Today we are much more aware of the multiple gender issues that affect all of us. The “me too” movement for women as well as men has brought humanity to a new level of awareness of our gender identity.
I have had clients present multiple gender challenges to work through and seen progress with all of them toward self-understanding as well as comfort in their own beings. I have had men come just now being able to discuss their own abuse as boys in various situations.
I have worked with transgender individuals as they worked toward becoming the gender they believe they were born to be, just in the wrong earth suit. Some have gone through the changes to become the gender they identified with and now are very happy in their lives with themselves and others.
I have worked with college students trying to discern what gender they may be or what gender they may connect with in life.
Together, in the comfortable safe setting of my private home and with unconditional positive regard, healing and solutions toward successful paths have been found.
Testimonial:
“Linda is open and understanding about any and all gender differences that concern clients. I felt completely comfortable discussing my gender challenges and ways to handle being open, honest and confident in myself following each session and now in my daily life. She also has numerous resources to share about various approaches to thinking about gender issues that are not the common ones generally thought of as “right”. She is knowledgeable about LGBTQ challenges with good knowledge to share to assist any of us in that community.” “Linda saw me for a year as required by my insurance company to fully understand my desire to become the person I have always been inside, a woman. Now, following my medical procedures and surgeries, I finally feel that I am the person I have always been. I am working and accepted by both my colleagues, family and friends.”
LGBTQ
For 26 years, I was a wife with a husband, a mother with two children, an educator in the NC education system, a community leader and homemaker. My former husband is a good man. I am a good person too. However, we were not good for each other.
Communication between us was difficult and resolving differences highly challenging. In due time, I met and have married my current wife of 22 years. I know and have lived what life can be like as a “different” person in the eyes of many.
This can and does lead to additional challenges in how we feel accepted with the larger population. I have worked with various members of the LGBTQ community who also faced these judgmental attitudes from others. “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission” (Eleanor Roosevelt).
Also, “What others think of me is none of my business” (author unknown) These sayings are true, however not always easy to live by. I welcome any member of the LGBTQ community with open arms and positive new ways to think of ourselves as humans.
Testimonial:
“As a woman having grown up in a fundamentally conservative and fundamentally religious family, I found myself in love with my college roommate. Both of us, now professionals, faced the challenges of making our love for one another known, shunning from my family, eventually reconciling after many sessions with Linda and a well written letter to my family we wrote together over time. While it took some years, now, my wife and I have two lovely sons, we both have advanced our educations with one of us a minister of a church where we are loved and accepted. This journey would have been more difficult without Linda’s gentle leadership.”
Note: this letter is still used in my practice with no identifying information for other LGBTQ clients to share their path with loved ones for mutual understanding. Many churches now are affirming in their language and full membership of LGBTQ persons.
