Becoming an LGBTQ Affirming therapist

My Journey

I’ll be honest; I’ve had my own journey to becoming an affirming therapist to people who are gay, lesbian, and bisexual. My awakening to my homophobia and bigotry started as a young adult; when I learned that someone close to me was gay.

Experiencing Incongruity

I grew up in a Rastafari faith community in Barbados, where I learned a range of hateful epithets about members of the LGBTQ community. Only when a person I loved came out did I start to re-evaluate everything I had been taught to believe. This person was good, kind, and loving, but I had known them for almost my entire life.

Reconciling the hateful things I had learned about LGBTQ people didn’t align with the sweet person I knew; the contradiction began my journey to unravel myself from the homophobia and bigotry I had learned.

The Journey Continues

I am not perfect homophobia is like the air we breathe; it is pervasive, and it affects everyone, straight people and LGBTQ people alike; I will never say that I am out of its clutches, but I am trying to reduce it, account for it, and adopt practices that are LGBTQ affirming as I see clients and lead our practice.

Jomo Phillips, Couple & Family Therapist