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Araya Baker

  • Therapist, Columnist, and Social Policy Researcher, Freelance
Houston
As seen in: Medium, Psychology Today, Teen Vogue, Inside Higher Ed, The Tennessean, The Good Men Project, Shondaland, The Mighty, The Daily Pennsylvanian, Ed Post and
Covers:  Culture & Identity (Class, Disability, Gender/Sexuality, Race, Religion); Global Human Rights; Mental Health/Illness & Suicide; Social Policy (Education, Environmental, Housing, Reproductive, etc.).
Doesn't Cover: Finance, Science, Sports, Travel
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Araya Baker’s Journalist Portfolio

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Parenting LGBTQ+ Kids Can Accelerate Adult Development

Parenting LGBTQ+ Kids Can Accelerate Adult Development

Poet Ocean Vuong healed generations when he reframed queerness as a gift rather than a curse, writing, "Being…

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How the Dependency on Church in Rural America Hurts LGBTQ Youth

How the Dependency on Church in Rural America Hurts LGBTQ Youth

On May 18, the city of Springfield granted $1 million to Bransford Community Center. Twenty " Tennessean" art…

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Springfield's investment in Bransford center disregards vulnerable LGBTQ youth | Opinion

Springfield's investment in Bransford center disregards vulnerable LGBTQ youth | Opinion

Araya Baker is an educator, researcher, suicidologist, and therapist, originally from Springfield, Tennessee.…

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10 Signs of Generational Envy

10 Signs of Generational Envy

Downward envy is a feeling of inferiority caused when a leader sees that a subordinate has something that the…

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Tennessee's Toxic Politics Are Dangerous for LGBTQ Youth

Tennessee's Toxic Politics Are Dangerous for LGBTQ Youth

Araya Baker is a counselor educator, suicidologist, and policy analyst. Baker has published commentary and pu…

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Focus Your Repentance Inward, Not on Antichrist Conspiracies Stereotyping LGBTQ+ Family

Focus Your Repentance Inward, Not on Antichrist Conspiracies Stereotyping LGBTQ+ Family

Trigger Warning: Discussion of anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theories; conversion/reparative therapy rhetoric; relig…

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10 Tactics of Pulpit Bullies Who Shame, Silence and Slander Queer Folks

10 Tactics of Pulpit Bullies Who Shame, Silence and Slander Queer Folks

As Catholic author Karen Armstrong put it, "If your understanding of the Divine made you kinder, more empathe…

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10 Tactics of Anti-LGBTQ+ Pulpit Bullies

10 Tactics of Anti-LGBTQ+ Pulpit Bullies

As Catholic author Karen Armstrong put it, "If your understanding of the Divine made you kinder, more empathe…

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20 Affirmations and Readings For Folks Raised in Anti-LGBTQIA+ Church Families

20 Affirmations and Readings For Folks Raised in Anti-LGBTQIA+ Church Families

I recently wrote about my disappointment in a pastor I know who interpreted Romans 1: 26-29 in such a way tha…

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This Out and Proud Teacher Could Make History if Elected to the Texas State Board of Education

This Out and Proud Teacher Could Make History if Elected to the Texas State Board of Education

Araya Baker is a counselor educator, suicidologist, and policy analyst. Baker has published commentary and pu…

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6 Ways the Church Can Address the LGBTQ+ Suicide Epidemic

6 Ways the Church Can Address the LGBTQ+ Suicide Epidemic

A major aspect of my life's work is combating the disproportionate, epidemic-level suicide rate among LGBTQ+ …

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Real progress takes time. Here are 5 ways activists can keep their stamina up.

Real progress takes time. Here are 5 ways activists can keep their stamina up.

In March, I serendipitously stumbled across a tweet that invigorated me to "keep on keeping on." It was "an a…

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An Activist-Therapist's 15 Affirmations for Hope Amidst COVID-19

An Activist-Therapist's 15 Affirmations for Hope Amidst COVID-19

As an activist-therapist whose work is guided by the feminist principle "the personal is political,"I'm keenl…

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5 Telltale Signs That You're the Target of Envy

5 Telltale Signs That You're the Target of Envy

If you've ever earned recognition for a significant accomplishment or milestone, you've probably been blindsi…

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5 Ways to Give Your Therapist Feedback Rather Than 'Ghosting' Them

5 Ways to Give Your Therapist Feedback Rather Than 'Ghosting' Them

As a therapist who often engages in mental health advocacy on social media, my timelines are usually a consta…

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Rapper Vic Mensa Says We Need More Therapists in Schools Not Guns

Rapper Vic Mensa Says We Need More Therapists in Schools Not Guns

Araya Baker is a counselor educator, suicidologist, and policy analyst. Baker has published commentary and pu…

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5 Tips to Promote Equity for Trans, Gender Variant and Non-Binary Students

5 Tips to Promote Equity for Trans, Gender Variant and Non-Binary Students

Araya Baker is a counselor educator, suicidologist, and policy analyst. Baker has published commentary and pu…

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5 Tips Millennials Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Depression

5 Tips Millennials Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Depression

With winter only a month away, the cold, wet, dreary climate that induces seasonal affective disorder (SAD) i…

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52 Mental Health Resources for Disabled People, POC, LGBTQ Folks, and More

52 Mental Health Resources for Disabled People, POC, LGBTQ Folks, and More

Harvard-trained educator and therapist Araya Baker explains why it's important for minorities to have therapi…

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What James Baldwin's Activism Can Teach Schools About Social Justice

What James Baldwin's Activism Can Teach Schools About Social Justice

Araya Baker is a counselor educator, suicidologist, and policy analyst. Baker has published commentary and pu…

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Guest Column by Araya Baker | Reflecting on Penn and the AIDS epidemic

Guest Column by Araya Baker | Reflecting on Penn and the AIDS epidemic

They remember the way in which the epidemic coincided with the emergence of gayborhoods in cities like New Yo…

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4 Questions to Ask If You Are a QPOC or WOC Looking for a Therapist

4 Questions to Ask If You Are a QPOC or WOC Looking for a Therapist

The good news is that clients can exercise the right to request feminist therapy, or any other orientation. I…

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JAY-Z Says We Need More Therapists in Our Schools and He's Absolutely Right

JAY-Z Says We Need More Therapists in Our Schools and He's Absolutely Right

Araya Baker is a counselor educator, suicidologist, and policy analyst. Baker has published commentary and pu…

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Unharm Your Sons: A Therapist and Suicide Attempt Survivor's Plea to Black Fathers About the Cult...

Unharm Your Sons: A Therapist and Suicide Attempt Survivor's Plea to Black Fathers About the Cult...

Content warning: depression, self-injury, suicide, trauma.

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