Meet Miriam
Miriam Zisook LICSW (MA)
she/her
I’m a white, jewish, cis, femme, fat, queer, therapist and maker. As a designer and social worker, I am building and visioning a practice where people in marginalized bodyminds (neurodivergent, diabled, mad, sick, fat, queer, trans, etc) can work with me and each other on creative projects that engage the idea of “changing our world instead of changing ourselves.”
I have spent the past decade working toward inclusion and empowerment of disabled and marginalized people. Across the projects I worked on as a designer and researcher, I was drawn to participatory design strategies that engaged the users and audiences of products in their design process. Inviting a wide range of humans—including engineers, doctors, patients, students, and teachers—into the design process was powerful and transforming.
At the same time, I was recovering from the perfectionism and grind of art school by rebuilding my own relationship with making and craft, and beginning a journey of healing my relationship with my body by making my own clothes. Through these explorations, I came to the idea that my design skills might be tools to help people experience this same sense of agency and healing I was developing in myself through "making." From sewing body and gender affirming clothes to producing media about their experiences to making their own fidgets and sensory tools, "making" can invite folks to inhabit their bodies in deeper ways, and to experience their bodies as effective and impactful instruments in the world.
As a therapist, my foundation is primarily narrative therapy, although I bring in other modalities as tools, ideas and resources to offer clients. I strive to provide non-pathologizing care by recognizing disability and mental health within systems of power and oppression. I hope as a therapist to help people develop resilience and resistance to their problems through connecting to their inherent goodness and their personal values.