Today, Jesse, Mike and Stephan discuss the impact of war on everyday life, particularly how the ongoing war in Iran could affect gas prices and essential goods if it continues. Conflicts in the Middle East can turn luxury activities into financial burdens, forcing people to prioritise their spending and making jiu-jitsu training and other leisure activities unaffordable as the cost of everyday living rises.

In this episode of Fighting Matters, Steve Kwan is joined by Matt Tansey and Daniel Millstein: two licensed mental health professionals who also train jiu-jitsu. They attack one of the most repeated claims in the sport ("jiu-jitsu is my therapy"), what's actually true about it, what isn't, and why the distinction matters more than most people think.

⸻

👥 Featuring:
• Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com
• Matt Tansey — https://matthewtansey.com
• Daniel Millstein — https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/daniel-millstein-boston-ma/1239597

⸻

🧠 Topics Discussed:
• What therapists actually do (and how they differ from coaches)
• Why jiu-jitsu can be therapeutic without being therapy
• The Dunning-Kruger effect and black belt overconfidence
• How jiu-jitsu can help and harm people with trauma
• Why male practitioners avoid therapy but embrace pseudoscience
• SSRIs, psychedelics, stem cells, and the jiu-jitsu bro health pipeline

⸻

📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Introducing Matt and Daniel
02:48 — Types of mental health practitioners
06:43 — Can jiu-jitsu be therapeutic?
12:31 — Competence, confidence, and the Dunning-Kruger trap
23:49 — When jiu-jitsu actually helps
26:12 — Overselling jiu-jitsu
28:31 — Trauma, PTSD, and proper disclosure
36:44 — What therapists can't say (but coaches can)
42:57 — Dudes will do anything except go to therapy
50:48 — Ethics, credentials, and the unregulated advice problem
01:00:17 — Psychedelics, stem cells, and anti-SSRI bros

In this episode of the Fighting Matters podcast, host Steve Kwan sits down with Valerie Worthington: BJJ black belt, professor of educational psychology, and one of the sport's most thoughtful voices on culture and ethics. They dig into why the people doing the most good in jiu-jitsu are also the least visible, what it would actually take to fix BJJ's culture problems, and why opening a gym means signing up for a job nobody prepared you for. This is a conversation about leadership, accountability, and the quiet work of making the sport better.

🔗 Links Mentioned:
• Gracie Philly — https://www.phlbjj.com
• Saybrook University — https://www.saybrook.edu

⸻

👥 Featuring:
• Steve Kwan — https://bjjmentalmodels.com
• Valerie Worthington — https://instagram.com/worthingtonvalerie

⸻

🧠 Topics Discussed:
• Why the good people in BJJ stay invisible
• The reality distortion field inside the gym
• Why governing bodies might make things worse
• Voting with your wallet and saying it out loud
• What BJJ never teaches its future gym owners

⸻

📖 Chapters:
00:00 — Introducing Valerie Worthington
06:33 — Why the good in BJJ stays invisible
12:58 — Should BJJ have a governing body?
21:17 — The reality distortion field inside the gym
33:18 — How the algorithm buries the good stuff
39:28 — Voting with your wallet
43:27 — Modeling the culture you want to see
51:54 — Dunbar's Number and BJJ communities
53:35 — What BJJ never teaches gym owners