Sanderson, C. (2010) Introduction to Counselling Survivors of Interpersonal Trauma. London: Jessica Kingsley. Schuetzman, K., Brinkmann, L., Schacht, M. & Richter-Appelt, H. (2009) Psychological distress, self-harming behavior, and suicidal tendencies in adults with disorders of sex development. Archive of Sex Behaviour, 38: 16-33. Suchet, M. (2011) Crossing over: Psychoanalytic dialogues. The International Journal of Relational Perspectives, 21: 172-191. Toal, P. (2014) Is it a Boy or a Girl? The Lived Experience of Intersex Individuals in Ireland. Dublin: Dublin City University. Unpublished MSc Dissertation.
Beyond trans tolerance and trans inclusion: Contributing to transformative spaces in an all-genders youth, live-in, substance-misuse
programme Vikki Reynolds in dialogue with James Kelly
Photo by Holly Falconer
Jane Czyzselska is an integrative psychotherapist working in private practice in central London, England. Having worked for over 20 years as a journalist during which she was editor of DIVA magazine, she was and remains committed to amplifying lesbian, bi, queer, non-binary, trans and intersex voices. Jane now has the unparalleled pleasure of working with a diverse range of heterosexual and LGBTIQ clients and she writes for a range of queer and non-queer publications and journals. Currently devising with intersex activist and academic Valentino Vecchietti a workshop for counsellors and psychotherapists who want to know more about working with intersex clients, she is passionate about knowledge-sharing in the service of providing the best possible therapeutic experiences for this client group. She is a white, middle class, cis lesbian who uses the pronouns she/her.
Email:
czyzselska@gmail.com
https://tinyurl.com/LGBTQItherapy
www.shoreditchtherapy.com
Vikki: When Context invited me to talk about transformational work, I immediately thought of Peak House and your role as executive director. Peak House is a small, important gem of a program that’s really been transformative in many youths’ lives. We work alongside First Nations and indigenous communities, and with queer communities, to be educated by them and to be useful, safer and worthy of trust. T e most exciting thing in the last decade has been transforming Peak House to be more open and useful to youth who are gender non-conforming. Your leadership as executive director, and your own path – specifi cally transitioning in your role as executive director – has been inspiring. Workers really are eager to get youth who are gender diverse or gender questioning into Peak House. It’s not so much about their substance-misuse problems, but where youth might be honoured and safe-enough. James: T anks that’s honouring, but this work is a continuation of work that’s been happening long before I came to Peak House. It has a community reputation of being innovative and at the forefront of meeting the needs of young people and their families. A history of risk-taking and resistance positioned me to take on the things we’re doing as a collective now. Vikki: What are some of the historical pieces that helped to make more space for you to bring a fuller experience of your gender identity and this transformational work?
Context 155, February 2018
James: T e fi rst thing that comes to mind is our program manager, Wendy, who is a lesbian. About 20 years ago, she came out when it was very risky to do that in ‘residential’ care. Vikki: She had worked at Peak House and was closeted for over fi ve years. It was painful. She was not even safe enough to be out with all of the staff . We’re not imposing the need to come out on marginalised workers; that’s a pret y white and moneyed imperative (Hammoud-Becket , 2007), but Wendy wanted to be able to be safe-enough to be out at work. James: At the time, it was a huge risk, especially as she was a sole-parent and didn’t have access to structural power in the organisation. Vikki: Peak House is a live-in program, and it was very risky to be queer, or gay, or lesbian and work in a house where youth slept and had bedrooms. Wendy did all the hard work required to come out and absolutely transformed the place. On her back as a lesbian single mom – we started to make more room for queer and questioning youth to see Peak House as a place where we might be safe-r. And that became our reputation. James: Absolutely. One person can’t make that kind of change. From an organisational perspective, other people need to get onboard. Peak House became a place where you can send queer youth; it’s safe, or safe-r. Now we’re just continuing that with gender diversity. Vikki: And things move forward on the back of vulnerable folks. Queer youth changed the
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