In this episode, I speak with my friend and collaborator Maia Gonzalez (she/her) about our new collective Concha x Fresno! Concha x Fresno is a Central Valley art collective that affirms and celebrates Queer and Trans People of Color through curated events and community collaborations. We threw a Pride Party on June 28th as our inaugural event, and were completely overwhelmed by the turn out and support. We talk about how this party came to be, the importance of building queer and trans community here in the Central Valley, queer eldership, and our vision for the future of Concha. To learn more about Concha x Fresno, you can follow us @conchaxfresno. 

Born and raised in the Central Valley, Maia is a librarian and children's book author. She volunteers with her community and has been involved with numerous programs and services that focus on Queer and Latine populations. For more information about her children's book, you can follow @miicamisa_libros. 

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

I had the opportunity to speak with Onxy Fujii (they/them), who is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and Co-Director of Kintsugi Therapist Collective. We spoke about the spiritual nature of intuition and atunement in client work, and the power of creating spaces for care for providers to be authentically themselves together. 

I also share more about the inspiration and intention behind my upcoming class Palma Spirit Group, and how aligned it feels to be offering it through Kintsugi Therapist Collective. 

Applications to Palma Spirit Group are due by May 5, so start your application already! You can learn more about it and apply here.

Onyx is a queer, non-binary, chronically ill, culturally Jewish, mixed race clinical social worker in private practice in Philadephia (on unceded Lenni-Lenape land). Healing justice is at core of their multidisciplinary practice where they offer trauma-informed, anti-oppressive psychotherapy, clinical supervision, and cultural humility facilitation and consultation; focusing on the intersections of gender, sexual orientation, race, chronic illness and disability. Their professional practices and writing center the intersections of identity, trauma, (in)visibility, and connection.

Outside of their professional roles, they are a parent, a creative writer and occasional art maker, a beachcomber, and an avid home cook. You can learn more about their work at: www.kintsugimentalwellness.com

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

Listen to Nat's interview on Bridges Mental Health podcast called Beyond the Couch. Nat shares some summer updates, including new info about enrollment for Intuition Immersive's second cohort! Also, a big thank you to you if you've been listening along since the beginning- it's been almost a year, whoa. We want to hear from you! What have you liked, what do you want to hear more about, and who would you want to hear on Therapy is Gay? Feel free to email or dm your ideas and feedback.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This week, Sam is joined by Nat Strafaci, a licensed therapist, clinical supervisor, psychic medium, and spiritual herbalist, who shares their perspective on spirituality as a journey rather than a therapy ‘modality’. Nat offers insights into how colonialism has disrupted connections to spiritual and indigenous practices, and together they discuss how many modern therapeutic approaches are deeply rooted in spiritual traditions. Nat discusses the transformative power of connecting to one’s ancestral lineage, and how the body serves as a place of connection with ancestors. Together, Nat and Sam share their experiences of developing a spiritual lens as therapists, and how learning their own family history has deepened their connection with themselves and their ancestors, enriching their work as therapists.

Nat Strafaci (they/them) is a licensed therapist, clinical supervisor, psychic medium, and spiritual herbalist living and working on Lenape and Yokuts land. Their private practice, Sunshadow Healing, centers the healing of Queer and Trans People of Color at the intersection of spirituality and mental health. They are also currently facilitating Intuition Immersive: A 12 Week Course for Intuitive Development, Practice, and Process. Connect with Nat on Instagram @sunshadowhealing

Applications for enrollment into the Fall 2024 cohort of Intuition Immersive are opening this week. This 12-week immersive serves as a container to explore, practice, and process what living a more intuitive life can look and feel like. To learn more about the program and how to apply, visit https://www.sunshadowhealing.com/workshops-events

Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
Find a Therapist
Join our Clinician Community

Write to us with comments & questions, we'd love to hear from you.
@bridgesmentalhealth
[email protected]
buymeacoffee.com/bridgesmh

All content © 2024 Bridges Mental Health.

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Than

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

Nat and Ren have a nice chat about all things mediumship! Navigating this work as trans and non-binary people of color, religion, mental health, grief, what it's like being out as both a therapist and a medium, and the how practicing mediumship can be a  healing experience for mediums. 

As a Black Trans non-binary Spiritual Medium and advocate for love-centered healing, Ren is committed to fostering a safe and inclusive environment for everybody in their readings. Raised in Germany with deep ancestral ties to Guinea, their connection to spirit communication is steeped in both ancestral wisdom and personal empowerment. Ren's intersectional perspective enables a deep sensitivity to diverse identities, allowing for an open and empathetic engagement as a Medium. Ren uses their own transformative journey as a rich foundation for love-centered healing and an invitation to embrace authenticity, resilience, and profound connection.

To learn more about their work and to book a session, visit their website at https://renthemedium.com/ and on instagram @renthemedium.

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

Welcome to season 2! We're back! And more personal than ever. This week I've been doing a lot of reflection on who I was before the pandemic began, and how different my life looks now. I share feelings of ongoing personal and collective grief, and how mediumship is a tool that helps me make sense of what cannot be made sense of. 

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

This episode is really fun... Nat and Cyn go back in time and share stories about their connection to different music scenes as teenagers. They explore the healing power of reconnecting to a beat and how music and movement brings us back to ancestral wisdom in the body. Oldies, emo, punk, and house... get ready for a playlist to accompany this episode! 

Cyn (she/they) is a queer, chicana, clinical social worker and trauma informed wellness + sound practitioner. She centers her private practice to support the well being of professionals and creatives of color experiencing major life transitions. Cyn’s approach is culturally affirming and offers a rooted lens of bicultural, immigrant, and intersectional understanding. Cyn offers a holistic framework through understanding our ancestor medicine, guided meditation, gentle breathwork, IFS and Brainspotting. She invites you to create a playlist to remind you of your own tempo and embodied ways of knowing and understanding.

Visit cynmagana.com to learn more.  

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

Sequoya is a licensed social worker, registered yoga teacher, and multidisciplinary artist. She incorporates themes and symbols from growing up in the midwest, and the influences of spending summers with her grandparents and family in the deep south, into her practice to restore the relationship between spirit and body. Sequoya explores black feminist praxis and theory through afrofuturism, mental health, and resource/content creation. Sequoya is the co-host of the Reclaiming Soul Work Podcast. The podcast is an offering centered around decolonizing social work, by centering a culturally responsive framework for engaging with the profession.

She brings her art based therapeutic work to collective spaces through counseling with creatives and business owners on remembering rituals, and consulting with executive directors, nonprofits, and community offerings of personal/professional development on the dynamics and impacts of power. She consults nationally, and creates culturally rooted experiences for wellness and organizational culture shifts, through her business Red Linen Moon Wellness and Consulting.

To find our more about Sequoya's work, visit https://linktr.ee/sequoyahayes

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

This episode speaks directly to the core of this podcast project- it's a must listen. Nat is joined by fellow psychic medium and licensed therapist Joanna Hartshorne. Joanna shares her experiences of being a child actor, her journey within mental healthcare, and how acting and mediumship exercises are kind of the same. 

Nat and Joanna explore how working through the colonized lens of fearing spirit communication can allow for our collective healing and liberation. They also discuss how common a god complex can be in mental healthcare, spiritual spaces, and the acting world.
 
Joanna is a Black/mixed-race, neurodivergent, queer therapist dedicated to supporting People of the Global Majority and LGBTQIA+ survivors of institutional and relational trauma. She works from an anti-colonial, holistic lens. Joanna loves working with clients to reestablish a sense of internal safety; reconnecting to the body, curiosity, joy and pleasure to heal and allow for deeper relationships and experiences. To learn more about her work, please click here.

Nelly Rezniks' Psychic Mediumship Development Class https://www.nellyreznik.com/workshops.html

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

Nat is joined by social worker, adjunct assistant professor, therapist and clinical director Carlette Quinto. They discuss social work, sobriety, and making spirituality your own.

To learn more about Carlette's work, you can find her on IG @professor_carlette and at https://www.interweavetherapy.com/carlette-quinto

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!

Nat shares feelings coming up around vulnerability, fear, and memory, and how Third Eye Blind is a part of their non-linear healing journey. 

To follow my work, you can sign up for my newsletter on my website at www.sunshadowhealing.com, and follow me on IG @sunshadowhealing. Please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. Thank you!