Hello! My name is Lyra, I’m a trans woman living in Oakland. Today I get to be an out and proud woman, but as for many trans people, that hasn’t come easy.

I am also a child abuse survivor, and some months ago, I discovered that I have dissociative identity disorder (DID) – a psychiatric condition caused by severe early childhood abuse or trauma. Over these past months, I’ve been getting to know my alters, coming together as my whole self in a way that hasn’t been possible since I was very little.

In the short term, this has severely disrupted my life and left me unable to work – I’ve needed to relearn how to navigate my day-to-day life, and how to deal with the post-traumatic flashbacks to my years of abuse.

The good news is that I’m recovering, interviewing for jobs, and will be able to now live my full life – the bad news is that I’ve exhausted my savings, and I’m at risk of losing my housing.

With your support, I can continue to stay in my home, cover utilities and other expenses, and finish my work of surviving those first dark chapters of my life.