Dear, You!
This letter is an invitation to participate in the making of a podcast series. This project has the potential to become an exciting journey of personal growth …. if you are ready for it.
Let me tell you what the idea is!
I am a mental health professional and also a somatic psychotherapist in training. I approach recovering from trauma as a holistic practice of embodiment. I consider the bodywork to be essential part of any successful therapy that aims at deep and true healing. During the last few years, I have mostly been working with survivors of sexual abuse. Assisting people come in contact with themselves and relieve their suffering is by far my biggest professional inspiration.
Besides being loyal to the professional standards of my work and finding an enormous stability and grounding in it, I consider myself to be a curious individual. I like to think out of the box when it comes to accessing knowledge and wisdom. My curiosity led me to the immense research that has been done on the healing of trauma by the use of entheogens (also called psychedelic medicines).
I am interested in creating and holding a space for people to share their story of healing from trauma (with or without the help of entheogens). By *holding a space* I mean, to create a safe space for you to share your healing experiences (and story if you wish) and to communicate it with the larger world. I am in a process of building audio series/podcast that will address the topics of trauma, healing and hope.
So, if you have a story to tell, that you believe can touch, empower and give hope to others, I am here to give your story a place to be told and platform for your voice to be heard.
If this sounds compelling to you, here comes some additional information, that is worth paying attention to:
NB 1:
Both, sexual trauma (trauma in general) and the use of mind-altering substances for healing (that are unfortunately still illegal in the most of the western countries) are highly sensitive topics in the world today. These are topics that are usually met with misunderstanding, silence and stigma. Due to the feeling of shame that accompanies sexual trauma, sharing anything related to the topic (even within the four walls of a therapy room) can be experienced as quite uncomfortable and challenging. I will work to change that, when I meet you. I will make sure that you, as the one who shares, will be anonymized to the degree that feels comfortable to you. The idea is that YOU will be having the sharing and it will be especially arranged to serve your needs for safety and security, so you can bring your message out in world. One thing to remember is: One does not need to be very private ( f ex to expose private details of one’s life) in order to be personal (speaking from the heart) and bring out a story that touches others. The more concrete details of the work will be given to the one that have shown interest and have been considered suitable for the project.
NB 2:
I am looking to speak with people who have dealt with any type of psychological trauma and have found a therapeutic modality that helped them heal. Healing is a continuous journey and takes time, so it is perfectly fine you will still be in a process of healing by the time we speak. The most important is that you have seen and experienced a way out of the grip of trauma and live a better life than you did in the past.
Stories of healing from sexual trauma are particularly valuable since the topic is both very sensitive, underrepresented and needs attention. I want to help create a safe space for meaningful conversation around the topic of personal transformation, that will also contribute to the healing of the world at large.
NB 3:
What I notice when doing my research out there on the internet (as well as when I meet people) is that the most voices speaking out about their own healing from sexual trauma are of heterosexual, white, cis females. At the same time, the most of the people who openly share their experiences with entheogens and other sacred medicines for healing and expansion of consciousness, are white, heterosexual, cis males. I want therefore to shake this box a bit and give space to multitude, variety and inclusion. I want to kindly invite people of color, queer people, transgender people and any other people that consider themselves a minority, to raise their voice and share the story of their trying, but empowering journey.
Men in general are very much welcome and invited to join and contribute to this project. There is so much trauma (particularly sexual trauma) inflicted on men, that has been left unspoken and unprocessed. Men are, to a much larger degree, prone to keep silent about their abuse longer than women. The silence is often kept due to societal norms and expectations of what the male body and psyche should tolerate.
NB 4:
This project, in its entirety, will be developing in my free time. I will not be receiving any funds in order to create it, neither by you nor any anyone else. This letter is also an invitation to you to volunteer.
NB 5:
This project will not be a direct broadcasting. This means: the interviews will be recorded, then edited, then I will check out with you if the edited version feels comfortable to you (anonymity-wise), before finalized and eventually published. So, imagine … there will be no rush and no press …. we let this project develop slowly and steadily. You will be able to withdraw your participation in the project at any point before the publishing. There will be a consent form for you to sign, so it is clear what you go in for.
NB 6:
The working language of the interviews will be English. The main reason for this is to be easily able to create content that will be available for a larger/international public.
I use Norwegian and Bulgarian as my working languages too and can consider using them to record interviews with individuals who are very interested in participating, but do not speak English.
I prefer to meet people for face to face interview, where we can sit in the same location for the duration of the recording – mostly in order to achieve the best quality of the audio. At the same time, I want to make it possible for all people (no matter the distance) to join this project if they feel called to it. Therefore meetings online are totally fine and will probably be the new normal in the meeting between people.
NB 7:
Last, but not least, some words of caution.
You need to feel you are ready to share your story of healing, if you want to participate. No matter how good and professional we will be at arranging your safety, it is very likely you might come in contact with highly charged emotional content when you share your story. You need to be at a place of stability in your life to be able to work on this project with me. This will not be a therapeutic session (it will be a conversation on trauma and healing). You need therefore, to have some sort of support network around you.
If you feel you are not yet ready to share, that’s fine and a very healthy response too. It is the place where you are right now and that needs to be respected.
Take care of yourself exactly where you are.
If you still feel you can be one of the essential building blocks of The Inner Labyrinth Podcast, you can reach me at: info@theinnerlabyrinth.com
Sincerely yours,
Martin