We Are a Network of Queer and Trans-identified Mental Health Professionals Who Serve the 2SLGBTQIA Community
LGBTQ mental health counseling in St Jacobs connects you with registered psychotherapists and social workers who understand queer and trans experience from the inside. Umbrella Mental Health Network brings specialized, trauma-informed care to St Jacobs and surrounding communities, grounded in feminism, social justice, and genuine affirmation of who you are. If you live in or near St Jacobs, you know the rhythm of a small, tight-knit community. You also know that finding a therapist who truly gets the 2SLGBTQIA experience-one who won't pathologize your identity, your relationships, or your desires-is rarely simple. Many people in St Jacobs travel to Toronto or further afield for care that feels safe. That exhaustion is real, and it matters. Queer and trans people in St Jacobs often face a particular bind. You may live in a community where you feel settled, rooted, and connected-but mental health support that actually reflects your values and affirms your identity can feel out of reach. Generic therapy rarely acknowledges the layers of your experience: navigating gender identity in a smaller town, building chosen family, exploring non-traditional relationships, or recovering from wounds inflicted by those who didn't accept you. Trauma is especially isolating when no one around you seems to understand its source. A therapist who doesn't grasp how discrimination, rejection, or violence lands differently on a trans body or a queer couple won't help you heal-they might even retraumatize you by mistake. The cost of that misalignment goes beyond the therapy session itself; it means staying stuck, doubting yourself, or abandoning care altogether. Umbrella Mental Health Network offers LGBTQ mental health counseling grounded in what actually works: therapists who are trained in trauma-informed and anti-oppressive practice, who center social justice, and who know that your gender, sexuality, relationship choices, and kink exploration are not problems to fix-they are part of your wholeness. Working with Umbrella means you access expertise across the full spectrum of what queer life demands. Whether you are exploring your gender identity for the first time, working through trauma as a couple, recovering from religious or family rejection, or navigating an ethical non-monogamous relationship, you meet a clinician who has done this work many times before. Because Umbrella serves St Jacobs as part of its broader Greater Toronto Area practice, you have the option to meet in person or by video-flexibility that matters when you are already balancing small-town life. The approach is grounded in your actual needs, not a template. That might mean examining how intergenerational trauma shapes your current relationships. It might mean processing the specific grief of coming out in a conservative context. It might mean exploring sexuality and power in ways that honor your whole self. Umbrella therapists bring intellectual depth about queer and trans experience alongside genuine compassion-they understand the theory and they understand you. People who work with Umbrella Mental Health Network often describe a turning point: finally being able to talk about the full truth of their life without editing, apologizing, or bracing for judgment. That safety opens doors. Clients move from surviving to actually healing. Couples who thought their relationship was unsalvageable discover tools for honesty and repair. Young people exploring gender or sexuality find solid ground instead of shame. Trauma survivors, in particular, report that having a therapist who understands both psychological healing and social oppression-one who validates anger at systems, not just symptoms-changes everything. The result is not that your circumstances magically shift. It is that you develop capacity: to trust yourself, to set boundaries, to grieve what needs grieving, to build relationships that actually work. People leave feeling less alone, more integrated, and genuinely seen. That matters enormously when you are living in a place where parts of your identity might still feel invisible to those around you. If you live in or near St Jacobs and you are ready to work with a therapist who gets it, Umbrella Mental Health Network is here. You can reach out through their website to learn more and connect with a clinician whose approach fits your needs. You deserve care that honors all of who you are. Yes. Umbrella Mental Health Network serves St Jacobs and the Greater Toronto Area with specialized counseling for 2SLGBTQIA individuals, couples, and families. You can meet in person or by video, depending on what works best for you. Umbrella therapists support clients with trauma recovery, gender and sexual identity exploration, anxiety and depression, couples therapy including ethical non-monogamy, coming-out challenges, and rebuilding after rejection or abuse. Care is trauma-informed and affirming of all aspects of queer and trans life. Yes. All clinicians at Umbrella Mental Health Network are registered psychotherapists or social workers trained in trauma-informed and anti-oppressive practice, with specific expertise in how trauma shows up in LGBTQ communities. Anti-oppressive therapy centers your lived experience and recognizes how systems of power-discrimination, marginalization, and structural violence-shape your mental health. It validates anger at injustice, not just symptoms, and supports healing that includes social awareness and your right to exist fully as you are. Absolutely. Umbrella specializes in couples therapy for queer and trans couples, including those exploring ethical non-monogamy, open relationships, or other relationship structures. Therapists understand alternative relationship models from a place of genuine support. Yes. Umbrella offers counseling for youth and young adults navigating gender identity and sexual orientation. Therapy is affirming, non-directive, and grounded in the understanding that exploration is healthy and normal. Yes. Umbrella Mental Health Network serves the Greater Toronto Area, including St Jacobs, through both in-person and virtual sessions. Many clients choose video appointments for convenience or privacy.Lgbtq Mental Health Counseling St Jacobs
The Problem: Isolation and Misalignment in Smaller Communities
How Umbrella Brings Culturally Safe Care to St Jacobs
Real Shifts: What Changes When You Get the Right Support
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Umbrella offer LGBTQ mental health counseling in St Jacobs?
What kinds of issues does LGBTQ mental health counseling address?
Are the therapists at Umbrella trained in trauma?
What does anti-oppressive therapy mean?
Can couples in non-traditional relationships work with Umbrella?
Do you work with youth in St Jacobs exploring gender or sexuality?
Can I work with Umbrella if I do not live in Toronto proper?

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







