Winter Constellations

❄️Winter Constellations! ❄️

Hello and happy Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius seasons, friends and colleagues! We are so grateful you are here and part of our community. 🫂 Our unanticipated newsletter delay means this is coming during the season of love, and we certainly need as much love and connection as we can muster right now. We hope you will take some comfort from the words, partners, and resources shared here. 💗

🌠 Interstellar Connections 🌠

In the last few weeks, I have a question that I’ve asked almost every client: what is a moment where you felt cozy? I ask about coziness on purpose. 

Too many of us haven’t felt the settled, solidity of safety. We try to imagine our way there, but even beautiful vistas come with their own complexities. For others, relaxation is a complicated word; it implies a letting go that isn’t necessarily, as discussed, safe. Cozy is somewhere in between. 

Cozy is connection and warmth and a respite that sits between impermanence and stability. Cozy can come alone. Millions of candles and Scandi Chic blankets have been sold on this very premise, but often, it comes with people. With community. 

And community is what we’ve been talking about at Constellation. 

Because it has been a real couple of weeks. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you or someone you know has an identity that is being marginalized. It might be the first time you’ve felt so distinctly targeted. Alternatively, you might be thinking welcome to the party. 

On behalf of all who don’t know how to say it, we say thank you for the welcome. We brought flowers. We weren’t sure what said thanks-for-holding-down-the-fort, so we went with roses. They’ve got that Valentine’s Day flair and some of us are feeling thorny. 

I’d say I’m off-track, but I’m not. Community comes in many forms. Maybe you find your people at a party. Or a game night. Or a pancake breakfast with little ones (of the pet or human variety). If you’re like many of us, it might be that your community is sitting with your favorite few doing very close to nothing. Do some or all or none of these things, but do something. 

If there is any point to marginalization, it is to push you to the side. To make you feel like you don’t belong at the center of the conversation, of democracy, of power. Your people know better.

The people who leave food on your doorstep, who ice your sidewalk, who hold your hands – these people won’t let you forget that the world was made for you, that your hands are stardust waiting to find their flames. Which is the second part of what we’ve been talking about at Constellation. 

Community is the safe place to land. Community can be where you feel cozy and cocooned. It will help you soothe your wounds and grow. But that’s not all it is. 

When we’re together, with a project between us, community is where change catches fire. We can’t say where your spark should land. We are as brilliant and distinct as the stars we come from, but we hope that you’ll find a home for it. We hope, together, we make something bright enough that none of us have to settle for cozy.

🌅 On the Horizon 🌅

We are exploring interest in a 4-session weekly group for trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive adults (18+) who are seeking to connect to peers for support, community, communal skill building, and solidarity - flier below. The cost for the group is $100 for all 4 sessions ($25 per session). If this sounds like something you or someone you know might be interested in, please complete the interest survey linked here. 

After a successful pilot series in October, we will continue to run our Parent Learning Series twice a year moving forward. Our next Parent Learning Series for parents of trans youth will run Tuesdays throughout March. Folks can attend the following four 90-minute sessions for $150:

• March 4: Transition - it means a lot of things!

• March 11: Understanding Nonbinary Identities

• March 18: Navigating *Your* Transition

• March 25: Coping at the Intersections, presented by Ari Groner of Sunny Days Therapy & Consulting

✨Constellation’s Constellations✨

Our friends in the Community Programs team at Lurie Children’s Division of Adolescent Medicine have partnered with the Chicago Athletic Hotel and Dyson to bring a *FREE* LGBTQIA+ Teen Masquerade Ball to the city on Friday, February 21, 7:00-10:00pm for high-school age youth (13-19). All attendees must register and bring a valid ID (school ID, state ID, and/or City Key ID) to attend.

PHIMC is currently seeking applicants for their Youth Health Conference Committee. Ideal applicants are from Chicago, between the ages of 16-24, and passionate about making a difference on issues like mental health, LGBTQ+ health, substance use prevention, harm reduction, preventing homelessness, HIV awareness, justice system impacts, and other systems that impact youth’s well-being. Applicants can apply via this Google Form or schedule a meeting with a representative of the conference planning team. Applications are due February 25!

FEMA is now accepting applications for the 2025 Youth Preparedness Council (YPC)! The YPC brings together young leaders who are passionate about disaster preparedness and community service. This is a chance for students to develop leadership skills, collaborate with peers across the country, and make a real impact on preparedness efforts. Many questions can be answered via the FAQ document, and the application deadline is March 3.

Center on Halsted has 2 exciting events coming up - see the fliers above and below. The Trans Youth & Family Action Summit on Saturday, March 8 is a half-day conference that offers opportunities to build and learn in community in support of trans and gender-expansive young people. Midwest Pride: United in Community is a transformative 3-day convening designed to unite LGBTQ+ organizations, leaders, and advocates from across the Midwest.

Make sure you’re following the Alliance program and Youth Services’ Pride program when Action Camp applications go live in April for campers and counselors! This amazing youth leadership opportunity is open to rising 8th-12th grade LGBTQ+ students throughout Illinois and is generously supported each year by an amazing group of volunteer counselors. Email [email protected] with any questions.