LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapy in Los Angeles For clients tired of educating their therapist first
Queer-affirming care that treats your identity as a fact, not a topic; woven into somatic therapy, trauma work, and holistic psychotherapy at our Culver City & Redondo Beach locations.
You Shouldn't Have to Come Out Twice.
Finding a therapist with a rainbow flag in their bio is easy.
What's exhausting is what happens after that...
- Explaining your identity before you can even explain your problem
- Bracing for a reaction, even a well-meaning one
- Translating your family, your faith, or your culture into terms a therapist will understand
all while still carrying the anxiety, burnout, or family estrangement that brought you to therapy in the first place. You are not asking for too much. For queer clients navigating first-generation, immigrant, or religious family systems, affirming care isn’t a specialty add-on — it’s the baseline your nervous system has been waiting for. We start from understanding, so you can start with the actual work.
Not a Separate Service.
A Lens on All of Our Care.
LGBTQ+ affirming therapy at Shakti isn't a single modality, it's how we practice every modality we offer. Whether you're working through anxiety, trauma, or burnout, your identity is never something we need explained, managed, or worked around.
Naming the real noise
We help you separate what's actually yours from what was installed: internalized shame, hypervigilance, and the inner critic built by years of bracing for other people's reactions.
Discharging minority stress
Minority stress doesn't just live in your thoughts, it's stored in a tightened jaw, a held breath, a body that's stayed on alert in rooms that weren't safe. We work with it there too.
Reclaiming identity on your terms
We help you reconnect to identity, culture, and chosen family without asking you to choose between who you are and where you come from.
Clinicians Who Won't Need the Basics Explained
Both are currently accepting new clients for LGBTQ+ affirming therapy.
A Spanish-speaking, queer Latinx therapist supporting women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and first-generation clients through trauma, identity exploration, and career transitions — in English, Spanish, or Spanglish.
An LGBTQIA+-affirming ally who helps men and queer clients navigate faith deconstruction, religious trauma, and the identity questions that surface when the belief system you were raised in no longer fits who you are.
TAILORED TREATMENT MODALITIES
Evidence-Based Care, Applied Through an Affirming Lens
Affirming Somatic Therapy
Track and release the hypervigilance minority stress leaves in the body — not just talk through it.
EMDR & Brainspotting
Reprocess memories of rejection, outing, or religious trauma without needing to narrate them in detail.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Work with the protective parts that formed to keep you safe, the part that stayed closeted, the part that overachieves, the part that still braces.
DBT & ACT
Practical tools for family conflict, coming-out conversations, and relationships — chosen or biological — on your own terms.
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)
For treatment-resistant depression or anxiety rooted in years of minority stress, KAP offers a profound neurological reset.
Culturally Intelligent Care
Process the intersection of queerness with South Asian, Latinx, immigrant, or religious identity without translating your lived experience first.
WHO WE SUPPORT
You Don't Have to Fit One Story
Whether you're newly out, years into your identity, or still figuring it out, affirming care meets you where you actually are.
NAMED & SUPPORTED
Mental Health Concerns We Support
Here's what these experiences are often called clinically, not because the label is the point, but because having the word for it can be its own kind of relief.
Minority Stress & Hypervigilance
Bracing for a reaction before you've even said anything is exhausting, and it's not just in your head, it's in your body. We work with the nervous system that's been on alert for years, not just the thoughts sitting on top of it.
Coming Out & Identity Exploration
There's no deadline on figuring out who you are, and no single right way to say it out loud. We help you explore identity without needing the language perfectly sorted first.
Family Estrangement & Rejection
Rejection doesn't have to be one dramatic event to leave a mark, sometimes it's years of quiet distance. We help you grieve it, set boundaries, and build a life that doesn't run on their approval.
Religious & Faith-Based Trauma
When the belief system you were raised in taught you that who you are is wrong, the damage runs deeper than doubt. We help you separate faith from the trauma some of it caused.
Relationships & Chosen Family
Building real intimacy after years of hiding parts of yourself takes work, whether it's with a partner or the family you've built on your own terms.
High-Functioning Anxiety & Depression
Doing fine on paper while quietly exhausted underneath is common when you've spent years managing other people's reactions to who you are. We treat the exhaustion, not just the performance of okay.
Body Image & Self-Acceptance
A complicated relationship with your body doesn't always come from the usual places. We work with body image shaped by dysphoria, shame, or years of feeling watched.
Intersectional Identity & Cultural Conflict
Being queer and South Asian, Latinx, immigrant, or religious isn't two identities at war. We help you hold all of it without translating yourself first.
Gender Dysphoria & Gender Identity
The distress isn't confusion about who you are, it's the gap between who you are and how the world keeps seeing you. We support gender identity exploration and the emotional weight that comes with it, at your pace.
WHAT TO EXPECT
No Guesswork. Just a Clear Path.
STEP 1
Assessment in week 1
We take in your history, your identity, and your current stressors — without needing you to explain the basics.
STEP 2
A clear plan by week 2-3
You receive a roadmap tailored to your specific goals, not a generic treatment template.
STEP 3
Weekly sessions with skills practice
STEP 4
Outcome measures every 8–12 weeks
Good Faith Estimate Policy
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost. Under the law, health care providers need to give clients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items. You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees. You have the right to receive the Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before your medical service. You can ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule a service. If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call 800-985-3059.
INVESTMENT & REIMBURSEMENT
We Prioritize Your Care Over Insurance Limitations
We operate as an out-of-network clinic so your care is dictated by your needs, not insurance limitations. Our billing team can check your PPO out-of-network coverage, provide detailed monthly statements (superbills) for reimbursement, and accept HSA/FSA cards directly.
OUR SANCTUARIES
Redondo Beach & Culver City
Frequently Asked Questions
About LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapy
What does "LGBTQ+ affirming" actually mean at Shakti?
It means your identity is treated as a fact, not a topic. We don't require you to educate us, and we don't center your queerness as the problem, it's simply part of who you are while we work on whatever brought you in, whether that's anxiety, trauma, burnout, or family conflict.
Do your therapists have LGBTQIA+-specific training?
Miranda Ordoñez, APCC, is a queer Latinx therapist whose specialties include LGBTQIA+ identity work. George Alexander, LPCC, is an LGBTQIA+-affirming ally whose practice includes LGBTQIA+ support alongside his work in faith deconstruction and men's mental health. Ask us directly about specific training or continuing education if that's important to your decision.
Can you support me with gender identity exploration?
Yes, we support clients exploring gender identity as part of therapy. If you're looking for a letter of support for medical transition (hormone therapy or surgery), mention it during your consult so we can confirm the right fit for that specific need.
Do you work with clients from religious or immigrant families?
This is a core part of our practice. Many of our clients are navigating queerness alongside South Asian, Latinx, immigrant, or religious family systems where coming out isn't a single event but an ongoing negotiation. You won't need to explain that dynamic from scratch.
Is this only for individuals, or do you work with couples too?
Our LGBTQ+ affirming therapy is primarily individual care. Confirm current availability for couples work directly with our team during intake.
Do you offer LGBTQ+ affirming therapy in Redondo Beach and Culver City?
Yes. We provide in-person LGBTQ+ affirming therapy at both our Culver City and Redondo Beach (Torrance-border) locations, and secure virtual sessions for clients across California.
Ready to Stop Bracing?
You don't have to carry it alone, and you don't have to educate us first. Let us match you with a specialist who already understands your identity, your culture, and your clinical goals.
Holistic, culturally responsive, LGBTQ+ affirming therapy in California.