Source: Psychology Today

Psychology Today has a very useful feature. LGBTQ+ search engine To help you find LGBTQ+ friendly mental health professionals near you. There is also one Transgender search engine If you are looking for therapists who specialize in gender diversity. If you’re in a rural area with fewer providers, try searching for the zip code of a major city in your state, as many counselors do. telehealth Services for working long distance with clients.

With all these search results, how do you choose the practitioner who is right for you? How do you find someone who truly understands what you’re going through? To understand this, let’s examine some basic terms to look for in their profiles.

LGBTQ+ Allies

Allied therapists have undergone Safe Space and Ally training to support sexual and gender minorities. These trainings provide helpful instruction and a basic introduction to LGBTQ+ issues such as minority stress and the importance of social acceptance. However, Ally training does not provide in-depth knowledge. education On LGBTQ+ mental health. This can sometimes make LGBTQ+ allies a little confusing.

Sometimes you can find a therapist who doesn’t mention anything LGBTQ+ related in their bio. transgender or LGBTQ+ in the list of problems they are working on. This often indicates that they are open to working with LGBTQ+ clients but fail to center demographics in their practice. By comparison, more active allies are often involved in the community and often mention their support for LGBTQ+ people in their bios to convey their nuanced understanding.

Positive Therapists

Therapists who are more serious about LGBTQ+ mental health often move beyond the alliance and continue their training with postgraduate courses, and many can become Positive Therapists. Positive as a therapeutic method Therapy normalizes the impact of minority stress; facilitates emotional awareness, regulation, and acceptance; reduces avoidance strategies; restructures minority stressful cognitions such as internalized homophobia/transphobia; and tries to strengthen the customer by developing pretentious communication.¹ Positive Therapists specialize in working with sexual and gender minorities and have developed the skills to do so. Since her professional goals are to work with LGBTQ+ clients, you will definitely recognize a Positive Therapist when you read her bio.

LGBTQ+ Advisors

LGBTQ+ Counselors, sometimes called Queer Counselors, are mental health therapists who are also members of the LGBTQ+ community. As you can imagine, this is a diverse pool of professionals. While many are trained in Positive Therapy, others do not focus on methods such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), or Person-Centered Therapy (PCT), and some use Positive Therapy, such as Positive ACT or Positive CBT. Integrate with these methods in hybrids.^2,3

Not every gay or trans therapist discloses their situation. sexuality or gender identity in their profile, especially if it’s a coincidence related to their work. Just because a therapist is gay doesn’t mean he or she has to specialize in sexuality, right? However, those who actively identify as LGBTQ+ Counselors often do so because it is relevant to their practice. By integrating personal lived experiences into their practice, they aim to help LGBTQ+ clients who need guidance. Additionally, those who identify as Queer Counselors also nod to Queer Theory, a perspective that advocates for sexual and gender minorities beyond the binary.

Gender Experts

Gender specialists are licensed mental health professionals who have advanced training in gender. identitydysphoria and self-actualization. While Affirmative Therapists provide supportive care to LGBTQ+ individuals, Gender Specialists focus on gender-related issues that specifically affect men, women, transgender, and gender non-binary people. This includes practical information about transitioning, as well as the social and psychological aspects of gender. hormone Letters required for therapy and surgery.

What to Ask?

The majority of therapists will offer a free 15-minute telehealth consultation to a potential client. During this time, they will ask you about yourself and what you would like to work on in therapy. It’s a good time to ask about their approach to LGBTQ+ mental health.

You can ask them professional questions such as:

• How many LGBTQ+ clients have you worked with?
• Have you ever worked with a trans or nonbinary person?
• Have you ever worked with someone who questioned their sexuality?
• Have you ever helped someone transition?
• Have you ever helped someone get out?

You can also ask them exploratory questions such as:

• What are some of the socio-political issues facing homosexuals today?
• Why do you think there is so much questioning about gender? stressful?
• How do you help people overcome internalized homophobia/transphobia?
• How do you include Selected/Found families in your process?
• What is your approach to minority stress and similar issues? racismsexism and homophobia?

You can even ask directly if they fit what you’re looking for:

• I need a therapist who can also teach me about Queer culture. Is that you?
• Are you comfortable diving deep into existential questions about life and death?
• I need a therapist who understands how important intergenerational interaction is trauma depends on gender. Is this something you can help me with?
• I have a hard time knowing if I’m truly understood, so I’m looking for a therapist who can relate to me. Do you have any personal experience with what I’m talking about?
• Are you political or apolitical towards your customers? I need a therapist who can validate my feelings anger and support me in my advocacy instead of just telling me to calm myself down.

It is also completely acceptable to ask a therapist why they are going to therapy. Remember that advisors must maintain a personal and professional approach. bordersTherefore, they may not give direct examples from their own lives or regale you with detailed stories about their personal history. But pay when they give you an answer attention It depends on how well thought out or natural their response is. This often comes through when an advisor speaks from experience and common ground.