The past year has put our mental health to the test in ways none of us could have imagined, and so many of us are trying to process all that has traumatized us–while much of it is still happening. Please join the Bureau and panelists Geleni Fontaine, Jia Hurd, Isabel Restrepo, and Max Zev Reynolds for a special evening focused on caring for our queer and trans mental health, moderated by Teresa Theophano. We will talk about coping strategies, mutual aid, and peer support, and Geleni will lead a brief tapping/acupressure session to help relieve stress!

Suggested donation to support the Bureau and our panelists is $10, no one turned away for lack of funds.

Registration on Eventbrite is required in order to receive the Zoom link on the day of the event.

Click here to register

The Bureau is offering 15% off books featuring our panelists on our online store (click on titles to view and/or purchase):

Our Work is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans Resistance by Syan Rose, and featuring panelist Geleni Fontaine, available from the Bureau’s online bookstore for pre-order (release date April 6, 2021). On sale for $14.41 (regularly $16.95) through end of day March 6th.

Headcase: LGBTQ Writers & Artists on Mental Health and Wellness, edited by moderator Teresa Theophano and Stephanie Schroeder. On sale for $24.46 (regularly $29.95) through end of day March 6th.

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves, featuring contributions by panelist Max Zev Reynolds. On sale for $38.21 (regularly $44.95) through end of day March 6th.

Geleni Fontaine (they/them) is a fat, queer and trans, disabled, non-binary, NYC-born, first generation Latinx person of Cuban descent raised and living lifelong in Brooklyn, New York. They’re a holistic healer and registered nurse, and use knowledge of Western allopathic medicine to support a holistic East-Asian practice, helping individuals navigate both healthcare systems. As a disabled healer with chronic pain and illness Geleni is devoted to working with their communities from within their intersections, with a goal to empower individuals and nourish healing toward a more just and loving world for us all. Geleni is affiliated with Third Root Community Health Center and during the pandemic is sharing tapping / acupressure as an accessible and powerful practice for self and community healing. Geleni is featured in the upcoming book Our Work is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans Resistance by Syan Rose, available from the Bureau’s online bookstore for pre-order (release date April 6, 2021)–15% discount through end of day, March 6th.

Third Root’s Collective Care Fund: Low to no cost care for Black, Indigenous, People of Color prioritizing local Flatbush, Brooklyn residents, trans women and femmes, and disabled and formerly incarcerated community members. https://www.gofundme.com/f/collective-care-fund

Jia Hurd is a Black non-binary femme from the South Bronx leading a COVID-19 response FREE Mental Health project that has served 1,500+ QBIPoC across the USA and around the world.They/She is a Mental Health advocate, suicide attempt survivor, creative, social worker, and community organizer with a focus on art, activism, and wellness. She has six years of events/project management experience in wellness and art for NYC museums, non-profits, art collectives, and universities. She has three years of mental health advocacy experience for NYC grassroots organizations and three artist’s scholarships at The New School. They are currently pursuing a Master’s in Social Work at Hunter College and are a 2020 advocacy fellow of the New York Transgender Advocacy Group. For six years they have helped lead successful social justice movements for Black Womxn and Queer liberation with The New York Transgender Advocacy, Hetrick-Martin Institute, The Audre Lorde Project, BUFU, Equality 4 Flatbush, Sadie Nash, Black Lives Matter, BYP 100, and F2L. It is important to center their/her work around Queer and Trans People of Color, particularly Black and Indigenous people.

Isabel Restrepo, LMSW (she/her), is the Director of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation program (PROS) at The Bridge, a community mental health agency serving individuals diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness in NYC. Isabel has almost 20 years of experience working in the mental health field as a provider/counselor, and two years of experience as a program director. She also has experience working with LGBTQ+ youth as a former intern at The Hetrick-Martin Institute. A queer Colombian-born butch, Isabel is a practitioner with lived experience and hopes to learn from her fellow panelists as well as from all those who are in attendance.

Rabbi Max Zev Reynolds is a board-eligible chaplain whose work focuses on palliative and end-of-life care, the spiritual and existential care of non-religious and secular people, trauma and moral injury, the spiritual care needs of queer and trans people, and the use of ritual in healing and justice work. Prior to becoming a rabbi, he worked as a direct services provider in queer, trans, and HIV-impacted communities. Max was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and holds an MA in Philosophy of Religion from Union Theological Seminary.

Teresa Theophano, LCSW (she/her), is a program director and psychotherapist at an NYC geriatric mental health nonprofit and is Editor-in-Chief at The Affirmative Couch (affirmativecouch.com), which provides continuing ed for therapists working with LGBTQIA+, consensually non-monogamous, and kinky clients. Co-editor of Headcase: LGBTQ Writers and Artists on Mental Health and Wellness (Oxford University Press, 2019) and a contributor to numerous anthologies and websites, Teresa identifies as both a clinician and a peer with lived experience. She is a white Jewish cis queer femme who is passionate about ensuring access to LGBTQ+-affirmative mental health care and eliminating stigma and shame. Find the NYC-based online queer mental health resource list she maintains at tinyurl.com/qmhiresources