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