Denise Friedman and the Trauma of Embodiment - EFTROU: S1, Ep9

Embodiment for the Rest of Us - Season 1, Episode 9: Denise Friedman

Chavonne (she/her) and Jenn (she/her) interviewed Denise Friedman (she/her) about their embodiment journey. 

Denise Friedman, LCSW (she/her) is a lifelong rad fatty and clinical social worker. She was born a New Yorker and has been welcomed by New Mexico. Her practice focuses on general mental health as well as trauma work, particularly complex trauma and childhood emotional neglect. She is committed to providing a safe space to be seen, heard, accepted, and affirmed to all who come to her office (or telehealth room). When Denise went online for the first time in 1999, the first thing she did was look for other fat people. She has been seeking and helping to create fat community both online and in person ever since her first Yahoo!Groups post all those years ago. Denise believes in the revolutionary power of fat people taking pleasure in food and can nearly always be found cooking food, reading about food, or sharing food with others.

Content Warning: discussion of privilege, discussion of diet culture, mention of mental health struggles, mention of trauma and complex trauma, mention of healthism

Trigger Warnings:

10:34: Denise uses the word “nuts” in a way that can be seen as stigmatizing mental health

The captions for this episode can be found at https://embodimentfortherestofus.com/season-1/season-1-episode-9-denise-friedman/#captions

A few highlights:

4:05: Denise shares her understanding of embodiment and her own embodiment journey

16:09: Denise discusses how the pandemic has affected her devotion to embodiment 

30:28: Denise discusses what lights them up up on a regular basis to feel embodied how to make this accessible for everyone

36:06: Denise discusses her understanding of “the rest of us” and how she is a part of that, as well as her privileges

49:32: Denise shares what complex PTSD (C-PTSD) is as it relates to bodies and embodiment

57:17: Denise discusses where HAES® and IE fall short

1:05:26: Denise shares how listeners can make a difference based on this conversation

1:16:57: Denise shares where to be found and what’s next for her

Links from this episode:

ADHD

Anxiety

By Ro! Designs

C-PTSD

DSM

Executive Functioning

Gabifresh

Health At Every Size® (HAES®)

Interoception

Joyn

PTSD

Trauma

Music: “Wheel of Karma” by Jason Shaw

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