Wednesdae Reim Ifrach, REAT, ATR-BC, ATCS, LPC, NCC, CLAT, RMT, CDD, CCTP, CGP, CSTFP (they/them)

Wednesdae joined Momma on July 20, 2026 for a live Q&A via Twitch and YouTube to talk about Expressive Art & Somatic Therapy for Healing Body Trauma

About Wednesdae

Wednesdae is an art therapist and counselor whose work focuses on expressive art therapy, somatic therapy, gender-affirming care, LGBTQ+ issues, trauma-informed care, body image, and eating disorders. Their clinical orientation leans on trauma-informed practice, healing-centered engagement, existentialism/logotherapy, and identity-affirming praxis.

They co-own and operate Rainbow Recovery, which provides clinical supervision, consultations, training, workshops, clinical counseling, and art therapy to clients across Connecticut and Pennsylvania. They serve on the GLMA board as the Health Professionals in Training Co-Chair. They are also a board member with Prism Counseling and Advocacy as the Secretary and the chair of the Fundraising Committee.

Their past art therapy-based work includes participating in the Monument Quilt, which is housed at the Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as being a guest creator for the Museum of Modern Art’s Artful Practices of Well-being Program.

They have presented workshops and trainings nationally and internationally, including at the Expressive Art Therapy Summit, American Art Therapy Association, National Alliance for Eating Disorders, Yale University’s Summer Spiral program, Smith College, PA NASW, Fenway Health Collective, Drexel University, and the Longmore Institute of Disabilities with SFSU.

Their published work includes Queer Expressions: Expressive Art and Somatic Therapy Practices for Healing Body Trauma, by North Atlantic Books; a poetry chapbook, Hex & Flesh: 35 Incantations of Queer Becoming through Rebel Satori, and Skeletons, Sequin, and Kin, through Finishing Line Press which is currently out for pre-order through the publisher.

Socials / Links for Guest Connection

• Website - https://www.wednesdae.org/ 

• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576196679839 

• Instagram - http://instagram.com/queer.art_therapist 

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wednesdae/ 

• Medium - https://wednesdae.medium.com/ 

• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1iC8e7KURVf6T42PAdz6se 

References / Things Mentioned During the Stream

• Movie Recommendation: Beetlejuice

• Book Recommendation: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Frida Kahlo

• Alice Cooper

• Monument Quilt

• Favorite Poem: Conversations with Persephone

Episode Summary

For the overthinkers, the dissociators and the people who say “it’s all in my head” while their stomach disagrees.

Talk therapy does a lot of good, and sometimes it stops short of what a body needs. On this episode of Even Tacos Fall Apart, art therapist and counselor Wednesdae Reim Ifrach (they/them) joins me to break down how expressive art therapy and somatic therapy help people heal body trauma. We also get into why therapists need healing as much as anyone.

Wednesdae nearly failed high school while dealing with depression, anxiety and relentless bullying. One art teacher offered a full year of making therapeutic art in class on one condition, which was showing up. That year set the course for a career. We also talk about the movies, plays and artists that shaped them, including Beetlejuice, Frida Kahlo and an Alice Cooper record from their mom. Plus the surprise that this artist played six sports growing up and will fight you for the best seat at a hockey game.

You will hear what expressive arts therapy actually is, which is painting, sculpture, dance, music, drama and writing blended into traditional psychotherapy. Somatic therapy starts from the idea that mind and body are deeply connected and that bodies remember what happened to them. Wednesdae explains why The Body Keeps the Score is a reductive take and why dissociation is a normal coping skill that deserves a slow, gentle approach. This work fits complex PTSD, medical trauma, body image struggles and eating disorders especially well.

We get into gender affirming care and how art makes room for both dysphoria and euphoria. Teens and parents build altered books together, which gives a family a shared visual language when words fall short. Wednesdae also explains minority stress and why LGBTQ+ clients walk into therapy carrying more than many providers realize.

Wednesdae shares what it meant to help create a square for the Monument Quilt, a public art project that spelled out You Are Not Alone on the National Mall with more than 3,000 squares made by survivors and their loved ones. Heads up that this part of the conversation covers sexual assault.

For eating disorders, art slips past the intellectual defenses that smart, perfectionistic brains build. Making something messy challenges perfectionism, and sometimes therapy that feels like play is exactly what a worn out client needs.

You also leave with practical tools. Wednesdae walks through creating an imaginary safe place, a progressive muscle relaxation exercise you can do at your desk and signs that talk therapy might need backup. Those signs include giving a perfect weekly report, feeling numb from the neck down or dropping the heaviest stuff right as the session ends. If an exercise causes pain or stirs up too much, stop and bring it to a therapist or doctor.

Wednesdae’s magic wand wish is that everyone knew therapists are just as messy as their clients, which is the best reason to go to therapy. Press play for an honest, funny and warm conversation about trauma healing, mental health and finding ways to cope when words are not enough.