Join Steve Wallace, Esq and Co-Host Celena Music of The Wallace Law Group, PL as they are joined by psychotherapist Michael Berger of Berlin Mental Health to discuss how to stay sane during the current pandemic.
The following topics are discussed:
What is psychotherapy?
What technological tools mental health professionals are using to treat their patients?
How busy professionals manage work-life balance.
How to manage stress and anxiety as a result of the pandemic.
How to ensure patients are getting the most out of their therapy.
Understanding various specialties and sub-specialities of mental health practitioners.
Nature of addictions and addictive personalities.
How to preserve marital life when children become part of the family dynamic.
Pop Culture Banter
Lightning Round
To learn more about Host Steve Wallace, subscribe to The Wallace Law Group YouTube Channel, become a Facebook Friend with Steve, or connect with Steve on Linkedin.
Join Steve Wallace, Esq and Co-Host Celena Music of The Wallace Law Group, PL as they are joined by psychotherapist Michael Berger of Berlin Mental Health to discuss how to stay sane during the current pandemic.
The following topics are discussed:
What is psychotherapy?
What technological tools mental health professionals are using to treat their patients?
How busy professionals manage work-life balance.
How to manage stress and anxiety as a result of the pandemic.
How to ensure patients are getting the most out of their therapy.
Understanding various specialties and sub-specialities of mental health practitioners.
Nature of addictions and addictive personalities.
How to preserve marital life when children become part of the family dynamic.
Pop Culture Banter
Lightning Round
To learn more about Host Steve Wallace, subscribe to The Wallace Law Group YouTube Channel, become a Facebook Friend with Steve, or connect with Steve on Linkedin.
and so let's jump right into it. Michael, could you let us know, where you grew up and some of your extracurricular activities that you had when you were a child and an in school?
Mike Berger:I sure can. And, first I want to thank you for, for allowing me on the podcast and. And I love the title of podcast and I too believe that that attorneys are human. Also. I just wanted to start with that. That is a true statement. So, absolutely. So thanks again, Steven as you and I go go way back to two years of upstate New York, I grew up in a, in Syracuse as did you and a big Syracuse orange fan. And, yeah, so I, so I grew up there and through high school and, as a kid loved playing basketball was a big Chicago Bulls basketball fan. And, of the 49ers, I stayed away from the Bills and the Giants I wanted to set to be different in that way. but I remember our heated battles on the driveway. When you'd come over, we'd hang out you, my brother, there's a lot of fun. as you mentioned, you're a psychotherapist and, she, you know, individuals, couples, I run a, I ran a man and a men's group for the past seven years. you know, working with men's issues, couples, addictions also. And, you know, when, when I'm, when I'm not working certain like, creative pursuits, well, one time I did open my comedy. I really enjoyed that. I did motivational speaking years ago, also interested in the poetry and that kind of thing. So, now, so I have a two year old, so certainly he keeps me busy
Steve Wallace:we're here today to talk about how to stay sane during Covid.
Mike Berger:Yeah.
Steve Wallace:And so I'm sure you're, just reading that headlines every day and I try to not watch the news, but these darn, these darn updates pop up on my iPhone that I can't resist. So let me, I guess my first question is, has your practice volume gone up and what technological tools have you used to treat patients during the age of quarantine?
Mike Berger:Yeah, absolutely. yeah, in our office. Yes. It certainly has picked up a great deal. And we like so many other mental health professionals are practicing. What's called tele-health and there's a variety of formats that are used. We use the, the doxy. the format to work with our patients. It's very, very similar to zoom like we're on now, but it was just a more secure site and, yeah, the distress level was quite high. for, for those for a few reason for the patients you know, some, they, they they've lost their job. Some have maintained the jobs, but of course, like so many of us are working from home and they are the stress of being quarantined. Right. That that has really significantly impacted their mental health, their relationships, if they're in one, a marriage or, you know, romantic or otherwise. And, so there's very rarely a session where that doesn't come up. Can I ask you just for the listeners that don't really know exactly what, what is psycho therapy though? I mean, when I hear psychotherapy, I think of Hannibal Lecter. That was, that was a very good movie, but, yeah, no, certainly, that's a whole nother case. So psychotherapy as a form of therapy where we are working with our patients in a variety of different ways. So we could, focus on, how past events may or may have contributed to kind of the problems that they're having now, like maybe making connection between childhood events and. What's and the struggles they're having in a relationship or struggles they're having with, with coping, with life stressors or how they see themselves, maybe, you know, some guilt or shame, or maybe reoccurring issues and relationships, but that there's definitely different styles of therapy that a therapist can offer. It could be focusing on just the thoughts, which is. Like cognitive behavioral therapy is very common with anxiety or stress or helping people gain more insight into really helping people gain more insight into the problems they're experiencing. There's many different modalities to do that. but I share it's a lot more safer. And more pleasant than, than anything you'd do with Hannibal Lecter, for sure. Okay, but it's a good question. there's so many people who are a little reluctant to go into therapy, but really it's sitting with a person and it's really learning more about them. What's going on for them and, finding out kind of what I can do to. To understand what's happening for them, give them in, help them gain insights so that they can come to their own conclusion and really ultimately improve their lives. Correct? Yeah, because I hear so often, especially people my age, the younger generation is more open to therapy, but I find a lot of like, my parents, for example, crazy. Why do I have up there? It's just a lot of times that I say to myself, no, I think you should get some better. Yeah. And I'm glad you brought that up because one doesn't need to be crazy or insane, to get help. it's really it's sitting down with someone who's a trained listener, trained in human behavior. And so many of us don't have a person in our lives who just listened forever, wants to give us advice. Everyone wants to dismiss us, or they've got their own things going on. But imagine sitting with someone 45, 50 minutes, who's their sole job is to listen to you. Is to hear what you're saying and connect with your feeling. And then we all have, what's called blind spots. You know, things that we're not aware about ourselves. And when you share that in the therapy environment, that therapist can point those out. So now you have greater insight. Oh, I didn't realize that. Or they can help you with coping skills and coping strategies. So it's certainly going to be insane or crazy, you know, to benefit from that kind of a relationship. but there's still believe it or not. Some stigmas around seeing a therapist.
Steve Wallace:a lot of our listeners are busy professionals, real estate executives, investors, attorneys, and one of the challenges. That, a lot of these types of professionals have is the balance between work and family life. So if you had a professional come to you and are experiencing some challenges in their relationships, both romantically and with their family. What kind of advice would you give these professionals on how to establish a better work life balance?
Mike Berger:Yeah, that's a great question. And in fact, I have so many professionals who come to me with the similar concern, so I saw a couple of things, first of all, when we talk about, and this also links to the topic of this podcast is in terms of how to stay sane. First, I want to talk about what is it that you really have control over and so often we get an anxious or some sense of unmanageability when we're trying to focus on things, we have no control over People, the pandemic what the government's doing. That's all creates a lot. So to start to lessen that, let's, let's take it back. And what do I have control over today, what can I, what can I do? And I don't think I have control of my thoughts and my actions, what I do in this moment. So that in itself is helpful. And then in terms of balance, you know, what I'd want to get to know more what's going on through that particular professional, their time management, where are their priorities? are they taking time for self care? So many professionals, you know, suffer from that ism of work And so let's take a look at their relationship to work their relationship to performance. Are there any areas of their life? They can cut back work, like to make more room for their family life. So I'd also want to learn what's going on with family. And how is the communication with your wife or with your husband? is there clear expectations, like for example, are you guys scheduling dinnertime? Is that an important thing for you to do? so I really want to learn more about that particular professional and educate them on the importance of like a life work balance. Are you taking the time to take care of yourself? What is your body telling you in terms of, are you stressed? Are you anxious? Cause a lot of professionals might not realize that their life work balance is out of balance, but they come in for other symptoms. Like I can't concentrate or I can't sleep, or, you know, I'm feeling tense all the time. Hm. Why do you think that is?
Steve Wallace:Sounds like all of my symptoms,
Mike Berger:I was just about to say that. Yeah. So I like to teach my clients that your body is, it talks to you and your body can educate you on, on maybe something that's going on. So if you're feeling those things, it's a sign that, maybe you got to take a time out. Do I need to take a break? Do I need to take, what's called a mental health thing? it's so foreign sometimes to take a day off God forbid, right. Or take a break throughout the day. Like that's okay too. Sometimes it's not a huge changes that one needs to make take a lunch hour that's what's given to you. so these little adjustments that pressures might resist or not even thinking about can go a long way in helping them feel more balanced, total sense. what about during this pandemic? Where will a lot of us are just feeling hopeless? I wake up and I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Are there going to be more cases is the courthouse going to be completely closed? Cause we're dependent on the court system. And it's a constant stressor luckily we've been able to use. Technology, for business and to keep everything moving, it's tense because I find myself buying groceries, worried. Am I going to get covert? Yeah. Yeah. I
Steve Wallace:have that same concern too.
Mike Berger:Yeah. especially if you have a family you're concerned about your children also, and, And it's so, so common, we're all in this together, if you will. so the anxiety and stress level is high for all of us. first of all, one thing that I mentioned earlier, what can I. Controlled today. What's the next best thing that I can do right now? I can't control whether other people wear masks or not. I can't control the messages coming from the government. I can't control the news, that's coming out. so what that does is it helps me shift on, okay, what can I, what's the next best thing that I can do? I know I can do my work. I know that I can do self care. I know I can focus on the things, the things going on right in front of me. So those is very helpful for myself and for the clients who tend to focus a lot on kind of what's going on around us, which is, you know, it's, it's very common to do that. So cause the other people are always going to make the healthiest of choices. I can't change what that person does, but I can take care of me. I can make sure that I wear a mask. I can't control that the person outside is not socially businessing or not wearing a mask, but I know I can socially distance. Right. I know I can wear a mask. Right. So I believe it starts there and also. You know, we all want to be informed in the society. You know, we have the internet, we have a podcast, we have the television. What I'd recommend is, is really be mindful of how much information you're consuming, right? Because of the information that we take in is going to really impact our mindset. if we are watching news, if we're watching the numbers of cases go up and we're are really hyper focused on. On what's happening with the pandemic hour after hour, our anxiety rates will go up, you know, so really pay attention to how many hours am I fixed on the news? How many hours am I spending reading these horror stories of young people dying?
Steve Wallace:Yeah, I don't watch the news. I just watch pro wrestling that calms me down. I'm
Mike Berger:laughing because I have the news on all day. Okay. So if you were my client and said, well, let's take a look at that. Maybe cut that in half of course I've got no problem with you being informed. I want to be informed as well. Of course, I'm a dad is also, and so I want to be informed, but there's a balance to that too, you know? so that's, that's another piece of advice that I would give, just stay. Same is what can I control? And how much information am I allowing myself to take in. Also, let's take a look at healthy distractions. What are things that I do that bring me some sense of joy or comfort? So whether that's, you know, taking a warm bath or watching a funny movie or watching wrestling or reading a book, or, turning off the TV or internet, spending time with family, I'm also a big proponent of any mindfulness exercises like meditation. YouTube has several meditation's. any topic of manageable meditation, stress guided meditation, patient abundance. Right? So it's a great resource to kind of take five minutes when you recognize, okay. My mind is starting to worry and get overwhelmed with all these things happening outside my realm of control. Let me take a breath, you know, a deep relaxation breath. Let's listen to something relaxing. And that's good standard, let's just focus right on the moment. And there's one neat exercise I'd like to share with my clients. It's called the three, two, one exercise. And so what I tell them is once they realize their thoughts or worry mode, I said, okay, name three things that you physically can see, I feel okay. And here in your environment, and then two different things you can see feeling here. And then one. And what it does it centers. Right? So if I would do that, but my mind's racing about the pandemic and I can't control the government. And I said, okay, I see the phone. You know, I see the lamp, I see the wall, I hear the fan. I hear a truck driving by. I feel that the glasses on my nose, the shirt on my chest, et cetera. And what it does is when you focus on your five senses, it brings you to the moment because that's really all that's going on is right here. And right now, And when you're in the right here right now, you're not worried about the future. What if, what if it gets worse? Right? What if things get bad or whatever, they never find a vaccine. I mean, those are all fears that we all have. And very few of us are actually working on that. Which is actually freeing in a way, because I can't do anything about that. So I'm going to choose not to focus too much on that. Let's focus on what I can do and right here in the moment. So
Steve Wallace:Michael has, have there ever been a situation where you've had a patient come to you and after a while in therapy, You've just decided I can't help this person and they need to see another therapist. And then just, and another question I would have would be, and this is something that we experienced as attorneys is oftentimes we make recommendations to clients and they just don't listen to us and they keep falling in the same pattern. So could you comment on those two?
Mike Berger:I'd be happy to, so, so the answer to the first question is yes, certainly there's been a patient I've had. So I couldn't help. And I'm not sure doing that person a service by keeping them in therapy. If I feel like I can't help them. what I'll do when I've got the therapist had on is bring it out and say something like, so how do you feel like this is going? And there's been suggestions that we're talking about it, and it doesn't seem like there's as much progress happening and I'd want to check in with them, like to have a conversation with them. I do. What's called feedback informed therapy anyway, which is basically at the end of every session, I ask them, how do you feel like it's going? and so I get their feedback. So that's an important conversation to have that with that person.,in therapy, there's a variety of different things, issues and specialties. And if someone's coming to be in an area that I'm not familiar with or trained in. What I'll do is I'll recommend that person to, to see someone else. So they get their needs met. Right?
Steve Wallace:Could you let our listeners know which areas of therapy are you trained or subspecialties?
Mike Berger:Yeah. Sure. So in terms of stylistically, cognitive behavioral therapy, something called psychodynamic therapy, which is about as I was sharing earlier. Helping someone see the link between what goes on, what went on with them as kids and their family of origin and how that is impacting their choices. And then their belief systems in their life today. Also something called motivational interviewing, which is a type of therapy used frequently for addicts and alcoholics. Addiction is a big issue here in South Florida, and it helps them connect with maybe some internal motivation to change. If if they're presenting as resistant, I'm also specific training in group therapy and in couples therapy as well. So those are kind of the, the trainings that I've done and ended my practice has to do with inner child work with my, with my clients. and then in terms of topics couples therapy, addictions, men's issues, issues around shame and guilt and stress anxiety as well. So thank you for that question. And then, so. You also asked me. So in attorney you give advice and the clients don't follow it. Is that what you're saying? Oh, they're creatures of habit sometimes. And they'll repeat the same mistake after we resolve it. And I think, especially me, I find myself, Steven tells me don't take it so personal, but I find myself pulling my hair. Like, why wouldn't you do this?
Steve Wallace:I'm kind of jaded after these years, I expect the worst out of our clients. And then I'm a pleasantly surprised when they give us.
Mike Berger:Yeah. when, when we're in professional fields, like we are, just to help and that help looks different. we believe in what we're saying. I believe we know what we're talking about. Kind of giving the suggestions and we know what's best for our clients and when they don't take it, it certainly is frustrating. Right. Of course. you know what, what's helped me in, in my field. Deal with that same issue is realize that I'm not at the end of the day. I'm not really in control of what they do. Right. I I'm kind of detached from the outcome. I know I can do my best and I can believe a hundred percent of what I share with them. And I could tell them very confidently, like this is a good path, but then the day it's up to them to take it or not, not a reflection on me. It's more reflection on them. And if they don't take the advice. Maybe they're not ready to change, maybe they're more interested in the problem than the solution, there could be a variety of reasons why they're not accepting your advice, your suggestions, which means nothing about your advice or your suggestion. it says more about them than you. And it certainly is more freeing when you can on some level detached from the outcome. Like, listen, I did my best. I shared with you, what I know is going to work. And then it's, it's up to them to do it or not. You know, does that make sense?
Steve Wallace:Does, so here's my next question. So one of your specialties that you mentioned was addiction therapy. And so we're familiar with substance abuse addictions, but can you elaborate on some of the other addictions? And are there any addictions that you've learned about that you were even surprised it's an addiction.
Mike Berger:Yeah, well, like you said, the chemical and alcohol, chemical addiction, alcoholism, certainly substance abuse addiction, but there's also something called process addictions, which are behaviorally based addictions. Right. So, for example, gambling is a, it would be an example of process addiction, sex addiction, codependency, you know, debtors anonymous, you know, so addiction to daddy. And
Steve Wallace:you can refer all those dead or anonymous to us. Cause we, we practice bankruptcy law and we can, we can solve those problems for you. Well, we can
Mike Berger:solve a problem, but we can't change about
Steve Wallace:yeah,
Mike Berger:yeah You can give the solution for sure. so basically, any behavior has the potential of developing addictive or compulsive? you know, prominent. So the key would be to ask yourself, like, is this behavior that I may be struggling with? Is it leading to a manageability in my life? It might continue to choose to do this behavior despite the consequences. Yeah. And those couple of questions are the answer to that question. Give that person a lot of insight and awareness to, maybe I need to take a look at this, maybe the hours and hours of TV or internet is become a problem. Or maybe my relationship to food. It has become a problem. You know, maybe I like food
Steve Wallace:foods. I'm a big fan of the food.
Mike Berger:Food is a tough one, right? Because we need the food. And oftentimes too, in the behavioral addictions, people will go to those behaviors to cope with some feeling that they don't want to experience. Right. I'm sad. So let me eat, or let me act out in, in a sex addiction or shopping addiction gambling, right. Or there's some kind of use all addiction is, is an escape of some kind. So, whether it's chemical and drugs, it's a behavior. They all serve the same purpose. They feel good in the moment and they help us escape, whatever. We're not really wanting to experience. I agree. Steven's addicted to the food. I was addicted to the coffee. Yeah. That coffee's a tough one to give up. It definitely. Is it definitely? Yeah. Oh yeah. I have to. I have to literally tell myself. I think I have a problem.
Steve Wallace:Yeah. I used to be addicted to diet Coke, but I haven't ended it. I haven't any diet Coke since last year. And it's, I feel so much better not drinking all that caffeine,
Mike Berger:sugar. That's another, you know, that's a tough one to give up And that reminds me actually also to the previous question about how, how do I stay sane? You know, how am I taking care of myself? You know, what am I eating? What am I putting into my body? Cause that can increase, you know, stress, you know, how cause E pandemic or not, we can still take care of ourselves, whether meditation, controlling what we, where we take in information wise, exercising at home. Looking at what we eat So that, that is another way to kind of just stay sane with all this. Even none of the gyms are, you don't need a gym to work out. Right. You can
Steve Wallace:work out with YouTube so that I can eat more.
Mike Berger:Yeah. Yeah. So, so that's also, something, some of the people can do
Steve Wallace:Selena. That's
Mike Berger:great. No, I agree. Working out virtually has been. A blessing in disguise for me. but I also want, I don't know, are you getting a lot of, and I asked this because I'm married and before the pandemic I would go to work and my husband would go to work. But now we're both here. Are you hearing from a lot of couples that they feel that they're, I guess bumping heads. Yeah. absolutely. You know, for sure being quarantine is stressful enough, by itself, you know, and then add to it a marriage or relationship. And, you know, if there was a stressor before there was some disconnect in the relationship or communication patterns before was certainly if you're stuck at home together, it's going to amplify. Right. For sure. So we certainly have seen that. and so a couple is now feel more of an urgent to get, to do some work because it can't necessarily hide or run from the issue like they may have done in the past because they're both going to work. So they don't have to deal with it if that makes sense. so they're home and they're there. Maybe they're arguing more, they're getting on each other's nerves more. and what was stresses that were there before now emerge, or maybe a stresses that were manageable now become unmanageable. So absolutely I'm hearing a lot of from, from the covenants. I guess
Steve Wallace:another question along those lines would be if you have a married couple. And then they start having children. Oftentimes, when you, add children to the mix, especially small children or babies, it really increases the time management skills, as well as additional stresses on the couple, both financial and how am I going to care for this other human being that they can't care for themselves. So do you have any advice on any married couples, how to protect their relationship during the addition of children into the family.
Mike Berger:Yeah, for sure. it's so important for couples to be on the same page, so first I would suggest to have us have a check in time, have a scheduled time during the day or the week where you both have kind of, your wine will have wound down for the day. And this is the type of talk. Hey, how are things going? First of all, how are you doing? How am I doing? There's check in with how each, each of us are doing. And, just to be transparent with what's important, how are we doing with the kids? You know, talk about choices that were made earlier in terms of whether it's disciplining or the rules that you guys have been forced. and cause I find a lot of couples struggle with also parents. With, not being clear about what their expectations are, having two different expectations, not talking about what's most important to them. The couples that succeed really have entered on the same game plan. They're on the same page with, with, what's important for them in terms of parenting, parenting styles of their children. and also to recognize being a parent. It's stressful. Right? It's tough for all parents and throw on top of that, a pandemic. so, each taken care of taking the time to take care of themselves as well. I'm going to take care of me. The self care we talked about, the part of your partners should also take some time to, for self care, cause that's gonna help them show up better as appearance. these little check in meetings, he's emotional wellbeing meetings really can go a long way and just making sure that, Hey, we're on the same page. How you doing? How am I doing? Okay. We're good. And now let's move forward,
Steve Wallace:Michael. This is great. I feel much better. I feel like you're giving Selena and a session as well. So as we wind down you provided our listeners some great tips and tools. Now we have to shift to some silly pop culture and sports questions because that's really what our listeners enjoy the most. So my first question is being warrantied. What show or shows have you been binge watching?
Mike Berger:I, I've watched, let's see. I watched documentaries on Netflix quite a bit. fortunately I've been a lot more, I've been busier recently, so less time to watch the documentaries. the last one that I watched was about, Mayberry. Was that the athlete? Stefan Mayberry. Was it?
Steve Wallace:Yeah, I just watched that one too. Yeah. The kid from Coney Island. That was
Mike Berger:excellent. That's the one that I just, that I just watched. Absolutely. To add to Steven's question, what comfort food. Okay. I know you're eating healthy, but you do need some comfort food every once in a while. I mean, normally would be an easy question. I recently started the keto diet. So I'm struggling to find a comfort food that fits in the keto diet, you know, a structure. you know, so, but I think, before the KIDO, comfort food for me w would be ice cream.
Steve Wallace:What flavor? What's your favorite flavor?
Mike Berger:vanilla. Gotta be
Steve Wallace:just straight up vanilla. Okay. So you said, you mentioned that you you've been watching, documentaries on Netflix. Did you see the tiger
Mike Berger:King? Yes, of course I did.
Steve Wallace:Okay. So here's my, here's my follow up question. Who do you like better and why? Carol Baskin or Joe exotic?
Mike Berger:Yeah, well, they need your psychoanalysis. you know, I feel like with Joe exotic, you know, what you see is what you get, you know what I mean? And he's wild and zany. He's going to tell, tell it like it is show basket. Well, there's some mystery with her. I don't know if I completely trust it. Yeah. I think she killed her husband. I mean, I don't know, I'm not the trained attorney, but there were some holes in her argument if you will. So. For entertainment purposes, you know, I'm going to go with Joe exotic.
Steve Wallace:Sure. And I guess a follow up to that, should I feel guilty because I was rooting for Joe exotic during the documentary.
Mike Berger:So know I want to say no, and I think that's what the producers of the film are counting on. And that's why so many people continue to watch it. Yeah,
Steve Wallace:so Selena and I were going to ask you one more question each and then we're going to go to our lightning
Mike Berger:round. Oh, this wasn't the lightning round? Nope, not yet. Okay. Okay. Well, my question is you mentioned that you did stand up comedy. Yes. Okay. Why standup comedy that's so not what I would expect from a psychotherapy. Yeah at the time I remember, I was in the library at FAU. I was, studying and I just feeling distracted. And I had always wanted to be in front of people that was kind of like this reoccurring thought, get in front of people, get in front of people. And then something just came to me like, Oh, well they have a comedy club down the street. That would be the easiest and fastest way to get myself in front of people. You know, I don't need more years of schooling to do it. So I just was writing kind of funny observations and ended with five or 10 pages of funny observations. And I went with Sunday night. I believe there was maybe four or five people in the audience I walked in and they asked me, are you are commuting for the night? I remember I was very nervous. I said, I don't know. I haven't decided yet. So actually went into the bathroom, sat on the toilet, gave myself a motivational message. So you can do this. And I went on stage. I said, whatever. I said, maybe a chuckle here and there. but you know, it felt great. It felt very natural. And, so that's kind of when I was bitten by that bug. So, you know, there was something innate in me, you know, inner artist or performer, I think. And, and, and that's kind of what the story was.
Steve Wallace:Okay. My final question, before the lightning round, if you could have dinner with three historical figures, a table of four, who would they be and why?
Mike Berger:Oh, my goodness, three historical things we
Steve Wallace:asked the tough questions on attorneys are human too,
Mike Berger:and completely unprepared. not historical could be in any field,
Steve Wallace:any field.
Mike Berger:Okay. okay, well, I'll start off. I'll start off with the entertainment and the person that I'd want at that table is Robin Williams because I was such a fan of, of his humor. And per and comedy, but also just such a drama that the, the performance in Goodwill hunting, you know, what's remarkable, you know, and. When he passed, I felt like, wow, someone close to me died. so I felt like I felt a sadness about, about that. so he would be on my list. I would say, you know, right now I would say dr. King, dr. Martin Luther King, because, you know, in these times, especially I really would love to talk to him and get his opinion and his feelings and thoughts about what's happening. in our world right now. I think I would just sit back and just listen. I mean, that would just be all inspiring to keep, get his take on what's happening, in the moment or right now in our world and in our nation. And, the third historical figure that I want to hear from would be, let's see. I think, This is a challenging one. Third one would be, this is tough. no, this is alive or dead, alive or
Steve Wallace:dead.
Mike Berger:Alive or dead. Okay. Well that's really makes it easier, right. you know, I think, I'd also want to hear I want Michael Jordan sitting there because I just, you know, I've watched that series recently. I forget the name of it. The last dance.
Steve Wallace:Yeah. It's a popular topic on, on our podcast.
Mike Berger:Okay, perfect. So I'm not wanting to have to sit with him and you know his approach to competition and motivation. I mean, that's certainly would be a great person to talk with. That'd be a heck of a dinner. If you think about those around the table, talking to you. So that's who I would choose.
Steve Wallace:Okay. Lightning round. I'm going to give you this or that choices and you just answer without explanation.
Mike Berger:Okay. Got it.
Steve Wallace:Adam Sandler, welfare burgers or tacos,
Mike Berger:tacos, coffee,
Steve Wallace:or tea?
Mike Berger:Coffee.
Steve Wallace:Basketball or football,
Mike Berger:basketball,
Steve Wallace:hugging, or kissing,
Mike Berger:hugging
Steve Wallace:rain or sun.
Mike Berger:Gotta go with the sun
Steve Wallace:beach or mountains,
Mike Berger:mountains, dog, or cat. I'm going to go with the dog
Steve Wallace:Coke or diet
Mike Berger:Coke diet.
Steve Wallace:Exercising or sleeping,
Mike Berger:you can lose weight, sleep sleeping. It is nothing like a good night's sleep
Steve Wallace:Florida or New York.
Mike Berger:Oh man. I'm going to go with New York. I'm sorry, guys. Rich, rich
Steve Wallace:earlier,
Mike Berger:late. I'm going to go with early
Steve Wallace:okay. Thank you so much for being on our show. And please, before we, before we end tell our listeners how we can find it.
Mike Berger:Sure. Yeah. So right now I'm part of the group practice of dr. Berlin and psychological associates. there's a website that she has Berlin mental health.com. And, you know, right now all the therapy is doing is it's being done through telehealth. As I mentioned earlier, She does have offices in bulk in coral Springs, but I would say you would go on the website and you'll see the list of therapists there. I'm on there as well and phone number to reach out to. And, certainly they can, they can reach me through there.
Steve Wallace:How about social media,
Mike Berger:social media, you know, I do have a recent on Twitter and Instagram, but in terms of professional services, you know, I would just direct them to that, to that website. The website. Yeah, the Berlin Berlin, mental health.com.
Steve Wallace:Well, thank you so much, Michael. And you know, you, you've definitely given our, a lot of value to our listeners and, you know, we may call upon you. You're, you're officially our mental health expert now. So if you'll agree, we'd love to have you out in future episodes.
Mike Berger:Oh, I'd be thrilled. Thank you so much. It was truly a pleasure. So excited to have done this. Thank you for the opportunity and happy to come on a whenever you'd like.
Steve Wallace:Thanks, Michael.