5 Best LGBT Friendly Therapists in Minneapolis
As a queer licensed psychologist I hear from my clients all the time about how hard it is find a LGBT friendly therapist. It makes all the difference to find a lgbt affirming therapist who actually gets it; who understands the unique challenges of being queer or trans in today’s world. That’s why having a LGBT therapist who you like and trust is one of the most important things you can do for your mental health.
LGBT affirming therapists in Minneapolis are a vital part of Minnesota’s LGBTQ+ healthcare. Minneapolis and Greater Minnesota are fortunate to have a number of lgbt affirming and gender-affirming therapists. They don't just provide therapy, they offer a space where you can show up as your full self without spending half the session explaining your identity or educating your provider.
They help queer and trans people improve their mental health and live happy, healthy, and authentic lives. Whether you're navigating coming out, dealing with family rejection, healing from trauma, or just trying to manage anxiety in a world that isn't always built for you, working with an LGBTQ+ specialized therapist can be genuinely transformative. Below, I've pulled together five therapists in Minneapolis who I believe are doing excellent, affirming work.
Best for LGBTQ Affirming Therapy
Dr. Jenna Brownfield, LP (she/her)
As a bi/queer licensed psychologist in Minneapolis, Jenna brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to my work with LGBTQ+ clients. She specializes in working with bi+ people, queer folks, and trans and nonbinary people. She helps you with anxiety, healing from trauma, or wanting to deepen the relationship with your own identity. Her sessions are a place where you don't have to prove your identity or explain LGBTQ basics. She already gets it.
Dr. Brownfield has a particular focus on bi+ and trans mental health, including working through internalized biphobia/transphobia, and the complex experience of your queerness feeling invisible. She also provides gender-affirming therapy, trauma therapy, and letters of support for gender-affirming medical and surgical care.
Specialties: Bi+ identity, anxiety, trauma, coping with conservative family.
Serves: Adults throughout Minnesota and 40+ PSYPACT States via online LGBT friendly therapy
Dr. Joe Groninga has practiced as a full-time psychologist for over 20 years in both community and private settings. His specialized training and experience include concerns related to fear and anxiety, including stress management, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. He also has many years of training and experience treating substance use disorders, couples, and individuals in the LGBTQ+ community.
Joe focuses on teaching clients concrete, research-backed tools delivered with kindness and compassion. He welcomes clients both in-person at his St. Paul, MN office and via telehealth, serving clients from most parts of the country.
Specialties: LGBTQ+ affirming therapy, anxiety, OCD, PTSD.
Serves: Adults in St.Paul, MN and 40+ PSYPACT States
Best for LGBTQ Couples Therapy
Queer and trans couples deserve a therapist who understands the unique dynamics of LGBTQ+ relationships. They help couples manage different stages of identity development, the impact of family rejection on a relationship, and more. The following therapists are doing wonderful work with LGBTQ+ couples in Minneapolis.
Rainbow Relationship Therapy
Rainbow Relationship Therapy offers mental health support where you know you will be accepted. Whether you are queer, neurodivergent, or don't feel like you fit in, you will find that Rainbow Relationship Therapy is a place you can be yourself. Janna and Rebekah offer individual and relationship therapy, focusing on LBGTQIA+ and Neurodivergent communities.
Specialties: LGBTQ+ couples therapy, queer relationships, neurodivergence, chronic illness/pain, and infertility.
Serves: Ages 16+ throughout Minnesota via online therapy.
Janna Morehead, MA, LMFT (she/her)
Janna is passionate about supporting teens (16+), young adults, couples and families to improve communication, explore identity, and move through hard times in life. Her areas of focus include neurodivergence (whether you’re exploring for yourself or a loved one who has recently been diagnosed) and infertility.
Rebekah Anderson, MA, LMFT (she/her)
Rebekah is passionate about supporting adult clients through their relationship struggles, identity exploration, and life transitions. Her areas of focus include individual and relationship therapy for neurodivergent folks and supporting those with chronic illness/pain.
Simon Everest is a trans, queer, poly therapist. Their therapy practice, Bond Psychotherapy, specializes in working with couples and triads from an attachment lens. Simon is certified in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), an evidence-backed approach to couples therapy.
Specialties: LGBTQ+ affirming therapy, LGBTQ+ couples therapy, relationship dynamics.
Serves: Adults throughout MN at their office in St Paul and online.
Best for LGBTQ Kids Therapy
LGBTQ+ kids, youth, and their families need therapists who can meet them where they are: affirm their identities, support their mental health, and helping them navigate what it’s like to be targeted by anti-lgbt legislation. Finding a therapist who is both affirming and skilled in working with LGBTQ kids and their families is essential.
TaQuoia Hammick, MA, LPCC (they/them)
TaQuoia works at their private practice, Liberated Roots Wellness, in Minneapolis and has been in the field for over ten years. They are DC: 0-5 certified and work with children of all ages and their families.
They have experience with a variety of diagnoses and specialize in neurodiversity.
As a queer Black therapist, TaQuoia believes it’s important to ensure their clients feel represented, affirmed, and validated for who they are. TaQuoia values each person and tailors their approach for one’s individual needs. They incorporate play therapy, TF-CBT, and have recently partnered with a horse farm for individual and group therapy sessions.
In their free time, you can find TaQuoia spending time with their wife, daughter, and 6 pets. They also enjoy spending summers at the lake and camping.
Specialities: Trauma/PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, ASD, ADHD, Parenting, LGBTQ, BIPOC, Racial identity.
Serves: LGBTQ kids of all ages and their families in Minneapolis, MN.
Minneapolis LGBT Friendly Therapist FAQs
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A truly LGBT friendly therapist goes beyond simply saying they're "accepting." Here are some signs you're working with someone who genuinely affirms and understands your identity:
They use your correct name and pronouns without being asked repeatedly, and they mirror the gendered language you use for your partner or relationships.
They don't question whether you're "really" bi, trans, queer, or any other identity. They take you at your word.
They validate your experiences of homophobia, biphobia, or transphobia instead of downplaying them.
They don't make you feel like you need to educate them on LGBTQ+ basics. Their knowledge should already be there.
You can also ask potential therapists directly: "What experience do you have working with [bi/trans/queer] clients?" or "What makes your practice affirming?" A good LGBT friendly therapist will welcome these questions.
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You deserve to spend your therapy sessions on your actual mental health, not on explaining why being deadnamed hurts, or why coming out is complicated, or why binegativity exists in both straight and queer spaces. When you work with an LGBTQ+ therapist, that foundation is already there.
LGBTQ+ therapists understand minority stress: the chronic, cumulative toll of navigating a world that wasn't built for you. They know that your anxiety or depression might be rooted in family rejection, internalized homophobia, or the exhaustion of constantly code-switching. They can help you challenge those internalized messages and replace them with genuine self-compassion and pride.
Working with a non-affirming therapist can actually be harmful. If your therapist holds onto LGBTQ+ stereotypes, they may pathologize normal experiences or miss what's really affecting you. You deserve better than that.
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Absolutely, yes. LGBTQ+ affirming therapy isn't only therapy about being LGBTQ+. It's therapy where your LGBTQ+ identity is respected and understood so that you can work on whatever brought you to therapy in the first place, whether that's anxiety, trauma, grief, relationships, or anything else.
The difference is that you won't have to leave parts of yourself at the door. Your therapist will understand that being queer or trans might intersect with whatever you're working through. They'll be able to talk about that with you, naturally, without making a big deal of it or ignoring it entirely.
So if you're a trans person looking for anxiety therapy, or a bi person healing from relationship trauma, or a queer person working through perfectionism, you deserve an affirming therapist.
Closing Thoughts on LGBT Friendly Therapists in Minneapolis
You deserve a therapist who sees you fully, completely, without conditions. Someone who celebrates your LGBTQ+ identity as part of what makes you, you. The therapists listed here are doing important, LGBT affirming work in Minneapolis and beyond. I'm so proud to be among them.
If you're ready to start therapy with someone who gets what it's like to be LGBTQ+, reach out to me or one of the therapists named here. I'd love to connect with you.
You're not asking for too much to have a LGBT affirming therapist. There's a therapist out there who is the right fit for you, and you deserve to find them.
P.S. If you're struggling to cope with homophobic or transphobic family while staying grounded in your identity, you might also find my Free Survival Guide for Coping with Homophobic/Transphobic Family helpful. It's a resource I created for exactly those moments when you need support fast.
