The Spaces I Thrive In


Trauma-Informed Weightlifting / Healing Somatics
Disability Justice / Liberatory Mental Health
Creative Liberation + Resistance

Photograph of Lyss, around age two, staring at the camera with a neutral expression while sitting on a bench at a kitchen table. They have an absolute mess of curly auburn hair down to their shoulders, and they are wearing a white nightgown with pink and purple hearts on it and blue trim. They have their right hand raised in front of their body.
ID: Photograph of Lyss, around age two, staring at the camera with a neutral expression while sitting on a bench at a kitchen table. They have an absolute mess of curly auburn hair down to their shoulders, and they are wearing a white nightgown with pink and purple hearts on it and blue trim. They have their right hand raised in front of their body.

About Lyss

Hi! I’m Lyss, and I use any pronouns. I’m located in Pittsburgh, PA.

I currently work as an educator and consultant in disability justice and liberatory mental health. I’ve worked with individuals, collectives, and nonprofits to help co-create access-centered cultures, both as an individual consultant and as a trainer and tech support lead at PeoplesHub. I previously served as the founder and lead organizer at Inside Our Minds, a radical mental health mutual aid collective (2017-2022).

I am a certified personal trainer (NASM-CPT), USAW L1, and have completed the Center for Trauma and Embodiment’s Trauma-Informed Weightlifting Certification Program. I also compete in Olympic weightlifting at the lower national level. Starting in 2025, I will begin taking clients for trauma-informed weightlifting personal training and movement coaching, starting with small groups before expanding to one-on-one clients.

Teaching is another passion of mine, and I believe creativity is vital for our collective liberation. I have held spaces for poetry and artistic expression for teens and adults. I was previously the Director of Liberatory Education at Write Pittsburgh and helped build their Rainbow Writers and Teen Council programs.

Recent Learnings + Reads: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer; No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard C. Schwartz.

Things That Give Me Life: writing poetry and creating all sorts of wild art; wandering around cemeteries with a black coffee; having a pastry and a think at the riverside; the feel of a barbell in my hands; dancing at 80s and goth nights; being in the pit at hardcore shows; wearing black lipstick and biodegradable glitter.

Creative Projects

My favorite creative pathways include poetry, hand-cut collage, self-portraiture, and expressive movement. My artwork is largely focused on personal narrative and explorations of trauma within the self as situated in the world. I focus on themes of neurodiversity and madness, identity and autonomy, and parts theory.


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