What Makes Us Different
We pair professional and lived experience to provide a fully authentic mental health organization for the queer community.
While Sage Nestler, MSW, Founder & CEO of Releasing the Phoenix, is educated in the full scope of social work with an emphasis in mental health & policy, his approach incorporates his lived experiences. They are neurodivergent and live with several severe mental and physical illnesses and disabilities. He is also gender diverse and panromantic.
Sage utilizes his experiences as a queer, neurodivergent person with disabilities and multiple illnesses to inform his work. Through their own health care, Sage finds that they feel most comfortable working with professionals who have lived experience.
These professionals bring a personal understanding of what Sage is going through, which influenced them to center Releasing the Phoenix on this approach of pairing professional with lived experience.
Our primary approach connects theory with lived experience. We utilize this approach to broaden the scope of queer mental health.
At Releasing the Phoenix, we work with professionals who combine lived experience, education, training, and certifications to provide authentic, effective mental health care for the queer community.
We focus on approaches sensitive to queer identities and experiences, while educating others on compassionate care for queer individuals.
Our team and partners come from the queer community, bringing personal insight into mental health challenges and stigma. By involving specialists with direct experience, we offer diverse, culturally sensitive services tailored to the unique needs of the queer community - while only recommending and working with services that provide compassionate care for queer folks.
The phoenix is our primary symbol as it stands for rebirth and renewal - which is a lifelong process.