What if your brain isn’t the problem but the system measuring it is?
In this eye-opening episode of the ANEW Insight Podcast, Dr. Supatra Tovar sits down with Dr. Cris Scaglione, neuropsychologist and current president of the Los Angeles County Psychological Association, for a deep and compassionate conversation about how neuropsychology can empower healing especially for those who feel misunderstood or mislabeled.
Dr. Scaglione’s story starts with a childhood brain injury that went misdiagnosed for years. That early experience, along with a lifelong fascination with people and their unique ways of being, sparked her passion for neuropsychology. Now, she brings decades of experience in therapy, assessment, and cognitive rehabilitation to help individuals with trauma, brain injury, neurodiversity, and chronic illness reclaim their stories and agency.
But she’s not just crunching numbers she’s rewriting the narrative.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
- Neuropsychology is more than test scores.
While many think neuropsychology is all about assessment, Dr. Scaglione reminds us it’s actually about helping people make sense of their lives, heal, and function better emotionally, cognitively, and socially. - Brain health isn’t just biology, it’s deeply personal.
From concussions to lifelong neurodiversity, Dr. Scaglione explains how individual stories matter just as much as data. Her goal? To help clients reach their fullest potential, not force them into rigid norms. - Assessments have blind spots.
Standardized tests often fail to consider cultural identity, language, and life experience. Immigrants, older adults, multilingual individuals, and people of color can be misdiagnosed or entirely overlooked because the testing was never built for them in the first place. - Narrative is power.
Dr. Scaglione shares how her evaluations include a storytelling element documenting real skills and life context that test scores can’t capture, especially for individuals who have suffered injury or live with invisible disabilities. - Neurofeedback and tech are changing the field.
She discusses exciting innovations like connected iPad-based testing and the future of using neurofeedback not just for treatment but for assessment. The goal? More accurate snapshots of brain function, faster and more accessible. - Cultural humility changes outcomes.
As a Canadian immigrant herself, Dr. Scaglione offers powerful insights into how expectations around assimilation, masculinity, and identity shape therapeutic outcomes and why clinicians must meet clients where they are, not where the “norm” says they should be. - Not all brains should work the same.
One of the most healing things we can tell clients is this: You’re not broken you’re just different. And that difference may be your strength.
Why this episode matters:
This conversation challenges the idea that healing comes from fixing what’s “wrong.” Instead, it offers a new framework one that embraces neurodiversity, honors cultural identity, and values the whole human behind the score.
Dr. Scaglione’s approach is a call to clinicians and clients alike: see beyond the numbers. Advocate. Question norms. And most of all, create space for brains that don’t fit the mold.
Whether you’ve ever been told you’re “too sensitive,” “too slow,” or “not focused enough,” this episode is a reminder that your brain doesn’t need to be fixed it needs to be understood.
🎧 Listen now on YouTube: @my.anew.insight
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View here full podcast Transcript:
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Welcome to the ANEW Insight podcast
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empowering and inspiring your journey
to optimal health.
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Hosted by Doctor
Supatra Tovar, clinical psychologist,
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registered dietitian, fitness expert
and author of Deprogram Diet Culture:
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Rethink Your Relationship with Food,
Heal Your Mind, and Live a Diet Free Life.
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I follow my guests’ journey
to optimal health,
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providing you with the keys
to unlock your own wellness path.
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Tune in and evolve with us.
00:00:34:18 – 00:00:37:11
Hello and welcome
to the ANEW Insight podcast.
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I’m Doctor Supatra Tovar,
and I am so excited
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to have neuropsychological expert
and president of the Los Angeles
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County Psychological Association (LACPA), Doctor
Cris Scaglione, with us today.
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Doctor Cris, welcome. Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
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I’m very excited to pick her brain
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about all things neuropsychology
and all things LACPA.
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But but I’m going to read a little bit
about Doctor Cris first.
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And then I’ll get right
into the questions.
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Doctor Cris Scaglione is a clinical
psychologist with a PhD from Fielding
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Graduate University,
with a career spanning since 1985.
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She has extensive experience in therapy,
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cognitive rehabilitation
and neuropsychology.
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Assisting clients
dealing with trauma, loss,
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neurodiversity, and chronic illness
or injury.
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Doctor Scaglione adopts
a practical and varied approach,
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integrating bio psychosocial perspectives
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with depth, humanistic, trauma
informed, and mindfulness methodologies,
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while emphasizing self-care and focusing
on clients strengths and resources.
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Her background in anthropology
and personal experiences
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contribute to her sensitivity
toward issues of identity and culture.
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Doctor Scaglione serves
as the president of the Los Angeles
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County Psychological Association,
where she is committed to promoting
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diversity and inclusion
within the psychological community.
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Doctor Cris, welcome.
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Thank you.
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So I really want to know
about your history.
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What led you into the field of psychology
and what inspired you
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to specialize in neuropsychology?
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I actually started out in anthropology
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as you mentioned, because
I’m just very interested in people.
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They’re fun, they’re interesting,
they’re weird.
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And I’ve always been interested
in brain evolution.
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Because that’s what makes us most different,
from the other creatures on the planet.
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And there was,
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I’ve had a concussion as a child
that wasn’t actually a concussion.
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Turns out to be a moderate brain injury.
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Still affects me today.
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And there’s other neurological issues
in the family
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that I knew were pretty profoundly,
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influential on the person,
and also the family members.
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I think one of the fun things
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about going into neuropsych though was that
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I also grew up with family friends that had
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really pretty severe neurological impairment,
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and should have died really young,
but they didn’t.
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They are sill alive in their 90s. Wow.
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And they do so, I’m pretty convinced,
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because they’re happy.
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They seek out joy, they
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and it takes just very little,
mind you.
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They’re fun, happy,
lovely people to be around.
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And they’ve outlived
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everybody’s expectations for what
should have happened to them.
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So those are all very,
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heartfelt,
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and interesting things to me
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and I thought it would be interesting to
pursue a career in that field.
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I love that.
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Give us a picture of neuropsychology
as a specialty.
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How is that different from, say,
someone who’s just,
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you know, treating depression
or something like that?
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Well, we treat plenty of
depression as well.
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Neuropsych now, is a little different
than it was when I came up.
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You could be a regular
clinical psychologist
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and simply say on your work sites
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send anybody to me that looks like
they have any kind of brain history,
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concussion, dementia, that sort of thing.
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You learn that way, you took
specialized courses as well,
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and you also sought out specialized training,
say in assessment. That sort of thing.
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Now you have to have more specialized
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training and more specialized supervision.
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But generally you end up doing
essentially clinical
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psychology, with a lot of assessment.
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And that’s where it ends
for a lot of people. But,
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a lot of us also,
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really enjoy doing, therapy with individuals,
families, couples.
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Having them adjust to what’s
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happened to them.
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Or what they were born with
and have to deal with
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that’s different than the rest of us
have to contend with.
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And I like doing cognitive rehab, which is essentially
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helping people build on the skills that
they have in order to
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keep themselves organized, on point.
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Happy. As functional as possible.
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So I think a
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lot of people think that neuropsych
is just assessment.
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It’s a great deal more than that, it’s
the application of that knowledge
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to help people live a
meaningful life.
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That’s how I see it anyway.
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I love that, and I think a lot of people
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don’t really fully understand
what neuropsych assessment really is.
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So if you could explain to our audience,
who may not have any experience
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at all in assessment, what exactly is it
and what do you use it for?
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Sometimes an assessment will
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be very pointed
at somebody who’s interested in,
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whether or not their kid has ADHD.
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So it’s going to
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be a fairly,
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it’s a smaller, less involved
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process of assessment, testing, etc.
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But, I’ll start with a broader picture.
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If you have a stroke, for instance,
or a brain injury,
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or you’re not sure exactly
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what’s going on after the car accident.
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We get a history, we get
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personality testing
and we do then specialized tests
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of your thinking processes.
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We try to do a
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pretty good survey, of attention,
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memory, perceptual skills, motor skills.
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We do almost like a
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substitute brain scan, in the sense
that we do
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testing of the front of your head,
back of your head and both sides.
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So we get a pretty good overall
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global picture of,
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what we can of your cognitive skills.
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We do the same kind of thing,
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but at a perhaps a
slightly more focused way
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for somebody interested in whether or
not they have a learning disability,
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or ADHD.
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There are certain tests, that you
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over time
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must have in a battery.
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That’s changed a bit over time.
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Right now I’ll have a lot of people
also that I see,
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that are younger adults,
and they’re on the autism spectrum,
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but they were not
aware of it.
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During their intake interview,
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they are coming in for, say the
things that normal
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regular people would come in for,
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therapy normally that would be anxiety and depression.
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But it’s very clear during the interview,
that they have a great
deal of neurodiversity going on.
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Yes. And it’s been the source of
a great deal of their strain.
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So I do a lot of adult screenings now for autism.
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That’s been a lot of fun,
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Oh I can only imagine.
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I actually have quite a few adults
on the spectrum in my, in my practice.
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And I, I just find that
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population just absolutely fascinating.
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They’re refreshing. You can be really
really direct. Yes.
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You don’t have to be metaphoric
and poetic. Yes.
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It’s great.
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I love that.
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Well, what are some of the limitations
of assessment,
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especially for more marginalized
groups, women, people of color?
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Right, I would include in that also
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older adults.
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So some of the limitations are that
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there is so much variability that
we don’t really account for.
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We’re always looking towards
some kind of
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middle of the road norm in comparing
people to that.
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But that norm itself,
has it’s own biases.
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It is usually geared toward Anglo-European,
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middle-class,
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educated.
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Very much the kind of clients that
most clinicians see.
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So we’re leaving out, immigrants, people
that speak more than one language,
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Older adults that may have
a very broad
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broad and deep experience
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that’s not accounted for necessarily
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in their cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
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The norms that we use are often
again, really strongly biased
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towards a more familiar
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for lack of better terminology,
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sort of a Mid-Western population.
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Right.
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And so,
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you can actually make a living
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testifying for minoritized members
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of our culture
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showing that the testing they just took
was not accurately representative
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of their functioning.
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But that takes a lot of finesse
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and some courage because
you’re swimming upstream all the time.
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Right.
00:10:04:21 – 00:10:06:23
How do you deal with that
in your practice?
00:10:06:23 – 00:10:11:02
Say that you are testing somebody
from a more marginalized background.
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How do you account for that
in your testing measures?
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Fortunately I’m not doing a lot of that anymore.
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You have to be pretty brave.
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You have to be very knowledgeable.
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You also have to rely on things like
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getting a really really good
history and understanding that,
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you know, this person before their
car accident had
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tremendous skills in some
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maybe untestable area, like architecture.
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Like mechanics.
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Like writing music.
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We don’t test for those things.
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Right.
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Yet, after an injury, say or a stroke
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they are no longer able to do that, or not
able to do it the same way.
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So a lot of becomes narrative process.
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Advocacy essentially.
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And then trying your very best
to also maybe tap into
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that in some way with some test
that might not be
00:11:06:12 – 00:11:09:11
readily available or easily understood.
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So quite a bit of it is in the storytelling
part of a report.
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Yes. And also helping the
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Helping the person understand that
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although this might not be seen
in other settings.
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You see it and you get it and you help them
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essentially adjusted to that. Yes.
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Which is why
I think the clinician is so important in
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the testing process
is not just about the numbers.
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It’s not just about the stats.
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It’s about taking into account
what you might get as a result
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and interpreting, interpreting the result
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from the lens of the client. Absolutely.
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Because I think people can be stigmatized.
00:11:54:13 – 00:11:55:22
Oh, all the time, yeah.
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I am, I’m somewhat unusual
00:12:04:23 – 00:12:06:08
at least from
00:12:06:08 – 00:12:09:08
what I’ve see, of the recent reports
I’ve seen for instance.
00:12:10:22 – 00:12:13:04
Perhaps because I’m older,
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for whatever reasons,
00:12:16:04 – 00:12:19:14
maybe familiarity with a lot of people
with neurodiversity.
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I’m not
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the numbers are important.
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It’s important to know where the norms are.
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Taken from though.
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You also need to know
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when it’s okay to not administer the test
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the way the textbook tells you to
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or the manual tells you to administer the test
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For me,
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an assessment is about,
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helping the person provide
their absolute best
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performance to see where
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their upper limits are essentially, as opposed to
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trying to compare them to some
00:12:58:15 – 00:13:00:18
Inappropriate perhaps, norms.
00:13:02:19 – 00:13:04:01
And so I
00:13:04:01 – 00:13:05:17
got into trouble for that, doing
00:13:05:17 – 00:13:08:18
med-legal assessments actually,
because they really are
00:13:08:18 – 00:13:10:08
very much more rigid around that.
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And I’m finding that,
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Most of the reports I see now are
00:13:14:10 – 00:13:16:14
from that really rigid school of thought
00:13:17:02 – 00:13:19:17
That says no, this is how the manual says
ya gotta do it.
00:13:19:17 – 00:13:22:23
Yes. This its what the stats say, this
is what the norms say.
00:13:23:03 – 00:13:26:03
But that does not represent the person. Yes.
00:13:26:03 – 00:13:28:00
That often does them a disservice.
00:13:28:00 – 00:13:32:12
Yes. And that’s what again with
not even non-minority
00:13:33:16 – 00:13:35:10
clients, it’s for a lot of people.
00:13:35:18 – 00:13:37:03
Yeah
00:13:37:03 – 00:13:41:19
I think that that’s an important area
that needs to maybe have a closer
00:13:41:19 – 00:13:46:22
look and maybe,
even a redesign of certain tests.
00:13:47:11 – 00:13:50:11
Although the tests out
there are pretty amazing.
00:13:50:11 – 00:13:51:17
They really are. Right.
00:13:51:17 – 00:13:52:22
And I think,
00:13:55:14 – 00:13:55:22
I think
00:13:55:22 – 00:13:58:21
we’re sort of dazzled by that sometimes,
they are pretty amazing.
00:13:59:14 – 00:14:02:01
But I think there’s
a little bit of scientism in that.
00:14:02:10 – 00:14:04:05
Just because you can do this
00:14:04:05 – 00:14:07:03
thing and you can get a number that
00:14:07:03 – 00:14:09:07
supposedly means something.
That doesn’t mean that’s
00:14:09:07 – 00:14:10:19
actually what it means.
00:14:11:06 – 00:14:13:09
for that person. Right.
00:14:13:09 – 00:14:17:01
But it is super helpful for people
who are looking for accommodations
00:14:17:01 – 00:14:18:21
especially in school.
00:14:18:21 – 00:14:21:14
I always recommend if, any of my kid
00:14:21:14 – 00:14:26:14
clients are struggling,
that they get assessed. Absolutely.
00:14:26:14 – 00:14:29:05
Because the accommodations
can make all the difference.
00:14:29:05 – 00:14:30:21
And it’s really important for people
00:14:30:21 – 00:14:33:21
to know
that not all brains are created equally.
00:14:33:22 – 00:14:36:22
And sometimes kids
just need a little extra time.
00:14:37:08 – 00:14:40:13
And that extra time
can actually level the playing field.
00:14:40:13 – 00:14:41:17
Easily, yeah, yeah.
00:14:41:17 – 00:14:43:01
I love that.
00:14:43:01 – 00:14:46:07
Well, more about neuropsychology.
00:14:46:22 – 00:14:49:15
How does it aid
individuals in their healing journey,
00:14:49:15 – 00:14:54:02
especially with people who are dealing
with trauma or neurodiversity?
00:14:55:11 – 00:14:56:19
We’ve touched on some of that.
00:14:59:02 – 00:15:03:03
That the world itself, to some degree,
can accommodate the person.
00:15:03:08 – 00:15:06:13
Yeah. More importantly though,
I think it’s
00:15:07:23 – 00:15:11:01
being in touch with yourself, being in touch with
00:15:12:16 – 00:15:15:20
what made things so difficult for you at times
00:15:15:20 – 00:15:18:01
and being able to understand that
in a different way.
00:15:18:13 – 00:15:21:13
And also to be able to have some agency
00:15:21:18 – 00:15:23:13
in changing that.
00:15:23:21 – 00:15:26:16
Changing how you feel about it,
changing how you see it,
00:15:26:16 – 00:15:27:23
changing how you manage it in the world.
00:15:29:01 – 00:15:31:00
That’s incredibly healing, and it takes a
00:15:31:06 – 00:15:35:12
a couple of years actually, usually for that
adjustment to be comfortable,
00:15:36:18 – 00:15:39:03
consistent and sustainable.
00:15:41:23 – 00:15:44:21
I think that eventually it also helps the person
00:15:46:06 – 00:15:49:22
be an advocate, for others as well.
00:15:51:02 – 00:15:53:02
Help other people understand
00:15:55:08 – 00:15:57:05
how to function, how to be in the world.
00:15:57:05 – 00:16:00:23
Understand that, as you had said, not
all brains are created equal,
00:16:00:23 – 00:16:04:05
and they don’t have to be, that’s the
really important part.
00:16:04:05 – 00:16:05:13
Yeah. In fact, they shouldn’t be.
00:16:06:10 – 00:16:07:23
Yes definitely.
00:16:07:23 – 00:16:12:08
What are the latest advancements
in neuropsychology
00:16:12:08 – 00:16:13:22
that we might not know?
00:16:16:02 – 00:16:17:19
I think fundamentally, neuropsych
00:16:18:10 – 00:16:20:17
the principles are the same, I think
what’s different now
00:16:22:06 – 00:16:24:17
we have some slightly better attunement
00:16:24:17 – 00:16:26:05
towards things like,
00:16:27:12 – 00:16:30:05
adult autism, ADHD.
00:16:30:15 – 00:16:32:19
We also have a lot more
00:16:33:13 – 00:16:36:10
ways of testing people virtually
00:16:37:05 – 00:16:39:07
Or at least electronically.
00:16:39:07 – 00:16:41:17
We can sit in the same room and
you have an iPad
00:16:41:17 – 00:16:43:13
and I have an iPad that are connected.
00:16:44:17 – 00:16:48:00
So there’s fewer mistakes in scoring, for instance.
00:16:49:07 – 00:16:50:02
It’s much easier
00:16:50:02 – 00:16:54:20
to, to get the testing results more quickly,
more accurately.
00:16:56:06 – 00:17:01:07
I think we maybe moving towards,
also having some
00:17:02:09 – 00:17:06:22
neurofeedback as an assessment
rather than a treatment tool.
00:17:07:00 – 00:17:08:15
But I think that’s a ways off.
00:17:08:21 – 00:17:09:16
How so?
00:17:09:16 – 00:17:12:01
I think that,
00:17:13:00 – 00:17:18:15
neurofeedback is developing a nice database
of what it looks like to have say a brain injury,
00:17:18:20 – 00:17:21:21
certain types of inattention, or
00:17:22:07 – 00:17:25:10
what neurodiverse brains look like metabolically.
00:17:26:05 – 00:17:28:06
And that might be a good way to
00:17:29:12 – 00:17:33:07
getting a nice base line EEG reading
00:17:33:07 – 00:17:34:13
would be
00:17:34:13 – 00:17:36:20
I think a very useful way of assessing people.
00:17:37:03 – 00:17:40:20
Give give our listeners
who may not understand that terminology.
00:17:41:07 – 00:17:42:03
What exactly
00:17:42:03 – 00:17:44:04
Neurofeedback is.
00:17:46:10 – 00:17:48:08
I’m not an expert in it.
00:17:48:23 – 00:17:51:21
I’ve actually had it done a few times,
and really enjoyed it.
00:17:51:21 – 00:17:54:22
It’s a complicated EEG
00:17:54:22 – 00:17:59:06
that takes a look at brain activity,
throughout the entire brain.
00:17:59:16 – 00:18:03:10
We now have a good idea
as to what,
00:18:04:21 – 00:18:06:21
I’m trying not get into things like
00:18:07:05 – 00:18:09:06
frequencies and that sort of thing.
00:18:10:05 – 00:18:12:18
certain speeds and certain,
00:18:12:18 – 00:18:15:01
intensities of activity throughout the brain.
00:18:17:03 – 00:18:20:03
Is what this EEG will measure.
00:18:22:01 – 00:18:24:20
We expect certain areas of the
00:18:24:20 – 00:18:26:00
brain to be
00:18:26:00 – 00:18:27:17
at rest, more active,
00:18:28:11 – 00:18:30:21
and certain areas to be less active.
00:18:31:05 – 00:18:32:18
We expect certain parts of the brain
00:18:32:18 – 00:18:34:20
to be connected in a certain way, but not
00:18:35:18 – 00:18:39:01
hyperconnected. Not overly
connected and not overly active.
00:18:39:13 – 00:18:41:20
So they have some nice baseline
00:18:43:10 – 00:18:46:23
norms essentially of what a brain at
rest should look like.
00:18:48:00 – 00:18:49:08
There’s some
00:18:50:11 – 00:18:52:05
good data that they also have
00:18:52:22 – 00:18:56:09
is to what a brain that is trying to pay
attention should look like
00:18:56:21 – 00:19:00:20
and what parts of the brain
should be active and interacting.
00:19:01:05 – 00:19:05:01
Or other parts of the brain that should perhaps be a little more restful at those periods.
00:19:05:22 – 00:19:07:14
We have an idea that
00:19:09:09 – 00:19:10:20
a brain that is not anxious or
00:19:10:20 – 00:19:12:07
that is not depressed
00:19:12:07 – 00:19:13:07
what that looks like.
00:19:13:17 – 00:19:16:05
Versus a brain that is anxious
or is depressed.
00:19:16:05 – 00:19:17:23
I think that may end up becoming
00:19:18:13 – 00:19:21:13
a possible way of
00:19:22:08 – 00:19:27:22
at least having a snapshot,
of someones neurological functioning
00:19:28:02 – 00:19:29:20
So interesting.
00:19:29:20 – 00:19:31:04
And normally it’s used.
00:19:31:04 – 00:19:34:20
Neurofeedback has been used in order
to help the person
00:19:35:06 – 00:19:39:18
learn how to control their bodily systems
to reduce stress.
00:19:40:03 – 00:19:43:07
Right. It started out very
much like biofeedback is
00:19:43:07 – 00:19:43:23
Yeah.
00:19:43:23 – 00:19:46:00
We still don’t know how that works,
it’s like magic.
00:19:46:00 – 00:19:47:22
Really, somebody gives you a
00:19:48:00 – 00:19:50:16
sound that is correlated with
00:19:50:16 – 00:19:52:07
your heart rate, or
00:19:53:11 – 00:19:55:09
in the case of neurofeedback
00:19:55:09 – 00:19:58:14
A certain brain
frequency in a certain part of your brain.
00:19:59:12 – 00:20:00:09
Yet
00:20:00:09 – 00:20:03:07
given that little bit of feedback,
there’s so much of our
00:20:03:07 – 00:20:06:17
unconscious, or automatic processing in the brain
00:20:06:17 – 00:20:10:14
that uses that information in a
way to eventually control it.
00:20:11:09 – 00:20:14:01
And you can do it eventually
without the feedback
00:20:14:01 – 00:20:17:01
you just, there’s a feeling you get,
it’s really kinda cool.
00:20:17:01 – 00:20:18:07
Yes. It is really cool.
00:20:18:07 – 00:20:22:11
I actually did biofeedback
in one of my practicums on clients.
00:20:22:11 – 00:20:25:06
I did it on my, you know,
had somebody administer it to me.
00:20:25:06 – 00:20:29:10
And, we were always playing around with
it too, as practicum students.
00:20:29:10 – 00:20:34:11
And it’s fascinating really, actually,
I think helps people gain
00:20:34:11 – 00:20:38:09
agency and control,
especially if they have things like,
00:20:38:16 – 00:20:42:07
you know, stressful panic attacks,
anxiety attacks.
00:20:43:01 – 00:20:45:13
It gives them like a tangible tool
00:20:45:13 – 00:20:48:13
that they can take with them
in order to manage that.
00:20:48:17 – 00:20:52:04
So it’s very cool
that they’re actually thinking of bridging
00:20:52:04 – 00:20:55:04
that more into assessment.
00:20:55:14 – 00:20:57:02
I love that.
00:20:57:02 – 00:20:59:21
I’m not certain that there’s anybody
actively doing that.
00:20:59:21 – 00:21:01:03
But, I, that my
00:21:01:03 – 00:21:02:21
my guess is that’s what’s coming next.
00:21:02:21 – 00:21:04:17
Oh, I hope so.
00:21:04:17 – 00:21:09:05
So now we, a big part of you
and LACPA,
00:21:09:06 – 00:21:13:12
we’re going to get more into that,
for your presidency in the next
00:21:13:16 – 00:21:16:16
section of this episode.
00:21:16:17 – 00:21:22:10
But give me a picture of why cultural
sensitivity and understanding of identity
00:21:22:10 – 00:21:25:10
is so important in therapeutic outcomes?
00:21:25:16 – 00:21:29:01
And to the work that you’re doing at LACPA.
00:21:31:05 – 00:21:35:15
I don’t know how it’s going to necessarily
affect LACPA, I just got here
00:21:35:15 – 00:21:37:03
[laughter]
00:21:40:13 – 00:21:43:21
Unfortunately this kinda gets to something we
might want to discuss later,
00:21:44:15 – 00:21:46:14
The entire culture of,
00:21:46:14 – 00:21:48:11
I’m not from this culture by the way.
00:21:48:11 – 00:21:51:01
I’m from a slightly different culture,
I’m Canadian.
00:21:51:21 – 00:21:54:21
And I used to jokingly say if we ever
go to war with Canada,
00:21:55:11 – 00:21:57:12
[laughter]
00:21:57:12 – 00:22:00:11
So, yeah, I may be headin’
back home soon, anyway.
00:22:03:09 – 00:22:07:16
There are slight differences between
American and Canadian culture.
00:22:07:18 – 00:22:09:22
And one of them is that
00:22:10:23 – 00:22:12:23
Canadian culture tends to be,
00:22:14:01 – 00:22:15:18
less
00:22:17:02 – 00:22:21:07
less expected that everybody’s going to blend in,
and this is a melting pot.
00:22:21:23 – 00:22:23:23
It’s more about, hey, welcome.
00:22:24:18 – 00:22:25:21
There’s a tendency for
00:22:26:10 – 00:22:30:02
as there is some, many many cities in the States as well.
00:22:30:02 – 00:22:32:09
Neighborhoods where people tend to settle.
00:22:32:09 – 00:22:34:03
So I grew up where there’s
00:22:34:03 – 00:22:35:12
a bunch of Italians here,
00:22:35:12 – 00:22:37:10
bunch of Russians over there,
00:22:37:10 – 00:22:39:19
bunch of Polish people over there.
00:22:40:16 – 00:22:42:07
We all enjoyed each other,
00:22:42:07 – 00:22:46:12
and celebrating holidays, etc. That was fun.
00:22:46:13 – 00:22:50:14
My experience here has been that
00:22:50:20 – 00:22:54:06
the expectation of assimilation
is very very powerful.
00:22:55:11 – 00:22:58:08
The expectation of
00:22:58:08 – 00:23:01:11
masculinity, as this sort of this lone gunman
00:23:02:05 – 00:23:06:18
as an archetype, is very foreign and
frightening. Yes. In many ways.
00:23:07:08 – 00:23:09:19
And I’ve seen this,
00:23:09:19 – 00:23:12:18
I came here in the ‘70s, so I was in high school
00:23:14:09 – 00:23:16:05
I’ve seen over time,
00:23:16:16 – 00:23:21:03
that, rather than becoming more tolerant
and more accepting,
00:23:21:03 – 00:23:24:18
the country seems to have become
increasingly divided.
00:23:24:23 – 00:23:29:05
There’s been an increasing gap in wealth.
There’s been an increasing gap in
00:23:29:18 – 00:23:33:05
understanding disability, understanding old age,
00:23:33:05 – 00:23:35:07
and understanding people from
different cultures.
00:23:35:17 – 00:23:40:01
Being tolerant of the reasons why immigrants
come here for a better life.
00:23:41:02 – 00:23:46:00
Without that we are in grave danger of
00:23:46:00 – 00:23:49:17
of something
00:23:49:17 – 00:23:52:06
perhaps as powerful as civil war.
00:23:54:04 – 00:23:57:11
Short of that, within the field of psychology
00:23:57:11 – 00:24:00:03
when we do not understand
that the people coming to see us
00:24:00:03 – 00:24:02:01
have a different history,
00:24:02:01 – 00:24:05:05
have different values,
may use language differently.
00:24:05:05 – 00:24:09:18
Have different expectations
of what connection is and what candidness is.
00:24:10:00 – 00:24:12:11
and what emotional expressivity is.
00:24:12:21 – 00:24:16:12
We do not meet them where they are,
we cannot treat them well.
00:24:17:04 – 00:24:19:19
And when they feel that difference
00:24:19:19 – 00:24:23:17
particularly since they are feeling that difference in the world, every minute of every day,
00:24:23:17 – 00:24:25:13
outside of the therapy room,
00:24:25:13 – 00:24:27:21
it causes them additional harm.
00:24:28:10 – 00:24:31:19
It makes them feel as though they
are still being oppressed.
00:24:33:07 – 00:24:36:01
At the very least we’re not gonna get
them to come back
00:24:36:01 – 00:24:37:16
if we even get them in the door.
00:24:38:07 – 00:24:42:03
So that’s just off hand what
comes to mind when you ask that.
00:24:42:03 – 00:24:43:23
Yes. And I think
00:24:43:23 – 00:24:49:00
where we need to take psychology, I think
00:24:49:00 – 00:24:52:22
and that’s what we’re going to talk about
with the future of LACPA
00:24:52:22 – 00:24:55:09
in the second half of this episode.
00:24:55:09 – 00:24:57:18
But we’re out of time for this half.
00:24:57:18 – 00:25:02:00
But I am super grateful to have Doctor
Cris Scaglione here with me.
00:25:02:10 – 00:25:05:00
And really hope you tune in
00:25:05:00 – 00:25:08:00
for the next half of this interview.
00:25:08:17 – 00:25:10:13
And we will see you next time.
00:25:11:20 – 00:25:15:01
Thanks for tuning into
the ANEW Insight Podcast.
00:25:15:01 – 00:25:17:17
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00:25:17:17 – 00:25:22:13
is for entertainment purposes only,
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00:25:22:13 – 00:25:25:09
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00:25:27:22 – 00:25:32:19
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00:25:32:19 – 00:25:40:18
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