Demetria Bonds

You came from a small town and a big family and a tight church, and then you got to campus and the world cracked open. Suddenly there are people who are openly queer. People who do not believe what your parents believe. People in relationship structures you did not know existed. Some of it terrifies you. Some of it feels like the first deep breath you have taken in years. Both can be true at the same time.

My practice is guided by Sankofa, an Akan principle meaning "to go back and fetch it." It is the courage to look back on where you came from, honor it, take what is yours, and leave the rest. College is one of the rare windows in your life when you actually have the room to do that. Even when it does not feel like it.

I work with young adults figuring out who they are when no one from home is watching. The students from rural Oklahoma towns who finally have access to people who think differently, love differently, and live differently, and who are grieving and growing in equal measure. The Black students who are exhausted from being the only one in the lecture hall, the dorm, the group project. The students walking away from the religion they were raised in and trying to figure out what spirituality, if anything, looks like for them now. The students figuring out they are queer, or polyamorous, or non-monogamous, and trying to imagine telling their family. The students who are grieving someone, often a grandmother, and feeling alone in it because nobody on this campus knew her.

I will hold space for all of it. Every part of your story matters, including the parts you are not sure you want to keep. As a Black woman, I create a healing space for those of us who do not always feel seen or supported in traditional mental health settings. As a therapist, I will be your guide and witness as you heal, rebuild, and grow into someone new.

Healing is not about returning to who you were. It is about giving yourself permission to become someone you have not been yet.