We Are a Network of Queer and Trans-identified Mental Health Professionals Who Serve the 2SLGBTQIA Community
LGBTQ mental health counseling in Limehouse provides affirming, trauma-informed psychotherapy designed specifically for the lived experiences of 2SLGBTQIA individuals and families. Umbrella Mental Health Network brings this specialized care to Limehouse and the wider Greater Toronto Area, offering a foundation of safety and understanding that many queer people have struggled to find in mainstream mental health services. Limehouse is a diverse, evolving community where many LGBTQ+ individuals and families have built their lives. Like much of Toronto's urban landscape, it reflects the complexity of contemporary queer existence-people navigating identity, relationships, trauma, and belonging alongside the everyday stresses of work, housing, and connection. Mental health support rooted in genuine affirmation rather than pathology or invisibility matters deeply in a neighborhood where authenticity is central to wellbeing. General mental health services often miss the mark for queer clients. A therapist without training in LGBTQ+ experiences may inadvertently reinforce shame, misunderstand the source of distress, or fail to recognize how systemic oppression shapes your mental health. This is not a small gap-it is the difference between feeling heard and feeling erased. Umbrella Mental Health Network's approach is grounded in anti-oppressive practice, which means they understand that anxiety, depression, and trauma in LGBTQ+ communities do not happen in a vacuum. Discrimination, family rejection, medical trauma, and the ongoing stress of living in a cisnormative and heteronormative world all leave real marks on your nervous system. Counselors at Umbrella are trained to recognize this context and work with it, not against it. Because they center social justice and decolonization alongside clinical skill, you are not asked to adapt yourself to fit a narrow definition of mental health-instead, therapy adapts to honor who you are. Limehouse residents seeking this kind of care no longer need to search far. Umbrella provides individual psychotherapy for LGBTQ+ clients at all stages of life, couples therapy and ethical non-monogamy counseling for people building relationships outside conventional structures, trauma and PTSD treatment informed by understanding of how queer bodies and identities carry historical and personal wounds, and gender and sexual identity exploration for anyone questioning, transitioning, or simply needing space to understand themselves more deeply. Umbrella Mental Health Network offers a range of psychotherapy services tailored to the actual needs of LGBTQ+ people. The following table outlines how their core offerings address different aspects of queer mental health: Each service is delivered by registered psychotherapists and social workers with deep expertise in LGBTQ+ mental health. What distinguishes Umbrella's approach is not only their qualifications, but their values: they practice with feminism, sex and kink positivity, and a commitment to centering your agency and pleasure as part of healing. For Limehouse residents, this means you do not need to travel far to find therapists who will respect your pronouns without being asked twice, who understand why a trans person's mental health cannot be separated from healthcare access, who see consensual non-monogamy as a valid relationship choice rather than a sign of commitment failure, or who know that healing from trauma often requires working with sexuality and desire-not avoiding them. Trauma-informed practice is more than a buzzword at Umbrella; it is a foundation built into how therapists show up with you. Trauma-informed means they recognize that many LGBTQ+ people carry wounds from rejection, discrimination, medical harm, or violence-and that healing happens in a relationship where you have control, choice, and genuine respect. When you come to counseling in Limehouse or elsewhere in the GTA, you should expect a therapist who explains what they are doing and why, who asks before using your dead name or former pronouns even if you have not corrected them, and who recognizes that distrust of helping professionals is often a rational response to past harm rather than a character flaw. Umbrella's therapists do this work because they are committed to it, not despite its difficulty. Beginning therapy can feel vulnerable. A good counselor creates conditions for safety to emerge-through consistency, transparency, and genuine cultural competence. Because Umbrella specializes in LGBTQ+ mental health, they understand the particular vulnerabilities queer people bring to therapy and the specific forms of safety that allow healing to happen. If you live in Limehouse or elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area and are looking for LGBTQ mental health counseling that honors your whole self-your identity, your relationships, your trauma, your joy-Umbrella Mental Health Network is ready to work with you. Reach out to learn more about how they can support your mental health journey. LGBTQ mental health counseling is psychotherapy provided by therapists trained to understand the specific mental health needs, experiences, and challenges of 2SLGBTQIA individuals, couples, and families. It is for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship concerns, identity questions, or simply wanting affirming support from someone who understands queer lived experience. Yes. Umbrella Mental Health Network provides LGBTQ mental health counseling to residents of Limehouse and the Greater Toronto Area through registered psychotherapists and social workers specializing in queer mental health. You can reach out to them directly to discuss whether their services are the right fit for you. Trauma-informed therapy recognizes how discrimination, rejection, and systemic oppression shape LGBTQ+ mental health, and it builds safety and choice into the therapeutic relationship itself. Anti-oppressive practice means your therapist actively works against internalizing shame and addresses how power, identity, and social systems affect your wellbeing-not treating these as individual problems to ignore.Lgbtq Mental Health Counseling Limehouse
Why Specialized LGBTQ mental health counseling Matters in Limehouse
Services Available to Limehouse and the Greater Toronto Area
Service Best For Includes Individual Psychotherapy Anyone seeking one-on-one, affirming mental health support Anxiety, depression, life transitions, identity questions, daily coping Couples and ENM Counseling Partners navigating monogamous, open, or non-traditional relationship structures Communication, intimacy, boundary-setting, relationship skills Trauma and PTSD Treatment Survivors of abuse, medical trauma, or systemic oppression Nervous system healing, processing, safety-building, post-trauma growth Gender and Sexual Identity Exploration People at any stage of understanding their gender and sexuality Coming out, transition support, questioning, identity affirmation Youth and Young Adult Counseling Teenagers and young people navigating identity and belonging Coming of age, family relationships, peer connection, self-discovery Building Trust and Safety in Your Counseling Relationship
Frequently Asked Questions
What is LGBTQ mental health counseling and who is it for?
Is there LGBTQ mental health counseling available in Limehouse?
What makes trauma-informed, anti-oppressive therapy different from regular counseling?

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







