LGBTQ Counseling In Austin, TX

LGBTQ counseling provides help to individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or are questioning issues related to any kind of sexuality and gender.

This gives individuals a chance to talk about any concerns they might have related to their sexuality or gender identification, as well as other experiences that could be impacting their personal relationships or their sense of the world.

These could include:

Depression
Conflicts with loved ones
Anxiety
Trauma
Substance abuse
Relationship discord
Conflicting feelings

Self-esteem
Stress
Self-harm
Social rejection
Fears of alienation
Concerns related to coming out

Questions and concerns may arise as a result of life transitions, pressure to come out to friends and family, barriers to self-acceptance, and relational conflicts, among others.

If you’re being affected by some of these issues or similar situations and you are seeking guidance, we invite you to come and speak with one of our counselors in Austin.

Working with a therapist you trust can help provide you with an opportunity to resolve conflicts, learn more about yourself, and enjoy satisfaction in life.

What Can LGBTQ Counseling Do For Me?

LGBTQ counseling provides a safe, empathetic environment where individuals of all genders and sexual orientations can find support and understanding for the problems they might be going through.

There has been a rapid surge of social and cultural acceptance, diverse romantic orientations, or gender identifications such as gay, lesbian, transgender, and more. Despite all this, there can still be cultural resistance to these new identities and practices, which may trigger certain feelings and lead to complicated emotions.

These could include depression, anxiety, or other mental health concerns as a result of social rejection, bullying, or other factors.

LGBTQ counseling provides help to individuals as they work through these issues to achieve a better personal sense of fulfillment and overcome obstacles in life that prevent achievement in a person’s personal goals.

Phase 1: History Taking

Before beginning EMDR, your trauma therapist will get to know more about your experiences and symptoms. This step is for you to share about events in your past that may be affecting your current mindset.

Phase 2: Preparation

This stage is about ensuring your readiness for EMDR. Even though EMDR therapy for trauma is completely safe, it can be problematic for individuals who commonly experience dissociation. As a safeguard, your trauma therapist will work with you to create your own “calm place” to concentrate on if you feel distressed.

Phase 3: Assessment

It’s now time to choose a target to be reprocessed during your next few sessions. In doing so, you’ll need to identify a vivid image related to the memory, a negative cognition about yourself associated with it, and emotions and bodily sensations that accompany both. Your therapist will then have you challenge that negative cognition with a cognitive one. They will have you rate how true your positive cognition feels and how much distress the target memory causes you on a scale from 1-10.

Phase 4: Desensitization

This is where Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing comes into play. When you feel ready, your therapist will guide you to process your negative feelings and memories using bilateral eye movements to facilitate the brain’s healing process. This will help to ground you and take more directed focus on the thoughts, feelings, and images associated with your target. Every minute or so, your therapist will check in on what you’ve noticed and ask you to rate how much discomfort you’re now feeling. When you no longer report distress related to your targeted memory, you move onto the next step.

Phase 5: Installation

Next, your attention will be brought back to the positive cognition you identified earlier. Your trauma/PTSD therapist will recheck how true this belief now feels. The goal is to get this belief to feel like it’s 100 percent true.

Phase 6: Body Scan

You will now be asked to check your body for any areas of tension in your body caused by the target memory. Are your teeth clenched? Is your chest tight? Any uncomfortable physical sensations will be reprocessed using the same procedure as before until you can think of the target memory without feeling any tension.

Phase 7: Closure

At the end of every session, your trauma counselor will make sure that you are leaving feeling more relaxed than when you arrived. If you are feeling agitated, they will lead you through self-calming techniques until you regain your sense of control.

Phase 8: Reevaluation

At the beginning of each subsequent session, your therapist will ask you questions to ensure your positive beliefs have been maintained. This will also help them to identify any new problem areas that may need to be targeted.

EMDR therapy for trauma is considered a success once you are able to bring up memories of trauma without feeling the distress that brought you to therapy. Your trauma therapist will also provide you with the techniques and skills you need going forward to deal with upsetting feelings.

How Long Will LGBTQ Counseling Take?

The process depends on the situation and the factors that could be affecting your wellbeing.

Some of our LGBTQ clients seek out short-term counseling to address an immediate concern, while others pursue therapy over the longer-term to explore patterns they’re seeing in their thoughts or behaviors. We are able to work with you to create a timeline so that you can get the results you need from your sessions.

Our goal is to not make blanket assumptions about your individual situation, to meet your emotional needs, and to create an opportunity for you to personally grow and develop. It all starts with an appointment at one of our Austin offices, where our counselors can better get to know your concerns and how to better address them.

Phase 1: History Taking

Before beginning EMDR, your trauma therapist will get to know more about your experiences and symptoms. This step is for you to share about events in your past that may be affecting your current mindset.

Phase 2: Preparation

This stage is about ensuring your readiness for EMDR. Even though EMDR therapy for trauma is completely safe, it can be problematic for individuals who commonly experience dissociation. As a safeguard, your trauma therapist will work with you to create your own “calm place” to concentrate on if you feel distressed.

Phase 3: Assessment

It’s now time to choose a target to be reprocessed during your next few sessions. In doing so, you’ll need to identify a vivid image related to the memory, a negative cognition about yourself associated with it, and emotions and bodily sensations that accompany both. Your therapist will then have you challenge that negative cognition with a cognitive one. They will have you rate how true your positive cognition feels and how much distress the target memory causes you on a scale from 1-10.

Phase 4: Desensitization

This is where Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing comes into play. When you feel ready, your therapist will guide you to process your negative feelings and memories using bilateral eye movements to facilitate the brain’s healing process. This will help to ground you and take more directed focus on the thoughts, feelings, and images associated with your target. Every minute or so, your therapist will check in on what you’ve noticed and ask you to rate how much discomfort you’re now feeling. When you no longer report distress related to your targeted memory, you move onto the next step.

Phase 5: Installation

Next, your attention will be brought back to the positive cognition you identified earlier. Your trauma/PTSD therapist will recheck how true this belief now feels. The goal is to get this belief to feel like it’s 100 percent true.

Phase 6: Body Scan

You will now be asked to check your body for any areas of tension in your body caused by the target memory. Are your teeth clenched? Is your chest tight? Any uncomfortable physical sensations will be reprocessed using the same procedure as before until you can think of the target memory without feeling any tension.

Phase 7: Closure

At the end of every session, your trauma counselor will make sure that you are leaving feeling more relaxed than when you arrived. If you are feeling agitated, they will lead you through self-calming techniques until you regain your sense of control.

Phase 8: Reevaluation

At the beginning of each subsequent session, your therapist will ask you questions to ensure your positive beliefs have been maintained. This will also help them to identify any new problem areas that may need to be targeted.

EMDR therapy for trauma is considered a success once you are able to bring up memories of trauma without feeling the distress that brought you to therapy. Your trauma therapist will also provide you with the techniques and skills you need going forward to deal with upsetting feelings.

Contact Us Today To Get Started

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LGBTQ Counseling In Austin, TX

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What Can LGBTQ Counseling Do For Me?

Phase 1: History Taking

Phase 2: Preparation

Phase 3: Assessment

Phase 4: Desensitization

Phase 5: Installation

Phase 6: Body Scan

Phase 7: Closure

Phase 8: Reevaluation

How Long Will LGBTQ Counseling Take?

Phase 1: History Taking

Phase 2: Preparation

Phase 3: Assessment

Phase 4: Desensitization

Phase 5: Installation

Phase 6: Body Scan

Phase 7: Closure

Phase 8: Reevaluation

Contact Us Today To Get Started

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