The Work of Being Human

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thevanessabentley@gmail.com

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STOP DEFINING YOURSELF WITH A DIAGNOSIS: Therapy Culture Isn't Therapy

August 31, 2026

I’m a therapist who 's had enough of therapy culture!One of my biggest pet peeves with it is the way we’ve turned mental health diagnoses into explanations for human beings. Depression. Anxiety. ADHD. Bipolar disorder. Narcissism. We throw these labels around as though they explain *why* someone thinks, feels, and behaves the way they do. They don’t. A diagnosis tells you the WHAT. It does not tell you the WHY.This week, I’m digging into what psychiatric diagnoses actually are, how they e...

Has COMPASSION Gone Too Far? (Yes.)

August 24, 2026

It seems like every public controversy eventually divides us into two camps: the people demanding accountability at all costs and the people so focused on suffering that accountability starts to disappear.I call them the Moral Police and the Victim Brigade.But I think both sides are getting something fundamentally wrong.In this episode, I’m looking at the relationship between truth, compassion, and personal responsibility through the lens of mental health. Does understanding someone’s pain ma...

WHAT MAKES A MAN STRONG? Why Strength is More Than Power with Trey Tucker

August 17, 2026

What does it actually mean to be a strong man?In this episode, I sit down with therapist Trey Tucker of Rugged Counseling to talk about men, masculinity, strength, shame, vulnerability, and the deep need many men have to know that they are valuable—not simply for what they accomplish, provide, or achieve, but for who they are.Trey and I talk about the fear underneath so much male performance: *What if I'm not good enough?* That belief can send men in opposite directions. Some spend their ...