Do I have to identify as LGBTQ+ to access this page of your practice?
No. If you are questioning, exploring, or simply uncertain about any aspect of your identity, you are welcome here. You do not need a fixed label.
LGBTQ+ counselling
LGBTQ+ affirmative counselling in West Wales and online across the UK
You deserve a counsellor who does not need you to explain yourself. A space where your identity is not a footnote, a complication, or something to be worked around, but simply part of who you are.
Book an AppointmentI am Gareth Vaughan, a BACP Accredited Counsellor and Psychotherapist based in New Quay, Ceredigion, West Wales. I offer LGBTQ+ affirmative counselling in person in West Wales and online via Microsoft Teams to clients anywhere in the UK. I am a Safe Space trained counsellor and committed to anti-oppressive, affirmative practice.
What is LGBTQ+ affirmative counselling?
Affirmative counselling means I approach your identity with acceptance, not neutrality. I do not treat being LGBTQ+ as a problem to be solved or a variable to be set aside. I actively affirm your identity and bring an understanding of the specific social, relational, and psychological experiences that LGBTQ+ people navigate.
This matters because general counselling services do not always provide this. Microaggressions, assumptions, or the burden of having to educate a therapist about your own experience can make therapy feel unsafe or exhausting. That will not be your experience here.
What might bring you to counselling?
LGBTQ+ people access counselling for all the same reasons as anyone else, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship difficulties, work stress, and more. But there are also challenges that are particular to LGBTQ+ experience:
- Navigating identity, self-acceptance, or questions of sexuality and gender
- Coming out, at any age, to any person or group
- Internalised shame, self-criticism, or the effects of growing up in an unsupportive environment
- Family rejection or the complexity of chosen and biological family dynamics
- Minority stress, the cumulative emotional toll of living in a world that does not always affirm your identity
- Relationship dynamics unique to LGBTQ+ experience
- Processing discrimination, harassment, or hate incidents
- Grief, including disenfranchised grief that wider society may not recognise
- Exploring gender identity or gender dysphoria
Frequently asked questions, LGBTQ+ counselling
Are you LGBTQ+ yourself?
I do not discuss my own identity in the therapeutic relationship, as the focus of the work is always you. What I can tell you is that I am trained in affirmative practice, committed to ongoing learning, and have worked with LGBTQ+ clients throughout my career. My practice is accredited as a Safe Space.
What if I have had a bad experience with a counsellor before?
I am sorry to hear that, it happens more often than it should. Please feel free to raise any concerns in our initial conversation. I am happy to answer questions about my approach, my training, and how I work before you commit to anything.
Is LGBTQ+ counselling available online?
Yes. I offer affirmative LGBTQ+ counselling via Microsoft Teams to clients anywhere in the UK. For those in rural areas like West Wales where in-person LGBTQ+ affirmative services may be limited, online therapy can be particularly valuable.