Cassandra Geisel (she/her)

And I’m trying to lean into my grief. The balmy salve of the grief soothes the lack of preparation. It’s somehow simultaneously generative. It’s all of the things and nothing, all at once!

You’ve captured something for me, here. Given the productive numbness we’ve had drilled into us as standard, this level of devastating input is discombobulating. Something about your description rang true in my body and screamed: “YES. That’s it.” It is warm and heavy and moving. And I’m unprepared.

Brennan! Thank you so much for coming and for taking the time to type this. I’m sitting with that question, too. May we keep coming back to it. Again and again and again and again….. 🩷

Reimagining Risk in Mental Health Too often, people experiencing distress are seen through a lens of danger and deficit, rather than context, capacity for change, or support needs.

www.nsun.org.uk/reimagining-...

WFH kitty 🐈‍⬛

Uncovering the true aim of therapy is a vital part of the therapeutic process. It must emerge collaboratively, not be imposed externally before the work begins (e.g. when services prioritise outcomes like 'return to work'). When this happens, you're being co-opted, not helped.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/epistemic-...

The ‘Impossibility’ of working in the current NHS: sacrifice to a primitive god This paper explores the current crisis in the NHS, focusing on the ‘impossible’ demands faced by staff and the underlying psychodynamic factors that perpetuate these challenges. Drawing on the auth...

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Examining Whiteness We want to come together to address injustices and inequalities of racism through personal and collective work on the impact of Whiteness.

We want to come together to address injustices and inequalities of racism through personal and collective work on the impact of Whiteness.

Examining Whiteness Saturday, 7 June

This is an in-person event in Brighton for therapists only.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/examining-...

#TherapistsConnect

In Defense of Despair The feeling is most commonly framed as an end point, a level of despondency that cannot be overcome. But it doesn’t have to be so.

www.newyorker.com/culture/essa... brilliant essay by Hanif Abdurraqib

YouTube video by Earth Poet JOHN BERGER ON TENDERNESS AS A RESPONSE TO PAIN

youtube.com/shorts/N05xA...

The Relational Work of Systems Change (SSIR) Collective impact efforts must prioritize working together in more relational ways to find systemic solutions to social problems.

ssir.org/articles/ent...

What does it look like to resist in this moment? To lean fully into our humanness. The mess. The vulnerability. What is resistance look and feel like for you?

Austerity of the imagination is upon us. Inundated with ways to dissociate, it is really painful to turn towards the horizon of what we’re navigating. We’re watching systems collapsing and are bereft by the task of trying to dream up creative alternatives in the wake of all the devastation.

Migrants Are Skipping Medical Care, Fearing ICE, Doctors Say

“Be a shadow and hope that you do not die.”

A frightening & thorough account of immigrants avoiding medical care by @jsgatnyt.bsky.social et al @nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/h...

Just out! Our peer-reviewed critique of the Cass Review has been published by BMC Medical Research Methodology. Please read and share. We show that the Cass Review is fatally flawed and should not be the basis for policy or practice in transgender healthcare.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The rise of end times fascism The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them

THE RISE OF END TIMES FASCISM

My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social.

The governing ideology of the far right has become a
monstrous, supremacist survivalism.

Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

YouTube video by Zeteo How the Center-Left is Responsible for the Rise of Fascism

youtu.be/GYBnSPX3BMo?...

YouTube video by David Bedrick Psychological Activism with David Bedrick

youtu.be/6nLA2zokI8U?...

You can donate to support the BC Filipino community here: filipinobc.com/donate

The United States is witnessing the return of psychiatric imprisonment | Jordyn Jensen From ‘wellness farms’ to expanded involuntary commitment policies, the US is embracing psychiatric incarceration under the guise of compassion

This should terrify us all. The increased carcerality in mental health care along with the impunity of the current administration is a recipe for disaster. Or is it the case that institutions such as these are now just saying what they’ve always done on the tin? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

No society in history has ever professionalised the management of emotional distress as thoroughly & excessively as our own. We have stigmatised self-trust, scoffed at lay wisdom, & stripped local & grassroots knowledge & support of its value & legitimacy. And for what in return?

On April 16th 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled that “women” and “men” are defined by biological sex under equalities law. As a grassroots feminist community that is committed to trans-inclusion, the Feminist Therapy Network’s position is that this ruling is an act of trans-erasure that undermines the dignities, entitlements and joys of trans people, and will be used to further discrimination and bigotry, particularly towards trans women. We also consider this ruling to be a gateway to further discriminations against women who do not adhere to normative standards of femininity that are rooted in white, colonial Eurocentric constructs. No trans people were heard from in the process of this ruling which was made by a majority of cis male judges. It demonstrates how our governing systems remain rooted in mechanisms of patriarchal dominance that continue to ignore the very real and urgent issues of misogyny and gendered violence.

Our solidarity statement following yesterday's UK supreme court ruling

Today, and on all days, NSUN stands in solidarity with trans women and all other trans people.

Our hearts are aching. We will continue to show up in the fight for trans rights, which shouldn't be a fight in the first place (1/2).

“I Know No Cause for her Act:” A Bewildering Suicide Inquest — The Collective for Radical Death Studies Sarah E. Lirley, PhD | April 14, 2025 When conducting research for my 2024 book, Sudden Deaths in St. Louis: Coroner Bias in the Gilded Age , I came across a number of coroner’s inquests that fasc...

I am excited to share a blog post, courtesy of the Collective for Radical Death Studies, related to my book, *Sudden Deaths in St. Louis.* www.radicaldeathstudies.com/blog/suicide...