what is Second Adolescence?
Host of the pod, psychotherapist and coach Adam James Cohen, developed Second Adolescence as a framework for queer healing rooted in approaching it as a developmental life stage LGBTQ+ folks move through in adulthood after growing up in an anti-queer world. It is the messy, terrifying, exhilarating, fulfilling, and, ultimately, healing part of a queer person’s post-coming out life where we gain the experiences we missed out on, heal the wounds of our younger selves, and work towards living as our most true and free selves.
about the show, Second Adolescence
Second Adolescence focuses on what it means to heal and liberate after growing up within an anti-queer world. As part of this, we feature conversations with queer and trans people about their journeys. We hear what their experience was like growing up, discovering their identity, coming out, and what their Second Adolescence has involved - navigating dating, sex, and relationships, shedding or unlearning harmful and limiting belief systems they internalized growing up, discovering who their most free queer selves are, and all the other messy, beautiful, awkward, and healing experiences that fill Second Adolescence.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts.
The Host
Hi, I’m Adam James Cohen (he/him). I am a psychotherapist based in San Francisco, CA where I specialize in supporting LGBTQ+ folks.
I traveled through my own Second Adolescence and for the past decade have been working clinically supporting LGBTQ+ people navigate their own.
Noting a gap in the field, I have developed a clinical model for understanding what Second Adolescence is, how we move through it, and what healing and liberation potential is available in it all.
I set out to write Second Adolescence (the book, coming soon!) and start the podcast to share this work more widely.