Sexual orientation is one facet of a person's life.  It may pose problems - or not.  My gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients ask for advice and support in coping with the situational challenges that are forced upon them from the world outside, as well as their own internal uncertainties.  Counseling offers a helping hand for LGB clients to wrestle safely with challenges such as:

Coming-out dilemmas:  Given today's sociocultural realities, an early dilemma is whether or not to "come out", to identify yourself as Gay.  You may find that uncertainties about your sexual orientation persist well into adulthood and delay coming-out decisions.  Is it best to take the initiative and proclaim same-sex attraction?  or is it preferable just quietly to let it be known if and when the subject comes up?  There's a further question about whom to come out to when you're ready:  family?  friends?  workplace associates?  anyone and everyone?  It requires a lot of careful thought and consultation.

Family acceptance:  Parents and siblings may have trouble accepting a family member's Gay identity, and sometimes a family member acts out with hostility and provocation.  The LGB person may experience rejection or harassment by loved ones for a time, and this can lead to personal emotional difficulties and to awkward social situations involving other LGB friends and partners.

Internalized homophobia:  American culture creates an atmosphere that isn't friendly or supportive toward LGB lifestyles.  Sometimes you hear strange and unfounded notions about your lifestyle expressed and joked about in a devaluing context.  Maybe you've grown up in such a stridently censoring atmosphere that you've internalized the negative notions, so that your own homophobia may interfere with your most fulfilling life.  How do you get over that internal barrier?

Committed partnerships:  Long-term, committed, intimate relationships need external sociocultural supports in order to flourish, and LGBT relationships often suffer both lack of social support and negative pressures that undermine relationships.  Counseling explores methods for creating and strengthening sociocultural support systems.

Spiritual conflicts:  Maybe you've encountered the notion that LGBT lifestyles and spiritual growth are mutually exclusive.  Organized religions may impose feelings of shame, guilt, and inferiority.  Counseling helps you to explore the whole wide world of spirituality, whether structured within organized religion or else exploring deep inside yourself and outward to spiritual realms that are well beyond what's commonly known.

Anxieties and depression are common to most of us, regardless of sexual orientation.  Your identification as a member of an LGBT community may intensify in particular ways the form that your own depression and anxieties take.  The best way to deal with depression and/or anxieties is to combine talk therapy and prescribed medication.  These are your two professional helping hands.

My Adult Counseling Services office serve both sides of the Potomac River.  The office is located in Alexandria and convenient to Arlington, Fairfax, the District of Columbia, Annandale, Falls Church, and parts of Prince George's County. 
For directions to our office.