Imagine being in a crisis, being brave and vulnerable enough to seek help, being persistent enough to actually connect with help, paying good money to access that help… only to find that the therapist you found doesn’t approve of who you are.
This story recently surfaced about a young man named Caleb who was living an all-too-common nightmare, in which his parents had kicked him out of their home for simply being out and gay. He had accessed counseling services through BetterHelp to get support through this crisis, and was paired with a Christian therapist who, not surprisingly, did not support his sexuality and gay identity. The therapist apparently encouraged him to “sacrifice being gay” to regain his family’s support. Caleb, fortunately, was able to recognize that this was not the kind of “help” he needed, and fired the therapist.
While this is a rather extreme mismatch of client and therapist, it is a prime example of why I like to openly identify myself as a secular and queer therapist. I have heard far too many clients tell me over the years that they had a previous therapist push them toward prayer or other religious practices, even when the client had said they were atheist or agnostic. And, while there are a lot of excellent therapists who are LGBTQ+ allies, most don’t really understand what it is like to be anything other than cis-het male/female. Only a few therapists out there understand what it is to be a queer EXvangelical.
If that looks like what you’re looking for, drop me a line here and let’s see how I can help.