CHENNAI: The Orinam Collective and the Chennai Queer Cafe (CQC) are organising an experiential workshop by Veena Sethuraman and Deepak Dhananjaya, who are psychotherapists based out of Bengaluru with extensive experience in queer-affirmative therapy, on Saturday from 2 pm-6 pm at an undisclosed location in Egmore.
The workshop titled ‘You and Me; Forging Healthy Queer Relationships’ will explore an individual’s way of recognising the other and being recognised in addition to its impact on the relationship and learning healthier ways of connection. Unique life stressors of queer relationships that can have an additional impact will also be discussed.
“Large sections of the LGBTQI+ community have been criminalised for very long,” said Ram, a volunteer working with OC. “While Section 377 may have been decriminalised, there is a long journey ahead for social acceptance. There is a lot of internalised stigma that these people from the community face and they have a tough time dealing with relationships. This workshop will help them with how to have realistic expectations from their relationships to help them forge mutual, consensual, healthy and happy relationships.”
He went on to say that while Chennai is considered to be a ‘conservative city’, it was lucky to have some dedicated mental health professionals who were ‘community friendly’.
“In many other cities, the mental health professionals themselves have many misconceptions about the community,” he said. “So that way, the stigma is less than what it is like in other cities because Chennai and Bengaluru have dedicated mental health professionals and vast support networks that help people from the community cope.”
The workshop will accomodate 50 people and 43 have already registered. The venue details will be available upon registration. For details, visit, http://orinam.net/ and check the upcoming events section or call 984155798