Call/Text 647.687.6543 info@umhn.ca

We Are a Network of Queer and Trans-identified Mental Health Professionals Who Serve the 2SLGBTQIA Community

Lgbtq Mental Health Counseling Caledon

LGBTQ mental health counseling in Caledon connects you with registered psychotherapists and social workers who understand the specific challenges facing 2SLGBTQIA people. Umbrella Mental Health Network brings this specialized, trauma-informed care to Caledon and the surrounding Greater Toronto Area, grounded in values of feminism, social justice, and anti-oppression. Whether you are exploring your gender identity, recovering from trauma, navigating a relationship, or simply looking for a therapist who gets it, this guide will help you understand what culturally safe mental health support looks like.

1. You Deserve a Therapist Who Knows Your Community

Not all therapists understand the lived experience of being queer or trans. When you search for counseling in Caledon, you are looking for someone who does not treat your sexual orientation or gender identity as something to fix or explain away. Umbrella's clinicians are deeply grounded in LGBTQ+ affirmative practice, which means they center your identity as valid and whole from the first session. They bring expertise across gender identity exploration, sexual health, and the particular stressors that queer and trans people face in a cisnormative and heteronormative world. This is not generic therapy with an LGBTQ+ welcome sign on the door; this is practice built by and for your community.

2. Trauma-Informed Care Means Understanding Your Whole Story

Many 2SLGBTQIA people carry the weight of discrimination, rejection, or violence. Trauma and PTSD treatment through Umbrella Mental Health Network begins from the understanding that your symptoms make sense in context. Trauma-informed therapy does not ask you to move on quickly or separate your identity from your healing. Instead, clinicians work with you to process what has happened while actively rejecting the systems and beliefs that caused harm in the first place. Whether your trauma is recent or historical, whether it is rooted in coming out, violence, medical abuse, or family rejection, this approach honors your resilience and your right to recover at your own pace.

3. Caledon Residents Have Access to Specialized Couples and Relationship Therapy

If you are in a queer relationship, you may have struggled to find a couples therapist who understands your dynamic. Caledon and the wider GTA are served by Umbrella's couples therapy and ethical non-monogamy (ENM) counseling, which is specifically designed for LGBTQ+ partnerships and alternative relationship structures. Therapists here do not bring heteronormative or monogamous assumptions into the room. They work with you to strengthen communication, navigate differences, explore non-traditional structures, and build the relationship you actually want, not the one they think you should have. This service extends to queer family planning conversations as well, supporting couples through the unique decision-making that comes with building a family outside conventional pathways.

4. Youth and Young Adults Can Explore Identity in a Safe, Judgment-Free Space

If you are a young person in Caledon figuring out your gender or sexuality, you deserve support that does not rush you toward any particular conclusion. Youth and young adult counseling through Umbrella creates room for genuine exploration without pressure, shame, or conversion rhetoric. Clinicians work with you at your pace, supporting your conversations with family if you choose, and helping you build the self-understanding and resilience you need to move forward. This is especially important if you feel unsafe at home or unseen by the adults around you. Because gender and sexual identity are not static, this therapy honors the possibility of change, confusion, and clarity all at once.

5. Sex-Positive and Kink-Aware Practice Means You Can Talk About Everything

Your sexuality, desires, and sexual health are part of your mental health. Umbrella's practice is grounded in sex-positivity and kink awareness, which means you do not have to hide, minimize, or apologize for your sexuality in the therapy room. Clinicians understand that for many queer people, sexuality and pleasure are acts of resistance and self-reclamation. Whether you are working through sexual trauma, exploring your desires, navigating consent in a relationship, or simply want a therapist who will not pathologize your sexuality, you can bring your whole self. This is radical care that refuses to separate your body, your desires, and your identity from your mental health.

If you are searching for mental health support in Caledon that actually sees and affirms who you are, reach out to Umbrella Mental Health Network. You can visit their website to learn more about how they work and to connect with a clinician who is a good fit for you and your needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there LGBTQ mental health counseling available in Caledon?

Yes. Umbrella Mental Health Network serves Caledon and the Greater Toronto Area with registered psychotherapists and social workers who specialize in LGBTQ+ affirmative, trauma-informed care. They offer individual therapy, couples counseling, youth support, and trauma treatment grounded in social justice values.

What makes LGBTQ-specific counseling different from regular therapy?

LGBTQ-specific counseling centers your identity as valid rather than treating it as something to overcome. Clinicians understand the systemic and relational challenges facing queer and trans people, bring knowledge of alternative relationship structures and sexual health, and practice from anti-oppressive values that reject conversion narratives and pathologizing frameworks.

Can I find couples therapy for non-monogamous relationships in Caledon?

Yes. Umbrella Mental Health Network offers couples therapy and ethical non-monogamy counseling specifically designed for queer partnerships and alternative relationship structures. Therapists do not assume monogamy or heteronormative dynamics and work with you to strengthen the relationship you actually have.

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

Portrait

 

Christopher Shillington

MA, CCC, RP
(they/them)

Clinic Director/ Registered Psychotherapist

 

Areas of focus:
  • Healthy Relationships
  • Intersectional Identities
  • Trauma & PTSD
Portrait

 

Andrés Gayoso Descalzi

MSW,RSW
(he/him)

Registered Social Worker

 

Areas of focus:
  • Gender Identity & Embodiment
  • Life Changes & Transitions
  • 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth & Families
Portrait

 

Aysha Natsheh

MSW, RSW

Registered Social Worker

 

Areas of focus:
  • Food, Body, Self-Image
  • Trauma
  • Gender & Sexual Identity
Portrait

 

Bushra Ahmed

MSW, RSW

Registered Social Worker

 

Areas of focus:
  • 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth
  • Exploring Neurodivergent Identities
  • Impact of Oppression & Trauma on Mental Health
Portrait

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 Worker  
Areas 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
Portrait

Jesmen Mendoza

C.Psych. (he/him) Adjunct Psychologist  
Areas of focus:
  • Complex Mental Health
  • Consultation
Portrait

Jett Peters

MSW Candidate
(they/them)

Student Therapist

 

Areas of focus:
  • Gender Identity
  • Relationship(s) with Food & Body
  • Trauma
Portrait

Kathryn Bargis

MSc, RP (she/her) Registered Psychotherapist  
Areas of focus:
  • Relationships
  • Trauma
  • Gender and Sexual Identity
Portrait

Maxine Bower

MSW, RSW (she/her) Registered Social Worker  
Areas of focus:
  • Attachment in Individuals and in Relationships
  • Complex Trauma
  • Deepening Connections
Portrait

Nicholas Sorg

MSc, RP
(he/him)

Registered Psychotherapist

 

Areas of focus:
  • Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
  • Sexual Identity Development
  • Alternative Relationships, Relationship and Family Stress
Portrait

Rae Griffin-Carlson

MSW, RSW
(she/her)

Registered Social Worker

 

Areas of focus:
  • 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth & Adults
  • Stress, Anxiety & Depression
  • Sexual & Gender-based Violence
Portrait

Rahim Thawer

MSW, RSW
(he/him)

External Clinical Supervisor

 

Areas of focus:
  • Identity Conflict & Shame
  • Dating, Relationships, Single by Chance/Choice
  • Sexualized Substance Use
Portrait

Saadia Khan

BA (they/them) Administrative and Social Media Assistant
Portrait

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