welcome to my space (no, not Myspace). if you’ve come here, then you might know me as The Passion Doula, officially named in 2023, unofficially for millennia. if you stay here - it’s because you desire my offerings, reflections, and nuggets of joys shared by other badasses. AND because your body/mind/spirit yearns to to connect with me so that together, we can light each other up on our continued journey to SELF.
Folks hear “doula” and they think “Oh! Birth doula!” Or maybe, these days “Oh, Death doula!” And, well, they aren’t exactly wrong. We often need someone to guide us through the processes of dying and birth. Only for me - it’s the death of your old self, doubts, fears, shame. And the (re)birth for women & femmes into remembering their BADASS SELF (more on those acronyms later).
Who is The Passion Doula? me. I’m the first. my name is elicia crystál gonzales - a queer, Latina, cisfemme GenXer from CO now living in Philly. From an early age, I felt called to help women and girls feel sexually healthy and whole in the face of societal conditioning intended to strip us of our humanity. That's why at the age of 18, I proclaimed that I would "become the next Dr. Ruth" (Google her if you don't know). I obtained Masters degrees in Social Work and Human Sexuality Education. I was a therapist for youth and adults, and have lots of experience and pearls of wisdom to share from my 25+ years in the sexual and reproductive health field. I am and have been a community educator and activist, mentor, adjunct professor, wife, sister, daughter, and woman atoning for harms I have caused while healing from harm I’ve also experienced growin’ up in ‘merica.
From my childhood in Denver, CO through mitigating harm enacted by white supremacist, patriarchal, colonialism - I have felt shame, experienced burnout, and struggled to remember my SELF. SELF is Sexually Embodied Life Force - our essence, source, power, passion. It’s taken years for me to unapologetically return to my SELF.
I joyfully support others on their journey from a place of deep, spiritual knowing. I am rooted in ancestral wisdom and guided by source (cue: this ain’t my first time at the rodeo). I am a commitment to being heart-led, embodied, authentic, and funny as hell.
I am devoted to guiding women and femmes, centered on Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx:
return to SELF, by way of getting NAKED (literally and metaphorically),
be BADASS in living life in and on purpose.
I am no expert nor have all the right answers. But I am The Passion Doula, and you can trust that together we will light each other up and be free.
