LGBTQ+ Therapy & Gender Affirming Care in Oakland, CA

Somatic therapy to support you feeling at home in your body & relationships.

A Space Where You Don’t Need to Explain Who You Are

The Bay Area is an exciting place to be queer, but it can also be overwhelming! Finding a therapist who affirms and supports your journey can make all the difference. I offer LGBTQ+ affirming and gender affirming care for adults throughout California. My practice is grounded in the belief that your sexuality and/or gender is not a disorder to be treated and fixed, but rather an invitation to deepen your connection with yourself, build self trust, reconnect with joy and pleasure, and navigate life with greater confidence and authenticity.

Somatic Therapy Should Always be Gender Affirming

My Approach

Bodies have an inherent ability to hold nuance, fluidity, and duality. The therapeutic process of exploring and understanding your gender & sexuality is immensely supported by including the body as a guide and source of wisdom. When we let the body lead, we more easily drop into a non-judgmental, non-rigid, expansive, expressive, curious, and accepting place.

This work often involves unlearning the ways you may have been taught by society to suppress, ignore, and override what your body is telling you. Many LGBTQ+ people learn to disconnect from parts of themselves in order to stay safe, fit in, or meet expectations. Over time this can create feelings of anxiety, numbness, overwhelm or a sense that you’ve lost touch with yourself and what makes you feel alive.

Together we’ll gently explore your experience while helping you build greater self awareness, emotional resourcing, and connection to yourself. My approach is warm, collaborative, and customized according to your needs. This is a space where you can explore and process your identity at your own pace with spaciousness, tenderness, and curiosity.

Common Reasons You May seek Therapy as an LGBTQ+ Person

You don’t need to be in crisis to benefit from therapy and you don’t have to know where you’re headed to have support along the way. Many clients come to therapy because they are experiencing:

Anxiety, stress or overwhelm
Depression or feelings of disconnection
Gender exploration, expansion, or questioning
Gender dysphoria
Coming out and identity development
Life transitions related to transition or identity updates
Support while navigating the logistics of gender affirming procedures
Relationship struggles, relationship excitements, desire to build community
Internalized shame or self criticism, seeking self love & compassion
Grief & Loss
Trauma, including religious trauma
Burnout from constantly navigating systems that weren’t built with you in mind
Seeking a place to track progress, celebrate milestones!

Gender Affirming Care in Oakland, CA

Seeking gender confirmation treatment through hormones and/or surgeries is an emotional journey, but also a logistical one, and it can be a lot to navigate. Im here for you whether you’re seeking a support letter for an upcoming procedure, wanting to talk through what to wear to an upcoming event, or both!

I provide affirming support for transgender, non-binary, gender expansive, and questioning individuals. If you’re exploring your identity, considering next steps in your transition, navigating relationships, managing dysphoria, or seeking a therapist who can hold the complexity of gender, I’d be honored and excited to work with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Affirming therapy means your gender and sexuality are never treated as problems to fix. Instead, we can focus on whatever matters to you—whether that’s anxiety, relationships, grief, trauma, identity, transition, self trust, or simply wanting to feel more connected to yourself. You also won’t be expected to educate me or defend your identity in the therapy room.
Yes. Sometimes the body can offer information that’s difficult to access through thinking alone. We may gently notice sensations of comfort, discomfort, expansion, contraction, excitement, or ease as you explore different aspects of yourself. There is no “right” way your body should respond—the goal is to become more curious about your own experience and build trust in what feels authentic to you.
Absolutely! You get to decide what we focus on. Sometimes identity is central to the work, and sometimes you just want a therapist who understands and affirms who you are while you talk about your job, relationships, family, anxiety, or whatever else is happening in your life.

Yes. Therapy can be a place to explore the emotional and practical parts of transition at your own pace. We can make space for questions, excitement, uncertainty, grief, relationships, dysphoria, changing identities, and the many other experiences that can come with transition.
es. I can provide support letters for gender affirming procedures when appropriate. We can also use our time together to talk through the emotional and logistical aspects of preparing for care and what support might feel helpful before, during, and after a procedure. Additionally, if you are seeking a secondary letter for a gender affirming procedure, feel free to reach out.
Yes. I offer teletherapy to adults throughout California, so you can access LGBTQ+ and gender affirming therapy from your own space regardless of where you live in the state.

How to get started with LGBTQ+ affirming therapy in Oakland, CA

1. Reach out

Fill out the short form on the “contact me” page of this website. Tell me a bit about what brings you to therapy at this time and some good times to reach you. I typically respond within 24-48hrs during business days.

2. Book a consultation call

I’ll confirm a time based on your availability. On this call I can answer questions you may have. We will also discuss fee, availability, and your therapeutic needs to see if working together feels like the right fit.

3. Schedule your session

If you feel ready, we can go ahead and get that first session scheduled on the consultation call. If you need some time, you can email me afterwards to get your first session on the books.