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Eating Disorders and the Trans Experience

Eating Disorders and the Trans Experience

by Lauren Canonico | Jan 21, 2026 | Sophie Kuhn Bedaña, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

Eating disorder treatment needs to change for gender-inclusive care Eating disorders can be difficult for us all, but certain intersecting identities can bring along specific challenges that require specific understanding. One such identity is the trans experience, or...
Dry January: Pros and Cons for the Curious

Dry January: Pros and Cons for the Curious

by Lauren Canonico | Jan 12, 2026 | Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

Taking the opportunity to reflect on your relationship with alcohol in the New Year? You’re not alone! Dry January is a growing trend. But is it right for you? Join Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW in exploring the pros and cons of experimenting with Dry January....
Avoiding Impulsive Shopping this Holiday Season

Avoiding Impulsive Shopping this Holiday Season

by Lauren Canonico | Dec 22, 2025 | Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

Navigating shopping during the holiday season while struggling with impulse control can be a special challenge. The holiday season is one of gift-giving. But what happens when our brains are wired for impulsivity, and each purchase gives us a lovely dopamine hit?...
Honoring our Culture in Eating Disorder Recovery

Honoring our Culture in Eating Disorder Recovery

by Lauren Canonico | Dec 16, 2025 | Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

Eating Disorder Recovery Reminders: Hanukkah Edition Join Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, in exploring how we honor our cultural celebrations while in eating disorder recovery. Tonight we celebrate the third night of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights! Hanukkah is...
The Cultural Legacy of HIV/AIDS

The Cultural Legacy of HIV/AIDS

by Lauren Canonico | Dec 8, 2025 | Lee Warwick, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

Reflecting on Loss, Trauma, and the Changing Science In honor of December being AIDS/HIV awareness month, the team at ATC wanted to take a moment to reflect on the cultural legacy of HIV/AIDS and honor those impacted by the AIDS epidemic. Joined by Lee Warwick, LMSW...
Alcohol and the Holiday Season

Alcohol and the Holiday Season

by Lauren Canonico | Nov 23, 2025 | Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, Thoughts & News from ATC

No matter what or how you celebrate during the holiday season, alcohol and drinking culture tend to be part of the equation. This can be stressful for those who are sober, sober-curious, or just trying to cut back. Join ATC associate, Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, in...
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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 | Affirmative Therapy

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    LGBTQIA+ affirmative therapy🌈
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    Turns out, watching two men communicate through co Turns out, watching two men communicate through consent isn't a threat to your relationship.

It's a blueprint 📃

Heated Rivalry has viewers of every gender and sexuality swooning over its lead couple, two male hockey players falling into a sexual relationship built on real consent and emotional safety on screen.

Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, broke down why in Men's Health: why women are drawn to shows like this, and what straight men can actually learn from it.

Her take: "I love working with men and creating a space where they can be vulnerable and explore their feelings, things society says men 'shouldn't' do."

💜 For more on Navigating Consent in Sexual Intimacy, continue reading here: https://affirmativetherapycollective.com/heated-rivalry-and-sexual-intimacy/

Sessions with Sophie feel conversational, not clinical.

Less power imbalance, more room to actually say the hard thing out loud.

✨️ New clients and couples welcome ✨️

DM MORE and we'll send you the screening form.
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#MensHealth #AffirmativeTherapist #NYCTherapist #heatedrivalry
    ✨️Sophie B's✨️ caseload is full of neurodivergent ✨️Sophie B's✨️ caseload is full of neurodivergent and trans clients who've spent years masking just to survive a system that wasn't built for them.

She doesn't ask you to translate yourself.

She meets you where you are.

✨️Sophie TS✨️ works with adult creators navigating intimacy, identity, and stigma most therapists can't even name out loud.

No need to "save you"

No judgment about how you pay your bills or who you love.

Different specialties.

Same standard: you don't have to explain why you're worthy of care before you walk in the door.

That's the whole point of @affirmativetherapycollective 
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#AffirmativeTherapist #QueerTherapist #NYCTherapist #TransAffirming #ContentCreator
    What if the shame you feel about your work isn't y What if the shame you feel about your work isn't yours?

It was handed to you.

Internalized stigma doesn't announce itself.

It shows up as the voice that says you don't deserve a relationship that actually works 💔

The one that tells you the distance you feel from your partner makes sense because of what you do.

The one that makes you wonder if the hard stuff is just... your fault🤍

That voice isn't truth.

It's what happens when the world spends years telling you that your work makes you less worthy of care.

Research backs this up: chronic exposure to shame-based messaging gets absorbed ✨️

It looks like self-isolation. Depression.

Interpreting your own pain as deserved.

That's internalized stigma doing exactly what it was designed to do 🫯

Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW created Sex Work and Intimacy: You Are More Than Your Job because untangling that in a room full of people who already get the context is different.

Faster. More honest. Less exhausting.🤍

Wednesday evenings via Zoom.

$90 / 90 min | 2 sliding-scale spots at $25 minimum.

Current or former sex workers who identify as female or non-binary, 18+, US-wide, are invited to apply.

Complete the screening form to get started. Please note there is a $50 screening session fee and a cap of 10 participants for this group session.
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#sexworkermentalhealth #stigma #queeraffirmingtherapy #sexworkersupport #NYCTherapist
    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.🌷

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#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 🏳️‍⚧️
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#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
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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

    admin@affirmativetherapycollective.com

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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

    admin@affirmativetherapycollective.com

    (646) 504-1615