Episode 20

Holding on Through Physical Illness

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This episode of Facing the Moment explores the profound impact of physical illness, chronic conditions, and disability on the human experience

Host Toufic Hakin, PhD, welcomes Nancy Sowell, MSW, LICSW, a lead Internal Family Systems (IFS) trainer and psychotherapist, to discuss how individuals can maintain their identity and find meaning when their bodies no longer cooperate as expected.

Throughout the conversation, Nancy shares her personal journey with psoriatic arthritis, offering a unique perspective that blends professional expertise with lived experience. The discussion delves into the deep connection between physical pain and emotional suffering, noting that both activate the same regions of the brain.

Key topics covered in this episode include:

Befriending the Body: Shifting from a mindset of "fighting" an illness to one of curiosity and validation, specifically learning to befriend the fear that naturally arises with medical uncertainty.

The Concept of Well-being vs. Cure: Understanding that well-being is always possible and is found through an internal relationship of self-compassion, even when a medical cure is not available.

Navigating Identity and Shame: Addressing how illness can alter one's sense of self and why many people experience unexpected feelings of shame following a diagnosis.

Practical Wisdom for Caregivers: How families and colleagues can support loved ones by asking rather than assuming what is needed, and how caregivers can avoid depletion by listening to their own needs.

Finding Balance: The importance of internal "parts work," setting boundaries by learning to say "no," and engaging in practices like nature, art, or yoga to restore a sense of equilibrium.

This episode serves as a guide for anyone living with illness, caring for a loved one, or seeking to understand the internal wisdom and resilience available within the mind-body system.

Support this podcast: Your donation supports production, outreach, and the continuation of meaningful conversations on Facing the Moment. ⁠⁠www.FoundationIFS.org/support⁠⁠

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"There is always a certain validation that can be available inside. And that is what IFS Health Therapy is about: helping people find that within themselves."

Guest: Nancy Sowell, MSW, LICSW

Nancy Sowell is an Internal Family Systems (IFS) Senior Trainer for the IFS Institute, and a Teaching Associate of Harvard Medical School at the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion in Cambridge where she teaches IFS to multidisciplinary staff and students. She specializes in the use of psychotherapy to treat physical health problems affected by toxic stress, unmet needs, shame, and trauma. Nancy has a book coming out on September first with Martha Sweezy and Richard Schwartz entitled IFS Health Therapy. Nancy says she regularly witnesses the healing power of compassionate relationships – with the body, oneself and other people that can support well-being and the open-hearted risk of living courageously.

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Episode 19

Upholding Dignity Through Racial Tension

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In this episode of Facing the Moment, we explore the fundamental human need to be seen, respected, and treated with dignity, a right too often denied throughout history due to race and identity

Toufic Hakim, PhD sat in conversation with Requina Barnes, MSW, an IFS-trained social worker, legacy healing coach, and former board member of the Foundation for Self-Leadership

Together, they dive deep into the complexities of racial tension in 2026, discussing how to preserve our humanity and pursue justice without surrendering compassion

Requina shares personal insights on navigating systemic racism in the workplace and legal system, and how the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS) can help individuals differentiate between "young parts" driven by childhood programming and "adult parts" capable of courageous advocacy

Whether you are looking for practices to stay grounded in emotionally charged moments or seeking to become a more trustworthy ally, this conversation offers a roadmap for cultivating resilience and hope for future generations

Support this podcast: Your donation supports production, outreach, and the continuation of meaningful conversations on Facing the Moment. ⁠⁠www.FoundationIFS.org/support⁠⁠

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"As a people, we've gone through many cycles of suppression, injustice, and racism—of not being honored. Once that fear takes over, it breeds hatred, it breeds conflict. But in time, what arises is a new version."

Guest: Requina Barnes, MSW

Requina Barnes, MSW, is a social worker, educator and legacy healing coach with more than 20 years of experience supporting individuals, families, and communities. She holds a Master of Social Work and has served in roles including adjunct professor, social work advisor, assistant IFS trainer, facilitator, and community-based practitioner.

Through her coaching and consultation practice, Requina helps women—particularly BIPOC women and professionals—identify inherited beliefs, strengthen boundaries, break unhealthy cycles, and create healthier legacies for themselves and their families. Her work integrates relational healing, family systems principles, empowerment and practical strategies for sustainable personal growth.

As a coach, trainer, workshop facilitator, and educator of a Legacy Healing framework, Requina designs transformative learning experiences focused on legacy burdens and gifts, cycle-breaking, boundaries, relationships and self-leadership. Her mission is to help people move from survival and inherited limitation toward intentional choices, emotional wellness, and a legacy of stability, freedom, and possibility.

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Episode 18

Understanding Autism & Engaging Differently

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In this episode of "Facing the Moment," we dive into the misunderstood world of autism, moving beyond the framework of "deficit" or "disorder" to explore it as a unique neurological architecture for feeling.

Host Toufic Hakim, PhD, engages in a conversation with Sarah Bergenfield, MACAS, an IFS-trained consultant, somatic awareness expert, and co-author of Wired to Feel. Together, they discuss the science of predictive processing, the crucial distinction between nervous system arousal and anxiety, and how the autistic brain navigates a world of overwhelming sensory "noise" and "signals"

Sarah shares her lived experience as a diagnosed autistic individual and a parent, offering a deeply personal look at the importance of routine, the power of sensory reduction over "fixing," and the profound wisdom found in the autistic body's natural methods of self-regulation.

The episode offers insights into fostering compassionate understanding and highlights the importance of honoring human dignity by creating safe, welcoming spaces that prioritize authentic connection over the pressure to conform.

Join us for this moving and highly informative discussion on how to listen to the innate wisdom of the autistic brain and body with curiosity, hope, and humanity.

Support this podcast: Your donation supports production, outreach, and the continuation of meaningful conversations on Facing the Moment. ⁠⁠www.FoundationIFS.org/support⁠⁠

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"My hope comes from my clients. I think from knowing how resilient we are as a group, despite some of the challenges and the pain that we may experience. We are a very resilient group. We are the problem solvers of the world. We always have been. And that's what gives me hope, is that we just need to keep creating spaces in which we can flourish."

Guest: Sarah Bergenfield, M.A., CAS

Sarah is an autistic writer, educator, and Certified Level 3 IFS Practitioner. Her work supports autistic individuals—and the people in relationship with them—to make sense of how the autistic mind, body, and nervous system experience the world. Sarah integrates Internal Family Systems, Predictive Processing, and the science of constructed emotion. Her approach bridges lived experience with emerging neuroscience to reveal not what’s broken, but what’s working—often in beautifully complex ways. As a writer and educator, Sarah offers workshops, talks, and resources that challenge pathologizing narratives and invite more nuanced, respectful understandings of neurodivergence. Sarah is the co-author of Embodying Autism, written with Martha Sweezy, to be published by New Harbinger in January 2026.

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Episode 17

Becoming Whole After Combat

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For many military veterans, the war does not end when they come home. The survival instincts, suppressed pain, and invisible wounds of combat follow them into civilian life, reshaping relationships, identity, and hope. In this powerful conversation, we speak with Beau Laviolette, LCSW and former U.S. Marine, about what it truly takes to heal after combat. Drawing on Internal Family Systems therapy, EMDR, and the restorative power of nature, Beau shares how veterans can reconnect with their inner compass, confront their deepest fears, and find that wholeness, however hard to imagine, is possible.

Support this podcast: Your donation supports production, outreach, and the continuation of meaningful conversations on Facing the Moment. ⁠⁠www.FoundationIFS.org/support⁠⁠

"There's a law of gravity. What goes up must come down, but there's a law of emotion. What goes down must come back up, right? And so what we push down eventually comes back up."

Guest: Beau Laviolette, LCSW

Beau Laviolette, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker based in Baton Rouge, LA, where he resides with his wife and two boys. He is an EMDRIA-approved consultant, an IFS Consultant, and an IFS-EMDR lead trainer with the Syzygy Institute. He provides therapy intensives for clients, consultations for therapists, trainings, and nature retreats for military veterans, with a focus on integrating IFS and EMDR. He is also the President & Founder of Healing Protectors, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit that supports military veterans.

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