Hello AASECT Community,

It’s been a very rapid start to my role as President of AASECT, and man, has it been a ride. Along with many congratulations (thank you all), I often hear, “I don’t envy you”. And honestly, I get why. Leading a dynamic group of passionate professionals is no easy task. These last six months have been complicated, disheartening, exhausting and unbelievably hard. And truthfully, there will probably be more hard to come. It is my hope, however, that through this we can continue to grow as the community of healers we are and model the care for one another that we hope that others would extend to us. Despite the difficulty of the day-to-day of this volunteer position, I have found the most joy connecting with our members and volunteers. In small groups or one-on-ones I have seen and felt the care that you all have for our organization and the hope that we can and will continue to set a standard for professional organizations. It is a high standard to be held to; and, one that together, I believe we can co-create and achieve the culture of AASECT that we desire.

A glowing example of that culture I hope to help co-create and continue came from the amazing AASECT Institute titled, “Cultivating Trans Thriving: Tools for Trans Liberation in Practice”. Our very own Gender Diverse SIG diligently worked for the last year to put together a thoughtfully educative and joyous institute. Thank you all for providing this amazing day of education and community!

I would also like to extend a huge amount of gratitude to Eric Garrison who is taking over the Praxis Analysis project. I am excited about the current sorting of data that the team has worked on diligently and that membership and field colleagues so generously provided. The conclusions are in development and will be shared soon. I’m hoping these results lead to building more community with sexuality professionals.

On another note of gratitude, Dr. Juan Camerena, Chair of the DEI Committee, has graciously agreed to take over our Inclusivity and Accessibility Initiative Project which will create – well, more inclusion and accessibility for sexuality professionals which includes AASECT members and colleagues in the field.Details forthcoming.

Our amazing Conference Planning Committee has also been busy. I am happy to report our conference speakers are Rep. Zooey Zephyr, Intersex Activist Pidgeon Pagonis, Dr. Yamonte Cooper, LPCC, NCC, CST-s, Author Kai Cheng Thom, and Dr. Juan Camarena, LMFT, LPCC, CST. I am grateful to our Conference Planning Committee for securing such a dynamic group of people who I am eager to learn at our Annual Conference.

And lastly, please let me introduce our new PESC Chair, Eliza Boquin, MA, LMFT, CST! She is already busy at work planning upcoming training sessions and settling into her role. Welcome, Eliza! Thank you so much for volunteering, your dedication and service are greatly appreciated.

Without our volunteers, we would be nothing.

I’m excited to Meet You in St. Louis (did you know I love old movies?).

In community,

Dr. Lexx

Lexx Brown-James, PhD, LMFT, CSE, CSES
AASECT President

(She|Her|Dr)