cancer association of America, you know, you can be the person who leads an effort to bring whatever or services or tools to your local area and kind of start to formulate a hub, so to speak, if you want to, and even starting something on your own individually and then saying, okay, well, I'm going to reach out to anybody and everybody that I possibly can and understand where those resources are and then start to build that for your community. I think that's a great thing. And people will start recognizing that. Other associations will start seeing that and then show interest in you. So one of the other places that I do volunteer work for is it's a military life, and that's a really interesting and beautiful nonprofit. The whole purpose and mission of it's a military life is to provide support and services for dependents, children, and also active duty and veteran members with resources to just help them with wherever they're at, you know, whether it's deployment or transitioning or transitioning out of the military, which is often difficult and stressful. So again, that's a completely virtual, the base is Florida, but it's virtual in that, you know, you can set up and connect with it's a military life to gain resources and understand how to start building that within your own community and take, you know, like our initiatives that we do into your local area.

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So there's a lot of different ways of integrating things in even@recovery.com we have a lot of resources that are just available online. So listing that as a resource or, you know, referencing that as a resource is always a good way also to kind of enhance whatever it is that you're doing so, so many different ways, you know, and again, like I said, I'm thankful to this virtual world that we're living in because it's opened up so much accessibility to things like this.

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And, you know, certainly building partnerships and. The virtual world is not one that many grandparents are familiar with. So I enjoy sharing this information with them on this podcast. I appreciate you reminding us that that world is out there for us and how we can go about connecting into it. Let's talk about family dynamics.

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We have complicated family dynamics as grandparents raising grandchildren. We have children that are in some complicated situation times, situations oftentimes and when we become the caretaker for their children, there are oftentimes other grandparents involved. There are stepparents and Stephen, sisters and brothers involved. What role do you think family dynamics play in the process of addiction recovery, specifically, and how can families support their loved ones through this journey that they're going through? Oh, such a great question.

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The long and the short of it is that family dynamics play a very crucial role in the process of any type of recovery, let alone addiction recovery.

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And I think the question that we end up landing on is how families can impact and support that recovery journey. Right. So I think, number one is trying to align and kind of get the ducks in a row for creating a support system. What that looks like for each family is going to vary how people are going to want to get involved, to what degree is going to vary. But I think it's important to identify, you know, all the people who are interested in being present and really create a nice, solid support system that helps with participating in the process.

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It's, you know, being there, but also understanding.

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Like, to what degree do they want to participate in the recovery process? Which, when they do, when family support systems do participate, it really helps with boosting the individual who's on that recovery journey with their morale, with staying committed to goals. And ultimately, you know, their programming becomes more efficacious as a result of that support. The second thing that I would say is really important with family dynamics is communication. Excuse me, open and honest communication is absolutely imperative, and it helps with building not only rapport, but trust.

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And I think sometimes it's really important to practice non violent, non judgmental dialogue. Sometimes we take it for granted.

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There's slang that will come out of our mouths or jokes that will be made that aren't really sensitive to an individual's recovery journey, no matter what that journey is. Again, not just with addictions.

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So I think it's important to kind of understand and explore what nonviolent communication and non judgmental dialogue looks like and also how you would, you know, kind of classify that or identify that in your own family. And even creating, like, a cue system.

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Wherever, if you're trying to adapt to a new lexicon, you can safely cue each other and remind each other. Like, let's try to rephrase that to this and know that if that type of correction occurs, it's not meant to be punitive or derogatory in any way. We're just literally here to help each other out with making our communication style better. So communication would be really big education, and awareness. Again, I go back to that educational piece. I think a family system, a support system that learns together, is going to bond, you know, better and also is going to. That whole educational component will help with reinforcing a sense of awareness that is not only accepted and understood, but it's lived by on a daily basis. Right. So education serves not only to inform us, but also to help us enhance our day to day practices and what we do not only for ourselves, but also together.

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Go ahead. Go ahead and ask you, do you have information about that in particular on recovery.com, something that we could refer to? We've got tons of articles on recovery.com. there's literally, we call it the resource hub. And that library has just a plethora of information that you can look at and research and reference. So. Yeah, absolutely.

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And we're developing more as we speak. So. Yeah, wonderful. Yeah, yeah. Boundary setting, I think, is something that often gets forgotten.

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You know, we need to be able to, within a family system, have healthy boundaries because that's also essential for recovery. So if you, as a family unit, set clear boundaries that will help prevent behaviors that can enable, you know, or codependency, while also supporting autonomy and accountability for the recovering individual, that's golden. And that's going to take a little bit of work. And it can also be supported by anyone who's providing therapeutic services, counseling services, or peer support services. But it's really important to say and have those discussions like, okay, these are her boundaries. We know we need to respect them. And if anything starts to become unbalanced, you know, that you do the check ins to be able to recognize that. And again, know that those, you know, those moments where you're correcting or you're saying, hey, you know, like, I've been noticing this. It's not punitive. It's meant to help everybody in the picture. So I mentioned therapeutic involvement. Of course, I would be remiss not to recommend that. I think families can engage in therapy not only individually, each individual of the family, but also together collectively for family therapy. And that can happen a multitude of ways. It can happen through support groups, it can happen through actual therapy. It can be also through the individual who's going through their own therapeutic experience, inviting the family members to their sessions when they feel ready and if they feel ready. So there's a lot of different avenues there to integrate therapeutic elements into the family unit. Yeah.

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I'm assuming that you would promote online therapy. Oh, yeah. As well as another resource and such an easy way nowadays for us to connect with the right therapist for each of our families. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, there's a lot more that's happening also through not just therapy, which is great virtual therapy, but also online coaching and support is also a more accessible way oftentimes, too. I'm not dissing therapy by any means, but, you know, there is something to be said about coaching that helps with not only that accessibility feature, but also feeling comfortable.

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Right. And also financially also can be very beneficial. So there's, again, whether it's therapy, coaching, counseling, you know, any type of support like that, virtually. Yeah, definitely a great way to go about it. Well, I know in our area we have a lack of therapists that accept Medicare, and many of us grandparents are on Medicare. So I would think perhaps there might be a broader selection for us to choose from online, and maybe that's more of a convenience for us as well because we're challenged with time and energy and finances. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And now many providers also have stepped out of the insurance based models and even being part of that, or will offer, in addition to accepting insurances, will offer out of pocket services.

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So they're not going to bill your insurance or Medicare, and they'll give you a sliding scale to make those services accessible.

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That's good to know. Good to know. Let's talk about.

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I know you promote working with diverse populations or you enjoy working with diverse populations. I can say this for a fact that we as grandparents raising grandchildren, are working with.

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We're working with diverse populations or diverse family members in our own families.

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So I think that, that I would love to hear what your opinion is on the importance of cultural, culturally competent care in diverse populations, including native populations and then the LGBTQ community. Sure. Yeah.

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Basically, when it comes down to it, culturally competent care is essential for treating diverse populations. And what that does is it really enhances the treatment process, you know, the feeling of being able to provide and receive support, that establishment of rapporte. And there are some pretty important factors that go into that culturally competent care.

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So the first thing is acknowledging cultural values and beliefs. It's imperative so different communities have different unique practices and beliefs and values, and we're not going to know about everything, you know, like, so again, that's where that education comes in. Understand it, teach it, you know, learn, teach yourself. Try to immerse yourself in, you know, the things that you're not aware of within the different communities so that you can understand the factors that integrate into their lives, the individual's lives, but also how you can integrate them into your family life and your relationship with that individual. And that also will help with, again, understanding that lexicon, the language that is really important to know for each of these communities as well. So acknowledging cultural values and beliefs is definitely a number one, which then helps and leads to building trust. When you demonstrate that cultural competence, it's going to reinforce rapport and trust, and it's going to just help enhance your relationship in so many different ways.

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It's going to help your communication as well.

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The other thing that culturally competent care aims to address is reducing health disparities, right? So when we're talking about minority populations or diverse populations, oftentimes, you know, there's health disparities that affect marginalized communities.

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So the culturally competent care would aim to address and reduce those disparities and tailor, it ends up helping the providers tailor services to those specific groups, but also help with understanding within the community how you can enhance access to care, how you can reinforce an adherence to treatment, whether it's within the family unit or as a community at large, and then in so doing, help with improving those health outcomes. So, yeah, again, another thing I would say is, you know, we get back to policies and practices, right? Where if you're in one of those marginalized communities or remote communities, then, or you're in a diverse population in a rural setting, you know, you've got to look at policies and practices again and advocate. So that also that advocacy will help with, excuse me, will help with increasing that access to care and making, you know, making everybody know. Not making, but allowing everybody the know, affording everybody to know what these different practices are, what the different cultures are and destigmatize. Right.

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What we don't know. Right. I think there's a stigma that ends up developing along the lines of a lot of different things, whether it's a diagnosis, whether it's a population, there's stigmas. We're living amongst them. They're living around us. They're all over. The more we educate, the more we advocate, the more we talk about, the more we're reducing, giving ourselves a chance to reduce the stigma that is living and breathing amongst us. So that's, that's really important.

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There are a lot of myths out there, a lot of myths about mental health and addiction. I'm sure you've encountered it in your practice. How do you address them? Yeah.

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Especially with, like, with everything, with mental health, with addiction.

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Like you said, there's so many myths. The reality is that there are, these are, and there are complex diseases that affect us biologically, psychologically, socially. And it's not a choice or a moral failing.

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Right. You have to learn about how your mind body spirit works and how it changes in order to be able to help with understanding. Like, this is a medical condition. It's similar to, especially with addiction. It's a medical condition. It's similar to diabetes or hypertension. When you have diabetes or hypertension, you're going to go to your doctor to get the medication for it, to get the treatment, to figure out what your lifestyle changes need to be. And arguably, there are stigmas that go along with every diagnosis. Right?

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But somehow those are a little bit more or seemingly more accepted. Right? But when you're looking at something like addiction, well, why or mental health, why wouldn't you go and, you know, see the doctor to get the treatment to work out and do the same things? And why would that be stigmatized? How is it any different? Right? So we talk about, I like to talk about, too, and there are other professionals in the field, like doctor Daniel Ehmande, who talk about and reemphasize the idea that we're looking at brain health, right?

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Brain health is really important. That's going to help with all of these things that we're talking about. It's not mental health. Right. The brain is your organ that's basically having all these things happen to it. So let's make sure our brains are healthy, right?

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So, yeah, so a myth oftentimes is, you know, a mental health issue or addiction is a choice or a moral failing in some way. And the reality is it's not. It is a complex disease that has biological, psychological and social underpinnings to it that we need to look at and address and educate ourselves about in order to be able to figure out that treatment planning that works for you.

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Another one that we often bump into, especially within different cultures, or maybe not even, you know, like, mental health issues are a sign of weakness, right? Or seeking help. Not even mental health, just seeking help alone is a sign of weakness.

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The reality is, no, I can't stress enough that mental health issues are not indicative of personal weakness or a lack of willpower.

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There are so many medical conditions that arise from a combination of genetic and environmental and psychological factors. It's all connected. And when you take that first step to get help and manage those conditions, whatever they are, that helps with reframing your perceptions and with debunking those myths and with understanding that you're not alone. Number one, that's the other thing.

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And number two, that there is a treatment plan for everybody, even if it's just, I mean, I can't hate, you know. Of course it's sad, end of life, you know, like, let's say you're hit with that horrible stage, you know, of cancer and there's no other opportunities for you. Well, guess what? Your treatment plan is making sure that you're comfortable and that you're hitting your goals before things are done, you know? So whatever, wherever you're at again on that journey, you know, we want to reframe those perceptions and understand that there is hope for each of those steps in the journey and that they are accessible. Yeah, I think that many grandparents cope with the fact that we've been raised. With many of those myths ourselves. And in many ways, for me, it's been a blessing to be raising a grandchild because it's opened my mind to many more possibilities and realize that really anything that you set your mind to, you can accomplish. So, yeah, I totally agree with you that we have to look at these issues with an open mind and that helps us in communicating with our grandchildren and raising them to be healthier themselves. For sure. For sure. Yeah.

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What practical strategies can our listeners apply to their daily lives to support their own mental health, particularly those that are raising grandchildren?

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Routine anybody who knows me knows that I'm going to always go back to first. 1st thing is looking at routines so it doesn't have to be, I would say, rigid according to what I set forth, you know, or what your treatment provider sets forth, as a matter of fact. Like what I like to encourage is really looking at what your day to day looks like and where your natural ebb and you know, what your natural ebb and flows are for the day. And once you are able to do that, then set realistic routines that will help with, excuse me, bookmarking your day. So I really love supporting proper sleep hygiene as routines. And when I say sleep hygiene, I mean am and PM routines that again serve as those bookends. But then also how you go about things like school education, if they're in the school system, you know, what does it look like afterwards? You know, what does that coming home from school time period look like? You know, what does meal time look like? What does talk time look like? That's another thing that I like to talk about too, is having healthy talk time periods where kids and even couples have the opportunity to have individual one on one time with you or family time where we talk about our emotions and feelings in the day and explore solutions to what might be perceived as hurdles and manage stress and not even just the bad stuff, right? Talk about the wins and celebrate the wins, right?

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So routines definitely need to establish routines. Prioritizing self care is another one that I'm really a big supporter of.

00:40:22.275 --> 00:42:21.269
And I like to reinforce because the biggest thing there is that a lot of people feel when I engage in self care, that's me being selfish again, that's another myth. Right? And especially for grandparents. My goodness, like you have to, you have to have everybody along the age, you know, developmental span needs to engage in some kind of self care. But grandparents, I can't emphasize this enough because you mentioned it too. You know, you might have this disruption with what you perceived was going to happen, you know, with your retirement plans and what have you. And if that gets disrupted, no matter the degree to which it gets disrupted, even taking a five minutes a day for yourself to do the meditation, to just sit and breathe, to walk out to your front porch and soak in, you know, some natural light, that's where it starts. But you have to prioritize. It has to be a choice. So self care is definitely one that I like to reinforce. We mentioned this earlier, boundary setting, you know, very, very important. And then while you set boundaries also, it's important to create moments of connection as well, you know. So that's the support network or support system. It's other families that, you know, are not only families that you can relate to, but understand where you're coming from. And again, kind of just become part of that support network for you. Online forums, social gatherings, community settings, you know, stay connected would be another point that I would like to reemphasize or emphasize. I mentioned this too, you know, mindfulness, here's that eastern philosophy and practice coming in, doing mindfulness meditation, any yoga like, things like that are just really so good for you.

00:42:22.090 --> 00:43:15.170
But mindfulness in particular really helps with the connection that you have with yourself. And I probably should have led with that because we do all these things and we talk about all of these tips. Right, but what is it all about? It's not just about being able to support who you're trying to support. Whoever's in the recovery journey or the grandchild that you now have, you're not going to be able to do that unless you are connecting to yourself, unless you take care of yourself. So really, I would say the umbrella statement is making sure that you've got tools and techniques to be able to maintain that connection to yourself. And under that then falls things, you know, falls the setting boundaries and prioritizing self care and practicing the mindfulness. So mindfulness helps with reinforcing that.

00:43:17.309 --> 00:43:46.380
Seek professional help when you need it. You know that I can't say that again enough. And there's so many ways to do that now, whether it's virtually or in person and, you know, with whoever, you know, works for you, whether it's a coach or a counselor or therapist or even a supportive friend or family member, you know, seek that help when you need it, but seek professional help when you need it as well. Yeah.

00:43:48.159 --> 00:45:34.829
That'S. It's all great. It's always good information for me to hear. As many times as I hear that from as many different people, every time I hear it, I go, oh, yeah. This week, I didn't do as much mindfulness as I should, mindful mindfulness work as I should have. I might have focused more on the kids or more on their therapy or even my. But time for mindfulness. But all of those things, it never hurts to hear them over and over and over again. I agree. Thank you. One other thing I would add also, is that it so true. Right. You know, you get caught up into the rhythm of the day or, you know, like the extra stuff that ends up piling. Yeah. You get really busy. But let me tell you, I want individual time for everyone, for sure, even the kids. But on those days where it becomes really difficult, I can't suggest this enough. You have five minutes of mindfulness time. Do that together as a family. Right. Even if it's separate. Like, say, you know what? We're going to take a mindfulness break. Everybody just sit in any part of the house that they feel like, and we're going to set a timer for five minutes, and we're going to practice our breathing and then connect with ourselves and just set the timer and do it. It's five minutes. Right. So on those really busy days, incorporating the entire family is a great way of still sneaking it in, you know? So don't forget that. Yeah, great idea. Great idea. Do you want to share with us any personal stories that you might have? Any case studies that might highlight some of the things we've been talking about? Yeah, I mean, I have so many to pick from.

00:45:34.869 --> 00:45:58.630
That's a good one. I think the one story that I can definitely utilize that helps with that integration process is with the program development that I've done that integrates these two worlds, the eastern practices and the western approaches.

00:46:00.050 --> 00:47:08.329
We've seen so much happen. The one story that comes to mind is. Excuse me, an active duty member who was deployed to a very remote area and, you know, had a pretty severe back injury that was causing continuous chronic pain. And no matter the procedure or medication that was provided, that pain was persisting. And it was very clear that this individual was feeling disconnected because of deployments, felt isolated. And one thing that we know with whatever the diagnosis is, is that isolation is going to just be fuel on the fire. And even when you stop and think like, okay, like depression, right? Depression has symptoms that will end up convincing the individual that isolating is an answer, right? That it's a tool, that it's safer to be solo than it is to be connected.

00:47:10.030 --> 00:47:23.769
And you got to fight that, right? But sometimes in this situation, individual can't fight. You're on a remote island somewhere in the middle of the ocean, and you've got literally nobody around you.

00:47:24.630 --> 00:48:45.190
So the question became, how do I cope with this chronic pain and get myself to be able to perform my duty? Because that's what the military is expecting of me and survive mentally, emotionally, physically. So I put this individual through my program, which was an integrative approach that was a four week intensive where we did a lot of yoga, meditation, and martial arts integrated with cognitive behavioral, psychology, massage therapy, acupuncture, and also we did a little bit of procedural work. The physicians, the beautiful physicians that we had on staff were doing that wonderful work to help with kind of getting them so that they can manage the back injury a little bit better, some physical therapy as well. And that four week intensive gave them all the tools, and they were still suffering from that chronic pain. But the more we talked and the more we processed, they were feeling more supported and better, of course. So, you know, the pain was reducing. Four week period came to an end, and of course, there was anxiety surrounding how they were going to be able to maintain this alone, you know, on literally the island that they were going to be deploying to.

00:48:45.849 --> 00:48:49.641
And I said, listen, you know, our clinic, we were very lucky.

00:48:49.746 --> 00:48:53.304
I always maintain access and provide access.

00:48:53.481 --> 00:49:01.039
So if my clients wanted to reach out to me, they could. So they said, you know, that you can reach out at any time.

00:49:01.579 --> 00:49:24.090
And here's everything. You know, they have literally the book of all the tools and everything that we talked about and had taken notes. They went on. Deployment came back six months later, and it was such a beautiful moment for me, a poignant moment. They're like, listen, I had your voice in my head the whole time.

00:49:24.550 --> 00:49:38.570
And I did our practices. I did the routines. You didn't have a massage therapist but that's okay. You know, like, I utilize my own, you know, tools to be able to do myofacial release and what have you.

00:49:39.030 --> 00:50:52.016
And I have been at a two out of ten level of pain consistently through this deployment, and I'm so, so thankful. And I was just blown away. And that was, you know, like, one of many, thankfully, but in a culture, and I love my military community, I'm just going to say this. Probably a naughty thing to say, but the military culture is, you know, put a band aid on it, take some ibuprofen, drink some water, and be on your way. We've got to get you back to duty. So oftentimes, the culture isn't conducive to being able to understand that the tools that we can have that are, you know, integrated like that eastern and western tools are accessible and as accessible as taking the ibuprofen, but in many ways better. And so they were able to realize that, and it worked, and that was a big win. And thankfully, we had a lot of people who. Who had that result. So, yeah, a real salute to integrative medicine. Yeah. Yeah. And a good thought to keep ourselves as we're juggling all the things that we're doing in raising these grandchildren.

00:50:52.128 --> 00:50:58.860
I think those are. That's a great story. Thanks for sharing. Thank you. Yeah.

00:51:00.559 --> 00:51:15.077
So what are your future goals with what you're doing? You have such an interesting life, and everything you're doing, I think, is so valuable. What are you wanting to do in the future with psychology and integrative therapy?

00:51:15.134 --> 00:51:24.969
Yeah, I mean, I'm on my mission. I think it's a lifelong mission, of course, of increasing accessibility and, you know, like, making those connections to care.

00:51:26.030 --> 00:52:54.780
And however that ends up shaping up, whether it's through education, whether it's through services, through program development, you know, whatever the mode is, I'm on board. Right. One of my favorite things to do is to collaborate with people, to be able to make all of those things happen and make all of them be accessible. So I see myself continuing on this path and doing it in every way, shape, and form I can, and I love doing it. I revel in doing it. So that's my future, you know, that's what I see. But basically, you know, we want to. I want to make sure that we can enhance that accessibility, develop the programs, continuing to develop programs that are going to help with that accessibility and specific, you know, rehabilitative needs. I want to continue with research and speaking and, you know, really being able to motivate that continued care and advocate, you know, advocate to destigmatize, to support our rural areas and our underserved populations and our communities that often go by the wayside or are neglected because of just being minority communities or somewhere in the middle of nowhere is what people would say. Right. But you know, being able to make sure that those, those individuals and those communities have that access to care is really a passion of mine as well.

00:52:57.920 --> 00:53:30.286
That's great. I look forward to seeing what you do with your wonderful work. Do you have a website, Doctor Mala. Yeah, so my personal website is drmala.net. the other website that you can definitely find me on, but again, like I mentioned, is a beautiful resource. Excuse me, is recovery.com and I also mentioned it's a military life. That's it'samilitarylife dot so those are the websites that I'm affiliated with, but my personal one is drmala.net dot.

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Yeah. We'Ll be sure to put those in the show notes. Great, thank you. Thanks for sharing those. Well, thanks again for being our show. I really appreciate your time and your wisdom and I hope that our listeners enjoyed today as much as I did. Thank you so much for having me. It was definitely a pleasure to be here and an honor. Thanks so much for joining us today for another episode of grandparents raising grandchildren nurturing through adversity.

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I encourage you to share your challenges and your successes with us. Your story is undoubtedly one someone else needs to hear. You can submit your stories to the links provided in the podcast information. Your contributions will enrich upcoming conversations, creating a more supportive community in which we can learn and grow together. If you enjoyed this show, please share it with a friend that needs to hear. And if you love the show and you're listening on a broadcasting platform like Apple or Spotify, just scroll down in your app and please leave us a review. Next week, join us for episode 26 of our special series on supporting grandparents raising grandchildren as we welcome the insightful Nicholeen Peck to the show. Nicholeen, a dedicated mother of four and former foster parent to many troubled teens, brings a wealth of experience and wisdom to the conversation. Discover how her family's success in nurturing challenging children is rooted in principles of self government, effective communication, and maintaining a sense of calm. Tune in as Nicholeen shares valuable insights and practical strategies for building a strong support network for grandparents navigating the complexities of raising grandchildren. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from an internationally acclaimed speaker and author who is making a difference in families lives worldwide. Thank you for tuning in to grandparents, raising grandchildren, nurturing through adversity. Remember, you are not alone. Together we can find strength and hope in the face of adversity.

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Peace be with you. And I pray that you find some time this week to listen to your inner wisdom amongst the noise and the pandemonium of this world.