When Nourishing Hope launched its first in-person counseling group for LGBTQIA+ adults in spring 2025, the organizers made room for more than one kind of conversation. Participants could discuss difficult experiences, but also identity, relationships, laughter, and joy. The 10-week group, called “I Have a Queer-y,” met at the organization's Sheridan Market.
The group was facilitated by Abby Mayhue and Richard Campos, two queer mental health workers who had completed internships with Nourishing Hope and master's degrees in clinical mental health counseling at DePaul University. Their shared experience helped shape a group specifically intended for LGBTQIA+ participants.
How the sessions worked
According to Nourishing Hope's account, each session began with a broad topic, then moved through discussion toward a specific skill or reflection exercise. Topics included labels, boundaries, intersectionality, conflict resolution, and queer joy. Participants could suggest what they wanted to explore in later sessions, giving them a role in the direction of the group.
This structure matters because a support group is more than a place to listen to a prepared lesson. It needs enough direction to be useful and enough flexibility for people to bring their own questions. Mayhue and Campos described balancing open conversation with practical skills.
Connection was part of the purpose
The facilitators said isolation emerged as a recurring concern. Discussions about identity and social systems led to questions about how participants could maintain relationships, advocate for themselves and others, and make space for joy alongside harder experiences.
Nourishing Hope's story also notes that the organization offered groups for migrant women, people experiencing anxiety or depression, and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color experiencing grief and loss. Those programs place the LGBTQIA+ group within a broader mental wellness service rather than a one-time Pride Month event.
What comes next
The facilitators built a modular curriculum intended to support future versions of the group. Nourishing Hope reported that its June 2025 Pride campaign raised more than $85,000 for future care. Funding is one part of continuity; the other is keeping the space responsive to the people who use it.
For details on the program and current mental wellness support, read Nourishing Hope's original report.
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