Three Kids in a Trench Coat

And shout out also to @TheZebraPuzzle for recommending this one to us, soon after we started this blog last year!

We listen to podcasts a lot less than we did in our 3-hour-work-commute days as a Behavioural Science Director on the other side of London – but Healing My Parts is probably the first we’ve been routinely listening to new episodes of since then.

It’s a podcast by, “The system behind Healing My Parts podcast” who both have DID, and work as a clinician who is a, “a leader in a niche mental health space” (eating disorders & dissociation, I believe – there’s massive overlap there; The CTAD Clinic recently hired two eating disorder specialists to help with that aspect, for example).

We vibe with them big time – they know what’s up, and they really do get amazing guests and have incredibly insightful conversations with them. A few notable examples for us, they’ve had:

Dr Mike Lloyd – Director of The CTAD Clinic (natch)

Dr Frank Putnam – leader in research on the biology of survival

Beauty After Bruises – author of one of the blogs that inspired me – their post on “misconceptions about DID” is one I’ve come back to a bunch of times

Jamie Pollack – founder of An Infinite Mind, and runs the Healing Together conference (a wonderful sounding international conference that’s about 50/50 people with lived experience pf dissociation, & clinicians in the space)

Dr Jamie Marich – one of our absolute favourite writers & speakers on dissociation; a field leader in dissociation & EMDR, and a system themselves. Author of one of the best books in the field, Dissociation Made Simple

Holly & Dylan Crumpler – mother & son, Holly has lived with DID for a long time, and Dylan worked with her to create Petals of a Rose, the short film we’ve posted about previously, which is maybe one of the most succinct & effective ways to show someone, “what it’s like”.

A couple of stand-out favourite episodes

Two recent episodes we particularly loved & wanted to call out:

Affirming, moving, queer, inspiring: Karla Fleshman, the Irreverent Reverend

Karla talks about the relationships between dissociation and growing up queer in a world that is geared towards neither.

They talk about a lot that resonates about how early many people growing up queer know that something is different about them, and all the rejections and dismissals of who you are by the people who are supposed to protect & guide you, from a very early age, can mean you grow up feeling like you have no-one to go to, of being alone in the world, and how so much of the familiar attachment confusion that’s at the heart of the development of dissociation can start there.

They talk about how important it is to get out into the world, find community, and support each other. They describe themselves as an, “Irreverent Reverend”, and when they talk, we can’t help but be deeply inspired.

Their poem, “Who is Nex / Who is Nex.T?” is fire, this discussion is fire, and this may be one of the best things anyone queer & dissociative could possibly spend an hour of their time listening to.

(They also says, “kiddos” a lot, which we obviously love xD)

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Learning to live with a brilliant adaptation: Sally Maslansky

One of the most recent eps; Sally Maslansky has a wonderfully positive outlook on the role of DID in surviving complex trauma, and offers a message of hope for anyone struggling with the ways it can continue impacting your life when the danger is over.

Today, she’s a therapist specialising in dissociation – but in the 90s, Sally was a client of the fantastic Dr Dan Siegel. In this podcast & her book “A Brilliant Adaptation” (that we’re currently reading – it’s great, too) she shares her journey, from terror & confusion, making sense, and coming to appreciate everything her system had done to keep her safe & finding new meaning & joy in life.

Sally talks & writes elquoently about a lot of things veeeery familiar to us about what finding out about dissociation is like, but perhaps more importantly, how incredibly powerful therapy & finding safety and healing through the therapeutic relationship can be.

If you need something to inspire you, or help you see / remember that DID is a brilliant adaptation you do not need to be ashamed of – this episode is worth a listen.

We’ll let you know we find the book as a whole when we finish it.

Some of the (many) great things about Healing My Parts

I think one of my favourite things about Healing My Parts is just how relatable the podcast’s host is (they choose not to share their name, partly because they want to minimise their visibility as a system in their professional space).

They are so up front about so many things we think & feel about system life, some of the misunderstandings, trials & tribulations (often from health & mental health professionals), the tired tropes (“when you’ve met one system, you’ve met one system”).

They also get incredible guests, many of whom are either field leaders professionally, inspiring people with lived experience, or, often – both. Among their guests with lived experience, some have found a place of integration into a single self, some function as a system – there are no knee-jerk assumptions that one is better than the other, just connection, curiosity, and compassion.

Those are things the world could always use a little more of, and we’re happy they’re here.

So if you’ve not listened, check it out!

We think you can’t got wrong with either of the episodes linked above to see if you like it, but it’s been great since the first episode in 2024 if you want to start from the beginning, too.

Until next time – take care of yourself, kiddos ❤

Riley & Fam