Affirming Online Therapy for Transgender and Gender-Expansive People
Serving clients across Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Georgia.
Care grounded in autonomy, consent, and self-definition.
Gender-diverse people have existed across cultures and centuries, long before modern systems attempted to erase, criminalize, or medicalize us. What often causes distress is not identity itself, but living inside systems that police gender, punish difference, and require legibility in exchange for safety.
At Phoenix Rising Centers, we provide transgender-affirming and gender-expansive therapy grounded in abolitionist, anti-colonial, and trauma-informed care. Our work centers autonomy, consent, and self-definition. We do not treat transness as something to be explained, justified, or corrected.
| Area of Support | How It Often Shows Up |
|---|---|
| Gender exploration | Wanting space to explore gender without pressure to decide, label, or transition |
| Transition experiences | Navigating social, medical, or legal transition, or choosing not to transition |
| Dysphoria and body distress | Feeling alienated from the body due to surveillance, violence, or medicalization |
| Minority stress | Chronic exhaustion from transphobia, misgendering, and systemic exclusion |
| Religious and moral injury | Harm caused by faith-based rejection, conversion efforts, or spiritual abuse |
| Family and kinship | Navigating family expectations, rupture, repair, or chosen family care |
| Mental health impacts | Anxiety, depression, burnout, or dissociation shaped by structural harm |
| Self-trust and agency | Rebuilding voice, boundaries, and internal authority after being overridden |
What This Specialty Supports
You do not need certainty to begin.
You do not need to want the same things other trans people want.
| Common Therapy Experiences | Our Practice at Phoenix Rising |
|---|---|
| Gender treated as a symptom | Gender understood as identity shaped by culture, power, and history |
| Pressure to narrate trauma | Consent-based pacing with no requirement to disclose |
| Gatekeeping around transition | Support without needing to prove readiness or pain |
| Individualizing distress | Naming systems like colonialism, medical control, and carcerality |
| One right way to heal | Multiple pathways that honor capacity, access, and survival |
| Therapist as authority | Therapist as collaborator with accountability |
How Our Approach Is Different
We understand that many transgender people have been harmed by mental health systems.
Our work resists repeating that harm.
Our Abolitionist and
Anti-Colonial Framework
We work from the understanding that many systems designed to “help” have historically disciplined, excluded, or erased transgender people, particularly those who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, undocumented, or poor.
| Framework | What It Means in Therapy |
|---|---|
| Abolitionist care | We do not ask you to conform to systems that harm you |
| Anti-colonial practice | We challenge Western binaries and imposed narratives of gender |
| Trauma-informed | We assume harm happened and prioritize safety over productivity |
| Consent-centered | You control pacing, goals, and language |
| Non-carceral | Healing is not compliance, normalization, or self-policing |
| Collective awareness | Distress is contextual, not a personal failure |
This is not therapy that trains you to tolerate harm.
It is therapy that helps you live with more agency inside and beyond it.
What Therapy May Include
| Modality | How It Is Used |
|---|---|
| Narrative therapy | Separating your identity from the violence imposed on it |
| Somatic work | Supporting regulation without forcing body exposure |
| Psychoeducation | Naming minority stress, medical trauma, and systemic harm |
| Relational therapy | Supporting chosen family and nontraditional kinship |
| Mindfulness | Movement, stillness, stimming, or non-verbal options |
| Identity-focused work | Unlearning shame without replacing it with new rules |
There is no requirement to be calm, articulate, or healed in order to be supported.
| You Have the Right To | What That Looks Like |
|---|---|
| Set the pace | Slow, nonlinear, or paused work is welcome |
| Choose language | Names and pronouns are respected without debate |
| Change direction | Goals can shift without justification |
| Withhold details | You do not owe trauma narratives |
| Repair harm | Therapists take accountability when impact occurs |
Autonomy in the Room
Trust is built, not assumed.
Who We Work With
We support:
• Transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary people
• Genderfluid, agender, and questioning individuals
• People at any stage of transition or none at all
• Clients navigating intersecting identities shaped by race, culture, disability, class, and migration
• Adults and young adults seeking non-pathologizing care
You do not need a diagnosis to belong here.
You do not need to be legible to systems to deserve care.
Our Therapists
Many of our clinicians bring lived experience alongside clinical training in trans-affirming, trauma-informed, and decolonial care. All therapists at Phoenix Rising are committed to respecting your autonomy, boundaries, and self-knowledge.
During your free consultation, you can share what kind of support feels safest. We will work to connect you with a therapist who feels aligned, not merely available.
Delilah Milagros Santos-Kane (She/Her)
Trauma, Identity & Transgender-Affirming Therapist · Rhode Island
Delilah supports transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive clients navigating trauma, identity shifts, and the impact of systems that have required survival rather than safety. She works with people processing minority stress, religious or moral injury, military-related trauma, and long-term stress that shapes how identity is lived in the body.
Her approach is grounded in trauma-informed, LGBTQ+-affirming care that honors autonomy, pacing, and self-definition. Delilah brings steadiness, curiosity, and respect for the ways people have learned to cope, offering a space where trans clients do not need to explain or justify who they are in order to be supported.
Danielle Blaton (She/Her)
Trauma-Informed, Neurodivergent & Gender-Affirming Therapist · Rhode Island & Massachusetts
Danielle supports transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive clients navigating trauma, identity exploration, and the emotional impact of systems that have not always been safe or affirming. She works with people experiencing dysphoria, anxiety, burnout, medical or institutional harm, and the lasting effects of chronic stress.
Her approach is grounded in trauma-informed, disability-affirming care that centers safety, choice, and pacing. Danielle is attentive to how power, consent, and nervous system needs show up in the room, offering trans clients a steady, respectful space where their identity is not questioned or pathologized, and healing can unfold without pressure or urgency.
Orion (Hir/Ze)
Gender, Sexuality & Trauma Therapist · Rhode Island & Nevada
Orion supports transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive clients navigating identity, trauma, and the impact of systems that marginalize difference. With deep experience in community organizing and intersectional care, ze works with clients processing dysphoria, relationship dynamics, abandonment, and identity-based harm.
Orion’s approach centers self-determination, consent, and client expertise. Ze offers a grounded, affirming space where trans clients are trusted as the experts of their own lives, supported in reclaiming voice, agency, and connection at a pace that honors their history and lived experience.
Merlin (He/Him)
Gender-Affirming & Neurodiverse Therapist · Rhode Island & Connecticut
Merlin supports transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive clients navigating identity, neurodiversity, and the impact of systems that have demanded masking, self-erasure, or survival. He works with adolescents and adults exploring gender, sexuality, family dynamics, stress, and long-term mental health challenges.
His approach is trauma-informed, collaborative, and deeply respectful of client autonomy. With experience facilitating trans and nonbinary groups and training in intersectional, anti-oppressive care, Merlin offers a space where trans clients are not gatekept or fixed, but supported in building self-trust, self-advocacy, and connection at their own pace.
Getting Started
If you are seeking transgender-affirming therapy in
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Georgia, or beyond,
you are not limited to the therapists shown here.
Our wider team includes clinicians who are trans-affirming, trained, and experienced in supporting gender-expansive care.
If you are not sure where to begin, you can reach out for a consultation.
We will get to know what you are looking for and help connect you with the therapist who fits best.