Between Laura Hoge, LCSW, LICSW, RSW and me, we’ve spent nearly two decades providing gender-affirming and LGBTQ-affirming care. We are both deeply rooted in queer community. Clayre brings the lived perspective of a trans therapist, and Laura brings the lived perspective of a cis queer therapist who has long worked alongside trans and queer communities. Our own experiences, both personal and professional, mean we understand things that can be hard to grasp from outside of queerness — the layered realities, the language that carries history, and the ways political threats are felt in the body.

We offer LGBTQ-affirming peer consultation for therapists who want to grow in their capacity to support trans, nonbinary, and queer clients with skill, respect, and care. Some of the therapists we work with share our lived identities; others are strong allies committed to deepening their practice. What they all have in common is a desire to hold space that is informed by best practices, free from cisnormative assumptions, and grounded in liberatory, decolonizing approaches.

Our Approach to LGBTQ-Affirming Peer Consultation

Our work begins with listening to you, to your experiences as a therapist, and to the questions or tensions that come up in your sessions. We are not here to hand you a checklist of “right” answers. Instead, we invite you into a conversation that makes space for the complexity of this work and the reality that every client’s experience of gender and queerness is different.

Using affirming language and pronouns consistently — in the therapy room and beyond it — is a baseline. From there, we explore how to support gender exploration without an agenda or assumptions about the path a client “should” take. We hold space for the many truths: that not everyone chooses hormones, that not everyone can access surgery, and that for some, these interventions are not desired at all.

We also bring attention to the broader context your clients live within. This means understanding how systemic oppression and intersecting identities shape mental health, recognizing the embodied weight of political terror, and naming the impact of the global rise of fascism on trans and queer lives. In peer consultation, we help you bring these realities into the therapeutic space in ways that honour your clients’ agency and resilience.

Our approach is also shaped by our shared commitment to decolonizing therapeutic practices and challenging cisnormativity, not only in the content of therapy but in its structure and assumptions. We believe that liberation is possible within the therapy room when we, as clinicians, are willing to look closely at the frameworks we use and the ways we hold power.

Common Challenges We Explore Together

Therapists who join us for LGBTQ-affirming peer consultation often arrive carrying both a deep commitment to their clients and a quiet uncertainty about how best to navigate certain moments. These moments are rarely about lack of care or intent — they are about wanting to do right by a client whose lived reality may differ greatly from their own, or wanting to refine how they show up when the work gets complex.

In our sessions, we explore questions like:

• How to recognize and address microaggressions, whether they come from within the therapeutic relationship or from outside influences impacting your client.
• How to support clients with unsupportive or actively hostile families, balancing compassion with clear boundaries.
• How to hold your own lived identity — whether queer, trans, or allied — with integrity while maintaining professional boundaries that keep both you and your client safe.
• How to stay current with evolving best practices in gender-affirming care, especially as language, policies, and community needs shift.

These conversations are practical and nuanced. Together, we slow the pace, look at the layers beneath the presenting challenge, and find ways to respond that are not only clinically sound but also affirming and liberatory.

How We Work With You

When you step into peer consultation with us, you’re entering a space where your experiences as a therapist are met with curiosity, respect, and genuine understanding. We each bring our lens — Clayre as a trans therapist, Laura as a cis queer therapist — and together we offer a layered perspective that can be hard to find elsewhere.

Some therapists meet with us one-to-one, using the time to explore specific client situations, refine their clinical approach, or reflect on the emotional impact of the work. Others join small group consultations, where diverse voices and perspectives deepen the conversation.

Our time together is active and collaborative. We might slow down a moment from a recent session to notice what was happening in your own body as you responded to a client. We may role-play a challenging conversation, experiment with language that feels both affirming and grounded, or unpack a moment when a client’s story activated something personal for you.

No matter the format, our goal is the same: to help you feel more confident, present, and equipped to hold space that is truly affirming and liberatory for trans, nonbinary, and queer clients.

An Invitation

Peer consultation is more than a professional resource — it’s a place to be met by someone who understands the layered realities of working with trans and queer clients because they’ve lived it, studied it, and stood alongside the community for years. Between us, we’ve provided gender-affirming care for nearly two decades, advocated for families under political siege, and stayed closely connected to evolving best practices in the field.

If you are a trans or queer therapist, or an allied therapist committed to serving these communities with integrity, we would be honoured to sit with you. This is a space to slow down, reflect, ask questions without judgment, and explore new possibilities for your work.

Book a free 15-minute consultation to see if our approach is the right fit for you.