In this episode of the Fear Less Podcast, host Zack interviews Professor Mary Beth Gallagher from Duke University. With over 25 years of experience in occupational therapy across the U.S. and abroad, Mary Beth shares her insights on how fear shapes and impacts mental health care systems. The conversation highlights the risk-averse nature of mental health care environments and how fear of litigation often leads to conservative treatment decisions, which can hinder patient progress. Mary Beth discusses her perspective on occupational therapy’s role in promoting well-being and how practitioners can balance safety with evidence-based interventions.

The episode also delves into the systemic challenges faced by mental health professionals, particularly in hospital settings, where fear can limit innovation and personalized care. Mary Beth shares examples of how risk aversion affects therapeutic interventions and emphasizes the need for more dialogue and flexibility in the mental health care system. She also introduces a community-focused nonprofit which she helped co-found, the Center for Community Connection (C4CC), which aims to provide holistic, occupation-based interventions to foster well-being and connection at individual, family, and community levels.

Zack’s Hacks: In this week’s anxiety hack Zack shares a tool called, Seven Column Thought Record which can help you to Fear Less!

Fear Less is sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center.