Ghostship Fire Resources

/ Molly Merson, MFT/
Ghostship Fire Resources

On Friday December 2, there was a large fire at an artist residence in Oakland, CA. Many artists and creative folks perished, including LGBTQ youth and youth of color, and many more have lost friends, lovers, family, and cherished community.

Many artists have unfortunately had to choose between making money and making art. Therefore, many people impacted by this fire have limited resources for things like doctor's bills, mental health treatment, new computers, and a new place to live.

A number of community members are offering free or low-cost legal aid, inspections, mental health services, clothing, food, and shelter for those impacted. Here are some resource lists for you to share.

MASTER LIST OF RESOURCES
FACEBOOK GROUP: GHOSTSHIP SUPPORT AND LOVE
THERAPISTS OFFERING PAY WHAT YOU CAN SESSIONS
FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THERAPY RESOURCES
FACEBOOK EVENT FOR OAKLAND'S DIY SPACES
A PLAYLIST OF MUSICIANS LOST AT GHOSTSHIP

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What Therapy Is, and Isn't

/ Molly Merson, MFT/
What Therapy Is, and Isn't

In the wake of the Oakland Ghostship Warehouse fire, many artists, community members, friends and families are in mourning. Even in my grief, I am inspired by the DIY creativity of the artists of Ghostship and many of the other warehouses across the globe who live under the radar, coming alive in art and community. I think, too, about the subversive and underground nature of therapy, and what a radical act it can be to know yourself on a deep level.

Therapy isn't about making people play by the rules. It’s about helping you learn about yourself, in all your weirdness, your queerness, your creativity, in all that you are just as you are. Your dreams, your shame, your fears, your anxieties, your nightmares, your traps, your stuckness. Therapy is here to help you make sense of past experiences, not to bury them. Therapy is here to help you make sense of confusing and difficult feelings so that you are not at the whim of their chaos and destruction. Therapy is a lot like art in this way.

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Building Resilience Through Our Grief

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Building Resilience Through Our Grief

Grief is everywhere right now. Mass attacks across the globe. Black men being shot for complying with police, Black men being shot for not complying. White people waking up to unjust systems, having been asleep at the wheel for generations.

A lot of us don't make room for processing our grief. We want to - or are taught to - keep it away, sweep it under the rug, or stuff it down. We're taught, and believe, that being vulnerable is a sign of weakness, and weakness will make us susceptible to more pain and sorrow.

But putting our grief front-and-center, we can learn to heal, grow, and build resilience through our pain, collectively and individually.

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Love Through This: Love, Anger, Grief, and Heartbreak for Queer Lives of Color

/ Molly Merson, MFT/
Love Through This: Love, Anger, Grief, and Heartbreak for Queer Lives of Color

If you are in mourning, if your heart is broken, if you are sad and terrified and furious and wounded by the mass shooting of black and brown LGBQ and trans people at Pulse Nightclub in Florida this past weekend, this is for you.

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Dead Mothers Club: A Series

/ Molly Merson, MFT- Psychotherapist/
Dead Mothers Club: A Series

We keep our mothers alive inside us, even when they have died.

My first installment in the series, and an introduction to my theory of grief: The Mourning After: Grief After Mother's Day, in Psyched in San Francisco online magazine

The second installment, with interviews from a number of people whose mothers have died: Resurrecting Our Dead Mothers in the Huffington Post

Your mother's death - either by neglect, abandonment, or physical death - may be a contributor to your current distress. I have years of experience working with people whose mothers have died, and not all of these relationships were positive. If you are interested in exploring your relationship with your mother and how her death has shaped your life, I am uniquely qualified to help you name and explore your relationship to your mother, and to assist your mourning process.

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All lives can matter when Black lives matter.

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All lives can matter when Black lives matter.

Community building is a way of imagining life as something different than the injustice we see, beyond what we take for granted in front of us, and to enhance a vision for a more interconnected world. Psychotherapy is about growing the capacity to imagine your life as something different, undo trauma that keeps us afraid, and grow the way we participate in and connect with community. Psychotherapy can help you unpack your terror and anxiety about racism, privilege, trauma, injustice, and the unconscious perpetuation of a system that values some lives above others.

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