Episode #78: Jodi Taub
Jodi Taub, LCSW is a psychotherapist with a private practice in NYC. She has over 20 years of direct care experience with children, adolescents, and adults. She practices individual, couples, family and group therapies. She specializes in treating issues related to Mood and Anxiety Disorders as well as the emotional issues that arise from coping with Chronic Illness.
Jodi is also an expert lecturer, public speaker, published writer, researcher, and active mental health contributor to the Immune Deficiency Foundation.
Like others with compromised immune systems, Jodi Taub’s life is at risk due to COVID-19. Jodi was diagnosed with primary immunodeficiency (PI) around fourteen years ago, and she manages about 22 different health conditions as a result. Long before COVID-19 was on anyone’s radar, she lived her life using strategies to keep herself safe-- strategies that many of us are now using on a daily basis as we navigate this pandemic. On today’s episode, Jodi and I talk about her decision to leave the NYC area once she recognized that she felt unsafe in New York. We also talk about how, as a psychotherapist who works with people who have chronic illnesses, she’s helping her clients navigate the emotional shifts and trauma that we are all experiencing collectively. Finally, we talk about why community is so essential right now, and the grounding technique that she’s practicing every morning as she adjusts to her “new normal.”
“It’s one thing if you’re just going through this by yourself, or with a small group of people... but when everybody is going through this together, there’s a sense of community.”
Here are some of the things Jodi and I chatted about:
Why and how she decided to transition from child and family therapy to her current specialty
What primary immunodeficiency (PI) is, and how having PI impacts Jodi’s overall health
How the COVID-19 pandemic is giving people background info about the immune system
Her routine, every two weeks, to receive antibodies through other people’s plasma
What “Jodi’s rules” are--the strategies she uses all the time to keep herself from getting sick
How she explains how critical social distancing is right now, and why it applies to everyone
The life-threatening risk to her of getting COVID-19, and her decision to go to Cleveland, Ohio
Aiming for balance every day: taking a walk, getting good sleep, keeping in touch with friends
Why it’s important to her to find some semblance of a “new normal” with her current routine
How acceptance of not knowing exactly how this pandemic will play out is part of the process
What she’s talking about with clients and supporting them during this time (and going forward)
The difference between going through something alone and going through something together
Why her patients are expressing that they feel more safe to talk about their illnesses right now
The complexity, for people with chronic illness, of being in a city like New York during this time
Why she’s encouraging clients to hone in on their coping skills and get the support they need
Her practice to ground herself right now: thinking of five things each morning to be grateful for
“Understand that we are all in this together, and that in order to stop the spread, and to start protecting the people around us, you have to think about everything that you’re doing.”
Support for this episode comes from Abridge. Abridge is a free app that helps you capture the details of your care so you can make the most of your next doctor's appointment. In addition to recording conversations with your doctor, it highlights and creates an index of key medical points so you can review them later on. To learn more and download Abridge for free, visit www.abridgeapp.com/madevisible.
