LGBT-Q Identity
The Teen Years
Leah was just a pre-teen. She was hard to get along with at home and under performing in school. If you brought up a “feeling word” in therapy, she immediately shut down the sessions. The reoccurring mantra, “I don’t have feelings.”
Leah’s father often walked away in exasperation. Her mother was fed up with the screaming matches. Even her grandparents struggled to understand why she was so negative all the time. “We love her,” said her brother, “but we don’t want to deal with her.”
Leah had a secret. She liked girls. In her 12-year-old mind, that meant that no one in her family truly knew her. No one in her family actually loved her; because how can you love someone that you don’t know?
Then her father overhead a conversation and her secret was out. He stood in the doorway of the therapy office and asked to join the session. He told the therapist and Leah what he heard.
Leah was “crushing on” a girl in her class. The girl liked her back. “Leah,” he said, why haven’t you told us? What have your Mom and I ever done to make you think you couldn’t talk to us?” Leah visibly exhaled and became the snarky, intellectualized pre-teen that she deserved to be, “Dad,” she said, “I’m 12; what do I know about how you are going to react?”
How we can help
At Metamorphosis, we help pre-teens and teens to find their voice. We help them become comfortable with their own thoughts and feelings; we help them recognize their fears.
In the case of Leah, we facilitate family support and understanding, and reduce family rejection and judgment. I won’t lie to you; it does not always go this well. Sometimes there are arguments. Sometimes there are suicidal thoughts, gestures, and other forms of self-harm.
But, always, at Metamorphosis, we provide teens and their families with a safe space to come out and address various feelings and concerns associated with budding sexuality and sexual identity development.
Adults and Couples
Robert and Brian wanted pre-marital counseling. They didn’t want to be judged or chided for their sexuality; they wanted to be guided and advised about the inner workings of marriage and to hopefully gain help with avoiding the pitfalls of 50% of American couples who end up divorced.
This is what we do at Metamorphosis. We help couples to have better marriages. We help Homosexual Couples. We help Heterosexual Couples.
We helped Robert and Brian.
In their sessions, we discussed issues such as:
- Love Language
- Conflict Management
- Friends
- Family/In-Laws
- Children
- Illness/injury/Death
- Sex
- Financial Responsibilities
And, yes, we discussed issues related to the fact that they were a same sex couple. We spent time deciding how they wanted to handle any issues of discrimination while planning their big event. We began discussions about what adoption might entail for them. We even held some painful conversations about when and where they would spend holiday time with extended family and how they would protect one another from disapproving family members.
Our premise
It’s not that Metamorphosis treats LGBT-Q issues like a separate way of doing therapy; it’s that we treat the people, and the issues related to sexuality happen to come with the people.
Sometimes they lurk in the background and are silently chipping away at relationships because they are secrets or taboo subjects. Sometimes we stumble across why they matter because an ugly incident occurs, and there are emotions to be healed. And sometimes they are just a part of the fabric of the work. The person knows that at Metamorphosis they can bring their entire selves into the room and be comfortable discussing whatever they want to discuss with our counselors without fear of rejection or judgment.
Call us today; allow Metamorphosis Life Revitalizing Center to be your safe space, your place to bring all of who you are as you start your journey to heal.