TL;DR
We provide LGBTQ+ affirming therapy for adults in Athens/Watkinsville and online throughout Georgia. You don't have to educate us about your identity, have the perfect label, or make being queer or trans the focus of therapy. Come as you are. We'll work with the whole person—including the parts of you that matter without treating them like they're the problem.
LGBTQ+ therapy in Athens, GA
My kid is wanting to change her name or use new pronouns. I don't know how to feel.
This can feel super confusing, sad, and even like a loss for a lot of parents. Your feelings are valid. We also want to make space for a world that allows for your kid to be who they are - because the research shows us again and again that one of the most important protective factors for queer youth is whether or not they have support at home.
Therapy can be a place to sort through your own feelings, fears, and questions without asking your kid to carry them for you. You don't have to understand everything immediately. We can make space for where you are while also helping you figure out how to be a safe place for your kid to be who they are.
My last therapist routinely deadnamed me, used the wrong pronouns, or invalidated my experience. I'm terrified of that happening again.
While I wholeheartedly believe therapy can be a helpful tool for most people, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that mental health providers have historically caused a lot of harm - and that even today, there are therapists who don't make affirming care a foundational tenet of their work. This does real harm.
My hope is that part of our time together can be spent processing those painful experiences and building a therapeutic relationship that helps change that narrative for you. You shouldn't have to wonder whether your therapist will respect your name, your pronouns, or who you are.
I know exactly how I feel and what I want. I just don't want to have to explain why my identity matters when we talk about my trauma history.
Rape is rape, and it's terrible regardless. I'm not here to help you rank your trauma amongst others. We also know that being nonbinary and raped can be a more nuanced experience than being cisgender and raped. Trauma doesn't care about your sex or gender, but your identity can absolutely shape how you experience it, how other people respond to you, and what healing looks like afterward.
You shouldn't have to explain those nuances to your therapist before you can even start talking about what happened. Your sexuality or gender doesn't have to become the focus of therapy, but we aren't going to pretend it has nothing to do with your experience either.
I have or am interested in having multiple partners. I struggle with jealousy sometimes, but I'm not interested in monogamy as the only answer.
Ethical nonmonogamy can be a valid and healthy choice for many people when consent and communication are prioritized. Individual therapy doesn’t have to be about deciding whether nonmonogamy is the problem. Instead, we might look at where jealousy is coming from, what boundaries are in place, and how well everyone involved is communicating and respecting one another.
My gender doesn't feel right. Other options don't feel right either.
Human beings love to categorize the world, and we definitely love checkboxes. That can contribute to the feeling that “my gender should align with a checkbox” because, well, most forms you've ever filled out have demanded exactly that of you.
Therapy is not that space. You can be questioning, curious, fluid, or any variation thereof. You don't need to find a label before you're allowed to explore who you are. Your validity as a person is not connected to any checkboxes.
I grew up learning that people like me are bad or sinful. I still believe it sometimes.
Faith and spirituality have a place in the therapeutic space insofar as they provide support, comfort, and meaning. At Bruckner Counseling, we reject the idea that a person must fit into a specific box to be a good person or a good representative of their faith. We also reject the idea that a person can't possibly be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or any other faith and queer at the same time.
We meet you where you are, gently confront the shameful messages you've been taught, and work together to find the path that makes the most sense for you.
I'm gay but that's not why I'm here. I just want you to understand all of me.
I want to celebrate the whole of who you are, help you identify your values and goals for your life, and challenge you to become the best version of whoever that is. You get to decide what “best” means. I can't wait to meet you.