Our Team

Being a helpline volunteer for SQSH is an opportunity for me to offer my younger self a space they craved – a safe, queer, supportive network. It is truly a way for me to heal through partaking in healing community work.

I decided to join SGSH because I have been going through some major transformations in my life the last 4 years and I have finally decided that I want to be in community with people who share similar identities and values as me. I am most excited about being able to serve the Queer community here in St. Louis, make new friends(wishfully), and to learn!

I found SQSH on my journey of seeking community and my place in it. After years of hesitating to jump into the unknown of community engagement, I am so happy to have joined such a welcoming and conscientious organization. I am beyond thrilled for this summer's learning cohort and volunteering thereafter.

I was brought to SQSH by the mission of community advocacy and support. My goal and passion are to work to give agency and power to the marginalized and love to all. I'm excited to partner with and get to know others who want to engage with their neighbors in a support capacity, and to learn and grow with other Saint Louisans.

My desire to find queer community in St. Louis first led me to SQSH, and my desire to create and facilitate spaces for this community led me to join the team. I'm most excited about seeing the positive impact our organization can have on the St. Louis queer community and fulfilling my role in ensuring SQSH and our community members thrive!

I'm excited to work with SQSH to help create a community where we have the language and confidence to advocate for ourselves and create protected spaces that is inclusive of all regardless of sexuality, gender, religion or other facets that develop our unique identities.

Queer liberation at the forefront! I am a 3rd generation Black Saint Louisan. Working with SQSH I am able to serve my community in cultivating Saint Louis's revolutionary potential. I am rooted in radical traditions that center post colonial imagination, joy, love and compassion.

I first joined SQSH as a member of the STARLING Queer Healer Collective, and quickly became enamored by this organization’s dedication to community support & liberation. Now stepping into the position of Systems Change & Healing Justice Facilitator, I work as a Weaver in the social impact ecosystem, and I'm motivated by co-cultivating embodiment of liberation at the cellular and global levels. Whether I am strategizing with the Systems Change Fellowship, or offering a group somatic healing session, I’m dedicated to transforming the root causes & conditions so queer St. Louisians can move from survive to thrive!

As the Resource Building Storyteller and Educator (RBSE) I am excited to talk to, learn from, and uplift queer voices in St. Louis. I strongly believe in decolonization and liberation, and operate from an anti-capitalism/anti-colonialism lens. I specialize in meeting people where they are at and I am passionate about teaching queer liberation and allyship. I'm excited to work at an organization where I can be authentically me and know that all of me is valued!

“I’m really excited to contribute to the St. Louis queer community and get involved in queer advocacy! I think visibility is really important for queer folks, and as someone who grew up without much representation or role models, I’d love to be part of the effort to change that for the next generation of young people!”

“Since the start of the COVID pandemic, SQSH has been my queer home – my space to grieve community losses with queer & trans friends, to ask for and receive support, to grow in my political analysis and values, and to channel my passion into systems-change action.

At SQSH, I love how we try our best to live our values in the way we work and communicate with each other, and that includes prioritizing wellness over strict deadlines, inviting radical honesty & feedback, directly navigating conflict, and centering lived experience & wisdom.”

“I co-founded SQSH because I believe we all have the potential to respond compassionately to each others’ emotional needs. I grew up in a society where showing ’negative’ emotions was bad, where being queer was wrong, where mental health was shamed and sequestered away. When I immigrated to the U.S., the St. Louis LGBTQIA+ community astounded me with its diversity and vibrance. Passionate about teaching peer counseling skills, I started an organization to offer that to my newfound community—first as a training, then as a service. This is the best thing I’ve done with my life.”

SQSH’s vision of collective liberation through radically reimagining our systems of healing and support is what brought me to the organization. I’m excited to build community power for queer St. Louisans.

“I came out as queer and trans/non-binary within the last year or so, and the support I have found here in St. Louis has allowed me to gather the courage to persevere and lean into a more authentic version of myself. Recently I have felt powerless and frustrated with the current social and political climate, and the SQSH offers a way for me to pivot by giving direct aid back to my community. I am excited to be exposed to a diverse spectrum of queer experiences and to be part of a mutual exchange of joy, kindness, and support.”

SQSH felt like a very accepting place for me to be in amidst all the other community spaces that I occupy. I am comfortable being who I am here & taking up space. I'm most excited to be working directly with callers in St. Louis to build a more positive, supportive & strong community

I started at SQSH as a clinical advisor and was blown away by the thoughtfulness, caring and commitment to social justice in all parts of the organization. I have also served as a practicum supervisor and I so excited to be part of the Starling Team. As a trans and bi man, I am proud to support my communities by supporting SQSH.

SQSH is a great home for my passion of helping folks soften into their experience of pain and find joy. I spent a long time figuring out how to align this with my political values and it feels like SQSH gets that! They have been so responsive and supportive in making a home for me and my healing colleagues through the STARLING program. I'm absolute stoked to be supporting their volunteers and staff in such important work to build structures of care and solidarity into the web of St. Louis.

I actually started volunteering with SQSH in 2020 as I was in massage school, and had been on the helpline for 2 years before shifting into my role as somatic healing coordinator and then later as a STARLING healer as a massage therapist. I am so grateful to be a part of SQSH! My involvement with this organization has shown me what it's like to work with people who value the well-being and humanity of every individual within the collective, and that has allowed me to grow towards my best self in ways I would have never imagined possible before.

I have really enjoyed supporting SQSH in less formal capacities in the past. As a STARLING Healer, I am most excited about moving into a more structured supportive role within SQSH in a way that allows me to use my skills to support our community. My hope is to build an even stronger connection with queer healers and SQSH as we co-create a community that is transformative and deeply healing.

Kelsey (they/them) has always had an interest in community support and care, and has been interested in joining SQSH since one of the organization’s first tabling events at Tower Grove Pride. As a member of the Press and Newsletter teams, Kelsey hopes to use their penchant for writing in a way that promotes and connects the queer community and fosters healing, growth, and knowledge.

“I resonated with SQSH because of their Queer Immigrant Outreach program. This program is vital, as in queer immigrants are often not included within queer spaces, and differences in language and/or culture should never be a barrier for someone to receive community support.”

“My goal in joining SQSH is to help people feel heard and safe. As a parent and privileged member of our community, it's important to me to help make our space more equitable and loving as possible.”

“I joined SQSH because it’s important to me to be there for the next group of queer people who will have this resource available to them as they are exploring their own identity and what it means to live authentically in this world.”

“Throughout training, I learned and improved upon many wonderful skills. One that sticks out is asking good open-ended questions. Though this skill seems like it might be easy or common-sense, through role plays with other volunteers I learned the challenges as well as the importance of utilizing open-ended questions and active listening to create a safe space and open dialogue with callers and others.”