Help Rieko finish her doc program
Donation protected
Only in America could a young girl (Rieko) from an abusive home in Japan, who was forced to work in the sex industry, work at restaurant and cafeteria, and clean her landlord’s properties to pay for college and living expenses, find mentors, role models, and supportive and affirming communities of people, go to graduate school and become a therapist.
Now this young girl is so close to completing her dream of finishing her doctoral program to become a queer affirming counselor professor so that she can live and teach in the both US and Japan. She plans to develop exchange students programs for children and youth who don’t have enough funding, create more LGBT support and resources in US and Japan, and teach LGBT affirming counseling education within the mental health field.
Hello, we are Rieko’s friends and she is seeking financial support. Rieko is from Japan and is getting her doctorate in counseling education from Governors State University. She has recently lost the funding for her doctoral studies due to the Illinois budget stalemate with only two more semesters to complete her doctorate degree. We agree as her friends and colleagues we have never known a person so motivated, hard-working, dedicated, and passionate in her area of study.
Rieko describes herself as being “out and proud” and as a cisgender lesbian. Growing up in Japan where LGB persons are portrayed as transgender, she never knew why she felt so different from others and a great deal of shame about her identity. Coming out was not easy for her because being lesbian in Japan is still taboo. For the last 10 years, she slowly came out to a few close friends until she encountered HOME an anti-gay group which visited her schools campus three years ago. She was shocked by the brochures filled with anti-gay statements the group was passing out. Thinking about LGBT youth Rieko worked with and the damage anti-LGBT messages inflict on children and youth, Rieko became involved with LGBT activism. Rejection and ignorance fueled her passion for social justice activism. She became more active, sought for support and activism opportunities outside her doctoral program, and found allies in the Unitarian Universalist Community Church in Park Forest, Chicago’s LGBT communities and the Creating Change co-chairs and activists.
Due to her personal experiences, Rieko is passionate about educating fellow counselors about the LGBT experience and for promoting LGBT education in counselor training. Initially Reiko went into counseling to help children. She still hopes to help children, but her experiences have also deepened her commitment to social justice for all marginalized people.
The combination of life experience, intelligence, motivation, and passion Rieko possesses are the ingredients for an outstanding professor. We need people teaching the upcoming counselors of our world the struggles of an LGBT individual and how to help them thrive in this world. Because she is an international student, Rieko cannot take out student loans and she has no financial support from her family or get any other funding, so please consider donating to her cause. Rieko is looking to raise $11,000 to pay for the last two semesters of her doctoral studies.
Dr. Christienne Dyslin, Sarah Ezell MA, Dr. Linda Hankins, Lynn Lidbury, MA,LCPC, Candice Robbins BA, Tenille Wallace- Bell, BA
Now this young girl is so close to completing her dream of finishing her doctoral program to become a queer affirming counselor professor so that she can live and teach in the both US and Japan. She plans to develop exchange students programs for children and youth who don’t have enough funding, create more LGBT support and resources in US and Japan, and teach LGBT affirming counseling education within the mental health field.
Hello, we are Rieko’s friends and she is seeking financial support. Rieko is from Japan and is getting her doctorate in counseling education from Governors State University. She has recently lost the funding for her doctoral studies due to the Illinois budget stalemate with only two more semesters to complete her doctorate degree. We agree as her friends and colleagues we have never known a person so motivated, hard-working, dedicated, and passionate in her area of study.
Rieko describes herself as being “out and proud” and as a cisgender lesbian. Growing up in Japan where LGB persons are portrayed as transgender, she never knew why she felt so different from others and a great deal of shame about her identity. Coming out was not easy for her because being lesbian in Japan is still taboo. For the last 10 years, she slowly came out to a few close friends until she encountered HOME an anti-gay group which visited her schools campus three years ago. She was shocked by the brochures filled with anti-gay statements the group was passing out. Thinking about LGBT youth Rieko worked with and the damage anti-LGBT messages inflict on children and youth, Rieko became involved with LGBT activism. Rejection and ignorance fueled her passion for social justice activism. She became more active, sought for support and activism opportunities outside her doctoral program, and found allies in the Unitarian Universalist Community Church in Park Forest, Chicago’s LGBT communities and the Creating Change co-chairs and activists.
Due to her personal experiences, Rieko is passionate about educating fellow counselors about the LGBT experience and for promoting LGBT education in counselor training. Initially Reiko went into counseling to help children. She still hopes to help children, but her experiences have also deepened her commitment to social justice for all marginalized people.
The combination of life experience, intelligence, motivation, and passion Rieko possesses are the ingredients for an outstanding professor. We need people teaching the upcoming counselors of our world the struggles of an LGBT individual and how to help them thrive in this world. Because she is an international student, Rieko cannot take out student loans and she has no financial support from her family or get any other funding, so please consider donating to her cause. Rieko is looking to raise $11,000 to pay for the last two semesters of her doctoral studies.
Dr. Christienne Dyslin, Sarah Ezell MA, Dr. Linda Hankins, Lynn Lidbury, MA,LCPC, Candice Robbins BA, Tenille Wallace- Bell, BA
Organizer and beneficiary
Sarah Davidson- Ezell
Organizer
Braidwood, IL
Rieko Miyakuni
Beneficiary