Ann Russo LCSW

09/12/2025

Sex-positive practice isn’t about permission—it’s about creating spaces where desire, identity, and pleasure are inherently valid. Every client who sheds shame to embrace their authentic sexuality is rewriting a narrative of liberation. Ready to transform your clinical approach? Explore resources at annrusso.org.

09/08/2025

Why don’t people just leave high control religion?
Because leaving is not walking out of a building. It is unwiring your body, your identity, your community, and even your sense of God.

I wrote about this in detail. It names the patterns, the nervous system cost, and the inherited beliefs that keep people trapped.

👉 Read it here on LinkedIn: https://buff.ly/ya88Ife

09/07/2025

In sex-positive therapy, we create spaces where pleasure, identity, and desire are explored without shame or judgment. Every client who reclaims erotic autonomy is rewriting inherited stories of secrecy and shame. When we do this work well, we don’t ‘fix’ sexuality — we help people reconnect with themselves in ways that feel safe, embodied, and free.

Want to expand your clinical toolkit? Check out 2 unit CEU course approved by ACE adn ASWB link in bio.

09/05/2025

If God gave you a brain, your questions are sacred, not sinful.
Your doubts and curiosity are holy.

Want to go deeper? I unpack this on the Mind Elevation podcast. https://buff.ly/63gXCWF

09/04/2025

Summer Wind Down with 5 Powerful Podcast Conversations

As summer winds down, I’ve had the honor of joining five incredible podcasts to talk about the intersections of religion, sexuality, mental health, and healing.

Each episode offers something different — from personal stories to clinical insight — but all center on one core truth:
🌈 You are not broken. You were taught to abandon yourself.

👇 Here’s what’s live now:

🎙️ The Unruly Podcast
Is there such a thing as ethical religion? We explore this and more in a live recording from North Carolina.

🎙️ The Blue Hour Podcast
Sexuality, spirituality, and the journey back to your full, authentic self.

🎙️ More Human More Kind Podcast
Purity culture, existential fear, parental shame — and how healing can begin without erasing your identity.

🎙️ Mindful Elevation Podcast
Moving from internalized shame to embodied self-acceptance, with practical tools and affirming truth.

🎙️ Room For Us Podcast
What it was like attending a religious conversion therapy conference — as a q***r woman.

https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/981712/emails/149958399210030950

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09/02/2025

For all my fiscally forward logical friends:
I spent hours digging into this after I saw a woman literally dragged out of her car by ICE. The financial toll is as staggering as the emotional one.

Undocumented immigrants don’t cost $149B. After taxes and $25.7B paid into Social Security every year (that they’ll never collect), the true net cost is closer to $26B annually.

ICE, with its expanded budget, is about $30B a year just to fund raids and detention. That means it’s actually more expensive to deport people than to let them live and work here.

And that doesn’t even count the billions their labor saves in food production, caregiving, and construction.

So from both a fiscal and human standpoint: is this trauma worth the price?

09/01/2025

New podcast episode — Unruly Travel & Alternative Living
Is there an ethical way to do religion?

In this new episode, I join the Unruly Travel & Alternative Living Podcast to talk about religious trauma—what it is, how it shows up in the body, and how we begin to heal.

I share personal stories from growing up in a closeted q***r household, choosing religion on my own terms, and how that shaped the clinical work I do now.

We also talk about the real reason q***r folks often experience higher rates of mental health challenges. It's not q***rness. It’s the rejection.

This conversation blends lived experience, science, and a reminder: you’re not alone.

Listen now: https://buff.ly/lIUl7n9
More on RTTM and CEU offerings are available on my site.

08/31/2025

Throughout history, religions have reflected human attempts to make sense of the unknown. People created stories to explain death, suffering, morality, and where we came from, using the knowledge and language available in their time. These narratives shaped cultures, guided behavior, and offered comfort, but they also reveal more about human imagination than divine fact.

08/31/2025

Throughout history, religions have reflected human attempts to make sense of the unknown. People created stories to explain death, suffering, morality, and where we came from, using the knowledge and language available in their time. These narratives shaped cultures, guided behavior, and offered comfort, but they also reveal more about human imagination than divine fact.

What do you think?

08/31/2025

Sex-positive therapists understand: pleasure is political. When we create spaces where clients’ desires are met without judgment, we’re not just doing therapy—we’re undoing generations of shame. Every authentic expression of sexuality is a reclamation of power. Ready to deepen your practice? Explore resources at annrusso.org.