Hey Reader!

This month in Daddy Issues: The Membership, we're assembling our Aftercare Kits. In the beta version of Daddy Issues: The Program, which wrapped at the beginning of the summer, we talked about our Aftercare Kits during our onboarding call. But I decided it was definitely worth spending an entire month on this topic - it's so important!

Our Aftercare Kits are a list or some other kind of representation of the tools and practices members can use to navigate their nervous system. So when they're stressed and overwhelmed, they know how to get back into a regulated state.

The term “aftercare” originated in the BDSM community. It refers to the period of time after a “scene” in which partners take care of one another. Usually aftercare is negotiated between partners before-hand so that each person knows how to help the other come back into their body, feel cared for and supported, and come back into a regulated state.

I use the term Aftercare intentionally.

I want Daddy Issues members to have some intentionality - just as they do in the BDSM community - about how they take care of their needs and desires after an expansive or dysregulating experience.

Anytime we engage in experiences that help us grow...

that challenge our perspectives of the world or ourselves...

we will experience some dysregulation in our nervous system (fight, flight, freeze, fawn).

DI is a 12 week course in which we reparent ourselves so that we can refine the strategies we developed in childhood to survive - to protect ourselves and get our needs met. We reparent ourselves when we know how to identify our dysregulation and then come back into our bodies - come back into a regulated state.

This builds resilience and a sense of internal safety in our bodies.

I’m doing another email series later this month all about how to build your own Aftercare Kit - and I have to tell you, I'm really excited about this one!

We’ll talk about how to recognize when you’re dysregulated...

We’ll do an inventory of the practices you already have - even the ones you think are “unhealthy” or bad.

and I’ll give you plenty of tools and tricks for reparenting yourself - for moving back into regulation and creating that sense of internal safety.

You can experiment with these practices and see what feels right for your Aftercare Kit.

To cap off this series, we'll have an art infused Aftercare Kit workshop where we make our own deck of cards - artistic physical representations of our practices that are easy to access for when we're stressed or overwhelmed.

This series is free to everyone on my list. Since you're already on my list, you don't have to do anything at all to access these emails coming at the end of the month (except open them!).

I would so appreciate it if you would spread the word. If you have a podcast or social media or even friends that would benefit from this series, you can use this link to help folks sign up for the email series and my newsletter.

Thank you so much for all the ways in which you support this work. I couldn't do what I love without you!

xoxo,

Julie

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