We offer therapy for LGBTQ+ clients including non-binary and trans clients. Some of our therapists have lived experience within the LGBTQ+ communities and all are allies.
At Turning Point Therapy, we offer LGBTQ therapy in person in Vancouver and North Delta with online options available across Greater Vancouver.
LGBTQ+ folks come to counselling for all the same reasons anyone might seek counselling, and just want to know their therapist understands their challenges as a Queer, non-binary, or Trans person. The legacy of discrimination adds a layer to dealing with life’s challenges that can not be ignored. Working with a therapist who has lived experience and is comfortable with every aspect of you is where we wish to begin.
You may be carrying experiences that are hard to explain to people who have not lived them. You may feel worn down by having to defend yourself, make yourself understandable, or stay composed while navigating stress that others do not fully see.
LGBTQ+ counselling offers a space to slow down and understand what you are carrying without reducing your experience to a label or a problem. Therapy can support you in exploring what feels true, making sense of emotional patterns, and developing a steadier relationship with yourself.
Specific Queer and Trans counselling concerns may be:
Non-binary experiences are often overlooked, forgotten, or forced into language that does not fit. Even in spaces that describe themselves as inclusive, you may still find yourself having to explain your experience, correct assumptions, or navigate systems and relationships that do not leave enough room for who you are.
Trans clients come to therapy for many different reasons, and not all of them are directly about gender. Some people want support around identity exploration, dysphoria, or transition-related experiences. Others are looking for help with anxiety, shame, relationship stress, trauma, grief, chronic vigilance, or the emotional fatigue that can come from moving through environments that have not felt safe or affirming.
We seek to meet you with all of the concerns you bring with care, clarity, and real understanding.
LGBTQ+ counselling can help you better understand what you are carrying and what support may actually look like for you. Depending on your needs, therapy may help you:
Our approach to LGBTQ+ counselling is relational, experiential, somatic, and non-pathologising. These are not just ideas we believe in. They shape how sessions are actually approached in practice.
A relational approach means we pay attention to the quality of the therapeutic relationship and bring honesty and being human to the encounter. Many LGBTQ+ clients have had experiences of being misunderstood, minimised, judged, or required to explain themselves too many times.
An experiential approach means therapy is not only about talking through thoughts from a distance. We also slow down and notice what is happening in the moment emotionally and internally. This can help when someone feels disconnected from themselves, stuck in shame, or unsure how to name what they are feeling.
IFS-informed work can be especially helpful when someone carries conflicting internal experiences. One part of you may want clarity, expression, or change, while another part feels afraid, protective, ashamed, or uncertain. Rather than trying to suppress those parts, therapy helps you understand them with more compassion. This can be especially meaningful for people carrying internalized shame, identity conflict, or fear of relational loss.
Somatic therapy matters because many people carry stress in the body, not just in thoughts. Chronic vigilance, dysphoria, shutdown, tension, numbness, and overwhelm often live in the nervous system as much as in language. A somatic approach can help you notice these patterns, understand them more clearly, and build more capacity for steadiness and self-connection over time.
A non pathologizing therapy approach means we do not treat LGBTQ+, trans, or non-binary identity as something wrong that needs to be corrected. It also means we do not collapse emotional pain into identity itself. You may still want support for anxiety, grief, trauma, confusion, or relational hurt, but the work begins from respect rather than suspicion.
We don’t just pay lip service to collaboration. It is about how the space is held. In practice, that can mean not rushing you into certainty before you are ready, not forcing an identity where one does not yet fit, staying open to complexity, and respecting the pace at you want to go.
Whether you are exploring identity, navigating relationship strain, carrying the effects of invalidation, or looking for support with anxiety, grief, or self-understanding, therapy can offer a space to slow down and feel less alone.
You can learn more about our therapists here.
A free 20-minute consultation gives you a chance to ask questions, get a feel for the fit before booking a therapy session.
After reading our therapist’s bios, perhaps you are drawn to one or two, but you want to double-check. No problem!
You’re ready to get going and know who you want to work with.
These questions address some of the most common concerns people have when considering LGBTQ+ counselling, including fit, uncertainty, and what it can be like to begin.
LGBTQ+ counselling may be a good fit if you want support from a therapist who understands that identity and discrimination, is deeply connected to all aspects of your life and person. You do not need to be dealing only with identity-related concerns. Many people reach out for help with anxiety, relationships, grief, trauma, or self-understanding and want that work held in a space that is affirming and non-pathologising.
No. You do not need to have everything figured out before beginning counselling. Therapy can support people who feel clear in their identity and people who are still exploring, questioning, or trying to understand what feels true for them.
Yes. Many LGBTQ+ clients come to counselling for concerns such as anxiety, relationship stress, trauma, burnout, shame, grief, or emotional overwhelm. Identity may be part of the picture, but it does not have to be the only focus of the work.
The first session is usually a chance to begin understanding what brings you in, what feels important to you, and what kind of support you are looking for. There is no ‘right way’ to do therapy, and it starts with you and what you want to focus on.
This service is for LGBTQ+ people who want therapy that recognizes the emotional realities of identity, relationships, belonging, shame, stress, and self-understanding. It may be especially helpful if you are looking for support that feels more attuned, affirming, and grounded in real respect for your lived experience.
It makes sense that might make it much harder to reach out again. We believe it is important to talk about those experiences as part of your therapy and to explore the impact that has had on you reaching out again and trusting your therapist.