Moran Bodner - Queerbodiment Therapy

My beliefs in equality and social justice underpin my work. I see queerness as a positive and healthy thing and this is also my approach as a therapist. Love is expansive. Gender is expansive. Sexuality is expansive. However, I also recognize that we are all affected by the queer-phobia within the society we grew up in, and most of us have internalized it in the form of shame, guilt, disgust, rejection, and more. We must first recognize this in order to break it down. I also believe that sexuality is a healthy, natural, and powerful life force. At the same time, I recognize society's negative and oppressive attitude towards sexuality and the many and confusing double standards it places on different genders.

My approach is socially informed and sees the social context as a significant and inseparable part of the client’s inner and outer world. A significant belief of mine is that sometimes in order for there to be a recovery, it is not the client who needs to change, but the world. We can therefore examine the effects of patriarchy and capitalism on perceptions of your body, sexuality, and gender. We can talk about the hidden and visible ways we are governed from before birth and throughout our lives, and how we can resist.

Within therapy, there is room for accepting your body alongside the desire to change it, while recognizing that there are heavy social pressures to hate our bodies in the form of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism, which affect us all.

I take a firm stand against conversion therapy. This position is based on countless studies that have proven that not only is it not possible to change sexual orientation or gender identity through treatment, but that such treatment can cause real and lasting damage. If a client wishes to work on their sexual orientation or gender identity it will be solely with the aim of helping to accept it as a positive and natural part of the human psyche.

The therapy I offer is trauma-informed, because many queer people have experienced trauma – personal, social, but more often than not they’ve had a mix of the two. Guiding principles in trauma-informed therapy are: continuous checking of the client’s consent, strengthening the client’s agency and choice, slowing down when there is emotional flooding, gradually going deeper, and returning often to the shallows. However, this is not the same as specializing in trauma therapy, a training I do not as yet have.

Throughout my years of work as a therapist, I’ve worked with people from the LGBTQIA community, some of whom are neurodivergent, non-monogamous, and kinky. This was made possible thanks to my personal life experience, and being immersed within the communities with which I work.

My work is holistic and incorporates both the body and the mind, as the two never truly are separate. Therapy is a combination of talking alongside breath work, movement, and Focusing. Within therapy, all human experiences are welcomed, such as gender, sexuality, kink and BDSM, neurodiversity, anxiety, depression, dissociation, and grief. You are also welcome to visit my site at: www.moranbodner.com

In addition to therapy, nowadays I co-facilitate a Trans Sex-Ed Group for the trans community at the Trans Center in Israel. In addition, I facilitate workshops, conduct lectures and trainings on gender-diverse sexuality, and deeper connections to the body, both in Israel and internationally, at conferences and festivals, for various organizations and privately.

In 2023 I worked at the “Gila Project for Trans Empowerment” in collaboration with “The Aguda”, an umbrella organization for the LGBTQ community in Israel, where I established "Ma'ayan” - a center for research-based information on gender-diverse children and youth. My work included creating a course and website for therapists working with gender-diverse children and youth: https://www.maayangender.com/

In the past, I have also done some volunteer work, which has provided me with a deeper connection and understanding of my community:

Volunteered for a year at "Ma’avarim” – a trans-led NGO as a content editor. https://www.maavarim.org/english

Volunteered for two years at "IGY” – an LGBTQIA youth organization as a youth club facilitator. https://igy.org.il/en/