My name is Brittney Thomas. I’m a Black, queer, agender, and disabled graduate student at the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. I’m pursuing my Master of Social Work with a focus on liberatory, culturally responsive, and spiritually grounded mental health care for Black queer and trans communities.

This journey is both deeply personal and collective. Growing up in an under-resourced community on the West Side of Chicago, I witnessed how systems fail those who need care most, especially Black people living at the intersections of gender, class, and disability. I’ve carried that reality with me into every space I now work to transform.

My academic and community work centers on building what I call the Transmisogynoir Mental Health Praxis—a framework for collective liberation and care that addresses how anti-Blackness, ableism, colorism, and gender-based violence shape access to healing. I’m also the creator of At the Sharpest Edges, a Substack publication where I share writing, research, and reflection at the intersection of grief, survival, and becoming.

Why I’m Asking for Support

Graduate school has been a life-changing experience, but it is also incredibly difficult to navigate financially. Between tuition, housing, transportation, and daily living expenses, it has become increasingly hard to sustain myself while completing my field placement and coursework.

As a part-time student with a part-time job and clinical internship, I’m often balancing multiple roles with limited income. I’m building something meant to last, something rooted in care, justice, and freedom. But I can’t do it alone.

Your contribution will help cover:

Every donation, no matter the amount, helps me stay in school, sustain myself, and continue doing this work for the communities I love.

What Your Support Makes Possible

By supporting me, you’re investing in the future of Black queer and trans mental health care. You’re helping build systems of healing that honor lived experience, challenge institutional harm, and center those most often left out of care.

Your generosity allows me to keep studying, creating, and sharing the knowledge that I hope will help others heal, because our liberation is collective, and none of us get free alone.

Thank you for believing in me and for being part of this journey.

With care and gratitude,

Brittney

This is my purpose and what I meant to do on this earth. Please help me reach my goal as I attempt to help change the world.

Other Ways to Give

CashApp: $SheaButtaBritt

**When sending funds via CashApp please send funds with a note so transactions aren’t flagged as illicit activities.**