Low libido in women is pathologized, and described as having a high prevalence rate, affecting an estimated 30–55% of women worldwide. This alleged rate is so high that it suggests methodological flaws in the calculations of prevalence; it also causes some to question the common depictions of women’s sexual desire, especially those found in the DSM. It is important to question whether women genuinely experience (so-called) sexual dysfunction or whether female sexual desire remains misunderstood and misrepresented through recourse to reductive stereotypes.

Peak House is a live-in program for 13 to 18-year-olds of all genders who are struggling with problematic substance use, exploitation and oppression in their lives. This article explores an innovative therapeutic program called Gender Group, which seeks to make space for therapeutic conversations exploring the intersections between gender identity, sexuality, substance use, and trauma/oppression.

The Talk-Listen group is a therapeutic group at Peak House that exemplifies a set of ethics, values, and practices, which aim to center and uphold youth wisdom. Substance use counselling is an arena of therapy that typically centers on ‘expert’ treatments, structures (like 12 step) and top-down approaches; the Talk-Listen group flips this model on its head, centering youth wisdom and experience, providing dignity, voice and respect to youth whose stories and wisdom are often erased, minimized or trivialized.

Fear of Feeling is a piece of literary non-fiction I wrote exploring my personal experiences of struggling with anxiety and trauma, highlighting how facing a ‘fear of feeling’ leads to healing and revival. This essay won the Anxiety BC Writing and Multimedia Contest for Prose in 2016.

One of many reasons Jian Ghomeshi’s sexual assault charges were acquitted was due to the way his victims were deemed uncredible because they stayed friendly or collegial with their purported abuser. This article uses personal experience, attachment theory, and Judith Herman’s theories on trauma to explain why this behaviour is so common in trauma survivors, especially for those who experience gendered violence in the context of power dynamics.