Malik Ali

About

Some honesty before anything else: telling a stranger about your private life is uncomfortable, and anyone who claims otherwise is skipping a step. The discomfort is real, and it also fades faster than you would guess. A relationship is the largest thing most of us will ever build, and it deserves maintenance long before it needs rescue. My roots are in nonprofit counseling agencies, where nobody had time for pretense and the help had to actually help; I still practice exactly that way. We will go carefully, at whatever depth you can stand on a given day, and I will make sure the vulnerable moments are handled with real care. I will be quietly in your corner the entire way, pointing out progress you might otherwise miss. When the uncomfortable first message starts to feel possible, send it. Everything after that step is easier than the step itself.