That words matter, not just to us, is starting to sound a bit repetitive ;D But if we keep insisting on the linguistic, communicative, verbal, and non-verbal aspects in counseling settings (in the broad sense), there must be a reason for it.

During the first sessions of the Pitch Perfect workshop, a comment emerged in conversation (to be fair, it was one of our own who said it):

The truth is, if you’re not gay, trans, non-binary... it’s hard to understand what it means to face discrimination every day. You can be confident, feel completely at ease, things might be perfectly fine at work or elsewhere, even with family, but as soon as you enter a new space—like therapy, for example—and you find yourself having to come out yet again, because the person in front of you asks if you’re single, if you have a wife, and you have to respond, “Actually, I have a partner,” all that comfort fades a bit. You feel secure in your own bubble, but the moment you step outside it, everything starts again, and you never know how others will react. Understanding this, as a cisgender, heterosexual person, is likely difficult, even with the best of intentions. It requires an effort of imagination, or something like that.

Paraphrasing, it’s true: all available data confirms this. Regardless of intentions and personal beliefs, cultural competence—which is primarily conveyed through language and communication, including non-verbal and visual—immediately shapes the way the client-provider relationship is established in counseling, educational, or tutoring contexts.

A quick clarification: with Pitch Perfect, we’re not just “explaining” a basic glossary of LGBTIQA+ culture and identities. Rather, we’re trying to go a bit further. Beyond explaining, for those who may not know, what “genderfluid” means and how it differs from “non-binary,” our main focus is finding, together with our target groups, alternative (not different!) words and ways to describe phenomena, self-identity, and so forth. An example? Can we stop talking about transgenderism as a transition from point A to point B? As if it’s the recovery of a “wrong” body that only finds its true self through transition? In essence: can we describe and accept this phenomenon in a less rigid way, without always resorting to binary or oppositional frameworks?

With that said, our workshops are ongoing, and we’re thrilled with the results achieved so far and the impact we’re making, which we’re sure will be long-lasting. However, we’d like to broaden the pool of respondents to our introductory survey (we’ll conduct another at the end of the workshop series). Here is the link: Survey Link.

We ask that you respond only if you belong to the beneficiary category of our project (counselors, tutors, educators, trainers, volunteers, or others who work with people of various ages and families). We will never share your data with anyone.

If you'd like to sign up, even if a bit late, for our workshops, here is the form to fill out: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfpbDUbfhPi9CE-TD8TmkSzR6UsOEUjNUSIMNkvFgjhzvMXfA/viewform?usp=sharing.