Unlocking Radical Authenticity

Transcript

Ellie Pike:
If I asked you to describe yourself, what would you say? Would you focus on things like career, gender, race, or even where you live?

Moe Ari Brown:
We get a lot of messages from the beginning of our time here on Earth about who we're supposed to be, who we're expected to be in order to belong to community.

Ellie Pike:
According to licensed marriage and family therapist, Moe Ari Brown, each of us has a more authentic self, a self existing beyond the social identities like race and gender, and yearning to break free.

Moe Ari Brown:
Our comfort zone becomes this very unnatural thing, which is people pleasing or living into the expectations of others. And all we really want to do is just be ourselves, and then we resent like that. It takes work.

Ellie Pike:
The work of reconnecting to our authentic self is what today's conversation is all about. And our featured guest, Moe Ari, is the perfect person to guide us. Moe has dedicated his career to helping others live their most authentic lives. As one of the leading mental health experts in the realm of transgender identity, he has a keen understanding of the intersectionality of race, gender, identity, and spirituality. So join me, my delightful co-host, Eric Dorsa and Moe, as we focus on discovering radical authenticity and learning to love ourselves while accepting the world around us. You are listening to Mental Note Podcast in collaboration with Be Your Own Love Goals Podcast. I'm Ellie Pike.

Well, everyone, thank you so much for joining this episode. This is really exciting to me that it's not just me being the interviewee or the host of the podcast today. I really am excited to bring along my dear friend Eric as my co-host and, Moe thank you also for being here today. So I'm going to give you both a chance. I'd really like for you both to introduce yourself and also share some of the identities that you hold. We'll start with Eric.

Eric Dorsa:
Hi. Thanks so much for having me. It's so good to be back. My name is Eric Dorsa. My pronouns are they/them. I am a drag queen in New York City. I am Latino, Latina, Latinx. I know there's still some figuring out to do there, but I'm Mexican American, and I, you know, really speak to a lot with my job about the intersection of mental health and identity and finding community. And so I'm really grateful to get to be here today with you, Ellie, and you Moe.

Moe Ari Brown:
Wow. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm excited to talk to both of you. My name is Moe Brown. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist. You can call me Moe, Moe Ari. Any of that is fine, as long as it's one of my names. I am passionate about radical authenticity. It's what I talk about the most in life. It’s come from my work as a therapist, but also my personal journey as a transgender person or person of transgender experience. I am currently the love and connection expert at Hinge, and I am also an expert on the Felt app. So a lot of the work that I do right now is to amplify self-healing, self-love, authenticity in the public space. And I am currently really, really passionate about helping LGBTQ+ plus people in particular to live authentically and have relationships that are loving of their whole selves and complete. So I'll stop right there, but I'm just really excited to be here.

Ellie Pike:
Well, Moe we are really excited that you are here too. And one topic that we haven't really broached on the podcast a lot is authenticity and relationships. And I love how you can weave in mental health and your experience as a licensed marriage and family therapist as just part of your background. So when you talk about radical authenticity, which is a really fantastic phrase, how have you come to define authenticity?

Moe Ari Brown:
I love that question. So for me, authenticity is the act. It can be an act, it can be a process, but it can even be a way of being. But I'll say it is the act of being yourself, being true to yourself, honoring the truth of who you are at all times, no matter who you're with, what you're doing. And in specifically, even in the face of opposition to belonging. I think that we get a lot of messages from the beginning of our time here on earth about who we're supposed to be, who we're expected to be in order to belong to community. And we all want that. We all want to belong. We all want to feel connection. We all want love. And in particular, I think we want love for being our authentic selves.

So I define radical authenticity, and I wish I didn't have to say radical in front of it, but it really is a radical act to be yourself even when you're up against these narratives that we get from day one that are suggesting that in order to belong you can't be yourself.

Ellie Pike:
So it's different than conformity and absolutely it is sometimes an opposition of conformity and creates risk and vulnerability. But it means that you're really honoring your true self.

Moe Ari Brown:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And the truth of who we are is expansive. I want to say that from the very beginning. I believe that it evolves with our journey that we learn more and more about ourselves as we go through, as we go through life. And so the truth of who we are is beyond these social identities. So even if I were to say the truth of who I am is just that I'm a trans man, it would be a lie because that is just one part of my identity, and that's one part of my experience, I should say. So I like to help people to go beyond the social constraints or the the identities and get to the truth of our existence and the natural state, which is really that we're authentic. If I were to say I'm authentic, that'd be true. Uh, and I would just leave it at that. We'd be good. But the problem is, is that we get told we have to take on these labels from day one in order to be authentic. And that's the work that I'm doing to, to help people to unlearn that.

Eric Dorsa:
I think for so many, you know, we're encouraged to conform because it's easier. It's easier to organize a bunch of random chaos when you can say, okay, try your best to fit in these boxes because it just makes it easier. I think the call to find it comes very naturally, but it is, it's very counter-cultural. Yeah. To be emotional, to seek connection, to sit in the discomfort that is life and to say, okay, we're gonna all be uncomfortable for a minute. We're all gonna have a bad day today. You know? And I just, I love that and I love that it, that you use the word radical because I think for so much of it it is, and it fits perfectly.

Moe Ari Brown:
Yeah, absolutely. I really love what you said there. I feel like I can unpack that for hours and hours. There's something that's so rich about the idea that authenticity really is a natural state of being. And then when we get here, we're, we're asked to conform. So it becomes harder and harder to just do what's natural to us. And then our comfort zone becomes this very unnatural thing, which is people pleasing or living into the expectations of others. And all we really want to do is just be ourselves and then we resent like that. It takes work now. So it's just kind of like this confusing thing that I really try to help people sort through.

Eric Dorsa:
It's a dance with two left feet and everyone's trying to lead. Oh my gosh. That's how I just, yeah. The chaos of it all. I think it becomes easier to define ourselves by those social, like my job or the relationships that I'm in, the roles that I play. And, and yes, I think those are very important. I just feel like at the end of the day though, there's just that natural calling to kind of discover more about ourselves. That little, we call it that little quiet voice, My friend calls it your creative genius that when you are doing the things that are innately part of your talents, and when you're doing things that bring you joy, that's where like your authenticity dances, you know?

Moe Ari Brown:
Yeah.

Eric Dorsa:
Which kind of leads me into my question because I do think it, there's usually a, a waking up point, like, uh, an aha moment of, okay, if I had to put a word to it, it'd be like, ew. Just like, ew, everything is just, ew. Like, what, what was that moment for you? Like, what brought you to this doorstep? You know, that I'm gonna start taking this journey of walking in self-love and finding and discovering myself and my authenticity.

Moe Ari Brown:
I feel like there were so many moments along the way. And so I really resonate with that feeling of you. So I, without even having to define it, I know what you're talking about. And it feels like there were so many moments, but some of the ones that stand out to me, more happened once I had figured out, okay, there is some resonance or some alignment in the idea that I'm a person of transgender experience. After I had that realization, I couldn't unsee it. And so some of the steps or the moves that I made that were not in alignment with that authenticity, that left me with that feeling of ew. And so one of the experiences I'm thinking of now, or like, was that I was supposed to be in a wedding and I was deciding what I was going to wear, and I was like, in therapy, like, I just really don't think I wanna wear a dress. I just really can't do that anymore. And it wasn't, it was weird because I had just been in a wedding, the say that I was the September, and then the following April, I'm now preparing to be in another wedding. So it's not that much time, but I am like, I cannot wear a dress to this one, because I had just had this, this corner that I turned where I was like, yes, I am a person of transgender experience. And so that moment is one that stands out to me because when the weddings weren't that far apart, but when I look at the pictures of being addressed in April, I can't, it, something about that just felt so hard to look at now. But I look at the person in September and I'm like, or the pictures in September, and I'm like, wow, yeah, I feel so fine. So the, the resonance there is for me is that there was a wisdom in this knowing your personal transgender experience, you know, that you don't wanna be in a dress, and I didn't use my voice. So those moments stick to stick out to me much in a much more illuminated way than the moments where I didn't know or didn't understand who I was.

Ellie Pike:
Mo, that's such an incredible example, and I'm trying to put myself in your shoes, and all I think of is like, wow, that takes so much courage and there's so much risk involved. Can you talk about what that experience was like for you as you started to understand your experience and live authentically? How did you, how did you like, muster that courage? Or was it a point where you just couldn't not make those choices? Like you felt like you had to be that authentic?

Moe Ari Brown:
Yeah. It is similar to what Eric just said. You said something about joy and how your joy leads you in the direction of like, what's true for you. And I think I started to really understand that more and more because when I started to put on like the suits or I started to like cut my hair, or I started to, to tell people what my pronouns were, I, I felt this sense of euphoria or what I call now euphoria. Whenever I'd hear he/him used in reaction to me. When people started to call me a dude, I was like, wait, why is this feel so good? I wasn't expecting that. Um, and so as, as you just named Eric, I'm like really sitting with that feeling of joy. And I think that that really was one of the indicators that I was going in the right direction, and it was the motivation I needed to keep moving in the direction that felt right to me.

Eric Dorsa:
So, Mo, I really want, I'm just curious, like how do you define self-love. Radical self-love?

Moe Ari Brown:
Yeah. So I define radical self-love, of course, as authenticity. I would always say that authenticity is an act of self-love or radical self-love. But also define self-love as really honoring who we are, accepting who we are, celebrating who we are, and integrating who we are. So I see those four things as a part of that journey. Acceptance, integration, celebration, and alignment. Alignment was the fourth one. And if we can do all of those things for ourselves, I think we'll have landed at a completeness within our self-love journey. So for me, self-love is really a process. It evolves. I think you can have many areas of your life or many aspects of your life where you have mastered self-love, and then areas of your life where you are on this journey of becoming. I think we're always kind of meeting an edge and expanding beyond it. So self-love is on that process too.

Ellie Pike:
Wow. I feel like I could sit with this for a while. I'm like, okay, so the four.

Eric Dorsa:
I know the four.

Ellie Pike:
Four. Wait, lemme make sure I got 'em again. I know. Let's, will you say 'em one more time?

Moe Ari Brown:
Yes. Acceptance, integration, alignment and celebration.

Eric Dorsa:
When did we learn that to love someone meant to ignore yourself and that it was selfish to take up space? That's the only thing I keep thinking of when I think back at my childhood, and I think of what really centered a lot of the dynamics in the relationship was that the most selfish thing you could do was to need something or want something. And like, how counter to that narrative is the one that you just gave us, but yet how, how this narrative of, you know, self-love is not selfishness. But I think for a lot of people it kind of hits that way. That's kind of where the resistance is like, oh, that just seems very self-indulgent or very selfish, and it's like not.

Moe Ari Brown:
Yeah. I had a really beautiful spiritual teacher told me one time that selflessness and selfishness are both misalignments. And so there's this, there's this optimal synergy that happens when we are neither sacrificing ourselves or sacrificing other people for the good of, of all, none of that works. To your question about how we learn this, it's interesting, even as a therapist, I ponder the same question. I think, I'm thinking back to grad school where we have to go through these group therapy group dynamic classes, and a lot of what we learn about group dynamics is that, like, something weird happens when we get in groups like, I don't know what happens, but there is this real feeling of threat that happens when people join, they form dyads within a group and they become besties. Everybody feels threatened. So everybody that's not in that dyad like targets that that pair, or when people make themselves different from the group or isolate in some way, there's a lot of negativity toward that individual. So there's something that's so innate with us, within us that is like, maybe like a fear of rejection in some way around difference. So I think what we notice in our families of origin from day one is that none of us are the same, but we have to work hard to move beyond those fears that come up around uniqueness and difference. That's why I think that acceptance piece is really, really important from the beginning. 'cause we have to accept ourselves for being different so that we can accept other people for being different. That's the only way that we get to this optimal space. If we're always trying to make everyone like us or make ourselves like everyone else then we never really accept people in wholeness. We don't really get to unconditional love that way.

Eric Dorsa:
Sounds very vulnerable as you're saying all that. I mean, I just, I keep thinking of this idea of like the black sheep or like, you know, it just sounds incredibly vulnerable to constantly be on the edge of learning about ourselves and those around us, and how celebrating and accepting the differences makes room for creation and new.

Moe Ari Brown:
Yeah. And it's really a moment by moment process. You don't have to be anything more than who you are right now. And that acceptance piece I keep coming back to, but it really is the first pillar there because we have to accept and then accept again, because the moment, the present moment is always like the present moment of now what is happening right now. Not thinking about how things used to be, or a future that's somewhere beyond us, but the idea that we accept what is. And if we're in full acceptance of what is right now, that means we accept who we are right now. We are not telling ourselves we should be more authentic than we are. You know, our capacity will expand as we just focus on the present moment and accept who we are today. And it's okay if that evolves and changes, then you, you meet a new edge and you learn something new about yourself and you start the acceptance process all over again.

Ellie Pike:
I have a question. I know we're kind of going off script, but I think this is all flowing great. Let me gather my thought here. So I think about the courage it takes and just to look at ourselves and to live authentically as an expression of radical self-love and moving into the world and allowing ourselves to accept, like, this is just where I am right now. Like, it doesn't mean I'm going from zero to 100, it's like zero to one and then one to two. It's a process where we all can move and learn who we are. And in that process of non-conformity and risking not meeting the collective expectation of ourselves, we are not always met with love and acceptance by others. And that's really hard for all of us. I know it's hard for me. So what's your perspective on that and words of encouragement for those who wanna keep treking along and keep finding that authentic self?

Moe Ari Brown:
Ooh, that's hard. I just want to, first, the therapist in me is like empathy. I just have so much love and so much empathy for that process. And I'm right there with you. We are not always met with love and abundance, love and acceptance love and like, right, the journey of being our authentic selves in the world that we are in now is going to be met with some challenge and some threat or some resistance. And so that's a real possibility. I will say from my lived experience, that when I have met resistance, I've also had some type of support in other areas of my life. Even this idea that for every action there's an equal or opposite reaction, I think about that when I think about, okay, if I'm facing resistance, there is somewhere out there going to be some positivity or some joy or some support that's going to come my way. It's a meta way of thinking about it, but it has been really true in my experience. That doesn't mean that there will be no challenges if I'm looking toward joy and support, it just means that that might always be there, but I choose where I place my focus. I know that the support will be there for me or that it's coming. And so I focus on that. Times where it was really hard to tell my parents different things about my identity, and I was preparing for the worst. My fear was real. It came from these negative experiences I had had in the past. But in those moments where I was prepared for the worst, my mom goes, wow, if you're this excited, I'm excited for you. And it changed how I was looking at relationship and how I approach relationship. And I realize in those moments, like if I keep my heart open, I'm eventually gonna find love mirroring back to me. If I show up and I'm authentic, I'm gonna see authenticity in the world. It might not be where I expected it, but it's coming my way.

Ellie Pike:
I really appreciate your ability to see beyond that present moment, like beyond that risk that you're experiencing or someone's response that might not have been exactly what you wanted, but to see beyond into if I can stay open and if I can show like the joy that this really brings me, it will be contagious and folks will be so happy for me. So thank you for sharing that. That's really, really important.

Moe Ari Brown:
Thank you for reflecting that back to me because I think that that really captured what I was trying to say in a beautiful way. So thank you. It's nice to hear your words.

Eric Dorsa:
Just being in this conversation, I'm learning so much and experiencing so much because you're so willing to give like and make space. And just to kind of reiterate what you were saying too, that like holding, this is what it is for right now. I think knowing the history of people like me, like who kind of have held these identities and question kind of what they like, I just think of like James Baldwin and I think of Sylvia Rivera, just kind of knowing that there was something in them that was like, no matter what is thrown my way, I'm going to hold this space. And how it's made it, I wouldn't say easier because I don't think it's easier for all people. It's made it easier for me to say, okay, I'm stepping into sacred space, you know, that was, and being able to honor that. I think when, when the poop gets thrown at you, you're able to be like, okay, all I have to do is wash it off. I don't have to let it marinate in me. But I don't, I also wanna say, like you were talking about the, the therapist in you, I also empathize with, for some people what is thrown at them is not washable. So thank you for speaking about that.

Moe Ari Brown:
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That just makes me really think about some of my most challenging moments. Some of them have happened recently. Like in this experience of being transgender some of them have been like very, very difficult. The unwashable moments. I love that you said that. Like, there is probably nothing that will remove them from my memory. They will probably be a part of my experience moving forward. And I think about those moments. I think about how I'm still able to find this, this purpose or this meaning or this gratitude for what I have been able to have in my life in terms of positivity and love and support. And when I've opened myself up to share, like, this stuff happened to me, it was terrible. I've been able to find allyship and co-conspirators in just unexpected places. And it's been a really meaningful journey of pushing me to my edge so that I continue to do this work and share in a vulnerable way about what has transpired, what is like to be me, and allow people to love me and see me. The more I do that, the more that it just comes back tenfold.

Eric Dorsa:
It does come back. You know, having walked the walk with your journey, but also being a therapist and someone that really speaks to this. Why does self-love, why is it so challenging, do you think, for so many of us?

Moe Ari Brown:
Oh, it's a big question. I think that self-love really challenges us beyond our comfort zone. And you know, the comfort zone that got created when we were given all of these narratives that what's natural to us is to conform. So the comfort zone becomes like conformity. But when we are challenged beyond that and we are pushed to our limit, or we are pushing ourselves to expand into the authenticity, I think self-love feels challenging because it's new again. It's no longer what we came here knowing. It's something we haven't practiced in a long time. So self-love becomes this something that we have to integrate over time. It becomes something that we have to really practice and develop as a skill. It's the muscle memory of it, it will return, but it really is when we're learning any new thing, I think about like riding your bike for the first time without training wheels. It's an exhilarating experience, but there was a lot of stuff that you had to do prior to getting to the place where you could do that. And so I think self-love is one of those journeys. And I wanted to offer too, to the idea that anyone might be sitting with, you know, these challenging experiences or feeling like despair or unrest or jealousy. That’s okay too to have compassion for yourself. And that the highest self sometimes is just the mind to observe what's happening and accept it as it is. The highest self isn't just about being positive. It really is about acceptance of all things and using, I would say even alchemizing all of your emotions into something that makes sense for your experience. And so you can't get to authenticity without having experienced pain and grief and all of these other feelings. But that doesn't mean that you have to act from those things or live from those things. So I'd even say like, what you're saying is so true, and I wanted to just throw in there that to be compassionate for yourself if you're in that place, and to just observe what lessons are being brought home to you by those feelings and experiences. If you are feeling jealousy, what, what is the meaning of that? What is there, what is calling out to you from inside of you about what you want? What feels aligned? What feels authentic? If you can ask those questions and really get comfortable with the things that make us uncomfortable, like sadness and grief, I think you get a lot more information about authenticity than sometimes, than sometimes that we know.

Ellie Pike:
Well, I really appreciate the way you talk about paying attention to those emotions. And this is the therapist in me, right? But if I'm feeling angry and I actually pay attention to that, it's probably gonna tell me something about myself, about my authentic self. Like maybe a boundary was crossed or maybe I needed something different. And so then I can find myself a little bit more through moving through those emotions.

Moe Ari Brown:
Yeah, yeah. I spent a lot of time in judgment of those feelings. I'd never wanted to be angry and I struggled so long. Anytime I would have like a little upset, I could never get to, well, what is this trying to tell me? And eventually it was exactly what you just said, that boundaries were being crossed, that people, I didn't feel that I was being respected. And so these were things I had to correct in my relationships.

Ellie Pike:
I really appreciate your perspective and you know, I know Eric asked you about what are some of those most challenging pieces, and we kind of addressed that. And now I'm wondering in your experience of working with folks trying to find this authenticity and self-love, what are the most natural avenues or the most natural components of this journey?

Moe Ari Brown:
The first word that comes to mind is surrender. I think. Yeah, I see Eric's reaction. Nobody else can see Eric's reaction. But the word surrender is, has been a powerful one because I've learned that I don't have to make everybody see me. I don't have to go and try to control everyone's journey so that they're the best ally possible. My surrender comes, my journey of surrender comes in when I have just shown up as myself, and I let the result be the result. And I challenged myself to that every day because I was making myself responsible for whether or not people understood me to the point where I was trying to convince them of who I was. And I was like, well, if I know who I am, then I don't have to prove that to anyone. And surrender has become one of my greatest tools, and that's the word that lingers with me the most. it's a very, I would say it's a natural tool again, but if we don't practice it or it has not been present in our lives, it can feel very unnatural. So I would say natural is almost like a misnomer here, or it's a tricky thing because there are so many ways in which we go against our natural state, which creates exhaustion, a dysphoria, upset, and challenge for us.

Ellie Pike:
Well, thank you so much, Moe. This gives me so much to think about. And one last closing thought I have is that for those listening to this podcast who are listening, being like, whoa, okay, mind blown, like, this feels too far away for me. Like, I don't know if I can reach this good for them, they're really on this journey, but like, I don't even know where to start. What words of encouragement do you have for those folks? Or, or where could they begin?

Moe Ari Brown:
So I have a, a list of things I'd just love to, to share, and maybe I'll expound upon a few, but I just wanted to say to start with intuition, so that that gut feeling or that sense of self, some people call it a niggle or like a nudge inside of you that's just like something is off. If you ever feel that feeling listened to it, listen to it so deeply that you actually uncover what is it, what it is that is misaligned. And so then learning to listen to the quality of your own voice, literally, but then also figuratively, like this internal voice, understanding your voice from the crowd so that you know in all things that you are being true to who you are. Then intentionally setting boundaries that expand your connections and they don't limit them. And so when I was starting my journey of transitioning, I set a lot of boundaries with people and they weren't always expansive, but boundaries really should expand. Their walls are, are guards. Otherwise, if they limit your way of being in the world, it is not an expansive thing. And so, an example of me setting some boundaries was like, really not wanting to hear about anybody else's experience or their grief around my transition. Like they had lost a sister, they'd lost, you know, me showing up in the world in the ways that I had and I wasn't really open to hearing that pain that they were experiencing. That was a wall, that was me being shut down. I had my own things I was going through, but that limited my connections. And so I would say that once I opened up, I was able to have much more expansive and powerful relationships with my mother and my sister and all of the people in my life. So I would say to self-reflect and get really clear about who you are and, and find who you are beyond the social categories. So if you, I tell all of my clients in first sessions to close their eyes and really try to think about who they are without using any kind of social category like race, gender, age, social class. If you can find out who you are and say, and speak those things about who you are beyond the social categories, nobody can take that away from you regardless of how you evolve and change. You will know who you are. And then the last thing here is to understand that wherever you go, if you just remember that your role there is to be love, you'll have done enough. And so I was, when I was self-conscious or I haven't felt confident, I'm always like second guessing whether or not I'm in the right place, I'm doing the right thing, or if I'm being authentic. And, and the process of surrender has really taught me that if I just go and be love and I show up and be compassionate and be myself, I'm doing the work and the feedback is just always positive. That's my formula. Be love and you get love back. And it might not always come in the form that we expect, but it comes back tenfold.

Ellie Pike:
I really love how you just spelled this out for us and just, thank you. Thank you for your time and thank you for all the work that you're doing to inspire others. And I can just see how there's this collective love growing and this collective community of love growing. And Moe if we wanna follow along with you, what are the best ways that we can just keep learning and see what you're up to?

Moe Ari Brown:
Absolutely. So my website is themoeari.com and I'm on Instagram @loveoutproud and TikTok at @loveoutproud. I think those are the best ways to keep up with me. You can message me there on either of those platforms or you can email me from my website. And so those are the best places to get updates from me on my social media. I'm always sharing inspiration, wisdom, love. I'm actually going to be taking the TED stage in Atlanta in May, and I'm excited to talk about authenticity further. So you'll definitely get updates from me if you join my newsletter and other things.

Ellie Pike:
Think back to the question I posed at the beginning of today's episode. Who are you? How would you describe yourself? I hope today's conversation allowed you to ruminate on that answer and maybe even inspire some deeper digging. And if the journey to radical authenticity feels too complicated, don't worry. I really appreciate what Moe said towards the end of the interview about where to begin. He encouraged us to start by listening to our inner voice just like when he felt ill at the prospect of wearing another dress to a wedding. Your gut can tell you when you are living outside of the authentic self. From there, it's all about learning who you really are outside of social categories, accepting that person and loving them. In the end, it should always come back to love. If you'd like to follow along and learn more about Moe, you can find them at themoeari.com. That's spelled T-H-E-M-O-E-A-R-I.com or on Instagram and TikTok @loveoutproud. And don't forget to check out Be Your Own Love Goals Podcast and learn from Moe and his partner Tiffany. Also, I want to especially thank my co-host Eric Dorsa for their insights and questions. You can find Eric on Instagram by searching for @fkdrag.

Thank you for listening to Mental Note Podcast. Our show is brought to you by Eating Recovery Center and Pathlight, Mood & Anxiety Center. If you'd like to talk to a trained therapist to see if in-person or for virtual treatment is right for you, please call them at (877) 850-7199. If you need a free support group, check out pathlightbh.com/support-groups. In addition, you probably don't want to miss Moe. He'll be the keynote speaker at the Eating Recovery and Pathlight Foundation Conference. Moe will be discussing the importance of gender affirming and celebratory care. The conference will be held virtually on August 23rd through the 25th and up to 30 CE credits will be available. Check it out at eatingrecovery.com/events or pathlightbh.com/events. If you like our show, sign up for our e-newsletter and learn more about the people we [email protected]. We'd also love it if you left us a review on iTunes. It helps others find our podcast. Mental Note is produced and hosted by me, Ellie Pike, and directed and edited by Sam Pike. Till next time.

Presented by

Ellie Pike, MA, LPC

Ellie Pike is the Sr. Manager of Alumni/Family/Community Outreach at ERC & Pathlight Behavioral Health Centers. Over the years, she creatively combined her passions for clinical work with…

Presented by

Moe Ari Brown, LMFT

Moe Ari Brown, LMFT (they/he), is one of the leading mental health experts in Gender Identity. Over the past decade, Moe Ari has worked as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with LGBTQIA+…

Presented by

Eric Dorsa

Eric Dorsa is an LGBTQ advocate, actor, comedian, and drag queen currently living in Chicago, Illinois. As an advocate for the LGBTQ community, Eric travels around the country sharing their…