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Monthly Mental Health Reflection: The Sacred Power of Surrender

By Dr. Keonna Watson July 16, 2025

This month, I invite our LGBTQ+ family into a deeper reflection, a sacred and healing act that begins with two simple words: "I surrender." These are not words of defeat. These are words of reclamation. We are not surrendering to hate, homophobia, racism, misogyny, pain, or trauma. We are surrendering the hold those things have had on our spirit. We are laying down the false responsibility to carry what was never ours to hold. We are releasing the need to prove, to survive, to fight endlessly without rest. We are choosing to heal.


Spiritual Surrender: The Wisdom of the High Priestess Iset (Isis)

"Everything I need to know finds me at the perfect time."
"Everything I need to know finds me at the perfect time."

Across the sands of ancient Nubia and Egypt, the High Priestess Goddess Iset, also known as Isis, embodied the divine feminine power of protection, healing, and spiritual surrender. She reminds us that surrender is a sacred act. It is how we let go so that something greater may rise within us. When you say aloud, "I surrender," you are calling your spirit home. You are saying, “I trust that healing is possible, and I don’t have to do it alone.”You are tapping into ancestral wisdom and reclaiming your right to peace, joy, and wholeness.


What Are We Surrendering?

We surrender:

  • The microaggressions

  • The hate

  • The racism and classism

  • The homophobia, transphobia, and anti-feminism

  • The systems that told us we are too much or not enough

We also surrender:

  • The anxiety, the depression, the trauma, the survival mode

  • The isolation and self-blame

  • The need to bond only through pain or struggle

We let go not to give up, but to rise, to feel, to breathe, and to finally be.


Therapeutic Approaches for LGBTQ+ Healing

Healing is multidimensional, and surrender invites us to explore multiple paths:

  • Affirmative Therapy: Therapy that celebrates and validates LGBTQ+ identities without pathologizing who we are.

  • Somatic Therapy: Healing through the body; releasing stored trauma through awareness, movement, and sensation.

  • Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the stories we’ve been told about ourselves with truth, power, and compassion.

  • Culturally Sensitive Substance Use Treatment: Programs that acknowledge and support intersectional LGBTQ+ experiences.

  • Spiritual Counseling & Ancestor Work: Guided connection with spiritual leaders, ancestors, and practices that affirm who you are in your fullness.

  • Safe-affirming spaces & Providers: Mental Health Providers, Pastors, Ministers, and Priestesses ready to help you unpack and unlearn the trauma that was never yours.

You are not alone. You don’t have to fill in all the gaps yourself. There are healers and helpers who accept you and who will walk beside you.


A Practice of Surrender with Dr. Watson

Take a step back. Be still. Close your eyes. Scan your body; notice what aches, what feels tense, and what feels heavy. Place your hand over your heart.

Breathe in through your nose…Breathe out through your mouth…

And say aloud, “I surrender.”

Let that breath carry you closer to your spirit. Let those words carry you toward healing and wholeness. And let the world know:

“I might bend, but I do not break. I surrender to my peace. I surrender to my becoming. I surrender to my joy.”


Your Call to Release

Let this month be your invitation: Not to hold on tighter, but to let go and allow the sacredness of surrender to guide you back to your power.


With you in healing,

Dr. Keonna "Dr. Cookie" Watson: Owner, Holistic Mental Health Provider, & Spiritualist at FreeLee Integrated Health Wealth, an inclusive and sacred healing space for LGBTQ+, Men, Women, and BIPOC


Founder and Warrior of FreeLee Foundation (FreeLee Life Services), a nonprofit organization committed to dismantling the inequities faced by LGBTQ+, Women, and BIPOC communities in accessing essential resources and support.




Resources & References

The Trevor Project – LGBTQ+ Crisis & Mental Health Support www.thetrevorproject.org


National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network www.nqttcn.com


OutCare Health – LGBTQ+ Affirming Providers www.outcarehealth.org


Abrams, A. (2021). African goddess rising oracle: A 44-card deck and guidebook. Hay House.


van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.


Williams, R. A. K., Owens, L., & Syedullah, J. (2016). Radical dharma: Talking race, love, and liberation. North Atlantic Books.


Brown, A. M. (2019). Pleasure activism: The politics of feeling good. AK Press.

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