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THE PESA POST
The latest news, views and announcements from
Parents, Educators/Teachers & Students in Action

June 2, 2022
ONE YOUNG MAN’S PATH TO PRIDE

Josh Sullivan’s journey has not always been easy, but he’s used the experience to help others along the way
Josh Sullivan
June is national PRIDE month, and while the historic roots of the movement go back to the 1969 Stonewall Riots, today it has grown to symbolize and promote acceptance and inclusivity of the LGBTQ+ community, now referred to by some as LGBTQIA2+. Talk about inclusivity!

At PESA, we take, well, pride in our diverse colleagues and their efforts to promote inclusivity and allyship of people of all walks of life. 

Take Josh Sullivan, for example, an MSW intern who has offered our clients something very special, indeed: His firsthand experience as a proud gay individual. 

"I knew I was gay when I was about four years old,” he says. “God made me this way, and I am so proud to be gay. The LGBTQ+ community offers something to the world that no other community does: Acceptance and forgiveness. I grew up in a strict, conservative, religious household, so it took me a while to accept who I was and be proud of who I am."

Sullivan says he was in an abusive relationship that harmed his mental health and worsened his OCD. Though a difficult personal journey, his story is, sadly, not unlike many people of marginalized groups. It’s also, in a sense, what brought him to PESA.

“I wanted to be an attorney,” says Sullivan, but eventually he reasoned, “I’m such a people person, what is something more people-based?” And that was how he found social work. With a bachelor's in psychology from Chapman University, he is now at Azusa Pacific University working towards obtaining his MSW. 

While at PESA, Sullivan has had an assigned caseload and has been very active in delivering educational presentations to our partner schools. Many of the youth he has worked with are at a transitional stage in their lives, dealing with the stress of fitting in with peers and figuring out who they are. Sullivan recalls one of his clients thanking him for helping him identify who he was and what it meant to be gay and be part of the community. “I educated him about queer history,” says Sullivan. 

Sullivan points to another client he worked with who was just figuring out their sexuality. This person needed some guidance from someone like Sullivan who could empathize with them. Sullivan used Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which is a therapy that is all about acceptance and commitment about your thoughts and how you feel about yourself and who you are in the world and why that makes you special and unique. “This generation is just so much more open, and it’s really beautiful to see.”

“I felt nervous when I came to PESA,” says Sullivan, “because, being gay, you have to think about things a little bit differently sometimes for your safety. But PESA is a beautiful place for the community. I felt very loved here.”

If you’d like to support PESA’s many social and educational initiatives, please contact us.