Auto generated transcript of this episode:

Hello, and welcome to Unpacking with Sarah. I'm your host, Sarah Westbrook, a licensed professional counselor in multiple states, here to talk about what we're going to be doing with our new show. So grab a coffee and sit down with us. Our goal is to, excuse me, broadcast live every Thursday morning at nine o'clock central. And as you can see from behind me, we are broadcasting from my farm. This is my actual front yard of the farm, the Daisy Girl Wellness and Rehabilitation Farm, which we can talk about at another time. I also wanted to wish everybody a happy Fourth of July.

So this is if you're watching this later, it is July Fourth of twenty twenty four. It is Independence Day here in the United States. That's my Independence Day. Cowgirl hat. I'm going to be out riding here after we're done recording. I am deeply, deeply grateful for the sacrifices of the men and women who made it so that we could live a very privileged life here in the United States. I have had the opportunity to travel to multiple areas across the world, and we truly are a blessed country. we truly do have many privileges that people in other parts of the world do not. So thank you to our men and women in arms, those and those who support those families, both from the distant past and today. Very, very, very grateful for your sacrifice. So what is unpacking with Sarah all about? So as I said before, professional counselor.

And the things that I see for a lot of my clients is they'll come out, they're making great strides, they're making progress, but one hour dedicated a week to driving to counseling, sitting through counseling, driving back to work or home. So it ends up being a two hour ordeal both ways. And the cost, the going cost right now for if you're a cash pay client or counseling is anywhere from about a hundred to a hundred and eighty dollars an hour session. There are so many of us who just can't afford that. I mean, I'll be honest, me paying cash outright for counseling would make my access very limited and I'm crazy busy.

So even the time commitment can be very, very difficult. I'm here to bridge that gap. I the other thing I notice in counseling is that oftentimes and other podcasts is we get a lot of theory. We get a lot of really great ideas, but we miss the application piece. We don't necessarily know automatically how to turn those ideas into action. into something that is usable, something that we can apply in our day-to-day lives. And so, again, we're here to bridge that gap. I want to, again, dedicate today's introduction to freedom, but I want to dedicate it to the freedom from maladaptive thought and behavioral patterns.

We all have them. myself included. And I want us to be able to learn skills, understand the theory, and then apply them in such a way that we can release these patterns that are no longer serving us well. Those things that, you know, we have really great intentions. We've got, you know, they're genuine. We want self-improvement. And our outcomes just aren't meeting the goals or the hopes that we had desired. And so I'm here to help you do that and to give you this podcast, this, you know, weekly wisdom that will help you go from the, I understand all of this content I'm hearing and put it into practice in your daily lives. I have worksheets that are coming. We're going to have the how-tos.

We're going to break it all down very simply, the same way I would for my clients in session. So you're going to be able to access a lot of these resources. at low or no cost to you. The things that I'm teaching you here for educational purposes, only if you are working with a personal care provider, I want you to be able to take the things that you learn here, the worksheets that you're gaining from here that we will make downloadable for you to your counseling sessions or to your group sessions or your life coaching or wherever it is to your personal care providers. and apply this or add it to what they are doing. If you find that it is meaningful to you, well, then let's use it. I am a buffet. You do not have to eat everything on the menu.

Take what works for you, leave what doesn't. I am super excited to start this project. We will, and hopefully, fingers crossed, about eighteen months to two years, release the workbook that this podcast is helping us create. So you will be able to buy that anywhere books are sold. And that is the goal, that we start these podcasts, we get our audience's feedback, and then we put all of the skills that really resonate best with you, with the audience, into a book that you can share with your friends and family, things that you can do at home.

So please join me on our mission to self-improvement through learning, growing and becoming who you really want to be, your true authentic self. Thanks so much for joining me today. Enjoy that morning coffee and fireworks later this evening. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye.