In recovery, grief shows up often—but that doesn’t mean we know how to hold it. This piece offers a different way to grieve in community: one that centers love, ritual and the act of living fully in the wake of loss.

The identified patient is a concept from family systems therapy that describes the person unconsciously chosen to carry a family’s unresolved tension and dysfunction. Sometimes mistaken for the family scapegoat, the identified patient can also be the “sick child,” the rebel, or the perfectionist. Understanding this role within dysfunctional family systems sheds light on how families project problems onto one member instead of addressing deeper conflict. By exploring the differences between family scapegoating and the identified patient, we see how these patterns are maintained across generations—and how they can be interrupted. With awareness and tools for healing family trauma, individuals can step out of these roles, break and heal family patterns, and reclaim an identity.

At Jackalope Theater in Tulsa, adults use improv to rediscover play, loosen perfectionism, and build presence through laughter, mistakes and saying “yes—and.”

I found belonging on a dance floor high off molly and bad decisions. The drugs didn’t fix me, but they showed me the shape of a life I didn’t think I deserved yet.

An unflinching reading list for anyone shedding skins in the sun

How ChatGPT became a tarot reader, a tripsitter and—if you’re not careful—a hall-of-mirrors for the soul. 

We don’t just grieve people—we grieve old versions of ourselves.

We don’t avoid the present because we’re weak—we avoid it because we were never taught how to stay.