Sarah Eley, LICSW, and Jen Brown, LICSW

When we are taught about loss and grief in clinical training programs, we generally learn about aging, death, and relationships ending (divorce, breakups, etc.). For queer, trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive people, the meaning of loss and grief can take on additional significance. This can include but is not limited to: changes in one’s sense of belonging to community, family, role(s), and perceived identities, and for some, a loss of privilege or marginalization, loss of home and place. In addition, more common experiences of grief and bereavement, i.e. death of a loved one, are often complicated for 2SLGBTQIA+ adults due to difficulty accessing affirming spaces in which to mourn and grieve; concerns about rejection from family of origin; loss of status and identity for older 2SLGBTQIA+ adults who lose a partner/spouse; and more. We hope to provide more clinical context for the various ways that grief profoundly impacts queer, trans and gender expansive adults that often goes under- or unacknowledged in traditional clinical trainings about grief and bereavement.

Sarah Eley is a queer, white, cisgender woman of mixed Ashkenazi Jewish and non-Jewish ancestry, and a first-generation immigrant to the U.S., of economic privilege, who grew up in the unceded land of MI. Sarah received her MSW from Smith College School for Social Work in 2009. Sarah has worked in community health, schools, youth drop-in settings, and in intimate partner violence organizations. She currently provides therapy in a group practice, SAYFTEE, LLC, and owns an individual practice. She has led trainings and professional workgroups, and provided clinical consultation for medical and mental health professionals in providing queer and gender affirming mental health care; examining personal/professional patterns of implicit bias, and how to provide accessible, affirming, equitable and ethical service to Trans, Nonbinary and Gender Expansive people. She loves the mix of doing therapy, training, consultation, and community education. Some of Sarah’s interests include: providing relationship therapy, the forming and exploring of identity(ies), the (continuous) process of coming out, navigating emotional and personal boundaries, exploring issues of perfectionism and avoidance, looking at white supremacy culture, racism and its impact, finding internal resiliency and healing, and developing assertive communication in relationships. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys spending time outside, with her dog, dancing, eating ice cream and reading queer young adult fiction.

Jen Brown is a white, queer ADHDer/neurodivergent clinical social worker and therapist who has been in clinical practice since 2014. Jen strives to practice from an inclusive, anti-oppression, trauma-informed lens, grounded in the belief that effective therapy is about healing and liberation, and thus is inherently connected to social, racial, and economic justice. In addition to clinical work in settings ranging from community health centers to college counseling, Jen has facilitated trainings and offered clinical supervision and consultation on providing queer- and gender-affirming care to 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Currently Jen works full- time at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts with adult oncology patients. Through her virtual private practice, Whole Self Counseling, Jen provides affirming individual therapy with a focus on supporting 2SLGBTQIA+ adults, chronically ill and disabled folks, neurodivergent adults (particularly those later in life/self-diagnosed in adulthood), and trauma survivors. Outside of work, Jen enjoys going on nature walks, reading short stories and novels, traveling, and dreaming of a world beyond late-stage capitalism.