Hi there! My name is Martin and I’m a white first-generation Portuguese-American queer and transgender man who uses he/him pronouns. I have spent much of the last 20 years studying and training, as well as working with and on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. I offer my expertise and lived experience in the form of training as well as private sessions if you are seeking support around a loved one’s or your own gender journey or coming out.

My formal studies began at Emory University where I earned a Ph.D. in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. I’ve put a lot of that learning into practice educating parents of LGBTQ+ young people about how they can best support their children and co-authoring a nationally recognized training curriculum. I’ve organized retreats, workshops and founded a mindfulness meditation group for trans and non-binary folks.  I’ve also offered trainings to social workers, therapists and healthcare providers to help them be more inclusive of transgender, non-binary, genderqueer and gender expansive folks. I have also been sharing my personal journey as a member of the Speaker’s Bureau of PFLAG Los Angeles.

In my personal life, I devoted many years to therapy, the CODA program, therapeutic support groups, affinity spaces, and actively working to dismantle my own internalized homophobia and transphobia, while also examining the ways my whiteness and maleness privilege me. My journey with my own family continues to be both beautiful and heartbreaking, particularly relating to culture and religion. These experiences have carved in me a deep well of compassion and ability to relate to others’ bittersweet family dynamics.

My approach integrates my formal training in trauma informed mindfulness facilitation and somatic (body awareness) practices to work through the complex emotions that arise around these topics, such as grief and shame. I also help folks get to the root of our fears and how the biases we carry can affect the way we view others and ourselves. I use a systems lens, which means I understand our individual experiences to be inseparable from the larger institutions and power structures that shape our world according to race, class, gender, ability, sexual orientation, and so on.

For support outside of my expertise, I will point you to reliable information and share referrals to organizations, therapists, and other resources to guide you in every step of this process.

My life’s work centers around finding ways to create a safer, more affirming world for trans and gender expansive as well as queer folks. Much of that begins with the ways we see and treat ourselves. As someone who knows the pain of rejection and exclusion, I also want to do everything I can to support parents, loved ones, and professionals who already care about our community, but might need some gentle guidance around how to express that care in helpful ways.

My intention is to help alleviate unnecessary suffering so that we can all love and live more freely.