12417 Cedar Road Cleveland Heights OH 44106 | In-Person or Online Therapy Available
Therapy for LGBTQIA+ Communities
Seeking therapy as a queer person often carries layers that extend beyond the concern that brings you in. Many people arrive carrying both what’s happening now and the accumulated weight of navigating identity, safety, and belonging over time.
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My approach to therapy is queer, Gestalt-informed, and developmental, drawing on evidence-based practices to support you where you are. I see therapy as a collaborative process where we work together to create a supportive environment for exploring your inner world, including the parts of yourself you know well and those that may feel more difficult to understand or hold with compassion.
Working queerly means we will also aim to recognize how norms, power, and stigma shape your mental health and emotional experience, and make room for complexity; including ambivalence, anger, grief, joy, and desire. This approach supports you in developing a more livable, flexible relationship with yourself and with others, while understanding distress as shaped by both internal experience and external stressors such as minority stress.
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My Approach
LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Concerns
Many LGBTQI+ people experience mental health concerns not because of their identity, but because of minority stress - the chronic strain of stigma, discrimination, rejection, and pressure to manage safety and visibility. Over time, that stress can show up as anxiety, depression, shutdown, people-pleasing, irritability, or feeling “on edge” even when life is otherwise stable.
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Clients may seek therapy for concerns such as:​​​​
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Anxiety, depression, or emotional numbness
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Chronic stress related to minority stress or vigilance
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Identity exploration or integration
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Embodiment and support for transition-related issues
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Relationship and intimacy concerns
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Family rejection or complicated family dynamics
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Internalized shame or self-doubt
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Trauma related to discrimination, bullying, or medical systems
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Navigating identity, visibility, safety, and belonging in a world that has, at times, not made space for us
What To Expect
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Working collaboratively, we become curious about your life and patterns of interacting with others; whether you are experiencing anxiety, depression, or trauma; or are exploring who you are and how you want to live in the world; or feel stuck in your life and relationships and yearn for personal growth.​​​​​
Our work will center your lived experience without asking you to educate, explain, or justify who you are. My approach is relational, curious, and trauma-informed, with attention to both personal history and the broader social contexts that shape our mental health today.