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I offer secure, online video counselling to individuals and couples in the LGBTQIA2S+ community.  

 

What does LGBTQIA2S+ stand for?

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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Two spirit.

 

Anti-Oppressive Counselling

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As a clinical social worker, I am trained in anti-oppressive practice. This is an engaging, caring, solidarity-based counselling that is always attentive to the way different structures of oppression manifest in our daily lives, more often than not in very traumatic ways.  

 

This is particularly true for members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community who continue to face prejudice and discrimination simply because their sexuality and/or gender identity are outside heterosexual cisgender norms.  Many queer and trans people continue to endure hardship and intolerance from within their families of origin, their places of work and school, and from various political and religious factions who openly condemn LGBTQIA2S+ members. The impact of this cannot be underestimated. 

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How counselling can help

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Hearing the message over and over again that your sexuality and/or gender identity is wrong, or bad, or inferior in some way, leads to feelings of internalized homophobia and/or internalized gender phobia. This felt sense of shame can lead to a diminished sense of self-identity and self-worth, which can put members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community at greater risk for substance use, depression and anxiety, and suicide, as they try to cope with this pain and suffering.

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Utilizing a social justice lens, I provide trauma-informed mental health care.  I understand how systemic oppression (e.g. racism, sexism, ableism/disablism, homophobia, transphobia) can contribute to symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and substance use.

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Substance use 

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Substance use among LGBTQIA2S+ folks is disproportionally high.  Coping with the minority stress of growing up queer in a cis-heteronormative world is a factor.  Queer spaces also typically include substance use, which can enhance the sense of belonging. 

I have post-graduate clinical training in addictions and one of my areas of focus is substance use in the LGBTQ2S+ community, including chemsex / party and play among gay men and men who have sex with men.  

 

As your counsellor, I don't impose my goals on you.  Abstinence isn't the goal unless it's your goal.  

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Things I can help with:

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• Questioning - still figuring out who you are

• Coming out 

• Rejection or discrimination by family, friends, employers 

• Internalized shame, difficulty with self-acceptance

• Neurodiversity

• Substance Use

• Chemsex / Party and Play

• Body image 

• Sex, intimacy

• Marriage, Long-term partnerships

• Domestic violence

• Aging

• Grief and loss

• Transgender

  • coming out

  • being misgendered

  • gender reaffirming medical care

  • medical and social transitioning
     

​Click below to reach out and make an appointment.