LGBTQ+ affirmative services

I provide LGBTQ+ affirming counseling at any stage of your journey, such as if you are questioning your sexual orientation or gender identity, are closeted, or are out. It’s no secret that LGBTQ+ individuals face many challenges and stressful situations societally, interpersonally, or on a personal level. Anti LGBTQ+ legislation, family or community rejection (or the anticipation of rejection), hateful messages in media at home and in the community, and violence can take a heavy toll on your mental health.

I will meet you wherever you are at in your journey and work with you to address any mental health concerns that you may have related to being a part of a marginalized community. I have experience working with transgender and gender expansive people at all stages of their transition journey. I also offer mental health assessments for individuals seeking gender affirming medical care such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or gender affirming surgery.

Anxiety and OCD

Do you find yourself struggling with overthinking? Do you avoid situations in order to find solace, but at the expense of important tasks or life goals? Or perhaps you have thoughts that you just can’t shake without repeatedly seeking reassurance, going over what you’re thinking about time and time again in your head, or physically going to check to make sure what you’re worried about didn’t actually happen in to provide yourself some type of relief? Additionally, are you tired of working with therapists who only provide supportive listening without teaching and assisting you in implementing coping skills and tools that will help you live a fulfilling life; do you want to get down to work? 

When working with individuals who experience anxiety and OCD, I use techniques from a variety of different therapeutic approaches including Person Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Solution-Focused Therapy. I work collaboratively and will tailor my approach to your individual needs in order to assist you in taking control over your anxiety rather than your anxiety having control over you.

Depression

Is it hard for you to get out of bed in the morning? Maybe you’ve been experiencing feelings of all-consuming hopelessness? Is it hard to find pleasure or interest in activities that you used to enjoy? Did you receive negative messages in your formative years that feel stuck in your head and which you can’t seem to shake? 

Depression can oftentimes make people feel like things will never get better; that’s where I come in. I use techniques from modalities such as Insight Oriented Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with people experiencing depression. We can begin by building insight into where some of your automatic negative thoughts have originated from, such as messages you received from your family growing up, or messages that society has given you. We can also focus on viewing situations from multiple different perspectives. Depression can feel like a lens that only shows you the negative side of yourself and your experiences and potential; therapy can help you broaden this lens so you can also see the same exact situation in a more neutral or even positive light, creating a more balanced emotional experience which can then lead to more helpful and healthy actions and beliefs. Depression can feel so overwhelming that even doing the smallest task such as brushing your teeth can feel like a monumental challenge. We can start small, by helping you identify activities that are rewarding to you but also feel manageable and take steps to engage in those activities. Over time, you may find that the more you engage in such fulfilling activities, the better your mood will be and, in turn, you can then engage in bigger activities; slowly but surely getting to where you ultimately want to be.

Difficulties with Relationships

Our experiences with our earliest caregivers can pave the way for how we navigate relationships with others as we progress through life. Maybe you feel an intense desire to build connections with others but feel like you are sacrificing your own wellbeing in doing so. Maybe you experience intense fears of being abandoned once you find a relationship that you cherish and value. Do you find yourself self-sabotaging and feel confused or distressed about what is driving these strong emotions? Do you find it extremely difficult to be vulnerable with others? Maybe you desperately want to have deep and meaningful connections but are finding it so difficult or painful to get there.

Some relationships can feel familiar to earlier relationships is a person’s life. It’s not unusual to long for healthy and stable relationships, but to find yourself in relationships that are the polar opposite and perhaps reflect earlier relationships that were also not working. Maybe it’s hard to even know what a healthy and stable relationship if you have never had positive relationships modeled for you by family or the people you grew up with. If you find that any of this resonates with you, I can help. We can explore your relationships from childhood until now, at a comfortable pace, in order to uncover different patterns and gain insights. We can then use those insights and develop interpersonal and conflict resolution skills to help with breaking patterns that are not working well in order to get and build the relationships that you ultimately want.

Trauma

Did you undergo traumatic childhood experiences? Maybe you’ve been in traumatic relationships in your life. You might have found that, as a result, it can feel like you keep re-experiencing old traumatic events in the present. Perhaps, as a result, you try to avoid reminders of the traumatic things you went through, sometimes at the cost of important life goals, relationships and experiences. 

We can work on developing skills that you can utilize in moments where you are feeling triggered by something that reminds you of your past trauma. It’s not unusual to rely on skills to deal with trauma that may have worked well to protect you in the past, but are no longer working well in the present. We can work to transform your present and your future experiences, from that of simply surviving, to thriving.