LGBTQ+ affirmative therapy in Shoreditch, London

Growing up, you might have thought something was wrong. You might have been told that explicitly, and certainly it was implied. The films and the books and the adverts never used to show people like you. Now, when they do, it’s a story, still.

As a child, you might have felt alone, like no one understands, like there was no one like you. When you heard the comments from friends and loved ones, you didn’t challenge them. On some level, maybe, you even agreed.

And perhaps too, there was violence, from people you loved and people you barely knew. And there were laws, crises that the state chose not to avert. Perhaps, this is not a past event. You might be experiencing it, right now.

Whatever happened then, now you are here. There are bright lights and people like you. You got away. But perhaps you’re walking in the park, a group of lads is playing football. The ball rolls its way over to you. And in that moment, you are 12 again.

You may have spent years living in the shadows. It is safer there, no doubt. But there is no light. You need light to grow.

What LGBTQ+ affirming therapy means with me

I cannot undo the world we live in and the world in which you lived. But I can make space for you. You can show up here. All of you. No explanations required.

In therapy, we will shine a light on all of you, your whole experience. You had to learn how to hide a part of yourself as a child, and how to perform as something you were not. We will unlearn that, together. The monsters under the bed may make themselves known. But we will face them. First, we peep, then we look for longer. Soon, we are staring them, and ourselves, in the face.

What queer affirming therapy might look like

You might have spent so long learning to hide who you are, that now you’re struggling to feel heard or seen in your relationships. You might even find yourself completely lost, without direction and a sense that you’re floundering. Or you might be thinking about your gender or identity, and what that might mean for you as you navigate an increasingly hostile world.

Navigating this world is something we’ve all learned how to do. For some of us, the hostility is worse than for others. But for all of us, it takes its toll. In big ways, and small. This is minority stress. And it’s something that we’ll sit with, together.

As a community, we have a great many words to describe who we are. Gay, lesbian, bi, poly, cis, trans, non-binary. The list is endless and the varieties of our experience are many times greater still. Together, we’ll explore your experience, regardless of labels. You won’t need to explain queer culture. You won’t need to apologise for yourself.

The queer community and addiction

You might have had a particular constellation of experiences that are, sadly, too common in our community. You grew up, feeling like you needed to hide who you are. You probably carried a lot of shame in that. Perhaps, you still do. Then, you found The Thing. Often, The Thing was alcohol or drugs. Perhaps it was sex or sex and drugs together — chemsex. Now, whatever purpose The Thing served no longer matters. What matters, what you prioritise in your life, is serving The Thing.

These struggles are not unique to our community, but perhaps the flavour of them is.

Addictions in the queer community often carry shame because all addictions do. But there is an additional layer because it’s what they say about us too. That makes this conversation harder than it needs to be.

But know that when you are ready to have it, you can have it here. It’s safe. It’s confidential. There is no judgement. And I won’t ask you to be sober.