Queers and Co.

Join Gem for this episode, "What Happens When... Trauma is Kicking Your Arse".

When they experienced an intense cPTSD flare-up earlier this year, Gem realised their usual supports were no longer enough.

In this episode, they reflect on what helped them navigate being stuck in a trauma response, their experience of moral scrupulosity, the importance of co-regulation and loving community, and the magic of nature for recovery and perspective - all recorded in a cosy bed and then whilst walking by the River Tweed!

Helpful links:

PTSD and Autism: https://neurodivergentinsights.com/misdiagnosis-monday/ptsd-and-autism

Moral scrupulosity: https://iocdf.org/faith-ocd/living-with-ocd-religious-traditions/moral-scrupulosity/

Monotropism: https://monotropism.org/

Window of tolerance: https://autismunderstood.co.uk/health-and-wellbeing/window-of-tolerance/

Thank you so much for listening! I'd love it if you'd consider sharing and reviewing this podcast!

Find out more about me and my work at www.gemkennedy.com and @thegemkennedy in all the usual places.

Welcome to Series 3 of Queers and Co. It's been a while!

Listen as Gem sets the scene and heads off on their trip to Scotland.

Thank you so much for listening! I'd love it if you'd consider sharing and reviewing this podcast!

Find out more about me and my work at www.gemkennedy.com and @thegemkennedy in all the usual places.

My final guest this series is the wonderful Aisha Shaibu (she/her). The founder of 'Moonlight Experiences', Aisha is a proud queer activist who champions integration, diversity & equality. Aisha believes in using the economical power of LGBTQ+ tourism and nightlife to help amplify marginalized voices and transform communities. She is also a prominent event producer who works for organisations such as UK Black Pride & London Queer Fashion Show. Aisha has been featured in the Mayor Of London's hidden credit for her contribution to nightlife. 

We chat about the many hats that Aisha wears, founding Moonlight Experiences and bringing queer folks together from around the world, opening a sober queer venue in East London, her passion for building community, holidays and exercise as self-care, her ability to organise seamlessly, tourism as a tool for social change, educating on queer culture and lots more!

If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies.

Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. 

Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.

Resources

 Moonlight Experiences

https://www.moonlightexperiences.com

Follow Aisha on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/ukblackpride/

https://www.ukblackpride.org.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/londonqueerfashionshow/

Full Transcript to follow

This week I’m joined by experienced BDSM educator and kinky stand-up comedian John Pendal (he/ him). In 2003, John became the 25th (and only British) winner of the International Mr. Leather contest in Chicago. Since then he has travelled extensively leading workshops, giving speeches, as a master of ceremonies or doing stand-up comedy. He now works online with English-speaking clients anywhere in the world and loves helping people who identify as outsiders.

Join us as we chat about accidentally qualifying for and winning International Mr. Leather, being so late to the podium he was almost killed by fireworks, immersing himself in kink culture, the oppression experienced by the gay community in the 1990s, supporting others to undo a lifetime of being squashed, learning he was autistic and unpacking internalised ableism, punching up in comedy and so much more!

If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies.

Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. 

Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.

Resources

Find out more about John’s coaching practice

John’s Leather website

Find out more about John’s work with Thriving Autistic

Full Transcript to follow

This week I’m joined by the glorious Artemis D. Bear!! Artemis (they/them) is a non-binary queer iconoclast, who always has too many projects on the go. They are the founder and director of The Garden, a self directed learning community for young people in Bristol, and work for the Phoenix Education Trust on the Freedom to Learn programme. They are also a drag king, stage manager and queer cabaret producer. Last year they founded UBI Lab Bristol, campaigning for a basic income trial, which they believe could lift everyone out of absolute poverty and liberate many more. They live in Bristol with their partner and children and finally feel like a real grown up now they have a piano and a dog.

Join us as we chat about a terrible Tinder date, the joy of producing drag shows, seeing our bodies through the eyes of a queer person, co-parenting and self-direction, why UBI is a complete no-brainer, how schooling fuels inequality and grades people according to privilege and lots more juicy stuff!

If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies.

Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. 

Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.

Resources

Sign the petition for a UBI pilot in Bristol

UBI Lab Network’s website

The Garden Bristol’s website

Freedom to Learn’s website

Check out Brizzle Boyz and Scritch Cabaret

Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape book

The book I mentioned in the episode but couldn’t remember the name of is Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People

Resisting Illegitimate Authority: A Thinking Person’s Guide to Being an Anti-Authoritarian book

Akilah S. Richards’ website, Fare of the Free Child podcast and Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work book

Full Transcript to follow

This week I’m joined by the unstoppable Heidi Mavir (she/they), a public speaker, qualified mental health first aider, autistic adult, performer and podcaster. Her advocacy work includes educating people on neurodiversity and speaking on mental health, to reduce stigma and enable people to "embrace their inner weirdo." Heidi’s motto is “no guilt, no shame, no self-inflicted emotional pain”.

Join us as we chat about how Heidi discovered her own neurodivergence, severe burnout and the road to recovery, the importance of self-care particularly for neurodivergent people, becoming a burlesque performer, her new podcast Autistic Actually, working sustainably and so much more! 

If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies.

Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. 

Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.

Resources

Check out Heidi’s podcast, Autistic Actually. Launching in May 2021

Follow Heidi on Facebook and Instagram

Head to the seND Facebook group for free SEND and EHCP advice

Heidi recommends Period Power by Maisie Hill

Full Transcript to follow

This week I’m joined by Lydia Bernsmeier-Rullow (she/her). Lydia is a journalist at the BBC, a writer, a poet and a drag king.

Join us as we chat about her journey to understanding her neurodivergence, being a mixed race Black woman with ADHD, her drag king persona Dick Slick, how wearing a beard makes her want to rip her own face off, working towards body neutrality, normalising talking about mental health and building your own social media world when the wider world isn’t built for you and lots more!

If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies.

Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. 

Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza

Resources

Read Lydia’s poetry here or search #lydspoetry on Facebook

Full Transcription to follow

My guest this week is Bear Hebert (they/them), an anti-capitalist business consultant, radical life coach, and social justice educator. In work and in life, Bear actively looks at the intersections of power and privilege and will ask you to do the same, lovingly pushing you and your business in the direction of more liberated moments. Their current offerings include anti-capitalist business consulting and Undoing Patriarchy, an online course for feminist men+.

Join us as we chat about what it means to run an anti-capitalist business, undoing patriarchy, navigating burnout, breaking up with the fire-breathing dragon that is the social media algorithm, accidentally coming out in the news, the pressure to perform being genderqueer correctly and so much more juicy stuff!

If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies.

Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. 

Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.

Resources

Check out Bear’s website

Follow Bear on Instagram

Find out more about Bear’s Undoing Patriarchy course

More info on Social Disdancing

Bear’s highly recommended video series: Freely - An Anti-Capitalist Guide to Pricing Your Work

Hadassah Damien’s website

Full Transcription to follow

This week, I’m joined by Chuck SJ (pronouns: Chuck or they/them), who is a multidisciplinary artist, often exploring trans and autistic matters through various forms. Chuck has completed five European tours, twelve UK tours, 15 albums and 2 EPs. Chuck is well known for their gripping stage performance, unique guitar skills and brutal honesty.

Join us as we chat about Chuck spending the past year in a cabin in the woods, the constant accommodations autistic folx make for neurotypicals and the burnout that often ensues, whether transness even exists when we are alone, our changing relationships with our bodies, life after lockdown and so much more! Plus Chuck shares their poem Am I Even Queer Anymore?

If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies.

Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. 

Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.

Resources

Chuck SJ’s website

Follow Chuck on Instagram

Support Chuck on Patreon

Chuck has a piece published in the upcoming Creating in Crisis anthology from Polari Press. Pre-order now!

Chuck recommends Brighton Cello

Check out Spectrum Gaming, a community for autistic gamers of all ages

Full Transcription to follow

This week, I’m joined by integrative psychotherapist, writer, speaker and activist, Erene Hadjiioannou. As well as running an LGBTQ+ affirmative private practice, Erene's work focuses on the topic of trauma as a result of sexual violence, as outlined in an upcoming textbook, Psychotherapy with Survivors of Sexual Violence: Inside and Outside the Room.

Join us as we chat about creating safe spaces for queer folks in therapy, psychotherapy as activism, the stereotypes surrounding domestic abuse and sexual violence, the discrimination survivors face in the judicial system, queering psychotherapy and lots more!

If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies.

Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. 

Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza

Resources

Follow Erene on Instagram @therapyleeds

Visit Erene’s website

Check out the resources we discussed during the episode: Radical Therapist Network and Inclusive Therapists

Full Transcription to follow