Fund Therapy for a Brighter Future

Since my hours were cut to part time, I am seeking help to pay for therapy for the rest of the year to help cope with my abusive job situation, chronic PTSD, GAD, MDD, living as a closeted trans person (hello, rural Missouri!), and being multiply neurodivergent (Autism & ADHD, plus the CPTSD qualifies as neurodivergent). I'm so thankful to have found an amazing therapist who has me in on a sliding scale rate, but it's still $60/visit. I see her twice a month for now. And I need help continuing to afford this.

My goal is to cover therapy at $120/month for 6 months (from when I started to the end of the year) and if I raise more money either save that for next year or try to have weekly sessions.

(the longer version)

On July 1, my paycheck was half of what it normally is. Now my boss and I had talked about me moving to part time since they couldn't afford to pay me full time, but the agreement was that we'd do it when I could make up the difference in income with my writing and self-employment (which at the time was making maybe $20-50/mo). The goal was this fall. When I reached out to my boss, she gaslit me, told me that we'd agreed on starting it June 1, and reluctantly agreed to pay me the rest of my June check. You see, wage theft isn't against the law in Missouri, and I would have had to sue to get the funds. They bounced a check on me in February that I am still trying to collect on. We agreed on a schedule, which -- surprise -- she didn't keep. I did finally get the money, but as you can see, this is just the latest in a long line of abusive actions taken by my bosses. A good friend pointed out my job was abusive and so I finally decided to try therapy again while I worked on self-employment and/or trying to find a different job that most likely won't be healthy for me either.

Why don't I get another job you ask? Well, I have been applying, but age-discrimination and being in grad school pretty much rules me out for any in-person job in rural Missouri and I won't move because my homestead is my sanctuary. Also unfortunately most of my chronic PTSD comes from working full time without realizing I am neurodivergent (or queer) and dealing with the toxic work environments that creates. The bottom line -- with my level of trauma -- THERE ARE NO SAFE JOBS FOR ME. Which means I must create self-employment, which I'm struggling to do because of the trauma I've experienced. It's literally killing me to work, but I can't live for however long that will be, without working until I can find self-employment.

If you read this far, thank you.