LOVELINK

Jette Simon is a Danish clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience working with couples from around the world. She is an Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy trainer and Director of the Washington DC Training Institute for Couples Therapy and EFT Institute in Copenhagen. She’s also Signe’s mom! In this personal interview with us from 2017, she shares insights from her past romantic relationships and her clinical work with couples. We talk about what makes for a good relationship, the function of affairs, cultural norms, and starter marriages. Jette also offers up some motherly words of wisdom that can help anyone maintain hope after a break up or improve their current relationship.

This is the second episode in our series on women, sex, and tech. We are strong supporters of female entrepreneurs, as ones ourselves, and it’s been so exciting to pick the brains of like minded women who are dedicated to spreading sex education and promoting sexual wellness. Our guest today is the cofounder of Allbodies (formerly Cycles and Sex), an education platform to teach people about their bodies. With an emphasis on the reproductive cycle and sexual wellness, Allbodies is a company whose mission is provide accessible information that is often taboo or shaming. It is a sex positive, body affirming platform that covers topics from pregnancy, birth control, hormones, sex-ed, and menstruation. All the questions that many of us have and we’re not often told. https://www.allbodies.com

In this engaging interview, polyamory expert and coach, Effy Blue, talks to us about what makes for successful poly relationships and how to decide whether a polyamorous lifestyle is right for you. Effy shares her personal journey from monogamy to polyamory and offers up lots of practical advice about everything from talking to your monogamous partner about polyamory, how to think about scheduling poly relationships, and effective communication skills. Even if you're monogamous, you might be surprised by how much there is to be learned from poly relationships.

Dr. Jacob Ham is a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with couples and trauma. He is the director of the Center for Child Trauma and Resilience and assistant clinical professor and supervisor at Mount Sinai in New York City. This episode is a sequel to our first interview with Dr. Ham (Ep 8 - Haunted By History: Love After Trauma), where we are introduced to a couple struggling with connection in the face of jealousy. This time, we listen to segments of a subsequent therapy session and hear how their relationship unfolds, while shedding light on the ways attachment styles evolve from childhood to adult romance as well as the destructive and constructive power of anger in relationships.

This episode is part one of a series on women, sex, and tech. We interviewed founders, Gina Gutierrez and Faye Keegan, founders of their company Dipsea, a tech company that offers audio stories for a new platform to foster sexual wellbeing. The stories range in genre, perspective, and mood, and are designed to turn their listeners on and help them to feel sexy. We picked their brains on female sexuality and how the mind is such a crucial and often neglected form of foreplay, the excitement and challenges of starting a company, and their vision of the future of sexual wellness. This episode is not a paid sponsorship.

Dr. Sue Johnson is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and the developer of  Emotionally Focused Couples and Family Therapy (EFT), a powerful model that helps couples tune into their emotions to reconnect. She is the author of the bestselling book Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love, an evidenced based program to help couples build safety. Among her many accomplishments, Sue has been appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada and was named Psychologist of the Year by APA 2016. In this engaging interview on Sue's 30th wedding anniversary, she takes us on an educational journey through the science of attachment and emotion, the foundation for our romantic relationship needs.

Psychiatrist Mark Epstein, blending Buddhism and therapy, discusses ego's role in relationships, distractions fueling anxieties, and ways to change our relationship with our egos. He explores love's impact on ego, attachment issues, and mindfulness in fostering healthy connections.

World renowned love guru and couples psychotherapist, Esther Perel, poignantly describes the realities of romance, including infidelity and complacency in relationships. Why do we cheat even when we're in happy relationships? Can relationships be repaired after an affair? How do we maintain romantic excitement in the face of familiarity? Esther shares with us thoughtful and seductive solutions to tackle these eternal dilemmas.

Simone's cousin Rachel and her girlfriend Ada visit LOVELINK to talk about how their relationship evolved following Ada’s gender transition. With great humor and wisdom, Rachel and Ada open up about what they’ve learned about themselves and each other through Ada’s transition, including changes in the way they connect emotionally and sexually. Regardless of how you identify, there’s a lot to be learned about love and the healing power of personal liberation from this inspiring couple.

Dr. Bill Doherty, professor and director of the Minnesota Couples on the Brink Project at the University of Minnesota, gives us some solid Midwestern relationship advice. He’s worked with thousands of couples and been married 40 + years, so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to sustain long-term commitment. In this interview, he shares how he helps couples working through the often wrenching decision about whether to end a relationship. Dr. Doherty also walks us through his list of red flags to look for when dating and what people should probably stop stressing about. If you’re single or thinking about taking your relationship to the next level of commitment, this is a must listen episode!