LGBTQ Counseling: Finding Support and Understanding

Looking for a lesbian, gay, bi, and trans affirming therapist?

Has something come up that has been causing you anxiety and depression? Maybe you’re struggling in a relationship? Is there something you’ve been carrying with you for a long time and now it feels like the right time to address it in therapy? Are you looking for someone who can help you on your journey of discovering your gender identity and/or transitioning? Finding a good therapist for LGBT counseling can be hard. You really want someone who isn’t going to judge you and who has some experience with LGBTQ issues.

Therapy can help!

Therapy offers a place for you to unpack difficult things that have happened in your life and to sort through any hardships you’re going through right now. No matter what you’re going through, I am here to help. Generally people seek me out for LGBT counseling because they are looking for someone who won’t judge them and who is going to have some understanding of what they’re going through. In therapy you will find an ally in your journey to finding your own voice, claiming your truth, and becoming more fully yourself.

It can be hard to find the right therapist.

In general the most healing factor of any good therapy is the relationship between you and your therapist. It really is largely about getting support and empathy from someone you can truly feel cares about you. So you have to find someone who you feel gets you and you mesh well with. Sacramento has lots of good LGBTQ resources and I know there can be lots of options to sort through.

I’ve had bad experiences in therapy before. How is this going to be different?

Unfortunately, I’ve met with people before who have had bad experiences with counseling in the past. The most common complaints I hear are horror stories about therapists overtly making LGBTQ phobic statements or not being able to step out of a place of cis, straight, and/or mono sex privilege and judgement. If you come to see me in therapy you can rest assured that I’m not going to judge you for your sexuality or gender identity.

I’m worried about getting a therapist who doesn’t know about LGBTQ issues.

This is another common concern I hear people talk about. There is a lot to know about the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ issues. It can be kind of painful when you run into someone who is unfamiliar with these things and I’ve heard people talk about having the experience of feeling like they needed to teach their therapist everything. There will likely come a time when you will know something I don’t and I’ll need to ask you to clarify, but in general I am pretty well versed in LGBTQ issues.

Why me?

LGBT counseling has been one of my main focuses throughout my counseling career. Typically about 30% of my caseload is made up of LGBTQ clients. Recently, over the last couple of years I have been seeing a lot of trans and non-binary teens in therapy.

Aside from all of my experience and training working with LGBTQ clients, I think something that really makes me a good LGBT therapist is the fact that I am very genuine and open with people in therapy. My clients often say that this is what drew them to come see me. Lots of people picture therapists being stiff and impersonal. I’m actually a genuine, real person with my clients and genuinely care about them. I said this earlier, but it really is important for you to find a therapist who you feel is a good match for you. Because of this I usually tell people that they should expect to know whether or not I am a good fit for them within the first session or two.

As an LGBT therapist I have helped people with a variety of issues including:
-exploring gender identity
-transitioning
-writing letters for hormone replacement therapy
-LGBTQ couples problems
-writing letters for gender confirmation surgeries.
-anxiety
-coming out to family
-coping with reactions from family
-depression
-dealing with everyday struggles of dealing with LGBTQ phobic, ciscentric people.
-trauma
-exploring sexual identity
-grief and loss

Give me a call sometime!

If any of what you have read here resonates with you or if you have any questions give me a call sometime for a free brief phone consultation. We can talk about what is going on in your life and how I might be able to help.