Second Adolescence

On today's episode, we have Dr. Ilan Meyer (he/him) who can be thought of as one of the Beyoncé's of research on the LGBTQ+ experience. His work - which is perhaps the most cited in LGBTQ+ psychological research - has been devoted to highlighting the unique minority stress LGBTQ+ folks endure, and the physical and psychological impacts this can have. In this chat, Dr. Meyer takes us back...

On today's episode, we have Daniel O'Shaughnessy (he/him). Daniel is a London-based,  nutritionist, Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, mindset coach, and author. The topic of today's conversion is body dysmorphia is, why queer people, particularly gay men, are susceptible to it, and how we can heal from it. Ultimately, this conversation is about healing shame the world put...

We all know what homophobia is but what exactly makes people homophobic? Yes, culture, religion, and media have historically perpetuated homophobic messages but not every person who receives those messages becomes homophobic, and definitely not every one of those people engage in homophobic violence or actions. So what exactly makes people homophobic? That’s the question counseling psychologist an...

We are back after quite a pause! Our last episode was in June 2025, and host Adam James Cohen shares about the reason for the pause plus brief discussion about why we're returning now amidst everything going on in our world. The bulk of today's episode is Adam guiding listeners who are interested in space to check-in on their queer healing journey. Adam created a FREE PDF reflection guid...

On this week's episode we have Bella Crum (they/she). Bella is a queer and neurodivergent somatic practitioner specializing in supporting queer and neurodivergent folks. In this conversation, Bella lets us into their own journey of understanding her queerness and neurodivergence, what healing and support has been for them in this process, and what somatic work actually is and how it can help...

On this week's episode we have Liz Rhea (she/her). Liz is a therapist who many folks may know on social media for her really helpful work of providing an affirming, validating, and helpful perspective about what it means to be a therapist and how folks who attend therapy can continue getting what they need out of it. So much of her therapy practice centers on support queer and trans people an...

Today we have couples and relationship therapist, Tom Bruett, LMFT (he/him). Tom specializes in supporting gay men and is the author of The Go To Relationship Guide for Gay Men: From Honeymoon to Lasting Commitment ( out now !). I was excited to have Tom on because I want to create more space to talk about the power and complexities of the romantic relationships we pursue in our Second Adolescence...

On today’s episode, we have Brandan Robertson (he/him). Brandan is known on the internet as the “TikTok Pastor,” with lots of folks tuning into his inclusive theological digital content across social media. I was curious to have Brandan come on to add to the conversation we’ve been having about queerness - I’ve gotten to speak with lots of folks whom as part of their healing have created distance...

Our guest on today’s episode is a man we’re going to call "David" - David is not his real name, he’s using a pseudonym. We recorded this conversation about a year into his uncovering his bisexuality in his early 60s, something he started doing alongside grieving the passing of his wife of over 40 years. Prior to passing, his wife encouraged him to live a happy life when she's gone....

This week’s guest is Valerie Baker (she/they). In this episode, Valerie shares with us about her experience coming into her queerness in her 30s after growing up within a culture of religious fundamentalism. They share with us about childhood, and how due to the level of conservativeness within the fundamentalist religion she grew up within, she felt like she missed out on her first adolescence fo...

This week's guest is Lucas Wilson (he/him). Lucas is the editor of Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors' Stories of Conversion Therapy , which features personal essays written by survivors about their experience in Conversion Therapy (CT). Lucas is also a survivor of CT and this is the focus of our conversation today - his own personal journey as a survivor of conversion therapy, and his expe...

September is Bisexuality Visibility Month, and I’m excited to kick it off with this week’s guest, Steve Spencer (he/him). Steve is award-winning bi+ and HIV advocate, researcher, and consultant. Steve is a bi, HIV positive man who is doing so much work to advocate for bi+ visibility and action against HIV stigma, and I was eager to have him on to give voice to all of this.  In this episode, we hea...

This week’s guest is Tyler Tetreault, MD (he/him). In this conversation, Tyler shares with us about his journey as a transgender man who transitioned during his residency, and how his personal experience has lit a fire to create more space for LGBTQ+ folks within orthopedic medicine. I was so touched by Tyler and his story and the work he’s doing now, and am excited to invite you all into the conv...

This week’s guest is Morgan Henry Kerr (she/her). Morgan joined us to talk about all things ups and downs of being a queer person trying to conceive. Morgan shares her own personal journey creating her family, and shares about the work she's doing to support other queer people through the Trying to Conceive (TTC) process. This conversation is particularly helpful for those of you with birthin...

This week’s guest is Archie Arnold (he/him). Archie has a powerful story of being someone who just recently in his early fifties came to full understanding of his identity as a gay trans man. Archie lets us into his own story of uncovering his true self during the COVID pandemic and what his process has been like to deconstruct and reconstruct his experience of identity. We talk about the complica...

This week’s guest is Rohan Shirolkar (he/him). As a husband and new father, Rohan’s story has taken him to a place he didn’t see possible at its beginning, growing up as a gay boy in India in the 1980s/1990s. On this episode, Rohan shares with us his story and journey of navigating and understanding his identity, confronting and healing from anti-queerness, and eventually getting to the place of f...

This week’s guest is artist and actor, Mod Becher (he/they). I actually met Mod out in real life while being a patron at his workplace, which we go into, and it eventually led to me sharing about the podcast and unbeknownst to me Mod was navigating a pretty pivotal time and would go on to become a listener of the show and eventually wanted to come on to offer their own story as a way to help other...

This week’s guest is diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging leader and practitioner, SJ Janjua (they/them). In this conversation, SJ leads us through their own personal journey and how this has led them to doing the work they are doing now to create spaces that their younger self needed. About the guest: SJ Janjua (they/them) is the founder of Empowered for Equity Consulting , where they use...

This week’s guest is artist Alonso Yáñez (he/him). Alonso shares with us about his own continuous journey of reckoning with and healing from the layers of shame that have existed and taken shape for him. He highlights the shape-shifting quality of shame, the tendency for queer people to develop various kinds of strategies to counter shame and gain value and validation elsewhere, and so much more....

This week, we dive into a conversation about the experience of LGBTQ+ elderhood in the United States with two women who work with SAGE, the world's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ elders and their caregivers: Sadiya Abjani (she/her), Director of Training and Instructional Design for SAGECare , and Darcy Connors (she/her), Executive Director of SAGESe...

What does it mean to "work with our younger selves," and why even bother? In this solo episode with me (host, Adam James Cohen, LMFT!) we will cover this and more.  We ALL carry the wounds of our younger selves. And, like ghosts with unfinished business, the wounds of our younger selves - if left untended - can remain within us, like toxins, and come out in ways that interrupt the life w...

This week’s guest is writer Jared Dixon (he/him). Jared is a conversion therapy (CT) survivor and this conversation is all about his experience with CT. Jared lets us in to his personal story. We hear about his experience growing up, discovering his queerness, being sent to conversion therapy, and what healing has meant for him. Something so powerful about Jared is how he has used his experience a...

Adam here, sharing about a new thing we’re going to be doing here on Second Adolescence! Since launching this podcast and Instagram community a couple years ago, I’ve received SO many DMs and emails from listeners sharing about their own experience, where they are at in their own Second Adolescence and healing journey, and asking me questions for advice on their situation. I also keep hearing from...

This week we have two guests joining us, Meg O’Neill and returning guest to the pod, Gender Specialist therapist and educator Rebecca Minor (from episode 36!). They are the women behind bi+(in)visibility , a community and supportive space for folks who are discovering their biness and queerness later in life.  In this conversation, we chat about their group, Meg’s own personal story of understandi...

This week’s guest is Leah Goodman, OTD, OTR/L, MSW, CYT (she/they). Leah is a therapist and education manager at The Expansive Group, a collective of queer and trans affirming therapists, led by Casey Tanner (also known on instagram as @queersextherapy). At The Expansive Group, Leah runs a support group for LGBTQ+ folks who are coming into/discovering their identity in adulthood (essentially going...