We are thrilled to announce a new member of the Love Positive Counseling team: Tina Cason! 

Tina has completed her Masters degree in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling and is working on her Ph.D. in Professional Counseling. As a mental health therapist, Tina aims to help clients overcome their challenges and live fulfilling lives. She has a strong foundation in therapeutic techniques and a deep understanding of the many factors that can impact mental health.

Tina's primary passion as a counselor is creating  a safe space for everyone, ages 14-99, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, persons with disabilities and chronic conditions, couples, single or young moms, everyone who is looking for a new direction in life, and anyone who is looking for a warm therapeutic counselor. One of Tina's core values as a therapist is cultural sensitivity and inclusivity. She recognizes the unique experiences and challenges individuals from different backgrounds face and aims to create a safe space for everyone. She also has experience working with trauma, disability, anxiety, depression, relationship concerns, and more.

Her approach to therapy is client-centered and collaborative. She strives to create a safe and non-judgmental space where clients feel heard, validated, and empowered to take an active role in their healing journey. She utilizes evidence-based techniques such as Prepare Enrich for couples, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Somatic Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and mindfulness-based interventions to help clients overcome their challenges and achieve their goals.

Tina also has more than five years of experience both professionally and personally with persons with disabilities, as a caretaker of children with disabilities and as a caretaker of a family member with cancer. Tina also identifies on the spectrum as HSP and lives with chronic conditions managed by medications, so she understands firsthand the challenges that individuals with disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental health issues can face.

If you are looking for a mental health therapist who is passionate, empathetic, and skilled, Tina would be honored to work with you. Together, we can navigate the ups and downs of life and help you achieve your fullest potential.

Tina is available for scheduling new clients with appointments beginning May 1st! Tina's rate is $125/hr with some availability for sliding scale as clients need as she forms her caseload. To book your first session with Tina, request an appointment and be sure to select Tina as the clinician (The rate will show $200 but the cost charged at the time of your appointment will be based on rate agreed upon with Tina). 

Tina is working under direction of Anna Baxter, LPC, CPCS and supervision of David Lane, Ph.D. 

To contact Tina directly with questions or to schedule an appointment, email tcason.lovepositivecounseling@gmail.com or call our office at 678-210-9907. 

Anna and Jace had the honor of participating in a documentary about ethical non-monogamy called OPEN: a Journey through Love by award winning documentarian Roderick Stevens II. We wanted to share the project with you all so you can support the project and keep an eye out for when it's finished. 

From the Indigogo project:

This film examines the profound positive effects ethical non-monogamy can have on relationships.

A Road Trip
Last year whilst road tripping around the lower fifty on a series of creative missions, I happened upon a podcast in which a long-time, happily married couple shared their experience opening their marriage and embarking on a personal journey into the lifestyle which is becoming known as Ethical Non-Monogamy (ENM).

Upon my return, I proclaimed with great enthusiasm to my loving partner, “That whole sex with other people thing sounds fun and all, but we absolutely must not settle for anything less than the kind of intimacy I’m hearing about!”. I don't remember exactly how she reacted but there were no injuries, and so the conversation began.

The seed for this project was planted. On the drive home from a "lifestyle" event in L.A. we agreed this was a subject that needed to come out of the shadows, and as a filmmaker I realized that I could be uniquely placed to create a documentary examining Ethical Non-Monogamy from a different angle. While titillating content can be fun, and not to say my diverse and wonderful subjects are not each compelling, rather than focusing on the sexual aspect I wanted to go deeper.

Another Road Trip!
Armed with my equipment, I hit the road again to talk to people all over the country and from around the world about how something so counter to what society teaches us about monogamy could have such profound positive effects on people and relationships. While my lover joined me when she could around her day-job commitments, for the most part this was a one-man operation, exhausting, taxing and eye-opening beyond belief.

Thus began my Journey through Love, which has been an incredible, life-changing adventure. Speaking with dozens of folks from individuals, couples, swingers and people in polyamorous relationships to podcasters, content creators, therapists and authors has not only resulted in inspiring content, but on a personal level it’s been downright soul-nourishing and I’m so excited to share the experience and now I'm asking for your help.

Who knew...that spending more than 10 months traveling over 20,000 miles to gather 80+ hours of footage would cost money?!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Post production will take hundreds of hours editing the raw footage to prepare the film for the world and while I’ve no doubt this will be completed, without your help it could take many months rather than weeks as I work through the small mountain of debt incurred over the course of filming. In preparation for broad distribution the film has been created in 4K, which meets the highest standards of streamers and potential distributors, which also means an unimaginable amount of data storage is needed.

Own a piece!
We’ve come up with an assortment of items, perks and incentives so you can participate in and own a piece of this, what we believe is unique and even groundbreaking film, including t-shirts, coffee tumblers, hats, keychains, etc or even custom artwork by Roderick himself. Check out more at the Indiegogo campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/open-a-journey-through-love#/

Learn more about Roderick and OPEN: a Journey through Love at the following links:

 - www.openjourneylove.com
 - https://twitter.com/Swingtroverts
 - https://www.youtube.com/@openjourneylove
 - https://www.instagram.com/openjourneylove/

Our colleagues are offering a couple new groups that we thought might be of interest to our community.

Youth
Ryan DeVane, LCSW and Liz Rhea, LMSW are co-facilitating a group for queer and gender-expansive youth starting April 19th. Given the incredibly harmful and deeply troubling legislation in Georgia right now, a space where high school aged clients can gather in community and experience solidarity together is of the utmost importance. The aim of the group is for participants to engage in community building while expanding their resilience skills in a supportive and affirming space. The group is both process and experiential in nature. 

Details: 

Time: 6-7:30pm on Wednesdays starting April 19th; 8 week group 
Location: in-person at our office, right off the Decatur square; actual address disclosed after being accepted into the group 
Price: $75/session; $30 for the required 30-minute phone screening 
*phone screening required to ensure a good fit for the group* 

To schedule a phone screening or for additional questions, please email me (Liz) at liz@lizrheatherapy.com or Ryan at ryan@groundedwellbeing.org 

See flyer PDF


Young Adults
Ryan DeVane, LCSW and Liz Rhea, LMSW are co-facilitating a group for queer and gender-expansive young adults starting April 20th. Given the incredibly harmful and deeply troubling legislation in Georgia (& all over the country) right now, a space where young adult clients can gather in community and experience solidarity together is of the utmost importance. The aim of the group is for participants to engage in community building while expanding their resilience skills in a supportive and affirming space. The group is both process and experiential in nature. 

Details: 

Time: 6:30 - 8:00pm on Thursdays starting April 20th; 8 week group 
Location: in-person at our office, right off the Decatur square; actual address disclosed after being accepted into the group 
Price: $75/session; $30 for the required 30-minute phone screening 
*phone screening required to ensure a good fit for the group* 

To schedule a phone screening or for additional questions, please email Liz at liz@lizrheatherapy.com or Ryan at ryan@groundedwellbeing.org 

See flyer PDF

Our friends over at Baobab Counseling Center are offering a couple new groups that we thought might interest our community of clients, friends and so on. 

Life is an ebb and flow of rhythms; from sounding deafening at times to soothing and everything in between. When we are “out of rhythm”, our mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health can suffer. Through repetition in beats, drumming awakens every part of the brain to become synchronized and can help revive our internal rhythmic state’s equilibrium.

D R U M M I N G   G R O U P (for kids or adults)

Come learn rhythms on the djembe drum while also learning how to read music and develop your own beats!
What do I get out of it?

• Learn drumming beats
• Learn how to create my own beats
  
• Increase social connection
• Tap into the healing benefits of:
  • Increasing Focus
  • Reducing Stress
  • Improving Mood
  • Encouraging Creativity
  • Increasing Self-Confidence
  • Enhancing Leadership Skills
  • Encouraging Teamwork and More!

T H E R A P E U T I C   D R U M M I N G (for adults)

Group will incorporate both learning rhythms on the djembe drum, developing your own beats and utilizing drumming in a therapeutic way through building teamwork, increasing social skills, decreasing anxiety etc.

We received a call for research participants and are passing it along to you, our community, because we believe in supporting more research about our lives and loves. 

Here's their letter:

We are working on a dissertation that examines communication with a committed partner during important transitions in consensually non-monogamous relationships. If you are 1) 18 years or older and 2) currently in a self-defined committed consensually non-monogamous relationship with at least one partner (e.g., including but not limited to a primary partner, nesting partner, life partner) and 3) that partner has started a new sexual or romantic partnership with someone other than yourself in the past six months you are eligible to voluntarily participate. As incentive for your participation in this study, you may choose to be entered in a raffle to win one of eight $100 Amazon gift cards. Please note that the co-investigator is a member of the polyam community and identifies as pansexual.

This anonymous online survey will take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete and is conducted by co-investigator R. E. Purtell and principal investigator Dr. Matthew M. Martin from WVU’s Department of Communication Studies in 108 Armstrong Hall, P.O. Box 6293, Morgantown, WV, 26505.

If you wish to participate in this voluntary research study, you can follow the link below to learn details of the study and complete the survey. This survey will in no way identify you to your survey responses. Your participation is completely voluntary. You may skip any question that you do not wish to answer and you may discontinue at any time.

Survey Link: https://wvu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6mN5M6bhPfPjVqe

If you would like more information about this research project, feel free to contact coinvestigator R. E. Purtell at rep0027@mix.wvu.edu. West Virginia University’s Review Board acknowledgment of this project is on file (Protocol #2301698499). Thank you in advance for your participation! 

​I'm thrilled to be invited to participate on a panel at Dick Fest - all about Dicks on T! Curious and want more info? Check out https://www.velvetlipssexed.com/dickfest - use code ANNA5 to let them know you want to see me!

There's lots of other classes focused on Dicks (for folks of all genders) - if you're a dick-connoisseur you don't wanna miss this. 

We are thrilled to congratulate Jace Johns-Cooper on completing his internship with us and graduating with his Masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Mercer University. Jace will continue working with Love Positive Counseling as an post-masters counselor under Anna Baxter's supervision while he pursues his LAPC license. 

An important focus of his practice is reexamining societal norms and experiences through a queer and feminist lens to assist clients in becoming their true self. He also values healthy internal and external communication, self-care and exploration, and advocacy.


His passion is working with LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as those within the polyamorous and kink communities. He came out as a trans man in 2014 and started identifying as polyamorous in 2015. He has recently started becoming involved with the kink community in the past few years. He has also been an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community for the past five years through local non-profits. 

Jace is available for scheduling new clients and his rate is now $125/hr with some availability for sliding scale. To book your first session with Jace, request an appointment and be sure to select Jace as the clinician (The rate will show $200 but the cost charged at the time of your appointment will be the rate negotiated with Jace.)

To contact Jace directly with questions or to schedule an appointment, email jacejohnscoopercounseling@gmail.com or call 678 210 9907. 

Dr. Cathy A.R. Brant is looking to interview youth in grades K-12 and those in their undergraduate years in college who identify as gender diverse (transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, agender, gender fluid, etc.) about their experiences in schools. Participation in this study is completely voluntary. You will be asked to participate in one interview (via phone, Facetime or Zoom) for approximately 45-60 minutes, and engage in data accuracy checks.

For additional information, contact Dr. Brant at brantc@rowan.edu! 

Follow this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9x69re or Scan the QR code! 
 
 Approved by Rowan University's Institutional Review Board  (PRO-2022-105).
Questions about your rights as a research subject? Call Rowan University’s Office of Research Compliance (856) 256-4058. 

​

We're boosting the signal to support OUT Georgia's work with transgender folks in Georgia.

The TGX360 survey, which is available online in English and Spanish language versions through March 11, will be used to guide the work of OUT Georgia’s TGX360 Initiative, aiming to advance economic equity and employment and entrepreneurship resources for Georgia’s growing transgender, gender nonconforming, and non-binary community.
Survey responses are due NO LATER THAN March 11, 2021; Information collected is strictly confidential.  

Once the survey data is analyzed, OUT Georgia’s TGX360 Advisory Committee will hold a town hall to share the results, highlight the initiative’s next steps, and open an important discussion of how TGX360 can best serve and represent those in need of employment and entrepreneurial support.
NOTE: This survey is intended for Georgians who identify as transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex, Two-Spirit, questioning, and any other gender identity under, or adjacent to, the transgender umbrella. We ask that cisgender folks do not complete this survey, but rather ask our allies to share with TGX folks who may wish to contribute!
If you have any questions, contact Gabrielle Claiborne at Gabrielle.Claiborne@OUTGeorgia.org or Chris Lugo at Chris.Lugo@OUTGeorgia.org.