I haven’t written a blog post in a while but I feel compelled after the first day of attending the Facing Race conference in St. Louis to all my West-coast based therapists/mental health folk. Facing Race conference info here: https://facingrace.raceforward.org/
Like many, I’m feeling my emotions of rage, grief, and uncertainty after the election. As a queer WOC/BIPOC therapist, I was not surprised about these election results and turned to my social media connections to other practitioners sharing their feelings. What I wasn’t prepared for and should not have been surprised to see was all the infighting I saw on these social media groups. I’ve seen practitioners shame and tear each other down in these therapist groups, but this caliber of infighting was particularly disappointing.
I don’t wanna invalidate our humanity in these feelings, we have every right to feel them and share them as we feel compelled and comfortable. But what do we do with this excess rage energy when it just becomes endless echo chambers and commiseration? We all saw how blue the West Coast is becoming. I’m on lots of local queer groups and see so many folks from red states wanting to move to the West Coast to be safe to be who they are, it was going on before the election as well. We’re seeing an influx of queer and trans refugees but I have yet to see us talking about it more in the West Coast as the implications it has for us as mental health practitioners. Are we ready to welcome them and help them find their concept of home? Are we ready to help them settle in? Do we know the resources to send them to and have we built relationships to offer the mutual aid and support they will need?
These are things I thought about as I’m attending the Facing Race conference. I was surrounded by 4000+ people, mainly from branches of government in different states about how they are starting to or are implementing racial equity within their institutions. I wish there were more of us mental health practitioner/therapist folk in these spaces.
I learned about the Rise to Health Coalition, which is a national coalition on healthcare equity. I found their table and started chatting with representatives from the coalition about some of the issues I’ve seen us struggle with since the pandemic such as the Change Healthcare breach which led a lot of loss of profit for private practices, and the impacts of low insurance reimbursement and how that contributes to the growing mental health care access gap in our country. More info about the Change Healthcare cyber attack and advocacy efforts by Clinicians of color: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clinicians-of-color-unites-mental-health-professionals-in-response-to-change-healthcare-cyberattack-advocating-for-equitable-support-and-systemic-change-302101114.html
Therapists, please join this coalition so our concerns are also a part of the healthcare equity conversation. Info here: https://www.risetohealthequity.org/.
After the first day of the conference, I drew this tarot card from my Liberation tarot deck, the Rebel of Spirals. The imagery is pretty intense as you can see. When reading the description about the card, I was drawn to the reflection questions towards the end. “What do [we as therapists/mental health practitioners] need to set on fire because it cannot be fixed? What needs the gentle tending of breath?”
Infighting within our circles and communities is exactly what the opposition we are up against wants; divide and conquer. The infighting is the culture in our profession that needs to burn.
Instead of dividing and conquering, how are we building a coordinated intersectional effort in the West Coast for our LGBTQIAS2A+ siblings that are coming from Texas, Florida, Georgia, and all other “red” states in our country? This is what needs tending to as we individually and collectively re-charge ourselves from the collective grief and hurt. We’ll not only need to be effective mental health practitioners, but case managers as well.
West Coast mental health practitioners/therapists, it’s time for us to build that intersectional and robust effort with entities and mutual aid networks and organizations in our area that are already serving this community. As we create space for our LGBTQIAS2S+ for the traumas they are fleeing in order to have a better life, where are we referring them to for a safe roof over their head? Fresh food they can eat? Clothing and gender-affirming resources? This effort needs to be a network, more than just a one-off “go here for x resource” or generic resource list.
I’m ready to do this work, but I don’t wanna do it alone. How are we communicating with each other on these resources to ensure a smooth transition for our queer, non-binary and trans siblings? West Coast Mental Health Therapist fam: how do we build this coordinated effort? What’s already being done in our area? Please tell me! Connect with me!
Email me about the coordinated queer resource referral care and mutual aid networks you are building along the West Coast at michelle@bansheetherapservices.com or contact me on my website at: https://www.bansheetherapy.com/contact
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