Safe Space Radio

This episode of Safe Space Radio features the founder and president of the first camp for trans youth. Nick describes many challenges that trans youth face as they grow up, particularly as they enter puberty and begin to develop secondary sex characteristics of the sex that feels wrong to them. Camp Aranu’tiq is for ages 8-15 and is designed to offer a safe place where kids can express the gender that feels right to them, among others doing the same. He tells stories of campers who benefited tremendously from meeting other kids like them for the first time in their lives. The post Camp for Transgender and Gender-Variant Youth appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Alex Roan is the director of the Maine Transgender Network. Alex defines the terms transgender, transsexual, and cross-dresser, clarifying the difference between sex, gender, gender expression and sexual orientation. He describes his own story of experiencing the gap between his sex and his gender, and his experience of transitioning from female to male. The post Transgender 101 with Alex Roan appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

This episode of Safe Space Radio features radio program director Lisa Bunker talking about her experience of becoming aware that she identified as a woman. Lisa describes feeling like a failure at trying to be a man, and the deep relief of embracing her female identity. She remembers experiences of telling her friends, her workplace colleagues and her children, and of transitioning to living full-time as a woman. The post Male to Female Transition with Lisa Bunker appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Research professor Jessica Stern is an expert in the connection between trauma and terrorism. In this interview she talks about her experience following a rape at age 15, and how her story was not believed by the police—resulting in more than 40 other children being targeted. Jessica describes living with PTSD, and experiencing a confusing lack of fear in dangerous situations while also feeling panicked by small triggers that she did not know were connected to her trauma. Ultimately Jessica sees her capacity to be intensely curious and empathic towards violent men as a way to try and make sense of what happened to her. The post Trauma, Fear and Denial with Jessica Stern appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

This interview features body psychotherapist Betta de Boer van der Kolk about Tantra as a way to heal from sexual abuse. Betta describes Tantra as an exchange of energy that brings presence, connection, safety and play into sexuality.  She leads the listener in a technique for couples to harmonize their breathing in order to give to each other through their bodies. She also describes ways that a woman can receive sexual healing through Tantric massage, and men can learn to dissociate orgasm from ejaculation, in order to experience ejaculatory control. The post Tantra and Sexual Healing with Betta de Boer van der Kolk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Philosophy professor Susan Brison survived a sexual assault and attempted murder. She describes the transition from needing to tell the story, to finding the story increasingly boring as she healed—and how group therapy, self-defense classes, and jazz singing all helped her recovery. The post Aftermath of Sexual Violence with Susan Brison appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

This interview is with couples therapist and certified sex therapist Wendy Maltz about the impact of sexual abuse on sexuality, and ways to reclaim pleasure, safety and intimacy. She reports that taking a vacation from sex is sometimes necessary, because when sex feels like an obligation, it can often trigger difficulties from the abuse. She describes the painful difficulties for partners of survivors, and ways that couples can take on the challenge of healing together. The post Sexual Healing after Sexual Abuse with Wendy Maltz appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

An interview with psychiatrist and trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk about the impact of trauma on the brain. Bessel outlines the way in which traumatic experience in children shapes the development of the brain, and how our brains can get hijacked by triggers that make us feel we are in a life and death situation in the present. He describes the importance of helping the body feel safe, and how working with EMDR, Internal Family Systems Therapy and neurofeedback can literally help rewire the brain. Bessel also discusses traumatic repetition and the emergence of a new diagnosis for developmental trauma which reflects the effects of chronic, relational trauma on the child’s developing brain. The post Trauma and the Brain with Bessel van der Kolk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

An interview with Dr. Pat Ogden about working with the body in healing from trauma. Pat uses several clinical examples to describe how she works with the body to help people re-engage the physical defenses that got overwhelmed and shut down during trauma. She describes the process of allowing people to move and tremble and shake to release the intense activation in their nervous systems after trauma, and stresses the importance of integrating movement with beliefs and emotions so that all levels of the brain are involved in healing. The post Trauma and the Body with Pat Ogden appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

An interview with psychotherapist Deirdre Fay about the deep relational disruption that is a hallmark of trauma. Deirdre recounts how, as an adult she only became aware of her own trauma in the context of safe relationship.  She describes the use of meditation techniques to help a person become aware of traumatic memories, to stay with them, and to bear the pain and emotion of them. The post Trauma, Attachment and The Body with Deirdre Fay appeared first on Safe Space Radio.