Therapy for Unconventional People and the LGBTQ + Community

I’m a licensed psychotherapist working in private practice. I see people for in-person therapy in San Francisco. For people who prefer online therapy, I am able to provide telehealth sessions to clients throughout California.

I work with people from a variety of different backgrounds and in many different life circumstances. I work with teens, adults and elders. I also work with couples and people in non-traditional relationships. My clients are straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, cisgender, women, men, and gender non-binary. Geographically, my clients come from many places—ranging from people who immigrated to the U.S. to people born and raised in San Francisco.

Approximately two-thirds of my clients are part of the LGBTQ community, the polyamorous community, have kink as an important part of their identity, or consider themselves “unconventional” in some way. The other one-third of my clients do not fall into any of these categories and were drawn to working with me for reasons unrelated to those areas of my practice. What all of my clients have in common is a level of dedication to personal growth and development and a strong desire to improve an important aspect of their lives.

How Therapy Can Help

Though my clients are sometimes struggling with feelings of poor self-worth when they first come to see me, I have deep respect for all of them. Therapy can sometimes be challenging, but also powerfully transformative—improving not only the client’s life—but also, eventually, the lives of the people around them. I believe that the positive effects of therapy often ripple out, resulting in a better world for us all. I believe that when we begin to recover from our own hurts, we also become more available to others. Freed from the distraction of our intense pain, we find a greater capacity to be present, to see circumstances clearly, to care about the suffering of others, and to act from that place of caring. We also become more capable of bringing our unique gifts and beneficial perspectives to others. Often clients hadn’t noticed their beneficial features before—sometimes because they had an incomplete understanding of themselves and sometimes because they needed help learning to value themselves. Through therapy, clients frequently find it is possible to know and value themselves more than they had at the outset. 

Respect For The Work My Clients Undertake

My respect for my clients arises, in part, because I admire their motivation and willingness to engage in therapy. Many people do not undertake this work, despite its proven track-record of helping clients feel better and live more fully. This can be due to various types of worry and hesitation. People are sometimes blocked by a fear that self-reflection will reveal something too unpleasant about themselves. Other people feel worried that entering therapy is akin to admitting fault with themselves. Such people are sometimes blocked by feelings of embarrassment or shame. Other people may want break free from generations of family pain but anticipate that doing so may require thinking about things that make them feel too unhappy—and possibly too overwhelmed. Still other people are worried that they aren’t capable of healing or are convinced that therapy just won’t work. People who are afraid that therapy won’t work for them understandably wonder if it is worth the investment of their time and money.

These very common worries sometimes keep people from accessing support. I believe this is incredibly unfortunate, because I have witnessed what can happen for people when they are able to overcome these worries. I have seen people disentangle themselves from painful relationship patterns and self-defeating behaviors. I have seen people become more capable of giving and receiving genuine, authentic love. I have seen people who often felt quite worthless develop an ability to like and appreciate themselves. And I have seen people move from unfulfilling jobs or flattened emotional experiences, into ways of working and living that feel more alive and meaningful. Clients who initially had reservations about entering therapy, usually find that their fears were not founded. Or they find that there was some truth to their fears, but not as much as they had imagined. For example, someone may find that facing generational pain and trauma leads to very strong emotions, but they discover that these emotions are also more bearable when a trained and experienced therapist helps them through the process.

Finding the Right Therapist

I hope that you will spend as much time as you need to read through my website to determine if I am the right person to help. Picking the right therapist for you is important, since good therapy often involves discussing topics that require care and sensitivity. I hope for you to find a therapist whom you feel you can trust.

If you believe that I may be the right person to work with, it would be good to have a short phone conversation to discuss your goals for therapy, information about my practice, and each of our schedules. At any point, you may contact me, and I will be happy to hear from you.

If you are ready now, then now is a very good time to reach out.

You can schedule a time to talk, call me, or email me.