Anyone, anything, in MN?

[LatrellHK]

Hi, can someone please and I mean PLEASE help me find a group or something where I live? I live in Minnesota, but not (unfortunately) the Minneapolis, St. Paul, or St. Cloud region. I live in Brainerd. Look it up on a map, or try to, it's small and sucks! I hate small towns first off, theres nothing to do but hunt and fish and I'm a city person. Pure torture. Everythings expensive and theres not even public transportation OR at least having stores close by! To make matters worse, I can't seem to find any LGBT support groups! Now I could stand it here if I at least had that for something, but I can't seem to find a group or another PERSON like me anywhere. I know one and she graduated so we don't talk.

Now if anyone can help me find people to talk to, because I desperately want to actually see and hear others like me. Not saying this site isn't help, this website was the best thing I ever came across. But I like to actually see others and I can't find any to begin with! Now to make matters even worse, I don't have my own car, a license (drivers ed is expensive for my family), and currently no job. So if I could, I would just take myself to Minneapolis and have fun there. But I can't . Does anyone know any groups, organizations, meetings, anything? I would really, no extremely, appreciate it.

[Jera]

I always thought Brainerd was a lovely little town. Though I was never stuck there, I suppose. I totally get the small town blues.

For any kind of trans* support, AFAIK they're in Minneapolis or Duluth. But if I recall correctly, that might not be much help since you're about the same distance from both.

While maybe not specifically trans-related, I've dealt with some very skilled professionals who are at least open-minded to help you deal with the more emotional side of things. That's when I was in the Maple Grove area, and I also went to one in Fridley for a while. Maybe that's not quite as far, since you're not going all the way into the Cities.

If you're really just 100% stuck in Brainerd, there's still a lot of "vanilla" therapists, though I don't have any personal experience there. Regular therapists can be just as effective for you, even if they're not specialized with trans needs. Many of them are willing to learn every time they get a new patient. Or, at the very least, they might have more connections to the therapy circles, and be able to tell you where to go or who can help you better than they can. Something is better than nothing, right?