Therapy for Gay Men
Individual therapy and couples counselling for gay men.
As a gay man, I bring both professional expertise and lived experience to this work, and I understand how important it is to feel seen and understood in therapy. Most of my experience is with the LGBTQ+ communities.
The Gay and Queer Experience
Being part of a minority group shapes how we move through the world; we have a different experience of both formal rights and informal social privileges impacting how we love, how we connect, and how we experience safety and belonging. LGBTQ+ individuals and relationships often face pressures that heterosexual, cisgender people do not encounter. Whether it’s dealing with internalised shame, family rejection, social invisibility or hostility, or navigating complex relationship dynamics, these stressors can have a significant impact on how we relate.
Queer and gay relationships are not fully reflected in society. It is difficult to become what we can’t see making it harder to navigate dilemmas and conflict, such as negotiating open relationships or chosen family structures to facing discrimination and trauma, these realities can influence how we relate to ourselves and to each other.
We also carry with us a cultural and historical legacy and an ongoing struggle for equality. These experiences, whether lived directly or inherited through community and family, can leave deep emotional imprints. And none of this happens in isolation. Ethnicity, culture, gender identity, class, disability, religion, and other aspects of who we are intersect and overlap with our sexuality in powerful and often complex ways. Every person’s story is unique.
What I can offer
I offer individual therapy and couples counselling grounded in empathy and curiosity about your experience, exploration of the internal barriers to change, and appropriate challenge to self-defeating beliefs and behaviours.
Whether you're seeking support around intimacy, communication, conflict, coming out, mental health or navigating wider social and systemic pressures, our work together will be a space for healing, exploration and growth.
Finding the right therapist
A strong therapeutic relationship is central to meaningful change. It’s important that you feel a sense of trust and safety, with space for that trust to grow over time. By reflecting on the process within our sessions, we can make adjustments as needed and strengthen the “working alliance”, creating a supportive and empathic space for the work to unfold.
While much of my experience is working with gay men, I work with clients of all identities and backgrounds. Having shared lived experience is not a guarantee of a good therapeutic relationship, and not all gay men share the same experience; sometimes “sameness” helps in the therapy room as there may be areas of your life you don’t want to explain, at other times you may want the “difference” of another perspective from someone with another experience to your own. This can also evolve during the course of the work.
In-person and Online
My practice rooms are located in southeast London, a short walk from Greenwich DLR station: Linear House, Peyton Place, London SE10 8RS. I both work in-person and online.
Location
Linear House, Peyton Place
Greenwich, London SE10 8RS
Contact
email
alex@alexvendittelli.com
phone
020 3825 1925
Banner image credit: Karsten Würth on Unsplash