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About Brave Topics

Brave Topics is an idea, a brand and a way of life. 
If you want to know more about Brave Topics here is where to look.  This includes information and links to Pumpkin Vines.  

 

Welcome

 


Non-Denominational Pastoral Counselor

My Start as a Sexual Educator
 

Brave Topics is excited for it's 2025 Launch! 

This project began right before the COVID-19 Pandemic and was put on hold to focus on the physical and mental well-being of those in my community. 

As things have begun to normalize I have made the step to expand Brave Topics to include pastoral counseling.  With that in mind, I have put off the launch until my education is complete.  

For now, you can follow my journey on Instagram where I chronicle my battle with Multiple Sclerosis, being a single parent, and my education to become a pastoral counselor.  
  Pastoral Counselor Role
   Mission Statement

Read Time: 1 min

My Pronouns

I work with a great organization in the background. (The Cloth Option)

The request was that everyone with a TOC email address add their pronouns to their email signatures.

I don't use an organizational email but was proud of them for including this in their template.

 

Back Story...

An amazing person that I was in college with back in 1996 (and not having an overtly sexual relationship with) wrapped her arm around my waist and said "Katherine is too much to say in bed. I'm going to call you Kat."
From that day forward I was Kat. After 19 years of trying to escape nicknames by October of my first year in college, I was Kat. My pronouns where she, her, hers. 
My gender identity was female; I identified with the straight community but was a vocal advocate for alternative lifestyles (as they were labeled.)

Less Recent Past…

It's 2006. I own a construction company. My pronouns are their & they. Although I felt overtly straight and female I heard the rattle of "Dyke" and "Lesbo" behind me, I was not offended.
My masculine expression did not equate to my sexual preference. It did have something to do with my sexual and nonsexual identity.
It was almost a joke. 

"Guy walks into a construction site and says 'Where's your boss' to the 40 something big black man, who responds says 'Their back there.'"
It is no joke that that person looking for me, a young white woman, would talk to everyone on my team but me.

Some may have considered me trans, butch or queer: I was just me.

More Recent Past…

It's 2013. I am a married school teacher. Fast forward and I'm going through IVF, then pregnancy and birth. My pronouns are she, her, hers.
I felt very cisgender and binary. 
I chose not to find out the biological sex of my child. It was going to be a baby. It would need the same things, with a penis and testicles, a vulva and vagina, or any combination. Their room was orange, lime green and turquoise with a puppy theme in homage to our 3 boxers. This small human needed to be prepared to be a dog lover from birth, not a pink princess or blue gentleman.

Today(ish)

I'm a single parent. I'm an educator, facilitator, and influencer.

Out at the park:

"Where is your parent?" my young person is asked by a stranger…

Day 1: "He's over there"  

Day 2: "Their over there"

Day 3: "She's over there"

Talking to my young person, they exclaim in delight:

Day 4: "I'm a pretty girl"

Day 5: "I'm a princess boy"

Day 6: "I'm so strong girl"

Days 1-6 and whatever my young person comes up with for 7:

Every day I respond:

"I'm right here"

"Yes you are"

 

Today my pronouns are fluid. 

In my head it is:

I, Ours, Mine, Me, We, Yours.

To my young person: 
"However I fill that role for you."

To people who don't know me & my life:
"She, Hers, Her"

To those who may ask:
"Their, They, Thank You."

I am brave. My young person is brave.

I am a (mostly) cisgender- but I would best be described as a genderfluid queer woman. I'm fine with that. I will not be offended by the pronouns you choose for me; for me, personally, gender is fluid, but I appreciate you asking.

Read Time: 1 min

Differences Between a Pastoral Counselor and a Professional Clinical Counselor

A pastoral counselor combines the principles of counseling and spirituality to provide therapy to individuals. They typically work within a religious or spiritual context and integrate faith-based beliefs and practices into their counseling sessions. While licensed therapists focus primarily on psychological and emotional well-being, pastoral counselors also address spiritual concerns and religious beliefs as part of the therapeutic process.

Distinguishing between professional clinical counselors and pastoral counselors can be challenging. While they share similarities, their differences become clear upon closer examination. Pastoral counselors, including chaplains, pastors, church counselors, and ministerial counselors, receive regulation and credentials from ecclesiastical groups and professional associations. On the other hand, clinical counselors are regulated and licensed by state government boards and often hold certifications or credentials from professional organizations.

Read Time: 2 mins

About Brave Topics

My Start as a Sexual Advocate 

Does anyone remember at their college freshman orientation having a time where each of the social groups got to tell an auditorium about their particular group? At my orientation at the end of the presentations we were giving a little slip of paper to check off what we might be interested in taking part in. I checked off “GALA” the Gay and Lesbian Alliance. I did not have any real question about my sexual identity; I saw this as an opportunity to support my classmate who may or may not have a “straight” friend to bounce ideas off of. I got contacted by the current group president through and invite in my school mailbox. I headed to the ‘Open House’ one afternoon and found a lovely woman who was indeed pregnant. After a quick conversation and not too much fan fair I became the President of GALA. My first move (as there were no active members) was to change the name… How could I be the president of a group called the Gay and Lesbian Alliance if I was not actually Gay. I wrote up a proposal to change the name to Alliance and brought it to the Student Government. Turns out if you are the leader of a group you are also a member of student government. 

The plot just kept getting thicker. 

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Mission Statement

Brave Topics works to compile meaningful resources to help break down heteronormativity in youth sexual education. Our Mission is to share inclusive and thoughtful resources with families and community groups.  

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