Avital is a director, writer, comedian, actress who was brought up as a Hassidic Jew in Miami. At about 7, she learned that her mom wasn’t her biological mother, and that her birth mother committed suicide. Sound like good comedy material? As a comic she refers to it with jokes like this “My biological mom committed suicide when I was a baby, which I know sounds sad. But I was a really bad baby.” She talks about finding the way in to stuff that is painful and dark through comedy. In this epsiode we talk about everything from reactions to medication, to Hassidic rules about salt and not shaking hands with women who have their period; to the misogyny in the community to directing her latest web series Antisocial Distance https://www.antisocialdistance.com/, which is really good and interesting; a great cast with actors like Steven Weber and Rose McIver. And Avital has been in all kinds of shows as an actress, currently on FX’s CAKE, and has over 50 million views for her digital videos. Jennifer gives us a number of skills that you can do for all kinds of life siutations; and one in particular that involves the belly button and sounds very strange; and yet works. So this episode is a really interesting exploration of how a very smart, creative person deals with trauma, and the comedy Avital describes as finding a way in. Disclaimer; my sound is screwed up. I’m having a sound person move in with me and I will marry them, and support them throughout life if they will simply take care of my sound on the show. Stay with it, Avital is great and Jennifer shares so many cool skills that can help you through all kinds of things, simple skills anyone can use. And we refer to TAPPING, this is an amazing tool, check it out if you haven’t tried it: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiHZMZejDS4RIxDdBwoie9A look at Brad Yates and Jessica Ortner, free videos and apps. Find more Avital here: https://www.avitalash.com/ and more of Jennifer’s amazing work, skills, books, podcasts, classes and counseling services here: https://connectedparenting.com/ subscribe and socialize, share, if you like pls write a review and find us on our new network here: https://bleav.com/podcastshow/mental-health-comedy/ https://www.facebook.com/mentalhealthcomedypodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/thementalhealthcomedypodcast/ write us here: ed@makelightmedia.com HAPPY CODEPENDENCE DAY!