Sean Donovan

Sean Donovan (he/him/his) is a white (Irish/Norwegian descent), gay man in queer community who strives to weave anti-oppression and anti-racist values through his work.  He currently helps GaNH with outreach for A Call for Change Helpline, curriculum development and aspires to help facilitate training.  His past and present work focuses on changing the ways communities and individuals respond to suicidal thoughts, distress and conflict–moving away from pathology, dominance and punishment and into consent-based relationships, cultural practices and accountability.  As someone who’s experienced psychiatric lockup and his own suicidal distress, he worked for a decade with the peer-led Wildflower Alliance facilitating Alternatives to Suicide peer support groups, training and presenting nationally on this model; co-founding an LGBTQIA+ support space; and coordinated supports and advocacy in acute and longterm psych–supporting people to connect with resources and communities of their choosing.  In addition to work with GaNH, he now facilitates trainings with Wildflower and Intentional Peer Support and most recently finished a yearlong role as Implementation Director leading the creation of the Division of Community Care, an innovative municipal public safety and public health alternative first responder resource, for the City of Northampton.  While loving the work he does, he feels most at home with his partner, cats, bandmates in Feminine Aggression, with a book or art project and when wandering the nearby forest.