In Season 2, Episode 19 of the Element Q Podcast, host TJ Woodward sits down with Terry Gatewood, LCSW, CSAT, founder and clinical director of Ridgeback Recovery, to explore the often-misunderstood intersection of shame, trauma, sexuality, and healing. Drawing from nearly two decades of lived recovery and clinical experience working with sex addicts and individuals labeled as sex offenders, Terry and TJ challenge punishment-based approaches to behavior change. Together, they ask a bold but essential question: What becomes possible when we stop treating behavior alone and begin addressing shame at its root?

The conversation examines how societal and internalized shame—particularly within the LGBTQ+ community—shapes core beliefs through early trauma, secrecy, and hypersexualization. Terry explains why many so-called “deviant” behaviors are t ...