Therapist works to expand access to mental health services for LGBTQ+ community

FOLKS. ONE PERSON AT A TIME. DANNY TERRY FINDS HER WORK WORKS BEST WHEN THERE’S A BLEND OF APPROACHABLE ABILITY AND PROFESSIONALISM. YOU WANT PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO FEEL LIKE THEY CAN TALK TO YOU, BECAUSE IF THEY CAN’T, WHY ARE THEY SEEING YOU? THEY’RE NOT GOING TO GET ANYWHERE. SHE’S A LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER AND QUEER. I HAVE FELT CALLED. TO THIS WORK FOR A VERY LONG TIME, AND I DO GET A LOT OF JOY OUT OF IT. QUEER JOY. MAYBE ONE COULD SAY TERRY RUNS TRUE COLORS COUNSELING OUT OF HER SOUTHLAKE TAHOE HOME, TAILORING HER BUSINESS AND HER TREATMENT PLANS TO PEOPLE WITHIN THE LGBTQ PLUS COMMUNITY. THE WAY THAT I USE LANGUAGE IN MY MARKETING, ON MY WEBSITE, IN MY SESSIONS, ON MY FORMS, ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE REALLY GROUNDED IN WANTING TO BE OPEN AND ACCESSIBLE AND WELCOMING TO THE LGBTQ PLUS COMMUNITY, AND SHE BELIEVES THERE’S A REAL NEED FOR MORE THERAPISTS AND MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDERS WITH THIS SPECIALTY. NOT JUST IS A PERSON QUEER, BUT WHAT WAS THEIR FAMILY LIFE LIKE AND WAS THERE AN IMPACT FOR THEM? STAYING IN THE CLOSET FOR AS LONG AS THEY DID? WAS IT IMPACTED BY OTHER THINGS IN THEIR LIFE? MAYBE THEIR PROFESSION OR YOU NAME IT? RIGHT. SO I LOOK FOR PATTERNS THAT I’VE KIND OF NOTICED OVER THE YEARS AS BEING BASICALLY THINGS THAT I CAN WORK WITH, UM, FOR THOSE SYMPTOMS AND HELPING PEOPLE REDUCE THE IMPACT OF THEM. AT UC DAVIS HEALTH, HELEN KALES IS THE CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY AND BEHAVIOR SCIENCES. REALLY, MENTAL HEALTH AFFECTS ALMOST EVERY COMPONENT OF OF OUR HEALTH, SHE SAYS. SPECIALISTS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY CAN HELP STREAMLINE TREATMENT FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT. A LOT OF MEDICINE IS PATTERNED RECOGNITION, SO I THINK WHEN SOMEBODY HAS HAS A SUBSPECIALTY OR A SPECIAL TRAINING IN THAT PARTICULAR AREA, THEY MAY SPOT THINGS THAT OTHER PEOPLE DON’T OR DON’T SEE AS MUCH AS PART OF THE PICTURE, SHE SAYS. IN RECENT YEARS, WHILE PEOPLE HAVE DEVELOPED A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT SYMPTOMS OF MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS LOOK LIKE, DEMAND CONTINUES TO OUTPACE PROVIDERS THAT NEED JUST BUILDS AND BUILDS. AND UNFORTUNATELY, WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH PRACTITIONERS OUT THERE. TERRY KNOWS THAT TOO, WHICH IS WHY SHE’S A FULLY VIRTUAL PROVIDER. IT MEANS THAT I CAN WORK WITH PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE STATE. SO TO ME, IT EXPANDS MY REACH. SHE SAYS SHE’S FOUND REAL SUCCESS IN USING A TREATMENT CALLED EMDR, OR EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITIZATION AND REPROCESSING, FOR HELPING PATIENTS RESOLVE UNPROCESSED TRAUMA. BUT SUPPORT FOR ALL COMES IN MANY, MANY FORMS. PEOPLE CAN’T SEE THE WAY OUT ALL THE TIME WHEN THEY’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DEEP, DARK HOLE AND SOMETIMES, AS A THERAPIST, YOUR JOB IS TO HOLD THE HOPE FOR THEM. AND THEN WHEN THEY GET OUT THE OTHER SIDE, THEY GO, OH, HERE WE ARE. AND THEN THEY’RE ABLE TO HOLD THEIR OWN HOPE. AND THAT’S SO BEAUTIFUL IN SOUTH LA

In her experience, licensed clinical social worker Dani Terry finds her work works best when there's a blend of approachability and professionalism with her clients.“You always want to be approachable,” she said. “You want people to be able to feel like they can talk to you because if they can’t, why are they seeing you? They’re not going to get anywhere.”Through her private practice, True Colors Counseling based in South Lake Tahoe, she helps people navigate depression, anxiety, PTSD and several other trauma-centered obstacles. She also intentionally crafts care to adhere to the unique needs of people within the LGBTQ+ community – a community she identifies with herself."I have felt called to this work for a very long time,” she said. “I do get a lot of joy out of it – queer joy maybe one could say.”According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, research shows people within the LGBTQ+ community are at an increased risk of experiencing a mental health condition, especially depression and anxiety. Terry always keeps the community in the back of her mind, she explained, when not only developing treatment plans for people but also in how she runs her business. For example, she is careful to use inclusive language in her marketing, on her website and forms. “To me, it touches almost every aspect of my business,” she said. “I think I’ve been thinking about how to be a really good fit for helping the queer community since before I even graduated from grad school.”She said she seeks to understand the full picture of a person as it relates to their sexual preferences and gender identity. For example, asking how a person’s family life may have impacted their experiences and possible traumas, or perhaps how much time it took for a person to share their identity with others or its impact on their professional life. Terry said the key is to look for trauma symptoms and patterns associated with them.“There is a set of characteristics that are pretty easy to see once you know what you’re looking for,” she said. “Specifically for the queer community, I look for those trauma symptoms as an overlay on identity pieces. Not just is a person queer but what was their family life like?”Terry hopes in time more clinicians will see the need within the LGBTQ+ community and consider specialty training to better serve people who identify with it. Dr. Helen Kales, the chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis Health, explained that mental health care providers with specialties can offer a real lifeline to patients and providers after general treatment has proven unsuccessful. “A lot of medicine is pattern recognition,” Dr. Kales said. “I think when someone has a subspecialty or special training in that particular area they may spot things that other people don't or don't see as much as a part of the picture. I think having that additional training can help you be more perceptive.”Kales specializes in geriatric psychiatry.“Do I need to see every older adult? No, but once a primary care physician or a general psychiatrist says, ‘Hey I’ve tried everything and this isn’t working,’ there are other things we can do with special training that maybe people with a more general training wouldn’t have as much experience with,” Kales said. “People that are experienced in that particular subspecialty may have additional wisdom to bring to bear.”Kales said that while it is challenging to quantify just how many more mental health care providers are needed at any given time, the demand continues to outpace the number of providers available. That is, in part, due to the public’s increased understanding of how mental health disorder symptoms may appear and a decrease in the stigma surrounding seeking treatment.Terry sees that too, which is why she’s proud to be a virtual provider. Her license allows her to see patients throughout the state of California.Even remotely, Terry said she's found real success with her LGBTQ+ clients in using a treatment called EMDR, or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, which allows people to revisit and reprocess traumatic memories in a regulated and grounded physical state.But support, for everybody, Terry said, comes in many, many forms.“People can’t see the way out all the time when they’re in the middle of a deep dark hole and sometimes as a therapist your job is to hold the hope for them and then when they get out the other side they go, ‘Oh here we are’ and then they’re able can hold their own hope and that's so beautiful," Terry said.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. —

In her experience, licensed clinical social worker Dani Terry finds her work works best when there's a blend of approachability and professionalism with her clients.

“You always want to be approachable,” she said. “You want people to be able to feel like they can talk to you because if they can’t, why are they seeing you? They’re not going to get anywhere.”

Through her private practice, True Colors Counseling based in South Lake Tahoe, she helps people navigate depression, anxiety, PTSD and several other trauma-centered obstacles. She also intentionally crafts care to adhere to the unique needs of people within the LGBTQ+ community – a community she identifies with herself.

"I have felt called to this work for a very long time,” she said. “I do get a lot of joy out of it – queer joy maybe one could say.”

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, research shows people within the LGBTQ+ community are at an increased risk of experiencing a mental health condition, especially depression and anxiety.

Terry always keeps the community in the back of her mind, she explained, when not only developing treatment plans for people but also in how she runs her business.

For example, she is careful to use inclusive language in her marketing, on her website and forms.

“To me, it touches almost every aspect of my business,” she said. “I think I’ve been thinking about how to be a really good fit for helping the queer community since before I even graduated from grad school.”

She said she seeks to understand the full picture of a person as it relates to their sexual preferences and gender identity.

For example, asking how a person’s family life may have impacted their experiences and possible traumas, or perhaps how much time it took for a person to share their identity with others or its impact on their professional life.

Terry said the key is to look for trauma symptoms and patterns associated with them.

“There is a set of characteristics that are pretty easy to see once you know what you’re looking for,” she said. “Specifically for the queer community, I look for those trauma symptoms as an overlay on identity pieces. Not just is a person queer but what was their family life like?”

Terry hopes in time more clinicians will see the need within the LGBTQ+ community and consider specialty training to better serve people who identify with it.

Dr. Helen Kales, the chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis Health, explained that mental health care providers with specialties can offer a real lifeline to patients and providers after general treatment has proven unsuccessful.

“A lot of medicine is pattern recognition,” Dr. Kales said. “I think when someone has a subspecialty or special training in that particular area they may spot things that other people don't or don't see as much as a part of the picture. I think having that additional training can help you be more perceptive.”

Kales specializes in geriatric psychiatry.

“Do I need to see every older adult? No, but once a primary care physician or a general psychiatrist says, ‘Hey I’ve tried everything and this isn’t working,’ there are other things we can do with special training that maybe people with a more general training wouldn’t have as much experience with,” Kales said. “People that are experienced in that particular subspecialty may have additional wisdom to bring to bear.”

Kales said that while it is challenging to quantify just how many more mental health care providers are needed at any given time, the demand continues to outpace the number of providers available. That is, in part, due to the public’s increased understanding of how mental health disorder symptoms may appear and a decrease in the stigma surrounding seeking treatment.

Terry sees that too, which is why she’s proud to be a virtual provider. Her license allows her to see patients throughout the state of California.

Even remotely, Terry said she's found real success with her LGBTQ+ clients in using a treatment called EMDR, or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, which allows people to revisit and reprocess traumatic memories in a regulated and grounded physical state.

But support, for everybody, Terry said, comes in many, many forms.

“People can’t see the way out all the time when they’re in the middle of a deep dark hole and sometimes as a therapist your job is to hold the hope for them and then when they get out the other side they go, ‘Oh here we are’ and then they’re able can hold their own hope and that's so beautiful," Terry said.

Therapist works to expand access to mental health services for LGBTQ+ community

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