At Kindman & Co. in Highland Park, we practice social-justice informed, relational psychotherapy. As part of this practice, we support and affirm LGBTQIA+ individuals, intimate relationships, and families towards liberation. We recognize that dominant culture has long been based on patriarchal and heteronormative values, and actively work to resist these paradigms in our practice. Our therapists use an intersectional and feminist approach to make space for the effects of historic and ongoing systemic oppression on LGBTQIA+ folx. We also take our roles as allies and advocates seriously, and hold this political stance with all our clients, regardless of their identity. If you’re interested in therapy with our team, or would like to learn more about our social-justice-informed approach, we’d love to hear from you. Keep reading to hear more about what we’re considering when supporting LGBTQIA+ folx.
Folx, a digital health startup that primarily serves the LGBTQIA+ population, is the latest startup looking to break apart from traditional, one-size-fits-all healthcare systems by building. The move will allow members of the LGBTQIA community to now select gender-neutral pronouns when contacting the U.S. People who identify as non-binary – neither male nor female – can now select the gender-neutral title “Mx” on the White House website’s contact page, which also added a drop-down list of personal pronouns. FOLX, the first telehealth platform for the queer and trans community, is set to launch on December 3, 2020. The platform aims to improve the health care experience for LGBTQIA+ people by proving queer and trans-specific medical products and services.
- Trans Lifeline x FOLX. We’re working together to radically redistribute financial resources from allies in and out of the LGBTQIA+ community to support 100 transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming folx to be in their bodies on their own terms.
- Folx — Folx is an umbrella term for people with non-normative sexual orientation or identity. FTM — FTM is an acronym for the Female-to-Male Spectrum. FTM is used by people who are assigned female at birth but identify with or express their gender as a male part of the time. Diversity Terms Starting with G.
stress in the LGBTQIA+ community
Living can be stressful. At Kindman & Co., we hold a continual awareness that the more marginalized identities an individual holds (gender, race, class, sexuality, weight, ability, immigration status, etc.), the more this daily stress is amplified by systemic oppression. We’re also aware that systemic oppression of marginalized folx means that therapeutic care is less accessible, too. Every year, The American Psychological Association conducts a Stress in America Study, and these annual reports regularly indicate that members of the LGBTQIA+ community are experiencing significantly more stress than others. The 2019 study showed that only 62% of LGBTQIA+ individuals felt hopeful for the future compared with 75% of those who do not identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. We know that heteronormative culture can feel unaccepting at best and oppressive at worst for LGBTQIA+ folx, and we are actively working to dispel the dominant culture and its narratives within our practice.
In our therapeutic work with LGBTQIA+ individuals and families, we collaborate with our clients, and make space to examine and understand the ways in which systemic oppression may be impacting their mental health and wellness. We honor complexity, authenticity, and exploration. If you’re dealing with unmanageable stress or anxiety, and you’re looking for space to process, cope, or just show up—we can help.
identity & authenticity
Identity is a common focus of therapeutic work. Identity as a concept is intersectional, complex, and fluid. Who we are, who others perceive us to be, and who we want to become are often central questions for many who seek therapy. When our identities are not recognized, valued, and celebrated—by our families, partners, and society—the internalized messages of wrongness or not being enough can burrow deep into our minds and bodies.
For our LGBTQIA+ clients, questions around identity become even more important, as the trauma of discrimination, non-recognition, and non-acceptance is ongoing and multivalent. This complex trauma can motivate folx to self-defensively suppress aspects of their identity, relationships, or sexuality. It can manifest as feelings of isolation, loneliness, or shame. Trauma and self-protective identity suppression can lead to other mental health symptoms, like anxiety and depression.
In our work, we honor these emotions and the resilience of our clients. We interpret mental health symptoms not as personal failings, but evidence of an invalidating, toxic environment. We recognize, value, and celebrate all of our clients’ intersectional identities, and work to support authenticity, identity development, and exploration.
working with kindman & co.
We know that LGBTQIA+ individuals face a lot of challenges, and that they so often meet systemic oppression with strength, resistance, community, and resilience. We want to support this work with accessible, social justice-informed therapy. Our therapists have experience working with LGBTQIA+ individuals, relationships, and families, and affirm all identities, genders, intimate relationships, and sexualities. At Kindman & Co., we practice preemptive radical inclusion, starting all therapeutic relationships from a place of openness, compassion, and acceptance. We’re excited to get to know you, and ready to hold space for you—exactly as you are.
You are not in this alone. You were never meant to be. Each and every one of us innately possesses strengths to live more enriching, joyful lives; let us help you to (re) connect to your strengths to find well-being.
June is Pride Month where we commemorate the Stonewall riots (June 28 – July 3, 1969), a major event leading up to theLGBTQIA+ liberation movement. June also marks Juneteenth, an American holiday celebrating the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved Black Americans in the Confederacy (June 19, 1865). The last enslaved Black Americans in the Union weren’t freed until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment (December 18, 1865).
In celebration of Pride Month and Juneteenth, here is a not all-inclusive list of Black and LGBTQIA+ voices to follow on social media and to read. It is worth noting that Pride is possible because of Black transwomen like Marsha P. Johnson.
Black LGBTQIA+ Folx to Follow
If your social media streams don’t have these powerful voices, give them a follow! Most wrote books, essays, and other pieces of work outside of their social media accounts.
adrienne maree brown
Social justice facilitator focused on black liberation. Doula/healer. Pleasure activist. Author of Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good.
@adriennemareebrown (Instagram)
Charlene Carruthers
Black, queer feminist community organizer and writer. Author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.
@charlenecarruthers (Instagram) · @CharleneCac (Twitter)
Crystal Fleming
A scholar and a gentlequeer. Author of How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide.
@alwaystheself (Twitter)
DeRay Mckesson
Activist. Organizer. Teacher. Author of On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope.
@iamderay (Instagram) · @deray (Twitter)
Ericka Hart
Sex educator. Racial/Social/Gender Justice Disruptor. Writer. Breast Cancer Survivor. Model. Co-host of the podcast, “Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast”.
@ihartericka (Instagram · Twitter)
Jenna Wortham
Staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. Co-host of the podcast, “Still Processing”. Co-editor of the forthcoming visual anthology “Black Futures”.
@jennydeluxe (Instagram · Twitter)
Joe Miner
Antiracist LGBTQ+ activist within the Evangelical Church, advocating for inclusion and justice for queer people in faith communities.
@joeminertldr (Instagram · Twitter)
Roxane Gay
Writer. Professor. Social commentator. Author of Bad Feminist.
@rgay (Twitter)
Sean Saifa
Intersex activist. Visual artist. Co-founder of @intersexjusticeproject. Creator of @unbornson.
@saifaemerges (Instagram · Twitter)
Vilissa Thompson
#DisabilityTooWhite Creator. Founder of Ramp Your Voice! Disability Rights Consultant. Social Worker. Writer.
@VilissaThompson (Instagram · Twitter)
Black LGBTQIA+ Folx to Read
If longer narratives and books are your thing, read these authors! Their works intersect race, sex, class, gender, and sexual orientation. The Work cannot be done without intersectionality!
Since the following authors wrote so many pieces and books and can be overwhelming to start, there’s a recommended book listed. We provided Bookshop links to the authors and books, but we strongly encourage you to order from Black-owned bookstores and/or buy from your local bookstore! Happy reading!
Alice Walker
Novelist, short story writer, poet, social activist, and feminist who coined the term “womanist” (a Black feminist or feminist of color) to unite women of color and the feminist movement at “the intersection of race, class, and gender oppression.”
→ Start with The Color Purple
Angela Davis
Political activist, philosopher, academic, and author who wrote over ten books on class, feminism, and the U.S. prison system.
→ Start with Women, Race, & Class
Lgbtqia+ Folx
Audre Lorde
Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, and poet who confronted and addressed injustices of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and homophobia in her writing.
→ Start with Sister Outsider
bell hooks
Author, professor, feminist, and social activist who focuses on the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender, and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination.
→ Start with Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
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Lgbtqia Folx Pro
James Baldwin
Novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist who explored racial and social issues in his essays on the Black experience in the United States.
→ Start with Go Tell It on the Mountain
What Does Lgbtqia+ Mean
Toni Cade Bambaras
Author, documentary film-maker, social activist, and college professor who was concerned with injustice and oppression in general and with the fate of African-American communities and grassroots political organizations in particular.
→ Start with The Salt Eaters