Knowing how to show up for a loved one when they share their coming out journey with us can be challenging. Today’s guest is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in community mental health and offering mental health support to the LGBTQ+ community in the Woodlands. During this episode, she shares her expertise for those in the process of sharing their true identity with friends and family and their loved ones seeking to offer support. To kick off our conversation, Nicole distinguishes between clinical social work and psychotherapy and speaks to the social justice aspect of the former that made her fall in love with the field. She offers a window into her work, from how she has chosen to communicate her inclusive approach online and her work around shame, trauma, and depression to what it means to truly provide a safe space for those who need it most. Nicole explains why coming out is often something that a whole family will need to do and why that process is internal as well as forward-facing. Tune in today to hear all this and many more insights from today’s inspiring guest. Thanks for tuning in! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Meet your host, coach, and counselor Carolyn Robistow. 
• Introducing licensed clinical social worker Nicole Suarez-Bronfman and her work in community mental health.
• Differentiating between clinical social work and psychotherapy.
• Nicole’s work with marginalized communities that led her to specialize in treating LGBTQ+ patients.
• How she has chosen to communicate her inclusive approach online.
• Effects of the current political climate on mental health difficulties.
• Her work around shame, trauma, and depression.
• What it means to truly provide a safe space.
• Subtle and small ways that people experience rejection and abandonment. 
• Why coming out often involves the whole family.
• The pivotal role of community and family in finding the necessary support. 
• Advice for those seeking to support an LGBTQ+ family member who has recently come out.
• Why coming out is a process and not a once-off conversation.
• Communicating acceptance by honoring someone’s pronouns. 
• Finding support as the person that is supporting a loved one. 
• Using the opportunity to connect with one another and grow together.
• Advice for those who are thinking about coming out.
• Risks around shame and isolation for the LGBTQ+ community.
• Warning signs that indicate people need extra support.
• Challenging practitioners to emphasize their inclusivity in public spaces.
• Supportive groups in Texas to seek out. 
• Nicole’s stories of hope: seeing people find connection in the midst of fear. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Nicole Suarez-Bronfman

Nicole Suarez-Bronfman Email

The Woodlands Pride

There’s Room At Our Table

The Trevor Project
Carolyn Robistow on LinkedIn

Carolyn Robistow

Mosaics of Mercy