David J. Schlosz

30/05/2026

Anger as Protest

Anger is one of the most misunderstood emotions we experience. Many of us were taught to fear it, suppress it, spiritualize it away, or turn it inward against ourselves. But what if anger is not the enemy? What if healthy anger is actually a form of protest, agency, dignity, and self-protection?

In this episode of Project I Am, Dr. David Schlosz explores the difference between destructive rage and healthy, integrated anger. Drawing from trauma psychology, somatic work, relational healing, and personal reflection, David discusses how suppressed anger often becomes shame, depression, self-abandonment, perfectionism, and self-criticism.

Sometimes anger is not evidence that something is wrong with you. Sometimes it is evidence that something inside you still knows you deserve dignity.

If you’ve ever struggled with self-blame, resentment, people pleasing, emotional suppression, or feeling disconnected from your own needs, this episode is for you.

Anger is one of the most misunderstood emotions we experience. Many of us were taught to fear it, suppress it, spiritualize it away, or turn it inward against ourselves. But what if anger is not the enemy? What if healthy anger is actually a form of protest, agency, dignity, and self-protection?In t...

25/05/2026

Abandoning Ourselves to Protect Ourselves

There are moments in life when we abandon ourselves in order to protect ourselves. We stay silent instead of speaking honestly. We disconnect from our feelings to avoid conflict, rejection, shame, or discomfort. And afterward, something painful lingers: the feeling that we betrayed ourselves.

In this episode of Project I AM, Dr. David J. Schlosz explores the hidden cost of self-abandonment and why so many of us learned to disconnect from ourselves in order to survive. Drawing from relational therapy, trauma work, somatic psychology, and personal experience, David unpacks how self-protection can quietly become self-betrayal and why choosing ourselves in healthy, grounded ways is one of the most courageous acts we can make.

If you’ve ever felt exhausted from performing, people-pleasing, caretaking, or disappearing inside relationships, this conversation is for you.

You do not have to disappear to be loved.

There are moments in life when we abandon ourselves in order to protect ourselves. We stay silent instead of speaking honestly. We disconnect from our feelings to avoid conflict, rejection, shame, or discomfort. And afterward, something painful lingers: the feeling that we betrayed ourselves.In this...

21/05/2026

I didn’t deserve this.

In one of the most personal and vulnerable episodes of Project I AM to date, Dr. David Schlosz explores the painful intersection of shame, trauma, grief, and healing. Drawing from his recent experiences in an intensive training, David reflects on a profound realization that moved from intellectual understanding into something much deeper.
This episode explores how children internalize blame in order to survive unsafe environments, how shame becomes embedded in identity, and how survival strategies formed in trauma can later affect relationships, emotional regulation, and self-worth. David discusses the difference between cognitively knowing something and emotionally believing it, the role of the nervous system in trauma, and why anger often protects deeper grief.
Blending personal storytelling, somatic awareness, relational healing, and reflections from thinkers like Gabor Maté and Carl Rogers, this episode offers a deeply human reminder that survival was never your identity, it was an adaptation. And beneath the adaptations, there is still a self worthy of love, grief, compassion, and belonging.
This episode contains discussions of childhood trauma, sexual abuse, conversion therapy, shame, and grief. Listener discretion and self-care are encouraged.

In one of the most personal and vulnerable episodes of Project I AM to date, Dr. David Schlosz explores the painful intersection of shame, trauma, grief, and healing. Drawing from his recent experiences in an intensive training, David reflects on a profound realization that moved from intellectual u...

17/05/2026

You Are Invited:

​The Counselor Collective Mentoring & Consultation Group

​A monthly online space for counselors and helping professionals seeking growth, authenticity, support, and deeper clinical reflection.

​You are invited to join our monthly Mentoring & Consultation Group: a live online gathering for former students and helping professionals who want continued mentorship, clinical consultation, encouragement, and community. Each month we will explore clinical themes, discuss cases, reflect on the therapeutic relationship, process challenges in the work, and deepen our understanding of ourselves as counselors and human beings. This is a supportive and growth-oriented space rooted in authenticity, relational connection, curiosity, and ongoing development.

​Next meeting: June 6th, 9-11am CST
​
Register here:

A monthly online space for counselors and helping professionals seeking growth, authenticity, support, and deeper clinical reflection. You are invited to join…

15/05/2026

“Confessions of a Covert Narcissist"

This episode is not about diagnosing others. It is about recognizing the subtle ways fear, shame, insecurity, and emotional self-protection can shape all of our behaviors.

Why do we become defensive when receiving feedback? Why do we sometimes over-give and quietly keep score? Why does being misunderstood feel so painful? Why do we perform instead of authentically connect?
Blending psychology, nervous system insight, personal anecdotes, therapeutic wisdom, and compassionate reflection, David explores how covert narcissistic tendencies often emerge not from arrogance… but from unhealed shame and the desperate need to protect ourselves from emotional pain.

This episode offers a compassionate reminder:
Having protective patterns does not make you broken. It makes you human.
The work is becoming aware enough to choose connection over protection.
Because awareness is not condemnation. Awareness is the beginning of freedom.

In this follow-up episode, David moves beyond labels and into honest self-reflection with a powerful conversation titled “Confessions of a Covert Narcissist.”This episode is not about diagnosing others. It is about recognizing the subtle ways fear, shame, insecurity, and emotional self-protectio...

12/05/2026

We live in a culture that uses the word “narcissist” so casually that we sometimes forget there is usually pain underneath the protection.

In my newest episode of Project I Am, I explore the topic of covert narcissism through a compassionate and deeply human lens.

Not to excuse harmful behavior.

Not to remove accountability.

But to better understand what often lives underneath defensiveness, validation-seeking, withdrawal, perfectionism, martyrdom, and emotional fragility.

One of the central ideas in the episode is this:
When human beings try to protect themselves from shame and emotional pain, that protection can sometimes look like selfishness. And even when the wound is understandable, other people are still impacted by the behavior.

One of the greatest acts of maturity is developing the ability to look at ourselves honestly without collapsing into shame.

Awareness is not condemnation.

Awareness is the beginning of freedom.

What if narcissism isn’t always loud?In this compassionate episode of Project I Am, David explores the hidden world of covert narcissism: the quiet, vulnerable, and often misunderstood ways people protect themselves from shame, rejection, and emotional pain.Rather than reducing people to labels or...

08/05/2026

There are some wounds that insight alone cannot heal.

In this episode of Project I Am, Dr. David J. Schlosz explores why effective trauma therapy must go beyond cognition and include the body and nervous system. While many people understand their trauma intellectually, they often continue to struggle because the trauma remains unprocessed physiologically.
This episode dives into the growing field of somatic experiencing and explains the difference between top-down healing (thoughts, insight, narrative) and bottom-up healing (nervous system regulation, embodiment, and safety in the body). Drawing from attachment theory, neuroscience, Polyvagal Theory, and trauma research, Dr. Schlosz explores how trauma lives in muscle tension, hypervigilance, shutdown, shame, and relational patterns and why healing often requires reconnecting with the body compassionately and slowly.
Through stories, reflections, quotes, and therapeutic insights, this conversation offers a deeper understanding of why people can “know better” cognitively and still feel stuck emotionally and physically.
This episode is for therapists, counseling students, trauma survivors, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of healing.

“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” — Peter Levine

There are some wounds that insight alone cannot heal.In this episode of Project I Am, Dr. David J. Schlosz explores why effective trauma therapy must go beyond cognition and include the body and nervous system. While many people understand their trauma intellectually, they often continue to struggle...

03/05/2026

There are some conversations you don’t plan… you just sit down, press record, and something real happens. This was one of those.

I just released a new episode on the Project I Am Podcast. It’s not polished. It’s not structured. It’s not a “here’s how to grieve better” kind of episode. It’s a conversation about losing our moms.

About thinking we were prepared… and realizing we weren’t.
About grief that shows up in waves, in silence, in unexpected moments. About feeling untethered… and slowly discovering what still holds us.

There are moments in this episode that are raw. Moments that surprised me. Moments that I think will resonate if you’ve ever loved someone deeply.

And if you haven’t experienced this kind of loss yet… this might still matter more than you think. If you listen, I’d love to hear what stays with you.

And if this feels like something someone in your life might need right now… feel free to share it with them.

We don’t have to do grief alone.

We think we can prepare for grief.We read about it. We anticipate it. We try to brace ourselves for the moment we know is coming.And then it happens… and nothing prepares us.In this deeply human and unfiltered conversation, David sits with two guests to explore the lived experience of losing a mot...

15/04/2026

Grief has a way of undoing us.

It can leave us feeling unanchored… disoriented… like something essential has been taken and nothing quite makes sense anymore. And while the world keeps moving, something inside of us feels like it has come to a standstill.

In this episode of Project I Am, I invite you into a different kind of encounter with grief.

Not one that tries to fix it. Not one that rushes you through it. But one that gently makes space for it.

This is a guided meditation designed to help you sit with your grief… to notice where it lives in your body… and to reconnect with what remains. Because while loss changes everything, it does not erase the love, the connection, or the imprint left behind.

Whether you are grieving the loss of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a life transition, or a version of yourself… this space is for you.

Slow down. Breathe. Come as you are.

You don’t have to carry this alone.

Grief has a way of undoing us.It can leave us feeling unanchored… disoriented… like something essential has been taken and nothing quite makes sense anymore. And while the world keeps moving, something inside of us feels like it has come to a standstill.In this episode of Project I Am, I invite ...

03/04/2026