Goths, Witches, and Furries, Oh My! Subculturally Affirming Care for Alternative Clients

There is an unfortunate tendency to pathologise what we don't understand. If a client’s community or aesthetic is a little too outside the mainstream, our clinical reflex is often to label them as “maladjusted”, to link their identity or lifestyle to their presenting problems, to make assumptions or to put up walls that we may not with other clients.

Such reactions are all too familiar to clients from alternative communities and subcultures—and can get in the way of those clients accessing the care they need.

But what if these alternative scenes are actually powerful drivers of radical acceptance, connection, and healing? What if we could see the therapeutic potential of alternative scenes and subcultures—and harness it to better serve some of our most misunderstood clients?

In this livestream, Johanne sits down with Molly Toomey, an American therapist and international counsellor, to expand on their brilliant conference talk about goth subculture and collective healing. We’re looking at how we can move past the stereotypes and actually provide subculturally affirming care for clients across alternative communities—from goths and witches to furries and beyond.

What we’ll cover:

• Beyond the pathologising: Why we so often misread alternative subcultures as isolating, when they are actually deeply community-oriented.
• DIY healing: How these spaces act as vital survival strategies and psychological safety nets.
• Subculturally affirming care: How to support alternative clients without trying to "cure" them of their culture.

Come join us to gain inspiration and guidance on how to be a more subculturally affirming therapist—from a therapist with both personal and professional experience with alternative scenes and subcultures.