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The Inked Therapist

The Inked Therapist

Written by: Soma Roots Therapy LLC
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This is a podcast about slow, embodied, liberation-rooted healing — for people the mental health system was never quite built for.

Hosted by Del Knight, PsyD, LPC, LMHC, CCTP-II (they/them) — licensed psychotherapist, Certified Body Trust Specialist, and co-founder of Soma Roots Therapy — The Inked Therapist is a show for queer and trans people, neurodivergent people, trauma survivors, and anyone who has ever left a therapy session feeling like they performed something rather than healed something.

Each episode is a deep dive: clinically grounded, politically honest, and delivered in a voice that doesn't mistake detachment for professionalism. No optimization hacks. No toxic positivity. No pretending that healing is faster or tidier than it actually is.

Topics include the nervous system and why your body isn't broken, body liberation and the Center for Body Trust framework, the difference between single-incident and complex trauma, what "trauma-informed care" actually requires versus what it's being used to sell, neurodivergent-affirming therapy for ADHD and autistic adults, queer and trans-affirming care beyond the rainbow sticker, and slow therapy for people who are exhausted by the hustle version of healing.

Solo deep-dives alternate with guest conversations featuring clinicians, researchers, and advocates doing work worth amplifying.

This is not a show about fixing yourself. It is a show about stopping the war long enough to actually listen to what your body has been trying to say.

Del practices at Soma Roots Therapy (somarootstherapy.com), a somatic, queer and trans-affirming, neurodivergent-affirming telehealth practice serving adults in Oregon and Washington.

New episodes every two weeks.

Del Knight Hygiene & Healthy Living Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
Episodes
  • What Actually Happens in a First Therapy Session: You Don't Have to Have It Together to Show Up

    What Actually Happens in a First Therapy Session: You Don't Have to Have It Together to Show Up
    Jul 17 2026

    Episode summary: In Episode 6 of The Inked Therapist, Del Knight demystifies one of the biggest barriers to starting therapy: not knowing what's about to happen. This episode walks through every stage of a first session — what gets asked, what doesn't, what the therapist is actually doing, what clients are allowed to expect, and what to make of how you feel after. Includes a direct note to anyone who has been dismissed or harmed by the mental health system before.

    Topics covered: What a first session is · The intake process · What you don't have to bring · Somatic presence in session · Client rights and agency · The therapeutic fit question · Emotional processing after session · How to know if therapy is working

    BuyMeACoffee Link: Support the Soma Roots Therapy Access Fund — monthly or one-time

    Links: Soma Roots Therapy Website · Blog companion post · Reach Out & Get Started

    Instagram: @somarootstherapy

    Next episode: Episode 7 — 'Your Body Is Not a Problem to Solve: An Introduction to Body Trust'
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    36 mins
  • It Could Be Worse: What a Phrase You've Been Saying to Yourself Is Actually Doing to Your Nervous System

    It Could Be Worse: What a Phrase You've Been Saying to Yourself Is Actually Doing to Your Nervous System
    Jul 3 2026

    Episode summary: Del Knight takes four words — 'it could be worse' — and spends an hour unpacking what they're actually doing to your nervous system. What pain minimization is, where it comes from, why comparative suffering is a logically broken system, and what it actually means to let pain be what it is. Funny at the start, real in the middle, liberatory by the end.

    Topics covered: Pain minimization · Nervous system dismissal · Somatic storage · Survival adaptation · Minority stress · Comparative suffering · Permission to feel · Liberation-rooted healing

    BuyMeACoffee Link: Support the Soma Roots Therapy Access Fund — monthly or one-time

    Links: Soma Roots Therapy Website · Blog companion post · Reach Out & Get Started

    Companion Reel: 'It Could Be Worse' — @somaticrootstherapy on Instagram

    Next episode: Episode 6 — 'What Actually Happens in a First Therapy Session'
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    35 mins
  • What Makes Therapy Actually Trans-Affirming: Not Just 'Safe Space Sticker' Affirming

    What Makes Therapy Actually Trans-Affirming: Not Just 'Safe Space Sticker' Affirming
    Jun 19 2026

    Episode summary: In the final episode of The Inked Therapist's nervous system arc, Del Knight gets specific about what trans-affirming therapy actually means — not the sticker in the window, but the real thing. Five concrete clinical practices, a deep dive into somatic work with trans clients, a direct address to trans and nonbinary listeners about what they're allowed to expect, and an honest note to clinicians about what this work actually requires.

    Topics covered: Willing vs. affirming · Minority stress · Gender euphoria · Anti-gatekeeping · WPATH-informed care · Somatic work with trans clients · Political neutrality in therapy · Trans flourishing

    BuyMeACoffee Link: Support the Soma Roots Therapy Access Fund — monthly or one-time

    Links: Soma Roots Therapy Website · Blog companion post · Reach Out & Get Started

    Next episode: Episode 5 — 'It Could Be Worse' (outside the nervous system arc)
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    39 mins
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