Welcome Back: Where We’ve Been and What’s Next for the Podcast
In our 280th episode, we provide an update after a five-year hiatus!
We discuss our personal experiences, including burnout, career changes, and coping with the pandemic. The episode covers the transition from our old OnlyYouForever brand to the new Therapevo Counselling brand, highlighting the expanded focus on diverse counseling topics and services. We also touch on rebranding the podcast to ‘Normalize therapy.’ and adding a new YouTube channel. We talk about upcoming content and plans to expand our social media presence and blogging.
We are so excited about returning and invite listeners to join us on this new journey!
Timeline
00:00 Welcome Back! Introduction and Episode Overview
00:31 Reflecting on the Past: Life Since 2020
07:19 Current Affairs: Rebranding and New Beginnings
12:34 Looking Ahead: Season 2 and Future Plans
18:32 Conclusion: Thank You and See You Soon
Episode Transcript
Caleb: Welcome to the marriage podcast for smart people.
Verlynda: We haven’t said that in a long time.
Caleb: we have not, this is our 280th episode! And we’re thankful that you’ve joined us again today. And our plan for today is to talk about three things. Number one, where we’ve been since 2020 when we last published an episode and what’s been going on. Number two is where we’re at presently. And number three is what is coming up next in season two: a rebrand, a new name for the podcast, and a lot of the great content that you’re already used to. So
Verlynda: Hmm.
Caleb: Without further ado, we’re going to skip our usual intro roll because we are changing a lot of things right now, and we’ll get to all that.
But let’s, you know, Verlynda, let’s start in with this topic[00:01:00]
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: been since 2020. What are
Verlynda: Life has changed. Yeah. Big pieces. I mean, well, in your life is kind of one of the big ones that played a major part.
Caleb: Yeah. Yeah. So, and I think we should tell folks too that we’re recording this five about five years since we last recorded.
Verlynda: Yes.
Caleb: to it sometime in the future, that’s the gap between episode 279 and episode 280. So yeah, the biggest thing for me 2020 was kind of that second year of COVID, am I right?
Verlynda: March 2020, it started or our country shut down.
Caleb: Okay, yeah, we started getting into the thick of it. We were getting pretty burnt out on podcasting at the time, because we’d done a weekly show for quite a while, and that had been pretty intense for us. Kept up, a pace on that. I think we were doing like a little more sophisticated, a little more complex episodes too, which was cool.
Verlynda: Yeah. More research.
Caleb: Yeah. And I’d also been like hammering away at starting this [00:02:00] business or counseling business at that point for six years had been counseling for 20, that’d be about 10, 11 years at that point myself doing some mixed vocational stuff, of course, in there. But I also had a huge bout of burnout, compassion fatigue as a therapist. So that was a big thing that was going on. And I think it was 2020. Was it that summer or the next summer where I actually tapped out for a while? Do you
Verlynda: I think it was that summer. Yeah.
Caleb: and I just wasn’t paying attention to how [00:03:00] absolutely exhausted my body was. So, yeah, that was a huge a huge thing for us and fortunately had other people to kind of keep the business going. And you filled in a bit there, Verlynda, on the business side, too. We had a great administrator, Vivian at the time, who was helping us and I started coming back into the business in the fall.
And then I don’t think I really started counseling until late 2020 or the start of the next year. Really? So seeing clients again. So I tried to really take the recovery seriously, get back on my feet and that kind of stuff because it is a career that means a lot to me and I wanted to stay in it.
Verlynda: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then during this time, like we had three teenagers in the house, we were in that stage of like, We’re beginning to launch them and it, it just took a lot of energy,
Caleb: kind of energy. Yeah.
Verlynda: yeah, different situations and
Caleb: families do of like running to all those games and
Verlynda: yes, kids and [00:04:00] sports.
Caleb: yeah
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: pretty heavily involved in church at the time.
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: there
Verlynda: So something had,
Caleb: stress
Verlynda: sorry. Yeah. Yeah.
Caleb: Yeah.
Verlynda: Yeah. Something had to go. Yeah. And then, I mean, the counseling agency took off during COVID because we were online already and Yeah, a way that business went. And then I went back to school beginning of 2021. I went back to school to get my marriage and family therapy.
My master’s in marriage and family therapy is the official name. Loved it. Loved every minute of it. Love the learning. Just felt like a different person coming out of it, like it was such an amazing experience and such a privilege to be able to do that, to be at a stage where I could go back to school and now getting to do the work that I get to do, like, it’s just, it’s such a privilege and it’s so exciting.
So that’s my new career, my new [00:05:00] stage of life.
Caleb: yeah, that was huge. And we’re super thankful for all the awesome people that kind of pointed to you in that direction to like, and also the ones that supported us through that journey you know, putting one member of your family as adults back through school full time. Was a huge commitment on everybody’s part.
And our
Verlynda: Yes. Our kid. Yes.
Caleb: extra like
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: and like
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: got in on there. So that was really cool.
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: And the other thing that was really a blessing to us, but also part of like the burnout and the busyness and not getting the podcast done was we were doing online therapy when it wasn’t cool to do it, which was
Verlynda: Yes.
Caleb: And when the pandemic hit. We were like ready to go and so there is a huge demand from clients. And then there was also counselors coming to us not sure of the technology and how to pivot. And we were all set up. We had the systems in place. We had the procedures to know how to do it. so there was quite a bit of rapid growth during the pandemic for our
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: but all of that onboarding and growth, that was a lot of work as [00:06:00] well. So, yeah, that’s, what’s been going on there.
Verlynda: Yeah, but can I make a note on that, though, Caleb? Well, this is like, we’re going into the current here because I’m talking about the current, but, like, the team that we have, like, yes, there was rapid growth, but the team that we have is such a beautiful group of people. Like, I am proud to say that each one of, like, that I get to work with them.
So it’s pretty neat. The people that are on our team.
Caleb: Yeah. We do love our team
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: They’re amazing people for sure. Yeah. And I hope that all doesn’t come across like a bunch of like, here’s why we didn’t get our work done stuff, but just to let you know, like sometimes you forget, like on the other sides of shows that we watch or even like TV, like there’s real humans on the other side of that stuff.
Right. And we’re those real humans for this podcast and life got too busy. And and I just personally, like, I just lost the drive and the energy with that burnout to get this podcast done. So that was one thing that that sacrifice. So many of you have reached out and said, Hey, where are you guys?
I hope you
Verlynda: Mm hmm.[00:07:00]
Caleb: we thank you for all that love. And we thank you for all the well wishes. I wrote quite a few of you back just saying, Hey, I’m burnt out. I’m so sorry. And you were very gracious about it. So for everybody that was just like sweet about that. Thank you. You guys are welcome. Take care. Much appreciated.
Verlynda: Yes, for sure.
Caleb: special.
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: Verlinda.
Verlynda: Current Affairs, we are rebranding. So you can see on Caleb’s shirt right there, possibly, if you’re watching versus listening.
Caleb: Yeah.
Verlynda: we have a new name. We are now Therapevo Counseling. So we were finding that We really,
Caleb: just describe the logo for our
Verlynda: oh yeah,
Caleb: a podcast. Yeah.
Verlynda: so our logo, it’s like very simple, but it’s like a phoenix, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
And Therapevo, the word in Greek is healing, or it’s Greek for healing. And so that’s really like the, the umph. The basis of our business is [00:08:00] like how our clients can rise from the ashes of what they’ve been through with such resiliency and healing. And it’s a, it’s a beautiful thing. So why are we rebranding?
Why are we rebranding Caleb? Silence.
Caleb: specialties and they just didn’t kind of resonate as well with a marriage site.
And I think the one that I pick because it sort of makes it the most obvious is we had like four or five people who just love to work with teenagers. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing therapists for adolescents. They could connect with adolescents really well lead them through like amazing change out of very difficult circumstances or trauma that they’d experienced, whatever it had been. But then it’s like really weird for a teenager to go to only you forever dot com the slogan. Well, you know, we help you build a thriving, passionate marriage. And sign
Verlynda: [00:09:00] Yes. Silence.
Caleb: that our therapists love to work in.
And I know for you, Verlynda, coming on the team as well, that was a huge motivating factor because you love working with teenagers. And and like I said, that’s the obvious one. It’s not that we’re being inundated with teenagers, but you can imagine like we get single people coming for help on various topics
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: things like you know, we have someone who specializes in blended families.
Now we have someone who specializes in like perinatal, postnatal trauma. other people on grief and like,
Verlynda: Yeah. Yeah.
Caleb: and if you guys have listened to us from the start in our early [00:10:00] episodes, like we were trying
Verlynda: Hello.
Caleb: counseling over
Verlynda: Hello.
Caleb: video call, offering that to people all over North America with therapists in almost every time zone. We still need an Atlantic therapist
Verlynda: Hello.
Caleb: and that’s our main thing. And then kind of our secondary thing is the cruise as far as products that we
Verlynda: Yes.
Caleb: And
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: still have our communications course, and we do still sell a few of those booklets, a digital version of them every month, the Betrayal Devotionals. So that’s cool, too, but we needed a brand that was really focused mainly on that counseling, and I’m not sure if we’re going to kind of put the cruise onto that site or just leave it on its own site still, but that’s kind of how things are evolving, so.
Verlynda: Yeah. Yeah. So we just had our fifth,
Caleb: Yeah,
Verlynda: think it was our fifth
Caleb: fifth.
Verlynda: marriage [00:11:00] cruise.
Caleb: Mm hmm.
Verlynda: And again, like it was a beautiful time. It was a little bit smaller this time, but the couples that came were, they were ready to learn. They were ready to work. They were making connections
Caleb: hmm.
Verlynda: and it’s just so cool to like see the light bulb go off or see the connection made and the bonding.
And so that’s such a privilege to be able to do as well.
Caleb: Yeah, and we just consistently get like 5 star reviews from people on that and great feedback on how it has been a blessing to their marriage and that there’s so much energy and excitement that they live with, leave with,
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: So we, we love to do that. So yeah, does that cover kind of what’s happening right now?
So I should maybe just say like at this moment 2025. And we’re about three weeks out from launching our new website at therapevo.com. OnlyYouForever.com is going to be retired. And all of that stuff is going to be forwarded. All that great content is going to be put on therapevo.com and all those old links that are out there.
We’ll all have [00:12:00] forwarding. Like 301 redirects, they’re called attached to them. So everything kind of moves to the, to the new site that way.
Verlynda: Okay.
Caleb: So that’s where that’s at. And we’re just in the throes of getting all that set up right now. So the design is done. It’s a beautiful website, stunning design, very classy, kind of friendly, but elegant, and I’m really looking forward to having that up and able to announce that in a few weeks, mid March.
I hope. Yeah.
Verlynda: we’re already wearing the shirts. So, you know, we’re waiting for that website.
Caleb: Yes, we’ve got the got the merchandise for the staff for Christmas. So then let’s talk about what’s next Verlynda. And I’m just sort of keeping an eye on the clock here, too. for season 2 of this podcast, I think the big thing that folks should be aware of is just kind of watching for that in your favorite part podcast listening app, Spotify or Apple podcast or whatever you’re using, Google play, that kind of stuff. changing the name to Normalize therapy. So you’re going to see
Verlynda: Mm [00:13:00] hmm.
Caleb: We’re going to be, there’s gonna be a different logo. So the old infinity loop with the heart, we love that. It’s got a little dated now. So you’re going to get, see the new logo with the Phoenix on there
Verlynda: Mm hmm.
Caleb: We’re going to start with, you know, some of those marriage related topics, but because our clinic is getting more diverse and so on, we hope to bring in some of these other topics as well,
Verlynda: Yeah. Yeah.
Caleb: for sure.
Like just everything sort of counseling related.
Verlynda: Yeah. And even possibly having more interviews, it might be less frequent, but hopefully more consistent. Yeah.
Caleb: So
Verlynda: For those of you.
Caleb: in at a pace we can sustain.
Verlynda: Yeah. Yeah. And for those of you who supported us so faithfully on Patreon, thank you for that. We are going to be retiring that.
Caleb: Yeah,
Verlynda: else are we doing with this, Caleb?
Caleb: well, I think the tone is going to evolve a little bit because in the first
Verlynda: Mm. Mm
Caleb: as the marriage podcast for smart people, I was the guy with the marriage and family therapy masters, right?
Verlynda: hmm.
Caleb: And you were kind of like, [00:14:00] bringing that down to everyday language, making it
Verlynda: Yes.
Caleb: to the people.
And that was our vibe. And
Verlynda: I think some people called it the expert and the normal person. I think is how some people put it.
Caleb: I resented the implication of, yeah. Identifying you as the normal person.
Verlynda: I thought it was great.
Caleb: I have concerns about that, but it’s going to shift a little bit in that we’re both professionals and I’ve just been amazed to see you coming through your master’s degree, getting that education under your belt and like how much richness you bring to the table, to the discussions now it’s going to shift, the quality.
I think the, the quality of our podcast content has, is going to go even higher. It’s going to be amazing.
Verlynda: Well, thanks for saying that. I, I think I’m going to struggle a little bit with like, like I know we’re equal as people, but I still look at you as like the expert in the room. With the experience that you have and the work that you’ve done I, I might still just try and make it normal, normal ish.[00:15:00]
Caleb: normal. Yeah, I don’t
Verlynda: don’t know.
Caleb: is gonna mind it being made normal and I can understand the experience thing and I’m expecting that as we go, it’ll probably shift a bit to you know, you get that thousand hours, like client hours under your belt. And it’s just kind of, you begin to feel really comfortable in your authority on topics,
Verlynda: Right. Right. And again, topics might make a difference too, whether
Caleb: Yeah.
Verlynda: what we have experience in
Caleb: already that we’ve identified that you’re a lot stronger on than I am. Because they’re interests of yours, and
Verlynda: and vice versa. Yeah. Yeah.
Caleb: sure. The other thing we’re going to be doing and hoping to do is uploading to YouTube. So we’ll have a YouTube channel set up. Are we haven’t done that yet.
A
Verlynda: No. Video’s scary.
Caleb: little scary. This is kind of our first test recording of that format today. So
Verlynda: Yeah.
Caleb: We’ll continue to publish an audio only version for all you faithful podcast listeners out there. And then our goal, too, is to kind of really continue with that same high quality content that is
Verlynda: Mm hmm. [00:16:00] Yes.
Caleb: education based and backed.
So there’s just a lot of people out there giving their opinions on how you should do life. And we have always had this conviction of, like, bringing that truth out of what people have discovered through studying creation, studying how people interact with the world around them and with each other.
Verlynda: Yes.
Caleb: we want to keep that going as well. We’re working a little bit for Linda are going to be doing a man. I, I have a reluctance to say I’m doing things before I’m doing them, but maybe it’s good for me to put this out there.
Verlynda: What are we thinking of doing?
Caleb: out loud, we’re going to expand our social media output just to be a little more consistent out there.
Verlynda: Oh, we have not been great with social media.
Caleb: No, we have not.
Verlynda: We’ve struggled.
Caleb: We kind of suck in that. We are happy to scroll on it, but we don’t actually put
Verlynda: Yes.
Caleb: So
Verlynda: Yes.
Caleb: be held accountable for that. So that’s going to be going on. And then [00:17:00] we also have a lovely lady who’s just started writing for us, she’s going to be doing just some blog content.
So there would just be some articles that we’ve wanted to have up for a long time about various things. I think she’s doing a psych degree. I think she’s working on that right now, if I remember correctly,
Verlynda: Oh, cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Caleb: So, yeah, we’re happy about that. And that’s kind of where we’re going. What’s coming next as far as we can see from where we’re at right now.
So that’s all, you know, God willing, we’ll see how
Verlynda: Yep. Yeah,
Caleb: And we just like to invite folks. Sorry, we’re going to come in there.
Verlynda: I was just going to say, like, coming up is the next Marriage Cruise, like, we’re currently selling Marriage Cruise 2026.
Caleb: Yes, we have a group room set aside. We’ve already had a booking on that, and I’ll tell you, cruise are selling out way faster than they used to,
Verlynda: Yeah. Since the pandemic.
Caleb: like, you can’t wait to figure out your cruise holidays for February, and like November, or December, or
Verlynda: Mm hmm. Mm
Caleb: to, you have to get that puppy locked in long before that, so Definitely reach out, check out our website, christianmarriagecruise.
[00:18:00] com. And of course, if we can help you with counseling you can get us on our website right now at onlyyouforever.com. If this rebranding has happened and you’re listening to this sometime in March, it’ll automatically forward you to our new therapevo.com site.Verlynda: hmm.
Caleb: So that’ll work. too.
But we would love to help you. We have amazing therapists who currently have some availability and we can get you set up with someone who is just the right fit for the particular set of issues that you want to talk about.
Verlynda: Mm hmm. And we’re just, well, I, I should say, I, I’m excited to be back. Like, I have great memories of the podcast, so I’m looking forward to this. It’s going to be fun.
Caleb: Yeah, it’s
Verlynda: I guess we’re wrapping this part up, so maybe this one should be sad, but
Caleb: Well,
Verlynda: looking ahead, I’m excited.
Caleb: right?
Verlynda: Yes. It’s a journey.
Caleb: It is. So let’s close. Just look with a huge thank you to all of you that have
Verlynda: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
Caleb: of our episodes. I apologize for the brain damage and all of the other effects that that has caused, you [00:19:00] for being faithful listeners. And if you’re a sucker for punishment, we have more coming!
Verlynda: There we go.
Caleb: just enjoy good content, I should say we
Verlynda: Yes. Yes.
Caleb: Verlynda
Verlynda: Good content with good people. There we go.
Caleb: Now, you know, I decided to outsource my marketing.
Verlynda: Alrighty.
Caleb: That’s all for today. Thank you. And we’ll see you in the next episode.
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