Media Links
Website: delvepsych.com
Instagram: @delvepsychchicago
YouTube: youtube.com/@DelvePsych20
Substack: delvepsych.substack.com
Participants
Hosts: Ali McGarel, Adam Fominaya
Guest: Colleen Paul, LPC — staff therapist & certified clinical trauma professional
Overview of Big Ideas
• Why the Before trilogy still resonates: raw, real‑time conversation and authentic tension beat Hollywood fairy‑tales every time.
• Creative roots & counseling: acting, film study, and improv sharpen attunement to subtext, empathy, and rule‑breaking therapy.
• “Happiness is in the doing”: the hosts unpack Jesse’s line to explore process‑over‑outcome living with clients.
• Opening & closing pain: therapy as practice for tolerating discomfort while staying engaged in life’s story.
• Finding your “why”: Nietzsche’s maxim—“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how”—anchors change work.
Breakdown of Segments
• Welcome & clinic update – Delve’s services and low‑cost therapy options.
• Film geek meet‑cute – how Ali’s partner and Colleen’s film degree sparked the topic.
• Slice‑of‑life cinema – long takes, ambient eavesdropping, and why dialog‑driven films feel therapeutic.
• Real love vs. rom‑com myths – quirks that charm early on often trigger later conflict.
• Therapists’ thought experiment – what advice would they give Jesse or Céline between films?
• Process, purpose & disappointment – coaching clients who chase creative dreams through rejection.
• Quotes on the whiteboard – “Everything was fine … until you hit me with reality” and the value of confronting truth.
• Closing & how to connect with Delve therapists.
References & Further Reading
Richard Linklater (dir.). Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), Before Midnight (2013)
Friedrich Nietzsche: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
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