TLDR

Integrative Empowerment Group, (IEG) is an integrative mental health practice that centers the healing and liberation of BIPOC, queer/trans/gender diverse folx, polyam/non-mono folx, and those involved in kink.

IEG is a Black and Queer owned business.

We have strived to run our practice in a way that centers people over profits Ex: prioritizing agency and freedom in the work lives of our practitioners & refusing to send clients to collections

Due to the pandemic and burnout, we have been struggling and our income is not covering expenses at this time.

We are taking steps to reduce our expenses and hire additional staff to increase income and meet the need of the 500+ folx on our waitlist.

We are asking for support from the community to help us navigate these challenging times and increase our financial security in the years to come.

Donations will go towards:

Integrative Empowerment Group, (IEG) is an integrative mental health practice that centers the healing and liberation of those who are often marginalized and pathologized in help seeking environments. Our practice specializes in providing affirming care to BIPOC, queer/trans/gender diverse folx, and those with expansive ways of living and loving including polyamorous/non-monogamous and those involved in kink.

I founded IEG in 2013, answering a call from my spirit to provide healing space for folx who shared my identities. Seeking healing practitioners myself and coming up empty, I knew that there was a need for this space to exist. I am a psychologist and a Black, queer, femme. Over the last 8 years the therapists and healing practitioners at IEG have held healing space for thousands of clients throughout southeast Michigan. We have centered social justice and liberatory practices as we walked along side our clients in their journey towards being unapologetically and authentically themselves.

We have strived to run our practice in a way that centers people over profits. Centering the liberation of both clients and therapists. Some examples of this include centering agency and freedom in the work lives of our practitioners as well as refusing to send clients to collections for outstanding unpaid balances. Like any small business there have been ups and downs throughout the years. We have been able to weather the storms by coming together as a community.

The pandemic of the past almost two years has had a negative impact on all of us. As clinicians, we have been supporting our clients through the trauma of the pandemic while holding our own experience with it. Many of us are experiencing burn out and have coped by decreasing our caseloads significantly, taking extended leaves, or leaving the work all together. As the Director of IEG I stand firm in honoring and advocating for the health of all of us in doing this work. We have tried to decrease expenses by negotiating to get out of some of the leases we hold as many of us are working remotely. We recently attempted to negotiate with our billers and were met with a brick wall of capitalism that questioned why we paid our therapists so much and why can't they work more.

It breaks my heart to say that we are at a point where our income is not enough to cover our expenses. We are doing what we can internally to try to stay afloat. We are engaging in internal community care. Those of us who can afford it (myself included) are delaying pay while we prioritize those among us who need to get paid on time. We are trying to get out of leases, we are reducing as many expenses as we can, we are also actively hiring. We have a waitlist of 500 clients! People still seek our services. People still need the care we provide.

We are now turning to our community for help. Over the past 8 years we have never sent one client to collections. The credit system is inherently discriminatory and perpetuates systemic oppression and we have refused to partake. We are hoping to use a portion of the funds received to help pay client back bills. This will benefit clients, therapists, and the practice as a whole. We are also hoping the funds will help cover our expenses for the next few months as we continue to decrease expenses and hire more therapists. I would like to make it so none of our therapists have to delay their pay while we work to increase income.

If you or anyone you know has been positively impacted by IEG, please consider donating to help us weather this storm. As a Black, Queer, femme business owner, I was never supposed to succeed. If you would like to support a liberation centered Black owned business please consider donating. If you believe in queer liberation and radical ways of living and loving please consider donating, If you believe in our mission of providing liberatory healing for marginalized populations please consider donating. If you can not donate financially this time, please consider sharing our go fund me in your circles to others you believe will believe in our mission.

Thank you so much for your time and support. In peace, freedom, and liberatory healing.