Transformative Healing

The Queer Art Healing Group co-hosted by Transformative Healing and RVAP in Iowa City is on break for the rest of December and January! We'll resume groups on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month in February!

Caption: "Oppression is a mental health issue. You can't provide emotional support without addressing your own bias. Restforresistance.com

Oppression is a mental health issue!

When human rights are being debated, be sure to check in on your friends, coworkers, and acquaintances. The emotional weight of hatred is not something anyone should have to deal with alone.

That said, you can't provide emotional support without checking your own bias.

Don't assume that others will react to the same event the same as you. Be ready to hold space for what's really going on for them -- even if it doesn't make perfect sense from where you're sitting. Trauma impacts the brain in a way that makes it tough to put words to experiences. Remember that people don't need to prove their pain in order to receive care.

If you're not sure what to say to friends who are struggling, sometimes a cute meme or image can say it all. I keep photos of cats hugging cats for those moments. Taking a minute to look up a video of their favorite animal, or to send a link to their favorite song, can mean more than a simple "how are you today."

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[Image description: Art by illustrating a person's face as they rest among multicolored flowers and green leaves.]

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Find mental health resources by queer and trans people of color on www.restforresistance.com 💜

This print is available on shop.restforresistance.com, along with zines, shirts, and more. :)

Timeline photos

Some systems created to 'help' us with trauma are actually retraumatizing.

If you are currently navigating these systems - I see you.

You are not failing,
the systems are failing you.



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Iowa Queer Communities of Color-Poll

The Iowa Commission of Latino Affairs just came out with a survey for Iowa Queer Communities of Color. The deadline to participate is May 24th and the results will be used to create and implement initiatives for Queer Communities of Color in Iowa.

Iowa Queer Communities of Color-Poll This poll is to gather information from LGBTQ+ PEOPLE OF COLOR. The results from the survey will be utilized to create and implement statewide initiatives to improve the quality of life for Queer Communities of Color.

7 Microaggressions Trans People Face in Health and Mental Healthcare Settings

Cw: transphobia, misgendering, deadnaming, biological essentialism, medical transphobia
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“One third of trans patients have had at least one negative healthcare experience in the past year related to being transgender. Even more troubling, 23 percent of trans patients report avoiding needed medical attention altogether for fear of being mistreated.”

7 Microaggressions Trans People Face in Health and Mental Healthcare Settings One third of trans patients have had at least one negative healthcare experience in the past year related to being transgender. Even more troubling, 23 percent of trans patients report avoiding needed medical attention altogether for fear of being mistreated.

Image description: green background with pink text that reads “you don’t have to be thin to be androgynous or non-binary” with smaller text that reads “The Fat Sex Therapist”

The Daily Realities of Being Fat, Black, and Queer in Public Spaces

Follow Chronic Sex for more content like this!

The Daily Realities of Being Fat, Black, and Queer in Public Spaces Fatphobia — be it cultural, interpersonal, or systemic — is a pervasive problem.

Am I Queer Enough to Claim Queerness?"

"...When do I become queer enough to claim queerness?

Is it just a matter of saying it?

Is it only true and real once it’s been said? If I don’t “speak it into existence,” am I doing a disservice to myself and to a whole community?"

Am I Queer Enough to Claim Queerness?" ...When do I become queer enough to claim queerness? Is it just a matter of saying it? Is it only true and real once it’s been said? If I don’t “speak it into existence,” am I doing a disservice to myself and to a whole community?

Last Valentine's Day Post... Hope everyone had a lovely day! Enjoy this art by

Image description: a dark brown hand with a yellow bracelet that says "the future is fluid" and a ring that says "intersectional" and yellow nail polish with small icons. The hand is holding a light pink heart that reads "Hope your v-day is as radical as your intersectional feminism" and there are features behind the heart. The whole image has a dark purple background.

Art by

This Valentine's Day, remind your trans friends that they're worthy of love

"I’m really not a fan of Valentine’s Day. As my social media timelines get filled with vomit-inducing love quotes like, ‘I want to be your favourite hello and your hardest goodbye,’ I am starting to understand the philosopher Plato a bit better when he said that ‘love was like a grave mental disease.’

But cynicism and philosophy aside, it really makes me reflect on how far we still have to go when it comes down to love for trans people, and people being allowed to love trans people without shame."

This Valentine's Day, remind your trans friends that they're worthy of love I regularly hear people say that they’d never date a trans person.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!! Self love is so important!!

Image description: a tweet from that reads “I saw a quote that said “if you have been brutally broken, but still have the courage to be gentle to others then you deserve a love deeper than the ocean itself” I felt that.”

Check out this page for some awesome art pieces!

You deserve time to recover

Art Twink 2019

[image description: the face of person with braided hair looks downwards peacefully, they are drawn in all pink. They have triangular brows, small lips, and a flat nose. In their hair nests 3 pigeons, they have many flowers around them.]

Jussie Smollett: ‘I Fought The F**k Back.’

Cw: racism, violence, homophobia, hate crime, racial slurs
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“I just want to say that I stand on so many backs of so many people. I stand on the backs of the Lee Daniels’. I stand on the backs of the Wilson Cruz’s and the Bayard Rustin’s and the Langston Hughes’ and the James Baldwin’s and the Alvin Ailey’s, and I pray to God that I made y’all proud.” - Jussie Smollett

Jussie Smollett: ‘I Fought The F**k Back.’ The ‘Empire’ actor addressed his recent attack while in concert in Los Angeles.

If We Knew Trans History, We’d Thank Black Trans Women

Happy Black History Month!

“If we knew trans history, we would thank Black women for whatever liberation trans people enjoy today. Black trans women have long faced brutal transmisogynistic violence. They have often fought the hardest to resist it. Here are some of the women who deserve our gratitude.”

If We Knew Trans History, We’d Thank Black Trans Women If we knew trans history, we would thank Black women for whatever liberation trans people enjoy today. Black trans women have long faced brutal transmisogynistic violence. They have often fought …

Image description: a rainbow surrounded/framing text that reads “HEY. If you’re reading this and you’re in a bad spot mentally or anything, I hope you feel better soon and have a good day.”

Image description: three people with brown skin showing the back of their clothes, the first one reads “recharge,” the second one reads “resist,” the third one reads “repeat.”

Artist is:

3 Ways To Talk To Your Friends & Family About Their Ableist Views

"If you’re disabled, it shouldn’t be your job to constantly educate non-disabled friends and family, but sometimes you may need to in order to survive. And if you’re non-disabled, this is one way you can do your part to be an active ally."

3 Ways To Talk To Your Friends & Family About Their Ableist Views We’re all raised in a society that’s built on ableist values that are also linked to white supremacy, capitalism, and colonization, which is why the people we love sometimes have oppressive views.

Meet Kaia Naadira, the Nonbinary Activist Daughter of #MeToo's Founder

"“For me, being at Pride, it’s really nice to be open and honest about who I am and to be able to walk proudly in my truth without having to feel like I have to perform an identity,” says the gender-nonconforming visual artist."

Meet Kaia Naadira, the Nonbinary Activist Daughter of #MeToo's Founder Artist and filmmaker Kaia Naadira got their activist fire from Tarana Burke, the founder of the movement.

Timeline photos

Image description: “Self-care at Christmas” banner. Light green background with dark green Christmas tree in four segments:

“it’s ok to pause”
“You are allowed to say no”
“Your best is totally enough”
“There is no such thing as perfect”

"Holiday Survival Guide
from QTPoC Mental Health

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If you're struggling without a non-judgmental place to go, it's not your fault.

We understand all too well and want to remind you that you are worth caring for. You deserve a **real** break, and you can make it through this year and onto bright spots in the future.

[image description: Art by Dominique Lane, illustrating Black and brown folks at a dining table. Shown close-up, the food is front and center, so only people's hands are visible.]"

Holiday Survival Guide
from QTPoC Mental Health

✨✨✨

If you're struggling without a non-judgmental place to go, it's not your fault.

We understand all too well and want to remind you that you are worth caring for. You deserve a **real** break, and you can make it through this year and onto bright spots in the future.

Here's some writing & art to keep you company this Christmas:

💝 "Don’t Just Rest – HALT to Get through Difficult Days" by Dominic Bradley

https://restforresistance.com/zine/dont-just-rest-halt-to-get-through-difficult-days

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✨ "Go Where You Are Honored This Holiday Season" by Johndalyn Armstrong

https://restforresistance.com/zine/go-where-you-are-honored-this-holiday-season

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💝 "How I Tend to Mental Health at My Intersections" by Hablo Rodriguez-Williams

https://restforresistance.com/zine/tending-to-mental-health-at-my-intersections

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✨ "Brown, Queer, Latinx, and Depressed" by Jorgy Flecha

https://restforresistance.com/zine/brown-queer-latinx-depressed

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💝 "My Eating Disorder Wasn't about Body Image" by Samia Lalani

https://restforresistance.com/zine/my-eating-disorder-wasnt-about-body-image

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✨ "Accepting Myself and Psych Medication" by Paige Hardy

https://restforresistance.com/zine/accept-myself-and-psych-medication

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💝 "5 Ways to Stay Alive in a World That Wants You Dead" by Lance Hicks

https://restforresistance.com/zine/stay-alive-in-a-world-that-wants-you-dead

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✨ "Watchamacallit: Redefinition as a Path to Healing" by Vetta from Down the Street

https://restforresistance.com/zine/whatchamacallit-sexual-assault-awareness-month

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💝 "Rage and Her Spells of Power" by Kshyama

https://restforresistance.com/zine/rage-and-her-spells-of-power

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✨ "Resting in Unsafe Spaces" by Ky Peterson

https://restforresistance.com/zine/resting-in-unsafe-spaces

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💝 "Every Single Christmas: I Am My Own Family" by Bonita P.

https://restforresistance.com/zine/every-single-christmas

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[image description: Art by Dominique Lane, illustrating Black and brown folks at a dining table. Shown close-up, the food is front and center, so only people's hands are visible.]

LGBTQ People Need to Set Boundaries During the Holidays

"I love my family, and have tolerated many a dysfunctional event on their behalf, but I had to learn the hard way that self preservation is KEY to spending time with them and protecting my queerness."

LGBTQ People Need to Set Boundaries During the Holidays Combat heteronormativity in seven easy steps.

Thank you to The Body Is Not an Apology for this wonderful post!

Illustration by: crazy head comics

[image description: an illustration of multicoloured pie chart that is called “These Things Do Not Measure Your Worth”. There are 8 pie slices: your finances, your weight, your grades, your productivity, your appearance, your health status, your past mistakes, your relationship status.]

The best $6,250 I ever spent: top surgery

"When I woke up in the recovery room, all I could think was, Of course. Oh, thank goodness. Oh, of course. Of course, of course, of course,"

The best $6,250 I ever spent: top surgery I didn’t know it was the best money I’d ever spent until I’d spent it.

#MeToo’s ‘Moment’ Isn’t Ending—It’s Just the First Step

"More than a year after the movement went mainstream, progress is apparent, but what does the legal landscape look like for survivors demanding justice, and the advocates fighting for them?

What does the shifting conversation around sexual violence mean in places where it’s not matched with intentional changes, particularly for people who lack the resources or the acclaim for their stories to go viral?"

#MeToo’s ‘Moment’ Isn’t Ending—It’s Just the First Step Systemic and widespread institutional change is still desperately needed in order to ensure that positive outcomes for sexual-violence survivors match the fervor with which advocates have embraced the ethos of the movement.

Non-Binary People Aren't A New Phenomenon - We've Been Here As Long As Humans Have Existed

“Whiteness becomes a default in deciding when something exists, and with that erases the complex, nuanced and rich history of Black and brown people. It feels we focus so much on the word and the language, that we forget how the project of subverting gender binaries has existed before this word. Through association to being ‘new’, it forces an almost colourblind lens onto my gender, something that extracts my Blackness as they aim to squash me back into a third box, the ‘non-binary’ box – that has suddenly been loaded with all these words, expectations, preconceptions and rules.”

Non-Binary People Aren't A New Phenomenon - We've Been Here As Long As Humans Have Existed There is a dangerous undertone of ‘newness’ to conversations around gender and non-binary identities - in the process erasing the complex, nuanced and rich histories of Black and brown people

Food Blogs by People of Color

Food Blogs by People of Color Food Blogs written by People of Color (that are available in English) Have a blog to add to the list? Please e-mail [email protected] with the link + other useful info, such as the type of cuisine, blogger’s location, and available languages. Suggestions & corrections are always appreciat...

Digital Crackdowns on the Sex Trade Put Sex Workers at Risk

"Human trafficking and sexual slavery are, of course, absolutely heinous crimes. Ending trafficking and raising awareness about the violence that creates trafficking is crucial. However, the sweeping raids of sex work websites have threatened the well-being of many who consensually sell sexual services."

Digital Crackdowns on the Sex Trade Put Sex Workers at Risk Raiding sex worker websites may look good for law enforcement—but it can push sex workers further underground.