Glimmer: Womxn & LGBTQ+ Online Collaborative

Glimmer is a space tailored for womxn & the LGBTQ+ community to find matched and personalized therapists, educators, and workshops, as well as explore and learn, and shop womxn and queer-owned independent products.

For womxn and the LGBTQ+ community, therapy is hard to find, expensive, and daunting. I know what it’s like to find a therapist. I’ve felt how hard it is. We know what it’s like to experience trauma from assault. The decision to report or not. These are things we want to empower my community to do - whether it's through therapy, sexual health, art, books, media, or community.

We deserve a space tailored to us. Glimmer is that space.

Our mission

We exist to empower womxn and the LGBTQ+ community through sexual and mental health services, and to cultivate joy and expression.

Our purpose

To create a safe space where individuals can be connected to personalized and unique therapy services, cultivate sexual and creative expression, and indulge in a collection of womxn-made products tailored to them.

Our values

Inclusive. Regardless of your ethnicity, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, expression, class, ability, and more. You are valued. You are appreciated. And you are welcomed.

Wait, scratch that. Inclusive? Empowering. Too many times, the womxn & LGBTQ+ community is put on the back-burner. Simply being “inclusive” is not good enough.

In our space, YOU are the #1 priority. YOU are the golden, sparkling ray of sunshine. YOU are not just included, you are it.

Improving. Not just for the mental and sexual lives of our clients. But also ourselves. This all started because we saw a need in our community. If that changes, we will change with it. We will listen to you and your suggestions, critique, and feedback. And always keep improving for you.

Understanding. We all have unique experiences and biases. Everyone does. One of our goals is to make the world more understanding - of different genders, sexualities, expressions, behaviors, and individuals. And that starts with us keeping that mindset of understanding, too.

Honesty. Honest communication. Honest spreading of information. Honest practices and policies. We’re not here to make money or dupe anyone. We will always be honest with our clients, therapists, colleagues, and collaborators.

Humor. This is serious work and deserves serious care, attention, and thoughtfulness. But that doesn’t mean we take ourselves too seriously. We try to keep this space safe, creative, and fun.

Why was Glimmer created?

Our founder, Grace, created Glimmer after working at women & LGBTQ+ health nonprofits for over 5 years. While nonprofit organizations are doing great things across the world, she noticed huge gaps in our access to mental and sexual health services for the everyday womxn or queer individual. There is currently no space only for our community - they are too often dominated by powerful, straight, cis men. Glimmer is here to create this space. So we decided to analyze the gaps and needs in our community via a survey.

In March 2020, we surveyed female-identifying individuals and LGBTQ+ individuals aged 15-45. Our goal was to better understand access to health and therapy services, and see current understandings of sexuality and sexual pleasure. This helped us assess needs and gaps. We got over 200+ responses from people all across the United States - in just under one week.

Here are some of the results:

How would you describe your experience with therapy?

"Once you find a therapist that works well for you it is truly liberating. Having someone to talk to and not feel like you are a burden is amazing."

"I haven’t tried therapy in years because every time I haven’t been able to make an authentic or trusting connection with my therapist."

"It's difficult finding a therapist that is a good fit for you."

"It’s a huge emotional burden to have to repeat my trauma to new therapists when I find one isn’t the right fit."

"My experiences with therapy have been all over the place. Finding the right therapist is particularly difficult for those in the LGBTQ community."

How would you describe your experience(s) with women's and/or LGBTQ+ sexual health services?

"There are many gaps to sexual health services for women and LGBTQ individuals."

"When looking for sexual health services, I always look for one that specifically states it’s an LGBTQ friendly space."

"A lot of times you receive judgment, intentional or not."

"Under-resourced, piecemeal, inappropriate and hostile at times."

"Unless in an extremely progressive city, these services are nonexistent for LGBTQ+ folks."

And finally, over 99% of surveyors responded YES to the question, "Do you think that there should be more easily accessible resources to help find a personalized or better-matched therapist?"

There is an obvious need here - and Glimmer is ready to make this need accessible, inclusive, and beautifully empowering to all womxn & LGBTQ+ individuals.