Empowered Through Compassion

This week I had the priviledge of speaking with Nancy Simons, who is a trainer at Syzygy Institute (which weaves together EMDR and IFS training). She speaks about some of the strengths of IFS Informed EMDR training (IIE). She also shares some of her wonderful creations in the field, including a very special protocal that she has named, "The Self-Compassion Container." Enjoy this episode, and our special converesation.

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Daphne Fatter. She is a leader in the field of interweaving IFS and EMDR. She is a teacher and writer who has a lot of first hand experience with these models. I learned so much about the integration of the models from her, and I am excited to share our compassionate conversation with you. I hope you can feel some of our excitement with these models. I hope that this also inspires you to want to learn more aobut these two models and how they could help with trauma healing. Enjoy this episode!

In this very special episode I am speaking with my 7th and 8th grade teacher Mr. Trostli. He is a Waldorf class teacher (grades 1 to 8), high school teacher, adult educator, author, and lecturer. He is the Founder and Director of Hartsbrook High School and served as the Director of the Waldorf Research Institute. We speak about the incredible impact he has had in my life, and how his beautiful views of education and Rudolf Steiner converge with my understanding of IFS and EMDR therapy. 

Today I was fortunate to speak with Annabel McGoldrick. She is a compassionate and amazing soul, who started "Peace Journalism" with her husband, and then went on to become an EMDR therapist, consultant and founder to EMDR Insght: New Horizons in EMDR Therapy and Training. She teaches classes that weave EMDR and IFS together, and has a lot of wonderful insights to share with us!  

Gary Whited has studied philosophy, taught philosophy, and is now a trained IFS therapist. He has published books with his poems, and has done a number of translations of the great poet and philosopher Parmenides. It was so wonderful to be introduced to this ancient world through Gary. It was also a treat to have him read some of his original poetry! It was so interesting to look at some IFS concepts through a poetic lense. I hope you ejoy this episode as much as I did!

In this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with Tammy Sollenberger. She is very well known in the IFS community. She has a popular podcast called "The One Inside" and also has written an incredible book with the same name. She has been trained in IFS, and is an IFS therapist and consultant. It was a wonderful oppotunity to sit inside some of Tammy's positive self energy as we spoke about all things IFS. I hope you enjoy! 

Welcome to this beautiful conversation with one of the masters of IFS-- Cece Sykes. She shows us how IFS can be helpful for people struggling with addictions. In fact, she goes a step further, and we speak about how addictions are all around us, sometimes we don't even recognize how many things we are all addicted to in our culture! Some addictions are even encouraged (think about the workaholics or the greedy politicians as examples). 

In this episode I speak with author and CFO Justin B Long about his book, "The Righteous Rage of a 10-Year-Old Boy: A Journey of Self-Discovery." This is a beautiful book about a man who has overcome a traumatic childhood, with inner resilence, a lot of intention, and the help of his therapist (trained in EMDR). He recounts in detail his experience with EMDR, and how it helped transform his perception of himself and the world. Through a lot of courage and inner stamina Justin is able to reflect on the magic of EMDR with a very personal and open account of his experience. 

I am reloading the first part of this episode as a special bonus this month! Martha was on the second episode from season 1. She was such a fun and interesting guest and a pleasure to speak with. She spoke about her book Internal Family Systes Therapy for Shame and Guilt, which is one of my most favorite books on my bookshelf! Not only did it deepen my understanding of IFS, but it also helps to get a better handle on something that afflicts all of us: shame! Thanks Martha for having this compassionate conversation with me!   

I had the privilege of sitting down with one of my heroes, Robin Shapiro, the editor of EMDR Solutions I and II and a leading voice in trauma healing. Robin shared deeply moving stories from her 20s, when she lived in a gay community and witnessed the AIDS crisis firsthand. That early encounter with mortality shaped her calling to help people heal their suffering. Some highlights from our conversation:   Spirituality in Therapy: Robin brings meditation, intuition, and compassion into her EMDR practice—“God is love, and all beings need love.”   Attachment as the Foundation: The therapeutic relationship itself is the most healing force. Compassion and love are central to transformation.   Polyvagal Theory in Action: Helping clients, like children, learn “I can be sad and still lovable” builds regulation and safety.   Two-Handed Interweave: A brilliant way to explore inner conflicts and polarized ego states—using EMDR to integrate them.   Ego State & Parts Work: Trauma healing means bringing parts safely into the present, so no one is left “back there.”   Intergenerational Healing: Trauma can live in our cells across generations. Robin’s work invites us to clear what was carried before us.   Robin’s wisdom blends clinical brilliance with deep spirituality. She reminds us that in facing death and trauma, we actually discover how alive and connected we truly are!