Show Notes:

I am honoured to be joined by my friend and colleague, Chelsea Beyer. Chelsea is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, PhD Candidate, and university instructor in the Department of Psychology. She is trained as a sex therapist, and works with people who are struggling with a range of mental health and relational challenges, and has been practicing in the Lower Mainland for five years. Her Doctoral research focuses on the intersection of women’s embodiment and sexual satisfaction. The heart of her clinical work and research is the desire to help people feel more at home in their own bodies. 

Today Chelsea is joining me in a conversation working to highlight the challenges facing First Responders & Front Line Workers in "being normal" in their intimate partner relationships. We are diving into everything from the daily monotony of life together over time, to arguing over what matters to us, to talking about our needs and values, to finding what we need for spicy sex. We would highly encourage couples to listen to this one together. 

In this episode we talk about:

• The physiology of stress and trauma and the ways this impacts our ability to do relationship (hyper-arousal and hypo-arousal)
• The difficulty of finding empathy for the silly monotonous things in life when what I've done today is SO big
• The need to acknowledge what we're bringing to the table 
• Identifying our internal and external context and using this language to facilitate connection
• Recognizing needs to facilitate moving toward closeness and intimacy, including sex

Chelsea also shares about a great research and author, Emily Nagoski. Check out the books we talk about in this episode:

Come As You Are (book) here on Indigo.
The Come As You Are Workbook (companion workbook) here on Indigo.
Burnout (book) here on Indigo.

Episode Challenge:

Listen to this episode alongside your partner. Be open to hearing their thoughts on how your work shapes your relationship, and talk about ways to apply some of the pieces raised in this episode that seem most pertinent to YOUR relationship.

Reflect on where you’re at and what you might need by using our free Beating the Breaking Point Indicators Checklist & Triage Guide. 

Additional Resources:

Check out the books we talk about in this episode:

Come As You Are (book) here on Indigo.
The Come As You Are Workbook (companion workbook) here on Indigo.
Burnout (book) here on Indigo.

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