People see psychologists for all sorts of reasons, such as sleep issues, chronic pain, overcoming fear and anxiety so they can get on with life, relationship issues, and overcoming mood problems such as feeling down so they can feel more energy and motivation. One challenge can be that of which psychologist to choose. A good question to ask yourself is whether it is important for you to see a psychologist who is gay or lesbian.

Clients who have seen one of our lesbian or gay psychologists have said that they enjoy the sense of freedom that comes from knowing that what they say will never shock. They also know that they don’t have to educate the psychologist about various aspects of aspects of gay and lesbian culture that might be foreign to straight people. People also know that they would have seen the very same issues you’re talking about many times before with clients and in their community. Some find it comforting knowing that they are speaking to someone who is from their own community.

There are other LGBTI who prefer to see straight psychologists. These days, more and more psychologists are learning about LGBTI issues and the context in which we live. I run national training programs called Best Practice Counselling for the Sexually Diverse and will soon be doing with same with gender diversity. So it is great to know though that if you prefer to see a straight psychologist, there are those who have a lot of experience and have been trained in working with LGBTI people.  

Speaking of lesbian psychologists, we’re proud to announce the arrival to our practice and QNews of Heidi who is a lesbian mental health expert, counsellor and researcher and will be sharing this column with me in QNews in the future. Stay tuned!