counseling services
Queer Asterisk’s counseling services bring together compassionate mental health providers with diverse areas of expertise to strengthen and support our community.
counseling
Thank you for your interest in counseling services at Queer Asterisk. We update this page every month, based on the availability of our counseling providers. At this time, all counseling sessions are virtual.
As of August 1st, 2024, Queer Asterisk is now accepting inquiries for ongoing individual counseling, relationship counseling and family counseling.
We also provide appointments with a Licensed Professional Counselor to receive a letter for gender-affirming care. Please submit a request below to get started.
Queer Asterisk counselors and clinical interns are compassionate, queer-informed and affirming, with an emphasis on diversity, resilience and vitality. Our providers’ rate is $150 per 53-minute counseling session. In an effort to be financially accessible, Queer Asterisk is in-network with Aetna, Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, ComPsych, Kaiser, Optum and United, as well as Medicare and most forms of Medicaid. As a nonprofit organization, we are also pleased to offer a sliding scale starting at $75/session. No application or qualification for this reduced rate is necessary.
our services:
- We work with children, adolescents, and adults
- We see individuals, groups of all configurations, and families
- We specialize in gender-affirming treatment of dysphoria, trauma, anxiety, depression, addiction, grief and loss.
- We utilize strengths-based, person-centered, trauma-informed, and evidence-based treatment modalities
- We see individuals, groups of all configurations, and families. Check out our therapy groups here.
“Receiving mental health services from Queer Asterisk has been life-changing. From the moment I sent the first email inquiring about services, I felt held and respected by their thoughtful, inclusive staff. In a day and age where fear and intolerance can run rampant, Queer Asterisk is a beacon of hope, showing what the best of humanity has to offer the LGBTQIA+ community.”
our approaches
Contemplative therapy is grounded in the notion of “brilliant sanity.” This means that we all have within us a natural dignity and wisdom. Our basic nature is characterized by clarity, openness and compassion. This wisdom may be temporarily covered over, but is nonetheless there and may be cultivated. Contemplative psychotherapists are trained to recognize sanity within even the most confused and distorted states of mind and strive to nurture this sanity in themselves and in their clients. -Grace Ballard
Transpersonal therapy supports the integration of body, mind, and spirit.
Somatic therapy uses sensation, movement, and creative expression to connect with our body’s innate wisdom.
Feminist therapy focuses on individual and social change; it exists to empower those who feel silenced or oppressed by majority cultures in society by honoring and elevating their voices. Feminist therapy is based on the understanding that individuals are affected by and struggle with societal norms and must learn to look to themselves as the experts in their own unique identity. This is accomplished by reframing problems in the context of societal views, rather than as a result of personal behavior.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful cognitive distortions and behaviors, improving emotional regulation, and the development of coping strategies.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) provides skills to improve mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. This approach is designed to specifically assist individuals in better managing behaviors, emotions and thoughts.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) relieves psychological stress by reprocessing traumatic events, which may be connected to sensory information that is triggered uncontrollably.
what we do
Our counseling team utilizes strengths-based, person-centered, trauma-informed, and evidence-based treatment modalities. Queer Asterisk counselors come from diverse backgrounds with specializations in queer theory, mindfulness and embodiment practices. sex-positive and relationship-affirming treatment, multiculturalism and racial justice.
supervision
Our licensed counselors also offer queer-informed supervision to clinicians in private practice.
" I needed help for a friend. The people I spoke to here helped immediately. They were so incredibly friendly and compassionate. Actual words: ‘No matter what, we will get your friend the help he needs today.’ I cannot speak more highly of them. I haven’t felt so completely taken care of in a very long time."
