If you or someone you love is a gifted person, you understand that it can complicate many situations in life. It’s wonderful to know that empathetic and supportive professionals are dedicating their lives to advocacy for these individuals. Join me to learn more about one such psychotherapist in today’s episode!

Gail Post is a clinical psychologist, parenting coach, workshop leader, and writer. In clinical practice for over 35 years, she provides psychotherapy in the Philadelphia area with a focus on the needs of the intellectually and musically gifted. Gail does consultations with educators and psychotherapists and parent coaching throughout the US and Canada. Dr. Post served as a co-chair of a gifted parents’ advocacy group when her children were in school, and she continues to advocate through workshops in schools and parenting groups. Her writing related to giftedness includes online articles, several books, chapters, plans for an upcoming book, and a long-standing blog, Gifted Challenges. Gail is just one of the popular gifted writers whose work is included in the book, Perspectives on Giftedness: Sound Advice from Parents and Professionals by GHF Press.

Show Highlights:

• Why Gail is intensely passionate about working with gifted and twice-exceptional teens and adults, advocacy, parenting issues, nature, art, music, and trying to make a difference
• How psychotherapists help clients with mirroring and attunement to create encouragement for the changes people need to make
• Why it’s difficult to find psychotherapists who specialize in giftedness
• Why Gail’s personal brand of intensity looks like overthinking and being passionate about her work and values
• How Gail grew up feeling things intensely and feeling out of sync with others as she tried to fit in
• How Gail was affected by white privilege and by other issues of the 70s like the Vietnam anti-war movement, women’s right, and civil rights
• How Gail had to tone herself down as a shy child when she learned to hide her abilities and talents
• Why Gail got out of control when she felt things and reacted strongly, especially in work settings
• How Gail uses her fire for good in helping people, writing, and utilizing her strengths, and engaging with her interest in the human psyche and behavior
• How Gail harnesses her power by knowing her strengths, pacing herself, and managing stress
• How she helps others by encouraging them to feel safe and accept themselves with empowerment in challenging situations
• Gail’s upcoming book, Perspectives in Giftedness, written with several other authors: her articles include “How to Explain Giftedness to Your Child,” one about what happens when kids know they are smart by society or school tells them they are not, and one about college planning to teach students and parents what they don’t know about the process
• Why we shouldn’t tell kids their IQ number because it can harm them or hold them back
• Final words from Gail: “I encourage everyone to work on self-acceptance with who you are because that’s the foundation for moving forward in life. It’s also important to accept your child’s imperfections and all of who they are.”

Resources:

Gail Post 

Gifted Challenges 

Connect with Gail on Facebook.

Perspectives on Giftedness: Sound Advice from Parents and Professionals, (A Collection of Essays by GHF Writers)

We are celebrating our 5th anniversary of the Embracing Intensity Podcast by sharing past guests, listeners and community members answer to the question "What does Embracing Intensity mean to me? 

I'm also launching my new website at EmbracingIntensity.com - go check it out and explore! 

The podcast is marking a huge milestone this week as we celebrate our 5th anniversary! In today’s show, we go outside the box as we discuss the importance of storytelling when it comes to giftedness, equity, identity, and inclusion. Join us to learn more!

Marc Smolowitz is a previous guest on the show, and I’m thrilled to have him back to talk about one of his projects, The G Word film. Marc is a multi-award-winning director, producer, and executive producer who has been involved in more than 50 independent films. His works have touched viewers on five continents and screened at the world’s top-tier film festivals. Marc is currently in post-production on The G Word, a feature-length documentary that aims to be the most comprehensive film ever made on the topics of gifted, talented, and neurodiverse education across the US. The film tells seven stories with different perspectives and asks the urgent equity question, “In the 21st century, who gets to be gifted in America, and why?” The film is poised to premiere in 2022.

Show Highlights:

• How the pandemic has affected Marc’s work on The G Word and other projects
• A broad overview of The G Word and the important stories highlighted by the film
• How changemakers are working to make a difference in the gifted and talented community
• How we can use our voices to be allies for the disenfranchised
• How a zip code can be ultra-defining in the resources and opportunities available to people
• How Marc is working to “take the temperature” of people around the country in assessing how giftedness has been affected by the pandemic
• A look at the spirit of G/T/N Awareness Week (gifted, talented, neurodiverse), which is scheduled for October 25-29; this is a FREE five-day slate of virtual programming with a different focus each day. (See Resources to register.)
• Why free and appropriate public education is a social contract--a promise made to all parents for their children
• Why we as advocates and allies cannot quit fighting to make a better civil society for “more of us rather than less of us”
• Why we need a much more communal and collective narrative around giftedness and neurodiversity in our country
• Why The G Word is a mainstream educational film

Resources:

The G Word Film  Find out more about the film, find resources, and sign up for G/T/N Awareness Week.

Find the film on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.