Who we are
Photo by: Wolfskull Creative
Alex Iantaffi, PhD, MS, SEP, CST, CST-S, LMFT
Alex is an award-winning author, independent scholar, licensed marriage and family therapist, and former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Sexual and Relationship Therapy. They have researched and published extensively on gender, disability, sexuality, relationships, and trauma.
Alex has published more than seven books and contributed to more than 25 handbooks and anthologies. Their recent book, How To Understand Your Relationships: a practical guide, is co-authored with MJ Barker and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. They are a frequent guest on podcasts and have hosted more than 80 episodes of their own podcast, Gender Stories.
As a licensed therapist, Alex was a co-founder of Edges Wellness Center, a group practice located on Dakota and Anishinaabe territories, currently known as Minneapolis, Minnesota. For eight years, Alex served as clinical director until 2025 when they decided to devote more time to teaching, speaking, and writing.
Alex is passionate about healing justice and writing as a form of personal and collective healing, and they regularly offer keynotes and presentations throughout the United States, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia, and beyond.
Over the past twenty years, their work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, such as the International Journal of Sexual Health and AIDS Education and Prevention, as well as anthologies published by Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, and W.W. Norton & Company. As an independent researcher and principal investigator with over a decade of clinical experience, Alex has received funding from the United States National Institute of Health, organized numerous community projects—including zines, handbooks, and guides, and edited several academic journals.
Alex is fluent in Italian, English, British Sign Language, and currently learning American Sign Language. They’re available for supervision, supervision mentorship, consultations as an AAMFT and AASECT approved supervisor, both in person and online.
Photo by: Alex Iantaffi
Root Holden, MDiv. Spiritual Direction (2027)
Root Holden (they/them) is a queer, disabled eco-spiritual care provider and interreligious celebrant based in Duluth, MN. To support their clients, Root provides spiritual companionship - including discernment sessions, divination, ritual creation and facilitation, and specializes in helping the gender expansive community in rites of passage surrounding transition.
Root supports clients, their families, and their systems of support through all life transitions, including the process of death and dying. They will be hosting death salons to answer questions about the process of funeral planning, working on paperwork with clients, working with clients and their support systems in discernment around the many decisions that come with the death and dying, and joining clients and their families in hospice and at home.