Happy Pride 🌈
Happy Pride to the queens from Queens and all those who rose up at Stonewall. To the lovers, friends, and chosen family lost during the AIDS crisis. To the organizers and dreamers who fought for marriage equality, and to everyone still fighting, loving, protecting, and pushing us forward in the fight for trans and queer rights today.
Pride is celebration, remembrance, resistance, and love.
Happy Pride to those celebrating loudly, and to everyone quietly questioning, closeted, or still searching for language that fits. May this month be a reminder that the world is more vibrant with you in it.
This Pride, and every day between, we celebrate you. We grieve with you. We see you. Thank you for being here and being you.
And if Pride feels complicated this year, there is room for that too.
The Shades of Grey In Between the Rainbow is a space for anyone who is pretty sure they’re not straight, but does not feel ready or certain enough to claim a label. Together, we’ll explore sexuality without needing to justify, explain, or come out, and talk about what it means to belong as you are right now.
Check out all our upcoming Spaces below!
Come Hang With Us!
Asheville
Break Stuff. Build Connections.
Totem is teaming up with @thebreakroom_avl for an afternoon of stress relief, reflection, and community care.
We’ll explore anger through guided prompts, then give that energy somewhere to go.
Break stuff. Build connection. Leave a little lighter.
When: Sunday, June 14
Time: 2–4 PM
Where: The Breakroom AVL
Address: 1054 Patton Ave., Asheville, NC
Los Angeles
SoCal Gaming Expo
Totem is heading to SoCal Gaming Expo on Sunday, June 7th to ask gamers about connection, community, and what brings people together.
DC Handmade Arts & Crafts Expo
Totem is heading to the DC Handmade Arts & Crafts Expo to connect with makers, shoppers, and creatives about the stories, support, and shared experiences that bring community to life.
Q-Con
Totem is heading to Q-Con to celebrate queer joy, chosen family, and the power of spaces where people can feel seen, supported, and connected.
New on the Blog!
Fuck, Not Again
This week on the blog, Vanessa writes about burnout that does not announce itself, but slowly steals your energy, focus, and words until your body forces you to stop. In “Fuck, Not Again,” she moves through grief, creative exhaustion, depression, and the strange relief of finally admitting, “I am not okay.”
It is raw, funny, tender, and painfully familiar for anyone who has ever needed rest long before they gave themselves permission to take it.
A Totem Story
Real connection. Real support. Real impact.
I am so grateful for Totem. It has allowed me to connect with my feelings, to express them, and to be heard in a way that I hadn't previously experienced.
Hearing other people's experiences, feeling supported and not judged, and understanding that we all go through the same troubles, knowing I'm not alone, makes all the difference in the world.
It's been a safe space that many people don't experience in their family of origin, but they can with their chosen family. That has real impact.
Michelle
Totem in the Los Angeles Times!
Totem was recently included in an L.A. Times op-ed written by Bo Lopker about the role peer support can play alongside traditional therapy. The piece speaks to the heart of Totem: that community, storytelling, and being witnessed by others can offer meaningful support, especially when therapy is inaccessible, unaffordable, or not enough on its own.
We’re grateful to be part of a larger conversation about expanding how people find care and connection.
Keep Totem Accessible
Our mission at Totem is to keep emotional support and mental health care accessible to everyone. That’s why we don’t charge for our Spaces.
If Totem has supported you, moved you, or helped someone you love feel a little less alone, we invite you to make a donation. Every gift helps us keep these Spaces free and open to the people who need them.
Your voice matters. Click here to email us with your story, insights, or a piece of inspiration for the next newsletter.