LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapy
Therapy that honors
who you are
I have worked with LGBTQ+ individuals and couples throughout my career in San Francisco. This is not a specialty I added. It is part of how I work and who I serve.
What affirming therapy actually means
Affirming therapy is not just the absence of harm. It means your therapist understands queer experience from the inside out. Not as a topic to be educated on, but as a lived context that shapes identity, relationships, family, and how you move through the world.
LGBTQ+ people navigate a set of pressures that heterosexual, cisgender people do not. Internalized messages about worth and belonging. Family systems that may have failed to see you. The particular grief and resilience of queer community. The way identity evolves across a lifetime and keeps asking new questions.
I bring genuine familiarity with these experiences into the room. You should not have to explain yourself from the beginning every time. You should not have to manage your therapist's learning curve.
What we might work on together
Some people come to me specifically because of LGBTQ+ issues: coming out at a late stage of life, navigating family rejection, processing the impact of growing up queer in a non-affirming environment, identity questions around gender or sexuality that feel unsettled.
Others come because they need a therapist and want someone who will not require constant explanation. They might be working on anxiety, relationships, career, grief, or any number of things. The fact that I am affirming is background, not foreground.
Either way, you bring what you bring. We follow what matters to you.
San Francisco context
I practice in San Francisco, a city with a particular and complex relationship to queer history. This matters. The weight of community loss, the significance of this place as a refuge, the way gentrification and changing demographics have altered queer life here. These are real parts of many clients' experience.
I also work with people who moved here precisely because of its reputation and found something more complicated than they expected. The city does not automatically provide belonging. Sometimes it surfaces questions that need exploring.
Who this is for
- ●LGBTQ+ individuals seeking affirming therapy without having to educate their therapist
- ●People navigating coming out at any stage of life
- ●Those processing family rejection or complicated family dynamics
- ●Queer couples seeking couples therapy
- ●People working through identity questions around gender or sexuality
- ●LGBTQ+ individuals dealing with anxiety, depression, or relationship issues
- ●Those processing grief or loss within queer community contexts
Frequently asked questions
Do you work with trans and nonbinary clients?
Yes. I work with trans and nonbinary individuals across a range of concerns: gender identity, transition-related decisions, navigating medical systems, relationship impacts, and everything else that comes up in life. I also stay current on issues specific to trans experience, including the current political climate and its psychological effects.
Do you work with clients in open or polyamorous relationships?
Yes. Relationship structure is not pathology. I work with clients in many different relationship configurations without a bias toward or against any particular structure. What matters is whether the structure works for everyone involved.
Are you a member of the community?
I am. I do not think personal identity is a prerequisite for affirming work, but it is part of why this community has been central to my practice and not peripheral to it.
What is Gaylesta and are you a member?
Gaylesta is the LGBTQ+ Affirmative Psychotherapists Guild, a professional association for therapists serving LGBTQ+ communities in the Bay Area. I am a member. Note that the organization is currently in the process of changing its name.
Ready to take the first step?
I offer a free consultation so we can talk about what you are looking for and whether we are a good match.
Schedule a Free Consultation