LGBTQIA+ Affirming Therapy
LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapist in Fort Worth, Texas
As an LGBTQ+ affirming therapist, my work is about helping you come home to yourself. I know how many layers can build up between who you are and what the world has allowed you to show, and how exhausting it can be to carry those layers alone. Therapy is a place where we can begin to gently peel them back, at your pace, so you can arrive as you are, human, complex, and worthy of care.
I hold space for whatever you bring into the room, including grief, pride, fear, and tenderness. Together, we can explore your story with curiosity and compassion, making sense of what you have carried and how it has shaped you. My role is not to fix you, but to walk alongside you as you reconnect with parts of yourself that already hold wisdom and resilience. I am especially passionate about providing trans affirming care and creating a space where your identity is respected, honored, and never something you have to explain or defend. More than anything, I want you to feel deeply seen and accepted, not in spite of who you are, but because of it.
What This Space Can Help You With
Feeling more comfortable expressing your identity
Releasing shame from past rejection or invalidation
Working through family or relationship challenges
Processing trauma connected to discrimination or fear
Exploring belonging and self-acceptance
Strengthening your voice and confidence
Cultivating peace in your relationship with yourself
Many LGBTQ+ people grow up hearing quiet but powerful messages about what it means to be acceptable or lovable. Even when you’ve come to embrace your identity, those messages can linger in subtle ways. They can shape how you talk to yourself, how safe you feel with others, and how much space you believe you’re allowed to take up. Sometimes, we learn to tuck away certain parts of ourselves just to keep peace, love, or belonging.
In therapy, we take time to notice those old voices and the ways they still echo inside you. The part that tells you to stay small or to blend in was once trying to protect you. Together, we can begin to understand where those messages came from and what they were trying to help you survive. When you start to meet those parts of yourself with compassion instead of judgment, the shame begins to soften.
Over time, that space makes room for something new to grow: trust in yourself, pride in who you are, and the quiet confidence that you no longer have to earn your right to exist exactly as you are.
Working Through Internalized Messages
What This Can Look Like in Daily Life
Feeling like you have to prove your worth or hide certain parts of yourself
Struggling to accept affection or compliments because they don’t feel true
Noticing a quiet inner voice that questions whether you belong
Feeling guilt or anxiety when setting boundaries or asking for what you need
Trying to be “easy” or “perfect” in relationships to avoid rejection
Believing you need to shrink, edit, or explain your identity to be accepted
Feeling uncomfortable with pride or visibility, even when you want it
Carrying a lingering sense of shame or “wrongness” that’s hard to name
How EMDR Can Help
Many LGBTQ+ clients come to therapy carrying experiences that were overwhelming, invalidating, or simply never given space to heal. These moments might not always look like “big traumas.” Sometimes they’re the quiet, repeated experiences — being told to tone yourself down, hiding parts of your identity, or feeling unsafe to show affection in public. Over time, those experiences can leave the nervous system on alert and the body holding tension that never had a chance to release.
EMDR helps the brain and body process those memories so they no longer hold the same emotional charge. Instead of feeling trapped in old fears or self-doubt, you begin to experience those memories as part of the past, not the present. You can start to feel more grounded and confident in who you are, without the same weight of shame or vigilance.
In our work together, EMDR can support you in reconnecting with safety, trust, and pride. It allows the nervous system to settle, helps old beliefs like “I’m not enough” or “It’s not safe to be me” transform into something gentler and truer, and creates more room for self-acceptance and peace in your daily life.
What This Space Can Help You With
Feeling more comfortable expressing your identity
Releasing shame from past rejection or invalidation
Working through family or relationship challenges
Processing trauma connected to discrimination or fear
Exploring belonging and self-acceptance
Strengthening your voice and confidence
Cultivating peace in your relationship with yourself
Ready to Begin?
If you are looking for a safe and affirming space to explore your story and begin healing, I would be honored to meet with you. You can schedule your first appointment here, and we will move at a pace that feels right for you.