Healing From Trauma as an LGBTQIA+ Individual: A Therapist’s Guide

In my last blog on trauma I discussed different ways trauma can manifest and how you can recognize the impact of trauma on your system. Another challenging aspect of navigating trauma is that it can be cumulative. Particularly if you’ve experienced (or continue to experience) trauma across multiple dimensions.

Folks with LGBTQIA+ identities may already be facing these dynamics. But additional marginalized identities can increase the impact of discrimination. We refer to this as intersectionality and it can include factors of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, age, etc.

Folks with marginalized identities experience “soft trauma” that results from a lifetime of navigating a world that hasn’t always been safe, accepting, or equitable. This blog aims to be a guide to help LGBTQIA+ individuals better understand the impact of trauma and how to begin the healing process, especially within the context of intersectionality.

Understanding Trauma in the LGBTQIA+ Community

Trauma in LGBTQIA+ lives can take many forms. Multiple marginalized identities increases a person's risk of:

• Family rejection or abandonment

• Bullying, harassment, or hate crimes

• Religious trauma

• Medical discrimination or conversion therapy

• Cultural erasure or invalidation

• Microaggressions and daily stressors (minority stress)

Again, “soft trauma” is often chronic and cumulative. Unlike a single traumatic event, many LGBTQIA+ people endure an ongoing sense of hypervigilance and fear - especially in environments where being “out” could mean being unsafe.

Intersectionality: Trauma Is Not One-Dimensional

The term intersectionality was coined by scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw and it reminds us that people live with multiple, interconnected identities. An LGBTQIA+ person who is also BIPOC, disabled, undocumented, neurodivergent, or living in poverty doesn’t just experience their trauma from one angle. It’s compounded by all the systems they move through with their cumulative identities.

For example:

• A Black trans woman may face racism, misogynoir, and transphobia all at once.

• A queer refugee may carry both the trauma of displacement and the fear of homophobic violence.

• A disabled bisexual person might experience ableism alongside the censoring of their sexuality.

Understanding intersectionality is not optional in trauma work, it is essential. Finding a therapist who has trauma-informed training, possesses cultural humility and sensitivity, and who can be responsive to the cumulative impact of intersectionality on the nervous system can be an important resource on your healing journey.

How Trauma Manifests

When someone experiences ongoing marginalization due to their identities, their trauma often manifests differently than in people who have experienced a single traumatic event (or “hard trauma”). This is sometimes referred to as complex trauma and has unique psychological, emotional, and physical effects.

Cumulative effects of trauma in those with marginalized identities might look like: 

• Anxiety, hypervigilance, or panic attacks

• Depression, disassociation, or numbness

• Hyper-independence, people-pleasing, or struggling to identify their own needs

• Internalized oppression, role strain, or shame around identities

• Difficulties with intimacy and trust, strained relationships

• Complex grief and loss (ostracization, versions of themselves they’ve had to suppress, loss of faith, family, stability, etc.) 

• Medical and institutional trauma (dismissal or minimization of their experiences, discrimination, misgendering, etc.)

• Physical symptoms like headaches, insomnia, difficulty concentrating

Healing is Political—and Personal

To heal from trauma as an LGBTQIA+ person or a person with multiple marginalized identities is to reclaim your right to exist, love, and belong. Healing and living in the fullest expression of yourself is a radical act, especially in a society that often tries to suppress otherness.

Steps Toward Healing:

1. Affirming Therapy

Find a therapist who is not just “okay with” LGBTQIA+ identities but is actively affirming and educated about queer and trans issues. Intersectional competence matters—ask about their experience working with clients who share your racial, cultural, or gender background.

2. Naming the Trauma

Part of healing is validating that what happened is traumatic. Whether it was being deadnamed, being excluded from your cultural community, or surviving assault - it matters. You matter.

3. Rebuilding Safety

Safety isn’t just physical—it’s emotional and relational. Therapy should be a space where you feel seen without judgment. You can also build safety by creating community, setting boundaries, and surrounding yourself with affirming people.

4. Reclaiming Identity

Explore what your identity means to you, free from the lens of trauma or others' expectations. Gender, ethnicity, sexuality, expression, and roles are yours to define.

5. Processing Grief and Anger

Many LGBTQIA+ individuals grieve lost time, lost connections, or lost versions of themselves. Anger is also a natural response to injustice. These emotions are not obstacles—they are part of the healing.

6. Reconnecting with Joy and Pleasure

Joy is not a reward at the end of healing—it’s a vital part of it. Seek out spaces, practices, and people that affirm your existence and make room for you. One of my favorite quotes from Dr. Emily Nagoski feels apt here, “Confidence is knowing what’s true, joy is loving what’s true.” 

You Deserve to Heal From Your Trauma

For folks with marginalized identities, you are not broken. The harm you’ve experienced does not define you and the trauma you carry can heal. That healing is not linear, and it doesn’t mean forgetting what you’ve endured. It means learning how to live fully with presence, resilience, and pride. You are worthy of healing. You are worthy of love. You are worthy.

How We Can Help

Here at Catalyss Counseling, we offer a free phone consultation to ensure that you are working with a therapist that is a “best fit” for your needs. When you find the right fit, therapy can be a powerful way to support your healing. Reach out to us today to find out more about how trauma-focused or LGBTQIA+ affirming therapy might support your needs.

Author Biography

Jessica Carpenter is a therapist with Catalyss Counseling who works with adults who have experienced stress, grief, trauma, and a variety of relationship issues, including communication and conflict resolution, jealousy and betrayal, affair recovery, LGBTQIA+ community, and polyamory/non-monogamy. Jessica is also a licensed massage therapist, yoga therapist, and TRE provider. She is passionate about making wellness accessible to everyone. Follow Catalyss Counseling on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

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Other Therapy Services Available at Catalyss Counseling:

Here at Catalyss Counseling, we want to meet all of your counseling needs in the Denver area. Our supportive therapists provide depression counseling, therapy for caregiver stress, grief and loss therapy, stress management counseling, couples counseling, and more. We also have specialists in trauma and PTSD, women's issues, pregnancy and postpartum depression or anxiety, pregnancy loss and miscarriage, and birth trauma. For therapists, we can also provide clinical supervision with Firelight Supervision! We look forward to connecting with you to help support your journey today.