Both Sides of the Couch
Both Sides of the Couch is where therapist and human meet. Hosted by Kari Rusnak, a licensed therapist living with chronic illness, the podcast explores the messy, honest overlap between helping others and healing yourself. Through personal reflections, stories, and thoughtful conversations, Kari invites listeners to slow down, think deeply, and feel a little less alone, on both sides of the couch.
Episodes
9 episodes
Episode 9: When Relief Feels Scary — Learning to Trust Feeling Better
In this episode of Both Sides of the Couch, Kari explores the surprising fear and guilt that can surface when chronic illness symptoms finally ease. After years of struggle, she’s experiencing real relief thanks to a new medication, an...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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17:07
Episode 8: The Myth that Productivity = Worth: what being forced to rest teaches about internalized capitalism.
In this episode, Kari challenges the deeply ingrained belief that our worth is tied to productivity, a mindset rooted in internalized capitalism, where value is measured by hustle, output, and efficiency. She shares a personal story about a phy...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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19:39
Episode 7: Behind the Listings: The Truth About Therapist Directories
In this episode of Both Sides of the Couch, Kari pulls back the curtain on the business behind therapist directories, from her own experience leaving Psychology Today to uncovering what really happened with Therapy Den after its founder sold it...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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37:25
Episode 6: What Chronic Illness Taught Me About Boundaries
In this episode of Both Sides of the Couch, Kari explores one of her favorite topics, boundaries, through both a therapist’s and a chronically ill person’s lens. She reflects on how the body sometimes enforces limits l...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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17:33
Episode 5: When I Get It Wrong
In this episode of Both Sides of the Couch, Kari gets honest about imperfection, the kind therapists aren’t always allowed to show. She explores what it means to make mistakes in the therapy room, how she recognizes when she’s mi...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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13:31
Episode 4: Burnout Isn’t Always Obvious
In this episode of Both Sides of the Couch, Kari unpacks the often sneaky onset of burnout, not just as a therapist, but as a human living with chronic illness. She shares how her definition of “enough” has evolved from gri...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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10:38
Episode 3: The Weight of Other People’s Stories
In this episode of Both Sides of the Couch, Kari opens up about the unseen emotional and physical toll of holding space for others while managing her own chronic illness. She shares how, early in her private-practice career, she began ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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17:03
Episode 2: When the Therapist Cancels
In this episode of Both Sides of the Couch, Kari dives into a rarely discussed topic: what happens when the therapist has to cancel. From both the professional and human sides, she explores the guilt, boundaries, and grace wrapp...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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18:10
Episode 1: The Advice I Give That I Struggle to Follow
In the very first episode of Both Sides of the Couch, Kari, a therapist, writer, and human navigating chronic illness, introduces the heart behind her new podcast: bridging her professional insight with her personal reality.She ...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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15:14