LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapy · Every age
Being LGBTQ+ is not something we treat. It's part of the whole person we care for.
We believe that diversity and strong allyship with the LGBTQ+ community are fundamental to good healthcare. At LodeStone, affirming care isn't a specialty add-on. It's part of who we are, woven through our team, our intake, and the way we match you with the right clinician.
What it looks like
What brings people in
People reach out for many reasons, and every one of them is welcome here.
- Exploring or affirming your identity
- Navigating coming out, to yourself or to others
- Relationships, dating, and connection
- Family dynamics, acceptance, and belonging
- The weight of minority stress and discrimination
- Everyday anxiety, depression, or life stress
Care that starts with respect
Whether you're seeking support around identity, coming out, relationships, family, transition, minority stress, or simply life's everyday challenges, you deserve a therapist who sees and respects you fully.
Our clinicians provide affirming, evidence-based therapy for LGBTQ+ children, teens, and adults, as well as support for families and partners. For some patients that means identity-focused work. For many, it simply means addressing anxiety, depression, or life stress with a provider who gets it.
For LGBTQ+ patients of every age, and for the families and partners who love them.
Our approach
How affirming therapy works at LodeStone
A whole-picture, coordinated path, not a one-size-fits-all plan.
Meet you as a whole person
We start with respect, listening to what you're facing and what matters most to you, not making your identity the problem to be solved.
Match you with the right clinician
Inclusion runs through our whole intake process, so you're paired with a provider who is genuinely affirming and a good fit.
Support the whole picture
We also treat the anxiety, depression, and trauma that minority stress can contribute to, and we can include families and partners when it helps.
Not sure where to start? Get answers and we will match you with the right clinician.
We provide this care in person at our Hinsdale and Woodstock offices, and by telehealth across Illinois. We are in-network with BCBS PPO, Blue Choice, Aetna, Medicare, and United Behavioral Health, and we verify your benefits before your first visit.
A closer look
What affirming care means here, in practice
Affirming care means your identity is treated as a fact about you, not a symptom to explain or an agenda to manage. Most of what brings LGBTQ+ clients to therapy is what brings anyone: anxiety, depression, relationships, family, work. The difference is doing that work with a clinician you never have to educate, brace against, or come out to twice.
Minority stress is real, and it's treatable
Years of scanning rooms for safety, editing yourself, or absorbing rejection leaves a residue: higher rates of anxiety, depression, and trauma that have nothing to do with who you are and everything to do with what you've carried. Naming that accurately matters. We treat the effects of minority stress without ever locating the problem in your identity.
For families and partners, too
When a child comes out, parents often arrive with love and a swarm of questions, and family acceptance is one of the strongest protective factors there is for LGBTQ+ young people. We help families get there. We also welcome couples of every configuration, for everything couples bring to counseling.
Your first steps
What to expect when you start
Deciding whether a practice is actually safe shouldn't require detective work. Here's how it goes.
Before your first visit
Start with the get-answers form or a phone call. Your name and pronouns are respected from first contact, and matching you with a genuinely affirming clinician is built into how our intake works, not a special request.
Your first session
You set the agenda. Some people want identity front and center; many just want help with anxiety or a relationship from someone who gets it. Your clinician follows what you actually came for.
The ongoing work
Evidence-based therapy for whatever you're facing, with your whole self welcome in the room. Family and partners can join when that serves you, and never before you're ready.
Good to know
LGBTQ+ affirming therapy: frequently asked questions
Will my therapist actually be affirming, or just tolerant?+
Affirming, and practice-wide. We believe strong allyship with the LGBTQ+ community is fundamental to good healthcare, it's woven through our team and our intake, and matching you with the right clinician is the heart of how we work. You will not spend sessions educating your therapist.
Do you work with LGBTQ+ children and teens?+
Yes, at every age. For young people, we support identity exploration at the pace that's genuinely theirs, and we help parents move from worry toward the informed acceptance that research shows protects their kids.
Is my identity going to be treated as the thing to fix?+
Never. We do not practice conversion therapy in any form. Your identity is a fact about you, not a problem; what we treat is the anxiety, depression, trauma, or stress that brought you in.
What if I'm still questioning?+
Questioning is welcome here, without pressure toward any conclusion. Therapy offers a private, unhurried place to sort out what's true for you, on your timeline, with no stake in the answer except that it's honestly yours.
Will my insurance cover this?+
We are in-network with BCBS PPO, Blue Choice, Aetna, Medicare, and United Behavioral Health, and we verify your benefits before your first visit so you know exactly what to expect.
Is telehealth an option?+
Yes, and for some clients it's the safer-feeling way to start, especially when home or town doesn't feel private enough for this. We offer telehealth across Illinois and in-person care in Hinsdale and Woodstock.