Other People's Problems

CBC

Normally, therapy sessions are totally confidential — but this podcast opens the doors. In this season of Other People’s Problems, Dr. Hillary McBride explores the transformative power of psychedelics in a therapeutic setting.

With her psychological expertise, Dr. Hillary leads her clients through drug-assisted therapy, guiding them to new heights on their healing journeys. Experience these real, unscripted sessions firsthand as they unfold in each episode.

This season offers an unprecedented look at psychedelic psychotherapy, breaking new ground in the podcast space and demystifying this often misunderstood practice as a powerful tool in trauma recovery.

Season 5 of Other People’s Problems will be available everywhere on May 12, 2025. Hear episodes early and ad-free on CBC Stories Premium.

Play

Open in

20 episodes
Avg 24 min
English

Episodes 20

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

February 10 · 40 min
Other People’s Problems Introduces: Creation Myth
Get lost in someone else’s life. From a mysterious childhood spent on the run, to a courageous escape from domestic violence, each season of Personally invites you to explore the human experience in all its complexity, one story — or season — at a time. In the latest season of Personally: Creation Myth, Helena does not want kids. Her husband believes she’ll change her mind—she has so much love to give, she would be a perfect mother. That will never happen, she tells him. Agai
S5 · E6
Jun 9, 2025 · 28 min
Rachael: Receiving Care
Rachael has worked for years to heal from her own trauma and is now wanting to learn how to let love and affection in. Rachael practices allowing Hillary to care for her. It sounds simple, but as Rachael says, for her and for many of us, it can feel deeply “cringey.” Hillary sings a lullaby and Rachael relaxes into the feeling of being loved.  New episodes will be released weekly on Mondays. Don't want to wait? Binge the whole season right now via <a href="https://podcas
S5 · E7
Jun 9, 2025 · 5 min
BONUS: A Lullaby from Hillary
Hillary sings a lullaby she wrote for her own daughter full of affirmations, she dedicates it to all OPP listeners as well. New episodes will be released weekly on Mondays. Don't want to wait? Binge the whole season right now via <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ai/channel/cbc-stories/id6443681642" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CBC Stories Premium</a> on Apple Podcasts.
S5 · E5
Jun 2, 2025 · 30 min
David: A Childhood of Fear and Few Memories
When David began to do therapy using cannabis with Hillary, he had very few childhood memories. So he was surprised to find a really big question about whether he was beaten surface in his consciousness. In this session, we hear David grappling with the truth of what happened to him. Hillary shepherds him through healing the imprint his suffering has left on his body, even as she admits the truth about what happened to him might never be known.  New episodes will be rele
S5 · E4
May 26, 2025 · 34 min
Hillary: Pregnancy Loss and Nearly Dying
In this Other People’s Problems first, Hillary lets us see her as the patient in this deeply personal cannabis session of her own. She feels back into the pain and heartbreak of miscarrying twins and a subsequent freak hemorrhage that nearly killed her. As she screams, “No!” and “It’s mine!,” she confronts the horror of watching first responders struggle to keep her alive and the feeling of losing control of what was happening to her own body.  New episodes will be relea
S5 · E3
May 19, 2025 · 35 min
Brandi: Cult Control and Social Anxiety
Brandi (not her real name) has social anxiety because she grew up in a cult where members gathered regularly around her family’s dinner table to talk about mortality and sin. To cope, Brandi hid at the top of the stairs in silence, afraid to even go get a snack. In this session using cannabis, she imagines herself and Hillary bulldozing into the room, taking a stand on the kitchen table together, and demanding freedom. New episodes will be released weekly on Mondays. Don't wa
S5 · E2
May 12, 2025 · 40 min
Donovan: Childhood Sexual Abuse
Donovan has lived in fear and anger ever since he told the truth about being abused by his mother’s boyfriend and then felt betrayed by social workers who were supposed to help. Now, after several ketamine therapy sessions, Donovan can finally look back upon his child-self with care and calm and works to become the kind of adult he needed for his own children. Hillary makes a bad move in treating him and faces the mistake.  New episodes will be released weekly on Mondays
S5 · E1
May 12, 2025 · 40 min
Welcome to Other People’s Problems - On Drugs
With the growing acceptance of psychedelic therapy, questions arise about the ethics, effectiveness, and experiences it brings. In this episode, Hillary addresses those questions in conversation with Geoff Turner, the host of CBC’s On Drugs podcast. Through historical clips and moments from actual sessions, they explore how substances are reshaping mental health treatment — including Hillary’s own experience as a patient — to talk about how psychedelic psychotherapy works. Using clips of the
May 8, 2025 · 1 min
Coming soon: Season 5 of Other People’s Problems
Dr. Hillary McBride introduces the new season of Other People Problems, and there's something new: in Season 5 Hillary's clients are experiencing therapy with the assistance of psychedelic drugs. Listen to the new season on May 12, 2025.
Jan 13, 2025 · 41 min
Other People’s Problems Introduces: On Drugs
On Drugs looks through the lenses of history, pop culture and personal experience to understand how drugs have shaped our world. Because even if it’s just caffeine or ibuprofen, there’s a good chance you’re on drugs right now. More episodes of On Drugs are available at: <a href="https://link.mgln.ai/toiuju" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://link.mgln.ai/toiuju</a>
S4 · E7
Jun 29, 2021 · 22 min
Patti: You don’t need to be perfect to be lovable
A COVID scare in the kids’ group Patti manages wakes up the perfectionist inside her — the part of her that feels she needs to be perfect in order to deserve connection with others. She and Dr. Hillary trace this feeling back to her younger years, and help Patti draw from her personal growth to comfort that version of herself.
Jun 29, 2021 · 8 min
Guided meditation: The shape of breathing
As we wind down the season, Dr. Hillary McBride invites you to catch your breath and feel yourself in this particular moment. Imagining as you exhale that this breath could support you in the practice of letting go.
S4 · E6
Jun 22, 2021 · 27 min
Kristin: Let yourself be excited about friendship
Kristin recognizes she feels isolated and alone, at least in part because she’s kept people at a distance to protect herself from getting hurt. Dr. Hillary uses her own relationship with Kristin to model friendship and the excitement that can come from deep connection.
S4 · E5
Jun 15, 2021 · 26 min
Vanessa: Surviving the fear that 'everyone leaves'
Dr. Hillary needs to tell her longtime client Vanessa that she’s pregnant and that they'll soon need to take a break, when Hillary goes on maternity leave. This is hard to hear for Vanessa, who has been left, physically and emotionally, by important people in her life when she needed them most. Hillary helps Vanessa navigate the pain of feeling abandoned while also assuring her: although their situation will change, their bond is secure.
S4 · E4
Jun 8, 2021 · 26 min
Hannah: Stop pleasing and start trusting connection
Hannah has found a range of ways to earn love and protect herself from getting hurt. In Dr. Hillary McBride’s words, she “has found a way to stay connected to people by figuring out who they want her to be, and then being that.” The two work to help Hannah trust that she can show up as her authentic self, and to believe that she is lovable as she is.
S4 · E3
Jun 1, 2021 · 21 min
Ethan: A deep political rift in the family
Ethan’s parents have become committed to extreme right wing ideologies, which they keep pushing on Ethan. He has tried and failed to explain to them why their views are harmful. Now, in the midst of helping his wife deal with a health crisis, Ethan has decided to step away from his relationship with his parents, despite how much it hurts. Dr. Hillary helps him navigate his grief.
S4 · E2
May 25, 2021 · 29 min
Kristin: Sibling loss in early life
Kristin’s brother died when she was very young and she blamed herself, the way children sometimes do. She has carried that unresolved shame for decades. As the anniversary of his death stirs up hard feelings, Dr. Hillary helps Kristin begin to heal this deep wound. She also guides adult Kristin, now a parent herself, toward saying the words she needed to hear as a child.
S4 · E1
May 18, 2021 · 28 min
Julia: Hiding away the hard parts
As someone who has struggled with addiction and a bipolar diagnosis, Julia carefully hides away parts of herself. Dr. Hillary McBride helps her embrace her complexity, and reconcile it with her new identity as mom. “Your identity was never in addiction, was never in illness, your identity has always been something much deeper.”
May 18, 2021 · 6 min
Guided meditation: "Feel life flowing through your feet”
Slow down today and join Dr. Hillary for five minutes of mindfulness. This meditation, which she wrote, is intended to help you feel grounded and more at ease. (If you're too busy today, then you may want to play it twice.)
May 11, 2021 · 1 min
Coming soon: Season 4 of Other People's Problems
What does it mean to come out of isolation? In a year where we’ve needed it, this season is all about reconnecting with ourselves and one another. Dr. Hillary McBride helps her clients talk through a range of issues heightened by these uncertain times. An all new season of Other People’s Problems begins May 18, 2021.

Showing 1–20 of 20 episodes