Discovering who you are, what makes you feel most like yourself, how you identify, and who you’re attracted to is an exciting, and at times very nerve wracking period of growth and discovery. For many, this period involves uncertainty, vulnerability, and big emotions: all a normal part of figuring out who you are. And for some, OCD can hijack someone’s ability to feel a sense of certainty about themselves or engage with self-discovery.

As a sex therapist, I’ve worked with individuals across a wide spectrum of identities and experiences. One issue that continues to surface in both subtle and profound ways is sexual violence. While it affects people of all backgrounds, sexual violence has a particularly complex and often under-discussed impact within the LGBTQ+ community.

Dear Trans Clients: past, present, and future,

This is a letter I’ve long held in my heart, and now I want to speak it aloud. I want to put words to my care, my commitment, and my responsibility as your therapist and as a fellow human being.

It’s common for mainstream culture – with its lack of diverse faces, identities, and bodies – to influence people to develop obsessive thinking about diet and exercise. We see celebrities over the decades morph their bodies with plastic surgery and high-end, expensive diets and workout plans that the average person only dreams of affording. Visibility, however, is most often given to cisgender, heterosexual people who can fit the ideal: so where is the LGBTQ+ community in all of this?

Every year, millions of people in the United States celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride. June has been dubbed Pride Month, in honor of the LGBTQ+ history made this time of year, starting with the Stonewall Riots in 1969. Despite Pride Month itself being relatively new in the grand scheme of things, LGBTQ+ people have always existed, even if not in the specific names we denote to members of the community today.

Let’s be real: being queer in 2025 isn’t exactly easy. With so much happening politically, from anti-LGBTQ+ laws to harmful rhetoric in the media, it’s no surprise that so many in our community are feeling anxious, exhausted, or isolated. And when the world feels overwhelming, connecting with other people who get it isn’t just nice… It’s essential for our mental health.

Despite knowing something was “up” for years, that I was different in some way from a lot of my peers, I didn’t fully come out as a non-binary, transgender person until after high school.

Gender affirmation encompasses a spectrum of interventions aimed at aligning an individual's gender identity with their authentic self. For transgender individuals, this journey can be both liberating and challenging, often fraught with societal stigma and internal struggles.