In today’s episode we’re talking about the intersection between our work and the work of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. What do holding space and tenderness have to do with building a more equitable and inclusive world?

Our guest is Minal Bopaiah. Minal is an author and strategic consultant with expertise in human-centered design, behavior change psychology, and the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) as they relate to media, marketing, communications and organizational design.

More about Minal: 

Visit her full profile and her organization at: https://brevityandwit.com/team/minal-bopaiah/

In this episode of A Tender Space, we’re talking about disability and chronic illness and what it means to live in a body that is often ignored or othered by those who design spaces and shape cultures.

Our guest today is Grace Quantock. Grace is a psychotherapeutic counselor, writer, coach, wellness provocateur, and healing trailblazer. She is also an activist who seeks liberation and justice for ALL bodies.

Check out resources from Grace Quantock:  

Pre-order her latest book: Living Well with Chronic Illness: Write your own roadmap to healing in tough times

Get Pre-Appointment Pep Talks: 10 days of audio coaching sessions to prep you for challenging medical, work or life appointments. Plus you'll get my weekly Healing in Tough Times Newsletter —packed with resources, inclusive support & ways to live well when hurting.

Watch her TEDx Talk: Using Your Brokenness to Break Boundaries, and join Grace on Instagram, TikTok and Website: GraceQuantock.com

In this episode, Heather and Krista reflected on the Centre for Holding Space's journey of bringing "holding space" to the world.

Holding space work speaks to the core of our humanity - our need for being seen, for belonging and for liberation. As fundamental as it is, holding space is not an easy practice. It requires a commitment to both self- and system awareness: the oppression, the trauma, the intersectionality and the interconnectedness that plays into our webs of relationships.

Towards the end of the episode, Heather and Krista practice dreaming of a world where each and every person is deeply recognized and seen for their humanity.

On today’s episode, we’re talking about racism. In particular, we’re exploring what it means for those of us born in white bodies to examine and disrupt our own racism and the racism of the systems that privilege us.

Our guest today is Idelette McVicker, author of the book, Recovering Racists: Dismantling White Supremacy & Reclaiming Our Humanity. Now living on the unceded territories of the Kwantlen, Semiahmoo (semi-a-moh) and Sto:lo (stah-low) peoples in Surrey, Canada, Idelette was born and raised in South Africa during the apartheid era.

---

Music credit: 

The following sound is loyalty-free and generously provided by the community of artists on Pixabay:

1. A Small Miracle by Romarecord1973 (Beginning and Ending Credit).

2. Tokyo Cafe by TVARI (Mid-Credit). 

On today’s episode, we’re talking about the intersection between creativity and healing. How can we tap into our own intuition and creativity in order to become more whole, healed, joyful and alive? And how does tenderness help us address the part of us that gets blocked by perfectionism?

Our guest today is Chris Zydel, who calls herself the Wild Heart Queen. Chris is the founder of Creative Juices Arts and the author of Conversations with the Brush: Wisdom Tales from the Intuitive Painting Heart. She’s a creativity coach and an Evolutionary Astrologer, and runs women's groups, teaches weekly intuitive painting classes, facilitates expressive arts retreats and has created an expressive arts teacher training program.

---

Music credit: 

The following sound is loyalty-free and generously provided by the community of artists on Pixabay:

1. A Small Miracle by Romarecord1973 (Beginning and Ending Credit).

2. Tokyo Cafe by TVARI (Mid-Credit). 

On today’s episode, we are exploring the ins and outs of deconstructing from religion. Many folks are raised with religious ideologies that begin to become problematic for them as they grow and learn and change. Taking apart and deconstructing those belief systems can be hard, not just as a personal crisis of faith, but because of the impact on our relationships with our families of origin - not to mention the broader communities we may have been a part of our whole lives.

Our guest today is Ronna Detrick, author of the book, “Rewriting Eve: Rescuing women’s stories from the Bible and reclaiming them as our own”. Ronna, who has both a Master of Divinity Degree and B.A. in Business and Communication, left the church and its dogma twenty years ago and since then, has combined her love of writing into a diverse and winding career that has included coaching, spiritual direction, professional development training, corporate leadership, and entrepreneurship. 

You can learn more at: ronnadetrick.com and subscribe to her writing on Substack.

Music credit: 

The following sound is loyalty-free and generously provided by the community of artists on Pixabay:

1. A Small Miracle by Romarecord1973 (Beginning and Ending Credit).

2. Tokyo Cafe by TVARI (Mid-Credit). 

On today’s episode, we are talking about the complexities of divorce. What happens when a relationship you chose to be in no longer feels like the right fit? How do you make the choice to end it? And what support do you need to help you get through such a major disruption and then heal after it’s happened?

Our guest today is Kate Anthony. Kate Anthony is the author of The D Word: Making the Ultimate Decision About Your Marriage, host of the critically acclaimed and New York Times recommended podcast The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast and the creator of the online coaching program, Should I Stay or Should I Go? which has helped hundreds of women make the most difficult decision of their lives using coaching tools, relationship education, geeky neuroscience, community support, and deep self-work.

Kate empowers women to find their strength, passion, and confidence even in the most disempowering of circumstances and helps them move forward with concrete plans set on a solid foundation, putting their children at the center (not in the middle) of all their decisions.

Kate is trained in various coaching modalities with two of the top coach training organizations in the world. Additionally, Kate is certified as a Domestic Violence Victim’s Advocate by the state of California, as a Co-Parenting Specialist by the Mosten Guthrie Academy, and as a High Conflict Divorce Coach by Tina Swithin’s High Conflict Divorce Coaching Certification Program.

In addition to her online programs, Kate works privately with clients all over the world. 

Kate lives in Los Angeles with her teenage son, whom she lovingly co-parents with her ex-husband.

You can find Kate at www.kateanthony.com and on Facebook and Instagram.

On today’s episode, we’re talking about healing the trauma that’s been passed down through our lineages and disrupting the social conditioning that we inherited from the systems we are part of. More specifically, we’re exploring the mother wound and how it was shaped by patriarchy. 

Bethany Webster is considered a global expert on healing the Mother Wound. She is a writer, international speaker and transformational coach. Bethany started blogging in 2013 about the Mother Wound and quickly experienced worldwide demand for her work. Through blending research on intergenerational trauma, feminist theory, and psychology with her own personal story, Bethany's work is the result of decades of research and her own journey of healing. Bethany speaks, consults and mentors around the world sharing her growing body of work that is raising the standard of women’s leadership and personal development. Learn more at www.bethanywebster.com

---

The following sound is loyalty-free and generously provided by the community of artists on Pixabay:

1. A Small Miracle by Romarecord1973 (Beginning and Ending Credit).

2. Tokyo Cafe by TVARI (Mid-Credit). 

On today’s episode, we’re talking about body liberation. More specifically, we’re exploring what it means to navigate a fat-phobic world while living in a fat body AND how we can find pleasure and joy while doing so. We’ll also talk about how people who don’t live in fat bodies can educate themselves and become better allies.

Our guest today is Dawn Serra. Dawn Serra is a white, cis, queer, fat, disabled therapist specializing in relationships, pleasure, and body trust. She is the co-founder of Tend and Cultivate Counselling, Canada's first mental health group practice providing trauma-informed, weight-neutral, radical mental health care for people in bigger bodies. The nexus of her work is tending to the places where we are most tender and cultivating the things that contribute to our aliveness - joy, pleasure, connection, satisfaction, and wonder.

Below are the authors, activists and works named in our conversation:

The following sound is loyalty-free and generously provided by the community of artists on Pixabay:

Today we’re talking about healing with friends.

Heather has just recently launched her book, Where Tenderness Lives, and during the writing of that book, she spent a lot of time in conversation with her friend Saleha Alsheri, a Saudi Arabia-born psychotherapist who is now based in Winnipeg, Canada.

One of the best places Heather has found to root her deep healing work is in relationships that can hold it - specifically friendships.

In this conversation, Heather and Saleha will talk about the history of their friendship and how it became a place where they could both heal and grow.

The following sound is loyalty-free and generously provided by the community of artists on Pixabay:

1. A Small Miracle by Romarecord1973 (Beginning and Ending Credit).

2. Tokyo Cafe by TVARI (Mid-Credit).