Therapist, Community Herbalist
& Mental Health Coach
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Offering herbal consultations, workshops, mental health support, and small batch, local, organic herbal preparations.
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Who Am I?
My name is Max Ruin and my pronouns are they/them. I am a white, queer, trans, mad, neurodivergent, chronically ill therapist (MHC-LP), community herbalist, tattoo artist, and trauma informed mental health coach currently residing on occupied Lenape Hoking (the homeland of the Lenape, also known as Brooklyn).
What I offer is a different approach to care, one that takes into account the entire person, their history, and the environment they live in. There is a lot of pain, trauma, and struggle in the world that manifests, physically, in our bodies. My approach to healing, therapy, coaching, and herbalism is to get an understanding of the larger picture, to call upon plants as allies, to suggest lifestyle changes, come up with care plans, wellness plans, or safety plans, and to meet each person where they are at. I take a liberation based approach and am adamant about anti-carceral support. There is so much about the mental health industrial complex that is harmful, abusive, and paternalistic, and I am unwilling to participate in or repeat those practices. We will come up with a strategy to reduce harm and heal, together. Nobody knows your body and mind better than you.
What I offer is a different approach to care, one that takes into account the entire person, their history, and the environment they live in. There is a lot of pain, trauma, and struggle in the world that manifests, physically, in our bodies. My approach to healing, therapy, coaching, and herbalism is to get an understanding of the larger picture, to call upon plants as allies, to suggest lifestyle changes, come up with care plans, wellness plans, or safety plans, and to meet each person where they are at. I take a liberation based approach and am adamant about anti-carceral support. There is so much about the mental health industrial complex that is harmful, abusive, and paternalistic, and I am unwilling to participate in or repeat those practices. We will come up with a strategy to reduce harm and heal, together. Nobody knows your body and mind better than you.
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The majority of my work experience has been in education and mental health. I've worked as a preschool teacher in a school for autistic kids, as a case manager in domestic violence shelters, as a harm reduction specialist, crisis intervention counselor, have worked in residential care and supportive housing, with homeless folks and folks experiencing extreme states, and running support groups and family therapy for people working to escape cycles of violence. I work with clients ages 15 and up.
I began studying herbalism in 2010 in upstate New York. It started as a self guided study fueled by dissatisfaction with the current medical establishment and abuse at the hands of the medical and mental health industrial complex. When I moved to western North Carolina in 2013 I started an apprenticeship with an herbalist and formed deep connections to the land. In 2018 I graduated from the Terra Sylva School of Botanical Medicine as a community herbalist. While in school, I worked as an apprentice for my teachers and mentors, and had the unbelievable privilege of working in their apothecary, their gardens, and building even more intimate relationships with the plants that I rely on. If you are a radical queer person looking to study herbalism, I can fanboy about this school at length.
In November of 2018, I began officially seeing herbalism and mental health coaching clients. I have taught gender and trans 101 workshops at the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine and Terra Sylva School of Botanical Medicine. I've lead plant walks, herbalism workshops, medicine making workshops, and mental health workshops all over the country. One of my passions is facilitating skillshares on how to support people who are suicidal, or who experience ideations without involving carceral means.
In December 2023 I began work as a therapist while studying at Brooklyn College. See more about my therapy practice here!
I began studying herbalism in 2010 in upstate New York. It started as a self guided study fueled by dissatisfaction with the current medical establishment and abuse at the hands of the medical and mental health industrial complex. When I moved to western North Carolina in 2013 I started an apprenticeship with an herbalist and formed deep connections to the land. In 2018 I graduated from the Terra Sylva School of Botanical Medicine as a community herbalist. While in school, I worked as an apprentice for my teachers and mentors, and had the unbelievable privilege of working in their apothecary, their gardens, and building even more intimate relationships with the plants that I rely on. If you are a radical queer person looking to study herbalism, I can fanboy about this school at length.
In November of 2018, I began officially seeing herbalism and mental health coaching clients. I have taught gender and trans 101 workshops at the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine and Terra Sylva School of Botanical Medicine. I've lead plant walks, herbalism workshops, medicine making workshops, and mental health workshops all over the country. One of my passions is facilitating skillshares on how to support people who are suicidal, or who experience ideations without involving carceral means.
In December 2023 I began work as a therapist while studying at Brooklyn College. See more about my therapy practice here!
" We gotta keep each other alive any way we can 'cause nobody else is 'goin do it."
-The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions
-The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions
www.manhattanalternative.com/team/max-ruin/
I have spent a lot of time delving into different healing practices and modalities, and strive to operate from a trauma informed, anti-racist, transcompetent framework. In addition to self guided study, I continue to take workshops, attend talks and reading groups on dismantling white supremacy and cisheteropatriarchy, how to ethically operate under capitalism, and how to offer trauma informed care. I have my Somatic Coaching certification through the Strozzi Institute. My focus in herbalism has largely been on herbs for mental health, nervous system regulation, resilience, and resistance.
I've supported countless survivors of domestic violence, gender based violence, and sexual violence. I've been on suicide support teams, have worked in crisis centers, shelters, mental health facilities, and therapeutic residencies. I am a certified peer support specialist for folks with different mental wellness landscapes and for folks who rely on or have relied on substances. Destigmatizing drug use, sex work, homelessness, and other wellness pictures is an important piece of my work. I am avidly anti police and anti policing, including the policing that happens in the field of social work, inside our communities, and inside our own minds.
I have yet to meet a person whose story was too much, and take pride in my ability to expand to hold the suffering of others. You were not meant to carry this alone. Whatever you feel you need to heal, to grow, to adapt and survive and thrive, I will do my best to help hold space for your journey.
I am not a medical professional and cannot offer medical advice, cannot prescribe medications, and do not treat illness. I am a community herbalist, therapist, mental health and executive functioning coach, and educator.
I am a member of the NYC Free Clinic, the Parole Preparation Project, IDHA, The Liberatory Wellness Network, Manhattan Alternative, Mandatory Reporting is Not Neutral, The Kinstuge Therapist Collective, Psychology Today, Queer Healers, The Covid Cautious Therapist Directory, and other groups working toward liberatory practices within the mental health and care fields.
I have spent a lot of time delving into different healing practices and modalities, and strive to operate from a trauma informed, anti-racist, transcompetent framework. In addition to self guided study, I continue to take workshops, attend talks and reading groups on dismantling white supremacy and cisheteropatriarchy, how to ethically operate under capitalism, and how to offer trauma informed care. I have my Somatic Coaching certification through the Strozzi Institute. My focus in herbalism has largely been on herbs for mental health, nervous system regulation, resilience, and resistance.
I've supported countless survivors of domestic violence, gender based violence, and sexual violence. I've been on suicide support teams, have worked in crisis centers, shelters, mental health facilities, and therapeutic residencies. I am a certified peer support specialist for folks with different mental wellness landscapes and for folks who rely on or have relied on substances. Destigmatizing drug use, sex work, homelessness, and other wellness pictures is an important piece of my work. I am avidly anti police and anti policing, including the policing that happens in the field of social work, inside our communities, and inside our own minds.
I have yet to meet a person whose story was too much, and take pride in my ability to expand to hold the suffering of others. You were not meant to carry this alone. Whatever you feel you need to heal, to grow, to adapt and survive and thrive, I will do my best to help hold space for your journey.
I am not a medical professional and cannot offer medical advice, cannot prescribe medications, and do not treat illness. I am a community herbalist, therapist, mental health and executive functioning coach, and educator.
I am a member of the NYC Free Clinic, the Parole Preparation Project, IDHA, The Liberatory Wellness Network, Manhattan Alternative, Mandatory Reporting is Not Neutral, The Kinstuge Therapist Collective, Psychology Today, Queer Healers, The Covid Cautious Therapist Directory, and other groups working toward liberatory practices within the mental health and care fields.
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
-Mary Oliver, The Summer Day
