Does therapy work?
Yes. But I believe there’s a better question: Is therapy alone enough?
Therapy can be incredibly valuable. It can help us understand our thoughts, process our feelings, reframe old stories, and navigate difficult seasons.
But if you’ve ever thought, “Therapy is helping… so why does life still feel so hard?” this episode is for you.
Because mental health isn’t just about what happens in your mind.
In this week’s episode of Heal Your Relationships, I’m introducing what I call the Tripod Model: a three-pronged approach that brings together top-down, bottom-up, and inside-out tools to help you move beyond simply keeping your head above water and build greater capacity for life.
I’ll also share one of my favorite ways to think about nervous system capacity: the bucket analogy.
Top-down approaches help filter what goes into your bucket, while bottom-up approaches help make the bucket bigger—so everyday stressors don’t overwhelm you quite so easily.
And the third leg?
The often-overlooked inside-out work: sleep, nutrition, movement, attention, breathing, and social connection.
This episode is also the beginning of a new series on modern mental health. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be breaking down these three pillars and giving you practical tools you can begin experimenting with in your own life.
In This Episode:
00:00 Why therapy alone may not be enough
01:34 The question we should be asking about therapy
04:10 The Tripod Model explained
04:29 Pillar 1: The top-down approach
06:33 Pillar 2: Bottom-up nervous system work
09:07 The “bucket” analogy for emotional capacity
11:41 Pillar 3: The inside-out approach
13:09 Moving from surviving to truly thriving
14:49 What’s coming in this modern mental health series
Want to go deeper?
If you’re ready to move beyond simply understanding your patterns and start changing them at the nervous-system level, that’s exactly what we work on inside Untriggerable.
You can learn more, connect with us, and join our community here:
Join us on Circle
