Polywise
by Jessica Fern
Description
As polyamory continues to make its way into the mainstream, more and more people are exploring consensual nonmonogamy in the hope of experiencing more love, connection, sex, freedom and support. While for many, the move expands personal horizons, for others, the transition can be challenging, leaving them blindsided and overwhelmed. Beyond the initial transition to nonmonogamy, many struggle with the root issues beneath the symptoms of broken agreements, communication challenges, increased fighting and persistent jealousy.
Polyamorous psychotherapist Jessica Fern and restorative justice facilitator David Cooley share the insights they have gained through thousands of hours working with clients in consensually nonmonogamous relationships. Using a grounded theory approach, they explore the underlying challenges that nonmonogamous individuals and partners can experience after their first steps, offering practical strategies for transforming them into opportunities for new levels of clarity and intimacy.
Polywise provides both the conceptual framework to better understand the shift from monogamy to nonmonogamy and the tools to navigate the next steps, allowing you to not just survive in open relationships, but thrive in them.
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Marketing Information
Key selling points
- Unique insight. Jessica Fern is a polyamorous psychotherapist who has worked extensively with consensually nonmonogamous clients.
- Demonstrated demand. Jessica Fern’s first book, Polysecure, has achieved huge market success, proving a demand for a next-level title on polyamory.
- Extended focus. Most titles on the market look at the transition to polyamory and initial strategies. Polywise considers next-step challenges and solutions.
- Practical. This book offers practical advice, tips, and first-hand anecdotes from an experienced counselor.
Endorsements
“In her latest book, Jessica Fern has crafted the map to guide readers and lovers venturing into the uncharted. With great care and necessary nuance, Polywise is a must-read for anyone navigating open relationships.”—Esther Perel, psychotherapist and New York Times-bestselling author of The State of Affairs and Mating in Captivity
"This book is thorough! There were so many useful tools, concepts, exercises, and prompts for personal inquiry that anyone who reads it can walk away with something they can apply to level up their nonmonogamous journey. And on a personal note, reading the stories from Jessica and her former spouse-turned-co-author Dave was particularly poignant for me as someone currently separating from my spouse, whom I entered nonmonogamy with. Their compassionate and honest reflections on their relationship with one another were healing for me. I often say there's being polyamorous and then there's being polyamorous well. I believe Polywise can equip you to do just that."—Evita Sawyers, author of A Polyamory Devotional
“As someone who’s experienced a multitude of relationship transitions throughout the course of my life, I found Polywise to be incredibly profound. This book moves past the polyamory 101 manual into graduate-level territory. It’s an exceptional achievement that will be required reading for anyone practicing consensual nonmonogamy, from seasoned veteran to timid newbie alike.”
—Emily Sotelo Matlack, co-host of the Multiamory podcast and co-author of Multiamory: Essential Tools for Modern Relationships
“Polywise is an important book for anyone on how we change and adapt. Change is never easy. We need this guide to help us examine our narratives and beliefs around monogamy and create clear relationship agreements, shifting old paradigms of loyalty to structures that more closely resonate with our core values. In fact, this book leads us on a complete overhaul of the relationship foundation, a deconstruction of partnerships as we know them, while at the same time respecting those who want to stay monogamous. No matter where your relationship stands, this book is a necessity for examining your future and creating the life you’ll love.”—Tammy Nelson PhD, sex and relationship expert and author of Open Monogamy; A Guide to Co-Creating Your Ideal Relationship Agreement
“So often advice about nonmongamy feels like it is addressing the visible issues at hand—jealousy, boundaries, communication, etc—so relationships can survive. In Polywise, Jessica Fern and David Cooley help readers understand the often unseen root causes of those symptoms and give them the strategies they need so their relationships can actually thrive."—JoEllen Notte, author of The Monster Under the Bed: Sex, Depression, and the Conversations We Aren’t Having and In It Together: Navigating Depression with Partners, Friends, and Family
Author Biography
Jessica Fern is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional and an integrative practitioner, drawing on 25 years of experience and training in somatic, narrative, psychotherapeutic and spiritual therapies. She is the internationally recognized author of Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Nonmonogamy and The Polysecure Workbook, and co-author of Polywise: A Deeper Dive Into Navigating Open Relationships and Transforming the Shame Triangle: From Shame to Love Using Parts Work.
Through her private practice, Jessica works with individuals, couples and people in multi-partner relationships to help them break free from reactive patterns, cultural conditioning, insecure attachment and past trauma—empowering them to embody new possibilities in life and love.
David Cooley is a professional restorative justice facilitator, diversity and privilege awareness trainer and bilingual cultural broker. He is the creator of the Restorative Relationships Conversations model, a process that transforms interpersonal conflict into deeper connection, intimacy and repair. In his private practice, David specializes in working with nonmonogamous and LGBTQ partnerships, incorporating a variety of modalities including trauma-informed care, attachment theory, somatic practices, narrative theory, and mindfulness-based techniques.
Copyright Information
Copyright Thornapple Press 2023
Thornapple Press
Publisher of bestselling and award-winning books including Polysecure, More Than Two and Love’s Not Color Blind.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publication Date August 2023
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781990869143
- Publication Country or regionCanada
- FormatPaperback
- Pages336
- Publish StatusPublished
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