Inner Calling with Dr. Victoria
About the
podcast!
Everything you need is within you—inner light, beauty, and wisdom.
You are the medicine you’ve been searching for all along.
I’m simply here to help you listen, remember, and come home to yourself.
— Dr. Victoria Ranade
The short version
Hi there, my name is Dr. Victoria Ranade. I'm a board-certified, licensed clinical psychologist, a writer, an entrepreneur—and someone with lived experience of bipolar disorder.
Welcome to my humble corner of the internet, where you can get a window into my mind and the mental health topics that fascinate me—from learning how to trust your intuition, to thriving as a neurodivergent person, to living well even in the face of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and mood challenges. Here, we also explore deeper questions related to existence, life, and meaning; spirituality and mental health; how to live a life that is authentic and aligned to your inner truth, as well as topics related to business, leadership, and creativity.
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
— Jon Kabat Zinn
The long version
If you're reading these words, you really aren't meant to, because I am not supposed to be alive. In my twenties, I stood on the edge of death during a time in my life when I lost everything. And when I say edge, I really mean it. I went there—night after night—staring down into the void. Suicide was calling me, in a way that felt oddly cold and logical. My spirit had already left and all that remained was my body. And I had only one thing left to do.
That is, until I saw a light and heard a voice deep within me. I won't tell you what it said (that's a story for another time!), but I will tell you this: it was profoundly beautiful and it saved me.
Later, I came across accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs)—stories of people describing a light as they neared death. When I read those descriptions, I recognized it.
It was the same light I had seen.
It spoke to me in a language I had known my whole life. It wasn't the voice of thoughts, but the quiet intuitive whisper beneath them—the one I had spent years ignoring in favor of the louder voices and realities of the world around me. The ones that, up until that point, felt like truths. The ones that told me to keep up and run endlessly like a hamster on a wheel, never enough and always needing to be more for the world around me.
So in the end, it was my spirituality that saved me. It was something deep within me — not of the mind, but of the spirit. Something beyond the noise of everyday life, beyond logic and explanation.
Despite this, I've noticed how rarely spirituality is discussed in the context of mental health, in a grounded, evidence-informed manner. For years, clinical psychology has given us powerful tools for healing mental health. But it has left something critically essential out: an acknowledgement of the human spirit—the part of us that longs for meaning, purpose, connection, and something deeper than symptom relief.
That's why many evidence-based therapies are beginning to incorporate spirituality. Treatments like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) draw directly from Eastern traditions—particularly Buddhism—through practices like mindfulness, acceptance, radical self-compassion, and the ability to hold opposite truths at once. Internal Family Systems (IFS) speaks of how to access the Self— the calm, confident, and compassionate presence that is present within each of us. These are not new techniques and concepts. They are ancient spiritual practices that have supported human suffering for thousands of years. Research has only recently caught up to confirm their efficacy.
I've observed a growing existential longing in so many people — an emptiness they can't quite name. To separate healing from the human spirit is part of what leads to the numbness and disconnection so many people carry today. What we need is a more integrated understanding—one that honors the opposite truths of science and spirituality, evidence and mystery, data and meaning, all at once.
That's why I created Inner Calling: to create a space that allows for this mystery, a force too often neglected in modern life and yet which is essential.
For it is mystery that opens us to wonder, to awe, to the quiet beauty of simply being alive. And when you are connected to the beauty of the universe, you begin to recognize the beauty within yourself. Without that connection, healing remains incomplete. I also created this podcast to open up a thoughtful, honest conversation about spirituality, mental health, and healing as I know these are not topics that are always easy to talk about. My hope is to create space for each person to explore how to uniquely connect with their own inner light, one that is always there, even in the darkest moments.
You can find Inner Calling with Dr. Victoria on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. It's a mixed-format podcast that blends personal reflections, quotes, practical tools, and guest interviews. I weave evidence-based psychology into each of these themes to explore how we can all live more aligned and meaningful lives. Some of the topics I'll explore include:
Living well in the face of depression, anxiety, bipolar, and mood concerns
Thriving with neurodivergence and/or disability
Spirituality and mental health
Living in alignment with your inner truths
Trusting your intuition and inner voice
Finding meaning and purpose in life
Existential questions and concerns
Our various identities
Ultimately, I believe each of us is on a journey, back home to our inner wisdom and beauty that have always been there, patiently waiting for us. Each episode is written to provide kind encouragement to you, and a small piece of wisdom to help you keep going.
I’m not active on social media, but I love connecting through the podcast and my newsletter, where things move at a more old fashioned, human pace. :) See you there!!!
Listen on to Inner Calling with Dr. Victoria on:
