Hello!
ID: Demi Alex is a light skinned, east-Asian person with a shaved head and strong black eyebrows. He has white hand-shaped earrings, and a monochrome zig-zaggy printed silk top. They stand in front of a sweet body of water and a dappled sunset, as they softly smile towards the camera.
My name is Demi Alex (he/they).
As an undergraduate student, I arrived at therapy when I was deep in crisis. stepping away from a tumultuous household for the first time, I did not know how to begin to tend to the pain, suicidality, and helplessness that began to emerge.
Through therapy, I began to move through the immense waves of grief, childhood memories, and unspoken intergenerational traumas that span across my diasporic Taiwanese lineage. This started a lifelong exploration of (un)learning, resting, and radicalizing what it meant to heal- internally, within community, and as a collective. I have done a lot of care work and conflict mediation within blood families and shared communities, and I’m grateful to do this work on my own terms today. I have found a lot of joy in exchanging wisdom shared in therapy, discovering + sharing care rituals, and reconnecting with my ancestors and mother nature. I’m grateful to be able to continue this work as a therapist - co-creating space to share + transform your stories + finding curiosity and creative play + and tending, holding difficult moments.
Positionality
I am an agender, trans, queer; light skinned; second generation Taiwanese human raised in the so-called Bay Area (unceded Tamien and Muwekma Ohlone land) and currently residing in Oakland (unceded Lisjan Ohlone Land). I am also a disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent Mad person with multiple systems and complex trauma. I am a former escort, a performing artist and Butoh-informed dancer, a relationship anarchist, and a dabbler / wanderer in many forms.
Education
Western Institute for Social Research, M.S. in Psychology, Berkeley, CA
Practicum at Liberation Institute, San Francisco, CA
UC Davis, B.A. Design
I am gratefully informed by the wisdom of Dr. Ayesha Khan, Micha Frazer-Carroll, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Jennifer Mullan; Butoh performance studies and philosophy; diasporic motherlands, my Taiwanese ancestors, and nature.