LGBTQ-Friendly Therapy
Explore and express your most authentic self.
At ECC, we provide personalized therapy to help you feel safe, confident, and free in your identity and relationships.
What Is LGBTQ+ Friendly Therapy?
LGBTQ+ friendly therapy, also known as "affirming therapy," is mental health care that is intentionally supportive of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, or asexual, and more, as well as relationships between LGBTQIA+ identifying individuals. LGBTQ+ friendly therapy offers space for LGBTQIA+ individuals and relationships to explore the unique mental health challenges and relationship dynamics they face due to social stigma and depression related to their orientation or identity.
In LGBTQ+ friendly therapy, you can expect:
Affirmation: an LGBTQ+ friendly therapist will acknowledge and affirm your identity, treating it as a positive quality and not something to be corrected or treated.
Awareness of LGBTQ+ challenges: an LGBTQ+ friendly therapist will be knowledgeable about the unique challenges LGBTQIA+ individuals face, from discrimination to coming out, gender dysphoria, internalized queerphobia, and more.
Safe space: an LGBTQ+ friendly therapist will offer you validation without judgment, giving you a chance to discuss and explore your experiences without fear.
Cultural competence: an LGBTQ+ friendly therapist will be cognizant of how your sexual orientation or gender identity interacts with other aspects of your identity, from race or ethnicity, to socioeconomic background, religious background, and more.
Exploring Gender & Sexual Identity in Therapy
Our gender and sexual identities can have a distinct impact on our mental health, in ways both positive and challenging. Whether you're still exploring your identity, or already have a strong sense of how you identify, LGBTQ+ friendly therapy can be a safe space to freely discuss topics of gender and sexuality, and how they intersect with other aspects of who you are: your race or ethnicity, your family dynamics, your career, your education, or your socioeconomic background, and more.
In LGBTQ+ friendly therapy, you have the opportunity to closely examine many different factors that impact your identity, including:
Early relationships with caregivers and loved ones, and the messages you might have received from them
Current relationships
The impacts of intersecting identities
Your values as they relate to your identities
Self-care practices to cope with less or non-affirming environments
Finding resources and ways to engage with queer community
At ECC, a therapist can help you explore how this life transition is challenging you. Our therapists may use one or a combination of these modalities to provide mental health support:
Client-centered therapy is a form of talk therapy where the client acts as an equal partner in the therapy process, and the therapist uses empathy and non-judgement to collaborate on solutions to problems.
Queer affirmative therapy is a type of psychotherapy that validates and supports LGBTQ+ clients, explores identities, and can help with the coming out process.
Narrative therapy is a collaborative form of therapy which helps clients to identify their values, as well as dominant narratives which have played a role in their lives. Therapists then help clients to identify alternate narratives which the client is choosing.
Why See an LGBTQ+ Friendly Therapist?
Research shows that LGBTQIA+ people experience higher rates of mental health problems than those who identify as heterosexual or cisgender, not as a result of their identity, but as a result of the discrimination they experience as they try to understand and express their identity. It can be difficult to explore one’s identity and navigate all of the challenges that come with it – coming out, dating, processing and healing past trauma – while living in fear of rejection from your loved ones or community. Yet research also shows that when LGBTQIA+ people have support and connection, they experience less mental health distress and have healthier relationships.
At ECC, our LGBTQ-friendly therapists will provide a safe, nonjudgmental space to explore and express your authentic self. Whether you’re newly exploring, are unsure how you feel about your identity, or have a strong sense of who you are, we’re here to support you as you navigate your identity, your relationships, and your life.
Reach out to schedule an intake session today.
