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“This month at SQSH, we are expanding our commitment to shared leadership and building a culture of culture of connection and shared power. In the community, this has looked like facilitating our peer support training with Proud Art STL for ten queer youth leaders! The youth participants built on their existing support skills and lived experience, and ultimately strengthened their capacity to care for themselves and each other. We felt energized to witness these queer young people’s courage, vulnerability, and openness; it reminded us how meaningful (and fun!) it can be to build capacity for peer support in our community.

✦ Our Helpline offers a space to feel heard
✦ Use SQSHBook to find your next resource
✦ Opportunities for queer artists
✦ The last 4 months in numbers

“January at SQSH has been about finding our footing and seeking out moments every day to build alignment. As we move towards our north star through our strategic plan, we are leaning into connection and building trust.

Some of the changes are simple: finding time for coworking, making space during meetings to check in with ourselves and each other, and having honest conversations about where we can all find a sense of belonging and have a positive impact on SQSH and our community…”

✦ SQSH’s Helpline is Open
✦ SQSHBook is growing
✦ Collaborating with Proud Art STL
✦ Warm Winter Events
✦ Welcome new Board members

“Every community has its seasons, and this past year was a reflective one for SQSH. Things may have seemed still from the outside, and we want to name that pause directly. Stepping back was intentional: a season of regrouping, recalibrating, and asking hard questions. How do we build a culture rooted in connection and trust? How do we establish the systems and leadership capacity to sustain SQSH’s mission and people? As we begin to re-emerge, we want to be transparent about what this season taught us and how it’s shaping our path forward.

As we searched for our path, we looked to our community members for guidance – and listened to over 100 people give their input on what is important about SQSH and what needs to change…”

✦ Community Feedback Results
✦ 2026 Strategic Plan

“Exciting news: We’ve updated our name to St. Louis Queer Support & Healing!

Since founding our helpline in 2019, we’ve broadened our strategies for healing and community care… We work to radically reimagine our systems of wellbeing and build community capacity for queer St. Louisans to thrive. Our new name reflects this broadened goal…”

✦ Support our work as a SQSH Star
✦ Opportunities with Proud Art STL
✦ Get Out the Vote with PROMO
✦ Credit Basics / Repair Courses with THISTL

“We believe that peer support can be an empowering and versatile tool for healing, relationship-building, and transformative justice. When cultivated in queer community, peer support can deepen our care for one another and build our capacity to thrive outside of carceral systems of mental healthcare.

Join our twelve-week Peer Support Learning Cohort to learn & practice peer counseling skills, sharpen your radical politics, and build community with other values-aligned queer & trans St. Louisans…”

✦ Trans Joy Youth Group by QT Clinic
✦ Lavendar Club by SLPL
✦ Trans Homebuyer Education by THISTL
✦ Girl PowHer Coaching
✦ Resource Fair by ARC

"Since founding in 2019, we have created three full-time staff positions, launched 10 programs, pivoted our organizational structure, redefined our values, grown our budget by 10 times, connected with thousands of community members, and collaborated with 100+ partners…

But it would be myopic of me to define our journey by the sheer number of things we did. It’s very difficult to actually move the needle on queer liberation work, to create systemic change; to quantify the relationships we built, or to measure the lessons we learned. And it’s just as important to look back on the mistakes we made, do our best to promote repair, and hold ourselves accountable to personal transformation…”

✦ Call Helpline or Partner with SQSH
✦ Demand Safer Work for Amazon Workers & NNU Nurses

“Recent changes to legal protections for LGBTQ individuals have opened a door to new ways of fighting discrimination in housing. The new report, TRANSforming Fair Housing in St. Louis, aims to help EHOC and partners better understand the barriers to housing faced by trans and gender-nonconforming St. Louisans, so that we can be better advocates…

Check out the report for:

🏡 A look at how housing discrimination laws have changed

📣 National and state findings on trans housing issues and their impacts

📖 Local data & stories on trans housing, compiled by SQSH and THISTL

🏃🏾‍♀️ Recommended actions for governments, corporations, professional organizations and housing providers

“…Farmers, drag queens, therapists, and city folk all mingled and shared conversations and stories. Live music, laughter, and the sounds of kids playing filled the crisp fall air. It felt joyous to see people of all different ages and backgrounds come together to support the same thing: queer joy. The photographs I took are imbued with meaning, bliss, and collective well-being.

It turns out, I do need community even if I sometimes think I don’t. I loved being at the event, I loved seeing other people happy, and I left feeling fulfilled and peaceful. Events like the SQSH photoshoot remind me of the necessity of being surrounded by people who see all of me. We all deserve to be seen and loved for all of our parts- to feel integral to a big, collective whole…”

✦ DAP & SQSH Collaboration: Thinking Beyond Binaries
✦ COVID's Impact on Chronically Ill & Disabled Communities, Pt. 4

“Hi, it's Luka here from SQSH! I’m excited to share that my first day as SQSH's Executive Director started on Monday, March 19, 2022. We went through a thorough process of Board and membership approval, where I shared my vision for SQSH, areas of priority as ED, strengths/skills, and areas for growth. As SQSH transitions from a volunteer-run to a staff-led organization, we will face new opportunities and challenges to strengthen our work, while combating traditional expectations of hiring, firing, HR, and workplace practices that are built and normalized within capitalistic systems.

✦ Helpline Training Announcement
✦ Queer Terminology & Allyship Course
✦ Pride 5k Fundraiser
✦ June QueerCal – Pride Month Events
✦ COVID’s Impact on Queer & Disabled / Chronically Ill Communities