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Queer Stigma and Mental Health: What LGBTQ+ People Face

Queer Stigma and Mental Health: What LGBTQ+ People Face

by Lauren Canonico | Jul 1, 2026 | Thoughts & News from ATC

Queer Stigma and Mental Health: What LGBTQ+ People Face | ATC Queer stigma is a documented health crisis, not a personal failing. Lauren Canonico, LCSW, explores how minority stress affects LGBTQ+ mental health. For those of us who’ve spent years editing...
Therapy for Neurodivergent and Trans People: What to Know

Therapy for Neurodivergent and Trans People: What to Know

by Lauren Canonico | Jun 10, 2026 | Coming Home to You Group, Sophie Kuhn Bedaña, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

Therapy for Neurodivergent and Trans People: What to Know  What research says about therapy for neurodivergent and trans people, how it affects your mental health experience, and why finding the right therapist matters. Therapy for neurodivergent and trans people is...
Sex Worker Affirming Therapy NYC | ATC

Sex Worker Affirming Therapy NYC | ATC

by Lauren Canonico | May 6, 2026 | Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

You Are More Than Your Job: Navigating Intimacy as a Current or Former Sex Worker by Lauren Canonico, LCSW and Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW Sex work is work. And like any work, it doesn’t define the whole of who you are. But try telling that to a culture that...
What’s (Romantic) Love Got to do with It? | ATC

What’s (Romantic) Love Got to do with It? | ATC

by Lauren Canonico | Feb 18, 2026 | Lee Warwick, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

February is often a month focused on romantic love, but what about other forms of love? How important are they, and what role can they play in our lives? Join Associate Therapist Lee Warwick, LMSW to explore the different forms that love can come in, and the value...
Heated Rivalry and Sexual Intimacy | Afirmative Therapy

Heated Rivalry and Sexual Intimacy | Afirmative Therapy

by Lauren Canonico | Feb 11, 2026 | Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

The new TV hit, Heated Rivalry, offers an intimate look into a budding sexual relationship between two male hockey players. Viewers of all genders and sexualities have swooned over the couple, lauding the focus on consent and emotional safety in sexual intimacy. Join...
Your Body Doesn’t Need Discipline—It Needs Protection | Affirmative Therapy

Your Body Doesn’t Need Discipline—It Needs Protection | Affirmative Therapy

by Lauren Canonico | Feb 4, 2026 | Sophie Kuhn Bedaña, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

Join Sophie Kuhn Bedaña, LMSW in this invitation to pause, breathe, and question the stories we’ve been sold about our bodies, “self-improvement,” and discipline. Every January, the world gets louder about fixing, shrinking, optimizing, and controlling bodies—as if...
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Recent Posts

  • Queer Stigma and Mental Health: What LGBTQ+ People Face
  • Therapy for Neurodivergent and Trans People: What to Know
  • Sex Worker Affirming Therapy NYC | ATC
  • What’s (Romantic) Love Got to do with It? | ATC
  • Heated Rivalry and Sexual Intimacy | Afirmative Therapy

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    Affirmative Therapy Collective LCSW LLC

    Body, Sex, Trauma, Neurodivergent, and LGBTQ+ Affirmative Psychotherapy

    Eating disorder and trauma treatment done differently

     

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    affirmativetherapycollective

    LGBTQIA+ affirmative therapy🌈
    Client Screening Form ⬇️
    Queer therapists who get stigma🫂🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️
    NYC + telehealth: NY NJ CO CT FL MI MN PA WI
    You don't have to spend the first 20 minutes of ev You don't have to spend the first 20 minutes of every session explaining your job. 5 things I watch shift when sex workers finally have a space built for them: 1. The shame gets named. Internalized stigma isn't a personality flaw. It's what happens when the world spends YEARS telling you that you're the problem. 2. The double life gets lighter.✨ Holding two completely different versions of yourself is exhausting. You don't have to justify that here. 3. Intimacy stops feeling like a contradiction. Spending your day in intimate spaces and coming home to disconnection is its own kind of exhausting. We name it here. 4. You get clear on what you actually want from your relationships. Not the version that's easiest to explain. The version that's actually true. 5. You start letting yourself be cared for. ✨I'm Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW. This group exists because this conversation deserves its own room. Wednesday evenings via Zoom. $90 per 90-min session and $50 for your 30-min client screening with 2 sliding-scale spots available. Capped at 10! Female or non-binary, 18+, current or former sex workers, US-wide Complete our screening form in our bio to get started.🌷 ... #sexworkermentalhealth #internalizedstigma #queeraffirmingtherapy #intimacygroup
    🏳️‍⚧️ Being trans isn't the issue. 🌈 Being queer i 🏳️‍⚧️ Being trans isn't the issue. 🌈 Being queer isn't the issue. 🌙 Being a sex worker isn't the issue. 😍 Being fat isn't the issue. 👏🏾 Being Black, Indigenous, or a person of color isn't the issue. 💕 Being disabled isn't the issue. 💡 Being neurodivergent isn't the issue. The world just hasn't built enough space for people like us yet. That's not on you 🫶 DM us SEEN and we'll send you more on how we work with people navigating exactly this. #queerandtrans #affirmingtherapist #fataffirming #bodyliberation #stigmafree
    Research connects neurodivergence and gender expan Research connects neurodivergence and gender expansive identities more closely than most people realize. When you've spent your whole life noticing that the world's rules don't quite fit you, you get really good at trusting what does. That same drive for authenticity, that same ability to see through the bullshit of norms, is often what leads you to discover yourself and your gender story. That might look like knowing your experience of your body didn't match the gender others assigned to you before you even had words for it.🩵 Or hearing your own voice clearly, and going quiet anyway, because the fear of being left alone was louder. ✨️ Or coming out later in life, once you finally found language that fit. Or just always having a quiet, stubborn sense of self that you tried everything to ignore, because being accepted felt safer than being known. The overlap between embracing neurodivergence and embodying gender expansive identities isn't a coincidence. It's two versions of the same truth: knowing yourself from the inside out. Our latest blog post goes deep on what the research says and why it matters for your mental health care. Visit our profile to read the rest...💡 This one's for you 🏳️‍⚧️ . . . . . #neurodivergent #trans #transgendermentalhealth #genderdiversity #queermentalhealth autisticandtrans
    A space that was built with you in mind from the s A space that was built with you in mind from the start. ✨️ Coming Home to You is a virtual group therapy experience for trans and nonbinary people navigating body image, eating disorder recovery, and gender identity. Neurodivergent people aren't an afterthought here. 😊 Different communication styles, different nervous systems, different relationships with your body. All are welcome here 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🫂 Facilitated by Sophie Kuhn Bedaña, LCSW at Affirmative Therapy Collective. Available in NY, NJ, CO, CT, FL, MI, MN, PA, and WI. DM us HOME and we'll send you the screening form directly✨️ #transnonbinary #neurodivergenttherapy #eatingdisorderrecovery #queeraffirming #transmentalhealth
    You've been the strong one in every room. The one You've been the strong one in every room. The one who figured it out, moved on, and made it look easy. 💔 Queer life asks a lot of you ✨ And most therapy WASN'T built with that in mind. Ours was. At ATC, every clinician specializes in LGBTQIA+ affirmative care, body, sex, trauma, and everything in between. No explaining yourself. Visit our website to complete our client screening form and get started. A note about the audio: originally written and published by @NakeiaHomer 💛 #QueerTherapy #LGBTQMentalHealth #AffirmativeTherapist #QueerMentalHealth #NYCTherapist
    Diet culture didn't ask for your consent before it Diet culture didn't ask for your consent before it got inside your head. It just showed up 💔 In the mirror, at the dinner table, in every "new year, new you" message that taught you smaller, more disciplined bodies are better bodies. 🪞 That's not self-improvement. That's body image injury. And if you're trans or gender non-conforming, it hits different because you're navigating all of that while also navigating your relationship with a body that the world has strong, wrong opinions about. 🌎 Coming Home to You is a 8-week virtual group exploring eating disorder recovery and body image injury within the trans experience. ✨Led by Sophie Kuhn Bedaña, LMSW✨ 8 weeks | Saturdays via Zoom $90/session | 2 sliding scale spots available | 18+ DM us HOME and we'll send you the screening form to join the waitlist. #transnonbinary #bodyimageinjury #eatingdisorderrecovery #dietculturedropout #transbodyimage
    Your therapist's approach matters as much as who t Your therapist's approach matters as much as who they are 👏🏼👏🏾👏🏿 Affirmative Therapy Collective is an LGBTQIA+ affirming psychotherapy practice grounded in body, fat, and sex positivity, intersectional feminism, queer theory, anti-racism, and the Health at Every Size® (HAES) approach. Here's our integrative approach. Every therapist at ATC emphasizes: Psychodynamic · Harm Reduction · HAES® Feminist Therapy · Relational Therapy · Somatic Trauma-Focused · Person-Centered 🫂 And depending on what you need, our clinicians incorporate: ✨ Parts Work — Lauren, Asher, Sophie B, Lee ✨ IFS — Lauren ✨ ERP — Asher, Sophie B ✨ Narrative Therapy — Asher, Sophie B, Sophie TS ✨ EFT — Lauren, Lee ✨ Sex Therapy - Sophie TS ✨ Creative / Art Therapy - Sophie B ✨ DBT - Lee, Sophie TS Not sure which approach is right for you? That's what the first session is for: Visit our website to complete our client screening form and get started. #AffirmativeTherapist #QueerTherapist #NYCTherapist #BodyPositivity #TransAffirming
    Hate to report it but finding a therapist who actu Hate to report it but finding a therapist who actually gets addiction, eating disorders, sex therapy, and polyamorous relationships without judgment is annoyingly hard. Unless you know where to look. ✨Meet Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW✨ Associate Therapist at Affirmative Therapy Collective. A self-identified ✨90s kid 🛼 currently on repeat with "Hey Jealousy" by The Gin Blossoms. Respect. Sophie TS specializes in eating disorders, addiction, sex therapy, polyamorous relationships, complex trauma, and BPD. We're accepting new clients! Fill out our client screening form to get started. · · · #AffirmativeTherapist #lgbtqpride #NYCTherapist #SexTherapist #EatingDisorderRecovery
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    Affirmative Therapy Collective LCSW LLC

    Body, Sex, Trauma, Neurodivergent, and LGBTQ+ Affirmative Psychotherapy

    Eating disorder and trauma treatment done differently

     

    80 University Pl, Suite 2G, New York, NY 10003

    info@affirmativetherapycollective.com

    (646) 504-1615

    Quick Links

    • Individual Psychotherapy
    • Couples, Relationship, & Family Therapy
    • Group Psychotherapy
    • Supervision & Consultation
    • In-Person Clinicians
    • Therapeutic Approaches
    • Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
    • Notice of Privacy Practices