Second Start combines personal stories of change with expert perspectives from psychology, health, and beyond, exploring new ways to understand ourselves and others, and to find the courage to change our minds. This podcast goes beyond surface-level self-help to explore, with nuance, the science, the stories, and the practices that can help people start again.
Second Start
Claim This Podcastby Tennessee Le Du
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5 episodes
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Podcast Overview
Second Start combines personal stories of change with expert perspectives from psychology, health, and beyond, exploring new ways to understand ourselves and others, and to find the courage to change our minds. This podcast goes beyond surface-level self-help to explore, with nuance, the science, the stories, and the practices that can help people start again.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/13/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 6, 2026
04. Intercultural couples: strengths and challenges with Dr Reenee Singh
<p>In this fourth episode of Second Start, I sit down with Dr Reenee Singh, one of the leading international voices on intercultural couples and systemic psychotherapy. </p><p>The conversation touches me personally: I come from an intercultural couple, and I now live in one. But the themes we explore go far beyond individual stories. Reenee reminds us that intercultural relationships shouldn't be pathologised: when partners learn to talk about their differences openly, cultural differences can become one of the deepest sources of strength and resilience in a couple.</p><p>Over the course of the conversation, we explore what actually makes a relationship "intercultural" (much broader than most people assume - it includes religion, class, region, and even generation), how class and language weave into cultural difference, how the meaning of home can shift across generations, and what happens in the therapy room when partners feel their worlds don't quite meet.</p><p>Dr Reenee Singh also shares some of the visual and clinical tools she uses in her practice: the cultural genogram, the culturegram, and emotion maps. </p><p>A note on the clinical stories in this episode: they are anonymised, and where possible, Dr Reenee Singh obtained permission from the couples she refers to.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>About Dr Reenee Singh</strong></p><p>Dr Reenee Singh is a UKCP-registered Consultant Family and Couples Systemic Psychotherapist with over thirty years of clinical experience. She is based at Hampstead Psychology in North London and at the Child and Family Practice in London, where she is the Founding Director of the London Intercultural Couples Centre. She is a former Editor of the Journal of Family Therapy and was the first CEO of the Association of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice. She is the author or editor of several books on intercultural couples, race, culture, and systemic practice, and teaches all around the world.</p><p>Find her website here:<a href="https://www.reeneesingh.com/"> <u>https://www.reeneesingh.com/</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>More info on Dr Reenee Singh's Fall 2026 course at the Ackerman Family Institute:</strong></p><p>Title: Therapeutic Tools for Cultivating Resilience with Contemporary Couples and Families</p><p>When: Sept 17 – Dec 3, 2026 | 1–4 PM ET</p><p>Course page:<a href="https://www.ackerman.org/training/seminar-course-singh/"> <u>https://www.ackerman.org/training/seminar-course-singh/</u></a></p><p>Course introduction video:<a href="https://youtu.be/Yu1GiggcRok"> <u>https://youtu.be/Yu1GiggcRok</u></a></p><p>Reenee will be teaching a number of the tools and techniques we discuss in this episode, including the culturegram.</p><p><strong>Tools mentioned in this episode</strong></p><p>Culturegram (excerpt):<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbjTSmlfx1Q&t=574s"> <u>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbjTSmlfx1Q&t=574s</u></a></p><p>Emotion Maps:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYfvrPErRSU&t=302s"> <u>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYfvrPErRSU&t=302s</u></a></p><p>The Intercultural Exeter Model YouTube channel - more videos exploring the concepts we discuss, with examples in context:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@interculturalexetermodel7905"> <u>https://www.youtube.com/@interculturalexetermodel7905</u></a><strong></strong></p>
June 6, 2026
3. The Psilocybin Question
<p>A solo episode exploring psilocybin through two different bodies of research: Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind (2018), which gathers a wide range of what was known at the time about psychedelic-assisted therapy, and a 2023 study by Jules Evans and colleagues on something the trials don't usually cover, namely the difficulties some people report after psychedelic use, sometimes long after the drug itself has worn off. Rather than trying to settle the tension between these two accounts, the episode takes the time to look at what each is, what it can and cannot tell us, and what remains to be figured out.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Support :</strong> if you need to talk, the Samaritans are free 24/7 on <strong>116 123</strong> (UK), or email jo@samaritans.org - You can also text <strong>SHOUT</strong> to <strong>85258</strong>. Outside the UK : <strong>findahelpline.com</strong>.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Sources:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Pollan, M. (2018). How to Change Your Mind. Penguin. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/303866/how-to-change-your-mind-by-pollan-michael/9780141985138</p></li><li><p>Evans, J., Robinson, O. C., et al. (2023). "Extended difficulties following the use of psychedelic drugs: A mixed methods study." PLOS ONE, 18(10): e0293349. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293349</p></li><li><p>Lyons, T., Carhart-Harris, R. L., et al. (2026). "Human brain changes after first psilocybin use." Nature Communications, 17: 3977. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71962-3</p></li><li><p>Davis, A. K., et al. (2025). "Five-year outcomes of psilocybin-assisted therapy for Major Depressive Disorder." Journal of Psychedelic Studies. https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2025.00461</p></li><li><p>Ellis, R. J., et al. (2025). "Long-term outcomes of single-dose psilocybin for US military Veterans with severe TRD: 12-month data." Journal of Affective Disorders. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032725010973</p></li></ul><p><strong>A related Instagram post</strong>, on the comparison between brain scans of experienced meditators and people on psilocybin (relevant to the brain section starting at 5:10): https://instagram.com/p/DYDCTnWlzWq/?img_index=1</p><p><strong>One clarification on the recent brain study:</strong> The authors describe the dramatic acute brain changes as "largely absent" one month after the dose, but with one exception. A measure called "brain network modularity" did persist, and the people in whom this change was strongest also saw the biggest well-being increase. So the kind of cross-network communication Pollan describes does seem to persist, in this one specific form, at the one-month mark.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Second Start</strong> is the podcast that welcomes stories of change and the science of starting again. <strong>secondstartpodcast.com</strong>.</p>
May 16, 2026
2. Conditioning of Shame
<p>In this first solo episode, I talk about a book: Perfect Pain / Perfect Shame: A Journey into Radical Presence, by the psychologist Jerry Duvinsky.</p><p>Drawing on the book, I am talking about what shame really is, how it seeds itself in childhood, through what is said and through what is not said and done. And the paradox, which is that trying to control or eliminate shame reinforces it.</p><p>Along the way, the work of neuropsychologist Allan Schore on how shame is physiologically imprinted in early attachment, the cumulative weight of small messages over a lifetime, and the surprising forms shame can take in adulthood.</p><p>📖 Book referenced:</p><ul><li><p>Perfect Pain / Perfect Shame: A Journey into Radical Presence, Jerry Duvinsky, PhD (2017, self-published)</p></li></ul>
5 total episodes available
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This podcast updates daily.
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Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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