EDGY Conference

Faith Northern- Headshot
Faith Northern
Vada Counseling & Consulting
Faith Northern
Hey! I am Faith and I am a Black, queer therapist in San Antonio, Texas. I am passionate about the ways that the experiences of our lives impact the way we see ourselves and others. It’s important to me to create a space that is safe for all marginalized communities. I am committed to being culturally informed and sensitive to the ways that marginalization impacts different aspects of life. I am committed to creating a safe space for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women of color, and queer couples with many different issues including racial, religious, attachment, and interpersonal trauma.I received my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Prairie View A&M University and my Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Liberty University in Virginia.

SESSION OVERVIEW

Queerness & the Black Church Effect
There is a significant percentage of Queer folx particularly in the U.S who have religious affiliations and/or grew up with them. However, many experience conflict between their sexual/gender identity and their faith, leading to mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, shame, self-loathing, and suicidality. Internalized homonegativity from religious teachings can hinder identity development, making it crucial to provide support for those navigating this conflict. It is important for clinicians to firstly create safe space for clients to wrestle with the religious messaging that they have grown up internalizing as well as helping their queer clients develop self-identity that might have been stunted as a result of religious messaging. Narrative therapy has many functions that are conducive to healthy identity development. Narrative being a form of therapy all about developing personal stories it gives space to creating affirming narratives about the self. We will explore two of the tenants of narrative therapy reauthoring stories and challenging problem saturated narratives. We will look at what it takes to challenge the problem saturated narrative of homonegativity and develop reauthored stories for strong healthy queer identity.