If you want to become a better resource, I’d start by making more LGBT+ friends.

I absolutely agree with you and I’m hoping to do just that. I have trouble making/keeping friends in general due to life’s inherent chaos. The older I get, the harder it seems to be to make new friends. In undergrad, I’d make good friends for that semester, and then slowly lose touch after the semester ended.

Being naturally introverted makes it a bit of a challenge too. I’ve thought about going to a local bar that isn’t exclusively a gay bar, but it is very inclusive and popular with the local LGBTQ+ community. There’s also a really great support organization downtown that welcomes volunteers, and I plan to pursue that for sure.

Just sent you a PM, thanks!

I think it’s funny but I feel like PM vs DM demonstrates age range. I also say PM, but most people seem to say DM now.

I don’t think you got carried away at all in your comment! I appreciate your feedback.

I plan on being trauma-informed and operating through a person-centered lens, because I believe everyone’s story is unique. A counselor I interviewed said “We must have an insatiable curiosity for the individual’s unique story” and I really liked how she put that.

I definitely hear you with the privacy concerns. What I did as an adult caseworker was have my notes coded in a shorthand that wouldn’t make sense to anyone else. I plan on doing this as a counselor (as well as other measures), that way even if my notes were subpoenaed, it would require my testimony. This would allow me to choose what to say in order to advocate for my client, and insulate them from their progress notes being used against them.

Thanks for the encouragement!

I had such bad imposter syndrome as a caseworker, so I know I’m going to have it as a counselor as well haha.

I want to be as prepared as I can be.

I appreciate you sharing your perspective.

I am currently living in a Midwest city. Since it’s a big college town, it has a mix of support and hate… The surrounding countryside is certainly intolerant. I was originally going to include that in the text body, but didn’t want to make it too long.

I definitely plan on being up front about being an ally in my bio once I’m practicing. I plan on getting involved with a local LGBTQ+ youth organization downtown as well.

As for gender roles, I don’t really support them. I believe in egalitarian relationships and gender fluidity.

I stumbled here from browsing all, and want to be open that I’m a cisgender male; I don’t want to come off like I’m misrepresenting myself.

I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for the adversity and prejudice you’ve experienced… it’s heartbreaking…

As others have said, you have many accomplishments to be proud of. I think it’s impressive. Even if you’re feeling weak, you clearly aren’t a weak person to have accomplished what you have, let alone in the face of adversity.

I’ve just gone back to school to work on my counseling masters, and my professor tonight was drilling home the essential need for a sense of community and support. If there are relevant support groups near you, I would highly encourage you to join one. The fact that you’re posting here is great.

I don’t know you, but I care about you. You say you feel like giving up, and that can mean many different things. Sometimes that means giving up on living, and I want to share these international resources with you (and everyone else here) if you ever feel like taking your life.

I can’t even begin to imagine what it is like for you or others in this community. But I sincerely empathize with you and I wish I could be there for you. If you are in the US, there are warm lines in many states that have individuals trained to be supportive listeners. Here is NAMI’s helpline directory.

I understand I’m out of my element and that this may come off as out of touch and like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. But my heart genuinely goes out to you because I can feel pain in reading your post, and this is the only way I know how to help.

I really hope you don’t give up. I mean that as sincerely as I can be. You sound like a determined, strong and tenacious person to have done everything you have. I hope I can be that strong and accomplished.

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A little of Column A, a little of Column B…

(Want to clearly point out that innocent Palestinians are the ones being slaughtered; not Hamas terrorists.)

I was just thinking I want a list of russia’s senior officers with the dead scratched out for visual representation. Their losses are insane…

I was just thinking about the Iraqi Most Wanted playing cards given to US troops, and that if there was one for russia, I feel like half the deck would be dead officers by now.

That is absolutely ridiculous… Our brains don’t even finish developing until our mid 20s (some research suggests it can take an additional few years for those with ADHD).

My school performance (with ADHD) was so much different in middle and high school than thru undergrad and now graduate school.

It’s totally asinine to put that kind of pressure on kids, especially when standardized tests don’t even accurately evaluate learned material.

I voted for Biden and will in the next cycle, but this dark Brandon meme stuff will never cease to make me physically cringe…

It’s some trumpian demigod worship level cringe…

I agree with you completely. Any time knowledge like this is destroyed, it illicits the same feeling for me as thinking about the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.

Fuck russia, but also fuck destroying knowledge in the name of war…

This is the brain drain in effect. Scientists and intellectuals fled russia when the war with Ukraine began and the sanctions were incoming.

The incels in western society are just as unhinged and bizarre imo. I’m not sure how prevalent they are in Europe, but they’re very much a problem here in the US and Canada.

I’m still waiting on the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth…