For this Christmas, Darling Mental Health is taking an overdue break and focusing on solutions to many changes that are coming. At this time we want to remind everyone that that the world needs quiet in times of active trauma. The world is suffering, and we hope to be part of positive change. But, here in New England we take this day to settle down and reflect on time we can share with loved ones and ways that we can come together in fellowship to heal and plan for a brighter future. The Sun returning to the Earth can provide us all a moment to focus on the things we are grateful for, the solutions we may be able to execute, and the hope that one must have when recognizing that our movement forward includes more sunlight and warmth in coming months.
As we experience the sun setting on the darkest day in our solar calendar, we quietly reflect the need for a break from all of the intensity that the Winter Solstice brings to people. Remembering that the sun returns after this time can be a moment of joyous hope when facing any darkness that has been brooding or exhausting our reserves. We here at Darling Mental Health look forward to the New Year and new potentials to serve the community and work towards a safe and inclusive city, space, and community.
And with a bit of Solstice Luck we hope to be launching a newly renovated resource directory!
May you also have a lucky solstice and time of respite!
I wish each and every one of you a very kind and heart-warming holiday season as I take my own break to prepare for 2025.
Darling Mental Health is happy to announce that in step with the Winter season’s arrival and the start of the New Year we are looking to relocate within the city of Worcester and expand in services and staffing.
Phase 1 is under way, and we are now accepting applications for people interested to individually contract (1099) with us as licensed therapists with an option to switch over to W-2 employment in Phase 2 (scheduled for the Spring of 2025) depending on productivity after a minimum of 3 months contracted work. Our goal is to have a full counseling practice providing individual, family, and group therapy to Worcester with at least 10 clinicians by the end of 2025 working with a profit-share model. Unlicensed therapists may apply at this time, but will not be on-boarded in Phase 1. Educators who are interested in providing a Continuing Education training, workshop, or seminar in 2025 are also encouraged to reach out at this time.
November 20th is Trans Day of Remembrance. A time to reflect, honor, and mourn those we have lost to suicide, hate, violence, and systemic oppression.
If you are in the Worcester area I encourage you to attend Central MA Trans Visibility’s event at the YWCA, 6 PM tonight if you are able – Facebook event page.
If you are someone who is curious about gender and looking for resources a new website that Darling Mental Health will be incorporating into our resource directory is GenderSpectrum.org
If you are a trans person who is struggling to find peer support at this time and are not local to Worcester please check out the Trans Patchwork site.
May your day be kind and filled with space that cultivates and foster’s hope for the future while we acknowledge the suffering of our most vulnerable population.
Erin Reed (Erin in the Morning) has posted her advice to trans people who are concerned about potential limitations and changes to access to care with the upcoming legislative and federal government changes that a second Trump presidency is promising at this time:
Please review this information and spread the advice to any trans folks you know who are feeling lost and who do not yet follow Erin (free subscriptions do exist!)
Obtain or update your passport
Update state documents and ID
Maintain a supply of medication
Change your Social Security gender marker
Consider re-location now if you want
Make decisions about staying and/or going “stealth”
Darling Mental Health will be holding its first continuing educational unit on working with Arab populations tomorrow, 11/9, at 1:30 PM EST. All proceeds are going to two charities: Medicins Sans Frontieres & Healing Our Homeland. Currently, registration fees have totaled $870 and we would like to make an even $1,000 donation ($500 to each charity). To do that we are looking for 3 more clinicians, educators, or advocates to register for Compassion for Arabs and attend tomorrow’s online training. For more on the 3-hourNBCC and AASECT approved CE course please go to: darlingmentalhealth.com/trainings/compassion-for-arabs/
As October draws to a close, we have to address changes that continue to happen and evolving situations of suffering and moral exhaustion. Preparations for Darling Mental Health’s first educational unit on Arab cultural awareness continues, and it is glaringly obvious that anything we do must first and foremost focus on supporting the Arab peoples who are suffering. Therefore, all proceeds from the 3-hour “Compassion for Arabs” training, to be held on November 9th at 1:30 PM EST, will be donated to the Medicins Sans Frontieres and Healing Our Homeland. MSF is an organization that is supporting several dozen medical operations around the world including medical aide to Southern Lebanon and Gaza; HOH is a women led grassroots organization that offers 5 programs of support and Darling Mental Health will be financially donating to the Gaza Relief Fund.
Additionally, live participation will be optional for any persons; completion of a page essay to receive a CE certificate is expected for those who only observe.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify what influences the European powers have in our modern understanding of the Middle East and North African region
2. Learn what primary cultural differences exist between Arab and White American values that impact therapy and assumptions we often make (individualism v. collectivism)
3. Identify what stressors and concerns queer Arabs have in their lives in the US and abroad
4. Learn what propaganda influences insight on the geo-political struggles of Arabs in the MENA region
5. Identify languages that project a de-colonized lens to help Arab clients be able to find safety and solace in therapy with a White-presenting, US based therapist
Any Arab-identified person who wishes to attend for free is invited to email directly. Additionally, receipts of recent donations to similar organizations are recognized as a “price for attendance” to this training.
This training model will occur again with a focus on Indigenous populations in the Americas in 2025. Any presenter who would like to collaborate/lead on that topic is invited to reach out.
Thank you for your time, and may we focus on protecting and helping as many children as possible.
[Trigger Warning: this post discusses the history of colonization, politics, and genocide]
Today is identified as “Columbus Day” in the United States, for which a de-colonized effort, lens, and activism has reclaimed it in the name of the Indigenous People impacted by colonization. What are the discussion points here and why is it important for us to be knowledgeable about this? (Because the United States is perpetuating suffering and we as citizens of this global super-power are rarely informed about what our tax-dollars are doing that harms non-White peoples around the globe.)
First, Columbus didn’t discover anything. The land was filled with a nation of peoples who through tribal organization were governing themselves and had lived alongside each other with varying degrees of peace and warfare for hundreds of years before European contact. VividMaps has a page to illustrate this and the resulting impact on native populations in our modern day that emphasizes how genocidal European Colonization was to North America’s native peoples and tribes. One map of theirs beautifully shows the diversity in heritage and is shown here:
However, the narrative most people in the US and Canada received in development emphasized a universal benefit of colonization, converting “nomadic” and “savage” people into prosperous “settlements” that “civilized” the people. We ignore the initial impact and judgments that invaders like Columbus had about the people who received him, we ignore the biological warfare that occurred in wiping out upwards of 90% of the indigenous population through smallpox and other deadly diseases for which they had no defense, and we have SLOWLY recognized the lasting impact residential schools had in the 20th century as White Christian “saviors” systemically worked to kill tribal languages, traditions, networks, and identities through oppressive laws that were racially biased and used religious prejudice as justification.
Indigenous people now continue to fight for recognition, and the preservation of their cultures and heritages, which includes land acknowledgements of what has been occupied and taken through Colonization. Governments and official bodies are beginning to practice land acknowledgments and discussions about the sovereignty and dignity that native peoples deserve as a people with their own rights and culture that should be respected and integrated, not dominated and assimilated to Euro-centric values exclusively.
The effective consequence to the United States is simple in that our population has disconnected from the land in an authentic way, we have prioritized capitalism and urban development over sustainability, and we have collectively lost sight of how much our views and hierarchies are based in prioritizing White Christians over other groups. Languages of propaganda are still being used to instill a belief that the United States is the country of democracy and freedom despite many reports and statistics that indicate we are failing to provide these values to others. Historically, the value of ensuring equitable access to resources to all peoples, bodily autonomy to all genders, and protection to the diversity our human family has been ignored and it is sadly continuing in our current political hellscape.
Simultaneously, the United States is funding another form of colonization with the military intimidation and oppression of Arab and Muslim peoples through its blanket support of Israels appalling “stewardship” of the lands where Palestinians are forced to live, and a current ground invasion to once again destabilize and upset the peoples of Lebanon who are relieving the traumas of military invasions that began before 1948, in the 6-day war of ’67, and a continued pattern of failed invasions that many in the US are unaware. Peace will not be established through lopsided warfare and the aggressors need to be clearly identified, not allowed to hide behind propaganda of victimhood that absolves one of responsibility, evaluation, or international law. A review of any casualty report for any conflict in the region will clearly identify which side succeeds in killing the other by a factor of 10:1, typically.
We must all work to educate ourselves and find opportunities to speak out against religious persecution and disregard for the value and diversity of non-White peoples: their languages, traditions, faiths, and ways of life.
Peace for all does not endorse or ignore the murder of children, and that is what happens when schools and hospitals are bombed, or a third of a country’s population is identified as a viable target for its political ideology. England had to come to the table of negotiation for peace instead of continuing hostilities with the IRA, the same needs to happen with Israel’s neighbors, and the US should be holding them accountable instead of continuing to arm the weapons.
Free Tibet! Free Palestine! Protect Lebanon! Fight Colonial Oppression! Preserve and Protect Jewish Peoples, Culture, and Heritage without Zionism!
Though there are several things to report from the WPATH conference, I feel that the most helpful thing I can do is share links to free and open access research articles being discussed in our circles.
One researcher who has been involved in publishing several articles on transgender sexual satisfaction, embodiment, and pleasure was kind enough to publicly release a link to a list of articles she is a part of: paper sexuality – Google Drive for which I highly recommend all sex therapists to review.
Additionally, the following articles were cited in presentations I attended throughout the conference and for which I highly recommend other therapists and medical providers review if they haven’t already come across them:
While in attendance to the WPATH conference I would like to boost their upcoming Global Education Institute series that will be happening February 18-20 in Spain:
Engagement with the WPATH community will help you connect with leaders in transgender healthcare, provide space for informative education, and allow you to interact and ask questions related to your field of engagement and interest. All medical providers who are required to maintain their professions through CME’s should consider engagement with WPATH’s GEI to help them connect and better understand how their disciplines and clinical skills can be sharpened by having a more attuned lens and awareness of the needs of the transgender and gender diverse community.
