Second Adolescence

This week’s guest is Nathan Serrato (they/he). Nathan is a PCC Certified Life Coach, Trauma Informed Yoga and Breathwork Instructor, and Queer Mindset Coach. Nathan helps queer folks overcome and heal from shame and religious trauma. In this conversation, Nathan and I chatted about so many aspects under the greater umbrella of queer healing, including:  the various identities and roles our younger...

This week's guest is queer style coach, Tess Clabby (they/them), and wow - this was such a fun, playful, and meaningful episode. At its core, this episode with Tess is an invitation for all of us to get more attuned to our most true and free self. Tess talks with us about how fashion and style can be tools for us to intentionally explore and uncover who we are and heal from internalized anti-...

This week's guest is writer Khalid El Khatib (he/him). I originally invited Khalid onto the show after a tweet of his was sent to me that so embodied the healing process in Second Adolescence, and I'm so glad I did. Some of you may know him and his story as the person who went viral with his mom for her 'home for the holiday' food plan . We do get a fun behind the scenes of thi...

On this week's episode we have artist and founder of The Queer Joy Project, Aimy Tien (she/they). The Queer Joy Project is a multimedia project that celebrates  queer stories: daily lived experiences, moments of happiness and serenity — each a form of resistance against today’s political climate. Through interviews with LGBTQIA+ subjects around the world and archival research, creator Tien re...

Today's guest is Eli Lawliet, PhD (he/him), known by many as The Gender Doula .  This is the conversation to listen to for any of you who may be feeling some stress, anxiety, and fear in response to the continuously challenging political landscapes of our world. Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is being proposed, passed, and upheld all throughout the world, and here in the United States we are anticip...

To start off Season 5, we have a solo episode with host, Adam James Cohen, LMFT. Today's topic is on the unique experience of shame that queer people who grew up in an anti-queer world know intimately. Adam talks about what Chronic Shame is, the impact this had on our younger selves (and still on our current adult selves), why he considers this an experience of complex trauma, and how we begi...

This week’s guest is Tony C. (he/him). I loved getting to chat with Tony and was touched by his intention for wanting to come on the show, which in his words was because it might "be helpful to some of the listeners to hear from someone who hasn’t totally gotten their life together and is still in the middle of growing up.” We talked about a shared love of queer YA content, and the power that...

This week’s guest is Aubri ('Data') Drake (they/them). They are a long-distance backpacker, hiker, and ultramarathon runner working to help those spaces become more inclusive. On this episode, Aubri shares with us about how their Second Adolescence took place on trail, thru-hiking the 2189 miles of the Appalachian Trail over 4 years, and how engaging in movement within nature became the...

This week’s guest is Chris Curia (he/they). I loved getting to chat with Chris for many reasons, first being that we connected over the profession of psychotherapy as he is currently a psychotherapist in training, but I also SO appreciated them coming onto to share their story because they are someone who began really discovering their queerness recently within the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris shares...

This week's guest is writer Lamya H (she/they). Lamya is the author of the recent debut memoir, Hijab Butch Blues (The Dial Press, Penguin Random House). I cannot recommend this book enough, it was such beautiful and powerful book, and I was so excited to talk with Lamya all about it! On this episode, Lamya shares about the process of writing the memoir, both structurally how they decided to...

This week's guest is Rebecca Minor (she/her). Rebecca is a Gender Specialist therapist and educator who uses her platform to further the conversation, education, and support surrounding the experience of trans and gender nonconforming youth. In this conversation, we talk about her work as a Gender Specialist and also dive into her own experience of discovering and navigating the identities sh...

This week’s guest is Shlomo Satt (he/him) who works within the Jewish Non-Profit Sector and is based in New York City.  Shlomo shares with us about his experience growing up within Orthodox Judaism and what it was like to navigate a community with limiting beliefs around queerness and mental health. He shares about his experience being sent to Conversion Therapy and then recovering from that exper...

This week's guest is Lindz Amer (they/them). As some of you may know, they are the founder and creator of Queer Kid Stuff , an entertainment company that brings LGBTQ+ and social justice media to kids and families. They also currently host of the queer and gender affirming parenting podcast, Rainbow Parenting . Their book, Rainbow Parenting: Your Guide to Raising Queer Kids and Their Allies ,...

This week's guest is Chip Hall (he/him). Chip is a US Coast Guard Veteran and shares with us his experience of being a gay man in the Coast Guard while the anti-queer Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell legislation was in full effect. He was a leader in bringing internal change to the US Coast Guard and Coast Guard Academy with regards to queerness and queer visibility in the greater effort to repeal Don’t...

This week's guest is Kami Brannon (she/her). Kami is a therapist based in Columbus, OH. In addition to her therapy practice she and her wife are also working to create a queer campground in Hocking Hills, OH (so cool!). On this episode, Kami lets us into her experience growing up as a Black girl navigating anti-queerness with her family system and religious community. She shares about the cha...

This week’s guest is Jake Fedorowski (they/them) who I believe is changing the running industry with their advocacy work (they created the incredible resource: The Guide to Non-Binary Inclusion in Running ). And this conversation isn’t just for runners or people who sign up for 5ks, half marathons, marathons (though if you are then you’ll absolutely want to listen!). We talk about Jake’s advocacy...

This week’s guest is sex educator and sex science communicator, Eva Bloom (they/she). In this conversation, Eva shares about the journey that led them to the work they do in the world now. Along the way, Eva lets us into their own personal journey. They share with us about being a queer person who didn’t have conscious awareness of their queerness until after adolescence. As with others with a sim...

This week’s guest is Khye Tyson (they/them). Among many things, Khye is a reproductive rights activist, birthing worker, and founder of Kuluntu Reproductive Justice Center. On this episode, Khye talks about their work and the experience that many queer and trans folks can have when navigating the birthing world, but also spends the majority of time letting us into their own personal queer journey....

This week’s guest is Jen Isher-Witt (she/her). Jen was so generous with her personal story which was such an example of what it means for us queer people to navigate through Second Adolescence. Before going into Second Adolescence, we dove into her first adolescence - talking everything from middle school, anxiety, those first indicators of queerness and the dread and panic that can come in respon...

This week’s guest is community organizer, Jordan Killebrew (he/him). On this episode, Jordan let's us in on the journey he’s traveled since growing up within a context that was quite oppressive to who he was, having to endure many attacks to his humanness. His younger self set his sights on college as the place he just had to make it to to get through it all and for things to change. This, it...

This week’s guest is Patrick Carlos Olsen (he/him), who is the person behind the gay surfing magazine, podcast, and Instagram account, Surfer. Gay .  In his work, Patrick is creating inclusion of queer people within the sport of surfing, which has been historically not too welcome of a place for LGBTQ+ people. This conversation starts here and is filled with so much more. Patrick lets us into his...

This week’s guest is queer, non-binary artist and writer, Nat Urban (they/them), who is currently working on a badass project on queerness and girlhood which you’ll hear them talk about towards then end of this episode. Nat brings such an interesting and important story to this show and I feel so grateful they wanted to let us all into it. You’ll hear them share about their own adolescence in whic...

This week’s guest is Nicole Liv (she/her), host of Late Bloomers Clvb podcast . The Late Bloomers Clvb is a community and podcast for Late Blooming queer folks who identify as having come out later in life and find themselves later blooming into their most true queer selves. I cannot recommend this community and Nicole’s work enough. Today, Nicole sat in the role of guest and offered her own story...

This week’s guest is Christos Papaioannou (he/him). On this episode, Christos shares SO many things representative of the Second Adolescence experience that many of us will likely relate to. We talk everything from Heartstopper and young queer contemporary media, to growing up dealing with and trying to overcompensate for shame, efforts to turn straight, and, finally, those first experiences of qu...

This week’s guest is José Morales (he/him). José shares with us his experience growing up within a context that ended up being quite oppressive to him and his budding queerness. He shares about having an upbringing marked by a lot of people policing his masculinity and his identity, having the experienced of being told who he was and who he should not be before he himself had a chance to figure th...