SPECIAL EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!

National Coming Out Day is October 11th and we are building something together. Literally. Join OSTC and BabyGay at The Black Cat in Silver Lake from 1 to 5PM for our 4th annual NCOD event. This year is a collaboration with BabyGay, The Black Cat, and Los Angeles Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez of CD13, and the vision is as practical as it is joyful.

Together we will assemble 100 Welcome Wagons, coming-out kits for LGBTQ+ folks navigating one of the most tender moments of their lives. We will write SupportCards. We will share food and music and the particular kind of togetherness that only happens when a community shows up with intention. OSTC therapists will also be on site offering free mental health check-ins, because sometimes the most important thing you can do on a day like this is talk to someone who gets it.

Joining us are an incredible group of partners including Friends of the Silver Lake Library, The Future Perfect Project, Human Rights Campaign, Impulse, It Gets Better, Kids Managing Conflict, Los Angeles Public Library, Mama Dragons, OutCare Health, Pride House LA and West Hollywood, and more.

This is a daytime community build, free and open to the community. Come make something with us.

Queer Moment of Joy Guest: Adeline She/Her

BabyGay Mission:

BabyGay is a 501(c)3 organization that transforms support for the LGBTQ+ community by celebrating and empowering individuals through their coming out journey. Since our groundbreaking launch in 2023 at the LA LGBT Center, we've created a powerful movement combining storytelling, community support, and advocacy. Our signature Welcome-Wagon Box, featuring heartfelt SupportCards handwritten by community members, provides essential resources and connection for those beginning their journey.

BabyGay Founder: PJ Brescia (they/them)

www.baby.gay

Insta, YouTube, & TikTok: @babygaytv

Podcast Streamers: @BabyGay

Open Space Therapy Collective Mission:

Open Space Therapy Collective (OSTC) was founded with a vision to provide amazing care for people who often struggle to find therapists that are familiar with their community and their specific needs—particularly, LGBTQ+, TGI2+, Neurodiverse, BIPOC, people in non-traditional relationships and

those of diverse cultural backgrounds.

OSTC Founder: Renae Johnson, LPCC, ATR-BC (they/them)

www.openspacetherapycollective.com

Instagram & YouTube: @openspacetherapycollective

TikTok: @openspacetherapy

Podcast Streamers: @MyTherapistisOut

We spent this whole series naming what is toxic and building tools for what’s health. Now let's talk about what we are actually building toward.

In the second Q&A closing out Queer Hearts Healthy Starts, Renae Johnson LPCC, ATR-BC (they/them) and Allison Smith LCSW (she/they) get into the question listeners kept asking in different forms: okay, but what does healthy actually feel like?

They talk about why healthy relationships can feel boring at first and why that is actually the sign you have been waiting for, how to tell the difference between anxiety and excitement in your body, what repair looks like when it is real, how to get curious about what you actually want in your sex life without making it a whole production, why laughter is an underrated part of intimacy, and how to build community when the world around you is not giving you a lot to work with.

They also get personal. Allison talks about learning to ask for help while injured and what that opened up. Renae talks about knowing what each person in their life is actually good at and leaning into that instead of expecting everyone to do everything.

Warm, honest, and a genuinely good place to land at the end of a series.

Queer Moment of Joy Guest 1: Kira Kull They/Them @kkmiracle

Queer Moment of Joy Guest 2: Mardee Milburn She/Her @thefoiledmuse

Host Bios:

Allison Smith LCSW (she/they) is a Licensed Therapist at Open Space Therapy Collective. Allison specializes in integrating trauma-informed, abolitionist frameworks to support clients in exploring identity, relationships, and cultural connections.

Renae Johnson, LPCC, ATR-BC (they/them) is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Board-Certified Art Therapist, and the Founder of Open Space Therapy Collective, a group practice offering affirming, social justice-driven mental health care for the LGBTQ+ & QTPOC community. With clinical expertise in complex trauma, identity development, and creative expression, Renae blends therapeutic depth with a commitment to equity and inclusion.

In addition to their clinical work, Renae produces community wellness events like Queerly Connected and is a founding board member of the LA Queer Coalition, creating spaces where queer and trans people can gather, heal, organize, and celebrate.

As a speaker, consultant, and activist, Renae is passionate about building systems of care that honor the full humanity of queer and trans individuals—and equipping healthcare and wellness providers with the tools to do the same.

To find more from us visit:

Website: https://www.openspacetherapycollective.com

Instagram: @openspacetherapycollective

TikTok: @openspacetherapy

Spotify: @MyTherapistisOut

Apple Podcasts: @mytherapistisout

YouTube: @openspacetherapycollective

It showed up in every single episode. In the conversations about toxic relationships, money, sex, community, and chosen family. Under all of it, the same thing: shame.

In this Q&A episode closing out the Queer Hearts Healthy Starts series, Renae Johnson LPCC, ATR-BC (they/them) and Allison Smith LCSW (she/they) sit down to pull it all together. They get into what shame actually is clinically and how it is different from guilt, how to start noticing when shame is running the show versus when you are actually making a choice, and the unexpected places it shows up, including your bank account, your sex life, and your inability to let anyone pick up the tab.

They also talk about generosity as a shame response, resentment coming from envy more than anger, and what it actually means to expand your emotional bandwidth instead of just shrinking your world down to what feels safe.

Honest, warm, and genuinely useful. This one earns its place as the series closer.

Queer Moment of Joy Guest 1: Aja Kai Rowley They/Them @ajakai

Queer Moment of Joy Guest 2: Emmie Yk She/Her @emmie.yk

Host Bios:

Allison Smith LCSW (she/they) is a Licensed Therapist at Open Space Therapy Collective. Allison specializes in integrating trauma-informed, abolitionist frameworks to support clients in exploring identity, relationships, and cultural connections.

Renae Johnson, LPCC, ATR-BC (they/them) is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Board-Certified Art Therapist, and the Founder of Open Space Therapy Collective, a group practice offering affirming, social justice-driven mental health care for the LGBTQ+ & QTPOC community. With clinical expertise in complex trauma, identity development, and creative expression, Renae blends therapeutic depth with a commitment to equity and inclusion.

In addition to their clinical work, Renae produces community wellness events like Queerly Connected and is a founding board member of the LA Queer Coalition, creating spaces where queer and trans people can gather, heal, organize, and celebrate.

As a speaker, consultant, and activist, Renae is passionate about building systems of care that honor the full humanity of queer and trans individuals—and equipping healthcare and wellness providers with the tools to do the same.

To find more from us visit:

Website: https://www.openspacetherapycollective.com

Instagram: @openspacetherapycollective

TikTok: @openspacetherapy

Spotify: @MyTherapistisOut

Apple Podcasts: @mytherapistisout

YouTube: @openspacetherapycollective