Tag: darling mental health

New Year & Office Location

Darling Mental Health is pleased to announce that we have a new practice location opening near Elm Park in Worcester!

All in-person appointments and services will be conducted at the new location beginning March 1, 2025 at 255 Park Ave, for which there is a free parking garage and building security from 8am-8pm. Our new office space will ensure that we can provide a physical bulletin board and resource center in our public waiting room as well as a conference room to be used for: in-person education and therapist trainings, drop-in support groups, and closed group therapy; services we hope to offer in only a few short months!

We are actively looking to hire new clinicians to be part of our values-based team focused on providing ethical sex therapy, gender-affirming counseling, and general mental health services for all ages and outpatient conditions. Clinicians do not need to be a specialist in sex or gender counseling, but should espouse the values we stand for in securing equitable access to care that affirms each and every person’s right to healthy sexuality and authentic gender identity/expression. Clinicians will have free access to training and supervision to increase skillsets in supporting clients who are seeking treatment with a sex therapist, gender specialist, and who fall in any aspect of the queer community with trans, intersex, and asexual inclusion as part of our public philosophy. We are a profit-share modeled company who partner with local organizations to evaluate and address needs in the Worcester community. Read the job description here and apply to join the team today!

In line with such a launch we are revamping the website and are changing the Resource Directory to: WooSex.org an online sex therapy resource directory created by a Worcester based clinician, with educational links about sexual health and gender diversity and resource networks from in- and outside of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; expect new design, user feel, and layout in February!

Additionally, a new waiting list application process has been developed for all those seeking outpatient mental health counseling with therapists who are trained and supervised on providing sex therapy, gender identity and trans-affirming counseling, trauma-informed care, as well as many other modalities for the people of Worcester. Our new EHR the Jane app has a HIPAA compliant request form to be put on the waiting list, we are expecting a 2 month turnaround to place you with an appropriate clinician with 15 min consults being scheduled with the Director by request. Your place on our waitlist will be confirmed within 3 business days.

We are joyfully looking forward to new developments and adventures in 2025 as we rise to meet the need of our most vulnerable populations and hope to create a new and welcoming in-person practice that comes to meet the needs of our diverse community.

May we find connection, support, and inspiration in the coming months!

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Prideful Labor Day

As September begins, the US celebrates a national holiday that honors the Labor Movement. Labor Day is a day to reflect and appreciate the social and union advocacy that resulted in legislation which has provided protections to laborers & the working class. No society can function healthily without a healthy labor force that has agency, voice, and the right to live, work, and pursue happiness!

Labor Day also marks the “unofficial” end of Summer and in Worcester it is the pre-cursor to Pride. Our Pride festival at the Commons will be in the afternoon on Saturday the 7th with evening block parties at Femme Bar, MB Lounge, and Electric Haze. For more scheduling information, including daily events for this upcoming week, please go to:

Page – Pride Worcester

Darling Mental Health will have a table at Pride and we look forward to seeing you this year with opportunities to connect in-person, network, collaborate, and answer any questions you may have about sex therapy, gender-affirming mental health counseling, and other services offered.

Meanwhile, Darling Mental Health is holding a Pride Sale on all online trainings, reducing the rate price from $30 to $20 per CE credit hour, $60 for each 3 hour course. The sale ends Sunday Sept. 8th at 12 PM.

Let’s go out and meet in the community, making better connections, and building a safer world for our queer youth!!

Happy Worcester Pride!!!

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Freedom Letter

Hello All,

As Today is the Fourth of July and the United States celebrates its independence from the British Empire I find myself reflecting on many things that are difficult to articulate, synthesize, and process. For different reasons there are many people in the US who are proud to be an American, for many there is pure shame; the rest of us are somewhere in-between not sure whether either emotion is fair to a people who have lost insight on how our systems operate.

What I do recognize and want to speak to is the sheer hypocrisy of our independence from British domination while the American colonies were themselves dominating the African/Black population they had enslaved and forced migration from their homes and lands. Not to mention the most silent genocide in humanity’s history against the Indigenous tribes that continued well into the 20th century with systemic practices of warfare (biological and technologically lopsided) and forced sterilization which is barely recognized in our history books. The history of the United States is covered in blood, and we were falsely told that ALL of the blood shed was justified and/or a divine right to be a nation of personal and religious freedom to self-determination.

Now we face a nation that is struggling to define what limits to power should exist for our leaders, what structures of governance actually help cultivate healthy and progressive movement to the future, and what transparencies and truth can actually be heard and trusted in a world of privatized news media and far-winged conspiracy theories. It’s exhausting and hard for so many of my clients, and I suspect every therapist is feeling it too.

How do we find hope in all of this? How do we as cultivators of good mental health find an authentic way to continue on and build structures of support that help and protect the weak and vulnerable without sacrificing our own resources to maintain self?

I’m not entirely sure. But I hope there is a future filled with more grace for our queer youth and less fear for their diversity and existence. I will continue to work towards that education goal and hope that the networks of resources continue to grow and build so that safe supports can be easily accessed.

For each person reading this I hope you are able to find time in the coming days and months to enjoy your lives, your families, your friends, and your options to express yourselves and find moments of celebration that are authentic to you and find ways to foster hope and courage for the future.

I hope today marks a day of positive shift as the season continues to flourish in the Summer heat; may we all find time to care for ourselves and ready ourselves for the future.

Hopefully,

Jeremy Darling

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April Flowers

As the month of April unfolds we can take time to appreciate the opportunity to be outdoors, engage in gardening, or work to cultivate changes and growth that can be demonstrated all around. A trip to the Botanic Garden, or even just visiting a local park allows for an opportunity to appreciate the changing weather and affirming experience that Spring provides.

However, this Spring seems to be a rather heavy season for many: current events, political legislation, and general continuation of monologues that do not lend themselves to progressive dialogue seems to overwhelm media at this time.

Exhaustion from the winter has been affecting many, mindless engagement with substances has been a common topic of reflection, and general planning for the upcoming weeks/months has the potential to overwhelm some. Recommendations include taking stock of your behaviors and patterns, identifying what goals you may have at this time, and finding ways to re-invigorate yourself as we all collectively shake off the low energy of winter.

The occurrence of major celestial events hallmarks certain traditions for the Abrahamic Religions as the first full moon after the equinox indicates Passover and the following Sunday is celebrated for Easter followed by Eid-al-Fitr in correlation to the new moon which marks the close of Ramadan this year. Secular occasions of Earth Day and Arbor Day close out the month and request us to consider tree-planting and ecological efforts to protect the planet.

All of these celebrations correlate to the theme of Spring, gratitude for the end of Winter and its dormancy effect ending to mark new beginnings; and with that in mind I hope everyone is finding some positive focus and hope for a healthy engagement with cycles and starting things that serve us to heal and grow.

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Spring Bulletin

This Spring marks the launch of this website and the development of an online presence for which I am hopeful achieves a few goals:

  1. Educate on matters relating to gender, sexuality, and other topics
  2. Help more people engage with a diverse pool of quality therapists through the Therapist Network page
  3. Provide support to clients in managing their symptoms with a growing language of coping skills and resources
  4. Encourage discussions in people’s therapy as a result of material found on the website and the links it provides

I hope this tool serves my practice and my client’s in a holistic way that improves all of our collective ability to care for self, care for others, and make changes for a better and more authentic future.

As Spring unfolds I often recommend clients to take advantage of the season and consider what outdoor options are available to them to feel refreshed. Even if not going outdoors, consider what can encourage a degree of activity that feels like renewal, rebirth, or regeneration in order to challenge any stagnation negatively affecting one’s mood, motivation, or sense of direction. It has a been an emotionally draining season for many and I am hopeful that the upcoming season gives us more than flowers; something that helps us feel healthy and strong, able to grow.

Change is hard and I hope this new cycle brings some positive shifts to your mental health.

Also, P!nk dropped some new music:

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