– Does the therapist know how to help you figure out what your feelings mean to and for you?
– Can they help you understand what it means if you to identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, agender or gender queer, transgender, gender non-conforming, gender diverse, or whatever identity resonates for you?
– Do they have experience helping people to address what role and how to navigate the possible impact their sexual orientation/identity, or gender identity/expression may have on their life & relationships?
– Can they help you sort out the coming out and/or transitioning process, what this means to you and the concerns or fears you might have?
– Do they get how queer folx can experience a lack of support or rejection from family, friends or community?
– Do they know what it’s like to experience the trauma and stress of discrimination for being queer and the feeling of being marginalized?
– Can the therapist address the unique needs of queer partners, including how minority stress may impact the relationship, concerns about coming out and being out, or when a partner is exploring gender identity/expression?
As a therapist who has been part of the queer community for over 40 years, I understand the needs of my community and with that experience understand the need to be open, unassuming and unbiased to your unique experience and concerns.
Specializing in Gender Identity Counseling & Sexual Orientation Therapy for Teens, Families & Relationships:
- LGBT therapist who is part of the LGBTQ+ community. Over 30 years of experience working with the LGBTQIA+ community, with 150 hours of training in the past 8 years related to gender, sexual orientation and the unique needs of the queer community, including 12 hours of LGBTQ+ Affirmative CBT training provided by the Yale Mental Health Initiative in summer of 2024.
- Sexual orientation counseling, help with coming out, LGBT issues, including discrimination, minority stress & the impact of transphobia & homophobia
- Family therapy to help with relationship issues, especially with LGBT issues, identity & coming out
- Parenting support for single parents, couples & co-parenting exs to help with effective communication & conflict
- Understanding the complexities of gender, sexual orientation & identity, binary experiences & non-binary
- Help with exploring gender identity, no matter where you land or what your path is, including confusion, ambivalence & transition support at your pace
- Couples therapy, understanding the unique needs of LGBT couples & non-traditional/poly relationships, including helping with relationship issues, effective communication, connection & intimacy
- Support for social activists, in their brave pursuit of justice & human rights, especially in these divisive political times
- Accepting how we are not all wired the same. Support for those who are neurodivergent, have autism or ADHD or just see themselves as uniquely themselves
- Using many different approaches to help you & your family make sense of what is going on & what to do about it
Or for a counseling psychotherapy appointment, just click on schedule appointment below & schedule an appointment on your own.
Why See an LGBT Therapist?
If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning your gender or sexual orientation or just see yourself as queer, 
it’s important that you see someone who gets where you’re coming from. It’s not only that psychotherapists are ethically obligated to be knowledgeable or “competent”, but because you deserve to see someone who is not just “affirming”. As a cisgender {she, her, hers} member of the queer community for over 40 years, I have made it a priority to understand and serve my community. As a queer person and therapist, I have spent the last 40 years studying human sexuality, and sexual and gender identity to better understand the complexities of who we are, and how to help people navigate this in their lives.
Whether you identify with a particular label or are someone who prefers not to be labeled at all, you are more than these identities and I am here to help you with other concerns and challenges you may facing. Creating a safe, unassuming, affirming space for queer people to explore the many challenges of life and relationships, is my priority. I also recognize that coming out and living with transphobia and homophobia have been ongoing aspects of the LGBTQ+ experience, which have been made more challenging by our current political climate. We live with this everyday, in one way or the other. I get that. And even when it may not be the reason you are coming in for counseling, you are out and feel you have found an accepting community and “family”, I get that it is always a part of our landscape as queer people.
For those who are trying to figure out what they are feeling and what it all means, I am here to help you explore these sometimes scary, but often complex, issues of identity, self expression and self perception. I do so by creating a safe, welcoming and knowledgeable space for the process of self-discovery and acceptance to occur. As someone who has spent years understanding the complexities of identity, in all its forms, I believe that however you express or identify yourself and whatever gender you are attracted to and partner with, it is not only acceptable, but an authentic expression of our universal diversity. This is the respectful and affirming approach from which we will work. And even though I might hold up the mirror, I see it as your job to identify what you see, how you feel and what this means to you.
I have worked with many teens, young people and adults to explore their feelings and thoughts, gain insight about what this might mean to them at that point in their lives, and help them find peace with whatever this means and how they choose to live their lives at that moment and what this might mean to them moving forward. I see it as my job, as a therapist, to be honest, genuine, compassionate, and knowledgeable so that I can help people find peace, self-acceptance and contentment. I have also worked with LGBT couples on their relationship issues, intimacy, effective communication and connection. In addition, I have worked with non-traditional relationships, such as poly, open and CNM relationships, as well as being kink-friendly. As a family therapist, I help parents navigate their child’s exploration, self discovery and coming out process, and provide support to them in the complex feelings they experience in their own coming out process. And for LGBT parents and families I help them navigate general challenges and concerns, and those related to their queer identities. Lastly, I have experience and training providing an affirming and non-pathologizing support to those who are autistic or are neurodivergent.
As an LGBT therapist and member of the queer community, I have been committed to caring for the kids, adults, couples and families in my community. In these days of uncertainty, I am even more committed to making sure that those who identify as LGBTQIA+ have a safe, caring and accepting place to be themselves and get support and clarity. So, if you or someone you know is struggling, I am here to help.
For more information about my experience and training, you can also see my resume here.
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
~ Dr Suess
