In this episode, Jude (she/they) and Alessio (he/they) with their guest speaker, Ali Bushell (he/him), talk about sexuality and reflect on how we speak about sexuality within the IFS and therapeutic communities.

Ali Bushell, IFS Therapist, supervisor and author of the book "The Sex Party Handbook", shares with us his views and perspective on the impact of norms, and in particular heteronormativity, on the discourse about sex and sexuality. What lenses are we seeing sex through, and how does it impact our work with clients? Perhaps the "P of Passion" should be added to the qualities of Self.

Contacts

Jude Carn - https://www.anchoredinself.co.uk/

Alessio Rizzo - https://www.therapywithalessio.com/

Ali Bushell - https://www.alibushell.com/

Ali's book - https://www.alibushell.com/the-sex-party-handbook

Sound editing by Forbes Coleman

Disclaimer

This podcast is hosted by qualified therapists who share personal reflections and professional insights into therapy and mental health. The views expressed are those of the individual speakers or guests and are personal to them.

While we talk about therapy, this podcast is not therapy. It’s for information, reflection, and conversation only, and should never be considered a substitute for professional mental health support, diagnosis, or treatment. Listening to this podcast does not create a therapist-client relationship.

Some episodes may touch on sensitive topics, so please take care while listening. If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a qualified therapist or mental health professional in your area.

Guest opinions are their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the hosts.

Join Alessio Rizzo and Jude Carn as they kick off a multi-part journey into Queering the Self in Internal Family Systems (IFS).

In this episode, they unpack the challenges of defining Self and Self-Energy in IFS, wrestling with the limits of language and why clear definitions matter to some parts of us. They explore self-energy within parts, the Self as energy, and its role as the system’s anchor, leader, or central organiser.

This is the first of a series of episodes in which exploring the intersection between the Self, queerness and neurodivergence

Jude is an Approved Clinical Consultant and Psychotherapist and can be found at can be found at ⁠www.anchoredinself.co.uk⁠

Alessio is an Assistant Trainer with IFSI, an Approved Clinical Consultant and a Psychotherapist, and can be found at www.therapywithalessio.com

Disclaimer

This podcast is hosted by qualified therapists who share personal reflections and professional insights into therapy and mental health. The views expressed are those of the individual speakers or guests and are personal to them.

While we talk about therapy, this podcast is not therapy. It’s for information, reflection, and conversation only, and should never be considered a substitute for professional mental health support, diagnosis, or treatment. Listening to this podcast does not create a therapist-client relationship.

Some episodes may touch on sensitive topics, so please take care while listening. If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a qualified therapist or mental health professional in your area.

Guest opinions are their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the hosts.

Join Alessio and Jude this week as they talk about pronouns. Something they are both passionate about in supporting clients to have an inclusive and affirmative experience in their therapy. Not just the importance of checking out and using the client's pronouns, but also doing this with their parts.

Jude (she/they) and Alessio (he/they) talk about their pronoun journeys, and that of their parts as well as their work with clients and consultees/supervisees.

Alessio and Jude talk about the importance of asking, and not assuming gender or pronouns in a system, regardless of the client's gender and pronouns.

Alessio is a Certified IFS psychotherapist, IFS Assistant Trainer (AT) with the IFS institute, and Approved Clinical Consultant (ACC).

www.therapywithalessio.com

Jude is a Certified IFS psychotherapist and an Approved Clinical Consultant (ACC) with the IFS Institute.

www.anchoredinself.co.uk

Sound editing by Forbes Coleman

Disclaimer

This podcast is hosted by qualified therapists who share personal reflections and professional insights into therapy and mental health. The views expressed are those of the individual speakers or guests and are personal to them.

While we talk about therapy, this podcast is not therapy. It’s for information, reflection, and conversation only, and should never be considered a substitute for professional mental health support, diagnosis, or treatment. Listening to this podcast does not create a therapist-client relationship.

Some episodes may touch on sensitive topics, so please take care while listening. If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a qualified therapist or mental health professional in your area.

Guest opinions are their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the hosts.

Today, Jude Carn and Alessio Rizzo discuss neurodiversity. Join them in conversation. Neurodiversity does not originate in parts, through the IFS lens. It is natural and innate to humans and includes the mind and the body.

We talk about some of the main neurodivergences under the umbrella and do a deeper dive into why we have to see neurodivergence as the hardware of the system, not a 'part' that needs to be fixed in IFS terms. Alessio and Jude distinguish between parts and the system, talking about their experiences and how we can support our parts to understand and accept neurodivergence, and how important is it to have a therapist that understands this too.

Alessio Rizzo - www.therapywithalessio.com

Jude Carn - www.anchoredinself.co.uk

Referenced in today's episode:

Christiansen, C., & Martinez-Dettamanti, M. (2023). Embodying IFS with neurodivergent clients: A neuro-inclusive approach for therapists. In Riemersma, J (Ed),Altogether US: Integrating the IFS model with key modalities, communities, and trends

Middleton, E (2023) UNMASKED: The Ultimate Guide to ADHD, Autism, and Neurodivergence.

Nick Walker - Neuroqueer Heresies Autonomous Press

Disclaimer

This podcast is hosted by qualified therapists who share personal reflections and professional insights into therapy and mental health. The views expressed are those of the individual speakers or guests and are personal to them.

While we talk about therapy, this podcast is not therapy. It’s for information, reflection, and conversation only, and should never be considered a substitute for professional mental health support, diagnosis, or treatment. Listening to this podcast does not create a therapist-client relationship.

Some episodes may touch on sensitive topics, so please take care while listening. If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a qualified therapist or mental health professional in your area.

Guest opinions are their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the hosts.

In today's episode, we have an introduction to Jude and Alessio and why they wanted to start this IFS (internal family systems) podcast for the queer and neurodivergent IFS community.

Alessio and Jude talk about why they are here, how they met, sharing pronouns. Why it matters that therapists understand their client's queerness, neurodivergence, gender sexual and relationship diversities. How we understand parts and self and trauma. They talk about queering, queerness, neuroqueering and how IFS can allow us to queer the mind.

Alessio Rizzo - www.therapywithalessio.com

Jude Carn - www.anchoredinself.co.uk

Books referenced:

No Bad Parts - Richard Schwartz

Neuroqueer Heresies - Nick Walker

Disclaimer

This podcast is hosted by qualified therapists who share personal reflections and professional insights into therapy and mental health. The views expressed are those of the individual speakers or guests and are personal to them.

While we talk about therapy, this podcast is not therapy. It’s for information, reflection, and conversation only, and should never be considered a substitute for professional mental health support, diagnosis, or treatment. Listening to this podcast does not create a therapist-client relationship.

Some episodes may touch on sensitive topics, so please take care while listening. If you're struggling, we encourage you to reach out to a qualified therapist or mental health professional in your area.

Guest opinions are their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the hosts.