Who Is Your One? Trust, Connection, and the Relationships That Change Us

In this episode of The Clinical Moment, hosts Amy Davis and Casey Baker sit down with Michael, an LSI clinician who works with youth in juvenile detention centers across Iowa and is also a singer in his personal life. Michael shares how showing up, including attending court hearings, can transform trust, engagement, and willingness to heal, especially for young people who have never had a consistent advocate. He explains his deeply relationship-based approach and how he integrates Solution-Focused strategies such as exceptions, scaling, and future-oriented planning to help youth identify strengths, build realistic goals, and create a concrete “24/7 plan” for life outside detention.

The conversation expands into healthy relationships more broadly. Michael discusses what makes relationships emotionally safe, how communication breaks down, especially around trust injuries, and how couples can shift from reactive conflict to clearer needs, empathy, and repair. Along the way, he connects music and voice as metaphors for authenticity and expression, and he discusses creative tools that support youth in telling their stories in new ways.

Resources mentioned in the episode

• Norcross and Lambert on psychotherapy outcome factors, including the role of client factors, the therapeutic relationship, and technique
• Child and Adolescent PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS) used as part of initial assessment and conversation with youth
• ACEs, Adverse Childhood Experiences referenced as a parallel lens for understanding history and impact
• Gabor Maté and Compassionate Inquiry for trauma framing, with emphasis on what happens inside as a result of what happened
• Suno AI music creation tool used to support youth expression through lyric-writing and song creation
• Commissioned gospel music group Michael listened to growing up
• Helped, Hugged, or Heard communication check-in tool for couples

Listen to Michael's music here:

https://open.spotify.com/track/4zvwoNQdQYsfRhOE01gXej?si=qELrm3jyRJOXRUBg3gYwZg

https://music.apple.com/us/album/love-letter/1858486891?i=1858486892