ACT for Real Life: Helping Kids Navigate Big Feelings & Social Storms with Melissa Connor-Santos, MA, BCBA – Episode 412

Teaching social skills isn’t just about steps, it’s about helping kids understand why connection matters and how to cope when things don’t go as planned. In this episode, Sharlee Dixon sits down with Melissa Connor-Santos, MA, BCBA, Founder and CEO of Oceanview Behavior Solutions and a nationally recognized expert in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). With over 15 years of experience, Melissa works at the intersection of clinical excellence and compassionate care, consulting with schools, training professionals, and mentoring families. She’s also a full-time ABA faculty member at Felician University, a certified PFA/SBT Level 6 Supervisor, and a leading voice in school-based behavioral support. As a parent of a child with a behavioral disorder, Melissa brings a deeply personal perspective to her work, one grounded in empathy, ethics, and strengths-based practice. Together, Sharlee and Melissa explore how ACT can bridge the gaps in traditional social skills instruction for children with autism and behavioral differences, blending evidence-based practice, personal insight, and emerging research to reimagine how we support emotional regulation, self-narratives, and long-term well-being.

Deriving Mindfulness: The Open-Source Future of Mindfulness with Mo Edjlali – Episode 411

Comfort numbs us. Connection heals us. In this episode, Peter Fenger sits down with Mo Edjlali, founder and CEO of Mindful Leader, the world’s largest provider of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training. A former computer engineer with a career that began at NASA and in the tech world, Mo turned to mindfulness after a startup collapse forced him to confront life, loss, and what really matters. Since then, he has certified over 550 facilitators, launched the global Meditate Together community, and become both a leading voice for mindfulness and a critical voice about its modern pitfalls. Mo’s new book, “Open MBSR,” reimagines mindfulness for today, trauma-aware, inclusive, and community-driven. In this conversation, we dive into his journey and explore how modern mindfulness can sometimes retraumatize, commercialize, and exclude. More importantly, we uncover new approaches that reclaim mindfulness’s roots: healing, freedom, and agency for everyone.

If You Can Breathe, You Can Begin: Grief-Informed Yoga & Somatic Wisdom with Amy Picket-Williams, LCSW – Episode 410

Grief doesn’t shrink, we grow around it. In this episode, Sharlee Dixon sits down with Amy Pickett-Williams, LCSW, a seasoned psychotherapist with over 25 years of experience specializing in grief, trauma, and somatic therapy. She is the founder of LIGHT (Love In Grief, Held Together), a movement rooted in collective care, accessible healing, and the integration of mind, body, and spirit. In addition to her psychotherapy practice, Amy is a certified yoga teacher and educator, and she now leads grief- and trauma-informed trainings for professionals and the public alike. Her latest offerings include the 20-hour Somatic Integration of Grief and Trauma course and the LIGHT Path 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training, both of which reflect her deep commitment to nervous system-informed, socially conscious healing. Amy has worked across medical, school-based, and private settings, supporting clients of all ages through some of life’s most challenging moments. In this episode, we explore how somatic practices, nervous system science, and social justice intersect in Amy Pickett-Williams' trauma- and grief-informed trainings, including her upcoming courses centered around grief and trauma-informed yoga teacher training, designed to support both personal healing and professional development.