Growing Through Pride & Pride In Our Growth - June 2024
Note: While this is a G-rated newsletter, it does talk about sex, sexuality, kink, queerness, and non-monogamy in an educational context. Consider yourself warned.
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Happy Pride Season Loves!
CW: Brief mention of parental death
I really love June. Growing up, there was always an excitement about the coming summer vacation. It was always a big month for family gatherings, with Father’s Day and my dad’s birthday in June as well. Now that I’ve done some of the healing I need to after he passed, I’m really happy to be able to still celebrate him on his birthday.
It’s holding a special place in my heart that Toronto’s Pride Festival will be held on the same weekend as my father’s birthday. He knew for a long time that I was Bisexual/Queer, but passed before I came out as Trans. I don’t think he would have had an easy time of dealing with my transition, but he was also one of these people who, every once in a while, could surprise you with a sudden burst of compassion and understanding. I’ll probably spend some time this coming weekend being a little sad that I never got the chance to find out what he would have thought, but also sending him love and gratitude.
I also celebrated the Summer Solstice last week, so I’m extra contemplative around Pride. For me, this is a time to celebrate abundance and explore my identity as an instrument of exploration, growth, and change. This ties in so deeply with my experience of “pride” as a verb, as an action word. At it’s best, being proud means to work actively to reduce my shame and the shame of others, and create a world where each of us has the chance and support required to be the happiest, healthiest versions of ourselves possible.
Happy Pride friends! May you be proud of how far you’ve come, and may your Pride celebrations lead you to connection and community!
Coaching Folks When Loved Ones Find New Parts Of Themselves
In the last few years, one of the best parts of my coaching practice has been supporting folks when someone they love has shared a new piece of themselves. When someone we care about shares something new, that can be scary, and we deserve support and care to navigate our feelings, be a support to our loved one, and figure out how to love ourselves through that process. In the last while, I’ve had the joy of working with folks to:
Understand a when a partner wants to explore non-monogamy
Sort out their feelings and be supportive when their Transgender teen came out to them (note I do not work with clients under 18 but I can support their caregivers and other trusted adults in their journey of understanding)
Explore what it meant for them that their partner came out as kink-curious
If someone in your life is going through a change, I’d love to support you in understanding that change! If you would like to connect with me for coaching, please reach out!
Upcoming Online Education Events
What are you interested in learning about in the coming weeks? New to exploring power exchange connections? There’s a free class for that. Wondering what it takes to build relationships that encourage sharing, trust, and respectful boundaries?
One thing I hear from lots of folks is how community spaces can be both healing and challenging when a relationship ends or shifts. For those of us in sexuality-oriented communities that support kinky, non-monogamous, or Queer lives, break-ups can be especially complex. That’s whey I’ve developed a brand-new workshop called It’s A Small World: Navigating Sexuality Community Spaces Post-Break-Up where we’ll talk about about how to acknowledge and navigate the feelings that can come up, how we can decide on and enforce healthy boundaries, and discuss other unique circumstances that can arise when break-ups occur within communities.
As always, you can learn about all of my upcoming workshops by visiting my website.
Support & Connection
If you would like to connect with me for coaching, please do. A sliding scale is available, and I would be happy to have a free consultation prior to beginning our work together.
As always, I appreciate your donations toward my educational & community work.
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