Consider referrals from friends in your community. Look at the Yellow Pages. See if there is a LGBT community center or support groups that might point you in the right direction.
Search for mental health professionals at https://therapists. psychologytoday. com/rms Use the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association’s Provider Directory athttp://www. glma. org/ to look through a list of inclusive medical providers. Check out the Healthcare Equality Index at http://www. hrc. org/campaigns/healthcare-equality-index to find the LGBT inclusive policies of organization leaders in healthcare.
Licensed Clinical Social Workers: These social workers have clinical experience. You’ll often find them working in group settings. Licensed Addiction Counselors: Addiction counselors are not therapists, but work in a similar capacity. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists: These therapists specialize in family and marriage issues. [2] X Research source
Ask them if they have any LGBT friends or family. Ask them if they are up to date on the latest scholarly work in their field on LGBT issues. Ask them if they’ve worked with other LGBT people. Ask them if they are comfortable talking about LGBT issues and if their personal or religious feelings might get in the way. Above all, ask them to be as open an honest with you, as you will be with them.
Did this person seem at ease with you? Did they talk openly about your sexuality or gender identity? Did you feel comfortable?
Setting boundaries with harmful people in your life. Joining an LGBT group. Finding volunteer work in the community.
Being LGBT is not an illness, and those who say it is are in disagreement with the findings of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Medical Association. No science has backed up theories that being LGBT results from having parent problems during childhood. Therapists who still advocate that view are not only on dubious scientific footing, but are reinforcing the negative messages about being LGBT. Attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity are ineffective and harmful. Being LGBT in and of itself has not been found to be a source of mental illness or to result in rates of mental illness higher than the general population. Instead, stresses an individual faces from homophobia cause a great deal of mental anguish for LGBT people. Therapies that ignore this can increase rates of suicide, anxiety, and depression in the those being treated. [3] X Research source
Does the therapist insist you’re a “confused heterosexual” and not respect your gender or sexual identity? Does the therapist spend a lot of time talking about how your parents treated you when you were very young? Does the therapist ignore your mental health concerns and insist you engage in gender “appropriate” activities? Does the therapist reject the idea that it’s okay to be LGBT?
It’s not safe to automatically assume potential therapists will be knowledgeable or sympathetic to LGBT issues. There are still many therapists and psychiatrists who may view LGBT people as inherently mentally ill, or troublesome, or in need of a “cure” for their identity. Therapists might not openly lead with their biases, but if you ask them directly you should be able to get a sense of where they stand on LGBT issues or the issues closest to your needs. You might also want to ask a potential therapist whether or not they themselves are comfortable sharing what their orientation is, and whether or not they are out of the closet. Some therapists will adhere to a professional standard of never disclosing their own orientation to their clients, and you may have to decide whether you would be okay with this.
