Hello Readers!

At the end of the day, I’m just doing my best to live through this polycrisis (aren’t we all?). 

Writing, which is something pretty new to me, began as a personal survival tactic.

This was (and still is) a way of getting my thoughts out of my own head and onto the page as someone who spends most of their day listening instead of talking, working and living within a system that feels increasingly hard to navigate.

I want to see the world as it is, which means I need to choose to see the world as it is. I want to do the work. We are living through a polycrisis. We’re living through a culmination of decades of unhealed trauma, greed, exploitation, and hatred. We’re dealing with an irreparable climate catastrophe, prolonged systemic inequality, and the erosion of human rights for many marginalized groups, while the few systems put in place to protect us feel like they’re drowning. 

I kept my reflections private for a long time. But the longer I sit in my chair as a therapist, and the longer I move through the world as a white, disabled, queer person navigating these systems, the more I’ve come to think that maybe, just maybe, my private processing might be worth sharing.

If any of my thoughts, ideas, musings, or wild, weird takes have a positive impact on a single human, I’ll be delighted. If they also manage to spark some curiosity or reflection in my fellow therapists, even better. 

What you can expect:

• Reflections on being a provider and a seeker of care within a fractured system.

• Reflections from someone with white privilege, actively working on their allyship and male-passing privilege while deeply identifying and living within the Queer, Trans and Disabled community in North America. 

• Therapy beyond the individual: I’ll be dissecting systemic, global, widespread issues within the context of my worldview and practice as a psychotherapist in Ontario who sees individuals through my practice. 

• Finding “more:” moving past survival and toward community and meaning-making, with hope of collective relief while maintaining realism in knowing we aren't there yet. 

I’m new to Substack. I’m new to writing, and I am approaching this project with an open heart. I want to hear your comments and criticism. I want to use this as a space (for all of us) to figure out how to stay human while the world feels like it’s falling apart. 

Thanks for being part of the “more.”

With warmth and solidarity, 

Nat Cooper

photo credit: lavendermenace.ca @lavendermenacephotos