The Present Moment Project

This podcast, hosted by Jill Bershad — a psychotherapist, EMDR and hypnotherapist, Reiki master, and sound healer — is a heartfelt space for healing, growth, and connection. With a blend of authenticity and compassion, Jill invites listeners to join her in real conversations about resilience, trauma, addiction, and self-discovery. Through shared stories and gentle wisdom, she reminds us that while pain is inevitable, suffering is optional, and that we can all “grow through what we go through.” More than just a podcast, it’s a supportive community built to help listeners rediscover joy, laughter, and their most authentic selves — one present moment at a time.

The Present Moment Project is a health podcast hosted by Jill Bershad, with 26 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Jill Bershad hosts The Present Moment Project, a health show with 26 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  The Present Moment Project

  Ep. 25 - How Past Trauma Shapes Your Present

  Sep 22, 20261h 7m

  Trauma can shape the way we see ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us without us even realizing it. Jill Bershad sits down with her close friend and EMDR therapist Luna Medina for a deeply personal conversation about how experiences from our past can continue to influence our beliefs, reactions, and choices years later. Luna explains EMDR through the idea of seeing life through different colored lenses. When painful experiences remain unresolved, they can create beliefs like “I’m not good enough,” “I can’t trust people,” or “I’m not safe.” Jill and Luna explore how those beliefs can become stored in the nervous system, why seemingly unrelated sounds, smells, people, places, and situations can trigger powerful reactions, and how EMDR can help take away the power those memories continue to hold. The conversation becomes especially personal as Jill and Luna reflect on their own experiences with grief, family relationships, boundaries, dissociation, and healing. Jill shares how Luna showed up immediately after Adam’s death and how their friendship grew into chosen family. They also talk about recognizing unhealthy patterns, accepting people for who they are, setting boundaries without abandoning compassion, and understanding that sometimes healing changes the way we participate in relationships. Healing doesn’t erase what happened. It can change the way the past lives in the present. As Luna reminds us, change is possible, support is available, and we don’t have to remain trapped inside the beliefs and patterns created by experiences we survived. Contact Jill K. Bershad, LMHC, CAP Email: jill@jillbershad.com Website: jillbershad.com Instagram: @jillkbershad.lmhc Facebook: jillkbershad

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Present Moment Project

  Ep. 24 - Grief Looks Different for Everyone

  Sep 8, 20261h 13m

  Grief, trauma, and healing can look completely different from one person to the next. Jill Bershad sits down with therapist Linda Tepper for an honest conversation about losing their husbands within months of each other and the very different ways their minds and bodies responded to loss. While Jill found herself constantly moving, traveling, going to concerts, and surrounding herself with friends, Linda experienced grief almost in the opposite way. She gave herself permission to sit still and told herself she had a year of grace. Together, they talk about why there is no single right way to grieve, the importance of allowing feelings instead of judging them, and what it means to grow through what you go through. As therapists, Jill and Linda also explore trauma, dissociation, EMDR, hypnotherapy, anxiety, and Linda’s work with Dissociative Identity Disorder. They reflect on how trauma can live in the body, why old experiences continue to shape our beliefs and reactions, and how curiosity can help us understand ourselves without adding shame or judgment. Four years after losing their husbands, both women are entering new chapters. They talk about independence, dating after loss, children growing up, learning to accept help, and discovering who you are when the life you once knew has changed. Healing doesn’t mean forgetting what happened. Sometimes it means allowing yourself to change with it. Contact Jill K. Bershad, LMHC, CAP Email: jill@jillbershad.com Website: jillbershad.com Instagram: @jillkbershad.lmhc Facebook: jillkbershad

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Present Moment Project

  Ep. 23 - How Our Past Shapes the Way We Lead

  Aug 25, 20261h 1m

  Childhood experiences, addiction recovery, and leadership come together in a conversation about how our past continues to shape the way we show up. Jill Bershad sits down with Blake Cohen to talk about his recovery, his work in leadership psychology, and why our unresolved experiences can affect far more than just ourselves. Blake shares his own path into recovery, beginning with the intervention his family held on New Year’s Eve 2012. He reflects on the self-doubt, pressure, and need to numb that were part of his experience, along with the difficult process of accepting help. Jill and Blake also talk about what families face when someone they love is struggling with addiction and the difference between supporting someone and continuing to support harmful behavior. The conversation turns to Blake’s research on what he calls the Hero Villain Leadership Spectrum and the connection between adverse childhood experiences and the adults and leaders we become. They talk about accountability, emotional safety, childhood coping mechanisms, and how behaviors that once protected us can begin to hurt our relationships when we carry them into adulthood without examining them. There is no point where the work is simply finished. We can recognize how our past shaped us without staying trapped by it, take responsibility for the impact we have on other people, and keep moving toward healthier relationships with ourselves and those around us. Contact Jill K. Bershad, LMHC, CAP Email: jill@jillbershad.com Website: jillbershad.com Instagram: @jillkbershad.lmhc Facebook: jillkbershad

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Present Moment Project

  Ep. 21 - The Personal Growth Work That Changed Everything

  Jul 28, 20261h 9m

  Personal growth, healing old patterns, and learning to trust yourself shape this honest conversation as Jill Bershad welcomes therapists and Real Course instructors Jon Waller and Stephanie Savo-Smellie. Together they reflect on the life-changing work that helped them move beyond people-pleasing, self-doubt, and childhood beliefs that continued to influence their adult relationships. Jon and Stephanie share how The Real Course uses experiential personal development to help people recognize limiting beliefs, step outside their comfort zones, practice vulnerability, and take responsibility for the lives they want to create. They also talk about how the work has transformed their relationships, careers, and the way they show up for themselves and others. Jill opens up about how this work changed her own life after years of carrying childhood wounds, and how learning about boundaries, integrity, accountability, and self-love continues to shape her healing after profound loss. Together they explore why growth often begins with discomfort, why healthy relationships require honesty, and how small shifts in awareness can create lasting change. Healing doesn't happen by pretending the past didn't matter. It begins by understanding the beliefs we've carried for years, choosing new ways to respond, and giving ourselves permission to live with greater authenticity, connection, and compassion. Contact Jill K. Bershad, LMHC, CAP Email: jill@jillbershad.com Website: jillbershad.com Instagram: @jillkbershad.lmhc Facebook: jillkbershad

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Present Moment Project

  Ep. 20 - How Do We Keep Living After Losing Someone We Love?

  Jul 14, 20261h 7m

  Grief, resilience, and learning how to keep living after loss are at the heart of this deeply personal conversation. Jill Bershad sits down with Amy to talk about the death of Amy’s son Yossi from brain cancer and the experiences that led her to write The Wholeness of a Broken Heart. Amy shares the nine months between Yossi’s diagnosis and his death, the community that surrounded her family, and the difficult reality of being present for one child while continuing to parent and care for the rest of her family. She and Jill reflect on vulnerability, asking for help, accepting what cannot be changed, and the people who show up when life becomes too heavy to carry alone. Their conversation moves through the seven pathways Amy writes about, including acceptance, vulnerability, self-care, family and chosen family, beauty, faith, and miracles. They talk about finding comfort in nature, listening to intuition, setting boundaries, speaking to ourselves with kindness, and allowing grief and beauty to exist at the same time. There are no simple answers for moving through profound loss. Sometimes resilience begins with accepting the life that is actually in front of us, finding safe people who will sit beside us, and remaining open to the beauty, connection, and small miracles that still exist. Contact Jill K. Bershad, LMHC, CAP Email: jill@jillbershad.com Website: jillbershad.com Instagram: @jillkbershad.lmhc Facebook: jillkbershad

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on The Present Moment Project. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.