Finding Somatics And Healing Emotional Neglect With Sonya Brewer
Release Date: 09/07/2025
A Couples Therapist In Couples Therapy With Tonya Lester
Rebel Therapist
Tonya Lester, LCSW, is the author of Push Back: Live, Love, and Work with Others Without Losing Yourself and a Brooklyn-based psychotherapist and writer. Her essay, “Couples Therapist, Heal Thyself” was published in the Modern Love column in The New York Times, and she has been writing the popular Staying Sane Inside Insanity blog for Psychology Today since 2020. Tonya is a well known couples therapist, so it’s particularly juicy and important that we’re going to talk about struggles Tonya faced in her own marriage, and how she and her husband worked...
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A Profound Group Psilocybin Ceremony | Cheryl Tien
Rebel Therapist
My guest today did some significant healing at a psilocybin ceremony at a retreat center in Mexico. She takes us there and explains why she was able to heal in that environment in ways she hadn’t before. You’ll also hear how and why she does psychedelic work as a therapist. Dr. Cheryl Tien, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist who helps individuals navigate grief, identity, and life transitions with a culturally attuned, trauma-informed approach. She specializes in psychedelic integration—supporting clients in making meaning of experiences with medicines like MDMA and psilocybin in...
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Unapologetic Aging With Deb Benfield
Rebel Therapist
Deb Benfield has helped hundreds of women heal their relationship with food, eating, and their bodies in her 35-year career as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She is a needed expert at the cross section of pro-aging and body liberation. Her new book, Unapologetic Aging, teaches us to navigate anti-aging and diet and wellness culture so we can enjoy our lives. As women enter perimenopause and menopause, we become more vulnerable to risk of disordered eating. This book is an antidote. I got an early copy of this book so I could prep for this interview. I want to get more copies for people I...
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IFS Changed My Personality with Alexis Roberson
Rebel Therapist
Before I jump in I want to invite you to a couple of things. If you’ve gone low contact or no contact with a parent or caregiver, this time of year can bring up a lot. I’m hosting a workshop for folks who are estranged from a parent or caregiver and want tools and support in creating your most meaningful and beautiful life. Every time I run this, folks experience belonging and a sense of hope. We’ll meet online on Friday, December 5th from 1pm to 4pm Pacific. go to to register. No one will be turned away because of money. And for everyone, I’m hosting a year-end ritual to clear space...
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Estrangement And Authenticity with Annie Schuessler-Zam
Rebel Therapist
This podcast is about therapists and healers doing their own healing work. So now it’s my turn to talk about some of my healing. Sarah Buino, host and creator of the podcast Conversations with a Wounded Healer interviewed me recently, and I’m sharing that conversation with you. I love the questions Sarah asks me and I just love Sarah and I know you will too. We talk about a pivotal psychedelic journey I went on, estrangement, authenticity, and how my own healing led to a recent career pivot. Here's some of what we talked about: My pivotal psychedelic healing journey My personal experience...
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Finding Somatics And Healing Emotional Neglect With Sonya Brewer
Rebel Therapist
Sonya Brewer is a trauma specialist and relationship expert who specializes in creative life and relationship design for overachieving trauma survivors and their partners. She helps trauma survivors feel more alive, connected and authentic so they can create the lives and relationships they truly want. In this conversation Sonya shares vulnerably about doing her own deep work, including the processes she went through to heal her childhood emotional neglect and other traumas. She also talks about how her own healing has changed her work as a therapist and healer. Here's some of what we talked...
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It Wasn’t Only Back Pain: How Helen Beynon Found Somatic Experiencing And IFS
Rebel Therapist
You’re going to hear some courageous and vulnerable stuff right now. My guest today is a therapist who uses two methods to help her clients heal trauma. Her own healing journey started in an unexpected way. Helen Beynon is a somatic therapist and IFS-informed practitioner. She loves working with folks to transform trauma and build their capacity to navigate a tumultuous world. I met her when she was a teacher in my IFS learning. She’s based in British Columbia. Here's some of what we talked about: How she found Somatic Experiencing as a client Doing deep emotional and physical healing she...
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Healing Childhood Trauma And Finding Her Super Gay Self with Samantha Fox
Rebel Therapist
Before I jump in, I want to share a workshop I’ll be running for people who are estranged or distant from their parent or caregiver and are needing support while they work to create a beautiful life and heal. This is a judgment free zone where you’ll be with people who get it, and you’ll learn tools to truly show up for yourself. Join me on Friday, August 1st. Go to to learn more and sign up. I can’t wait to see you. On to today’s interview! Today’s guest shares deeply and vulnerably how she’s done her own healing through big stuff, including childhood sexual abuse, realizing...
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How Grief Changed Her Path (IFS, Brainspotting & Energy Healing) with Jaclyn Tyson
Rebel Therapist
This podcast is changing because my work is changing! I’m still offering business coaching, and you can find out how I help therapists and healers with their businesses at . AND I’ve stepped back into working with clients as a healer. I have been on a HUGE healing journey of my own that started with a guided psychedelic journey in January of 2023. I then received Brainspotting, first from my friend, Alicia Taverner. Hire her if you can. She’s at .* Then I received some parts work. I have gotten so much help from these modalities. They really get to the root of my trauma in a way that...
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A Program For People With Ancestral Ties To The Nazi Regime with Iris Brilliant and Justine Epstein
Rebel Therapist
My 2 guests today created and will co-facilitate The Hour Before Dawn A Program for Inheritors of Wealth with Family Ties to the Nazi Regime who want to take ancestral responsibility and create a more just world. () Iris Brilliant is a money coach based in Berlin, Germany. She guides wealthy people who are confused or conflicted about what to do with their money to create a deeply liberating vision and plan for their wealth. She has recently shaped her career to fight fascism globally. Justine Epstein is a facilitator and mentor for people with inherited wealth who want to examine the...
info_outlineSonya Brewer is a trauma specialist and relationship expert who specializes in creative life and relationship design for overachieving trauma survivors and their partners. She helps trauma survivors feel more alive, connected and authentic so they can create the lives and relationships they truly want.
In this conversation Sonya shares vulnerably about doing her own deep work, including the processes she went through to heal her childhood emotional neglect and other traumas. She also talks about how her own healing has changed her work as a therapist and healer.
Here's some of what we talked about:
- Discovering Breath Work and somatics
- Finding the right therapist and sticking with her for decades!
- Becoming a healer and leaving corporate behind
- Healing and retrieving young parts of herself
- Understanding and healing from emotional neglect
- Feeling the help, love and healing of her ancestors
- The limits of talk therapy in accessing some of our deepest healing
- Insights on Couples and Complex PTSD (and an upcoming book!)
Show notes at https://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/250