Join STARLING:
SQSH’s Therapist & Healer Cohort 2023

Calling Queer-Centered Therapists, Reiki Healers, Massage Practitioners, Somatic Healers, Psychiatrists, Indigenous Healers, Yoga Trainers.... and more!

Are you interested in…

Providing healing services to SQSH's Peer Counselors to support local capacity for peer support and mutual aid

Receiving honest, anonymized client feedback in a supportive environment to learn & grow

Building community with a cohort of radical, anti-oppressive Queer St. Louisan healers and mental health practitioners

Participating in ongoing training and consciousness-raising to provide queer-centered, trauma-informed care

If you enthusiastically nodded to all of these, then apply to join STARLING: A St. Louis Queer+ Support & Healing Collective!

Jump to

Cohort Responsibilities

For 1 year (May 2023-2024), you will be asked to:

  • Provide high-quality mental health and/or somatic healing services (paid by SQSH at your standard rates) 

  • Reserve slots in your weekly caseload for SQSH’s Peer Counselors (at least 3-4 hours per week)

  • Participate in 2-4 hours of training and consciousness-raising every 10 weeks (focused on queer health & wellness)

  • Attend 1-hour support & coaching sessions led by a SQSH facilitator every 5 weeks

  • Review feedback from your SQSH clients and incorporate them into your practice

Project Background

Starling flocks move in beautiful and captivating ways. Flocks of starlings have a remarkable ability to maintain cohesion as a group in highly uncertain environments. Starlings do this by paying attention to their seven closest neighbors; when uncertainty is present, interacting with seven neighbors optimizes the balance between group cohesiveness and individual effort. 

We believe that queer community healing happens in the same way – by building trusting, intimate, and safe relationships with those closest to us, while moving in tandem towards liberation. Our project aims to form a strong foundation for queer St. Louisan healing by fostering connections between peer counselors, community members, mental health professionals, and somatic healers.

  • We believe that:

    1. We need to attend to individuals’ unique needs while healing within community. 

    2. We need to expand beyond White, Western modes of healing that center client-provider dynamics, and tap into collectivist, culturally-specific modes of healing. 

    3. We need to expand beyond talk-based psychotherapy, and tap into body-based approaches to healing. 

    4. We need to take a politicized approach to mental healthcare that acknowledges and combats oppressive systems. 

  • STARLING aims to strengthen networks of care for the St. Louis LGBTQIA+ community by:

    • reducing cost/stigma barriers to mental health and somatic healing services

    • creating safe channels for queer clients to provide feedback

    • improving the quality of LGBTQIA-affirming services in St. Louis

This Spring, we are recruiting 5-7 queer healers to join our collective. Together, we aim to create a radically healing, transformative mental wellness system for queer & trans St. Louisans, rooted in the principles of transformative justice and community care. Interested in learning more about our first ever queer healer cohort experience? Read on to learn more!

Application Details

  • Our vetting process is rigorous – Only 5-7 healers will be selected to participate in our cohort. 

  • Healers who're able to demonstrate robust prior training and licensure are preferred, but provisionally licensed practitioners and those in supervision are also welcome to apply.

  • Applications are open from Jan 31 to Feb 28, 2023.

  • You may be invited to an interview round in March/April, and will be notified of your application outcome by May 2023.

Estimated Completion Time: 30mins

Interested but not ready to apply? 

Sign up for reminders & updates from our newsletter!

Who Should Apply?

In general, we're looking for applicants who demonstrate:

  • A commitment to transformative justice, healing justice, intersectionality, and queer liberation

  • Openness to learning, growth and self-improvement

  • Humility, self-awareness, ability to respond receptively to feedback

  • Dedication, willingness to put in effort

  • Genuine interest in SQSH’s mission

  • Passion for supporting and uplifting the inherent power and wholeness of the St. Louis LGBTQIA+ community

  • Empathy + Commitment to active listening and emotional support

  • Commitment to preserving confidentiality and anonymity when sensitive information is shared

Here’re more details on what identities, skills, knowledge, and values we look for in our final cohort:

    • This is a closed cohort – queer only

    • Folks holding multiple marginalized identities, especially Black and brown queer folks and multi-lingual practitioners, will be prioritized and centered in this cohort

    • Commitment to understanding mental health from a holistic and collective healing perspective

    • Past experience working with and building meaningful relationships with queer & trans folks

    • (Formal or informal) experience practicing in their field with layers of accountability and feedback (e.g. licensing, training, supervision, client feedback, etc.)

    • Ideal: Knowledgeable about St. Louis resources; able to connect clients to other resources to meet holistic needs

    • Ideal: Experience working with diverse relationship structures including non-monogamy

    • Expertise / Fluency with commonly used queer & trans terminology and lived experiences

    • Competency in responding to and healing queer & trans trauma

    • Awareness of oppressive systems and approaching their practice from an anti-oppressive lens

    • Commitment to connecting clients to larger communities and support networks, instead of fostering over-dependence on their provider

    • Open to learning; taking a non-defensive stance when approaching areas of ignorance

    • Motivated to build community with fellow cohort members and fully participate in this project

    • Ideal: Dedicated to the St. Louis region and committed to planting roots here

    • Commitment to de-hierarchizing mental health services and spaces

    • Belief in the inherent wholeness of queer and trans people

    • Belief in peer support and co-counseling as valuable, life-giving practices

    • Understanding of the potential tolls and strains that peer counselors face in their roles, both on and off SQSH’s Helpline

    • Ideal: Share radical politics around class consciousness, abolition of carceral systems, and intersectional analysis

Info Session

Join us on Feb 8, Wednesday, 5.30-7pm via Zoom to learn more about this project, ask questions about the application, and meet other queer-centered healers & therapists in St. Louis!

Our Info Session will include:

  • Introduction to SQSH's Team and the STARLING Project

  • Meet & Greet with other Queer Therapists & Healers

  • Overview of Application & Interview Process

  • Selection Criteria & Cohort Programming

  • Q&A + Feedback

Can't attend the Info Session? We won't be recording it to protect the anonymity and intimacy of the space... but we will send out our slides and materials afterwards!

Why Somatic Healing?

In 2022, we found that talk therapy faced limitations in facilitating long-term therapeutic outcomes for queer St. Louisans. Most psychotherapy approaches are top-down, which means they rely on humans’ most highly developed way of processing information: using cognition (thinking), which takes place in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. In top-down processing, the prefrontal cortex uses current and past information to interpret a situation and direct the body on next steps. The brain uses logic, planning, and problem-solving to make conscious decisions about what to do next and how to interpret something. 

Unfortunately, for many queer St. Louisans who experienced trauma, we learned that top-down approaches alone are often inadequate to relieve their symptoms, which makes sense given how trauma affects our minds and bodies. In contrast, we learned that bottom-up processes are initiated by the body’s sensations and movements. In bottom-up processing, the input of sensory information comes from the external environment; our sensory receptors in turn let the brain know whether we are safe. These processes occur without us even being conscious of them, and the prefrontal cortex is not involved.

In short, bottom-up healing methods use the wisdom of the body’s sensations and movements to access the trauma that is held in our fascia or connective tissue. Queer St. Louisans do not have to have conscious memory of traumatic experiences to process and heal trauma using bottom-up healing approaches. 

That is why in 2023, we hope to recruit queer-affirming holistic health providers (in fields such as massage therapy, yoga, reiki, chaplaincy, and psychiatry) beyond talk therapy!

Therapist Testimonials

Hear from past therapists who’ve benefitted from this program!

96% of therapist survey responses said that participation in this project has been Helpful or Very Helpful in improving their ability to provide queer-affirming mental healthcare.

99% of therapist survey responses said that participation in this project has been Helpful or Very Helpful in improving their confidence to serve queer clients

100% of therapist survey responses said that participation in our training has been Helpful or Very Helpful in improving their ability to provide queer-affirming mental healthcare.

Here's what therapists said about their experience:

  • “I felt like we were in a safe, nonjudgmental space where it was okay to ask questions and share potential awkward experiences with the group. The speaker is knowledgeable and thoughtful, and was a huge help for me in widening my understanding being a sex-positive therapist.”

  • “Trainings were very well presented with important and relevant content. We had thought provoking and introspective conversations with group members that furthered learning.”

  • "I really liked how open the leaders were. I think that encourages others to speak about their own experiences and ask questions."

  • "This was a great way to refresh my knowledge of and continue to build on clinical skills to support the queer community. I also found it helpful to have dialogue with other counselors working towards the same goal."

  • “Even as a queer therapist I learned new things. I appreciate the opportunity to grow my practice and allyship.”

  • “I believe this training pushes me to be a better therapist and that it will help me provide better quality care to my queer clients.”

  • “I appreciated the practical application and personal examples that were used in the training. They helped to make the material understandable.”

  • “The course was helpful for further developing clinical skills and my own personal development.”

Excited to be a part of our project that incorporates ongoing training, support, and coaching for queer-centered therapists & healers?

Client Testimonials

Hear from past clients who’ve benefitted from this program!

94% of peer counselors who responded to our client survey said that participation in this project has been Helpful or Very Helpful in supporting their mental health and well-being.

86% of peer counselors who responded to our client survey said that participation in this project has been Helpful or Very Helpful in increasing their capacity for SQSH Helpline shifts.

Here's what clients said about their experience:

  • “My therapist's explanations, both science and metaphorically-based, are so, so helpful. In the past I often felt really tired after therapy but I felt energized after my first session with them. My therapist's explanations helped me understand a bit why I might behave in certain ways that don't make sense to me. Having someone see what I don't from an outside perspective and helping me see it is one of the most helpful things that can happen in therapy.”

  • “I found my therapist easy to talk to. It was nice to share something I’ve been carrying for a few months that I haven’t been able to share with many people. It was helpful to just talk and learn about some of my therapist’s style and points of view about avoidance, compartmentalization, and other topics. I also really needed that validation about belonging and meeting my needs this week and that was really helpful.”

  • “My therapist helped me understand issues I've had much of my life and I felt silly at first because I've never googled them but I didn't have google as a kid (and I didn't know that some of these issues existed anyway) but now I feel empowered knowing what some of these things are and how I can go about them.”

  • “My therapist’s awareness about queerness—of which they have more experience than I do—was so, so helpful. Their honesty and way of explaining things in ways that are so easy to understand, and their ability to navigate my own wandering thoughts, were all very helpful. They also made a point about clients being their own experts of their own lives and knowing themselves best. My therapist’s approach seems a lot more like peer counseling in those regards than a clinical approach, which I really appreciate.”

  • “This session was really validating and also went deeper than I was originally expecting. I learned some new things about myself that I had not previously realized. I felt heard and that my therapist was summarizing my experiences really well. I left with a few ideas on how to alter the way I process things.”

  • “My expression of emotion is never assigned judgement, and I appreciate the questions to go deeper and investigate what I’m feeling.”

  • “I really liked that my therapist asked questions about my cultural background that were relevant to the topics we were discussing. There are a lot of conflicts and issues in my life that are very specific to my cultural background so it was really important to me to find a therapist who wouldn't just view my life through their own cultural lens.”

  • “I think it was really helpful that my therapist stayed calm and composed when I was having an emotional breakdown. The way they reacted helped make me feel like it was ok to cry and helped normalize my emotions.”

  • “I really appreciate the empathy and tips for working on a helpline from someone who understands, especially about being the "nice" person and that getting in the way of not just your own health and needs but even your work. I find myself leaving these sessions wanting to take better care of myself.”

  • “I really appreciate how my therapist talks about handling direct and vicarious trauma on the line and how to care for yourself both during and afterward. I've learned I need to prepare beforehand to actually deal with it in real time. I also appreciated my therapist's affirmation and ideas regarding issues like how orgs handle sexuality, nonprofit culture and coping alone.”

Excited to be a part of our project that centers the well-being, feedback, and autonomy of queer St. Louisans?

Project Coordinator:

Luka Cai (they/them)
luka.c@thesqsh.org

Communications Manager:

Amanda Im (she/her)
amanda.i@thesqsh.org

Peer Support Organizer:

Avi Ivaturi (they/them)
avi.i@thesqsh.org

Questions? Contact Our Team!