Our Story

The only place I have ever felt home is in the borderlands.

I have always existed in the margins, never neatly fitting into any one box. This was once very difficult but learning about the borderlands validated my experience, gave me hope to one day build community, and provided a framework to put it all together in my mind.

I first learned about borderlands theory when I happened upon the book Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua as a teenager in the 1990s. The ideas literally changed my life. In college as a first generation student, I learned all I could about mujerismo and the unique challenges and strengths of existing in the margins. I found books like This Bridge Called My Back and writers/poets like Audre Lorde, Aida Hurtado, bell hooks and Chandra Mohanty. Shortly thereafter, I found Critical Race Theory and Queer Theory. All of these influences continue to inform my work to this day and have helped tremendously during a personal and professional journey navigating spaces where most of my identities were neither reflected, appreciated nor welcome.

In 2023, on the 20 year anniversary of finishing the academic requirements for a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology, I had the opportunity to create Borderlands Therapy Collaborative, PLLC. I named us Borderlands in honor of the revolutionary spirit that has held me up all these years and that forms the bedrock upon which this collaborative is built. I hope we continue in the legacy of those amazing QTPOC trailblazers who helped clear a path and inspire others across generations. I invite you to listen to a podcast interview where I talk more about how this all came to be.

There is so much more to do as we dream into existence a world where holistic health is possible for all people who exist in the borderlands, so often discarded or persecuted by the dominant culture. I am excited to see what we build together!

In authenticity and solidarity,

Dr. Geneva Reynaga Abiko, Founder & Executive Director