Dese'Rae L. Stage
(she/they)
My name is Dese’Rae L. Stage (she/her), but you can call me Des. I’m a mom, therapist, licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), suicidologist, artist, and advocate in Philadelphia, PA. I wear a lot of hats.
I identify as a queer, white, cisgender single parent and live with depression, anxiety, ADHD, CPTSD, and chronic suicidal thoughts. It’s important to me to be transparent about my positionality, in terms of my identity and lived experiences, as well as being someone who receives mental health services—I know what it’s like to be in the therapy chair and sitting across from it. To that end, I come to my work as a partner and a support, rather than an expert.
In past lives, I worked in the service industry and the music industry, and built a career as an award-winning suicide prevention advocate and artist. I live with two small humans, a Bernese Mountain Dog named Dolly Parton, a Basset Hound puppy named Frances Houseman (aka Baby), and a long-haired white Siamese mix with heterochromia named Betty White.
I see live music at every available opportunity (and sometimes I still drag my camera along), and when I’m not at a show, I’m probably reading a book, eating something delicious, or building Lego sets. I have a lot of stories. Feel free to ask me what happened when OJ Simpson came into the restaurant I worked at while I was in high school, or about that one time Lou Reed told me to f*ck off.