The ability to have conversations about sex and sexuality without any accompanying feelings of shame and guilt and in the absence of any moralising or pontification.

My work aims to build a sense of self awareness, self confidence and resilience in all my clients -including my clients who belong to the community. Systemic factors, privilege and access to resources are important determinants of the mental health of any minority group and I am very sensitive to these factors while working with my queer (and other minority group) clients.

The main focus initially has to be on helping the survivor process feelings and thoughts related to the traumatic experience. Behavioural change can only follow once this exploratory work is finished. The ultimate goal needs to be focussed on integrating the survivor back to their lives with the knowledge that recovery isn't linear and that setbacks are a part of healing and that it does get better in the end - no matter how long it takes.

Like I tell all new clients who seek to work with me - I like to make my clients think. The first few sessions with me are always exploratory in nature. I take my time in helping my clients process feelings, explore thoughts and see if there are any consistent patterns between thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Self awareness is the ultimate goal in therapy - whether that leads to sustainable behavioural change or not is secondary.