LGBTQ+ Counseling
in Houston, TX and Online
Live authentically as yourself in which every facet of who you are is appreciated and respected
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, finding a safe space to seek help to reduce work stress, strengthen relationships, manage mental health issues, and otherwise improve your quality of life and overall well-being is important. As LGBTQ-friendly therapists, we believe seeking therapy whether for life transitions or significant mental health concerns should be accessible, safe, and judgment-free. Unfortunately, statistics show that members of the LGBTQ+ community experience mental health issues at a higher rate for both teens and adults. Get support in a safe, accepting environment.Our LGBTQ+ therapists can help you:
Individual Support With LGBTQIA+ Therapy
Many LGBTQIA+ individuals have faced discrimination in some form during their lives. Discrimination can take on many guises, including social rejection and bullying or specific subtle personal, or family-related challenges related to your gender identity and/or sexual orientation. Along with verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse. Or even internalized homophobia/transphobia, which can make it difficult to truly love and treat yourself with compassion.
Some LGBTQ+ individuals also face challenges with friends and family. Along with confusion over gender roles and expectations. Not to mention higher rates of substance abuse, disordered eating, body image issues, anxiety, and depression.
You may have never experienced outright rejection, yet your self-worth may have been impacted by growing up around others who marginalize LGBTQ+ people.
Our Texas LGBTQ therapists will help you validate your experience, build healthy beliefs and relationships, let go of feelings of shame or low self-worth, and thrive as your authentic self.
Working With LGBTQ+ Therapists
Creating an Inclusive Space in LGBTQIA+ Therapy
While LGBTQ+ individuals face mental health issues just like everyone else. They disproportionately experience negative mental health outcomes due to biases. However, working with competent, compassionate LGBTQ therapists or LGBTQ-friendly therapists can help you feel comfortable, accepted, and empowered to navigate your unique mental health and relationship challenges and create the life you want.
Our counselors at Eddins Counseling Group in Houston, TX work to create an LGBTQ+ inclusive space. Where all can feel heard, understood, and free to express themselves without fear of judgment.
We offer LGBTQ+ affirmative therapy, which celebrates diversity and supports loving one’s self-identity and building self-acceptance.
LGBTQ+ Counseling Covers a Wide Range of Issues
Identity Formation & Coming Out:
Often LGBTQ+ people are labeled based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and even within the community, based upon their sexual preferences or outer presentation. While labels can be a source of pride and power for some, for others, they can be constricting and limiting. It can sometimes feel as though others are trying to force you into a neat box, erasing everything that makes you a unique, complex, and full human being.
You may also have questions and concerns about gender identity, sexual orientation, gender dysphoria, navigating microaggressions, or questions on gender transitioning.
A trained LGBTQ+ therapist can help you navigate your feelings and concerns, and empower you on your journey.
Relationships:
Do you find yourself repeating patterns in your relationships? Are you struggling to feel connected, respected, or valued? Do you have a hard time maintaining long-term relationships in which you and your partner feel valued and equal?
You’ve heard that relationships take work, but sometimes this “work” means finding your voice, or discovering your own worth.
LGBTQ+ counseling can help. A professional mental healthcare provider will be a sensitive clinician, fully aware of the pitfalls of traditional heterosexual bias. Whether dating, in a relationship, or on your own, counseling can help you have relationships that are more intimate and connected.
- Read more about our LGBTQ+ couples therapy services.
Family Dynamics:
Throughout your life, you may have struggled to approach your identity with your family. Perhaps it sometimes seems that even talking about your day-to-day experiences can spur an argument. Whether you are hesitant to come out to your family out of fear of rejection or feel you need to lead a “double life,” you likely feel the hurt and stress that comes with keeping part of yourself secret. Alternately, after coming out, you may be dealing with the fallout from an unaccepting family, and feel unsure if and how this relationship can go back to the way it was. LGBTQ+ family therapy can help you work through issues relating to your family so you can be more confident and secure in who you truly are.
Family Planning:
Maybe you’re ready to start a family or add to the one you have. As you approach LGBTQ+ family planning, you might explore adoption, IVF, surrogacy or other means or creating the family you’ve always hoped for. It’s possible you feel angry, scared, inadequate, alone and anxious about the process. Will you ever be able to have the family you long for? Our therapists can help you cope with your feelings and better understand which decisions will best serve you.
- Read more about Infertility Counseling Services
Aging:
As members of the LGBTQ+ community, we can feel especially impacted by the aging process and how this process impacts identity. As our bodies change and things slow down, it can be difficult to feel comfortable with the body you already have spent so long learning to accept.
There may also be a sense of loss of the community around you as things change and people or loved ones move on.
LGBTQ+ therapy can help you to feel comfortable in your body, cope with the aging process, and deal with the grief and loss that comes with aging.
LGBTQIA+ Therapy FAQ's
An LGBTQ+ affirming therapist is trained in issues and concerns unique to the LGBTQ+ identity. They seek to improve the mental and emotional well-being of members of the LGBTQ+ community.
What this means is that when working with an LGBTQ+ affirming therapist, you can dive deep into concerns or issues that matter most to you.
You don't have to worry about awkwardness, judgment, or simply a lack of understanding or knowledge.
You can trust that you can feel seen, known, and understood. And that you can explore topics important and relevant to you and expect your therapist to help you navigate them with support, guidance, knowledge, and skill to help you grow.
There are many benefits to seeking LGBTQ+ counseling and therapy:
- Explore gender identity questions and concerns, even if it means deciding to not decide.
- Feel comfortable knowing that your therapist understands without you having to educate or explain.
- Talk about issues of gender dysphoria or sexual identity with a trained therapist.
- Find empowerment, guidance, and support for your personal life, relationships, and career.
- Feel understood and supported by a therapist who is not only non-judgmental but also understanding and skilled in helping you navigate issues that matter most to you.
- Deal with microaggressions that continue to occur in your life and relationships.
- Because life is hard enough as it is without having to repeat or deal with the same issues over and over.
- Deal with common concerns in the context of your unique experiences.
- Cope with questions and concerns around coming out, sexual orientation, and gender transition.
Yes, our LGBTQ+ friendly therapists work with adolescents, teens, young adults, and their families.
Parents may have questions or concerns about how to best support their child or navigate social and cultural-related issues.
Our LGBTQ+ affirmative therapists can work with families and parents to help you in supporting your child and navigate questions or uncertainties you may have.
You can seek therapy on your own or as a family.
Career Discovery & Management:
Discovering, launching, and managing a career can be rewarding in so many ways. Fortunately, LGBTQ+ people have more job opportunities than ever before. Yet, there are career and work-life issues that require greater attention and balancing for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
With ever-changing laws and workplace protections—or lack thereof—for LGBTQ+ individuals, navigating workplace concerns can cause anxiety, dread and frustration. You may question whether it is safe for you to come out at work, or wonder how to best deal with a supervisor who you feel is intolerant. Others feel challenged by the “good ol’ boy” humor at the office, while others want greater flexibility to have time for family life. No matter what you’re facing, some of our therapists are also career counselors and can work with you on the practical, as well as emotional, aspects of managing your career and creating work life balance.
- Read more about our Career Counseling Services.
Body Image & Disordered Eating:
Given widespread discrimination and oppression, many in the LGBTQ+ community have a hard time developing a positive image of themselves, let alone a positive body image. If body image concerns are affecting your eating habits, your exercise habits or your daily thoughts about yourself, you may be suffering from disordered eating. Disordered eating means eating in a way that is harmful physically, emotionally or both. Click here to see if you can identify with any of the experiences often associated with disordered eating. When thoughts, feelings and behaviors around food consume a large portion of your life, they can become eating disorders.
Our LGBTQ+-friendly therapists are uniquely qualified to help you work through body image issues without perpetuating gender stereotypes or triggering feelings of dsyphoria.
- Read more about our Disordered Eating Services.
Work with LGBTQ+ Friendly Therapists in Houston, TX
LGBTQ friendly therapists understand and believe that your gender identity and sexual orientation is a natural, normal part of who you are. They also have additional training in unique challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community.
You’re Not Alone. Start LGBTQIA+ Therapy
We invite you to call Eddins Counseling Group at 832-559-2622 or contact us for more information about LGBTQ+ counseling and our practice in Houston, TX.
Get Help From a Specialist in LGBTQ+ Counseling
Courtney Chiles-Cloud
Courtney works with youths and their families that have experienced trauma or are struggling with anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideat…
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Kelsey Engdorf
Kelsey enjoys working with teens, young adults, and adults overcoming trauma to help them build the lives they want and make meaningful changes.
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Liz Glauser
Need help with trauma, anxiety, grief, or life changes? Liz offers personalized guidance and support. Find healing and growth in a safe, support…
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Lori Abramson
Seeking a supportive therapist to help you overcome challenges and achieve your goals? As a compassionate and dedicated graduate student therapi…
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Rae Morris
Struggling with worry or anxiety? Teen angst? Therapist Rae Morris can help you replace the worry lines with laughter. Rae is a therapist who is…
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Ron DonLevy
Your feelings matter and you deserve to be heard. Ron will join you on your journey of personal growth, healing, and change.
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Steven Serrano
Steven is a bilingual (English & Spanish) psychotherapist. Steven’s experience includes counseling individuals, couples, families and teens in t…
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Talia Loredo
Need help with relationship issues or sexual concerns? Certified sex therapist Talia Loredo offers compassionate guidance using specialized tech…
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Vanessa Clairjeune
Meet Vanessa, a compassionate therapist supporting teen issues, chronic pain, maternal health, and trauma. Find clarity and thrive with her holi…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTWhat OTHERS Are Saying
Easy to Talk to, Transparent, Trust
I feel very comfortable at ECG. The (literal) homey interior makes me feel safe and eases some of my anxiety about going to therapy. My counselor has been great to meet with and talk to. I find her to be easy to talk to. She makes me feel more relaxed than other therapists I've seen in the past. She is very transparent about her thoughts and capabilities when it comes to prescribing care. Earlier on in our sessions, she mentioned that there was other work that needed to be done on an individual level before coming to her for couples' counseling. She recommended a timeline for a plan of when we could come back for a check-in. Her honest feedback made me trust her more. I also appreciate that she provided concrete resources and ways to reach out to her. I felt taken care of. I should also mention that the person at the front desk when I called recommended her as a good fit, which was a good recommendation! Overall, I am very satisfied with my care at ECG and will be pursuing individual therapy at the same location due to my good experience with my counselor.
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