Mental Health

Struggling with re-entry anxiety? You’re not alone

Life coach and spiritual seeker Jordan Bach offers tips to help us prepare for post-pandemic life

By Jumol Royes

My Safe Space

In the darkness of the pandemic, I found light in a WhatsApp group chat

A writer with borderline personality disorder found a virtual space free from stigma and brimming with humour

By Miranda Newman

Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse

I survived an abusive relationship. How can I feel comfortable to start dating again?

Kai offers advice on how to re-engage with dating and sex after a traumatic partnership

By Kai Cheng Thom

Books

Death is around every corner in this queer author’s grimly funny debut novel

In “Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead,” Emily Austin examines the intersection of queerness, religion and mental illness

By Mel Woods

Xtra Weekly

Topline: When will our bodies release the pandemic stress?

As public spaces reopen, I’m learning to manage the anxiety caused by COVID-19

By Lito Howse

Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse

I want more sex than my partner does. How do I get my needs met without pushing her boundaries?

Meeting differing sexual needs and desires might be hard, Kai says, but there are practically infinite ways of giving and receiving pleasure

By Kai Cheng Thom

Mental Health

How to provide mental health support, even when you can’t be there in person

The COVID-19 pandemic has made face-to-face caregiving more difficult. Here are 6 ways we can support each other from afar

By Logan Summer

Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse

Why is it so hard to make close friends as an adult?

Kai advises a reader on how to deepen bonds with acquaintances and build their own “Scooby gang”

By Kai Cheng Thom

My Safe Space

Amid canned foods and dishes, I found pandemic solitude in my pantry

I needed a place to ground myself, a place of solitude, of familiarity, of nourishment. I needed the pantry

By Allyson Darling

Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse

What can I do to mend the damage I caused to my former partner?

Transformative justice and making amends doesn’t always mean staying close

By Kai Cheng Thom

My Safe Space

The solo back porch dance parties that revived me

I took queer nightlife for granted until I couldn’t access it anymore—so I made my own dance floor

By Emma Glassman-Hughes

Health

A life-saving journey to self-advocacy

How one non-binary writer overcame a litany of microaggressions within the mental health care system

By Logan Summer

Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse

Am I bi, pan, asexual, just plain straight or maybe even gay?

Kai counsels a questioning Gen Z reader riding a “sexual rollercoaster”

By Kai Cheng Thom

My Safe Space

I created a drag persona to get me through quarantine

Connecting with my own queerness through Mairy Dilk gave me a lifeline when I couldn’t connect with anyone else

By Melanie Jayne Ashford

Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse

Am I gaslighting my partner?

A confused reader asks Kai about the distinction between having a different memory and deliberately distorting someone’s reality

By Kai Cheng Thom

Books

How an Arab-American writer turned a cross-country road trip into a ‘leave us the fuck alone’ memoir

Queer femme Randa Jarrar writes through her PTSD pain to clear space for a badass queer future

By Nour Abi-Nakhoul

Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse

I’m afraid my family will reject me for being non-binary. How do I come out to them?

Kai gives guidance to a newly-out non-binary person navigating how to be open with the people they love

By Kai Cheng Thom

Ask an Expert

How to navigate addiction during the pandemic

Dr. Tauheed Zaman on finding queer community and evidence-based medical care

By Andy Bandyopadhyay