Bi? Gay? Trans? Fluid? Hiding? Denying? Scared? Proud? Confused? Empowered?
These identities can sometimes come with unique challenges related to societal understanding, acceptance, and equality. At Relational Psych, we understand the complexity and the importance of these identities, and we're here to help navigate through the difficulties you may face.
If you're part of the LGBTQIA+ community, it's common to experience certain emotional and psychological difficulties related to your identity. These might include feelings of isolation, identity confusion, anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues, or internalized homophobia. Facing discrimination, prejudice, or microaggressions can also lead to heightened stress levels and relationship difficulties. Recognizing these struggles is a crucial step towards healing and self-discovery.
There are many different stages and experiences with gender identity and sexual orientation and you deserve a safe, low pressure, and highly supportive environment to explore and be. We believe you don’t need to be alone in your journey of discovering yourself.
All clinicians at Relational Psych value you as the expert of your identity and will be affirming of who you are and who you become. Your therapist is highly trained to be with all your uncertainty, dissonance, anger, fear, and grief. We understand that for some people, it’s less about the internal struggle and more about living in a world not set up for them. For others, there are so many internal conflicts about what’s ok and what’s true. We understand that we may have different perspectives from each other but you will remain the expert of your experience.
Free of charge | 15 minutes
It is vulnerable to begin therapy. During your initial contact, our care coordinator, Ally, will listen to what you are experiencing and what you are looking for in treatment. She will consider which therapist is the best fit for you based on style, expertise, and also some logistics like scheduling. Once you get scheduled, she will send you online intake paperwork to complete before your first session.
Standard rate | 45 minutes
At your first meeting, your therapist will spend time setting the "frame" for what your time together will be like. They will approach this session with some structure (identifying relevant background information, getting to know you, inviting you to ask questions of them, asking about your intentions for therapy) while remaining flexible to attend to what feels most relevant to you right now. This means that if you're in crisis or need immediate support with a particular situation, we'll start there. Or, if you need time building trust before sharing the harder stuff, we'll be patient. If you don't know where to start, we'll help.
Since our team includes specialists in psychological assessment, your therapist may recommend that you complete empirically supported assessment instruments at the beginning of treatment. This will help them adapt their approach to therapy to your specific concerns and personality functioning. You will discuss the results together and incorporate the findings into your work and focus of treatment. We can also provide you with a formal report for an additional fee.
Standard rate | 45 minutes
Sessions are typically held at least once a week in order to maintain consistency and focus. Any less frequent, and your time can be spent too often in “catch up” mode and less focused on attending to the issues you came to therapy for. Sometimes, your therapist may recommend scheduling sessions more frequently than once a week. This could be to provide more support or to facilitate greater depth in the work. We do not typically recommend biweekly sessions.
