LGBTQ + Mental Health Blog
Sharing regular reflections, articles, videos, and insights exploring LGBTQ+ mental health, relationships, shame, identity, trauma, recovery, and emotional wellbeing through an affirming, trauma informed, and psychologically grounded lens shaped by both professional training and lived experience.
Section 28 And The Lasting Impact On LGBTQ+ Mental Health
Section 28 was repealed more than twenty years ago, but its impact didn’t end when the law disappeared. For many LGBTQ+ people, it shaped how we saw ourselves, our relationships, and our place in the world.
LGBTQ+ Self Acceptance: Why Self Acceptance Comes Before Change
Whether it’s shame, trauma, addiction, or self doubt, many of us spend years fighting parts of ourselves. But lasting change rarely begins with self criticism. It begins with understanding who we are and where we’re starting from.
LGBTQ+ Relationships: Love, Shame, Belonging & Finding Our Own Path
Many LGBTQ+ people grow up without the relationship templates that heterosexual people often take for granted. This can leave us navigating attraction, intimacy and connection while carrying shame, fear of rejection and the impact of minority stress. This article explores why LGBTQ+ relationships sometimes feel different and what healthy connection can look like.
Why We Still Need Pride
Pride isn’t just a parade or a party. It’s a reminder of where we’ve come from, what we’ve overcome and why visibility still matters. In a world where prejudice, discrimination and minority stress haven’t disappeared, Pride offers something powerful: community, belonging and hope. Because the rights we enjoy today weren’t guaranteed, and they weren’t won alone.
Self Awareness and Self Reflection: Why They Go Hand in Hand
A few years ago, it felt as though a pair of tinted glasses had been removed. I could suddenly see patterns that had shaped my life for decades. What I’ve since realised is that this wasn’t a moment of transformation, but the result of years of self reflection quietly building self awareness.
What Did Your Root Cellar Look Like?
As a therapist, I often find myself wondering about a client’s root cellar. What was the environment they grew up in? What did they have to do to survive? Carl Rogers’ powerful analogy helps us understand trauma, minority stress and many of the adaptations we develop in response to difficult circumstances.
LGBTQ+ Self Doubt: Why We Trust Other People’s Opinions More Than Our Own
When we don’t trust ourselves, other people’s opinions can begin to carry enormous weight. A compliment may feel difficult to accept, while criticism can feel devastating. Even minor disagreements can trigger anxiety, self doubt, or a sense that we’ve somehow got something wrong. Many LGBTQ+ people become so accustomed to judgement that criticism starts to feel familiar, while kindness, encouragement, or praise can feel surprisingly uncomfortable because they don’t fit with the story we’ve learned to tell ourselves about who we are.
Why Do I Assume People Won’t Like Me?
Have you ever walked into a room and immediately wondered what other people think of you? Perhaps you've replayed a conversation in your head long after it ended, analysing every word you said and searching for signs that you got something wrong. Maybe a friend takes...
Coming Out As LGBTQ+: Coming Home To Yourself
Coming out is often portrayed as a single conversation, but for many LGBTQ+ people it is a lifelong journey shaped by shame, belonging, identity, rejection, resilience and self acceptance. Drawing on personal experience, therapeutic insight and LGBTQ+ research, this essay explores what coming out really means and why the journey is different for everyone.
LGBTQ+ Hypervigilance: Why Many LGBTQ+ People Become Experts at Reading the Room
Many LGBTQ+ people become experts at reading the room, scanning for danger, and anticipating rejection. Hypervigilance isn’t simply overthinking. It’s often a nervous system adaptation shaped by shame, minority stress, bullying, and the need to stay safe in environments that didn’t always feel accepting.