About Ley
Hi. I'm Ley (she/they). It's pronounced 'lee'.
I'm the Director of LGBTQIA+ Programming at Charlie Health, where I ensure that state-of-the-art mental healthcare is accessible to LGBTQIA+ adolescents and young adults across the United States.
Additionally, I offer specialized coaching and consulting and maintain an active scholarly research profile. You can read more about my services and my work below.
Coaching & Consulting
If you're struggling with the deep questions, please feel encouraged to reach out.
By the deep questions, I mean the existential questions—of identity, of authenticity and relation, of purpose and place and thriving. While I do not offer psychotherapy and neither diagnose nor provide clinical treatment of mental health conditions, the work we do together can be approached either as a non-redundant complement to therapy or as a robust wellness practice in its own right.
In our sessions, I can offer my skills as a:
PhD-level Philosopher, with an active research profile and over thirteen years of experience teaching on topics ranging from meaning in life to gender and sexuality to Buddhist views of the mind and body;
Certified Philosophical Consultant, trained through the Logic-Based Therapy & Consultation Institute and registered with the National Philosophical Counseling Association;
Certified Mindfulness Instructor, trained through the Center for Koru Mindfulness;
Trauma-Informed Yoga Instructor (RYT 200), registered with the Yoga Alliance;
Certified Reiki Master, trained in the Usui lineage;
Geek Specialist in training through Geek Therapeutics;
Sexuality Counselor in training through the Sexual Health Alliance;
Both individual and group sessions are available, incorporating any or all of the above, with a variable and affordable pricing structure.
For more information or to set up an initial consultation, please reach out by completing this form.
And just to be clear: this practice is anti-capitalist, anti-racist, queer-centered, ENM- and kink-friendly, and SWer-inclusive.
Writing
Book
Philosophy of Comics: An Introduction
(with Sam Cowling)
2022. Bloomsbury Press
Public Writing
Minimizing Misgendering: A Plea for Better Pronoun Practices
2021. Aesthetics for Birds
Why Genderfucking is Awesome
2021. Aesthetics for Birds
2021. Just Femme & Dandy 1
Scholarly Articles
Batman: A Case Study in Ontology and Appreciation
2022. Bloomsbury Contemporary Aesthetics
Some Considerations Regarding Adornment, the Gender "Binary," and Gender Expression
2021. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 79(4): 488-492
2021. American Society for Aesthetics Newsletter 41(1): 1-3
Some Ideas About the Metaphysics of Stories
2019. British Journal of Aesthetics 59(2): 147-160
Transparent and Opaque Performance Personas
2019. Journal of Aesthetics of Art Criticism 77(2): 181-191
Psychologism about Artistic Plans: A Response to Rohrbaugh
2018. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76(1): 101-104
How to Be Omnipresent
(with Sam Cowling)
2017. American Philosophical Quarterly 54(3): 223-234
Abstract Generationation: A Response to Friedell
2017. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 75(3): 289-292
A Return to Musical Idealism
(with Carl Matheson)
2017. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 95(3): 702-715
Unperformable Works and the Ontology of Music
2016. British Journal of Aesthetics 56(1): 67-81
An Ontology of Ideas
(with Timothy Schroeder)
2015. Journal of the American Philosophical Association 1(4): 757-775
Yellowism and Ontology: A Skeptical Analysis
2015. Contemporary Aesthetics 13
Conceptual Art, Ideas, and Ontology
2014. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 72(3): 235-245
Team-Teaching the Atheism-Theism Debate
(with Steven Brown)
2014. Teaching Philosophy 37(4): 465-480
2014. Dialectica 68(3): 337-353
Sabbath Doesn't Need the Ozzman
2012. In Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering Reality,
Irwin, ed., Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 126-139
Omniscience and Worthiness of Worship
2011. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 70(2): 147-153
Book Reviews
Review of Sonic Flux: Sound, Art, and Metaphysics
2020. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 78(1): 126-129
Review of The Aesthetics of Videogames
2018. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Review of The Aesthetics and Ethics of Copying
2017. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Press
6 Science-Backed Reasons Why Trans Youth Need Gender-Affirming Care
2022. Verywell Health
A Guide to Neopronouns, From Experts & People Who Use Them
2022. Mindbodygreen
How Charlie Health's Virtual Mental Health Services Are Supporting LGBTQIA+ Youth
2022. Sunday Edit
Charlie Health Appoints Ley Cray as Director of LGBTQIA+ Programming
2022. PRNewswire