!Bienvenido a Michele al DC Center/Welcome Michele to the DC Center!
Michele joined us in 2021 as one of our trauma-informed, licensed mental health clinicians. Michele speaks English and Spanish. We are very excited to have Michele on the DC Center team!
Here is some info about Michele:
I love working with staff, volunteers, and folks who connect to The DC Center. The DC Center is an exciting place that invites and welcomes and nurtures authenticity and creativity – and real and lasting connections – through art, community, therapy, education, and advocacy.
I enjoy leading groups, working individually with folks, and connecting to the other aspects of the Center – like the open mics, art, and movie gatherings.
I look forward to bringing my full self to The DC Center – my queer, social justice-y, artistic, therapist, religiously trained, Spanish-speaking, nature-loving, pet-loving self!
Birthdate, Astro Sign:
–October 2, Libra
Why did you start working at the DC Center?
–I wanted to be a part of a dynamic, creative, authentic, place doing real and transformative work with and for our LGBTQ+ community!
What has been your favorite part about working at the DC Center?
–Collaboration with amazing, creative, and dynamic team and working with folks who come to The DC Center for connection, care, and healing!
What is your favorite part about the LGBTQ+ community?
–We are resilient and creative! We know pain and we know how to have a great time! We know how to make joy come alive! We know how to make sparkling lemonade out of dry lemons! We know how to create and recreate family and community, to rise from the ashes and live in vibrant color!
What color would you paint the White House, given the chance?
–Rainbow, of course!!
Who do you look up to in the queer community?
–There are so many I look up to with deep gratitude and respect. I look up to the artists – who birth creations that touch souls and transform minds. I look up to those who led uprising and were then ignored and discarded. I look up to those who were closeted in order to survive and were quiet revolutionaries. I look up to courageous leaders in spiritual and religious settings who name truths of the inherent worth and dignity of each person. I look up to the amazing performers in “Pose” – who have fought to be where they are and transform lives with their audacity to live their lives out loud! I look up to children and youth of today, many of whom have more freedoms to be themselves – and to the adults and caregivers around them who are following the lead of the children, rather than imposing rigid norms of how and who to be.