I know so many queers in their late 20s/30s who are like "I'm going to school to become a social worker/counselor! It will be a way to stay rad but also make a middle class living!" And like...you do you, but know that the mental health professions are not & will never be rad

most people (even professionals) do not understand what it really means to be a licensed professional. they think that it's just a certification. but becoming a professional actually means becoming part of a different CLASS of people & being bound by extra laws

your professional obligations, which are legally enforceable, do not stop when you leave your job for the day. they are meant to become a part of your whole personhood. becoming a professional separates you from the rest of your community in some extremely important ways

it becomes extremely difficult to engage in radical community-building or grassroots change work as a licensed professional social worker or therapist - there are ethical and legal problems that force us to choose one or the other. this is particularly true for trans ppl & QPOC

bc trans ppl & QPOC are often more deeply embedded & rely on community more than white middle-class cis queers. we are more tightly connected, with more relational complexities. becoming a regulated health professional NECESSARILY asks you to step away from this interdependence