Do you offer a free consultation?

Yes. I invite every prospective patient (or their parent) to a complimentary 15-minute video or phone call, so we can see whether we’re a good fit.

How do I book that call?

Fill in the contact-form button at the top of the page to request a time, or call +1-916-776-6089. I’ll follow up within one business day to confirm.

Where are you located?

My office is in Midtown Sacramento at 801 Alhambra Blvd, Suite 4. I also work with clients anywhere in California via secure telehealth.

What is psychodynamic psychotherapy?

Psychodynamic work explores the patterns—often outside conscious awareness—that shape how we think, feel, and relate. By bringing those patterns into focus, we create space for insight, relief, and lasting change.

What happens in the first session?

We’ll talk about what brings you in, your history, and your hopes for therapy. The meeting also lets you get a felt sense of how I work so you can decide whether to continue.

How long will therapy take?

Every person’s process is different. Some clients come for a few months to work on a specific issue; others choose open-ended depth work. We’ll revisit goals together as therapy unfolds.

Who do you work with?

• Adults and kids (10+) • Men exploring masculinity • Individuals, couples, and families • People navigating gender identity, transition, or LGBTQIA+ experiences • Anyone facing grief, anxiety, depression, or existential questions

Do you provide letters for gender-affirming care?

Yes. I can provide letters of support for HRT or surgery in line with WPATH guidelines.

What is psychedelic-integration therapy?

Integration work helps you make meaning of altered-state experiences—whether from sanctioned clinical use or personal exploration—so insights translate into daily life. While I don’t provide or refer for illegal substances, I support clients in integrating those experiences thoughtfully and ethically.

Individual therapy – $150 Couples therapy – $250 Sliding-scale spots are occasionally available—please ask.

Do you take insurance?

I’m an out-of-network provider. If you have a PPO plan, you may be eligible for partial reimbursement. I’ll supply monthly superbills you can submit to your insurer.

What if I need to cancel?

Cancellations with at least 48 hours’ notice incur no fee. Late cancellations or no-shows are billed at the full session rate. (No charge for same-day health-related cancellations.)

Is therapy confidential?

Yes. Everything we discuss stays between us, with a few safety-related legal exceptions that we’ll review in our first session.

Do you offer evening or weekend appointments?

Yes. I currently see patients only during evenings and weekends to support busy professionals and their kids. Let me know what you need, and I’ll do my best to accommodate.

What if I’m in crisis?

I’m not a 24-hour service. If you’re in immediate danger, call 988 (emotional support) or 911 (medical emergency), or go to the nearest emergency room. You can also text HOME to 741741 for free, confidential support from trained crisis counselors.

Beyond gender (pun!)

Jul 7

Written By Oliver Slate-Greene

Your gender identity is valid.

Full stop.

Now that we've established that - let's talk about everything else that comes with being human in a gendered world.

Most gender therapy focuses on practical support: letters, referrals, transition planning. That's crucial work. I provide it.

But psychodynamic therapy offers something additional: space to explore the full psychological landscape of living authentically in a world that often demands conformity.

This isn't about questioning your gender identity.

It's about understanding your whole self.

The Psychology of Living Authentically

Coming into your authentic gender expression - whether that involves transition or not - happens within a complex psychological context.

How does it feel to finally be seen for who you are?
What does it bring up to disappoint people who had other expectations for your life?
How do you navigate relationships that change as you become more yourself?

These aren't gender questions.

They're human questions that happen to involve gender.

In psychodynamic work, we explore how living authentically intersects with everything else you carry: family dynamics, attachment patterns, trauma histories, and unconscious ways of protecting yourself that might no longer serve you.

Your Gender Lives in Relationship

Gender doesn't exist in isolation. It lives in relationship—to family, friends, partners, society, and to yourself.

Maybe you're navigating complex family reactions to your transition.

Maybe you're discovering new patterns in romantic relationships as you inhabit your authentic self.

Maybe you're working through internalized messages about what kinds of people deserve love, safety, or visibility.

These relational patterns often have deep psychological roots that extend far beyond gender.

A psychodynamic approach can help you understand and work through these patterns so they don't limit your capacity for connection and authenticity.

The Therapy Relationship as Practice Space

Here's what I notice: how someone shows up in therapy often reflects how they navigate authenticity and vulnerability in the world.

Some clients present a perfectly curated version of their gender identity - as if any complexity might undermine their credibility.

Others seem to disappear, afraid that being fully themselves might be too much.

The therapy room becomes a space to practice being all of who you are.

What happens when you let your contradictions show?
What parts of yourself feel safest to express?
What parts feel most vulnerable?

This isn't about your gender identity, which is yours to define.

It's about your relationship to being seen, understood, and accepted in all your complexity.

When Authenticity Meets Family History

Living authentically often activates family-of-origin material in unexpected ways.

Maybe your decision to transition brings up old family patterns around conformity and rebellion.

Maybe supportive family reactions surprise you in ways that highlight how little safety you expected.

Maybe rejection confirms fears you didn't know you were carrying.

Psychodynamic work can help you separate your authentic self-expression from these inherited family dynamics, so you can make choices about your life and relationships from a place of clarity rather than old protective patterns.

The Body as Home

For many LGBTQIA+ people, coming home to your body - through transition, changing expression, or simply learning to inhabit yourself differently - can bring up complex feelings.

Relief and grief.

Excitement and fear.

The joy of finally feeling at home, and sadness for time spent feeling disconnected.

Your relationship to your body carries psychological history: early experiences of safety and danger, pleasure and shame, autonomy and control.

Psychodynamic work creates space to understand how these patterns might be showing up as you develop a new relationship to embodiment.

Beyond Individual Psychology

Living as an LGBTQIA+ person in this world involves navigating systems that weren't designed for you.

That's not individual pathology - that's social reality.

But sometimes the strategies we develop to survive hostile environments outlive their usefulness.

Hypervigilance that once kept you safe might now interfere with intimacy. Perfectionism that helped you prove your worth might now exhaust you.

Psychodynamic work can help you identify which protective patterns still serve you and which ones you're ready to outgrow.

What This Actually Looks Like

You might find yourself exploring:

How does it feel to be authentically yourself in different relationships?
What old protective patterns are you ready to release?
How do family-of-origin dynamics show up in your current relationships?
What does safety mean to you now that you're living more authentically?
How do you want to navigate intimacy and vulnerability as your truest self?

We're not exploring whether your gender identity is "real" - it is.

We're exploring how to live that reality as fully and consciously as possible.

The Long View

This work honors the fact that authentic self-expression is a lifelong process, not a destination.

Your gender identity is valid and yours to define.

The psychological work involves everything else: how to sustain authenticity in a complicated world, how to build relationships that can hold all of who you are, and how to heal from whatever made authenticity feel dangerous in the first place.

In my Sacramento practice, I've worked with clients across the spectrum of gender identity and expression. What I've learned is that the bravest thing any of us can do is show up as ourselves, fully and without apology.

Psychodynamic therapy for LGBTQIA+ clients isn't about understanding your identity - you're the expert on that.

It's about understanding yourself in all your complexity, so you can live your authentic life with as much freedom and connection as possible.

Because you deserve nothing less.

Oliver Slate-Greene