LGBTQIA+ Affirming Counseling
Culturally-aware and trauma-informed online therapy for QTBIPOC
As a trans, nonbinary, or queer person of color, you may:
have been shamed and alienated for your racial, sexual, romantic, and/or gender identity
be tired of having to explain and justify your pronouns, relationships, boundaries, and identity
experience gender dysphoria, dissociation, and/or shame about your body, appearance, and perception
have faced gatekeeping and barriers to accessing gender-affirming care
have had invalidating or traumatizing past experiences in therapy with unaffirming, “conversion,” biblical, and/or incompetent counselors
be deconstructing religious and/or cultural beliefs about sexuality, “purity,” gender, family, and more
For many folks who are both LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC, finding someone you feel safe enough with to do the vulnerable work of therapy can feel like an exhausting - even impossible- task.
If you’re feeling weary and wary, you’re not alone; navigating the systemic gatekeeping and logistical barriers is a risky and effortful task, especially if you’ve been told that therapy is just “a white people thing” or have had previous negative experiences with unaffirming providers.
Way too many QTBIPOC (myself included) who’ve made it past the obstacles and actually gotten into therapy, end up in the office of a patronizing white lady telling you to mentally bootstrap yourself out of hopelessness, rage, anxiety, and the traumatizing conditions you’re still living in — without any of the needed acknowledgement of the privilege imbalances and power dynamics, both in- and outside of therapy.
The intertwined and inequitable systems we live in might be conveniently invisible to people with power and privilege, even as you’re impacted in very real ways that you can’t — and shouldn’t have to — ignore in day-to-day life, and definitely not in a counseling session.
While providing QTBIPOC - affirming therapy, I don’t pretend that we’re the exact same with identical experiences. I’m intentionally aware of - and welcome feedback about - the ways our identities do and don’t overlap.
As a therapist, I bring my own lived experience as a queer biracial woman to the relationship we build together, plus a decade of counseling and collaborating with QTBIPOC. While I believe that all mental health providers are ethically obligated to not only be accepting but affirming of people’s intersectional identities, I know first-hand from both positions that the reality is different.
Despite what family members, religious leaders or even counselors may have claimed,
there is nothing wrong, lesser, or broken about you.
You are not “too complicated” or “too much.” And you’re definitely not making it up — as a member of multiple marginalized groups, you are undoubtedly dealing with systemic oppression, interpersonal prejudice, and internalized self-hatred.
With so much power and pressure pushing you and others to minimize your trauma, doubt your perceptions, and conform to cis-heteronormative, white-supremacist respectability, it’s a rare and necessary thing to be able to show up as your full self.
LGBTQIA+ affirming therapy is an unconditionally supportive space
I partner with QTBIPOC to:
embrace the nuance and complexity of their intersectional identities and lived experience
collaboratively develop a haven from rigid binaries and prescriptive narratives
process the past with self-compassion and equipped with regulating resources
develop awareness and acceptance of emotions, needs, boundaries, and desires
discover a sense of hope and agency in imagining and taking steps to realize a fulfilling future
invest in their personal healing as a part of building sustainable relationships, healthier community, and broader societal transformation
If you resonate with what you’ve read and are interested in starting QTBIPOC affirming therapy with me, just message me below or schedule directly on my Zencare profile (link in footer) to set up a 15 minute consultation phone call.