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

Lgbtq Mental Health Counseling Georgetown

LGBTQ Mental Health Counseling Georgetown connects people in this Halton Region community with registered psychotherapists and social workers who specialize in serving the 2SLGBTQIA community. Umbrella Mental Health Network brings trauma-informed, anti-oppressive care to Georgetown residents and those throughout the Greater Toronto Area, grounded in feminist and social justice values that centre the real lived experiences of queer and trans people.

1. Georgetown residents have access to culturally competent care designed for LGBTQ+ clients

Accessing mental health support as an LGBTQ+ person often means navigating providers who lack understanding of queer and trans experience, or who operate from frameworks that pathologize gender diversity and sexual orientation. Umbrella Mental Health Network was built to eliminate that barrier. Their clinicians bring specialized training in queer-affirming practice, meaning your identity is never the problem to be solved, but rather the context in which your real challenges are understood.

Georgetown's growing LGBTQ+ community deserves care that reflects their values and sees them clearly. Umbrella's approach explicitly integrates feminism, social justice, and decolonization into therapy, ensuring that the broader systems affecting your mental health are acknowledged alongside individual healing. Whether you are exploring gender identity, managing trauma, or navigating the complexities of queer relationships, this foundation matters.

2. Umbrella offers specialized support for trauma recovery grounded in evidence-based practice

Many LGBTQ+ individuals in Georgetown and beyond carry trauma rooted in discrimination, rejection, violence, or medical harm. Trauma-informed care means your therapist understands how these experiences shape your nervous system, your relationships, and your sense of safety. Umbrella's registered psychotherapists are trained to recognize trauma's impact and work with you at a pace that honors your autonomy and builds genuine safety.

This is not generic talk therapy. Umbrella clinicians use approaches grounded in current trauma theory to address PTSD, complex trauma, and the particular forms of injury that LGBTQ+ people face. They understand that healing happens in relationship, and they design the therapeutic relationship itself as a container for recovery. For Georgetown residents carrying unprocessed trauma, this specificity can be the difference between sessions that help and sessions that feel like explaining yourself to someone who does not fully understand.

3. Couples therapy and relationship counseling serve diverse family structures

Not all couples look the same, and not all relationship agreements are monogamous. Umbrella's couples therapy embraces this reality. Whether you are navigating a same-sex partnership, an ethically non-monogamous relationship, a chosen family constellation, or a queer family planning process, Umbrella provides counseling that does not default to heteronormative or amatonormative assumptions.

This matters in Georgetown, where LGBTQ+ couples and families may have struggled to find therapists who understand their relationship structure without judgment or pathologization. Umbrella's clinicians are trained in ENM (ethical non-monogamy) counselling and bring sex-positive, kink-positive frameworks to their work. Relationships that fall outside conventional models receive the same rigorous, compassionate therapeutic care as any other.

4. Youth and gender identity exploration receive specialized, age-appropriate support

Young people in Georgetown exploring gender identity or sexual orientation need space to ask questions without pressure toward predetermined outcomes. Umbrella's youth and young adult counselling provides exactly that: a clinician trained in identity development, neurobiology of adolescence, and the particular pressures facing LGBTQ+ youth navigating family, school, and peer relationships alongside identity questions.

This service extends beyond individual work. Umbrella clinicians understand that youth identity exploration happens in relationship with family systems, school environments, and broader social context. They can work with young people to build safety, explore identity at a genuine pace, and develop coping strategies for the real pressures they face. For families in Georgetown seeking support for their LGBTQ+ youth, this specialized approach offers something harder to find in mainstream mental health.

5. Accessing therapy means finding a provider whose values align with yours

Mental health care is not neutral. The framework a therapist works from, the assumptions they hold, and the values embedded in their practice shape what becomes possible in the room. Umbrella Mental Health Network is explicit about its commitments: anti-oppression, feminism, social justice, trauma-informed practice, and sex-positivity are not optional add-ons but foundational to how they work.

For Georgetown residents tired of searching for providers who "get it," or who have had experiences with therapists operating from pathologizing or cisheteronormative frameworks, this clarity is clarifying. You know where Umbrella stands and whether your values align before you book. This matters because therapy built on mismatched foundations wastes time and can compound harm. Georgetown's LGBTQ+ community deserves clinicians who have done their own work and built practices reflecting genuine commitment to queer and trans liberation.

If you live in Georgetown or elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area and are looking for LGBTQ+ mental health support that reflects these values and approaches, reach out to Umbrella Mental Health Network to learn more about their therapists and how they work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there LGBTQ mental health counseling available in Georgetown specifically?

Yes. Umbrella Mental Health Network serves Georgetown and throughout the Greater Toronto Area, offering specialized counseling for 2SLGBTQIA individuals. Because Georgetown is part of the GTA, residents have access to Umbrella's registered psychotherapists and social workers without needing to travel to Toronto.

What makes LGBTQ-specific mental health counseling different from general therapy?

LGBTQ-specific counseling is built on understanding of gender diversity, sexual orientation, and the real harms caused by discrimination and marginalization. Providers like Umbrella integrate this into every aspect of their work, meaning your identity is understood as context, not as pathology, and your therapist can name and address systemic oppression alongside individual healing.

Does Umbrella Mental Health Network offer couples therapy for same-sex relationships and non-monogamous partnerships?

Yes. Umbrella provides couples therapy and ENM counselling grounded in sex-positive, kink-positive frameworks that do not default to heteronormative or monogamous assumptions. Their clinicians work with diverse relationship structures including same-sex couples, ethically non-monogamous partners, and chosen family constellations.

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