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If you have a youth in your life who has come out as transgender, you may be feeling mixed emotions, including confusion about the...
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LGBTQ+ AFFIRMATIVE THERAPY
Your Identity Belongs To You And Deserves To Be Celebrated
Do you identify as LGBTQ+ and struggle with self-acceptance?
Is internalized shame and confusion causing you turmoil about your sexual orientation or gender identity?
Or are you the parent of a queer, trans, or nonbinary child looking for additional support in affirming their identity?
Oftentimes, LGBTQ+ individuals internalize the shame and guilt that society has prescribed to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Coming out in a world that is quick to be cruel and intolerant, it’s common for queer, trans, and nonbinary folks to develop low self-esteem or a skewed perception of themselves. Over time, these beliefs interfere with the ability to meaningfully connect with their true selves and the world around them.
Regardless of your age or experience, you deserve to feel safe, accepted, and embraced in your identity. This is who you are, and our therapists are here to support you in living an authentic, fulfilled life that aligns with your values.
Mental Health Struggles Often Impact LGBTQ+ Communities
The LGBTQ+ community is a colorful, multifaceted population—there is no one single mental health symptom or core trauma that defines the queer experience. Just as with their cis-het counterparts, LGBTQ+ children, teens, and adults alike have their own unique process of individuation that sometimes involves normal growing pains and mental health struggles.
For instance, you may be a gay adult who has never been able to fully secure a sense of self-acceptance in your life. Maybe you grew up in an environment where it wasn’t safe to be yourself, or you feel as though you had to overcompensate for your lack of a “conventional” lifestyle. This might have caused you to overexert your energy in every area of life, particularly when it comes to your work and relationships. Instead of feeling confident in yourself, you may rely on others to validate your accomplishments.
Alternatively, you may be the parent of a queer, trans, or nonbinary child, or you’re an adolescent/young adult who identifies as LGBTQ+ yourself. This identity might feel relatively new or unknown to you, forcing to consider what you like and don’t like and who you want to be. And perhaps, you’re looking for counseling that will help you develop strategies for coming out or setting boundaries with those close to you.
As a parent, you might find it difficult to affirm your LGBTQ+ child’s experience despite wanting to be a loving, accepting presence in their life. Perhaps you haven’t been given the proper skills or vocabulary with which to facilitate an open, honest discussion about your child’s identity, and you are in search of culturally aware support that can help.
At In View Counseling, our LGBTQ+ affirming therapists are here to offer you new perspectives, skills for coping, and a chance to live peacefully.
Though We’ve Made Great Strides In Supporting And Celebrating LGBTQ+ Communities, There Is Still A Lot Of Work To Do
Fortunately, when it comes to understanding the LGBTQ+ experience, our cultural landscape has shifted dramatically, even within the last few decades. We’ve come to appreciate the spectrum of gender and sexuality, realizing that 100% cisgendered heteronormativity is an unattainable social construct. Instead, we can more readily view issues of sexual orientation and gender as nuanced, offering a more dynamic, imaginative, and tolerant discussion of identity.
Nevertheless, LGBTQ+ folks—especially adolescents and teens—encounter mental health challenges at disproportionate rates. Pockets of hate and bigotry still exist among most American communities, further perpetuating the shame and self-loathing that queer, trans, and nonbinary individuals might struggle with. It’s estimated that LGBTQ+ youth are “more than twice as likely to report experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness than their heterosexual peers,” and that queer adults are more than twice as likely to develop a mental health condition (this statistic doubles when considering trans and nonbinary individuals).¹ While there has been some progress chipping away at the stigmas and misconceptions surrounding the queer community, there is still a long way to go for our society.
It requires great vulnerability and trust to begin therapy, and it’s common for LGBTQ+ folks to feel intimidated by the process, especially when considering whether or not a therapist will identify with their experience. Our clinicians are highly versed in the unique challenges affecting queer, trans, and nonbinary communities, and we are pleased to offer affirmative therapy for LGBTQ+ clients of all ages.
LGBTQ+ Affirmative Therapy At In View Counseling
More so than their cis-het counterparts, LGBTQ+ folks are used to wearing many different “hats.” For some, compartmentalizing their identity has been essential to their survival, but counseling is an opportunity to unlearn some of the unhealthy or harmful narratives perpetuating their disconnection and distress. Therapy is a chance for clients to be fully and authentically themselves, realigning and affirming the LGBTQ+ identity that has kept parts of themselves hidden in shame.
What To Expect
Counseling begins with identifying your specific experience, symptoms, and treatment goals. If you are the parent of an LGBTQ+ child or teen, you will be highly involved in the therapy process as you learn skills alongside your child to reinforce feelings of validation and acceptance.
Our counseling style is very welcoming and person-centered, which means there is no one-size-fits-all approach to LGBTQ+ affirmative therapy. However, we are likely to incorporate some of the following methods:
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Family Systems – observes the fragmented parts of the Self in order to identify their function and promote unification/integration
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Psychodynamic Therapy – uses the therapeutic relationship itself as a model for other attachments, allowing for enhanced emotional depth, communication, and boundary-setting
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – challenges unhelpful thoughts and behaviors to improve mood and self-perception
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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) – uses skills in many areas to strengthen coping, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness
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Solution Focused Therapy – identifies personal strengths and individualized goals to improve outcomes
In addition to these modalities, we are committed to ongoing training and education to ensure the most culturally competent care possible. Recently, we completed trainings in gender-affirmative therapy by Heather Kirby, who is well-known and respected in the local LGBTQ+ community. And while our clinicians are not LGBTQ+ ourselves, we are devoted allies with personal experiences in matters of low self-esteem and other mental health challenges.
Empathetic and affirming therapy has the potential to transform the lives of all our LGBTQ+ clients and their families. Going to counseling signals a desire to live more authentically and with self-compassion, and we would be honored to work alongside you on your journey.
Still Not Sure If Therapy Is Right For You?
What can therapy offer me that other LGBTQ+ affirmative resources (self-help books, online support forums, etc.) can’t?
Counseling affords you an opportunity to work one-on-one with a therapist who is invested in your healing and affirming your LGBTQ+ identity. Unlike impersonal resources, a counselor is specifically trained to observe your demeanor, actively listen to your concerns, and respond with constructive insights that can promote positive change on a deep level.
So many mental health struggles happen in isolation—especially those affecting the LGBTQ+ population—but a culturally aware, affirming therapist is a gateway to the connection and support that may be missing from other areas of your life.
I’ve been conditioned to feel a certain way about my LGBTQ+ identity all my life—how can a therapist encourage deep, lasting change?
People of all backgrounds often come to counseling because there is an aspect of their lives they want to change but don’t know how. While certain beliefs about your LGBTQ+ identity may have become deeply entrenched, a counselor can offer new insights and perspectives you may not find elsewhere.
We’ll be the first to tell you that we by no means have all the answers for figuring out your life’s unique challenges, but we’re confident that we know which questions to ask. Working together, you can facilitate a deeper awareness of yourself and your emotions so that you can separate healthy, affirming narratives and behaviors from unhealthy, damaging ones.
Therapy seems like a waste of time and money.
Skilled therapists draw from evidence-based research and therapeutic models that have demonstrated consistently positive outcomes when addressing a range of mental health issues. If you’re struggling, you deserve to feel better, and therapy is an investment in yourself that is likely to free up your time and resources in the long run so that you can live the life you want.
Let Us Help You Feel Supported And Validated On Your Journey
The therapists at In View Counseling offer LGBTQ+ affirmative therapy that can help you clarify goals, address uncomfortable symptoms, and overcome obstacles related to your sexual orientation and gender identity.
To find out more, contact us to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation.
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