Our lives as queer people -those of us who live as part of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum- are rarely straight-forward, readily definable, simplistic, nor without unique challenges. Although we may hold some commonalities with aspects of heteronormative society, or with the straight people we personally know, we experience differences in our external and internal lives that make queer-competent and queer-affirming care essential. There has been much advancement in the last 50, 25, and even 10 years in the advocacy and advancement of rights for some queer people; however, there is much more left to do nationally, state-wide and community-wise in regards to just, equitable policy, protections, and inclusion for all within the queer spectrum. Additionally, you are encouraged to bring into therapy the full impact you may feel from the current administration's violent attempts at erasure, disbanding of rights, hate speech, and increasing barriers to accessible care in many forms. Each queer individual has had their life colored by hurts in the form of discrimination, prejudice, (not-so-micro)-aggressions, abuses, shame and more, with many of these coming in the form of erasure inherent in heteronormative society, from our own communities, peers, and family of origin, and across troubling news headlines and political mouthpieces acting as morality and superiority police.

 

We each have our own stories, attitudes, and meanings about living queer, so in the context of your therapy, we will explore your unique queerness without a one-size-fits-all approach to your therapy nor pre-defined goals towards wellness. Are you feeling isolated from family, peers, coworkers or other social supports? Would you like to work through your experiences with polyamory, dating/hook-up life, intimacy struggles, kinks, or sexual behaviors? Are you desiring more Self-led language around the full spectrum of your gender or sexuality? Do you need to find more stigma-free, shame-free, and queer-focused resources in the local community? Are you exploring authentic living and engaging in the life-long journey that is known as "coming out"? Are you on a gender-congruency journey? Are you reconciling or learning to incorporate spirituality into your life that will also affirm your queerness? Do you feel your multifaceted identity is aggressed toward, discriminated against, or largely invisible? Want to be witnessed in regards to anything and everything related to being queer? Need some space to vent difficult thoughts and feelings about living within heteronormative society? These questions and their answers are SO welcome in our space together and by no means is this an exhaustive list by which to inquire the complex query that is our queer lives!

 

There are many powerful moments (both satisfying and painful) that can highlight the journey of being queer, and I am here with you for it! I work to uphold a shame-free, stigma-free, and sex-positive attitude about sexuality and identity; I bolster this by always networking and consulting with other queer helpers, keeping abreast of related media, literature and research, and doing the (ongoing) work of addressing the internalized homophobic programming from my own story. We each deserve to find and uphold the worthiness, beauty, and bad-assery of our queer story, and I am honored to be a supporting role in yours.