E.84 - Creating A Safe & Inclusive Community with Olivia Fermi

Today we get to hear from an awesome online creator and educator, @Annie_Undonr (Annie Whitman) whose unique style makes her content super engaging and easy to digest. She's on a mission to help others realize that, "You deserve to be yourself." Annie's done such a wonderful job chronicling her journey and creating content as she has processed her feelings around the things poly folx go through. Things like going on a date with someone new, experiencing NRE, managing jealousy when her partner goes on a date, and coming to the realization that maybe polyamory fit her more naturally, but never knowing it was an option. We also talk about her recent experience of being unwittingly outed to family, the fallout she's experiencing, and how she's coping with the family members with whom she wants to maintain relationships. We had so much fun chatting, and there's a lot of great nuggets in this episode, so don't miss out! Learn more and follow Annie on IG/Reddit: @Annie_Undone !

7 Juli 202135min

Okay, so this was fun! There was a scheduling snafu that ended up with me starting on one topic and shifting gears 4 minutes in when our guest, Maria Carrington, popped in! Maria has developed a course intended to teach therapists about kink and BDSM, and demystifying the belief that these practices are at the root of mental health problems (they're not). We talk about the questions you might want to ask your therapist to make sure they're sex positive and affirming, recognizing biases that your mental health professional might be carrying, and what may or may not be included in the psychology bible, aka the DSM-V. Learn more about our guest at www.nwsextherapy.com!

6 Juli 202134min

I get a chance to chat with sex therapist Anna Baxter today, whose journey through BDSM, polyam, and gender identity gives them a unique perspective that they're able to share with our audience. We talk about the importance of labels and words (like skoliosexual), finding community, and how having the right words to describe ourselves and find community helps us make decisions in our lives that best fit us and helps us be the best version of ourselves. We get into the topic of neuroscience, and how with time and practice we can rewrite our neuropathways and rewrite our autonomy to be more aligned with our authentic selves. Tune in to learn more, and find out about our guest's project by following on IG: @Atlanta_Polyamory.

5 Juli 202129min

I'm so excited to host one of the top polyam educators and creators on social media today, Jessica Levity Daylover of @RemodeledLove and @HomeSliceProductions fame. Jessica isn't just hilariously creative, relatable, and smart as a whip, she's also on a mission to expand the cultural narrative on healthy relationships and normalize polyamory and ethical non-monogamy on a grand scale. In other words, she wants to change society's semiology! We talk about her mission, her recent podcast episode where she discusses her recent discovery of her demisexuality, how she's navigating that realization in comparison to our sex-negative culture, and why she is anti-capitalist. I'm so happy to have a chance to get to know Jes on an even deeper level, and hope you all enjoy it as well! Be sure to look up and learn about solidarity economy, and learn more about Jes at www.remodeledlove.com, follow on IG: @remodeledlove / @homesliceproductions, and on TikTok: @homesliceproductions.

1 Juli 202136min

Therapy is hard work, but in this episode we learn from our awesomely nerdy guest, Matt Fahy, how he's made the hard work of therapy FUN by incorporating game theory into his work. We learned about three types of communication and how therapy can be gamified to teach these concepts and integrate them into relationships. This was a particularly fun episode where Matt brought out my inner geek, with a ton of great nuggets of wisdom sprinkles throughout. Learn more about Matt and his practice at www.heroichealthgroup.com and follow on IG: @heroichealthgroup

30 Juni 202130min

I'm joined today by two awesome, poly-friendly therapists who, as trauma-informed therapists, view polyamory as a centerpiece for healing past traumas. We cover how polyamory helps folx with wounded attachments and we touch on how we can recognize our attachment styles to recognize Codependency, Counterdependency, and Interdependency. We further dive into how the populace of polyam folks is largely independent women/femmes and how that may affect the data that researchers have gathered over the years. Learn more about our guests at www.makingspacepsychotherapy.com and www.createhealthysynergy.com and follow on IG: @dr.sophiamurphy

29 Juni 202124min

Today's guest, Michelle Vaughan, co-authored a significant research project about compersion, and in this episode we take a deep dive into it. We learn about her project which covers what compersion is and how it can be measured, and how we might use this information to improve our relationships. We also learn that there are not one, but THREE different types of compersion! Tune in to hear what those three types of compersion are, and learn more about Michelle by following her on Twitter: @MichelleDVPhD

28 Juni 202138min

TW: Sexual Assault & R*pe Our guest today has an incredible and remarkable story. From home school to college, from psychology and business degrees to marketing and office management, from drug and alcohol addictions to sobriety and work as a high end escort, and now as a therapist, relationship coach and certified sexologist, her life experience has taught her one thing above all…there is no need for a life filled with shame. This amazing guest has a knack for making people feel safe to explore their shame without feeling judged. Her personal experience in moving past THAT crippling emotion, and realizing her full potential as a joyful being, is a powerful gift that she is able to share with her clients so that they, too, can live happy and shame-free lives. Whether we experience shame about gender, race, sexual orientation, fantasies, socio-economic status, or anything else the results are the same: lower self esteem and distrust in ourselves and our relationships. Our guest today can help us overcome that. Joining us today from the Shame-Free Zone out of Grass Valley, CA, welcome to the show Veronica Monet! Learn more at www.theshamefreezone.com and follow her @the_shame_free_zone

23 Juni 202138min