We Are a Network of Queer and Trans-identified Mental Health Professionals Who Serve the 2SLGBTQIA Community
LGBTQ mental health counseling in Brownsville connects you with therapists who understand your lived experience and create space for healing without judgment. Umbrella Mental Health Network brings specialized, culturally grounded care to Brownsville and the Greater Toronto Area, serving the 2SLGBTQIA community with psychotherapists and social workers trained in trauma-informed, anti-oppressive practice. Brownsville is a neighborhood where many queer and trans people build their lives, and finding mental health support that actually fits can feel impossible. You may be navigating gender identity, recovering from trauma, managing anxiety or depression, or simply looking for a therapist who gets it. When you search for LGBTQ mental health counseling in your area, you deserve to find practitioners who know that your identity is not the problem, and that healing happens in spaces grounded in social justice and genuine care. Brownsville is home to diverse communities, including many LGBTQ+ people who have experienced discrimination, rejection, or isolation in mainstream mental health settings. Generic therapy that treats your identity as pathology or assumes heteronormative, cisgender frameworks simply does not work. You need practitioners who understand the specific pressures queer and trans people face, who know the difference between internalized oppression and clinical diagnosis, and who can meet you with both intellectual grounding and genuine warmth. Umbrella Mental Health Network operates from a foundation of feminism, social justice, and decolonization. This means your therapist will not pathologize your queerness or your gender, will examine how systems of power affect your mental health, and will honor your knowledge of yourself. Because of this approach, you can focus on actual healing rather than spending energy educating your therapist or defending who you are. Umbrella offers several core areas of specialization, each tailored to the real needs of LGBTQ+ people in Brownsville and across the Greater Toronto Area. Individual psychotherapy for LGBTQ+ clients addresses anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions with therapists who understand queer experience. You can work through grief, identity questions, family estrangement, or the cumulative effects of living in a world not built for you. Couples therapy and ENM counselling recognizes that queer relationships take many forms. Whether you are in a dyad, a polyamorous constellation, or exploring ethical non-monogamy, Umbrella's therapists understand relationship structures beyond the default heteronormative model and can help you build secure, honest partnerships. Trauma and PTSD treatment is grounded in the reality that LGBTQ+ people experience trauma at higher rates, often rooted in discrimination, violence, or rejection. Umbrella uses evidence-based trauma care informed by understanding systemic oppression, not just individual psychology. Gender and sexual identity exploration offers space to understand yourself without pressure or timeline. If you are questioning your gender identity, sexual orientation, or both, you deserve a therapist who treats this as a process of self-discovery, not a disorder to fix. Youth and young adult counselling addresses the particular challenges of exploring identity while navigating family, school, or early adulthood. Umbrella works with young people in Brownsville and surrounding areas with the understanding that this is a formative, often vulnerable time. Most mental health practitioners in Brownsville and the GTA operate from frameworks that assume heterosexuality and cisgender identity as the default. Even well-meaning therapists may lack deep cultural competency with queer and trans experience. Umbrella is built differently from the ground up. The entire practice is grounded in values that shape every session: trauma-informed care means your therapist understands how past harm affects you now and works to avoid re-traumatization. Anti-oppressive practice means actively examining and challenging systems of power, not staying neutral about injustice. Sex and kink positivity means you will never be shamed for your sexuality or desires. Feminist and decolonial approaches means your therapist questions dominant narratives and centers your own expertise about your life. Because Umbrella specializes exclusively in LGBTQ+ care, your therapist has deep knowledge built through years of focused practice. They understand the intersection of gender identity and mental health, the realities of coming out and chosen family, the particular impacts of medical gatekeeping on trans people, and how to hold complexity without pathologizing difference. Reaching out for therapy is a real step, and you deserve to know what happens next. When you contact Umbrella Mental Health Network about counseling in Brownsville, you are connecting with a practice that treats your inquiry with respect and takes time to understand what you need. You can expect to have a conversation about what brings you in, what kind of support you are looking for, and whether Umbrella is the right fit for you. Therapists at Umbrella work with individuals, couples, and young people, and they can help you think through what kind of support makes sense for where you are right now. If you have experienced therapy before and it did not work, or if this is your first time, Umbrella's practitioners will meet you where you are. The practice offers both in-person and virtual sessions, giving you flexibility to engage in the way that feels safest and most accessible. Sessions are confidential, grounded in professional ethics, and shaped by your own goals for what healing looks like for you. If you are in Brownsville or elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area and looking for LGBTQ mental health counseling that is grounded in real understanding of queer and trans experience, Umbrella Mental Health Network is here. You can reach out to learn more about therapists, availability, and how to begin. Your identity is valid, your healing matters, and you deserve support from practitioners who know that. Yes. Umbrella Mental Health Network provides trauma-informed, culturally grounded therapy in Brownsville and the Greater Toronto Area, serving 2SLGBTQIA individuals, couples, and young people. All therapists specialize in queer and trans experience and practice from values of social justice and anti-oppression. Umbrella offers individual psychotherapy, couples and ENM counselling, trauma and PTSD treatment, gender and sexual identity exploration, and youth counselling. Each service is tailored to LGBTQ+ experience and grounded in trauma-informed, anti-oppressive practice. Umbrella offers both in-person and virtual sessions, giving you flexibility based on what feels safest and most accessible for you. You can discuss your preference when you connect with the practice. Umbrella specializes exclusively in LGBTQ+ care and is grounded in feminism, social justice, decolonization, trauma-informed practice, and sex and kink positivity. Your therapist will not pathologize your identity, will examine systemic oppression, and will treat you as the expert on your own life.Lgbtq Mental Health Counseling Brownsville
Why Does Brownsville Need Affirming Mental Health Support?
What Kinds of Therapy Does Umbrella Offer in Brownsville?
How Is Umbrella Different From Generic Mental Health Services?
What Should You Expect When You Contact Umbrella?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there affirming LGBTQ mental health counseling available in Brownsville?
What types of therapy does Umbrella offer for LGBTQ+ clients?
Can I access virtual therapy sessions, or is it only in-person in Brownsville?
What makes Umbrella different from other mental health services?

Acknowledgement
Tkaronto and the surrounding areas that we serve are within the Dish With One Spoon Territory. The Dish With One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and Peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect.
We at Umbrella recognize that the professions of psychology, psychotherapy, and social work have roots in colonial violence. As psychotherapists and social workers, we understand that we have a responsibility to continuously work to decolonize the practice of psychotherapy/social work and acknowledge the origins of the various healing practices we utilize.
Our therapists actively engage in regular training that emphasizes professional development, team support, and sharing the current knowledge in 2SLGBTQIA mental health, to ensure the highest level of care for our clients.
Meet Our Team
Christopher Shillington
MA, CCC, RP
(they/them)
Clinic Director/ Registered Psychotherapist
Areas of focus:
- Healthy Relationships
- Intersectional Identities
- Trauma & PTSD

Andrés Gayoso Descalzi
MSW,RSW
(he/him)
Registered Social Worker
Areas of focus:
- Gender Identity & Embodiment
- Life Changes & Transitions
- 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth & Families

Aysha Natsheh
MSW, RSW
Registered Social Worker
Areas of focus:
- Food, Body, Self-Image
- Trauma
- Gender & Sexual Identity
Bushra Ahmed
MSW, RSW
Registered Social Worker
Areas of focus:
- 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth
- Exploring Neurodivergent Identities
- Impact of Oppression & Trauma on Mental Health

Clara Doucette
MA, RP (Qualifying)
(she/her)
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
Areas of focus:
- Relational Styles & Attachment
- Friendships & Kinship
- Stress
Cressida Frey
MSW, RSW (she/her) Registered Social WorkerAreas of focus:
- Children, Adolescents and Adults
- Violence, Trauma and Healing
- Stress and Anxiety
Derek Cassidy
MSW, RSW
(he/him/they/them)
Registered Social Worker
Areas of focus:
- Relationships and Attachment
- Complex, Relational Trauma
- Sexuality and Sexual Health

Jesmen Mendoza
C.Psych. (he/him) Adjunct PsychologistAreas of focus:
- Complex Mental Health
- Consultation

Jett Peters
MSW Candidate
(they/them)
Student Therapist
Areas of focus:
- Gender Identity
- Relationship(s) with Food & Body
- Trauma
Kathryn Bargis
MSc, RP (she/her) Registered PsychotherapistAreas of focus:
- Relationships
- Trauma
- Gender and Sexual Identity
Maxine Bower
MSW, RSW (she/her) Registered Social WorkerAreas of focus:
- Attachment in Individuals and in Relationships
- Complex Trauma
- Deepening Connections
Nicholas Sorg
MSc, RP
(he/him)
Registered Psychotherapist
Areas of focus:
- Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
- Sexual Identity Development
- Alternative Relationships, Relationship and Family Stress
Rae Griffin-Carlson
MSW, RSW
(she/her)
Registered Social Worker
Areas of focus:
- 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth & Adults
- Stress, Anxiety & Depression
- Sexual & Gender-based Violence

Rahim Thawer
MSW, RSW
(he/him)
External Clinical Supervisor
Areas of focus:
- Identity Conflict & Shame
- Dating, Relationships, Single by Chance/Choice
- Sexualized Substance Use

Saadia Khan
BA (they/them) Administrative and Social Media Assistant
Stephanie Wu
RP, Professional Art Therapist
(they/them)
Registered Psychotherapist
Areas of focus:
- Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual Assault & Childhood Abuse
- Impacts of Oppression
- 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth & Adults







