Bridget Bertrand
Creative cultivator, educator, space holder
I'm in a white able body, with middle-class and educational privilege. Identities that move me further from proximity to privilege include being a radical dyke, genderqueer, and discovering my late-in-life neuroexpansiveness and dyslexia.
Origins: I grew up in the U.S. South and earned a degree in Theater Arts with a minor in Education from The University of the South. After college, I moved to New York City, where I taught theater in four of the five boroughs while pursuing acting. Years of parent meetings that felt a lot like therapy led me to my true calling: psychology. In 2011, I earned a Master's in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University and served as adjunct faculty for two years. I'm a board member of GAYLESTA: The Psychotherapist Association for Gender & Sexual Diversity, where I serve on the advocacy and membership committees. I'm also a proud member of Mind the Gap, an organization supporting the healthy development of transgender, gender-expansive, and nonbinary children, youth, and their families through mental health services rooted in gender acceptance and diversity. As the youth say, I am “queer AF”.
What brings me to embodied anti-racism work: Growing up in the South, I saw inequity firsthand. Teaching in neighborhoods where I was one of few white people, I felt how much I had to learn about how my whiteness affects Global Majority folks — and how much my white community was missing. When I followed my passion for expressive arts, I came out as a lesbian/dyke, later in life. A few years later, COVID-19 hit, and we all watched George Floyd be brutally murdered, that's when I knew I had to more deeply integrate mindfulness, embodiment, and social justice into everything I do.
I've stepped out of the hetero-patriarchal "foundation" of my life, and I'll be doing that learning and unlearning forever. Co-leading with Ashnie has been profound — learning to show up in mixed-race settings, and to be okay enough with making mistakes, is one of the biggest gifts of my life. Exploring our conditioning in this racialized, late-stage-capitalist world is vital for our survival. I'm committed to building mutual aid relationships with Global Majority (Bodies of Culture) members of my community, and I explore my proximity to privilege daily.
I aim to be culturally humble, and I welcome being called in on anything I miss about who you are. Though I am a therapist, in this workshop I'm a creative cultivator, educator, space holder. I am also a parent to an adult kid, a dog parent, and an open-water swimmer. I love using watercolor, marker, glue, pencils, and movement to make a little something every day.