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LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapy

Managing discrimination is survival. Understanding where the shame lives is freedom.

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You're out, but you're not free. You still hear the voices saying something about you is wrong. Family rejection, religious trauma, years of hiding - you thought coming out would fix it, but the shame didn't leave when you did. You're anxious in queer spaces that should feel safe. You question whether you're queer enough, trans enough, doing it right. You know your identity is valid, but you can't make yourself believe it.

You can learn to manage the anxiety, surround yourself with affirming people, practice self-acceptance. Those things help you survive being queer in this world. Understanding where the shame actually lives and how it got there is what makes freedom possible.As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I understand minority stress, family rejection, religious abuse, and living in a world that isn't always safe. I work with LGBTQ+ clients through confidential telehealth sessions throughout Louisiana and South Carolina.

Substance Use & Mental Health

Bars and clubs are key players in Queer culture, and offer great community and connection. But our population faces significantly higher rates of risky substance use and addiction - often as a way to cope with the effects of coming out, rejection, and trauma. What starts as numbing the pain of discrimination or hiding your identity can become its own source of shame and isolation.

If the bar scene is spinning you into chaos instead of anchoring you in community, we can address both the underlying trauma and the patterns of use, helping you develop healthier coping strategies without losing your connection to the culture.

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Discrimination Within Our Community

Racism, transphobia, biphobia, and other forms of discrimination are still a big problem in queer spaces, just as they are in the wider population. When the spaces that are supposed to be safe havens become sources of rejection or marginalization, the pain cuts especially deep. Being excluded from gay bars, dating apps, or community events because of your race, gender identity, body type, or other aspects of who you are further compounds the isolation of societal rejection.

The hurt is particularly sharp when discrimination comes from people who should know what it feels like to be othered. We can address this pain and the complex feelings of being marginalized within your own community.

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Domestic Violence & Intimate Partner Abuse

Domestic violence in our relationships is often invisible and misunderstood. When society doesn't fully recognize your relationship, it becomes even harder to recognize when that relationship becomes abusive. Abusers may threaten to out you, isolate you from chosen family, or convince you that no one will believe or help you because you're LGBTQ+.

If you're currently in an abusive situation, recovering from past IPV trauma, or trying to figure out what healthy intimacy looks like for you, I can provide support that understands the specific dynamics of our relationships.

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LGBTQ+ Relationship Challenges

Our relationships face additional pressures that straight couples never have to deal with. Coming out to family together, deciding how open to be at work or in public, dealing with different comfort levels around disclosure - these conversations don't have roadmaps. There's also the constant assessment of physical safety around public displays of affection and the real dangers of being attacked for simply existing as a couple. Add in the difficulties of dating within smaller communities, managing chosen family dynamics, or figuring out relationship structures that work for you, and it can feel overwhelming.

Many people also enter relationships without having seen healthy examples of queer love growing up. I can help you communicate more effectively, set boundaries, and build the loving relationships you want - whatever that looks like for you.

Want to talk?


Email me at Lisa@LeMasterCounselingServices.org

OR call 504-208-1993 to schedule a consultation call

All identities welcome. All stories honored.