LGBTQ and Identity Affirming Therapy
Therapy for lives where identity has always carried extra weight
This space is for LGBTQ people, gender expansive folks, and anyone whose identity has never felt fully safe in their family, community, workplace, or culture. You might have spent years code switching, shrinking, or explaining yourself to people who did not really want to understand.
Maybe your stress does not come from “inside” you at all. Maybe it comes from chronic microaggressions, religious or family rejection, discrimination at work, or feeling like you are carrying multiple identities that never fully fit in the same room.
Therapy here is not about convincing me that your experience is real. We start with the assumption that it is. We focus on supporting your nervous system, your boundaries, and your sense of self in a world that has often asked you to be smaller.
Who this work is for
LGBTQ adults, gender nonconforming and gender expansive folks, people who are questioning, and people who are out in some spaces and not in others. People who carry both pride and exhaustion around their identity.
People who have experienced family or faith based rejection, identity based bullying, community conflict, or relationships where their gender or sexuality was used against them. People who feel like they never got to be a full version of themselves without bracing for fallout.
If you are tired of being an educator in every room, or tired of being misunderstood in therapy, this work is designed with you in mind.
What we work on together
We look at how identity stress has shaped your nervous system and your relationships. That can include anxiety, depression, shutdown, people pleasing, hyper independence, or always feeling like the odd one out even in spaces that are supposed to be safe.
We talk about culture, family, gender roles, religion, and community dynamics honestly. You do not have to translate slang, explain pronouns, or defend the fact that your experiences are real. We make room for grief, anger, joy, desire, and hope without grading any of it.
Together we build boundaries, self trust, and relationships where you do not have to shrink. We also work with the body so your nervous system does not have to stay braced all the time.
What sessions feel like
Sessions are grounded, direct, and spacious. We start with how you are actually doing, not how you think you are supposed to feel about your identity. You can talk freely about relationships, hookups, chosen family, culture, and community without worrying that I will make it weird or clinical.
Some days we focus on immediate stress: family conflict, work, safety planning, or burnout from advocacy and being “the strong one.” Other days we explore old stories, old roles, and old survival strategies that your body still clings to even when you are tired of them.
You do not have to convince me that your identity belongs in the room. It is already part of the work.
Tools we might use
We may use trauma processing tools like EMDR, Brainspotting, or ART to work with memories of bullying, rejection, violence, or experiences that still live in your body. This allows your system to update the story so it is not replaying on a loop.
We also use parts work and nervous system education to help you understand the different parts of you that show up in different spaces. The protector who scans the room, the younger parts who never felt safe, the adult part of you that wants something different now.
You are always in charge of what we explore, what we leave alone for now, and how fast we move.
All sessions are held online through secure telehealth so you can show up as yourself from wherever you feel safest. No waiting room, no side eye.
I currently see clients who live in Hawaii, Arizona, Washington, North Carolina, and South Carolina, based on my clinical licenses.
You are allowed to have support that does not question your existence
If your identity has always felt like something to defend, prove, or hide, you deserve a place where it can simply exist. If any part of this page feels like you, that is enough to reach out. We can figure out what support looks like together.
I review every message myself and will let you know if I am a good fit or help you find next steps.