How It's Complicated works
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Find your therapistUse our free matching service for personal recommendations, or browse our network of 2,500+ therapists yourself.
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Create your free accountSign up in under 2 minutes. All you need is an email and a password, and you're ready to go.
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Start therapyReach out to your therapist and book your first session within 24 hours. Online or in person, in 60+ languages.
Learn more about LGBTQ+
LGBTQ+ therapy is affirming mental health support for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning, with the plus and the I encompassing intersex, asexual, non-binary, and other identities across the spectrum of gender and sexuality. It is not therapy to change or question who you are. Affirming therapy means working with a professional who understands your identity and the pressures that can come with it, and who treats that identity as valid rather than as something to explain or justify. LGBTQ+ people seek therapy for the same reasons anyone does, and also, sometimes, for the specific strain of living in a world that is not always accepting.
You do not need a crisis or a specifically "LGBTQ+ problem" to see an affirming therapist. Many queer and trans people simply want support from someone they don't have to educate about their life. You might find LGBTQ+ therapy helpful if you:
- Are exploring or questioning your sexuality or gender identity
- Are navigating coming out, or deciding whether and when to
- Feel the weight of discrimination, rejection, or not feeling safe being yourself
- Have experienced shame or abuse related to your identity, including from family
- Are dealing with everyday concerns, relationships, work, anxiety, low mood, and want a therapist who gets the full context
- Are tired of explaining or defending your identity to previous therapists
- Are managing the specific stresses of being trans or non-binary, including around transition
Affirming therapy is less about one specific method and more about the therapist's stance, though some approaches suit this work particularly well.
- GSRD therapy: Gender, Sexuality and Relationship Diversity therapy is designed specifically for the full range of gender, sexual, and relationship identities, and centres your experience without pathologising it.
- Person-centred approach follows your lead and treats you as the expert on your own life, which suits identity exploration without a fixed agenda.
- Counselling offers supportive space to talk through coming out, relationships, discrimination, or everyday concerns at your own pace.
- Narrative therapy helps you separate yourself from the negative stories others may have imposed on your identity, and author your own.
- Psychotherapy offers deeper, longer-term work where identity-based experiences connect to wider patterns or past hurt.
It's Complicated is a therapist-founded mental health platform connecting clients with verified practitioners across Europe and globally, in over 60 languages. We work with over 2,500 vetted therapists, with in-person availability in Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, Vienna, and other major cities, alongside online sessions worldwide. It's Complicated is free to use, and you pay your chosen therapist directly at rates they set.
Finding an affirming therapist can be the hardest part, because the risk of being misunderstood, or having to educate the person meant to be helping you, is real. Our matching service is built to remove that friction. You complete a short survey, our psychologists combine data-driven insights with human judgement to identify therapists experienced in LGBTQ+ affirming care, and you choose from a shortlist of strong candidates. You can also browse our directory directly if you'd prefer to choose yourself.
Get matched with an LGBTQ+ affirming therapist, or browse the directory to choose yourself.
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