“Queer Considerations for Overlapping Relationships” - Evren’s 2018 manuscript

A new home for an old unpublished manuscript.

In 2018, as a part of my capstone/final project of my Masters degree, I wrote a paper about the challenges I was already noticing as a queer and trans practitioner specifically and intentionally working with members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. It did not take very long into my practicum to notice that the usual professional and ethical guidelines for avoiding overlapping or dual relationships were out of alignment with what I thought of as sustainable community practices.

I submitted the manuscript to a journal of ethics back in 2019, but between being disappointed with the responses and in the process of trying to negotiate my life out of burnout, I set the manuscript aside. In 2020, after starting my solo practice, the start of COVID lockdown, and moving to Tk’emlúps, I posted the unpublished manuscript to my E. E. Salja Counselling website.

Why am I writing this here and now? While I moved my entire practice to Groundfire in 2024, I just closed down my old website on November 18, 2025 and was reminded that a few folks have cited my manuscript and some other blogs in some pretty rad projects. So, I wanted to make sure that they had an updated link and a home for it:

[Queer Considerations for Overlapping Relationships (2018)->]

A note if you are so inclined as to read through the manuscript: please keep in mind some contexts that informed the writing:

• The year was 2018, I was 28 and completing my first year of counselling as a practicum student, and (relative to today), I had a lot to learn and sort out! How I (and we) use some of the language has changed, and some of the language I use for myself have changed. To be fair, I still have a lot to learn and sort out, language is actively changing, and I hope to have the opportunity to continue learning and adapting.

The 2018 manuscript shows a snapshot of my considerations and hints of a freshly minted practice. At the time, the article felt pretty vulnerable to write for someone who had yet to complete their degree and was taking what seemed to be a hot-take of an ethical position. However, seven years-of-practice later, Emily and I wrote an article for the Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice; a piece that I see as a more current snapshot of our considerations and practices.

[We Are Part of the Ecosystem: Therapeutic work within communities of practice (2025)->]

I’m looking forward to seeing what future snapshots end up being! Hopefully, they will not be seven years apart - and if they are, that’s fine too. :)

In solidarity,

Evren