PittmanAstro Pittman (they/them) is a therapist, educator, award-winning journalist, author, and community advocate whose work sits at the intersection of healing, recovery, social justice, and symbolic meaning-making. With a background in clinical social wrk and years of experience in harm reduction, mental health care, and community-based practice, Astro is committed to approaches that are trauma-informed, non-pathologizing, and grounded in dignity, agency, and inclusion. Astro holds a master's degree in Social Work (MSW) and a graduate certificate in Sexuality and Queer Studies (SQS) from the University of Washington, is a licensed Substance Use Disorder Professional (SUDP, NCAC I) and Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker Associate (LSWAIC) in the state of Washington, and a Mental Health First Aid Instructor through the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. Their professional experience includes work in behavioral health, substance use disorder services, Housing First programs, crisis intervention, group and individual therapy, Queer youth programs, and therapeutic education and research. trained in evidence-informed modalities including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), trauma-informed care, somatic practices, and narrative approaches. As a Queer-Alien-Person-of-Color (QuAliPoC), Astro brings lived experience alongside clinical training, centering the voices and realities of communities that have historically been marginalized, pathologized, or excluded from traditional healing spaces. Their work is explicitly affirming of 2SLGBTQIA+ people, BIPOC communities, disabled and neurodivergent individuals, and those navigating systemic oppression. Astro is the creator of the ABIDES framework(c)-an integrative social work and healing model grounded in Access, Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice. This framework informs their therapeutic practice, community organizing, teaching, and writing, and serves as a guiding ethic throughout The Therapeutic Tarot. In addition to clinical and community work, Astro is a long-time Tarot practitioner who approaches the cards as reflective tools rather than instruments of prediction. Their work reframes Tarot as a collaborative, ethical practice of insight, embodiment, and choice-one that supports both personal growth and professional application. Astro lives and works in Seattle, Washington on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish peoples. When not writing or facilitating healing work, they can usually be found engaging in creative projects, community advocacy, or questioning systems that insist healing must look only one way. Read More Read Less