Richard Waitzkin
"The meaning of sex has the potential to shift to include spirituality. That there is something in me that is caring and loving and wants to communicate that to ‘other.’ Hopefully ‘other’ wants to contribute that to me. And together, through a sensual or sexual experience, we both rise to a different level of awareness, transcendence, and connection." - Richard Waitzkin
This episode of Queer Spirit interviewed Richard Waitzkin. The conversation explored Richard's journey from a Jewish backgroun to working as a psycho-therapist and the ways that has shaped his approach to the intersection of spirituatliy and sexuality. Both those things, this episode shows, are a "desire for intimate connection."
About
Richard Waitzkin is a psychotherapist and one of the founders of Portland’s new and terribly exciting Equality Community Center, which houses organizations serving the LBGTQ+ community, including Equality Maine, Maine TransNet, GLSEN, and SAGE Maine, as well as allied organizations, such as the Maine Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations, the Maine Jewish Film Festival, Democracy Maine, and the Cambodian Community Association of Maine.
A native of Ohio, Rich as a young adult served as a VISTA volunteer and teacher’s aide in California before moving east. In Massachusetts, he received two masters degrees, one in education and the other in social work. After moving to Maine, he worked on the frontlines in the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, sat on the Governor’s commission on AIDS, attended the first regional training to provide HIV counseling and testing, volunteered as an AIDS buddy, and contributed to Maine’s first AIDS hospice facility.
About his work as a psychotherapist, Rich writes, “As our lives unfold, we’re challenged mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Psychotherapy can provide a safe environment to focus on the growth and healing required of us to become the best we can be in all roles and aspects of our life. Over these many years in practice, I've found the work of healing, growth, and personal transformation to be a sacred process.”
Rich lives in Portland, loves to work in his yard and on his old house, and dances in both public and private.
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