How to find a lesbian therapist near me?
For lesbians seeking therapy, it can be a difficult process in finding a therapist who is the right fit. Someone who knows about lesbian issues, but understands that being a lesbian doesn’t fully define anyone.
Here are 8 tips to finding a lesbian therapist near you:
Call Long Beach Therapy:
At Long Beach Therapy, we have therapists who are lesbian (and gay therapists too) who can help you through your journey so that you aren’t having to explain concepts and terms to someone who doesn’t quite understand.
Use Inclusive Directories:
Look at websites dedicated to lesbian health or call your local LGBTQIA center for referrals (GLMA directory is one example).
Ask for Recommendations:
Ask your friends. Chances are, someone you know has gone to therapy with a lesbian therapist. Ask them what they liked and didn’t like about their therapist and if they would choose that therapist again if they had it to do it all over again.
Look for Specializations:
When you are looking on their website, do they have any LGBTQIA symbols? Do they have a section of their blog dedicated to LGBTQIA or lesbian clients? If they haven’t thought to include you in their website, there is a chance that they don’t really know about the issues specific to the lesbian community.
Interview Potential Therapists:
When you call a therapist, ask a few questions. If they don’t have 5 minutes to answer your questions, they might not be a good fit anyway. Ask them if they know about lesbian bed death or lesbian codependency and what they do to help with those issues. It might be embarrassing to ask about lesbian bed death over the phone, but it is going to be much less embarrassing when you actually have to talk about your sex life or love life and you find out too late that your therapist isn’t informed about lesbian issues.
Assess Comfort Level:
It’s hard to get a full read of a therapist in a 5-10 minute call, so you may have to actually have a full appointment with them to find out if you feel comfortable with them. Try calling 5 therapists and trust your gut feeling about who you feel most comfortable with. The more comfortable you feel on that 5–10-minute initial call, the more likely you will feel comfortable talking about issues during your actual appointment.
Consider Teletherapy:
If you have trouble finding a lesbian therapist near you, try teletherapy. Since the total people in the USA that identify as LGBTQIA is 7% (and lesbians only represent the “L” in LGBTQIA), it tends to be hard to find in-person appointments for a lesbian therapist. At Long Beach Therapy, we have clients all throughout California who can’t find a lesbian therapist in their area.
Trust Your Instincts:
The two most important things when looking for a therapist is that they are QUALIFIED and that you FEEL COMFORTABLE with them. If you don’t feel comfortable with them, you aren’t going to open up and be vulnerable, which is necessary to get the results you want in the least amount of time.