Suz Cuellar
Currently I am only accepting new clients who are trans. I am a trans and queer Licensed Clinical Social Worker and artist with 15 years of experience in community mental health. My approach is that all people deserve to have the opportunity to experience a safe, kind, and welcoming space to explore their mental health, and that as a therapist, it is my job to nurture that. I am driven to create therapeutic opportunities for people who want and need them within the LGBTQ2IA+ community. I am open to working with clients that find themselves in need of an understanding, compassionate, and community-oriented therapist who will help to guide them through healing work. My areas of focus are: LGBTQ2IA+ and TGNC emerging adults and adults, major life transitions, trauma, depression, anxiety, grief, ADHD, gender dysphoria, and sexual identity exploration.
While my methodologies are based in CBT and DBT, the work I do with clients includes a variety of tools dependant upon the needs of the individual client.
I completed my Master of Social Work (MSW) and Master of Arts in Gender Studies (MA) degrees concurrently at Loyola University Chicago. Before entering graduate school, I worked in multiple positions focused on reproductive justice, body autonomy, and community care. My life and professional experiences have led me to provide therapy with a focus on community care through an anti oppressive lense. I understand that helping one person can have a positive impact on the greater community surrounding them. I believe that treatment approaches should fit the individual's needs and thus I utilize many modalities, including cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness, somatics, and narrative therapy. My approaches of curiosity and kindness create a welcoming space to engage in therapy. Choosing to work with a therapist is a powerful way to help yourself and we all deserve a chance to have focused time to explore, learn, and grow through challenges.
First session
In our first session together, I will introduce myself, explain my practice, and invite you to tell me about what has brought you to therapy. From there, we will review the intake form you have filled out prior to intake. This will give me the opportunity to gain more knowledge of you and determine how I believe we can best work together. By the end of the session I will offer you my ideas on moving forward, with the expectation of collaboration.
Strengths
My strengths are in cultivating spaces for clients to be themselves and explore new ways to be better and do better. My focus right now is working with trans people, as my shared identiy of being trans allows me to explore the therapuetic space in a relational way that is invaluable to this work.
Ideal clients
*Currently only accepting trans clients* LGBTQ2IA+, TGNC, Queer, emerging adults, queer, neurodivergent. If my books are full, feel free to message me to inquire about my waitlist.
Treatment methods
Gender-affirming therapy
Right now, being gender affirming in my practice means that I hold space for the expansive beauty and grief that is being trans and gender non conforming in this world.
Somatic
While I do not solely use somatics, I believe it to be a very powerful tool in reconnecting the body and the brain. It is wildly easy to be disconnected from ourselves right now, and somatics is a practice I teach my clients to help themselves be more present and less dissonant. Sometimes you have to give your body a disruption to get back in a space of knowing, and I think somatics is an excellent tool for that.
Location
Virtual sessions