Lourdes Dolores Follins is a Black, queer psychotherapist, author, and public speaker on the mental health and well-being of queer, trans and intersex people of color (QTIPOC). She has been a licensed clinical social worker for nearly 30 years, and was a professor at the City University of New York and a mental health researcher. 

Through her company, Meliora Consulting, Follins works with QTIPOC recovering from intersectional oppression and complex trauma. In addition, she is a Yorùbá-Lukumí priest of Ogun and applies West African and Afro-Latino spiritual traditions in her psychotherapy practice. 

In the past decade, much of her scholarship, research and writing has focused on health equity in Black LGBTQ communities. She co-edited Black LGBT Health in the United States: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation (2017), a collection of work by writers on issues of health and intersectional anti-Black racism, homophobia, transphobia and classism. She was a 2019 writer in residence with Lambda Literary, an organization that fosters and celebrates LGBTQ writers. 

Follins holds a Ph.D. in clinical social work and a master’s of social work from New York University.

Courtesy of JW Perkins

Pronouns: She/her

Expertise: Psychotherapy, QTIPOC mental health, Yorùbá-Lukumí priest, social work, transgender health.

Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Email: ldfollins@gmail.com 

Twitter: @DrLourdesD

Heard on The ZAMI NOBLA Podcast: “Dr. Lourdes Dolores Follins On Black LGBT Health, Yoruba Spirituality, and Therapy”